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TEAMWORK TOOLKIT
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Unforgettable Business
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Building a Better Team Requires Multiple Tools
Teams are two or more individuals working together adaptively, interdependently, and dynamically toward
a common goal.

Read the definition of “what is a team?” above, and it is not difficult to see why human beings sometimes find
teamwork a challenge. With our myriad experiences, expertise and personalities, how easy is it for a random
group of people to come together and work “adaptively, interdependently and dynamically” to achieve a
common goal?

Most of us have had the experience of being part of a team – and while experience is a highly effective
teacher, it can also be a highly inefficient one. Trial and error teaches us a lot, but the most effective people
find ways to accelerate the learning process to avoid the worst errors. And one critical way to accelerate
learning is to find effective tools, based on the best available evidence, that inherently help avoid the most
costly and painful pitfalls.

The practical guidelines in the Teamwork Toolkit can be used immediately, as part of your Capsim simulation
experience, but are applicable also to almost every type of team setting. Taking the opportunity to practice
with these tools now, is likely to provide a significant future return to you in the form of increased team
effectiveness and team performance.

Five Team Effectiveness Tools

Here are five tools that form a step-by-step guide your team can use to improve the decision-making process.

1. Creating a Team Charter

Teams that plan well, play well. A team charter represents an agreement among team members as to how the
team will work together to make decisions and share responsibility in getting the team’s work done. Capsim
recommends you spend time using this tool to plan your teamwork strategies before you begin your taskwork.

2. Running an Effective Meeting

Most people experience meetings as a waste of time. This Toolkit provides guidance on how to keep meetings
focused and how to engage in productive use of time and resources.

3. Reducing “Social Loafing”

Yes, everyone slacks off from time-to-time, but in teams, it’s almost a guarantee that at least one individual
will not pull his or her own weight. Anticipating this and discussing what to do ahead of time almost always
improves each team member’s contributions to the team’s success. Guidance is provided on how to anticipate
and terminate social loafing before it happens.

4. Resolving Conflict
Conflict is natural part of teamwork, but that doesn’t make it good. In fact, a team’s ability to effectively
manage conflict is one of the critical success factors for team performance. These guidelines help teams
discuss the inevitable conflict and decide how to deal with it, because letting conflict go unchecked or acting
like it doesn’t exist is not a winning strategy.

5. Using Team Feedback for Development

Too often, team projects are completely void of feedback regarding teamwork – the processes the team uses
to accomplish its work. In Capsim simulations, teams are provided extensive data that can be used to improve
a team’s overall functioning. TeamMATE helps teams process those data and maximize their opportunities for
improvement.

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Team Tool 1: How to Create a Team Charter
If you want to become a great team, develop a team charter. A team charter represents an agreement
among team members as to how the team will work together in making decisions and sharing the
responsibility of getting the work done. Although team charters typically result in a written document
that can be revisited anytime during a given project, the real value of a team charter is the opportunity
to establish clear expectations for team member behavior.

Exercise to Create a Team Charter

1. Individual Preparation
Prior to developing the team charter with other team members, each team member should answer the
following key questions about their personal capabilities. It is critical that individuals provide honest
responses because future work assignments might hinge on the responses provided:

• What can you tell the team about yourself (where you grew up, your key expertise, career aspirations,
and how you spend your free time).

• Provide your primary contact information and the best method to contact you with short-notice.

• What is your availability in terms of hours and days and preferred work times?

• What are your best business-related strengths and weaknesses, including what subjects/ courses in
which have you performed best?

• How do you prefer to communicate with others (e.g., face-to-face, email, etc)?

• Is there anything the team should know about you or any constraints that could impact you ability to
be a productive team member during the project period?

2. Hold a Team Charter Meeting

This should be the sole focus of the meeting. In most cases it will be unrealistic to try to create a team
charter and engage in task-related work in the same meeting.
• Share team member information from step one above.

