Team Training
* Adapted from Salas & Canon-Bowers
Dr. Steve
Training & Development
INP6325
Team Training Issues
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Increasing reliance on teams in orgs
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Focus on Social Psych research in group dynamics
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Tasks getting more complex
E.g., social loafing, groupthink, communication
How team training differs from individual training
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Focus on interdependence of task KSAs,
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Whereas individual training focuses on content, team training
focuses on content + coordination
An effective team is greater than the sum of its parts
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Ad hoc teams (e.g., all star teams) vs. intact teams
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Intact teams usually more effective
Team Training
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Variables Affecting Team Training
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Team leadership
Team members
Task characteristics
Team Success
In order to be successful, team members must
possess:
 Necessary KSAs, motivation, experience,
personalities, and knowledge of role
 Ability to synchronize events and resources,
coordinate behaviors, and pool information
ABCs of Team Performance
TEAM PERFORMANCE
ATTITUDES
(Affect)
- Potency
- Cohesion & Morale
- Collective Orientation
BEHAVIORS
(Skills)
- Compensatory
behavior
- Shared problem
models
COGNITION
(Knowledge)
- Shared mental
models
- Implicit coordination
Shared Mental Models
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Shared mental models allow members to anticipate
each others’ actions and requests
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E.g., football team in which every player
understands the play and knows what all
other teammates will do before they do it.
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Not just procedures, ability to adapt to change
and anticipate others’ actions and tendencies
Effective teams can coordinate with very little
communication under stressful conditions because they
use implicit coordinating methods (Kleinman & Serfaty)
Conducting Team Training
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What makes team training different from individual
training?
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Team structures vary (e.g., status differences, group
dynamics, norms)
Task is interdependent
Communication among members
Pooled resources, info from multiple sources
Constant coordination among individual efforts
Conducting Team Training
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Team training learning environment
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Must create environment where team members receive
knowledge about team missions, objectives, tasks, and
role expectations
Must allow members to understand and observe KSAs
and required performance
Must be able to practice individual and team skills and
receive feedback on both kinds
Must include tools for diagnosing, assessing, and
correcting team performance
Team Performance Model
Input
Variables
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•
•
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Individual characteristics
Team characteristics
Task characteristics
Work characteristics
Team
Processes
Team
Outcomes
• Coordination
• Cooperation
• Communication
•
•
•
•
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Moderators
Quality
Quantity
Latency
Errors
Satisfaction
• Organizational Characteristics
(resources available)
• Environmental Characteristics
(stress)
Team Training Tools
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Team Task Analysis – like individual TA, but
focus on tasks that require coordinated efforts
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How are tasks interdependent?
What is the “Big Picture?”
Specifies conditions, events, actions, and communication
flow needed for effective team performance
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Levine, Brannick, Coovert & Llobert – Multi-phase Analysis of
Performance (MAP) system – systematic approach to collecting
info about team tasks and develop team training objectives
Team Training Tools
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Performance Measurement – basis for
assessing, diagnosing, and re-mediating team
performance during training
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Performance measures should:
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Capture the moment to moment processes comprising teamwork
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Capture team outcomes
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Outcome measures including: results, success or failure
Focus on both team and individual levels of performance
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Process measures including: activities, responses, behaviors,
strategies
Poor group performance could result from one poor individual
performance
Capture multi-faceted nature of team performance
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Attitudes, Behaviors, Cognitions
Team Training Tools
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Task Simulations/Exercises – means to practice
team KSAs
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Practice is NOT training unless it is structured to provide
realistic exercises that enhance learning opportunities
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Free-play vs. Event-based training
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Events elicit opportunity to demonstrate good or bad responses
Events provide cues to instructor to assess behavior at key
moments of instruction
Team Training Tools
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Guidelines for designing team exercises:
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Know what behaviors your are trying to elicit
Develop clear objectives for specific team member
behavior expected
Provide opportunity for behaviors to be demonstrated
more than once during exercise
Exercises should be part of larger training program
Consider factors that enhance realism in exercise fidelity
Ensure participation by all team members
Team Training Tools
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Feedback – principles for individual feedback still
apply (i.e., immediate, informative, positive, etc.)
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Must be given at both individual and team level
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Team behaviors originate at individual level
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E.g., poor communication is a team behavior, but may be affected
by an individual not providing clear, concise commands/requests
Team Training Tools
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Team Learning/Training Principles
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Individual proficiency precedes team training
Team training must evaluate, diagnose, and remediate
Team training systems must allow for infor presentation, demonstration
of teamwork competencies, practice, and feedback
Team training must emphasize nature of task interdependence
Team training must create systematic opportunities to practice the
required team competencies
If training tasks specific to team, train intact team
If training tasks specific to team, practice in similar environment
Guided practice (simulation and feedback) effective for teams that
require task-specific competencies
Cross-training effective for providing members task exposure
Positional knowledge training useful for teams that require task-specific
information
Provide a variety of situations that team may confront on job
Team Training Strategies
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Cross-training – learning multiple team member
tasks
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Effective way to deal with team member turnover
When introducing new team member, other members
can ease the transition by knowing team tasks, roles
Helps establish shared mental model (big picture)
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Enhances ability to make predictions/expectations of teammate
behavior and info requests to improve coordination &
communication
Team Training Strategies
How to Cross-Train:
 Provide relevant and meaningful info about other
team members, the task, equipment, & situation
 Demonstrate effective and ineffective teamwork
 Allow practice in realistic context
 Provide team and individual feedback
Team Training Strategies
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Team Coordination Training – Focus on
teamwork
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Useful where complex behaviors must be coordinated
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E.g., surgical teams or aircrews
Uses combination of methods (simulation & demos) to
provide opportunities to coordinate skills and decision
making
Focus on passing of information, backup, and support
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Less emphasis on content
Like practicing handing off of baton in relay race, not the running