6
Building a Team

Learning Objectives

By the end of this chapter you should be able to:

• Describe the benefits of teamwork.

• Define what a team is.

• List the steps required to transform a group into a team.

• Identify the ten keys to being a valuable team member.

• List obstacles to team development and explain how to overcome them.

Since first appearing on this planet, humans have formed themselves together in groups. The basic groups were families, which were necessary for protection, sustenance, and rearing children. Families joined together to form bands or tribes. Through the ages, humans have formed groups for economic, political, educational, and religious reasons. Sometimes groups work together effectively and sometimes they do not. When group members recognize the importance of working together, a significant shift occurs: They are no longer just groups; they become teams.

When Kamile was promoted to a supervisor’s position she took over a department of seven bookkeepers. During the interview process she had been told one of the reasons they wanted someone new to supervise the department was that although there were several good people, they never seemed to be “on the same page.” She was told that they often seemed to be at odds with each other and with their current supervisor. When Kamile accepted the job offer, her boss told her that he expected her to make them a team. Kamile’s challenge is one that most supervisors, new and experienced, have heard at one time or another. This chapter prepares you for the challenge of building a team.

WHY TEAMWORK?

Almost every management text or article you read or management expert you hear states that teamwork is essential to success. The value of teamwork is evident in sporting events, in social and political groups, and in many business organizations. Yet teamwork often falls apart in many organizations due to impatience, personal jealousies, indifference, and internal competition.

As Kamile and others have found, teamwork doesn’t happen automatically. It takes hard work, cooperation, training, and the willingness to accept personal risks, make changes, and put aside personal desires so the team’s objectives can be achieved.

Organization Benefits

Each year in this country, thousands of groups form teams for athletic competition. Some of these groups never make the transition to a team and their performance reflects the contributions of individuals, not a team effort. Those who make the transition reap much more substantial benefits. Such benefits accrue not just to sports teams but also to teams in the workplace. The benefits of teamwork are as follows:

• Teams can accomplish more with less waste.

• Teams can produce better quality more efficiently.

• Team members have opportunity for personal development.

• Teams can often be more flexible in how they approach tasks.

• Teams members develop confidence and trust in each other.

• Teamwork takes advantage of the synergy of the efforts of all team members.

• Teams focus on performance; they are concerned about results and what they can accomplish.

Although these benefits may seem obvious to you, don’t assume that everyone in your group perceives them or values them. Merely listing these benefits somewhere or telling everyone about them will not help you develop your team. You have to prove through daily experience that the group, working together as a team, will reap the benefits. As these benefits become apparent to your people, it becomes easier to maintain a team atmosphere. What other organization benefits can you think of?

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Individual Benefits

Being involved with a team invariably leads people to a better understanding of the overall purpose of the work group and the organization. Upper management usually perceives members of effective teams more positively. Through team participation, they are better able to demonstrate their abilities and their commitment to productivity.

Teamwork helps people learn from each other and demonstrate additional skills that may be of value to the organization. Through delegation of tasks, individuals develop interpersonal skills and understanding and have the opportunity to take on challenging responsibilities. Team members also have greater flexibility to devise alternative ways of doing things. When a team is successful, all its members improve their self-images and confidence to meet future challenges.

One way to take advantage of these benefits is to have your people work together as often as possible. Have them focus on group goals while meeting individual responsibilities. When they see team goals being achieved, they are even more encouraged to achieve their individual goals.

If your group is involved with piecework or commission sales that emphasize individual performance, it may be more difficult to promote teamwork. Be sure employees understand how individual success can contribute to the team’s success. In almost all cases, one of the major benefits of promoting a team spirit is the reduction of internal competition and conflict.

Providing recognition and appreciation for group and individual accomplishments inspires the pride necessary for team spirit. As the group works together, members learn from each other and understand each other better. Individual skills become group assets, rather than sources of disruptive competition. How have you personally benefited from being a team member?

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WHAT IS A TEAM?

A team has been defined as “a small number of people with complementary skills who are committed to a common purpose, performance goals, and approach for which they hold themselves mutually accountable” (Katzenbach and Smith, 1994). Let’s look at each part of the definition and see what it takes to be an effective team. As we do, think about your own work teams and how they compare.

