9 Making Commitments That Support Teamwork
In this chapter, you will review some key concepts about becoming an effective team, presented in figure 9.1.
Figure 9.1: Becoming a team. Illustration by Jessica Tang.
Becoming a Team
A team is two or more people working together on a common goal (or goals). Groups become teams if the common goals are clear and attention is paid to both interpersonal and task functions.
The Team Must Decide How to Communicate Effectively (Interpersonal)
Each team must set up their own guidelines for good communication and a team charter. Through discussion and negotiation the members choose the items that are most important for their clear communication as a team. These often include a commitment to the following:
- • respect and listen to others
- • avoid blame (work hard on the problem, not on the person)
- • group members and project process
- • supportive and constructive feedback
- • agreed-upon goals and clear timelines
- • positive interdependence (sink or swim together)
- • individual accountability (say what you will do and do it)
- • analysis of work done and planning for next steps
- • a process for conflict and problem management
The Team Must Decide What Is Important and Measure This (Task)
Early in the formation of the group, the members must decide what will be measured in the process. These items are generally critical to success and for the group to become an effective team. The members of successful teams share the following characteristics:
- • came prepared
- • offered ideas and suggestions and provided information
- • asked for clarification/feedback
- • identified resources
- • solicited others’ participation
- • kept the group on task
- • were easy to work with
- • prepared materials
- • made presentations
- • participated in discussions
- • managed group conflict
The Team Must Acknowledge Success and Aim for Improvement
Ask yourselves: What have we done (individually and collectively) to meet our goals and keep the team charter? How can we do better for next time? What might this change look like in the next steps?
The Team Celebrates
Celebrate what you have accomplished and then refocus your efforts for greater success!
Framework for Working Together
Core Values
Your personal beliefs are the core values that affect and drive how you look at the world, your behaviour in the world, and your interaction with others. They are how you do “business” with the rest of the world. In other words, they are the basis for everything that you are and do. These beliefs about appropriate behaviours, attitudes, and strategies also guide every working group and need to be explicit and understood.
Mandate
It is useful to know what you are expected to do in a group situation. This is often delivered or requested from an administrative or political level and appears in the form of a “job description.” The group that is mandated may not be able to effect the general outline of the mandate. The context in which the group operates has critical effects on what can be done.
Identifying a Mission Statement
A mission statement embodies the group’s current purpose and intent and answers (within the mandate of the group) questions such as the following: What are we about? Why are we working together? What do we want to achieve? It describes the business you are in. This may be a statement developed by the whole organization, or it may be more localized in a department, program, class, or work group or individually. It gives direction to actions. Without knowing your mission, you may not be able to get started.
Developing Shared Vision
A vision statement is a future-oriented declaration of a group’s purpose in a task, project, or work team. Having the members share a vision that aligns with their personal values and aspirations is a solid basis for production. Time spent at the beginning dreaming and discussing what the final result will be is time well spent. If it is not possible to have a shared vision of the end product and the goals and milestones that must be reached, then the team may also have difficulty identifying whether they have accomplished their purpose.
Sometimes, when the project is open ended or ongoing, the final product cannot be totally “visioned” at the beginning. A shared vision will then be one that all team members agree on, with an understanding of the expected destination and direction needed to get there. Visions should be revisited and refined over time. If the team is not heading in the same direction, then it may not get anywhere.
Determining Appropriate Goals
What are the individual tasks and goals that will build toward making your vision manifest? Goals lead toward the realization of the vision. It is important to develop appropriate goals, make them explicit, and share an understanding of each one. Goals have the following:
- • targets—where we expect to go, realistically balanced with time and resources
- • objectives—identifiable, measurable, and achievable steps
- • tasks—ways of reaching the objectives
- • indicators—ways of measuring progress
Like our vision statement, goals need to be realigned with reality on a regular basis. Evaluation and adjustment drive this process.
Improving Continuously
Knowing where you are going and how you intend to get there is a good start. The final step is continuous improvement. Planning, implementation, and verification are tools for analysis and change as the process unfolds. Improvement is continual, but the steps are small. Pick changes that can be made now that will have a positive effect—1 percent is enough each time.