TEAM    

Read  the  statements  below.  Do  you  agree  or  disagree  with  them?  Why?    Great  things  in  business  are  never  done  by  one  person;  they  are  done  by  a  team  of  

people.    Although  a  bright  individual  might  have  great  ideas,  it  takes  a  team,  or  collection  of  

teams  to  develop  and  deliver  on  them.  A  team  is  as  strong  as  its  collective  mindset.  Being  together  doesn’t  mean  working  as  a  team.  Collectivism  doesn’t  mean  group  thinking.  When  your  top  players  don’t  know  how  to  work  together,  their  individual  talents  are  

useless.  Often,  innovation  occurs  within  teams,  not  with  individuals,  as  it  is  the  combination  

of  different  expertise,  personalities,  ages,  and  cultures  which  brings  together  a  variety  of  thoughts  and  ideas.  

There may be a science to orchestrating team collaboration, but there also is an art. A more balanced approach, however, might blend science with art and magnify team effectiveness.

   

How  would  you  define  “team”?  (Compare  your  variant  with  the  definitions  given  below).  What  are  the  main  features  of  a  team?    What  is  the  difference  between  a  team  and  a  group  of  people?    What  are  the  key  factors  for  team  success?    Why  do  some  teams  fail?    What  is  the  difference  between  an  average  team  and  a  high  performance  team?  What  is  the  power  of  a  strong  team?  

 A team is… … a small number of people with complementary skills who are committed in a common

purpose, performance goals, and approach for which they hold themselves mutually accountable. (J.R. Katzenbach, D.K. Smith, The Wisdom of Teams: Creating the High-Performance Organization).

… a group of people who work together to accomplish something beyond their individual

self-interests.

A high-performance work team is a group of goal-focused individuals with specialized expertise and complementary skills who collaborate, innovate and produce consistently superior results. The group relentlessly pursues performance excellence through shared goals, shared leadership, collaboration, open communication, clear role expectations and group operating

rules, early conflict resolution, and a strong sense of accountability and trust among its members.1

Here  are  some  core  elements  of  team  performance  and  superpower  of  teams.  How  would  you  explain  the  ideas  behind  them?  

                                                               Collective  thinking                        Diversity  of  thinking                                                                          Collective  intelligence            Diversity  of  actions                                                                Collective  mindset                          Diversity  of  roles  and  functions  within  a  team                                                                  Collective  effectiveness        Diversity  of  expertise                                                              A  team’s  ability  to  manage  complexity  and  generate  breakthrough  ideas  

   

Why  Teams  don’t  Work  

*Role clarity. There can be insufficient clarity of who has the authority to make decisions.

*Weak communication processes and lack of social intelligence. 1). It is important how ideas flow from person to person and how individuals pass on their

insights. What’s required is the development of the social intelligence of teams to a level that equals their cognitive intelligence. This is done by building social awareness, which involves recognising and reading people and groups accurately and responding appropriately.

General effectiveness, a group collective intelligence, which predicts a group’s performance in a lot of situations, stems from a group’s “social sensitivity,” or willingness to let all its members take turns and apply their skills to a given challenge. Groups in which one person dominates don't do as well on group tasks as those in which the conversational turns are more evenly distributed.

2). People tend to believe passionately that they are correct, as a result, they might not have the sense or desire to invite potentially opposing opinions. This can be exacerbated at an inter-team level, where some players can be overly focused on their point of view, rather than taking into account the end-goal of the project.

*Individuals are rewarded rather than collective achievements. Ego is the ultimate

killer of a team. When individual performances are constantly singled out, don’t expect your team to behave as a team and pursue goals collectively.

*Operations in the organization don't work properly. Make sure your structure,

policies, processes, and reward system promote a collective mindset. *The purpose of a team doesn't resonate. Each team needs a purpose of its own. There’s

nothing wrong with the overall organization purpose. But people resonate with things that are connected to their day-to-day reality.  What  do  you  think  could  be  some  other  reasons  for  team’s  ineffectiveness?    

                                                                                                                 1  Developing and Sustaining High-Performance Work Teams. // shrm.org.

2  J.  Bourke.  Collective  intelligence:  Improving  top  team  effectiveness.  //  hrtimesblog.com.  

Team  Leadership    

What  is  the  role  of  a  leader  in  team  performance  and  effectiveness?  What  do  you  understand  by  “an  effective  leader”?  