• As a team, discuss how the members would like to operate the team and the type of team member
behaviors they most desire. Complete the following table:

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 Expectation Area Team Agreement
Goals:
• What are your goals for team performance?
Be specific.

Roles & Responsibilities:

• Who will be responsible for what during the
project including meeting minutes?

• Who will cover for (back-up) a member who is

unable to contribute?

• How often will the team meet and for how long?

Desired Team Member Work Behavior:

What are the expectations for:
• Meeting attendance?
• Work outside of scheduled team meetings?
• Quality of work?
• Cooperation and attitude?
• Communication timeliness?
• Contribution of ideas?

Team Member Performance:

• How will the team reward positive team member
contributions?

• How will the team sanction poor performance

or manage members who are not contributing
according to expectations?

3. Create Draft Document and Circulate

Assign a team member the responsibility of producing a document representing the team’s discussion and
agreement on the questions contained in the team charter. Circulate the draft among the team and incorporate
any edits or changes that are warranted. Include all preferred contact information of all team members on the
bottom of the document. This should be done prior to the next meeting.

4. Review, Sign, and Bring to All Team Meetings

At the next team meeting, have all team members sign the final copy as an endorsement of their commitment
to the team charter. In a class situation, you may choose to turn it in to your instructor as a way to increase
peoples’ feelings of commitment to the charter agreements. Bring the signed copy to all team meetings and
review it as necessary when discrepancies exist regarding agreed upon acceptable behavior.

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Team Tool 2: How to Run an Effective Team Meeting
If there is one universal complaint about teams it is that team meetings are unproductive at best and
dysfunctional at worst. One way to improve the quality of a team meeting is to use a consistent structure. Team
members will become accustomed to, and in fact crave, a consistent approach. The elements of a great team
meeting include preparing for the meeting, orchestrating the meeting, and following-up with meeting decisions.
Below are tips for creating productive structures for team meetings as well as for being a productive individual
contributor to team meetings.

Structure of a Quality Team Meeting

1.Determine the Need for or Purpose of the Meeting

Meetings are most critical when it comes to working on solving complex problems that require multiple skills,
judgments and experiences. Determine the primary purpose of the meeting before scheduling the meeting. In
many cases, it may become clear that a meeting is unnecessary or that not all of the team members need to
attend.

2. Plan Ahead / Use an Agenda

The best way to plan for a meeting is for a team member to create a meeting agenda for each and every
meeting. Always work from an agenda, even if the primary task is the same from meeting to meeting, because it
will be helpful to remind team members of the meeting’s structure.

• Prior to the meeting, the team member should circulate a draft of agenda items and ask for other items to be
discussed. Consider rotating this role among team members each meeting.

• Organize the agenda by content, not by who is in attendance. For instance, an agenda item should not read,
“Bob to share thoughts on ROA drivers” but rather, “Discussion of ROA drivers.”

• Assign time limits for each agenda item, dedicating the most time to issues requiring extensive discussion
and team decisions, then to information sharing and brainstorming, and finally to follow-up items for the
next meeting.

• Socializing is both appropriate and important for team cohesion, but can also derail a well-in tended agenda.
Keep socializing to a minimum and after finishing the meeting’s agenda.

3. Conduct the Meeting as Planned

• Restate the purpose of the meeting and review the agenda.

• Appoint a scribe to record the discussion and outcomes of the meeting and a timekeeper to monitor time
relative to the agenda (rotate these roles).

• Use “go-arounds” and directly ask for each individual’s input in relation to his or her previous assignments or
areas of expertise.

• Use “parking lots” (i.e., written record of important issues that arise and need to be discussed but are not on
the current agenda) to defer off-task ideas to future meetings.

• Explicitly attach action assignments to specific members and get public ownership (in front of the team) of
their commitment to complete the assigned task by a specific deadline.

• Close every meeting with a brief summary of what was accomplished; clearly restate any action items for
which team members are responsible. Record assignments in meeting minutes.

• Schedule the next meeting and assign the agenda-drafting role to a specific team member.

