building teamwork · building teamwork term definition introduced in forms a system for formulating...

Building Teamwork

Term Definition Introduced In

FORMSA system for formulating and evaluating feedback to ensure that it's effective; the letters stand for Factual, Observable, Responsive, Measurable, and Specific Module 4

Groupthink An idea that says people are most comfortable agreeing with the majority Module 2Influencer A member of a team who uses their influence with another member to silently voice their opinion Module 1

MilestonesA list of important, specific steps along the project path that shows which goals within the project have been met and indicate places where further planning and evaluations may be necessary Module 1

SMART criteriaA set of criteria applied to an improvement plan to be sure it will be effective; the letters stand for Specific, Measurable, Align, Realistic, and Time Module 1

Synergy Two or more things coming together to produce a result not otherwise obtainable Module 3

BUILDING TEAMWORK MODULE ONE – ESTABLISHING THE GROUND RULES Male: Module One. Establishing the Ground Rules. There's 10 ground rules

that need to be addressed before the team begins working on their

project. Let's look at the first one.

Clarity and Team Goals. Want to have a clear and specific goal in mind

before we even start work on the project, otherwise, one person will be

doing one thing, another person will be doing another thing, and there's

just no way that the team can work together without a clarity and team

goals. To understand, you want everybody on the team to understand

that what are you looking at, what's the problem you're looking at, and

kind of scope out the problem and define it.

You want to have a good idea of who the member of the team are going to

be, what type of resources are you going to have to tap into and to look at

while we're addressing this problem.

While we're defining our problem, what are we looking at; is this problem,

is this something we can work at, is this a workable size? Is this

something that this team with these members can really address.

Another thing you want to look at, particularly as a team leader, what's the

big picture? How does this problem or this project that we're working on,

how does it fit into the big picture?

You also want to look at -- with clarity and team goals, you ought to want

to look at what's a good idea of what the team goals are, that you'll be

able to head off switches in direction. I know we've all been in meetings

before where we're talking about one subject and someone goes off on a

tangent. So a clarity and teams goals will allow you to get the discussion

back on track, toward what the project is, and what your final goal is.

Also we want to look at milestones. What steps do we want to take in

completion of this project, where do we want to be at this time or where do

we want to be at this time? And map out the milestones as far as solving

the problem. And that gives us an idea and some evidence of when

somebody looks at it and asks us where we're going, what's this team

doing or how are they coming. But we can take out this list of milestones.

It may be something you want to even graph and say here's what we've

done and here's what we're heading toward, here's how it fits in.

The second thing we want to look at in establishing ground rules is an

improvement plan. We know what our problem is. Now how do we plan

to get there.

And I like to use the SMART criteria, that's S-M-A-R-T, and that's an

acronym that stands for these particular words. And you want to have

these characteristics in your improvement plan. You want it to be specific.

Here's what we're going to do and here's where we plan to be. And

measureable. You want it to be particularly measureable. You don't want

something vague. You want to be able to say, okay, we said we were

going to reduce spending by 15 percent and here's our measure where

we're at now, something we can measure ourselves against, our progress

against.

You want A, align. You want to make sure that you're able to align this

with the organizational goals, that you are not going off in a direction that

is maybe unattainable. Or you want it to be realistic. Want to be able to

look at it and say we might not be at that point now but we can see what it

would take to get there, and it's realistic, it's not some pie in the sky.

And T, you want it to be time based. By doing this improvement plan, we

expect to reduce spending by 15 percent by the end of this year.

So using all that criteria, you should have a good, firm improvement plan

as far as which way you want to go and able to measure your progress

against your improvement plan.

The third thing we want to look at is clearly defined roles. You want them

to be specific and within timeframes. Each person brings a different talent

to the table as far as teamwork. And you want them to be specific, who is

going to do what, who's responsible for what. And you want say they're

going to do this and within what timeframe.

Several roles you might want to take a look at is timekeeper. If we're

going to discuss this for 10 minutes then we need somebody in the

meetings to time how long we've discussed it.