• Small Number of People. A team can be as few as two people or, as in the case of some football teams, close to 100. When teams get too large, they are often subdivided into smaller teams. In football, for example, there is the offense, the defense, the special teams, etc. In the workplace if you get too many people involved it can be hard to make progress. Although there is no ideal number, once you get more than ten to twelve people on a team, it can be hard to keep everyone focused, and you may need to subdivide your team.

How many people are on your team(s)? What adjustments, if any, do you need to make?

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• Complementary Skills. Team members need to bring different strengths to the team. If everyone has the same strengths (or weaknesses) the team tends to get bogged down time and again in the same areas. You need a mix of people who are analytical, creative, impulsive, controlled, etc. Of course, as the team leader, it is your job to ensure that you have the right mix of skills so the team performs well and meets its objectives.

What skill sets do your team members have? What skills are missing? What skills are overabundant?

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• Purpose and Goals. Do your team members know what is expected of them? Teams must have a reason for being and that reason must be clear to all members. If they don’t know what their purpose is, they won’t be able to move forward. It’s been said, “If you don’t know where you are going, any road will take you there.” An effective team must have a clear sense of direction and know what is expected of it in reaching its goals.

What is the stated purpose of your team? How many team members can state the purpose as well as you can?

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• Common Approach. Team members need to agree on how they will work together to achieve their goals. Often this is accomplished by establishing a set of ground rules and expectations that are clear for everyone. All team members need to be aware of their responsibilities, the roles they are expected to play, with whom they are to work, how much authority they have, and what other people’s expectations are. Having this common knowledge is essential to getting everyone on the same page and working together.

Does your team have established ground rules? What is its level of authority? What is it expected to accomplish?

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• Mutual Accountability. Effective teams are made up of members who hold each other accountable. Members expect to report their results to the team and to explain what they did and why. They realize that being open and honest with each other is critical to success. Individuals who want to “do their own thing” have a tough time working on teams. Team success comes from a willingness to be involved in the give and take among team members that calls on each person to account for their actions.

Do your team members hold each other accountable? Are people required to report regularly to the team and to explain their actions?

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TRANSFORMING A GROUP INTO A TEAM

Being aware of what constitutes a team is the first step in making the transition from a group to a team. The next step is to do those things that build an effective team.

This was the challenge that Kamile faced. In her first group meeting she quickly observed what others had been telling her. The people were enthusiastic and committed, but they didn’t agree on the priorities or what they should be doing. Consequently, they did not work together. Each person was focused on his or her specific tasks without regard for what the others were doing. Kamile realized that to transform her group into a team was going to take some time and effort.

Team building is a complex process that, to be successful, requires time, commitment, and organization support. Before you embark on the team building process, be sure you are willing to do the work necessary and can obtain the necessary resources.

Effective supervisors know that teamwork means sharing three things with their people: expectations, responsibilities, and glory. Effective first-line supervisors make sure their people know what is expected, they know what their responsibilities are, and they get the glory when goals are achieved.

Share the Expectations

Employees have to know what you expect. Whether it’s the job to be done today or the goals for the next six months, your role as a first-line supervisor is to tell employees what is expected. As you learned in Chapter 3, if you don’t clearly communicate expectations, you may not get the specific results you want.

When you share your expectations, don’t be afraid to ask employees for their input and listen to what they have to say. Give them an opportunity to provide feedback and make suggestions on ways to accomplish the expected results. This is a good way to keep them involved and to make them feel part of your team.

Use your active listening skills to let your employees know you are listening to their suggestions. Write down their comments and try to determine what changes, if any, they need to make as a team in order to meet the expectations. When everyone has the same understanding of what’s expected, results are a lot easier to achieve.

After her initial meeting with her group, Kamile decided that what they really needed was a clear understanding of what their function was in the organization. Kamile met with her boss and got his insight. Then she went back to the team and shared her expectations for the department. She didn’t stop there. She also asked her people for their ideas. Over the course of the meeting they reached agreement on what their primary roles should be. It took a couple of more meetings before everyone was on board, but eventually they developed a set of written expectations and objectives that everyone agreed with: They were beginning to think more like a team.

What expectations have you communicated to your team?