• Circulate meeting minutes within 24 hours following the meeting (which includes follow-up assignments).

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How to Be a Great Team Member During Meetings
Here are key things you can do to make sure you maximize your contribution to any given meeting:

1. Prepare
The success of any team meeting depends on each individual team member. Thus, the most important step
in helping your team be successful is being prepared for a meeting. This includes reading relevant reports
or information pertinent to the agenda items, following through on assigned work and generating questions
you would like the group to consider.

2. Ask for Clarification

If you don’t understand, chances are someone else doesn’t either. Revisit common goals to remind the
group of its central task.

3. Seek the Input of Others and be Supportive of Others

Ask questions and seek input from team members who may be less willing to share their opinions and
perspectives. Validate others’ ideas as legitimate before offering your own perspective.

4. Take Initiative
Volunteer to support the team by taking minutes or monitoring time or to engage in extra work on behalf of
the team.

5. Listen / Turn off Phone

Nothing shuts down a meeting like not listening or trying to “multi-task.” Avoid texting and emailing during
meetings and use good non-verbal active listening techniques (e.g., head nods) to demonstrate your respect
for others and your own interest in the topic.

6. Contribute to Discussion but Always be Concise

Participate but don’t dominate. Anecdotes and personal stories have a place, but they are rarely appropriate
or productive in meetings. Be thorough but concise in making your points.

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Team Tool 3: How to Reduce “Social Loafing”
One of the most frustrating aspects of working in teams is the experience of social loafing, also known as
“free riding,” where at least one member doesn’t contribute his or her best effort during a given project.
Social loafing is so common that virtually everyone reports having engaged in social loafing on a team at
one point or another. The good news is that with some planning and monitoring, a team can substantially
decrease the likelihood of social loafing and – at the same time – enhance the team’s overall performance.
Most important, if you engage in creating a team charter (Tool 1) and follow the guidelines in running an
effective meeting (Tool 2), you’re already well on your way to reducing the likelihood of individual free-
riding.

Ensuring Team Member Performance

1. Make all Contributions Identifiable

When members know that the team will be reviewing their work progress regularly, they are more likely
to stay on top of their individual assignments. Instead of making general assignments to the group, (e.g.,
“everyone come back next week with two articles related to improving market visibility”), seek to tie work to
specific team members (e.g., “Jim and Tammy, please return next week with a short summary of two articles
related to improving market visibility that you will share with the group. We will allow 15 minutes on the
agenda for this”).

2. Make Activities/Assignments Interesting

Not all work team members do is fun or motivating. Identify early in the project team member’s areas of
interest and talent (see Tool 1, Team Charters). Seek to assign work to members in their areas of interest
and strength, unless individuals are specifically looking to engage in work that can serve as a development
opportunity.

3. Reward Good Performance

Although people do like financial incentives, such incentives are not always effective in rewarding teamwork.
In business teams, rewards can be of a more symbolic nature; anything that would make a team member feel
appreciated for his or her contributions. These rewards can come at any time, but should be tied directly
to performance and effort and not given before performance and effort are demonstrated. Examples might
include two iTunes gift cards the team purchases collectively to go to the team’s major contributors, an
appreciation email to the effective contributor’s supervisor or instructor about his or her performance, or
even a “week off” of work outside team meetings.

4. Strengthen Team Cohesion

Teams that stick together are more likely to have members who are committed to the team’s overall
objectives. Some relatively easy tactics for improving team cohesion include scheduling social time with
the entire group (e.g., happy-hour following a team meeting) and celebrating success together. Also
effective is using a competitive situation (such as the business simulation) to focus attention on beating the
competition.

5. Explicitly Set Positive Team Norms

Team’s that set productive or positive norms or expectations for behaviors are more likely to have
productive team members. Early in the team’s formation, discuss expectations for key desired behavior
around issues of individual contribution, professional behavior, quality of work, and attitude toward the
project. For example, a productive norm would be to agree that meetings start and stop on time and
its expected that members show up on time. An unproductive norm would be to allow meetings to go
unmanaged giving members the feeling that their time is not being respected. Again, if you follow the
instructions in Tool 1 and create a team charter, you will have accomplished this and taken a significant step
in reducing free-riding.