Also want to have a gate keeper, someone who takes the issues that may

be are on the agenda or not on the agenda and bring that up.

One thing before -- it's important that you have, before a meeting starts, is

an agenda. Whoever is responsible for that. What things are we going to

talk about and for how long we going to talk about them, rather than

getting in a meeting and it's a free for all with several different people

talking about their favorite item for an indeterminate amount of time. You

need an agenda before you start, before you even come to the table.

Talk about, as far as defined rules, backups, it somebody gets sick, who's

going to take their place or who's going to be responsible for it if they're,

for instance, lost for a certain amount of time to the team.

The thing also want to be aware of is pecking order, that when you assign

roles, there may be some establish people, there may be some new

people on the team, and how does pecking order come into it, and how

are those roles declared.

Fourth thing we want to look at is clear communication. You always want

to be clear and direct about when you're speaking with each other. Some

people have the idea, just give me the bullet points, that's all I want to

hear. Other people require more detail. So be aware of their

communication and communication style.

Listen actively. Don't interrupt, and make sure there's no interruptions.

Another thing you want to look at, when somebody is discussing

something with the team is other people have speaking styles, some

speak fast and a mile a minute, other people speak slow. So be aware of

that and adapt yourself to their speaking styles.

One thing also you want to make sure that you touch on and nip in the bud

immediately; no bullying statements, no discounting somebody else's

opinion. It's essential that all members are included and their opinions are

respected. So nip that type of behavior in the bud.

Which brings us to nu8mber five, beneficial team behavior. You want to

initiate discussion. You want to solicit opinion. You don't want to go back

over something that you've spent the last 15 minutes discussing.

Somebody needs to be in control of that, and raise the question that we've

already discussed that, let's move on.

Want to step in to ease any tension that might arise or you might see

arising. Let's just take five minutes and cool off and come back to the

table after our break.

There's also a concept called a parking lot, where you can take issues that

are not on the agenda that somebody raises and that maybe everybody's

not prepared to discuss and say, well, let's put that on the agenda for our

next meeting, and let's move on to the next item on the agenda. So that's

one way to get through that barrier.

Number six is a well defined decision procedure. How are you going to

make decisions? Are we going for unanimity? Are we going for

consensus? What one thing you want to be on top of is don't make any

decisions based on opinion. Use data to make decisions. What data do

you bring? What is your position on this issue? What data do you have to

back it up? Not that I feel that this will be the best way. Know what data

do you have to back that opinion up. And don't present one, if you haven't

done your research.

A lot of times in discussions, silence is assumed to mean consent. And

you want to address that as a team leader or as a team member. I

understand, I see that you're sitting there and you have not contributed

anything to the discussion. Does your silence mean that you agree? And

confront somebody that hasn't brought up any issues as far as how they

feel about the motion on the table.

Number seven, balance participation. You want all the team members to

participate. You want to be aware of people who may have influence with

others and are using that influence to silence maybe their disagreement

with the position. You want to have -- nothing will change if everybody is

comfortable. So you want to have an environment where all members feel

free to present their opinions and the reasons behind their opinions, and

whatever side of the opinion they are on.

Number eight, you want to have established ground rules. This allows

open discussions and allows a framework for you, or for the discussion, to

take the position without fear of repercussion. You don't want people

bringing up irrelevant information. Don't want them talking about their dog

when we're talking about something else. You don't want them to veer off

on a tangent. And it's the responsibility of all other members of the group

to bring them back to the table and to keep them on task.

You also -- it's in your benefit to -- once you've established these ground

rules, preferably at the first meeting, to write them down and make sure

everybody has a copy so you can refer to these written rules. This is how

we've decided that we're going to conduct our business and these are the

rules we'll live by. This is our framework.

And you also want to have rules in there about what behavior and how

decent will be approached, that some people would have a discussion that

swear words will be prohibited because it offends other people in the

discussion. I've seen other negotiating teams where swear words were

widely accepted and no communication could take place without swear

words. So make sure that's written in your groundwork as well, written

rules of behavior and discussion.

