Team Building: Developing
High Performance Teams @
Penn State
Rod Lee, “Architect of Learning through Experience”
April 20th, 2015
Participant Guide
Session Objectives:
•
Recognize the different needs for today’s workplace.
•
Identify the stages of team development and how to help a team move through
them.
•
Appreciate the critical role communication skills will play in building and
maintaining a team atmosphere.
•
Manage conflict in teams.
•
Engage in teambuilding exercises to appreciate team building concepts.
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Permission for use granted to The Center for Workplace Learning and Performance, The
Pennsylvania State University pursuant to the End User Courseware License Agreement, 2013.
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Today’s Organizations
Today’s workplace is very different. Many traditions are shifting due to demand, technology
and budgets. For example, organizations are evolving from traditional pyramids to flatter
structures. Technology has created many shifts in how we work together.
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Are there examples this group can share about flattened organizations?
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What are advantages/disadvantages to your teams?
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What impact is this having on your organization? On you?
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What role is technology playing a role in these shifts?
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What is a Team?
How would you define a team?
Elements of a high performance team.
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Stages of Team Development
Teams go through various stages of development. Bruce Tuckman and M.A. Jensen (1965-1977)
refer to these stages as Forming, Storming, Norming, and Performing. Knowing what to expect
in each stage can help teams or individuals in the team. Team leaders and other members of the
group have an important role to play in each stage. Effective team players can successfully
move a team toward maturity with specific positive actions.
Stage 1: Forming
Characteristics of this stage:
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Group members may be anxious, adopt wait-and-see attitude, or be formal.
No clear idea of goals or expectations.
Not sure why they are there.
What you can do to help:
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Team writes its own charter or mission statement and clarifies goals.
Remember, goals must have personal buy-in.
Help team establish boundaries and determine what is expected.
Team members get to know each other doing non-conflict laden task. This builds
commitment towards one larger goal.
Help them know what to expect; communicate and reassure.
Stage 2: Storming
Characteristics of this stage:
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Team members eager to get going.
Conflict can arise as people bring different ideas of how to accomplish goals, notice
differences rather than similarities.
Some members may drop out mentally or physically.
What you can do to help:
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Continue with no surprises and communicate.
Tensions will increase. This is normal, so recognize and publicly acknowledge
accomplishments.
Lead/participate in meetings.
Value diversity.
Gather information and be supportive.
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Stage 3: Norming
Characteristics of this stage:
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People begin to recognize ways they are alike.
They realize its sink or swim, we’re in this together.
People get more social.
May forget their focus in favor of having a good time.
What you can do to help:
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Recognize how they are alike.
Help with training if applicable.
Encourage them to feel comfortable with each other and with systems.
Help group stay focused on goal.
Stage 4: Performing
Characteristics of this stage:
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Team members are trained and competent, and able to do their own problem-solving.
Leader will ask for critical self-assessment and look at ways to challenge them and
develop them.
Mature, understand their roles and responsibilities.
Want more input in processes.
Self-motivated and self-trained.
Additional Notes About Stages of Teams
Stage 1: Forming
Stage 2: Storming
Stage 3: Norming
Stage 4: Performing
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Open Communication

Team players can encourage open communication and trust by being
dependable, pitching in and helping out, reading and responding to verbal cues,
and candidly sharing views. The basic principles of good communication
include:
Objective
 You should have an end result or objective clearly in mind before
communicating. Examine your purpose. What specifically do you want the
receiver to understand or to do, as a result of the communication?
Method
 What's the best method for achieving your objectives? Obviously, some
communication methods or channels are better than others for a given objective.
Weigh the alternatives (written or oral, group or individual, formal or informal)
before selecting a specific method such as a letter, memo, meeting, telephone call,
or e-mail.
Structure
 How you organize and construct your communication is very important to its
success. There are many considerations: How much or how little to cover?
What's the best way to organize the message? How can you keep it simple and
concise, yet complete? How can you gear it to your audience's needs (frame of
reference)?
Feedback
 In order to ensure that your message has been understood and to evaluate the
emotions of your receiver (how does he/she feel about it?), you should
encourage frequent responses.