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Team Tool 4: How to Resolve Team Conflict
Conflict is an inevitable reality of working in teams. That’s not to say that its prevalence makes it easier to deal with,
but rather all great teams and team members know to expect conflict. Although conflict stems from multiple sources
such as ideas or poor relationships, the process for resolving conflict generally involves two major phases. First,
acknowledge that the conflict exists and second, deal with it proactively. Don’t wait for conflict to spin out of control
and take on a life of its own. Below are tips for actively managing conflict within teams as well as for effectively dealing
with a “problem” team member.

Actively Managing Team Conflict

1. Focus on the Content of Conflict

When conflict degrades into disagreements that are rooted in dislike for others or interpersonal differences (i.e.,
“personality clashes”), it becomes difficult to move on. Any member of the team can play an important role to refocus
members on information. Head off interpersonal problems by tackling them directly and discussing openly your
concerns with others. Say to others for example, “Jane, that comment seemed to be a personal attack on Ted, could
you restate your concern about Ted’s idea without attacking Ted?” The success of your team depends on building
consensus, even when differences of opinion exist.

2. Manage Fairness Perceptions

Much team conflict comes from the perception that others are carrying more of the workload or that assignments
were not based upon legitimate criteria like knowledge or skills. Use Tool 1 (Team Charter) to establish criteria for how
assignments are made and stick to the agreement.

3. Make Concessions
We often believe that it’s better to be “right” than to be effective. In other words, not all fights are worth having. Think
carefully about whether the team will benefit more from taking a principled stand on an issue or whether making a
concession to others’ points of view is most effective for any given decision. In many cases, there are multiple ways to
be effective and it won’t be worth the costs to your team to introduce the conflict.

Special Conflict Case: Managing the “Problem” Teammate

Tool 3 (Social Loafing) discussed how to establish team practices that will help reduce social loafing. Even with such
practices in place, a team member may still under perform with respect to the team’s expectations. A “problem”
teammate is one who fits the following criteria: 1) the member’s performance is below expectations of the team; 2)
multiple opportunities for performance improvement have been provided by the team; and 3) the under performance
is due to the member’s lack of effort, not skills. The last criterion is important to tease apart. If a team member is not
performing because he or she lacks critical skills, the first step is to try to find assignments that are better matched to
their capabilities. If the team member meets these guidelines for a “problem” teammate, the following intervention is
warranted. The intervention is best accomplished in a face-to-face meeting with one or two other team members (e.g.,
an appointed team leader or a respected team member).

1. Agree on the Problem

The team member needs to recognize and own that his or her performance is below standards.

• Be specific about what has transpired. For example, say “Fred, as you know we’ve asked you to complete a
competitive analysis three weeks in a row and each time you return without having completed your work in full.
This has had a negative impact on our team’s ability to accomplish its work in a timely way and is not in-line with
our agreement about assigned work and dead lines. Are you willing to make a commitment today to improve
your performance?”

• If the answer is not “yes”, you can’t move on and may have to move to talking about implications for Fred,
(e.g., a “zero” on peer evaluations or a dismissal from the team).

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2. Discuss Solutions
What will the member do to improve his/her performance?

• If you get loose commitments, like “I’ll work harder…” the team member is not likely to improve. Ask the person for
behavioral changes, for example, “Fred, next week we have a critical decision to make, what do you need to do differently
that will ensure you contribute your analysis on time this week?”

3. Action Plan
Have the team member email a letter to you or the entire team with the steps for improvement, a deadline for improvement,
and any resources (e.g., help from others) he/she will require. The plan should be highly specific, for example:

• On October 13, contact library for access to database, record analysis and send to Jim.

• By October 15, read and summarize key steps for marketing strategies and share with entire group to solicit feedback
and edits.

• Submit final report to team no later than October 17.