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Share the Responsibilities

You need to use several skills when sharing responsibilities. Perhaps the most important is delegation, which is covered in detail in Chapter 7. Effective first-line supervisors know that achieving organizational goals is not something they can do by themselves. They understand the importance of sharing responsibility for each component of the goal. This involves everyone in the process and normally results in more being done.

After the tasks have been assigned, the next step is to establish a system to help monitor and ensure results are achieved. The system should be simple yet carefully designed not to so restrict an employee’s freedom of action that it undercuts motivation. In some cases it can be as simple as a written report or a meeting in which people report their results to the team.

Kamile’s approach was to turn the department expectations into specific goals. It was clear that if all the goals were achieved, the department would meets its expectations. Then she let the team members decide for themselves who would be responsible for what goals. The result was that people took responsibility for what they did best. In some cases it was necessary for two or more people to work together to achieve a goal. When they were done everyone had assumed some degree of responsibility for helping the department meets its goals.

How have you shared your responsibilities with your team?

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Share the Glory

Leaders who forget to share the glory often find that their people quickly lose their sense of teamwork. When people work on something very hard only to have the supervisor take all the credit, they wonder why they bothered. If you don’t share the glory, your employees won’t share your enthusiasm for the work.

In order to maintain a sense of teamwork, you have to be accessible and responsive to your people. When they bring you a completed assignment, take time to review it as soon as possible. If it just lies on your desk, they get the message that it wasn’t all that important. As soon as you review the assignment, offer feedback. If it meets or exceeds your expectations, show some enthusiasm and encouragement. If your boss or others in the organization will review it, let employees know that you will give them credit for their work. Effective first-line supervisors know that when they share the glory, their people are more committed and eager to take on other tasks. People also have a better sense of teamwork when they know their efforts are properly recognized and rewarded.

Kamile used her twice-a-month department meetings to share success. Employees were given the opportunity to talk about the progress they had made on their goals and assignments. Kamile made a point to recognize their efforts. Sometimes it was with a few words of praise, sometimes she led the rest of the team in a round of applause, other times it was a special certificate of achievement. In many cases she found that it wasn’t the actual reward that was important—it was the fact that she had allowed employees to share in the glory of getting a job accomplished.

How have you shared the glory with your team?

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Exercise 1: A Group or a Team?

INSTRUCTIONS: Read each situation below and then describe what you would do to improve teamwork.

1. You have been assigned to lead a group made up of people from several different departments. You were told that the group’s assignment is to come up with a “Communications Improvement Plan” for the organization. You were given a list of names and told to schedule a meeting to get the ball rolling. The first meeting is scheduled for tomorrow and everyone has responded that they will attend. What would you do at the first meeting?

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2. You are a member of a task force that has been asked to come up with a new break room policy that will be implemented companywide when everyone moves into the new headquarters next month. The team has meet once previously and seemed confused about how much authority it had. As a result, they never had really discussed the policy. Instead, they got sidetracked into unrelated issues about the new building. If you were in charge of the team at the next meeting, what would you do?

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Suggested Answers

1. First, the group needs to reach agreement on its purpose and goals. Next, they should determine what communication areas they are going to review. Then, they need to develop a plan for gathering and analyzing information so they have a common approach for getting the job done. They also need to make team assignments, so that it is clear who will do what. During the meeting the team should determine if it needs to change the membership of the team so it represents a cross-section of the organization. They should also decide what process to use for reporting results back to the rest of the team.

2. First, you need to find out how much authority and responsibility the team has. Next, find out what is expected of the team so you can determine its purpose and goals. Are they to make policy recommendations or write a specific policy? Once the expectations are clear, keep the team focused on meeting those expectations. Also review the makeup of the team. Perhaps you need to add someone to the group who has experience in writing policy statements. You also should hold members accountable for staying on topic so the task force can meet its objectives.

BEING A VALUABLE TEAM MEMBER

Justin was the weekend supervisor for a retail shoe store that had five locations in one city. He did a good job of making sure things were running well and that customers were being taken care of when he was working. The store manager recognized his ability and asked Justin to be on a task force of supervisors from all the stores to come up with some ideas for improving weekend sales. Justin knew that his store was usually first or second in sales every weekend. He was proud of his accomplishments and didn’t want to share his “secrets” with anyone else. He told his manager that he wouldn’t have time to participate.