Additional notes on communication:
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Having a Clear Purpose
ACTIVITY: Six Word Purpose Statement
•
In the space below work on your six word purpose statement for your team.
Having goals or a clear purpose is important to each of us. In one landmark study
done with Yale graduates, only 3% of the graduates set goals, but that 3% earned
more money and were more successful than the other 97% put together.

For leaders who are serious about setting goals, there are some things to keep in
mind, and these were nicely summed up by an acronym: SMART PPP. This
acronym stands for Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and with
Timelines. Goals should also be expressed Positively, be Personalized for each
member of the team, and all goals should be Put in writing, where you and the
team can see them often.
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Once you sit down with your team and set some goals, it can be very useful to
develop some type of action plan for accomplishing that goal.
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Roles and Responsibilities
Additional notes on roles and responsibilities:
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Managing Conflict
The Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Mode Instrument diagram plots points in a chart
according to two dimensions: the level of cooperativeness and the level of assertiveness.
In conflict situations, team members will show different combinations of these two
dimensions, which correspond to five unique conflict-resolution styles.
How individuals respond to a conflict situation depends on their own perceptions or
their own personalities. Which strategy people use depends on the circumstances of the
conflict:
•Avoiding is a temporary way of handling conflict that involves giving up, pulling out,
or simply refusing to deal with the situation. It's appropriate when a "cooling off"
period is needed in order to learn more about the issues behind the conflict. It's also
useful when one party involved is being both unassertive and uncooperative. Avoiding
generally fails to solve problems so you should only use it when the conflict involves
low-priority issues that aren't critical to the success of the project.
•Accommodating is the art of de-emphasizing, or avoiding areas of difference, and
instead finding and emphasizing the areas of agreement. As a strategy, it's useful when
one party is wrong or the issue is more important to one party than to others. Use this
to maintain general harmony and goodwill, to reach a more important overarching
goal, or when you think that any solution will do.
•Competing is an aggressive strategy used when there's no common ground on which
to negotiate or bargain, and when both parties are uncooperative and strong-willed.
Competing is appropriate when quick decisions are needed or when unpopular issues
such as cutbacks are essential for a project's success. With this strategy, you take the risk
and simply dictate an action in order to move things along. As this can leave people
feeling resentful at having a decision imposed on them, you should only use this
strategy as a last resort.
•Collaborating is the most productive strategy of all and involves both parties facing
the conflict directly, adopting a problem-solving approach, and working through their
disagreements. As a strategy, it's useful when both parties' views are important and an
integrated solution is desired. Use this when there is mutual trust, respect, and
confidence; when there's enough time; and when the skills of both parties are
complementary.
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•Compromising is the art of give-and-take. It is a strategy that allows you to search for
solutions that bring some degree of satisfaction to the parties in a dispute. As a strategy,
it's useful when two equal opponents have mutually exclusive ideas that would cause
more effort or disruption than the overall team goals merit. Use it when both parties
need to be perceived as winners, for temporary solutions to complex problems, or when
neither side knows if they're right.
Regardless of which conflict-resolution strategy is appropriate for the circumstances,
the process of resolution itself is nearly always the same. There are four steps in the
conflict-resolution process:
1. Collect and prepare – It's important to collect as much information as possible
and prepare for discussion. In doing this, you determine how important the issue
is to all involved and whether it can be discussed by everyone. Then, select a
private meeting place.
2. Ensure participation – Ensure that all parties participate and that they
understand their responsibilities in dealing with the problem and finding the
best solution. At the meeting itself, begin by having all sides make opening
statements and propose solutions.
3. Examine the problem – Proper resolution will only be possible by examining the
problem from a variety of perspectives. This should be done in a matter-of-fact
way without interruption or argument.
4. Evaluate and choose – Once all the information is out in the open, evaluate the
costs and benefits of each position and choose the best one.
Additional notes on conflict management:
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Action Planning
Based on today’s session, what are you willing to do differently to make a positive
impact on your team(s)?
Please identify two commitments you will make to help your team(s).
Commitment 1: I will…
Commitment 2: I will…
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