“If everyone gives one thread, the poor man will have a shirt” Team Building “If everyone gives one thread, the poor man will have a shirt”

Team Building What is the meaning of a team? - A team is defined as a group of individuals organized to work together to accomplish a set of objectives that cannot be achieved effectively by one individual

Team Building Whether it is an organization, church, club, or institution, teams must be formed in order to increase productivity, create synergy, and improve on the overall development. Building a winning team far exceed just hiring a bunch of talented and skilled individuals.

Team Building It means hiring people who can work well together It means developing a shared vision and commitment It means physically bringing people together in formal group meetings for open discussion of broad-based issues

Team Building It means encouraging positive, informal interactions between group members. It means instilling a winning attitude throughout the organization It means watching for and quickly trying to reverse team-building problems such as jealousy, cynicism and defensive behaviour

Team Building In order to create an effective team, each member must contribute to the process and this requires that each member must take responsibility for the team’s success. To build a winning team, people need to be shown what direction the company is headed in and to buy into that direction because every single member is responsible for the success or failure of the team

Team Building As a team member, your role is not to be just an attendee, spectator, or complainer but an active participating member in achieving the team’s goals. This is not an easy job but it is the responsibility as a team member to ensure that your job is completed to the best of your ability.

Team Building There are several characteristics that make up a team and they are as follows – There must be an awareness of unity on the part of all the team members Team members must have a chance to contribute, and learn from and work with others Each team member must have the ability to act together towards a common goal

Team Building Team members must share a sense of why the team exists and must invest in accomplishing the mission and goals Team members must know what needs to be done next, by whom, and when to achieve team goals Team members should know their roles in getting tasks done and when to allow a more skillful member to do a certain task

Team Building Team members must clearly understand authority and decision making lines Team members must deal with conflict openly and this is considered very important to decision-making and personal growth Team members should feel that their unique personalities are appreciated and well utilized

Team Building Group norms and expectations for working together are set and seen as standards for everyone in the groups Each team member must find team meetings efficient and productive and look forward to this time together Team members must know clearly when the team has met with success and share in this equally and proudly

Team Building Opportunity for feedback and updating skills are provided and taken advantage of by all team members

Team Building Building a Team An intricate part of creating a winning team is to have continuous group meetings. Meetings, or even celebrations with as many people as possible from the entire organization help to build a feeling of solidarity throughout the organization. It is important for everyone to participate in smaller group meeting where work is done and decision can be made.

Team Building Therefore, each team member should feel apart of the process and this adds motivation to the group. Team meetings should be held on a regular basis that gives team members the opportunity to voice their opportunity on the direction that their team has taken and to provide feedback on substantive issues.

Team Building Getting people to work together - The most difficult part of building a team is motivating and encouraging positive informal communication between team members especially when the team leader is not present. There are several ways to combat this problem and here are a few tips –

Team Building Assign specific projects for 2 team members to work on together Try to arrange for close proximity of offices Create an incentive-pay plan based on a common goals such as profitability Have a specific part of the salary review dependent upon “interaction with others’ Take your team off-site for formal meetings as well as casual get-together to build a sense of bonding

Team Building Team destroyers There are 3 factors that can destroy a team Jealousy – This emotion seems to raise its ugly head whenever a new team member is hired into the group that may seem to be more qualified. Go out of your way as team leader to let the other team members know how much their work is appreciated

Team Building Cynicism – Some people are just negative by nature. Others might feel that the institution cannot possibly prosper. Efforts must be made to emphasize the institution’s positive achievements to the group. Do not hesitate to confront any openly cynical individual and demand their behaviour change at once.

Team Building Lack of confidence – Some team members may lack confidence in themselves and view attacks on their opinions as personal attacks therefore when statements such as “are you saying my years of experience does not count” occur, Stop any discussion like this immediately and, in a private one-on-one meeting, patiently point out the defensive behaviour

Team Building There are 4 stages of Team Building – Stage 1 – Forming – In this stage team members rely on safe, patterned behaviour and look to the team leader for guidance and direction. Stage 2 – Storming – This stage is characterized by the competition and conflict that occurs in this newly formed team. Although conflicts may or may not surface as group issues, they still do exist

Team Building Stage 3 – Norming – During this stage, team members become aware and acknowledge the contribution of all team members as well as the solving team issues Stage 4 – Performing – This stage is not reached by all teams. If a team is able to evolve to this stage then people can work independently, in subgroups, or as a total unit with equal facility.

Team Building Within the boundaries of a team, each member of the team assumes a role. These roles can be the following – The summarizer – this individual urges the group to acknowledge consensus and reach a decisions well as they might be seen as the “energizer bunny

Team Building The Orienter – This individual prevents the team from wandering too far from the topic. The Fact Seeker – This individual tests the reality to make sure the decision the team is about to make is doable The Initiator – This individual gets the team started on the right foot by always beginning discussions with the question “How should we approach this task?”

Team Building The Harmonizer – This individual realizes that conflicts is inevitable and that if left unresolved, it is the biggest barrier to a team’s achieving health and success The Analyzer – This individual watches for changes in the vital signs of the team and brings these changes to the attention of the team

Team Building The Gatekeeper – This individual is concerned primarily with team communication and participation The Encourager – This individual builds and sustains the team energy by showing support for everyone’s efforts, ideas, and achievements

Team Building Once team members assume these roles then it opens the way for increase productivity and overall unity and task completion. Depending on the amount of team members involved, team members may assume more than one role within the team dynamics.

Team Building Every organization/institution/company would like to cultivate high performance teams to achieve their set goals, vision, or objectives. The characteristics that are required for good team building are as follows – A high level of interdependence among team members A team leader who has good people skills and is committed to team approach

Team Building Each team member is willing to contribute The team is able to develop a relaxed climate for communication Team members are able to develop mutual respect and trust Team members are prepared to take risks to achieve their goals Team members roles are defined Team members know how to examine team and individual errors without personal attacks

Team Building Team members have the capacity to create new ideas Each team member knows he/she can influence the team agenda for the good of the overall objective