Fostering Teamwork

1. Fostering Teamwork A Workshop for Team Leaders and Department Managers

2. Workshop Objectives • Describe the benefits of effective teamwork, the factors that contribute to it, and the factors that hinder its development and implementation • Evaluate the current level of teamwork occurring within your team, work group, or department • Define the competency fostering teamwork and identify the key behaviors associated with it

3. Workshop Objectives • Assess your skill level in fostering teamwork and identify the behaviors most in need of development • Improve your ability to foster teamwork through use of simulated team experiences • Develop an action plan for transferring skills to the job

4. Is Teamwork Happening? 1 red dot by every “sometimes” response 2 red dots by each “occasionally” and “no” response Yellow dot by any response where your reply is different from that of your team Green dot by any “yes” response where your response agrees with that of your team

5. Share Your Results • Select one strength and one area of opportunity to share with the group. • Compare strengths and weaknesses. As a group, decide on two strengths and two areas of opportunity that everyone in the group shares. • Have a spokesperson use the green dots to mark strengths and the red dots to mark developmental areas on the prepared flipchart.

6. Tower Building • Follow the directions provided to you by your team leader. • You have 7 minutes to complete your task.

7. Tower-Building Debriefing, Part 1 • What goal did you clarify with the group? • Did you let them know the reward would only go to you? What effect does this type of reward structure have on a team? • Did you solicit ideas on the best way to accomplish the goal? Why or why not?

8. Tower-Building Debriefing • Did you take time to assign responsibilities or discuss appropriate roles/responsibilities? Why or why not? • What did you do well? What would you do differently?

9. Tower-Building Debriefing, Part 2 • What goal did your leader communicate? • What emphasis was placed on the potential team reward? • How did the leader foster a spirit of cooperation and collaboration?

10. Tower-Building Debriefing • How were roles and responsibilities defined and clarified? • Did anyone consider cooperating with another work group? Why or why not? • How did your team leader respond to the changed criteria for receiving an award?

11. War Story — Recap • Used the situation as an opportunity to cultivate trust • Supported Jane in front of the client; made it clear to the client she still had confidence in Jane’s abilities • Focused on resolving the problem rather than on assigning blame • Modeled teamwork by collaborating with Jane to resolve the problem

12. Learning Recap #1 • Review your behavior self-assessment. • Think about the activities we’ve done thus far and how they relate to your self-assessment. • Identify 1–3 key things you’ve learned. • Identify how you can apply this learning in the workplace. • Use the handout provided to record your ideas.

13. Summary and Morning Wrap-up • Self-assessment; identification of strengths and areas for development • Completion of experiential activities (tower building) to illustrate behaviors that hurt or enhance teamwork • Discussion and war story on trust building/trust destroying and ways to create a positive team environment

14. Effective Communication • Is timely • Uses the most appropriate medium available (for example, email, phone, face-to-face meeting, newsletter, and so forth) • Clearly states the information and identifies the expected response • Is framed to match the recipient’s field of experience (wherever possible) • Provides a feedback mechanism of some sort

15. What about YOU? • How do you enhance or hinder the communication within your team or group? • What example are you setting – positive AND negative?

16. Bridge-Building Simulation • Purpose: To simulate an experience that requires excellent communication for team to be effective in achieving its goal • What to do: • Divide into teams. • Select a leader and select an observer. • Leaders and observers come to the front of the room for instructions. • Team members disperse to “geographic locations.”

17. Simulation Debriefing • Order of debriefing: • Team leader • Team members • Observer • Facilitator • Communication issues are discussed first, followed by other key behaviors associated with fostering teamwork.

18. Roadblocks • Anything that hinders a team’s ability to get the task completed, such as • Lack of resources • Conflicts • Unrealistic timeline • Lack of expertise • Inability to make decisions

19. Roadblocks and Decisions • Follow the directions in Handout 9–9 to answer these questions: • What roadblocks did your team encounter that were beyond team members’ ability to handle? • How did the team leader help remove roadblocks? • What decisions did the team have to make? • What process did you use for making these decisions? • Was your process satisfactory?

20. Accountability Charting • Clarifies decision making; helps all team members know their roles in the decision-making process • Provides an objective framework to which the team can refer when confronted with difficult or major decisions • Process note:Avoid group accountabilities – they are unwieldy and inefficient.

21. What about Decisions That Are Beyond the Team? • Not every decision is a team decision – remember the roadblocks beyond the team’s scope of responsibility (timeline, resources, $$). • When a disagreement or problem arises, the first question needs to be, “Is this a problem the team can address?” • When the answer is “no,” the team sets the issue aside and the team leader determines where to go to get a decision.

22. Learning Recap #2 • Review your behavior self-assessment. • Think about the activities we’ve done this afternoon and how they relate to your self-assessment. • Identify 1–3 key things you’ve learned. • Identify how you can apply this learning in the workplace. • Use the handout provided to record your ideas.

23. Workshop Summary • Assessed current status of teamwork within your departments or teams • Identified and practiced using key behaviors associated with fostering teamwork • Identified key learning points throughout the workshop, and developed action plans for implementing learning back in the workplace. • CHALLENGE: After four weeks, administer the teamwork assessment to see how you’re doing.