TEAM MANAGEMENT STEPS & TIPS

Steps

Steps for keeping team meetings on the right track

1. Follow a predetermined agenda that's been distributed to participants ahead of time. If each participant knows ahead of time what will be discussed, everyone will be more likely to stick to the topics at hand.
2. Open the meeting by stating its purpose and objectives. Explain how the meeting's purpose relates to the team's overall goals and what you hope to accomplish through the meeting.
3. Let everyone have a say.

All opinions, suggestions, and constructive criticism need to be welcome. Show support for the expression of views with which you may disagree. Tell members that they will not be censured for an unpopular opinion, as long as they're trying to accomplish the team's goals. Try to encourage others to explore such opinions instead of dismissing them out of hand.

1. Gain closure on each issue. Using the decision-making method team members have agreed to (majority rule, consensus, small group, or leader with input), ensure that each issue up for decision is resolved during the meeting.
2. Leave time at the end of each meeting for new business or unscheduled items. By carving out time for new business or unscheduled items at the end of the meeting, you help participants stay focused on the agenda during the early part of the meeting.
3. End the meeting with an action and communication plan.

A good action and communication plan specifies:

• What got decided at the meeting and what tasks need to be done as a result of the meeting
• Who has responsibility for those tasks
• When the tasks must be completed

1. Distribute the plan. Send the action and communication plan out to all meeting participants and to people who weren't at the meeting but need to be informed of the outcome.

Steps for resolving conflicts

1. Diagnose the root cause of the conflict.

Listen to what the parties are saying. Is the cause a particular behavior, a clash of personalities, or a situation? What seems to be really at stake for the members in conflict?

1. Negotiate a resolution.

• Find the right tone and setting for conflict resolution. Don't take sides—moderate the discussion. Consider scripting what you plan to say, and anticipating how others will respond.
• Work with the disagreeing parties or the entire team to identify and evaluate alternative solutions to the problem. Encourage people to find common ground and explore new possibilities.

1. Encourage active listening.

• Allow the disagreeing parties to voice their feelings, and ask questions about why they feel as they do.
• Encourage members to manage their emotions and to talk rationally about what can be done to solve the problem.
• Ask people to behave in ways that demonstrate interest in what others are saying.

For example, avoid doodling, fidgeting, and interrupting while others are speaking.

4.     Model active listening behaviors, such as asking questions that encourage speakers to expand on their points, or referring back to points made earlier and building on those ideas.

· Remind team members to forgive.

Encourage forgiveness by practicing forgiveness yourself. Don't hold a grudge. Don't harbor ill will after a conflict has been resolved. And remember to apologize when you've done something wrong.

Steps for evaluating your team

1. Measure more than just goals—assess group processes as well.

Members are juggling many tasks to reach the team's goals. How you achieve those goals can be just as important as the end result, especially if the team must work together on an ongoing basis.

• Observe how the team communicates, how it deals with adversity, how it resolves conflicts, and what other methods it uses to reach its goals.
• Select from several methods for assessing the quality of your team's processes—such as benchmarking (comparing the team's process to that of other, similar teams in the company), outside observation (having an external consultant objectively evaluate the team's processes), ongoing team discussions about process, and project debriefing sessions (identifying what went well and what didn't during completion of a task).
• Also, be sure to solicit outside opinions—for example, customer satisfaction surveys may provide useful insight into how well a team is functioning.

1. Identify problems or obstacles that stand in the way of team progress.

• For example, does the team lack a sense of identity (as evidenced by poor collaboration, information sharing, and joint decision making)? Are members getting embroiled in interpersonal conflicts? Is team participation low and creative thinking lacking?
• Whatever the problems or obstacles are, you need to pinpoint them before you can address them.

1. Set up evaluation milestones.

• Make sure you provide feedback at regular intervals throughout the project. This can help you correct problems as soon as you diagnose them.
• A debriefing session after a project is completed can help your team take stock of what went well and what didn't, and identify lessons to apply to future projects.

1. Help team members evaluate each other.

The most constructive criticism will come from other team members, because they are most familiar with each other's work. But proceed gently here: Some team members may feel uncomfortable evaluating their peers.

• To get started, try having everyone share his or her opinion of how effective the team has been and what it needs to do to improve.
• If there is a general consensus about these issues, move on to feedback about individual members—have each person begin with a self-assessment.
• Be prepared to handle conflict, anger, or hurt feelings when members start evaluating each other.