   

Here  are  some  questions  you  as  a  leader  need  to  answer  about  your  team.  

1. Is the group a “real team,” with clear boundaries, interdependence among members, and at least moderate stability of membership over time?

2. Does the team have a compelling direction, a purpose that is clear, challenging, and consequential? Members need to know, and agree on, what they’re supposed to be doing together. Unless a leader articulates a clear direction, there is a risk that different members will pursue different agendas.

3. Does the team’s structure — its task, composition, and core norms of conduct — enable rather than impede teamwork? Teams that have poorly designed tasks, the wrong number or mix of members, or fuzzy and unenforced norms of conduct inevitably get into trouble.

4. Who are the members of the team? Does the team display diverse thinking? Do the team players have diverse roles? Do we approach problems in different ways? Do we develop strategies that are balanced?

5. How do the team members converse? Do we operate in a collaborative and respectful way? Would each team member say he or she feels confident to speak up, even to express a point of view that is different from the majority?

6. What are the ways of increasing the quality of collective thinking?

Collective intelligence: Improving Top Team Effectiveness2

While the capabilities of each team member are critical, there is an emerging emphasis on the collective intelligence of top teams. This overall team IQ isn’t a reflection of the average or even the maximum intelligence of team members; research demonstrates that groups are more than the sum of their parts and collective intelligence is the property of the group itself. Just as individual intelligence enhances individual performance on complex problem-solving tasks, collective intelligence improves the group’s performance.

Closer attention is now being paid to the factors that drive collective intelligence. Top team composition and diversity of thinking are the most difficult of them. The challenge lies in                                                                                                                2  J.  Bourke.  Collective  intelligence:  Improving  top  team  effectiveness.  //  hrtimesblog.com.    

defining the kinds of diversity that lead to collective intelligence, as well as their proportions and how they are interconnected.

Individuals tend to solve problems using one or two of six approaches, particularly when they are under pressure or in like-minded groups. These six approaches are:

• Evidence. Relying on robust and multiple sources of data • People. Identifying diverse audiences and their interests • Process. Giving absolute clarity to an implementation plan • Outcomes. Closely defining desired objectives • Risks. Predicting and addressing multiple scenarios • Options. Creating an exhaustive list of possibilities

All six approaches are critical to a well-rounded solution and all top team members are capable of addressing them to some degree, but as individuals, we tend to believe that one or two are the most important. Greater transparency into individual approaches and the weight of the group’s preference enables top teams to select members for diversity of thinking in terms of problem-solving approaches.

A second direct influence on diversity of thinking comes from the mix of functional roles held by team members. These executive roles expose members to different domains of knowledge and social networks.

Understanding Your Team’s Thinking Styles3

How we think is a critical component in our ability to work “smarter.” Our thinking drives the way we process information and how we make decisions; it impacts our actions and                                                                                                                3  S. Croft. The Power of Understanding Your Team's Thinking Styles. // leadershipintelligence.com.  

behaviours. And, ultimately, it is what generates results. In an organizational context, then, if we want high-level results, we need to use high-level thinking.

Jerry Rhodes, creator of the Thinking Intentions Profile, identified three key driving forces:

• Blue. Judging what is right. • Red. Describing our truth in the world. • Green. Realizing what is novel in the world.

Rhodes used these colours purposefully because, when combined, they create whole light. He wanted to represent the holistic nature of these three driving forces and how they interact with each other to facilitate quality level thinking in individuals.

As you can see in the chart, the three driving forces are subdivided into 6 frames of mind: logical, analytical, and ingenious (which are objective in nature) and evaluative, experiencing, and imaginative (which are subjective in nature). Rhodes also used “hard” and “soft” to describe these thinking styles. That is, we have hard blue, hard red, and hard green, and soft blue, soft red, and soft green.

“Soft” does not indicate weakness or vulnerability at all. It is simply the style, with “soft” thinking as subjective and “hard” thinking as objective. It is, essentially, an internal focus versus an external focus.

To the left, blue thinking (both hard and soft) is convergent and closed in nature. To the right, green thinking is divergent and open in nature. Hard and soft red, then, is the conduit and link between blue and green thinking.

There is no “best” thinking style; each can contribute to the collective strengths of a team. The value is in awareness and understanding how we show up in work and team environments so we can maximize those contributions.

Diverse Empowered Teams4

Move faster by empowering diverse teams to act.