Number nine, awareness of the group process. Seven percent of the

things you learn will be verbal, but the rest will be nonverbal. Be aware of

nonverbal clues like eye rolling, or turning your back, or getting up and

moving around. You want to make sure that everybody is listening to

everybody, as far as their participation, and that nobody is being

discounted, their opinions are being discounted. You want to have a clear

understanding of that.

And number 10, use of problem solving and decision making approaches.

There's several different ways to reach a decision, and to approach it, you

want to make sure that it's understood by all members of the team just

exactly what you're going to use.

Demand data and facts. Not just opinions, but demand data as far as

someone's position on an item.

Make sure you've investigated root causes; why is this situation the way it

is. And look at permanent solutions, not quick fixes. You want to make

sure that as the discussion of the issue, that no opinions are presented,

that it's strictly based on fact.

So if you use these 10 guidelines as far as laying down the groundwork

before you even begin work, that you'll be well on your way to a successful

discussion of the issues, and perhaps a very good chance of finding a

successful solution.

{End of recording.}

BUILDING TEAMWORK MODULE TWO – COMMUNICATION Male: Module Two. Communication. As a team leader or even as a team

member, you want to create an environment of open communication and

curb group think. When we talk about group think, that's an idea or a

concept that it says that people will rush to judgment or they are the most

comfortable position is agreeing with the majority. So a lot of times in

discussions of a problem or things of that nature, people will agree to

agree and they won't have to argue anymore, which doesn't give you

perhaps the best solution. We'll talk about this later on in our webinar.

But you want to make sure that everybody's voice is heard and people

aren't bullying people to agree with them. That often leads to the worst

decision of the group. One of the ways we can avoid this, perhaps as a

team leader or a team member as well, is don't flaunt your authority. If

you have authority over somebody, don't discount their opinion and make

fun of them or dismiss them even by rolling your eyes or walking around.

Let them be heard, cause they may have the solution to the problem and it

may be the most innovative one that you've ever heard. And if they're not

allowed to speak, then that knowledge and skill and creativity will be lost.

Match your voice and volume to that of other team members. If

somebody's speaking softly, then speak softly along with them. Don't try

to over talk them or talk faster, or slower.

A lot of times I've been in meetings where people thought that the faster

they talk made them the most right, whoever talk fastest has the solution.

And that's just not the case. I often looked at it that if you're speaking fast,

then you're trying to cover up your inefficiencies. So be aware of that.

Encourage others to develop their ideas. You want to have an open forum

that they can feel free to, and are comfortable in, discussing their opinions.

I think that -- you don't have to agree with them, but they were, I think that,

well, I see what you're saying but here's the way I think and why.

And present facts, like we've said earlier. Here is why I think that. Here,

I've done this research and here's what I found.

Match your style to that of other team members. Like we said before, if

they're speaking softly, speak softly. If they're speaking loudly, try to keep

the noise down, but you know what I mean as far as match their style. Try

not to get away or even call people, if they're -- like I mentioned earlier,

people speaking fast to try to get their opinion heard and with the idea that

they're the most right -- call them on it, that, hey, you know, slow down a

little bit so we all can understand and we all can figure out what you're

trying to say. And try to slow them down if they're speaking fast, cause

I've heard people talk a hundred miles an hour. And it was more of a

bullying tactic than anything else.

When you're presenting your opinion, want to use persuasive

communication techniques, like be concise, don't ramble, but present your

opinion, present your back-up information as to why that's your opinion,

why you think this is the best way, or if you're talking, if you are

disagreeing with somebody, here's why I don't think your opinion is right

and here's the facts and data that I have to back up my opinion that it's not

right.

