Building Blocks: Team Building

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Building Blocks Team Building
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(No Transcript)
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Outline

• What is a Team?
• Why work with a Team?
• Characteristics of a Successful Team Leader
• The Characteristics of an Effective Team
• Barriers to Effective Teams
• The ORMING Model for Developing an Effective
  Team
• Team Building Activities
• Team Building Resources

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What is a Team?

• What the Dictionary says
• Two or more horses, oxen, or other animals
  harnessed together to draw a vehicle, plow, or
  the like.
• A family of young animals, esp. ducks or pigs.
• A number of persons forming one of the sides in a
  game or contest.

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What is a Team?

• What we say
• A team is a group organized to work together to
  accomplish a set of objectives that cannot be
  achieved effectively by individuals.

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• Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful,
  committed people can change the world. Indeed it
  is the only thing that ever has.
• Margaret Mead

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Why Work With a Team?

• TEAM
• Together
• Everyone
• Achieves
• More

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Why Work With a Team?

• Working in teams allows us to accomplish goals
  that we cannot achieve alone
• Team work can take advantage of the strengths of
  its members
• Many hands make light work

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Characteristics of a Successful Team Leader

• Is a good communicator
• Communicate constantly.
• Don't assume that people know what you're doing,
  still less what you are planning or thinking.
• Make communication a two-way street.

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Characteristics of a Successful Team Leader

• Is a motivator
• Is enthusiastic about their work or cause and
  also about their role as leader.
• People will respond more openly to a person of
  passion and dedication.
• Be a source of inspiration.

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Characteristics of a Successful Team Leader

• Treats everyone equally
• Diversity must be valued as an asset.
• The mix of people and skills is a key element
  which gives the team its synergy.
• Respect all team members no matter what their
  position is.

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Characteristics of a Successful Team Leader

• Always works from a plan
• Decide upon the teams goals and how to achieve
  them.
• Put the plan in writing. Estimate the amount of
  time it should take.
• Use these goals as guidelines in formulating the
  plan.
• Remember, the plan is only a beginning.
• Put the plan down on paper and refer to it
  frequently.
• Be prepared to adjust the plan if need be.

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Characteristics of a Successful Team Leader

• Is a problem solver
• Define the problem
• Come up with a strategy
• Ask what might happen if?
• Try it out!
• Was the problem solved?

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Characteristics of a Successful Team Leader

• Listens and leads by example
• Create standards of excellence
• Always take responsibility
• Roll up your sleeves
• Dont be afraid to listen

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The Characteristics of an Effective Team.

• Effective teams have members that
• Contribute ideas and offer solutions.
• Listen and share information.
• Have respect for each others viewpoints.
• Deal with conflict openly
• Share the responsibility for the teams successes
  and disappointments

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Barriers to Effective Teams

• Ineffective leadership
• Poor strategic planning
• Unclear goals
• Personal agendas
• Lack of recognition of individual contributions
  in a team atmosphere

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Breaking Down Barriers

• Effective Leadership
• Listen and lead by example
• Encourage and support the team
• Show commitment to the teams goals
• Provide the attitude of success
• Planning
• Always work from a plan
• Review your plan regularly, revise if needed

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Breaking Down Barriers

• Clear goals
• Goals should be in writing with everyones
  agreement
• Never take your eye off your goals
• Never make decisions that go against your goal
• Leave personal agendas outside
• Removes self from the team
• Fosters cooperation and team work
• Keeps the team focused on team goals

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Breaking Down Barriers

• Recognize individual contributions in a team
  atmosphere
• Allows the members to feel responsible for the
  teams accomplishments
• Highlights each team members contribution

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The ORMING Model

• Four Stages
• Forming
• Storming
• Norming
• Performing
• Facilitation Tools for Staff and Volunteer
  Leaders
• Association Xpertise Inc.