To ensure teams’ ability to generate better ideas, two important team factors are taken into account: diversity and empowerment.

Diversity is fundamental to the success of teams. Consider this: when building teams, you aren’t just assigning resources –– you’re framing your approach to the problem. Each team member brings their unique perspective and expertise to the team, widening the range of possible outcomes. If you want a breakthrough idea, you’re more likely to get it with a diverse team. Building diverse teams requires you to actively seek people with different perspectives, diverse identities, experiences, and expertise.

Diverse teams see the same problem from many angles. They have a better understanding of any given situation and generate more ideas, making them more effective problem solvers. While it takes effort to harness and align such different perspectives, it’s at the intersection of differences that most meaningful breakthroughs emerge.

If diversity helps teams generate breakthrough ideas, empowerment enables them to turn those ideas into outcomes. Empowered teams have the agency to make everyday operational decisions on their own. They’re equipped with the expertise and authority to deliver outcomes without relying on others for leadership or technical support. To achieve self-reliance, equip each team with the full range of expertise needed to independently deliver their assigned outcome. This minimizes dependencies on resources beyond their control, enabling them to make decisions quickly and independently.

Perfect Unison: Never Underestimate the Power of a Team5

'We had each other’s back no matter what,' Canadian diver Roseline Filion on her 11-year partnership with Meaghan Benfeito.

When I think about the concept of team, I immediately refer to diving.                                                                                                                4  Diverse  Empowered  Teams.  //  ibm.com.  5  R.  Filion.  Perfect  Unision:  Never  underestimate  the  power  of  a  team.  //  cbc.ca.  

Diving is where I learned how to be part of a team, how to work as a team, and how to deal with a team. You do not always choose who is on your team or who you are going to work with. But in a sport where you shine as an individual because of your work as a team, you quickly learn how to come together to make great things happen.

The story of my 11-year partnership with Meaghan Benfeito for the synchronized event is unique, and had an unusual beginning. We were not the ones who decided we should be paired up. It was our coach at the time who evaluated our physical and technical similarities… and who knew that we were doing the same dives off the 10 metres. A perfect match was made!

The door was wide open for a new synchro team. We were told to jump on the opportunity, which we did with pleasure. We were already good friends, and in the beginning, this new adventure just seemed really fun.

Communication was our key to success and that is what made our team last for so long. We would tell each other how we felt, what we wanted to work on and, what problems wanted fixing as a team. We were giving it 100 per cent … most of the time.

Lazy days are okay, too, and we would acknowledge them so we did not lose patience with one another. We basically had each other’s back no matter what. Our team was built on trust. We also allowed mistakes, never pointing fingers for a bad dive in a competition. Our attitude was “what’s done is done,” and we moved forward.

Difficult times

I’m not saying it was always pretty and always working well, but when things did not go perfectly, our firm base of friendship and trust helped us through the difficult times. And one of the hardest challenges we had to face was the fact that at one point in our career we weren’t synchronized anymore.

We had lost our timing and rhythm. Precision is key in diving. Everything is a matter of fractions of seconds. In an individual event, you must be precise, but you depend only on yourself. In the synchro, the precision doubles.

You have to time yourself with your partner in every part of the movements. The speed of the arm swing, the depth of our squat before we push off, everything counts, and has to be identical. If we can’t start at the same time, chances are that the entire way down won’t be good.

Watching videos, discussing how we felt in the takeoff, how slow or how fast we could move without affecting our individual dives … these shared observations and constant discussions helped us know each other better. We were now at a point where we can just stand side by side without saying a word and we knew how the other one felt. In my opinion, we are at the point of perfect unison in a team.

Over the years, I have seen many types of teams: siblings, physical opposites, good friends, duos who were forced to work together, so I believe there is no right way to build a dream team. It looks far more complex than it actually is, because anything is possible in team building. I’ve seen it.

Obviously there are combinations that don’t work. Personalities can get in the way, as much as different physical abilities. It is really all about trial and error. Mixing capabilities and long-term potential is a challenge itself. But if you want the same things and you have a similar work ethic, that can take you a long way too.

What’s good in working as a team is that you have different strengths and weaknesses. You learn from each other. It allows you to grow. If Meaghan is jumping higher than me, I have to push myself to reach her height so we can be perfectly synchronized. It’s a way to gain power in your own dive. What’s not positive about that?