Use images. A lot of us -- there's three different ways that we learn things,

and they're visual, and that's reading or pictures, or people writing notes,

or things of that nature. Then there's also the auditory where they listen

and they learn by listening. And the last one is kinesthetic where it's a

hands on approach, where these are the people that take apart machinery

and put it back together to learn how it runs. So it's oftentimes a

persuasive communication technique in meetings to use images. Here's

where I think. Graphs is a good example. Here's our past performance

over the last three years, and here's where I think it's going and here's

what I think it will do.

Make it personal. Say that here's something that I've learned in the past.

Here's a situation that I've been in. Here's situations where you've been

in. And let's take that information, that knowledge, and see if we can't

make it work to reach a solution.

And don't be afraid to use emotion that as you're trying to make s

persuasive argument that the solution here affected these many people

negatively and I think this is why we should take this direction, and I think

it will get us past those emotional problems.

Show them a picture of a sick puppy if you have to, if that's what it takes.

But use persuasive communication techniques.

There are ways to overcome barriers to communication where there's

some of the barriers that we have that -- presentation of random

information. Somebody will go into a meeting and somebody will be

taking about one thing, somebody else will be talking about something

else, somebody else will be talking about a third thing. One way to get

around that is to organize the information, set a time schedule for when it

will be discussed, and organize it and present an agenda, and make that

the bible that you work by. Here's what we're going to be discussing at

that time, and let's keep on track.

Interruptions from outside the team. I don't know how many meetings I've

been into that somebody will get a phone call for something that's

completely irrelevant. Let them know that this meeting will be an hour and

any interruptions from outside will not be -- hold all calls and you'll get

back in touch with them when the meeting is over.

Another thing you want to look at is interruption from inside the team.

There are several times where I've been in meetings where people have

gone and held discussions, sideline discussions that had no bearing on

what was being discussed at all. So you want to make sure that there's a

specific way to handle those interruptions as well.

No side bars. Let's keep it all on -- let's keep the discussion all on the

team and everybody participate. Times you'll have a barrier where

information is revealed prematurely or arrives too late. This is also a

problem to communication where you want to have an agreement where

anything that's discussed in the meeting is confidential until we can agree

on when it should be released to the general public, or also arrives too late

where we need the information for this meeting and it's not available

because somebody hadn't done the research or whatever reason. They at

least need to know that somebody comes to a meeting and expecting to

discuss something, that that information is available or they give them a

heads up ahead of time.

Irrelevant material dominates a discussion. It's often times very hard as a

team leader to keep the discussion on track. And you want that to be a

very specific and firm ground rule that -- and the way to govern that, once

again, is by the use of an agenda, that we're off track and I want to bring

attention, and let's stay on the discussion, and bring everybody back to the

table that this is what we're talking about. We can talk about this later or

we can talk about this at our next meeting. Let's stay on task.

Another problem is team members think alike and want to agree but are

not considering other choices or being creative. Once again, this is group

think where people are most comfortable when they agree. But the

problem with that is, that it doesn't allow them to explore other

opportunities that may be better. So you have -- it maybe a non-workable

item. May need to assign somebody the task of taking the role of the --

that's the role of the devil's advocate that, okay, I'm going to take an

unpopular position and argue its benefits, and see what we come up with.

So you want to identify all opportunities, and you want the pros and cons

to be equally discussed.

Also you want to take a look at what ifs. Well, okay, I know that that may

sound like the best solution, but what if we did it this way? And let's

explore all the paths that that might take. What if we did it this way?

We've always done it like this before, but what if we did something

completely wild? And that's the way that creativity is used in some of the

biggest discoveries or inventions have come to fruition that way. So take

a look at the what ifs as well.

{End of recording.}

BUILDING TEAMWORK MODULE THREE – TEAM SYNERGY Male: Let's take a look now at Module Three, Team Synergy. What is synergy?

What's the definition of Synergy? Synergy is defined as two or more

things coming together to produce a result not independently obtainable.

That usually tells us that two heads are better than one, that a cohesive

group is more than the sum of its parts. That's what we're looking for in a

successful team as well, using all that information, that skill, to come up

with something that is maybe not obtainable by just one person.

