Team Building: Pre-Mid

Summary
Prof. Archana Shukla
Indian Institute of Management Lucknow

Building Effective Teams

Effective Team Mandate

Mandate

Composition

Effective Team Composition

Process

Effective Team Process

The Team Mandate

Understand the scope and context of the
team, the expected deliverables, and
timeliness
Clarity is necessary for commitment and
accountability

Team Composition

Have Diversity and handle diversity

Cognitive Diversity-differences in how
members perceive the team challenges and
opportunities, Options to be evaluated and
optimal course of action
No single team member having monopoly on
wisdom, cognitive diversity always a source of
strength
Divergent perspectives foster creativity and
more comprehensive search for assessment of
options
Size
Core team and sub teams

The Effective Team Process

To facilitate open and rich communication among

the team members and cultivate the culture of
trust
Establish the ground rules that reflect desired
norms of behavior and can act as a selfPolicing mechanism
Handle Behavioral diversity
Conflict resolution and integrating skills
Expertise in process management including
Diagnosing problems and assessing
situations
Generating and evaluating options

Effective Team Process (cont.)

Adopting data driven decision to avoid opinion

driven decision
Discussions based on opinions can degenerate
into personal attacks
Conflicting ideas can be evaluated more
objectively by factual data
Develop alternatives to enrich debate

Dialectical inquiry- to develop the full fledged counter

approach based on different assumptions, then a debate
ensues on the merits of the plan and the counter plan
Devils Advocate team critiques a potential solution
(But does not necessarily develop a full blown counter
approach)

Building a team orientation

The power and importance of a super-ordinate

goal (or a common purpose) which binds
people together, brings their commitment to
the purpose and the task at hand
Various levels of accountabilities people share
while working together individual, mutual,
and team level
Appreciation for interdependence among
different individuals in performing a common
task, and therefore highlight the need for
complementary skills and willing cooperation

Team dynamics

Team problem solving and decision making

Analyze the situation

Define the agenda/ objectives
Evolve criteria for evaluating the options
Prioritize criteria
Generate options
Evaluate options with the criteria
Choose the best option
Handling task (quality) and people (acceptance)

Team dynamics

Team problem solving and decision making

Handling group dynamics

Playing roles coordinator, collaborator, communicator,
challenger
Managing conflict
Avoiding groupthink
Avoiding clique formations
Referring back to the criteria/ agenda reinforcing the
norms
Separate people from the problem
Empathy
Diversity contributing to team decision making
Creating an environment for open discussion

The Problem Solving Process

Deciding Priorities
Analyzing the problem at several levels
Generating alternatives
Discussing consequences of each
alternative
Developing criteria for discussion
Reviewing

Tuckmans Five stages of team

development
Forming
High dependence on leader for guidance and
direction.
Little agreement on team aims other than
received from leader.
Individual roles and responsibilities are unclear.
Leader must be prepared to answer lots of
questions about the team's purpose, objectives
and external relationships.
Processes are often ignored. Members test
tolerance of system and leader. Leader directs

Storming

Decisions don't come easily within group. Team

members vie for position as they attempt to
establish themselves in relation to other team
members and the leader, who might receive
challenges from team members.
Clarity of purpose increases but plenty of
uncertainties persist.
Cliques and factions form and there may be
power struggles.
The team needs to be focused on its goals to
avoid becoming distracted by relationships and
emotional issues. Compromises may be required
to enable progress. Leader coaches

Norming

Agreement and consensus is largely forms among

team, who respond well to facilitation by leader.
Roles and responsibilities are clear and accepted.
Big decisions are made by group agreement.
Smaller decisions may be delegated to individuals
or small teams within group.
Commitment and unity is strong. The team may
engage in fun and social activities.
The team discusses and develops its processes
and working style. There is general respect for
the leader and some of leadership is more shared
by the team. Leader facilitates and enables

Performing

The team is more strategically aware; the team

knows clearly why it is doing what it is doing.
The team has a shared vision and is able to stand
on its own feet with no interference or participation
from the leader.
There is a focus on over-achieving goals, and the
team makes most of the decisions against criteria
agreed with the leader.
The team has a high degree of autonomy.
Disagreements occur but now they are resolved
within the team positively and necessary changes
to processes and structure are made by the team.

Performing continues-The team is able to work towards

achieving the goal, and also to attend to
relationship, style and process issues
along the way. team members look after
each other.
The team requires delegated tasks and
projects from the leader. The team does
not need to be instructed or assisted.
Team members might ask for assistance
from the leader with personal and
interpersonal development. Leader
delegates and oversees

Team roles

Coordination

Collaboration

Gate-keeping of the discussion with reference to the

group agenda in terms of criteria, norms,
seeing patterns in the discussion

Communication

Moderation, synthesis, facilitation, paraphrasing,

summary

Facilitating member participation

Challenge

Question the basic assumptions of the team work/ task

Task Facilitating Process

Initiative
Information seeking
Information giving
Summarizing
Synthesizing
Time keeping

Group Facilitating Factors

Concern for others
Listening
Identifying and using resources
Discussing underlying assumptions&logic
Testing consensus and disagreements
Process orientation

Hindering Factors
Domination by a few
Withdrawal
Tendency to make quick decision
Testing strength
Avoiding confrontation
Trading or compromising

Thank you