Justin’s unwillingness to be part of the task force (team) showed that he didn’t understand an important part of being a supervisor—that sometimes he would also have to be a team member. The most effective first-line supervisors know that developing a sense of teamwork means being a good team member themselves. They know they have to hold themselves to the same standards they have for their people.

Justin was short-sighted and didn’t see the big picture. Keep in mind that though you may be a supervisor, you are also a member of several teams. First, you are a member of your employees’ team, as well as being their supervisor. Second, you are a member of your boss’s team. Whether your boss practices all the teamwork skills described thus far, you can demonstrate the benefits of teamwork by how you interact with your supervisor. Third, you may be the member of a team of people drawn from several departments who are working on a specific project. Regardless of which team you are working with, it is your responsibility to be a valuable team member.

Exercise 2: Ten Keys to Being a Valuable Team Member

INSTRUCTIONS: Read each of the statements below. Circle the number that is nearest to how you see yourself, on a scale of 1 to 10, as a team member.

1. I practice “active listening.”

2. I promise only what I can deliver.

3. I deliver what I promise, and more.

4. I give credit to others rather than to myself.

5. I seek the contributions of others on a project.

6. I am willing to share my resources with others.

7. I work to resolve conflicts rather than to ignore them.

8. I maintain confidentiality when asked to do so.

9. I maintain a sense of humor even when situations are serious.

10. I smile as often as possible.

Add the numbers you have circled for the ten statements.

Total Score: ____________

If you scored:

85 or above: You are likely considered a valuable team member

75–84: You are making some contributions to the team

74 or less: You need to work on developing your teamwork skills

The next section explains how to use these important skills to be a valuable team member.

Use Active Listening

Use your active listening skills to ensure you understand others. Remember to listen for ideas, not just facts, and to control your emotional reactions. Keep an open mind when listening to what others say. Try to understand their point of view.

Listen more than you talk. When you don’t understand, ask questions to obtain more information. Test your understanding by paraphrasing and reflecting back what you heard the other person say. You always learn more by listening than you do by talking. When you listen you hear other people’s ideas, but when you’re talking, you hear only your own.

Avoid Making Commitments You Can’t Keep

Don’t tell someone you will do something and then fail to deliver. Whether it’s your boss, someone in another department, or one of your employees, do what you say you’ll do. If you find that you won’t be able to meet an agreed to deadline, talk to the other person as soon as possible. Don’t wait until the last minute.

Don’t take on projects that you know you can’t complete. If you can’t do something, it’s better to say no now than say later you couldn’t get the job done. People prefer hearing your honest reaction to being disappointed later when you fail to deliver.

Deliver What You Promise

Keeping your word is an important part of earning the respect and trust of those around you. If your teammates know they can count on you, you’ll find yourself being given more substantial responsibilities.

An even better strategy is to deliver more than you promised—and still do it on time. Whenever you exceed expectations, it makes you a more valuable team member. It’s like getting dessert free at your favorite restaurant for no apparent reason. You remember those times when you get more than you expected, and the people with whom you work remember your extra effort.

Give Credit to Others

Recognize the contributions of others to your success. There are very few things that you accomplish all by yourself. As noted earlier in this chapter, it’s better to acknowledge others. Remember to share the glory with your people; you’ll be seen as a more valuable team member.

Seek Contributions of Others

Teams aren’t teams unless they work together. When you are faced with a problem, ask other team members for suggestions. Don’t wait for them to come to you; they may not know you need help.

When you seek contributions from others, you usually find new ideas and different ways to look at things. You’ll also find that other people start coming to you for ideas. By working together, everyone benefits from the experience of other members of the team.

Share Your Resources

Providing support to other team members helps everyone make a more meaningful contribution. Perhaps your area’s workload has decreased a bit, whereas another supervisor is swamped. You may be able to provide, at least for a short time, someone from your group to help the other supervisor.

The old saying, “What goes around, comes around,” applies here. If you help out another supervisor, you increase the chances that the favor will be returned. The goal is to accomplish as much as possible with the resources available. This means helping each other and not hoarding your resources to the detriment of the organization.

