Institute Dale Carnegie Forming a Team and Selecting the Members Paper Many organizations rely on the belief that teams automatically add value by being mo

Institute Dale Carnegie Forming a Team and Selecting the Members Paper Many organizations rely on the belief that teams automatically add value by being more creative and productive than the aggregated efforts of individuals. However, J. Richard Hackman asserts that leaders cannot always depend on teams to magically come together, work well together, and perform above and beyond the aggregate efforts of individuals. Instead, Hackman argues teams more frequently underperform than excel. This occurs when leadership does not clearly define the team in terms of membership, the team does not have a clear purpose for being together, unstructured in terms of tasks and norms, or reward structure in place does not facilitate teamwork (Coutu, 2009).

Thus, for teams to be successful, managers have to build teams conscientiously and deliberately. For this Shared Practice, place yourself in the role of the manager who has to assemble a team to work on an important project. Managers need to carefully consider the need and types of resources for the team, the characteristics of the team members and the behaviors that lead to productive teams.

With these thoughts in mind:

BY DAY 3

Post a response based on your own experience, observations, and this week’s content that addresses the following:

Describe three characteristics/behaviors of individual team members that you think are most important for establishing a collaborative team environment. Explain why you selected these characteristics/behaviors, how they contribute to a functioning team, and provide an example of each, based on your experience or your readings this week.
Describe three characteristics/behaviors of individual team members that you think are most likely to lead to team dysfunction or lack of collaboration. Explain why you selected these characteristics/behaviors and provide an example of each based on your experience or your readings this week. Include suggestions on how to mitigate or manage the impact of these characteristics/behaviors on the functioning of the team.
As a manager, explain what you would do specifically to create an environment in which teams are more likely to be productive and successful. Include steps you would take, as a manager, to monitor how well the team is functioning and how your strategies are impacting the team productivity and success? FEATURE
2ist century
team skills
Pierre Casse and Eoin Banahan
offer a model for a new world
F
or a long time now, one of the key requirements of those
emharking on a career in the corporate world, and of
those wishing to progress once a part of it, has heen the
ahüity to work in teams.
Most, if not all, corporations over the past 50 years or
more have designed work processes around the team as a fundamental
necessity in the collaborative process. Huge investment is made every
year in trying to improve the way in which individuals work in teams.
But, let’s face it; most teams don’t deliver outstanding results. Of
course there are exceptions but they are in the minority. In
fact, it has been shown time and time again that teams led
according to the current conventional guidelines produce,
at best, average results. At worst, they are destructive and
highly de-motivating.
As time goes by and
corporations continue
to invest in team
development programmes,
both team leaders and
members are learning that
the traditional models
of development and
the skills they profess
to promote are no
longer adequate, given
the challenges of today’s
fast-changing business world.
Nevertheless, management training centres, business
schools and other educational providers continue
to promote widespread use of traditional team
development models, which were originally developed
for a business world that was fundamentally
different to what we experience today.
In many cases, the models in question are too
theoretical and have always had limited relevance
to the challenges of day-to-day teamwork.
The relevant question for teams is:
what critical skills are needed to improve
performance in a fast-changing world? —>
Septennber 2011 TJ
FEATURE
Moreover, we need to explore how such a skill set
should change and develop as the future unfolds.
limitations of traditional models
on team skills
The fundamental limitations of traditional
models derive from the fact that they are based
upon the assumption that the team has the
following characteristics:
• boundaries are clearly defined
• roles are clear and decision-making
mechanisms transparent
• members are all equally committed to ensuring
outstanding team performance
• members know their strengths and weaknesses
• members know how to contribute so the team is
performing at its best constandy and continually
• leaders have the power and are in control
• teams are co-located and meet
face-to-face regularly
• the team is the best mechanism for achieving
organisational objectives
• teams know how to assess performance and learn
from experience.
The traditional models, such as Blake and Mouton,
Hershey and Blanchard, Beibin and the like, were
developed at a time when the business environment
was relatively stable when compared to today’s
experience. Moreover, they have become overused
as reference models and, as a result, have lost their
sharpness as practical application tools.
There is no doubt that such models have made
a significant contribution to our understanding
of how teams perform and have provided useful
platforms for performance improvement but it is
time now to consider new paradigms.