And it occurs when you have a productive team that is enabled, committed

and productive, that they will take the ball with a problem and know how to

interact with each other, and go about discussing the problem, and

arriving at a solution. Moves easily outside its comfort zone.

Really, discussion or action on a problem is really useless unless you

push the envelope, or another way of saying it is thinking outside the box.

We've talked about the what ifs before that is comfortable thinking outside

of the box, and choosing norms that create a positive culture that

everybody realizes the value of each member of the team and what they

bring to the table, and how they interact, and they're valued by other

members of the team.

Self reliant and interdependent does not -- takes their own action, is

empowered, do not wait on somebody to tell them what to do, that this is

the road they're going down, and this is what they're investigating, and

here's why.

So we have a diagram here that says synergy occurs when you have a

productive team that -- and there's four separate aspects that you look for

in a synergistic team. They feel that they belong, they feel that they have

power, they feel that they have freedom. And it's fun. Fun is oftentimes

the most important part of a meeting. Nobody wants to continue to work

on a task they don't eventually have some fun at. And that doesn't mean

going to the circus every day or anything, but small group activities where

the focus is more on group interaction than doing the grinding work, and

they're able to interact with each other in a social setting maybe.

As far as belonging, it's important that a team member feels acceptance

on the team, and it's a joint effort, the benefits, and the feelings, and the

feedback they have for them for working on a project with other members.

Power, they want to feel like they have control over maybe their career or

their work and what's going on with their work. And they can pass on

information that they receive this, so the organization can grow. And as

far as the freedom, they want to be able to take responsibility, that they

can trust other people that they work with and take responsibility for some

of the things that are going on and some of the knowledge that they bring

to the table. So that's all aspects of -- oftentimes what team members are

looking for in -- as far as working on a team. So that's important to keep in

mind when you're trying to build teamwork.

Looking for synergy is often another word for cohesion. And we want to

take a look at that. We want to understand that. As group cohesion

increases, the communication increases. It's easier for the team members

to talk to each other and to communicate. They have the common goals,

interests, and oftentimes it's easier to reach cohesion with a small team

rather than a larger team. So sometimes a group of four or five members

often works well together rather than a group of a hundred. It's -- and of

course that just is common sense, that they're easier to work together with

the smaller the group is.

And they provide each other with support against outside threats, that if

somebody threatens the team that -- we see this even through nature, that

if somebody threatens the team that they're all able to react and provide

protection. We see that's how bees work. So it's something to think about

as far as building a team. But it also provides risk as far as decision

making.

There's two particular risks that you want to be aware of as far as

cohesion is concern, and one is group polarization. Now, research has

shown that a team that oftentimes will take a position, a more risky

position, if they have more people to share with. So say, for instance,

somebody comes up with a suggestion that they do something that's risky

or perceived as risky, a lot of times the rest of the group will take that

same position even though it's riskier than what their initial position was,

because they have other people to share it with. So that's one risk to be

aware of as far as cohesion.

Also, we've talked about -- and we want to talk about again, group think.

That it's comfortable for a group of people discussing a problem to arrive

at a solution without much discussion or without discussing maybe the

more creative or more volatile ways to solve the problem. People are

more comfortable when they're in a group with agreement that they all

agree with. So that's one thing you want to be aware of, that you're not

going down a road to group think and all arriving at the same solution

without really thinking through all the solutions.

{End of recording.}

BUILDING TEAMWORK MODULE FOUR – FEEDBACK Male: Module Four. Feedback. A lot of us look on feedback as negative,

somebody telling us what we did wrong. There are two different types of

feedback, positive and negative feedback. And all feedback is, is

information on past performance. And it's information on past

performance that can be used to determine future performance. Here's

what I maybe did wrong or could do better. Here's somebody telling me,

and I can take that information and use it in my future performance.

One look at feedback, if you are giving feedback, that it is factual, that

says something here -- once again, we're dealing with data that's facts.

