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     KEYZINE: An e-zine for LEADERS:
   ABOUT THE PEOPLE PART OF BUSINESS
             Volume 96, March 2009
  Publisher: © Key Associates, 2009
              ISSN # 1545-8873
           http://www.mkkey.com/

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This Issue: On "Team Tripwires"

Contents:

"T-E-A-M.  Together Each Accomplishes More.”
           -- Student in our Team Leadership course

"Life is a team sport, and we all get to play.”
           -- Church Marquis in Nashville

"A conference is a gathering of important people who 
singly can do nothing, but together can decide that 
nothing can be done.”
           -- Fred Allen

"We trained hard - but it seemed that every time we were 
beginning to form up into teams we were reorganized. 
I was to learn later in life that we tend to meet any new 
situation by reorganizing, and what a wonderful method 
it can be for creating the illusion of progress while 
actually producing confusion, inefficiency, and demoralization.”
           -- Petronius Arbiter, 210 B.C.

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WHAT'S HOT IN LEADERSHIP
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TEAM PLAYING AND TEAM-BUILDING SKILLS.

ATTENDING TO BOTH TASK AND GROUP PROCESS.
 
ABILITY TO CONSTRUCTIVELY CONFRONT ISSUES 
AND ENGENDER TRUST AMONG TEAM MEMBERS.
 
SEEING TEAMS AS SYSTEMS.  ALIGNMENT OF 
PLAYERS IN A COMMON AIM.

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MAINTAINING YOURSELF AS A LEADER
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We are not educated nor trained to be team members.  
Our individualistic society promotes standing out 
in the crowd--which breeds competition.  Because 
of this learning deficit--how to be a good team member, 
some behaviors in team meetings (acts of commission--
e.g., cheap shots--and acts of omission--e.g., withholding
information) hinder group effectiveness.

Because most leaders aren’t schooled in the art 
of building teams, team tripwires are often left 
unaddressed and often spiral into dysfunctional behavior.  
Without the help of a skilled facilitator, a leader 
may need to learn how to assess and intervene 
with their team(s) on their own.   

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FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
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What are the components of a good team meeting?

This is an important question because "structural" 
problems often underlie team dysfunction.  Here's 
a few important components:

1.  Establish a written agenda--pre-circulated if possible.
2.  Have an opener to inform, excite and involve.
3.  Establish the course.  Be clear on the team's purpose and product.
4.  Use roles like time-keeper, recorder and facilitator 
to distribute leadership.
5.  Employ consensus decision-making tools to invite the ideas 
of all and weave them into a direction.
6.  Craft the meeting to keep the energy high.
7.  Close the session with a review of accomplishments, 
the record, next steps and assignments.
8.  Evaluate the meeting.

Ground Rules and a Parking Lot (for ideas that bubble up 
out of place) are two handy tools to use.  See Keyzines 
Volume 10, January 2002 - Meetings and 
Volume 94, January 2009 - Consensus Building.

 

How do I pull my management team together?

Like any other team, they will profit from CPR--
a culture of Commitment to the work, clear Purpose, 
and focus on Relationships.  Ask them about
ideal team experiences of the past, and use these
models to craft a "team agreement (new term for
ground rules)."  Always push communication in the
direction of "open," and provide the environment
to speak truthfully (albeit kindly) without harm.

 

Suppose I see something odd going on in my team, but I can't 
put my finger on it.  What can I do?

Your intuition is usually to be trusted.  Here are two of the 
most successful facilitation techniques I use:

* The Dumb Question: "What's going on here?"

* Process Clarification:
        - "What are we trying to accomplish right now?" and
        - "What process or tool will help us achieve that?"

Viewing dysfunctional behaviors within the context of a system
--for example, you have an uneven participation process 
rather than a meeting dominator.  A broken communication 
process rather than side conversations.  Reframing what you 
observe in systems terms removes blame and affixes the 
problem to the entire group.  Ask the team how to solve the problem.

 

"Doesn't all this human relations stuff must eat into our 
productive time?"

Hofner Saphiere studied 12 global business teams 
over 9 months, and found that "productive teams" 
(vs. non-productive ones):

* Engaged in 2 1/2 times more productive behavior 
and 4 times more process behavior.
* Communicated 53% more frequently.
* Placed a higher value on social interaction.
* Engaged in frequent informal conversation.
* Felt understood and respected.
* Expressed differences of opinion more frequently.
* Disagreed in a depersonalized manner 50% more often.
* In face-to-face meetings, spent significant time on relationship-building.
* Used several communication media to balance affect and task.
* Even in written communication, began and ended with relationship-building information.
* Rotated leadership, in a process leadership manner.
* Unanimously wanted to work together again.