We see three major shortcomings with most
of the traditional team leadership/composition
models. This includes the well-known Belbin
Team Roles model, which has become
a standard reference model for analysing
team composition. Traditional models:
Do not meet tbe new requirements of a fastcbanging world Today we find ourselves in a
turnaround world, facing a new type of complexity
in which the boundaries between right and wrong
are unclear. Situations are full of contradictions
and paradoxes; ambiguity and uncertainty
abound. It is not just the rules ofthe business
game that are being reviewed and revised but the
very purpose of all our economic activities. To
prove successful, this reassessment requires new
associations of people and minds. Teams today
cannot function the same way they have done
in the past – they must now be able to probe
and question their basic assumptions and, more
importantly, invent new ones
Do not recognise the fact that people have
changed dramatically over the past 50 years
People today do not think, feel and behave as in
previous generations. There is no doubt that new
information and communication technologies have
had a dramatic impact on people’s lives: a mobile
phone, for example, is more than a communication
technology but a different way to live and interact
with other people. Team members are more
assertive and demanding; they are no longer so
ready to accept what their leaders say. They express
their doubts; they expect answers. ‘Out ofthe box’
thinking is becoming the norm for many teams
and organisations. People want to be part of the
creative process by which teams or organisations
are re-invented
Do not openly acknowledge the poor
performance of many teams Most teams do
not deliver outstanding results. They suffer from
what we have called the “tyranny of the average”.
They are complacent and value good team spirit
at the expense of great performance. People feel
comfortable but do not deliver anything special.
It is not for nothing that most high performers
are reluctant to work in teams. They feel that they
are ‘puUed down’ by the cosy team atmosphere.
Teamwork cannot be an end in itself. Leaders
must know how to boost their teams so that the
quality of the results increases, at least from time
to time. We claim that we have been brainwashed
on teamwork for the last 50 years – it is time it
was re-invented.
A new paradigm for team skills
Let’s explore a new paradigm for team skills that we
believe is more relevant for today’s challenges. But
let’s be innovative in our approach to presenting the
model. So, rather than simply describing it and its
various components, let’s first assess where you, the
reader, stand in relation to the model.
Look at the foUowing questionnaire and, in each
pair, circle the number of each item that you think
is typical of you at work.
At work, I think I am good at:
1 creating a sense of vision
2 questioning other people’s statements and ideas
3 setting up structures and organising things
4 acknowledging the existence and importance of
emotions in people
5 doing and achieving agreed-upon objectives
6 communicating and helping people exchange ideas
7 paying attention to people’s needs and expectations
8 having a lot of personal contacts (inside and
outside the team)
9 sharing my working dreams with others
10 creating rules and regulations to get a minimum
of order
11 caring about people’s feelings
12 getting results in a no-nonsense way
13 creating a good team spirit so that people can
perform and enjoy
14 getting people excited about a task or project
15 checking assumptions and expressing doubts
16 meeting and spending time vnth people
17 using limited resources and talents efficiently
18 inventing the future today
19 getting order out of disorder
20 challenging traditions, established concepts and
ways of doing things
21 dealing with confrontations and conflicts
22 getting people involved, committed and driven
23 acting as a resource and sharing my knowledge as
well as my network
24 promoting synergy (creativity) among people
who work together
25 having insights
26 having an environment conducive to motivation
and engagement
;
27 clarifying roles and distributing responsibilities
28 translating ideas into deeds and achievements
29 challenging and building on people’s emotions
30 creating a web of contacts and using it
31 creating high standards for better performance
32 listening to people and seeing their point
of view
33 connecting people
34 coming up with scenarios for the future
www trainingjournal.com
September 2011 TJ
FEATURE
35 involving people in teamwork
36 defining effective work processes or ways to
perform
37 facilitating people’s interactions and using their
skiUs
38 expressing my feelings in an open manner
39 getting things done and delivering
40 coming up with new concepts, which clash with
existing ones
41 fighting to change and improve an existing
situation
42 promoting team members’ understanding of
each other
43 co-ordinating
44 getting information from people by using
electronic networks
45 not taking anything for granted
46 coping with fear
47 putting pressure on people for effectiveness’ sake
48 focusing on the energy level of a team and
raising it
49 promoting positive feelings in a team and getting
everybody motivated
50 outlining what could be tomorrow
51 making sure people perform and enjoy being
together
52 determining the proper procedures to achieve a
set of targets
53 getting people (from inside and outside) together
54 moving forward… fast
55 creating a sense of ownership among the team
members
56 being provocative.