Here for instance, you talk to somebody and say I observed you in the

meeting and you didn't contribute. That's a fact. It's not an opinion or

something vague. I just don't like the way you look; you don't want to

make it like that. But I observed you not contributing in a meeting. And it

has to be observable, like I saw that I thought you were thinking, no. It

has to be action that's observable. And there's an acronym to use for this,

it's FORMS, F-O-R-M-S. First one's factual, observable, or responsive.

Not that you did make a response or you didn't make a response, but

that's the form you want them -- the feedback to take to remain as positive

feedback.

Measureable. You interrupted three times. You interrupted four times.

Want it to be measureable. And what I'm trying to get at is you want it to

be particularly concrete, tangible, not intangible. And you want it to be

specific, be as specific as you can pointing out that here's what you

observed, here's the feedback that you observed.

It's descriptive. It's specific. It's behavior oriented. Here's what you did.

Here's what I observed you doing. It's realistic. It's not something that's

out of the world. And it's focused on the situation. You were at the

meeting and I observed you not participating several times.

What it is not -- what feedback is not -- and let's be real clear about that --

is judgmental. You're just trying to give them information that they can use

to refine their future performance. Where we said it is specific, it is not

general. Give them specific instances as to how they perform, what you

observe them doing.

It is not character oriented. You want it to be, like we said earlier,

behavior oriented. Here's the behavior that I observed. Not that I think

you're nuts or something of that nature. You don't want it to be like that.

That's negative. And it does nobody any good.

Feedback, it's gold, if you can take that and use it to modify your future

performance. But if it's negative feedback, it's not worth anything, and

you're wasting your time.

Unrealistic -- just as we said earlier, we want it to be realistic. That it's

something that somebody can do something with and take that and use it.

And it's not focused on the person. This is focused on the situation. In

this situation you did this. Now, feedback -- well, you always do this and I

don't like it; is negative feedback, and it's no good, it's worthless. It has no

use as far as teamwork. And this is something that this person can use.

They may not even be aware that they're behaving this way. But with this

feedback, it's something that they can take and use and modify their future

behavior. So have that in mind when you're giving feedback.

Now, as far as receiving feedback, there are several steps that you want

to take as well. Listen to what a person is telling you. Look them in the

eyes and don't automatically react negatively or try to defend yourself as

far as receiving the feedback. There are some people that can take

feedback and some people that can't. And you want to be aware of your

situation.

Listen to what they're saying. Breathe evenly. Try not to lose your

temper. Look them directly in the eye and acknowledge that they're giving

you the feedback and what they're saying you feel is valuable. And then

take that and use that maybe to modify your behavior.

Don't fly off the handle or, like I say, get mad. Stop and -- if you don't

understand, question. And try to understand what they are trying to say, if

you really don't understand it. And then maybe take some time to reflect

upon it, and how you can use it to your benefit in, perhaps the next

meeting.

So feedback is a very valuable part of team building and becoming close

to the people that you will be working with on this team. And it's a good

way to facilitate communication between team members. So take this to

heart as far as the way you give feedback and you receive feedback.

BUILDING TEAMWORK MODULE FIVE – OVERCOMING CONFLICT Male: Module Five. Overcoming Conflict. Many of us, when we think about

conflict, we think of it in a negative manner, that no good comes of conflict,

and we want everything to be unicorns and balloons. And it's not. Many

times it's not, and especially working in teams. But conflict can have

positive as well as negative effects. Let's look at some of the positive

effects that conflict might have as some disagreements or differences rise

to the top between team members.

One of the positive effects that conflict might have is it indicates a problem

exist, that there may be a situation where other team members are not

even aware that there is a conflict, and once it is put on the table that it

gives an indication that there is a problem that needs to be addressed.

Another positive effect, it offers challenges for new solutions. Here we

have a conflict, and the way we are doing things results in this conflict.

Let's examine new ways of doing things, and it might give us a new idea.

It causes win-win opportunities, that here is an opportunity for us to say

this is what this person is looking for, this is what this person is looking for,

let's examine ways and paths to go down to find a win-win opportunity

where both sides benefit.