Relationship-building is paramount!

 

EXERCISES AND ACTION ITEMS:

* Work more on relationships and tasks will flow.

* Foster accountability with the exercise: "What I bring to the team" 
and "What I need from the team."  Each team member answers in turn, 
using a visual, like Post-its on the wall.
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EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES
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Podcast on team dysfunction
http://projectmanagement.ittoolbox.com/research/pm-podcast-episode-059-overcoming-team-dysfunction-4935 

A free MP3 download by Cornelius Fichtner on
'Overcoming Team Dysfunction'
http://beemp3.com/download.php?file=165879&song=Episode+059%3A+Overcoming+Team+Dysfunction

Framework for assessing 16 team complexes (dysfunctions)
http://www.teamtechnology.co.uk/teamwork/complex.html

Key Associates offers Team Leadership Training
http://www.mkkey.com/courses2/LeadingTeams.htm  
and Facilitator Training
http://www.mkkey.com/courses2/FacilitationCourse.htm
Contact us at:
1-888-655-3901 or keyassocs@mindspring.com. 

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OTHER USEFUL WEBSITES 
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A methodology for assessing virtual team dysfunction
http://www.ism-journal.com/ITToday/team_dysfunction.htm

Patrick Lencioni's The Five Dysfunctions of a Team
http://www.jobdig.com/articles/562/Conquer_Team_Dysfunction.html,
http://www.sterlinghoffman.com/newsletter/articles/article25.html

Some good team exercises (Q&A with Lencioni)
http://smallbusinessreview.com/management/overcoming_management_pitfalls_0125/

 Former Keyzines on related topics:
Volume 7, October 2001 - Mediating Conflict 
Volume 11, February 2002 - Teams
Volume 12, March 2002 - Facilitation
Volume 16, July 2002 - Dealing with Difficult People
Volume 27, June 2003 - Facilitative Leadership
Volume 53, August 2005 - Relationship Building
Volume 66, September 2006 - On Delegation
Volume 77, August 2007 - Constructive Confrontation
Volume 83, February 2008 - Toxic People
Volume 93, December, 2008 - Bad Systems, Good People
Volume 94, January 2009 - Consensus Building

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ARTICLES/PUBLICATIONS                              
************************************** 
 Bolton, Robert.  People Styles at Work: Making Bad 
Relationships Good and Good Relationships Better, 1996.

Bucholz, Steve and Roth, Thomas. Creating the High-
Performance Team. New York; John Wiley, 1987.

Doyle, Michael and Straus, David. How to Make Meetings 
Work. Wyden Books, 1993.

Executive Learning, Inc. Continual Improvement 
Handbook. Brentwood, TN: ELI, 1993.

Felkins, Patricia K. & Aubrey, Charles A., II.  Teamwork: 
Involving People in Quality and Productivity Improvement. 
Milwaukee, WI: Quality Press, 1988.

Gill, Lucy.  How to Work With Just About Anyone: 
A 3-Step Solution for Getting Difficult People to Change, 1999.

Hofner Saphiere, Dianne.  Leveraging Difference 
and Diversity in Multicultural Teams, Virtually or 
Face-to-Face.  Pfeiffer's Classic Activities for Diversity 
Training, 2009.

Katzenbach, Jon R. Teams at the Top.  Cambridge:
Harvard Business School Press, 1998.

Kava, Roberta.  Difficult People: How Deal With 
Impossible Clients, Bosses and Employees, 1997.

Leebov, Wendy & Scott, Gail. Health Care Mangers 
in Transition. SanFrancisco: Jossey-Bass, 1990.

Lencioni, Patrick.  The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: 
A Leadership Fable.  Jossey-Bass, 2002.

Parker, Glenn M. Team Players and Teamwork, 
Completely Updated and Revised: New Strategies 
for Developing Successful Collaboration. 
San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2008.

Rees, Fran. How to Lead Work Teams. 
San Diego: Pfieffer, 2001.

Robbins, Harvey A. & Finley, Michael.  The New Why 
Teams Don't Work. San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler,
2000. 

Scholtes, Peter. The Team Handbook. Madison, WI: 
Joiner Associates, Inc., 2003.

Shuster, H. David. Teaming for Quality Improvement: 
A Process for Innovation and Consensus. 
Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1990.