Team Building
By
Jean-Maurice Lafond
La Cité collégiale
1
Who are you?
 What’s
your name?
 Where are-you from?
 What are-you doing here?
2
3
Session’s content
10h45
Presentation, Introduction, the model:
From the Five W’S: Why, What, Who, When and Where
11h
Why and What
11h15
Who, When and Where
11h30
And How: 8 common approaches
11h45
And How: Communication and activities
12h
Break
12h15
Your story: examples of team work that supported faculty or students success
12h30
Learning's and Conclusion
12h45
Evaluation
4
Who
Team
Building
Five W’s
5
And How
6
Team
Building
Five W’s
7
Why Team Building?




We want to move from individual to collective
accomplishment.
We want to provide a unique social dimension
that enhanced work.
We want to have fun together (work,
performance, parties, celebrations).
We want to motivate, challenge, reward and
support individuals who want to be part of
something larger.
8
Why team work

Because we are facing a situation
requiring the real-time combination of
multiple :
 Skills
 Experiences
and
 Judgments
9
Team
Building
Five W’s
10
What is a team?
Vs Group of colleagues
11
What is Building?
12
What is Team Building?
13
We build a team by …

Focusing on performance and team basics as
opposed to trying “to become a team”.
 Performance
= any recognized accomplishment
 Performance: The results of activities of an
organization or investment over a given period of
time.
 « An ounce of performance is worth pounds of
promises. » Mae West
14
Again, what is a team?



A small number of people
With complementary skills
Who are committed to
a
common purpose
 Common performance goals
 and common approach

For which they hold themselves mutually
accountable.
15
A common purpose

“A joint creation that will exists only
because of the team’s collaborative effort.”
 That
they own and can translate into specific
actionable goals.
 That give identity, pride and responsibility.
16
Common performance goals
Specific and measurable goals
 That will allow the team to achieve small
and big wins as it pursues its purpose.

17
Complementary skills
Technical or functional expertise
 Problem solving and decision making skills
 Interpersonal skills

18
Common approach
How they will work together to accomplish
their purpose:
 Common approach

 Economic
aspects
 Administrative aspects
 Social aspects
19
Mutual accountability
Commitment
 Trust

 For
performance and joint results
20
Team work
Moving beyond individual roles and
accountability.
 Taking responsibility for the performance
of others.
 Letting others assuming responsibility for
us.

21
Team Basics
22
Becoming a team
To a high-performing team
Real team
Potential team
Pseudo-team
From a working group
23
Four steps
Team members
Step 1
Formation
Step 2
Storm
Performance goals
Step 3
Acceptation
Step 4
Performance
24
Who
Team
Building
Five W’s
25
Who should be part of the team?






Selection of team members based on skills and
skills potential.
People motivated by the common purpose.
People ready for hard work and good fun.
People who want to be part of something larger
than themselves.
People who want to change the way they do
things.
People who really do want to make a difference.
26
Team
Building
Five W’s
27
When team building is the thing?
When we are facing significant
performance challenges.
 We need multiple skills, judgments and
experiences.
 We have a clear mission:

 Recommend
things
 To make or to do things
 To run or manage things
28
Team
Building
Five W’s
29
Where?



In the office
Out of the office
In the field
 First
meeting
 Following meetings
 Conflict management
 Last meeting
 Celebration
30
Feedback …
On the five W’s
 Situation in our organization and job

31
And How?

Team Building: 8 common approaches

Team Building through Communication
and Activities
32
Common approaches
1.
2.
3.
4.
Establish urgency and direction
Focus on skills and skills potential
Pay attention to first meetings and action
Set clear rules of behavior
33
Common approaches
5.
6.
7.
8.
Set and seize upon a few immediate
results
Challenge the team with fresh facts and
info
Spend time together
Exploit the power of positive feedback,
recognition and collective rewards
34
Team Building through
Communication