Work to Resolve Workplace Issues

Be willing to openly confront problems knowing that resolving workplace issues can lead to new ideas and greater productivity. Don’t let problems or issues build up so they affect the attitude and productivity of your team. The sooner you resolve issues, the better off you are.

Keep Confidences

Resist the urge to use private information to appear valuable, important, or popular with other team members. Respecting all confidences entrusted to you goes a long way to earning the trust and respect of fellow team members.

Being in on the grapevine may seem like a way to be in on life. However, in the long run, you will find better sources of information than gossip and rumors. If you rely on these usually unreliable sources of information, you may find that you get cut off from information about what is really happening.

Maintain a Sense of Humor

A sense of humor can keep minor situations from becoming serious problems. Don’t take things too seriously, acting as if there’s no tomorrow. To look at some people, you’d think that having fun was incompatible with having a job. Most of us spend more waking hours at work than anywhere else—so why not make it enjoyable?

Having a sense of humor doesn’t mean making light of every situation or treating work as a joke. It simply means not treating work as a life and death matter. Keep your perspective and look for the humorous side of things, even if the laugh is on you. Worthwhile work is fun.

Smile

A smile says, “I’m friendly.” Team members prefer to work with someone who is happy, and it’s hard to get angry with someone who is genuinely happy. A smile helps keep people relaxed and in good spirits. A frown, on the other hand, can make people less open and more tentative in the way they approach their work. You’ll be surprised what a difference a smile makes in your own attitude as well as the attitude of those around you.

OBSTACLES TO TEAM DEVELOPMENT

No matter what you do, you’ll probably find some people who do not want to be part of a team. Some of their reasons may be valid, others may not. Even with unwilling team members, it is possible to create an effective team by focusing your people on the possibilities of success rather than on their actual or perceived problems. Here is where your skill as a first-line supervisor will be challenged. Exhibit 6–1 describes some of the most common obstacles to team development and provides some suggestions on what you can do to deal with these obstacles.

Your job is to create the right environment, one that allows people to motivate themselves and feel that they are making a contribution. This can mean having individual meetings with people who don’t seem to want to be involved. You have to find out why they don’t want to be part of the team and address their concerns. Use this opportunity to reaffirm your belief in the team concept and its benefits. This educational process may take some work but, in the end, it is worth it. Adopting the team concept is an important step in establishing a climate in which people are inspired to do their very best.

Exercise 3: Removing Obstacles to Team Development

INSTRUCTIONS: Put yourself on the spot for a minute. What do you do that is an obstacle to developing your team? List any obstacle and what action you could take.

I am an obstacle because:

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Actions I could take are:

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Once you remove your own obstacles, think about the members of your team. Do any of them have obstacles that you might be able to help them remove?

Team Member: ________________________

Obstacle:

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How I could help them:

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Team Member: _________________________

Obstacle:

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How I could help them:

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In this chapter, you learned about the importance and benefits of teamwork. Throughout history, humans have formed groups. Some of these groups became teams when they recognized the resulting benefits.

One definition of a team (a small number of people with complementary skills who are committed to a common purpose, performance goals, and approach for which they hold themselves mutually accountable) was presented and discussed in detail. We also reviewed some specific steps you can take to transform your group into a team.

One of the keys to developing teamwork is to be a good team member yourself. We identified and discussed the ten keys for being a valuable team member. You were asked to rate your own skills on being a team member and were given some guidelines on how to use these skills to be a valuable team member.

Finally, you learned about the obstacles to team development. The reasons why some people do not want to be part of a team were presented along with suggestions on how to deal with their resistance. In the end, your job is to create the right environment that allows people to motivate themselves and to feel they are making a contribution to the team’s success.

Exercise 4: Taking It Back to the Workplace

INSTRUCTIONS: Now that you have completed the reading and the activities in this chapter, it’s time to think specifically about how to apply what you have learned. The following questions are designed to help you consider what you need to do to succeed back in the workplace.

What benefits have you experienced from teamwork?

What actions do you need to take to improve your team’s effectiveness?

How well do you share expectations? Share responsibilities? Share the glory?

What obstacles are preventing you from having an effective team?

What is your plan for removing these obstacles?