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Forming

• Social behaviors as members get to know each
  other
• Team members try to establish their role on the
  team
• Uncertainty regarding purpose or direction, and
  possibly anxiety
• Enthusiasm shown by some or all group members

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Storming

• Conflict and competition emerge in the group
• Some group members show resistance to the
  structure of the group "camps" may emerge
• Some members may become overzealous
• Frustration may occur

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Norming

• Group starts to develop a common purpose and
  spirit
• Teamwork and a supportive atmosphere grows
• The group begins establishing and achieving goals
  
• Respect and trust grows among team members

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Performing

• Roles are clear, and group members begin "job
  sharing" when needed
• Group members see group potential better than
  self potential
• Group feels strong and confidence grows
• Satisfaction emerges as group achieves high
  performance

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Symptoms of an Uncompleted Stage

• Forming
• Members work in disarray
• There is no recognition of the skills, abilities
  and contributions of team members
• Unclear about why was the group formed? Why are
  we here?
• Who are the other group members?

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Symptoms of an Uncompleted Stage

• Storming
• Expectations are unmet so people get upset or
  they withdraw
• A sense that there is unequal work sharing
• Some individuals feel excluded or ignored

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Symptoms of an Uncompleted Stage

• Norming
• Group members work at cross purposes with each
  other
• There is no connection in how the group is
  working together
• The group is still trying to decide how they are
  going to work together.

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Symptoms of an Uncompleted Stage

• Performing
• Work does not get done on time, or is of
  inadequate quality
• There is an inability or lack of desire to
  celebrate accomplishments
• How will we know when we are successful?

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Team Building Activities
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Team Building Activities

• Why use team building activities?
• Helps people get to know one another
• Helps people relax
• Energizes and motivates
• Creates a positive group atmosphere
• Helps people to think outside the box

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Examples of Team Building Activities (Any size
group)

• Two Truths and a Lie
• People write down two truths about themselves and
  a lie. They then share the three facts to the
  rest of the group who tries to guess which one is
  a lie.
• Back to Back Drawing
• Have group divide into pairs and sit on back to
  back chairs. Give one person a clipboard with a
  clean piece of paper. Give the other part of the
  pair a picture or template of a shape. The
  person with the picture has to get their partner
  to draw an exact duplicate of the shape drawn on
  their sheet using only verbal directions. Then
  compare the results.

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Examples of Team Building Activities (medium
sized groups)

• Marshmallows and Spaghetti
• Divide the group into teams of three or four
  people. Each team gets a box of spaghetti and a
  bag of marshmallows. Given a time limit and using
  only these items, the teams complete to see who
  can build the highest structure.
• Tarp Flip
• Layout a tarp on the ground and have all team
  members stand on it. While standing on top of a
  completely open tarp, the group must create a
  plan to get everyone on the opposite side of the
  tarp without anyone stepping off.

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Examples of Team Building Activities (15 or more
people)

• Categories
• Ask everyone to stand up and walk around explain
  that you will announce a category and the
  participants should quickly organize themselves
  into a smaller group based on the category to
  which they belong.
• Allow the smaller groups to mingle for a few
  moments then start again. Continue until the
  group is warmed up.
• Examples of categories
• What is your favorite season?
• What is your star sign?
• How many siblings do you have?

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Examples of Team Building Activities (15 or more
people)

• Look Up, Look Down
• Everyone stands facing each other in a circle.
  When the leader calls out look down everyone
  looks down into the circle. When the leader calls
  out look up everyone looks up and stares at one
  other person in the circle. If that person is
  looking at them both are out. Continue until
  there are only one to two people left

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• Note
• Many of the games came from the website
  www.wilderdom.com which is a copyleft site. For
  more information the Creative Commons Attribution
  License website

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Team Building Resources

• Author John C. Maxwell
• The 17 Indisputable Laws of Teamwork
• Publisher
• Thomas Nelson Inc
• July 2001

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Team Building Resources

• Author Suzanne Willis Zoglio
• Teams at Work
• Fiction
• Tower Hill Pr
• October, 1993

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Web Resources

• www.wilderdom.com
• www.teambuildingportal.com
• http//nationalserviceresources.org
• http//saulcarliner.home.att.net/leadership/volunt
  eers.htm

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A Final Thought
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I was txld xnce that teamwxrk depends xn the
perfxrmance xf every single member xn the team. I
had trxuble understanding it until I was shxwn
hxw the xffice typewriter perfxrms when just xne
key is xut xf xrder. That xne key destrxys the
effectiveness xf the typewriter. Nxw I knxw that
even thxugh I am xnly xne persxn, I am needed if
the team is tx wxrk as a successful team shxuld.