Tips for Building a Better Team Laree Kiely, Ph.D.

What is a TEAM? Two or more people Working toward the same goals Interdependent in the way they accomplish their work

Five Dysfunctions of a Team 1.Absence of trust 2.Fear of conflict 3.Lack of commitment 4.Avoidance of accountability 5.Failure to focus on goals Patrick Lencioni

The Team’s Context

External Environment

Organizational climate

Team

Hire the right people: “Hire hard so you can manage easy!” Make sure your expectations of each individual are clear Make sure your expectations of the “team” as a single unit are clear Continue to develop them Hire for diversity; allow disagreement; expect collaboration Talent

Let them develop their “charter” Why do we exist? External first For whom? How can we best serve our external “client” or consumer? Purpose

Conduct a “sacrifice session” every two years or so Help them discover their “interdependencies” Let them question, develop and test new effective and efficient workflow: “Staple me to a client” Keep them up-to-date on technology: “Frontloading”--it takes time to save time Change: Here’s what is changing and why; ask them “how should we adapt to this?” Process

Conduct some type of “style” assessment Develop their communication, interaction, negotiation, and critical thinking skills Insist on “genchi genbutsu” Tools

Lead with questions Listen Explain, especially the “why” Have HIGH, but not outrageous expectations Feedback, feedback, feedback!!! Meet for the purpose of discussion not just information dumping Conduct a “teaming” session, some of which should be fun! Celebrate successes Team leader