Army of support

Every athlete, when standing on the starting line, the diving board, or the field, has an army not too far behind, which contributed to the performance: a coach, a physio, a nutritionist, a psychologist, a friend. These people are the reason you are able to stand there on your own, ready to perform. Their knowledge, expertise and advice are what make an athlete.

What I learned throughout the years is that you have to surround yourself with the people you trust and you can rely on. No matter how much effort you put in the training, if your team is not one step ahead of you with new ideas, success will be elusive.

When you start a sport or even a new job, the team is handed to you. You don’t choose anyone, you just go along for the ride. Sometimes it works, sometime it doesn’t. But as you learn from these people, you also get a chance to grow and figure out what you really need as a team and as an individual.

In my 20-year diving career, I’ve worked with many different people. All of them contributed to my development as an athlete and as a person. With time and experience I eventually figured out exactly what I needed to perform, how I wanted to work, and who I wanted to work with. Near the end, I had the privilege to choose the people I wanted to be surrounded by.

I was lucky enough to get everyone on board and start a new chapter. These people really showed me the true meaning of teamwork. Everyone was hands on, and they all understood me and my goals. Yet again, communication was the key. They had my best interest at heart and that’s the reason why I’ve been able to finish on a good note.

Because of them, I know that you can’t underestimate the power of a team. You can go far alone, but you reach the top with a team.

Watching Video

Build  a  Tower,  Build  a  Team: https://www.ted.com/talks/tom_wujec_build_a_tower  to  collaborate  to  jockey  for  power  gingerly  to  buckle  the  essence  of  the  iterative  process  to  get  instant  feedback  to  execute  on  a  plan  self-­‐reinforcing  geometrical  patterns  the  skill  of  facilitation  a  stable  structure  the  ante  high  stakes  the  nature  of  incentives  the  stance  

to  ajust  the  system    The  Power  of  a  Team:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dyUyOubeyrE  to  major  in  the  second-­‐in-­‐command    The  3  C's  to  Get  Your  Team  on  the  Bus  (for  a  Leader):  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iGQQxzdD6Yc&index=2&list=RDdyUyOubeyrE  the  commitment  to  foster  the  void      One  Team,  one  Culture:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SOu9SmdTXY8    What  is  Team  Culture:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IlH0GgVbhwM  disintegrative  team  neatly  put  together  to  preach  to  envision  to  drift  away  from  to  line  up  with    A  Leader  must  be  a  “People  Person”:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sP3ZhcXOkSM  to  burgeon  to  destroy  the  morale  in  the  company    Put  your  Staff  1st,  Customers  2nd,  Shareholders  3rd:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NPiCYoX-­‐S_I  to  be  out  and  about  people  on  the  frontline    Building  Teams  for  Success:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xp4qF1e8ai0  the  increasing  competitive  preassure  to  come  up  with  the  breakthrough  concept  a  truly  differentiated  product  /  service  to  enhance  commitment  the  containment  abyss  to  have  a  say  to  beat  the  competition  to  create  a  sense  of  entrepreneurship  numble    Measure  Your  Team's  Success:  https://hbr.org/video/2226821016001/measure-­‐your-­‐teams-­‐success  patterns  of  communication  the  content  of  communication  poorly  performing  /  high-­‐performing  groups  spooky  to  drive  the  conversation  to  create  output    

Writing    Imagine  you  have  to  create  a  new  department  within  your  organization  and  build  a  team  in  this  department.      

Write  a  mission  statement  for  your  team.  Determine  your  strategy.  What  results  do  you  want  to  create?  Set  goals  for  your  team  (for  a  year  /  quarter  /  month  /  week).    Work   out   the  policy   for   your   team   including  main   standards,   rules,   norms   and  expectations.    Design  a   structure  of   your   team   in  accordance  with  the  mission  and  goals  of  your  department  and  of  your  company.    Identify  positions  and  their  roles  /  functions  within  the  team.      Develop  key  indicators  measuring  successful  performance  of  each  position.    Identify  what  capabilities,  qualifications,  skills,  abilities,  experience,  behaviours  your  team  members  need  to  possess  to  fill  the  positions  and  to  execute  the  strategy  of  your  department  successfully.  

