Staff Improvement Techniques

1. Staff Improvement Techniques

2. Presented by: Tyler Smith Allison Wiest Lisa Mathson

3. Conflict Discipline Energy Learning Methodology Objectives Output Structure Mutual Support Team-Member Fulfillment Characteristics of an Effective Team

4. Stages of Team Development • Testing • Infighting • Getting Organized • Mature Closeness

5. Stage 1. Testing • As the team begins to coexist, there is a gradual growth of exchange and contact. • People begin to find out about one another’s attitudes, values, styles, and readiness to be contacted. • The testing process continues until each person makes a decision concerning the nature of their involvement

6. Stage 2. Infighting • Who controls the team? • How is control exercised? • What happens to delinquents? A team has to find the answers to these questions if it is to develop.

7. Stage 3. Getting Organized • Tune into problems and assess the challenges presented • Explore, clarify, and set objectives • Clarify criteria for achieving success and techniques for measuring success • Collect and structure information and devise options for action

8. Stage 3 cont. • Evaluate options for action • Develop effective plans and a strategy for carrying them out • Take intelligent and effective action • Review to learn and improve their performance

9. Stage 4. Mature Closeness • Members of a fully established team develop rapport and closeness • Team members are willing to extend themselves for their colleagues • Team members’ roles have been identified, and each person’s contribution is distinctive and valued

10. Motives for Team Building • A newly appointed leader wants to achieve rapid progress. • A pragmatic leader wants to use team building to further an open, problem-solving approach to management. • A leader who faces new challenges needs the creativity and commitment of all those involved to handle the task. • A leader who faces problems related to relationships, commitment, or lack of clarity; needs to break out of the doldrums.

11. When Team Building Is Needed • Loss of production or unit output • Increase of grievances or complaints from the staff • Evidence of conflicts or hostility among staff members • Confusion about assignments, missed signals, and unclear relationships • Decisions misunderstood or not carried through properly

12. When Team Building Is Needed • Apathy and general lack of interest or involvement in staff members • Lack of initiation, imagination, innovation, and actions taken for solving complex problems • Ineffective staff meetings, low participation, minimal effective decisions

13. When Team Building Is Needed • Slow start-up of a new group that needs to develop quickly into a working team • High dependency on or negative reactions to the manager • Complaints from users or customers about quality of service • Continued unaccounted increase of costs

14. Designing a Good Team Building Program • Preparation • Start-up • Problem Solving • Feedback • Action Planning • Follow-up

15. Preparation • Have an outside person interview each unit member to identify problems, concerns, and need for change • Invite an outside speaker to talk about the role of teams in organizations and the purposes of team development • Gather data on the level of team effectiveness

16. Preparation Cont. • Have a general discussion about the need for a team-building program • Invite a manager who has had a successful team-building experience to describe the activities and results in his or her unit

17. Start-Up • Create a climate for work • Get people relaxed and loosened up • Establish norms for being open, for planning, and for dealing with issues • Encourage people to speak what they feel and assure that no negative action will result • Present a cognitive framework for the whole experience

18. Problem Solving • Take action on problems identified • Present data that has been collected from the group prior to the meeting • Have the group analyze the data • What needs to be changed to gain a positive response instead of a negative

19. Problem Solving Process • Put problems in order of priority and select the five or six most pressing problems to be addressed during the workshop • Define the problem, list alternative solutions, select alternatives to be implemented, develop an action plan, perform the action, and evaluate results

20. Problem Solving cont. • Identify the existing level of group effectiveness, formulate a goal, identify driving and restraining forces, and develop a plan to remove restraining forces • Negotiate between people or subunits the actions needed from each other to improve effectiveness

21. Feedback • Share data about performances so that the difficulties can be resolved • Should reflect a genuine willingness to work cooperatively • Is most helpful if it can be given a descriptive fashion or in the form of suggestions

22. Action Planning • Each person takes time to evaluate their feedback and develops a plan of action for personal improvement • Each person summarizes what their assignments are and actions they intend to take

23. Follow-Up • It is important to schedule follow-up meetings and to review decisions and actions • Here you want to establish a system that will ensure that actions agreed on and agreements made are, in fact, implemented • A major goal is to see that continual team building becomes a part of the ongoing activities of the work group

24. Using Activities • Activities can be used to help members at certain stages in the development process to encourage a higher level of performance and to increase relations

25. Quick to use Inexpensive Participative Single-focus Use props or outside material Low-risk Adaptable Activities Should be:

26. For activities to be effective the key ingredients are: • A supportive environment • Encouragement from leaders • Members must be given the necessary skills • Working toward an identifiable goal/reward • Be able to learn from and interact with others

27. Activity Ideas • Icebreakers- used to get to know teammates and build trust among people • Plan energetic events and super socials • Ropes course challenge and trust exercises

28. Activity Ideas cont. • Make a creative environment- delete policies which inhibit creativity • Team brainstorm and acquire common visions • Build self-esteem- encourage positive feedback and to give and receive compliments

29. Reference Page • Newstrom, John; Scannell, Edwad, The big book of team building games, The MacGraw Hill 1998 • Francis, Dave; Young, Don, Improving Work groups, Pfeiffer & Company 1992 • Dyer, William G, Team Building: current issues and New Alternatives, Addison-Wesley 1995 • Mears, Peter; Voehl Frank, Team Building: A structured Learning Approach , ST. Lucie Press 1994 • Funcilatators, www.funcilitators.com