…
Scoring
Now record your selected items in the grid right by
circling the number you have chosen and add up
the number of circles in each horizontal row so that
you end up with eight scores.
According to our model, if teams are to prove, in
highly motivating environments, ready to meet the
challenges of today’s fast-changing business world,
their members must be prepared to master eight
key skills. Look at your scores and consider this:
• For a score of one or two This could mean that
the corresponding skill is not something with
TJ September 2011
.vww.trainingjournal.com
SKILL 1
1
9
18
25
34
41
50
SKILL 2
3
10
19
27
36
43
52
SKILL 3
5
12
17
28
39
47
54
SKILL 4
7
14
22
26
35
48
55
33
44
53
37
42
51
SKILL 5
8
16
23
30
SKILL 6
6
13
24
32
SKILL 7
4
11
21
29
38
46
49
SKILL 8
2
15
20
31
40
45
56
which you feel comfortable. As a result, you rarely
use it, despite the fact that your situation may
call for it. Moreover, if you do apply this skill,
rarely do you prove effective since it is an area of
underdevelopinent in your skill set
• For a score of tbree to five You feel comfortable
employing this skill and can activate it when
necessary. When you use it, you can be quite
effective. However, it is something that could be
developed further. Investing effort in honing this
skill would provide you and your team with an
avenue toward performance improvement, and
the resulting satisfaction and enjoyment would be
a real motivating fiictor for the future
• For score of six or seven This is where you feel
most comfortable. This is what you do extremely
well and is where you make your greatest
contribution to team effectiveness. It is critical
that you should nurture this skill; continue to
employ it whenever the situation calls for it but
be careful that you use it appropriately. It would
be counter-productive to use it when perhaps
other skills would prove more effective.
The 2ist Century Team Skills model
Drawing on our research and experience as
consultants, teachers and case study writers, we
contend that there are eight core team skills that
are critical in order to create a ‘hot’ team, deliver
outstanding results, and maintain focus and high
levels of motivation within the team.
Let’s now consider the eight skills and, as we do
so, you can reflect and assess yourself by referring
back to your eight scores:
Skill 1 Dreaming or anticipating, visioning,
inventing tomorrow today, seeing opportunities,
thinking in new ways, building on differences,
creating new horizons.
There can be little doubt that, in a fast-changing
business world in which nothing is certain and the
possibilities endless, the ability to anticipate and/or
invent the fijture is a key skill that teams must have.
Unfortunately, it is very underdeveloped in most
teams. Indeed, the environment which exists in
most corporations can best be described as hostile
where the development of this skill is concerned.
Most team leaders are afraid of it.
Skill 2 Mapping or organising things and
people to maximise the use of limited resources
and talents, bringing order and clarity to a give
situation, turning chaos into something stable
and productive.
When the pace of change is continually
accelerating and the level of ambiguity increasing,
everything and everyone can seem chaotic. The
atmosphere is tense as people scramble around
trying to secure a foothold and restore balance.
This is when the mapping skill is absolutely
critical. Without the ability to create order from
chaos, the team environment can become highly
toxic and disintegrate, leaving devastation in
its wake.
Skill 3 Pushing or testing the status quo,
looking for results, initiating actions, moving fast
and making it happen.
Without the ability to make things happen and
generate results – and do so without unnecessary
delay – the team will not survive. Although this
may seem so obvious as to not require mention,
it is surprising how many teams become
more focused on socio-emotional aspects
of team dynamics and, in so doing, lose
sight of the ultimate objective. From time
to time, teams also become so focused on
process that they lose sight of the need to
decide, conclude and move on. Without tbe
pushing capability, teams risk stagnation.
Skill 4 Energising or mobilising people,
raising the energy level, getting excitement out
of the team, creating vitality and playing
on emotions.
To succeed today is an exhausting, never-ending
process. Success is not a one-shot deal and then the
game is over. Teams must work hard in a highlycompetitive environment to maintain success. To
face the challenge, they must be able to maintain
high levels of energy and excitement. However, it is
natural that, from time to time, the energy level will
dip as people withdraw to refiect and rejuvenate.
This is when the team must have the ability to
boost, mobilise and renew.
Skill 5 Social netivorking or browsing the web,
connecting with people, getting information from
the Internet.