Now, of course there are some negative effects as well that conflict in all

situations causes stress, and that with all the due effects of that, it's bad.

It creates confusion, ambiguity and unproductive work climate.

If the problems aren't addressed and addressed in a positive manner,

ultimately the team will fall apart because of the confusion, ambiguity and

unproductive work climate, that the team won't be able to work together,

and causes win-lose situation, a zero sum game. It often forces team

members to take sides in the argument or the conflict to either I win, if I

win, you lose, if you win, I lose. So it needs to be addressed and

opportunities need to be examined that will present a win-win opportunity.

There's a couple of steps to take to resolve conflict. Hopefully, you can

take these, maybe examine the conflict, and easily glide through it. One is

to ask team members to examine the source of the conflict. Why are we

arguing? What started this? Is it something that I said, or position that I

took, or is my decision going to affect some of your friends, or just exactly

what is the source of the conflict?

Determine the positive and negative effects. If we do this, what's going to

happen? If we do this, what's going to happen? What positive going to

come out, what negatives going to come out of it?

Identify and ask the team for their input as well as far as identify possible

solutions. How can we get this resolved? What solutions or what road do

we need to go down to resolve this conflict?

Just like we did with -- in the beginning, set ground rules, boundaries, and

ground rules. We will discuss this problem. Here's how we will discuss it

and what needs to come out of it.

Or maybe number five, agree to reach consensus or agree to disagree.

We've heard this several times, that it is pointless maybe for us to

continue along this line, see no solution in sight, let's just agree to

disagree.

One thing I want to talk about consensus while we're on it, is a lot of

people have misconception about just exactly what is consensus. And

they think it means that unamity, everybody on the team reaching the

same solution, that everybody agrees on everything, and at the end they

all hug, and everybody has the same agreement. And that is far from the

case, that consensus does not mean unanimity.

Oftentimes unanimity is often a sign of weakness in the decision making of

the group. In ancient times a verdict on a criminal in a criminal trial, if they

all agreed, the people rendering the system, it often meant that a proper

defense wasn't prepared for the person on trial, and that person was let go

because of an improper defense.

So unanimity is often looked at as a sign of weakness in the decision

making. It meant that maybe the -- it's an indicator for a group think, here

we go again with group think, that they're not willing to discuss creative

ways to solve the problem, but we're instead more focused on reaching a

unanimous agreement. So be aware of this when you're trying to reach

consensus. It can also indicate a rigged process to where that maybe the

decision making was driven by someone with more power in the group

and drove it all to their particular position, their favorite position. So it's an

indication of that as well. Indicates lack of creativity. They didn't examine

all the creative outlets. Or it often indicates a lack of courage to explore

further.

So a dissenting vote, as far as a solution is concerned, is not a bad thing.

Matter a fact, it's often a better thing than having a unanimous vote. One

thing that consensus aims to be, it aims to be agreement seeking. It

attempts to help everyone get what they need. It needs to be

collaborative, a shared proposal shaped into a decision that meets the

concerns of all group members.

You want to make sure that all the factions are heard from, that they were

able to get their needs addressed. The weakest group was able to get

their needs addressed as well as the strongest group. So it needs to be

collaborative, cooperative.

The ultimate goal of the team is to reach the best position, the best

solution, rather than compete for somebody's favorite, where the strongest

will overpower the weakest.

It needs to be a egalitarian, where all members should have an equal

opportunity for input. Everybody needs to be heard, and their opinion

needs to be heard. You want to create an environment where even the

smallest person gets input that is equal to the strongest person, inclusive.

As many stakeholders as possible should be involved. This decision is

going to affect who? And what have we heard from them or their

representatives? They need to have an opportunity to be heard from as

well, the people that this decision is going to effect.

And it should be participatory, which means that members of the team

should solicit input from everybody, as much input as they can possibly

muster or bring to the table, they should go out and actively seek input.

{End of recording.}

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