   

Extra  Vocabulary  collective aspiration a disparate group of people to be dysfunctional to be loyal to to build a shared vision to report directly to freedom of expression to be adaptable / to adapt easily to the ability to think on your feet the ability to apply yourself to go beyond one’s expectations to seek out opportunities cross-functional / cross-divisional moves to demonstrate qualities of enterprise to know smth inside-out to pinpoint the cause of a problem to neglect one’s responsibilities to be resistant to to put yourself in a better position to match your expectations / to live up to to go beyond the scope of your current job to exchange knowledge / point of view to be highly skilled / to provide specialized knowledge skills deficit / a lack of ability and knowledge to gain recognition for contribution to make the most of one’s opportunities to make a worthwhile contribution to

to put someone to the test to be inept = incompetent to be adept = competent a sense of common purpose core competency to be highly educated the devotion – to be devoted to the commitment – to be committed to the room for improvement a life-long learner a sense of contribution and purpose to propel one's career upwards  Communication  fluency  in  the  language  an  extensive  vocabulary  being  a  good  listenener  grammatical  accuracy  an  awareness  of  body  language  written  /  spoken  communication  to  articulate  coherent  /  eloquent  /  hesitant  /  rambling  /  responsive  /  succinct  /  reserved  to  be  able  to  express  ideas  well  to  talk  in  a  confused  way  to  be  reluctant  to  speak  to  maintain  eye  contact  to  have  a  relaxed  body  language  to  digress  –  the  digression  to  clarify  to  leave  the  main  point  to  misunderstand  to  summarize  briefly  to  give  the  latest  information  to  get  easily  sidetracked  to  keep  to  the  point  to  hold  the  attention  of  listeners  to  remain  in  control  of  your  emotions  to  maintain  good  posture  to  engage  people  the  resolution  of  conflict  open  lines  of  communication  impaccable  manners    

Idioms  about  communication  Actions  speak  louder  than  words:  what  you  do  is  more  important  than  what  you  say.  Think  before  you  speak:  don't  start  talking  until  you  have  thought  about  what  you  want  to  say.  (Can't)  get  a  word  in  edgeways:  (not)  get  a  chance  to  say  something.  Hear  it  on  the  grapevine:  hear  about  the  rumour  passed  from  one  person  to  another.    Be  on  the  same  wavelength:  share  similar  ideas.    Get  straight  to  the  point:  talk  about  the  most  importan  things  immediately.  Have  a  quick  word  with  someone:  talk  briefly  to  someone.    

Get  our  wires  crossed:  have  different  understanding  of  the  same  situation.  Beat  about  the  bush:  avoid  talking  about  what  is  important.  Put  it  in  a  nutshell:  summarize.  Put  you  in  the  picture:  keep  someone  informed.  Get  the  wrong  end  of  the  stick:  not  understand  a  situation  correctly.  Can’t  make  head  or  tale  of  it:  not  be  able  to  understand  smth.  Talk  at  cross  purposes:  misunderstand  what  the  other  is  referring  to.    Relationships  building  relationships  /  to  build  up  relations  to  cement  /  foster  /  develop  /  establish  /  maintain  /  strengthen  /  promote  /  restore  relationships  to  break  off  /  cut  off  /  disrupt  /  endanger  /  jeopardise  /  damage  /  undermine  relations  to  invade  in  one’s  space  to  complement  each  other  the  resolution  of  conflict  to  set  a  good  /  bad  example  respectful  /  offensive  /  cheeky  /  disgraceful  /  disrespectful  /  insolent    

Idioms  describing  people  Whiz-­‐kid:  a  skilled  or  successful  young  person.  High-­‐flier:  is  very  successful  in  a  job  or  a  school.  Dark  horse:  is  quiet  but  who  surprises  with  their  hidden  talents.  Team  player:  works  well  in  a  group.  All-­‐rounder:  has  many  different  skills  and  abilities.  Know-­‐all:  behaves  as  if  they  know  everything.    

Adjectives  of  character  Aloof:  distant  and  unfriendly.  Cultured:  knowledgeable  about  art,  music  and  literature.  Charismatic:  have  a  magnetic  personality.  Devious:  use  clever  tricks  and  manipualtion  to  get  what  they  want.  Dogmatic:  are  always  certain  their  beliefs  are  right.  Emotional:  are  unable  to  keep  their  feelings  under  control.  Hospitable:  are  welcoming  and  generous  to  visitors.  Meticulous:  are  attentive  ti  details.  Self-­‐effacing:  rarely  boast  about  themselves  and  play  down  their  achievements.  Pragmatic:  approach  problems  in  a  rational,  practical  way.