1. Evaluate yourself and your leadership skills.

• Watch for signs of poor leadership in your team—such as low participation, an inability among team members to state why the team's work is important; or a tendency for you to take on more projects and responsibilities than team members are taking on.
• If you see these symptoms, ask yourself whether you're trying to be too much of a traditional boss (telling your team what to do and how to do it) or whether you're taking too much of a hands-off approach (because you believe you've empowered your team).
• Look for ways to balance "bossing" with "empowering," such as spelling out the team's objectives but then letting members decide how to reach those objectives.

Tips

Tips for building team performance

• Establish an urgent and worthwhile purpose and a clear direction.
• Select team members on the basis of their knowledge, experience, skills, and attitude—not their personalities.
• Ensure that roles and responsibilities are clear.
• Be alert to what happens in the first few team meetings, including actions taken.
• Set clear rules of behavior.
• Establish immediate performance-oriented tasks and goals.
• Seek out team members' opinions and ideas—and use them.
• Encourage members to talk often about the team's goals.
• Keep providing new facts and information to create challenge.
• Use positive feedback, recognition, and rewards to encourage team members.
• Cultivate an atmosphere in which everyone feels recognized and comfortable making contributions.

Tips for improving team communication

• Use pronouns—such as "we," "us," and "our"—when referring to your team.
• Actively solicit all team members' views.
• Use meeting time wisely; for example, by distributing required informational materials well ahead of a meeting, you can focus meeting time on problem solving, not information sharing.
• Use questions to open space for dialogue.

For example, "Can you tell me what makes this issue important to you?", "What are your reservations or concerns?", or "Let's stop for a minute and revisit our objectives (or examine our process)."

· Seek clarification by asking, "I don't understand. Could you explain what you're saying in another way?"

· Don't interrupt team members who have less power than others in the organization.

· Consider using an outside facilitator to diagnose and address communication problems.

Tips for making the most of conflict

• Encourage team members to listen to one another and consider different viewpoints—perhaps by inviting two people to switch positions and argue for the side they previously opposed.
• Suggest that team members objectively question one another's assumptions.
• Make it clear that you want contentious issues aired, and that anyone can point out an issue without retribution.
• Even if only one person thinks there's a problem that needs discussing, acknowledge the issue that he or she has raised.
• Remind people of the norms the team has agreed on for how members treat each other.
• Encourage members who raise concerns to describe the issue as specifically as possible.
• Keep the discussion impersonal by discussing what is impeding progress, not who is "to blame."
• If the issue involves a team member's behavior, encourage the person who identified the problem to explain how the behavior affects him or her, rather than making assumptions about what's motivating the behavior.
• End the discussion with concrete suggestions for improvement, if not a solution to the problem.
• If the conversation ends up going nowhere because the subject at hand is too sensitive, consider adjourning the discussion until a specified later date so that people can cool down.
• Consider bringing in a facilitator for especially heated conversations.

Tips for balancing bossing with empowering

• Clarify the team's objectives, but leave it up to team members to decide how to achieve those objectives.
• Identify informal leaders within your team by assessing their behavior and the degree of deference they receive from others.
• Ensure that informal leaders understand the team's goals, know why those goals are important, and accept those goals as their own.
• Cultivate positive relationships with informal leaders in your team, and use those relationships to communicate the big picture to others.
• Encourage team members to share and rotate leadership among themselves.

For example, give people ample opportunities to head up ad hoc task forces, arrange off-site meetings, and so on.

· Hold team members accountable for results and quality of team processes.

· Display passionate commitment to the team's mission to encourage the same among team members.

· Consider getting coaching to identify ways to improve the boss/empowerment balance. Or ask the team sponsor for his or her guidance.

· Keep company leadership apprised of your team's progress, to ensure that the team is moving in a direction consistent with the larger corporate vision.

· If you're not the team leader, help the leader stay on the right track.

Source Notes

Anne Donnellon. Team Talk: The Power of Language in Team Dynamics. Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 1996.

Harvard Business School Publishing. Creating Teams with an Edge. Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 2004.

Jon R. Katzenbach and Douglas K Smith. The Wisdom of Teams: Creating the High-Performance Organization. Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 1993.

Robert B. Maddux. Team Building: An Exercise in Leadership. Menlo Park, CA: Crisp Publications, 1992.