In today’s networked world, in which all teams
and team members are interconnected and, to
varying degrees, interdependent, the ability to
move beyond the boundaries of the team to
source resources is critical. In fact, this skill has
become such a necessity that often it is difficult to
determine the boundaries of the team itself.
—^
www.trainingjournal.com
September 2011 TJ
FEATURE
Professor
Pierre
Casse and
Associate
Professor
Eoin
Banahan
are members
of the
faculties at
Moscow
School of
ManagementSkolkovo and
Audencia
Business
School
respectively.
They can be
contacted
via www.
skolkovo.ru
and vwvw.
audencia.com
i6
TJ
Skill 6 Caring about other people, paying
attention to their feelings and emotions, listening
and giving feedback, facilitating communication.
The team environment must be one in which
people feel valued. The importance of its socioemotional aspect can often be overlooked as team
members struggle to achieve their objectives. As a
result, indidduals can begin to disengage as they
feel their contributions are undervalued and their
feelings disrespected. Without the ability to care
within the team, commitment, motivation and
morale will deteriorate quickly.
Skill 7 Releasing the tension among the team
members, turning conflicts into positive options,
handling confrontations with tact, transforming
hostility into something positive.
The ambiguous nature of today’s business
environment can give rise to considerable tension
within every organisation and team. As people
vent their frustrations, conflict and confrontation
is inevitable. However, conflict needs not be
counter-productive. In fact, if managed well, it
can be a stimulus to creativity and can move team
performance to new heights. Therefore, the abiÜty
to release tension and use conflict as a source of
creativity is essential to expanding team capability.
Skill 8 Challenging the team’s assumptions
and values, acting in a provocative way, pushing
for new alternatives, blocking compromises and
championing high standards.
In a highly competitive and ambiguous
environment, teams must have the ability to
question, provoke and undermine established ways
of thinking and behaving. Without it, the team
will not progress beyond the average.
So where are the strengths and weaknesses in your
skill set? Are you a Dreamer, a Mapper, a Pusher,
an Energiser, a Networker, a Carer, a Releaser of
tension or a Challenger? You may find you have
varying levels of proficiency across the skills, some
more developed than others, but it is important to
bear in mind that you can switch between them
as the need arises. The question to consider is,
in moving between them, how comfortable and
proficient are you? Our ability to switch between
the different skills when the time is right, and our
levels of proficiency when exercising each skill, has
a huge impact on the effectiveness of the team and
the cohesion within it.
If we want to improve our performance, we
should learn to recognise where we are strong and
not as strong, as a team member and as a team as a
whole. Once we have raised our awareness, we are
in a position to devise strategies and target resources
to measurably improve our rates of success.
September 2011
www.trainingjournal.com
Team leadership into perspective
The 21st Century Team Skills model can help
team leaders re-examine their role using a different
paradigm to what has been used in the past. The
model helps define more clearly what we consider
to be the seven key success factors for team leaders,
who must:
1 identify their own team skills and use
them appropriately
2 acknowledge their team members’ skills and give
them a chance to use them when required
3 assess the requirements of the situation in which
the team may find itself
4 ensure that the right team skills are activated at
the right time
5 develop the team skills of each member
6 inject new people into the team who have skills
that may be missing
7 manage the natural confrontation between the
various team skills as they arise.
Team leaders have a difficult and challenging task.
They must manage and nurture the portfolio of
skills within the team and ensure that they are
deployed appropriately and in the right balance.
Conclusions
Today’s business world is complex and highly
dynamic. In order to keep pace with the
requirements of the time, organisations must build
high-performance teams in every area of activity.
Businesses cannot depend solely on the knowledge
and skills of the individual since the challenges to
be addressed require a range of diverse skills that
no individual can master alone. Therefore, the key
success factor must be to build the required skill set
across a collection of individuals working together
and provide them with the environment and
resources necessary for high performance.
However, we must re-invent the way in which
teams come together and perform. Teams must be
able to deal effectively with the issue of tyranny
of the average if they are to develop a culture of
high performance that proves sustainable. While
team performance management remains a key
team leadership task, responsibility for providing
the skills required for success must lie with each
individual team member.
The 21st Century Team Skills model provides
leaders with a mechanism for assessing the
effectiveness of team composition and planning
for improvement in an environment in which
the pace of change is rapid and accelerating. At a
fundamental level, this is what differentiates this
new model from other well-established approaches
that have been in use for the past 50 years. IJ
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