4. Provide Feedback and Reinforce Improvement

As the member is starting to work through the action plan, provide feedback and reinforcement of effort. For instance,
“Hey Fred, just a quick note to thank you for sticking to your plan, it looks like you’re on your way to getting the work
accomplished.”

Team Tool 5: How to Effectively Utilize Team Feedback

Capsim provides the opportunity for teams to receive developmental feedback at multiple points in time over the course
of the simulation. This feedback is based on the critical success factors that were discussed in the lecture/video, Becoming
a High Performing Team. Recall that these included four individual-level success factors (the “four Ps”) and five team-level
success factors (the “five Cs”).

Using Capsim Individual Performance Feedback Data

1. Identify Areas for Personal Improvement

Looking at your own performance feedback, what areas if any do believe you should focus on for improvement?

2. Create An Action Plan

Select up to three behaviors to focus on strengthening between now and the next survey. Create a short action plan
describing an effort to improve the behavior(s) selected (see below).
• Be specific. State exactly what will happen between now and the next feedback point.
• Use behavioral language, for example, “By October 23, I will carefully listen to others and eliminate all interruptions during
team meetings.
• Track progress. Be sure to assess your improvement. For instance, in the example above you could record how many times
you find yourself interrupting others during team meetings.

3. Share Results
When individuals are serious about improvement, they share action plans with the team. This will communicate or signal to
the team that the feedback is: a) received and processed and b) being acted upon for improvement.

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Using Capsim Team Performance Feedback Data

1. Identify Areas for Team Improvement

Looking at your team’s scores on the team-level success factors, ask what areas if any do you believe the team
should focus on for improvement? Discuss as a team the ways in which the team can improve their overall
functioning between now and the next survey point.

2. Create an Action Plan

Create a short action plan describing specific tactics the team will use to improve their teamwork functioning.
• Use the following statement if you need help making it behavioral and specific: Over the next two weeks, we
will improve our by engaging in the following behaviors .

• For example, the team might state, “By October 22, we will include 10 minutes on each meeting’s agenda to
allow for more input from all team members to discuss our current strategic position. We will do so by going
around the table and asking for each member’s input.”

• Track progress. As with individual improvement, be sure to assess the team’s improvement.

3. Share Results
A team member should finalize the action plan and distribute to the team members. Even if not required to do
so, consider sharing the document with your instructor to demonstrate your commitment to improvement.

If Only All Work Teams Were Capsim Teams!

In the reality of real work teams, such feedback is not likely to be programmed into teamwork. Great teams
learn how to review their teamwork at multiple and regular intervals over the course of a project by asking the
following key questions:

How well does the team….

1. Listen to each other’s’ ideas?
2. Have clear goals and understood by all team members?
3. Follow its agenda?
4. Honor its charter agreements?
5. Fully utilize peoples’ skills?
6. Resolve conflict or differences of opinion?

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Team Tool References
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trajectories: The roles of team charters and performance strategies. Journal of Applied
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2. Baldwin, T. T., Bommer, W. H., & Rubin, R. S. (2012). Managing organizational behavior:
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NY: Harper Collins.

3. Brickner, M. A., Harkins, S. G., Ostrom, T. M. (1986). Effects of personal involvement:

Thought-provoking implications for social loafing. Journal of Personality and Social
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team: A guide for managers (4th Ed.). Boston, MA: Prentice Hall.

4. Baldwin, T. T., Bommer, W. H., & Rubin, R. S. (2012). Managing organizational behavior:
What great managers know and do. Burr Ridge, IL: McGraw Hill; Thompson, L. L. (2011).
Making the team: A guide for managers (4th Ed.). Boston, MA: Prentice Hall.

5. Brutus, S. & Donia, M. B. L. (2010). Improving the effectiveness of students in groups with
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652-662; Dominick, P. G., Reilly, R. R. & McGourty, J. W. (1997). The effects of peer feedback
on team member behavior. Group & Organization Management, 22, 508-520.

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