Groups and Teams
Groups: a number of people who are connected by some shared
activity, interest, or quality.
Team: "A group in itself does not necessarily constitute a team.
Teams normally have members with complementary skills and
generate synergy through a coordinated effort which allows
each member to maximize his/her strengths and minimize
his/her weaknesses. Team members need to learn how to help
one another, help other team members realize their true
potential, and create an environment that allows everyone to go
beyond their limitations. A team becomes more than just a
collection of people when a strong sense of mutual
commitment creates synergy, thus generating performance
greater than the sum of the performance of its individual
members."
The Discipline of Teams
By Jon R. Katzenbach and Douglas K. Smith
 The Discipline of Teams is useful in determining whether using a
team or a working group makes the most sense for your situation.
 A team's performance calls for both an individual's performance
and mutual accountability whereas a working group performance
is a collection of what members do as individuals.
 Teamwork values include: encourage listening and responding
constructively to views expressed by others, giving others benefit
of the doubt, providing support, and recognizing the interests and
achievements of others.
 Characteristicsof a working group include: strong clear focused
leader, individual accountability, the group's purpose is the same as
the broader org. mission, individual work products, runs efficient
meetings, measures its effectiveness indirectly by its influence on
others, and discusses, decides, and delegates.
Powering Up Teams
Bradley L. Kirkman and Benson Rosen
 Successful teams have active synergy, each group member has the
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ability to make his or her teammates better.
Four experiences empowered teams share: potency,
meaningfulness, autonomy, and impact.
These four dimensions are likely mutually reinforcing and
reciprocal.
Teams that are empowered are more productive, proactive, and
capable of providing excellent customer service.
The employees of empowered teams report very high levels of job
satisfaction, organizational commitment, and commitment to their
teams.
Leaders of empowered teams must play the role of coaches and
facilitators, helping teams define tasks, structure activities, and
monitor their own progress.
Exercise 1
 Getting to Know Other Employees: Mental Team-Building Activity
As your business expands and grows, it’s inevitable that you will have new
team members and possibly have to form new teams as people move to different
positions and job responsibilities change. This game is perfect for promoting
communication, listening skills, and motivation.
 This game is called “Circle of Questions,” and its name pretty much says it
all.You can use as little as 10 people to play this game, and the duration can
last anywhere from 10 to 30 minutes.
 How well do you know your co-workers or
employees?
 Begin “Circle of Questions” by splitting the group into two equal teams (if
there is an odd number, then either find another participant or let someone sit
out until the next game). Ask one team to stand in a circle facing outwards,
then ask the second team to create a slightly larger circle around the first one
facing inwards.
 First things first: have both teams greet each other. Then,
explain that the people in the inner circle will ask a question (of a manager’s
choice) of the person opposite them in the outer circle. That employee will have
30 seconds to give an answer before the whistle blows. Hint: make these
open-ended questions and remember that there is no right or wrong answer.
 After the allotted 30 seconds is up, the person in the outer circle will ask
the person in the inner circle the same question with the same rules applying.
After both people have asked each other a question, then the inner circle will
move clockwise one place and the outer circle will move counter clockwise one
space to find a new partner.
 Expect some confusion at first, but after several tries you will get the hang
of it. Repeat this exercise by asking more questions, each time alternating
which circle gets to ask the question first. Stop the exercise when everyone has
asked and answered a question, or whenever you get to an appropriate stopping
point.
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 Example questions: Where would you like to be in 5 years?
What does success look like to you? What’s your greatest
strength? (Try to ask questions that gradually work toward a
theme you would like to address).
 The following exercises will also be done to strengthen the
communication of the group as well as to ensure that my
employees have a network to utilize so that they can
maximize their potential. I want my employees to feel like
they are a part of a group and that they have support and
resources available. This exercise will be helpful to get them
in communication and interacting with one another.
Exercises 2, 3, & 4
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Open communication is essential for building trust.You need to get everyone on your team talking to one another
in an honest, meaningful way, and you can use several strategies to accomplish this.
First, create a team charter to define the purpose of the team, as well as each person's role. Present this charter at
the first team meeting, and encourage each team member to ask questions, and discuss his or her expectations.
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Now select a team building exercise. When chosen carefully and planned well, these exercises can help "break the
ice" and encourage people to open up and start communicating.
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Meet regularly, so that all team members have a chance to talk about their progress, and discuss any problems that
they're experiencing. This time spent face-to-face is an important part of getting to know each other. It also creates
opportunities for team members to talk, and to help one another solve problems.
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Make sure that you "walk the talk" here: whenever you have important or relevant information to share, do so
immediately. Demonstrate that open communication is important to you by consistently sharing with the group.
The more you share with your team members, and thereby prove that you have no hidden agenda, the more
comfortable they'll feel trusting you and each other. I have also listed an exercise on how to do this with a virtual
team. I hope to one day have many consultants that cover a large geographic area so this modification is important.
 3. Know Each Other Personally One way to build trust is to
encourage your team members to see their colleagues as people.
Think about creating situations that help them share personal
stories, and bond.
 Do this by asking sensitively about their family, or about their
hobbies. Start by sharing some personal information about
yourself, and then ask someone else about a hobby, or a musical
interest.
 Another way to get the team acquainted, and to form stronger
bonds, is to socialize after work or at lunch.
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4. Building Trust Virtually If you manage a virtual team, then you might be working with a group of
people who have never met face to face, or who have never spoken to one another personally. So,
how can you build trust between people who are hundreds – if not thousands – of miles apart?
You can apply some of the advice above when you're working with a virtual team. Schedule a virtual
"meet and greet" if it's a new team, to help everyone get to know one another as individuals. Or,
create a web page for your team's project, and ask everyone to write a paragraph or two about their
personal history and interests.
A team charter is still important for defining the goals and expectations of the team. Make sure that
the charter addresses roles, as well as processes for submitting work digitally. Make sure that the
charter is as comprehensive as possible, so that people don't feel uncertain or fearful about the work
they're doing.
Next, make sure that everyone on the team is aware of other team members' expertise and skills, as
well as the value that each individual contributes to the group.
Encourage your team members to treat each other just as they would if they were working face to
face. This means that team members should make every effort to be on time for conference calls or
web meetings, and that they should let the rest of the team know when they'll be absent, or on
vacation.
It's particularly important to follow through on the promises you make, and to set an example for
everyone else. Keeping your promises is incredibly important in a virtual team, because your word
is often all you can give. Positive follow-through builds trust quickly, and can raise the entire
group's tone and expectations.