Exploring Work Teams
Professional Year Program –
Unit 6: Communicating in work teams to achieve professional goals
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Overview
In this session we will look at the following:
 Define work teams/groups
 Why work teams exist?
 Work team structures
 Team composition
 Team member expectations
 Keeping Team Morale High
 Advantages of working in groups or teams
 Disadvantages of working in groups or teams
 Leadership qualities and attributes
 Strategies for working effectively in teams
 What does good team work look like?
 What does poor team work look like?
 Multi-Cultural Teams/Groups
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Define work teams/groups
 They are a group of employees that work semi
autonomously on recurring tasks
 A group of people working together towards a common
goal
 Team members normally have different roles, like team
leader and agents
 Large teams can divide into sub-teams according to need
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Define work teams continued
 The process of working collaboratively with a group of
people in order to achieve a goal
 Work teams are often a crucial part of a business, as it is
often necessary for colleagues to work well together,
trying their best in any circumstance
 Teamwork means that people will try to cooperate, using
their individual skills and providing constructive feedback,
despite any personal conflict between individuals
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Why do they exist?
 Work teams/groups are useful where job content
changes frequently
 Brings together different peoples skill sets to solve
complex problems
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Working together is better!
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Work team structures
 Creating an effective team structure requires
careful analysis and preparation
 A productive team must be working towards a
clear common goal
 E.g. Figuring out how to increase profits by 10
per cent
 Make it clear how important the goal is to the
company’s success
 Each member of a team should have a stake in
accomplishing the goal and feel a sense of
responsibility
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Team Composition
 The composition of the team is critical
 Throwing people together without
careful consideration will backfire
 The purpose of a teamwork structure is
to accomplish your goal more efficiently
and with better results
 Consider the strengths and weaknesses
of individual team/group members
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Team Composition Continued
 Who will work well together with the minimum
conflict?
 E.g. If John is great with detail and Mary is fabulous at
seeing the big picture, then the two should
complement each other
 Also consider the personality types involved
 Will there be jockeying for authority that will
undermine team effort?
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Team Member Expectations
 Set up clear expectations for each member
of the team. For example, who is responsible
for writing, marketing, and who for finance?
 You want to avoid conflicts in responsibilities
to eliminate competition for control and
potential arguments
 Each team should have a good leader to
keep everyone focused on the common goal
(Do you agree with this?)
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Team Member Expectations
continued
 This individual (team leader) should be the
person responsible for answering questions
and resolving conflicts, as well as reporting
progress to senior executives
 Communication and trust will be the keys to
creating a winning work team structure
 Everyone should feel able to express his or
her ideas
 Team members need to support one
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Keeping Team Morale High
 Don’t forget the power of the positive!
 Seize the chance to tell your teams they are
doing a great job
 Point out the good things they are doing before
talking about how to improve
 Keeping morale high increases productivity and
keeps employees working hard and to the best
of their abilities
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Good Team Work
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Advantages of working in groups or
teams
 Two heads are better than one
 Tasks are shared out to individuals dependant on
strengths and weaknesses within the team
 Including all team members in brainstorming sessions
will enable a solution to be found
 Teamwork provides a bonding for the group
 They will generally go the extra mile and support their
fellow team members in order for the goal to be met
 Teamwork can also reduce absence in the workplace
as people are more focused and motivated to achieve
their goal
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Advantages continued
 Tasks become less of a chore if they are being performed
by a collective group
 Skills are also learnt within a team environment as
members are allowed to become more creative and
resourceful
 The feeling of isolation which is felt often in tasks that are
assigned to individuals is removed
 There is a support network for individuals to draw on
 It removes hierarchical lines of command in the workplace
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Disadvantages of working in groups
or teams
 If group members cannot agree on one point it can
affect your work negatively
 Unequal participation - with some teams, there can be
a tendency for members to sit back and let others do
most of the work
 Group within group is another problem when some
members get aside and might even refuse to
contribute properly
 Some workers may not function well as part of a team,
preferring to work on their own
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Disadvantages continued
 Teamwork may also limit creative thinking
 Employees may be so focused on working for the
overall good of the team and fitting in to the team
concept that they put their own ideas on the back
burner
 Teams can sometimes take longer to produce a
desired result
 Whenever a group of people is assembled to achieve
a goal, at least some conflict is likely to occur
 Contrasting personal styles can clash and some
members may have difficulty accepting ideas that
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differ from their own
Leadership qualities and attributes
Integrity
Dedication
Creativity
Openness
Assertiveness
Fairness
A sense of
humour
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Leadership qualities and attributes
 Integrity is the integration of outward actions and inner values
 Dedication means spending whatever time or energy is necessary
to accomplish the task at hand
 Creativity is the ability to think differently, to get outside of the box
that constrains solutions
 Openness means being able to listen to new ideas, even if they do
not conform to the usual way of thinking
 Assertiveness is the ability to clearly state what one expects so that
there will be no misunderstandings
 Fairness means dealing with others consistently and justly
 A sense of humour is vital to relieve tension and boredom, as well
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as to defuse hostility
Strategies for working effectively in
teams
 Common Goal
The success of any group project is that there must be a
clear single goal. Many teams fail when there are multiple
agendas
 Clarity
With all communication clarity is a must. Great
communication keeps team members from aborting the
core of the project due to lack of understanding of the
overall purpose
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Strategies for working effectively in
teams
 Commitment From Each Team Member
For a group of people to function as a productive team, there has to
be a commitment from each team member
 Do What You Do Best
The purpose of assembling a team, is to group together individuals
that have specific skills to accomplish a specific project
 It’s Not About YOU!
The hardest attitude to grasp in playing a role on a team is that “it’s
not about you.”
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Strategies for working effectively in
teams
 You’ve Got to Talk to Each Other
Not only is communication of the project goal vital, but frequent
updates of the task is important
 Work as a Team, Play as a Team
You can tell when teams have spent time together both in a
working and social environment. Successful teams can anticipate
what others will do and how they will respond
 Assign Responsibilities (Accountability)
Every task must have a project lead
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What does good team work look
like?
 Have high integrity and trust each other
 Everyone wants to produce a high quality product
 Set goals and objectives
 Each of us keeps an open mind and accepts criticism and input
 We are respectful in our communication, yet encourage debate
 We treat our teammates as trusted advisers
 We hold each other accountable
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What does poor team work look like?
 Complain about everyone and everything
 Gossip regularly, about work or personal issues
 Hoard knowledge
 Talk almost completely about themselves
 Play the blame game
 Look for reasons to exclude people
 Lack empathy
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Multi-Cultural Teams/Groups
 Coping with issues across cultural boundaries. Some of
the challenges faced are:
 Cultural Differences
 Lack of proper communication that leads to
misunderstanding of work
 Difference of communication styles, working styles and
quality of work
 Difference in time zones leading to mismatched work
coordination
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Commonly used methods to deal
with multi-cultural teams
 Co-ordinating cross cultural training sessions to train team
members on various cultures
 Introducing team building and role play activities as ice-breakers
 Arranging language classes for non-English speaking members
and vice-versa
 Encourage social gatherings, sports activities and discussions
outside working hours
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Achieving Professional Goals
The End
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