Communication in the center of Team
building and Team work
 Active
listening
 Art of asking questions
 Art of giving feedback
 Having effective meetings
 Empowering others
35
Active listening

The capacity to
 Focus
your attention on the subject
 Listen closely without judging
 Acknowledge any emotional state
 Repeat
 Paraphrase
 Summarize
 In order to check for accuracy of understanding.
36
Active listening

In order to understand the speaker’s
 Ideas
 Problems
and
 Emotions
 Expressed

either verbally or non verbally
Seeing things from the speaker’s point of
view (empathy).
37
Art of asking questions

State The Point Of Your Question


Open-ended Questions For Information




"Where can we cut costs in this process?"
Closed-Ended Questions For Agreement


"I am trying to find ways to cut some operating costs, so that's why I need to
know about what we spent on that last project."
"So, do you feel comfortable moving ahead on the project?"
Ask "Why" Questions With Care
Ask Positive Questions
Make Sure That Your Body Language Encourages An
Answer
38
Art of giving feedback







Owned (‘I’ not ‘we’) NOT Implied
Planned NOT Impulsive
Honest NOT Collusive
Valid NOT Irrelevant (c.f. shared agenda)
Concerned NOT Destructive
Specific NOT Vague
Behaviour NOT Person
39
Art of giving feedback
Observation NOT Inference
 Sooner NOT Later
 Descriptive NOT Judgemental
 Sharing ideas NOT Giving advice
 Exploring alternatives NOT Providing
answers
 Good things NOT Only bad things

40
Art of giving feedback
Feedback should be used:
 At the right time
 At the right dose
 With clarity and accuracy
 When indicated
41
Having effective meetings

Regular
 Planning,
Organizing, Holding, Leading, Evaluating
the meeting,
 Producing notes and managing follow-ups.
 Choosing different techniques: Gap analysis, brain
storming, problem solving

Scrum meetings
 short, daily meetings designed to keep teams on track and help
members get their work done
42
A Gap Analysis = Empowering others

Questions:
 Where
are-you and where do you want to be?
 What would it take to get from here to there?
 What action steps would you need to put in place?
 How will you monitor your progress?
 How will you evaluate what you have accomplished?
 How can I help?
43
Team Building through Activities
44
Quick Team Building activities for
busy Coordinators

Step 1, Before: Start with a clear objective in
mind. Some examples:







Communication: Getting to know each other.
Cooperation: Working together as a team.
Coping: Dealing with change and conflict.
Creativity: Solving problems together.
Team work: Appreciating and supporting each other.
Step 2, Before: Select an activity that’s good for
your team.
Step 3, Before: Prepare the activity.
45
Quick Team Building activities for
busy Coordinators
Step 4, During: Explain the activity, rules
and expectations and check for
understanding before beginning.
 Step 5, During: Run the activity.
 Step 6, During: Debrief the activity.
 Step 7, After: Reinforce the learning back
on the job.

46
Feedback …

On How …
47
Tell your story: examples of
team building or team work
Background
 The Performance Challenge
 How everything started
 How did it go
 What was the results (economics,
administrative, social)

48
In Conclusion
Your conclusion on team work, team
building and our job.
 My conclusion …
 My references …

49
In Conclusion





In a world of individualism and strong personalities,
Team work and team building can revitalize departments
and encourage faculty to take risks and make
experiments.
Team work can produce performance results, collective
accomplishments and personal growth if we have skills,
commitment and accountability.
Team building can be fun, simple, rewarding and
productive.
Thank you.
50
References

Jon R. Katzenbach, Douglas K. Smith, The Wisdom of Teams,
Harvard Business School Press, 1993

Ann F. Lucas, Strengthening Departmental Leadership, JosseyBass Publishers, 1994

Solange Cormier, La communication et la gestion, Presses de
l’Université du Québec, 1995

Brian Cole Miller, Quick Team-Building Activities for Busy
Managers, American Management Association (AMACOM), 2004
51