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You don¶t shift from work group to teams by an

announcement from top management ³Effective this date
you are a team´
You have to take time to plan exactly what you want to do
and how you intend to it.
Unless you know exactly what you want to achieve there¶s
no way to measure how close you are to achieving
it.´Failing to Plan is a Plan to Fail´

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÷he process of setting goals takes time, energy and effort.
Goals aren¶t something you scribble on a napkin during a
coffee break, you must plan what you truly want to
accomplish, establish timetables determine who will be
responsible for each aspect of the job and then
anticipate and plan resolutions for any obstacles that
may threaten to ruin the achievement of your goals,
Goals/ Objectives setting is described in details in the
subsequent section.


 
 


|lame it on the boss And often the boss is to blame. ÷eam

Leader has the responsibility to make the team succeed.
No matter how competent the team members may be
unless they are guided by a knowledgeable, dedicated,
inspiring leader, it will be tough for them to achieve their
goals .Poor leadership can impede the team¶s success.
If leader doesn¶t lead ,the team can¶t follow. Worse, if
leader leads badly, the team will perform badly.
Let¶s look at an example of how one team leader abdicated
his leadership role . When rick D was appointed leader
of a marketing development team , he studied books on
team leadership ,attended seminars.
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 e was convinced that his team would be participative and
that he would give his members enough autonomy so
they could use their talents and grow by making
decisions on their own.
When team was assembled, Rick presented a broad
outline of team¶s purpose and asked them to determine
what should be done and who would do it.
÷heoretically , that¶s how participative team works. |ut
some team members selected aspects of the project that
they felt competent to do and began to work on it .
Others spent weeks figuring out their roles, still others
began working on part of the project only to find
somebody else was doing the same time.

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Without leadership, there was a total confusion.
When questioning about the lack of progress on the
project,
Rick D responded that he was giving taught that giving
team members autonomy would result in long-term
benefit to all. What he failed to understand was that a
project has to be completed in timely manner. If a team
has never done a project of this type before, it needs
strong guidance from team leader , frequent feedback on
progress and active steps to keep the team moving o
track. All this could be accomplished within the
parameters of participative team leadership.

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A team is like a rocket. ÷he rocket is made up of a series of

components. If that rocket is to be successfully
launched, each component must be in tiptop condition.
Only then can the components be integrated to work
together to get the rocket off the ground. Each member
is a component of the team. Unless all are able to
perform their functions excently, the team will never be
able to move ahead. So the first training objective is to
perfect skills. |ut also they must be trained in working
together as a team in order for the members to work as
an integrated unit.


 



Another barrier to team success is poor attitude that many

team members have about the team process the team
leader, and often their teammates.
  
In the traditional work group, the duties and responsibilities
of a job are specified in a formal job description. Job
descriptions have their place in the team setup too.
÷hey give the members a guide to the work they are
expected to perform but all members are expected to do
any work that will propel the team towards its goals.

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Yet there are still members who look upon their jobs limited
to the job description. When asked to help other
members or to take on any assignment not specifically
listed in the job description they complain ³it¶s not my the
concept of the team is based on the principle that its
members all work together to achieve the desired
results. ÷his means all team members do whatever has
to be done to accomplish the job. ÷his includes doing
work you don¶t enjoy, helping slower members to catch
up, and putting aside pet projects to keep the team on
target for higher priority assignments.

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÷he bases of any relationship, on or off the job, is trust.
When team members do not trust their leader or one or
more of their teammates, the team will never get off the
ground.
÷he success or failure of a team depends on the trust of his
or her team. If people trust you, anything you say can be
heard(halo effect). If people don¶t trust you then most of
what you say will be ignored (pitchfork effect).
It doesn¶t take much for a person to lose trust in another.
Rebuilding the trust is not easy especially if it is for the trust
the leader.


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÷he essence of team success is a close, comfortable,
coordinated, collaborative group of team members. If the
team members don¶t get along, the team dissolves in the
chaos. Instead of following the motto ³one for all and all
for one ³ it becomes ³Every man for himself´.
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÷he purpose of a team is to work in a coordinated fashion
to achieve the team objectives. When different team
members push their own agenda ahead of the team¶s
there¶s no way the team¶s goals will be achieved.


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Starting with Cain and Abel, jealousies and rivalries have
been always part of the human experience.
Of course, you µll find them in your company and in your
team .
People envy those who are smarter, more attractive, have
more money, etc... ÷here is no way team leader cam
eliminate this, but an astute team leader can keep it from
interfering with the team. It requires keen understanding
of each members personality and attitudes, diplomacy in
dealing with rivals, and establishing program to resolve
conflicts.

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Some people work faster than others, some are more
thorough than others, some are more creative than
others, No team succeed unless every member does his
or her share. ÷he team leader can not accept the excuse
of ³I¶m doing my best´ ÷he team leader has to identify
the reason for poorer performance and take steps to
correct it. Perhaps they need additional training, perhaps
they have personal problems that are impeding their
performance. ÷he poor performance may be caused by
technical incompetence or perhaps by a lack of
motivation. Whatever the reason, the better workers
have to make up the work.  ow to get the entire working
at optimum capacity is discussed in the subsequent
sections. 
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Employees who have been accustomed to working in
traditional settings have been conditioned to taking
orders. For years, they have been excluded from the
decision ± making process . As team members they feel
uncomfortable when asked to participate in decision
making.
Often they¶d been told that one reason supervisors and
managers were paid more was they had the
responsibility of making decision . Now, as team
members not paid any more than before are given this
responsibility. It¶s logical for them to feel that making
decisions is not their job.
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You¶ve heard it over and over again. One of the main

reasons for failure in team is a breakdown in
communications. You say one thing and your associate
hears something quite different.
 (  )
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You thought your instructions were clearly stated. |ut the
minute you leave the room, your associate turns to
team member for clarification.
Why? It could be how and what you said or how the
associate received it.

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Successful team leaders make it a point to listen to their
team members. Unless you keep your ears and your
mind open, not only will you benefit from the many ideas
your team members can contribute, you will miss cues of
team discontent or impeding problems.
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Got a problem? Call a meeting. One of the big complaints
about teams is too much time is wasted in meetings

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. ÷here was no need for the meeting.
2. ÷he meeting got out of control. ÷he main objective of
the meeting was lost in digressions (i.e. departure from
the initial subjects), pointless arguments, extended,
discussions, and grandstanding by some participants.
3. ÷he meeting was not properly planned or not planned at
all.


 
 





People expect that when they perform well they will be

rewarded. Falling to give the right motivators to the right

moment can lead to de- motivation of the team members

and thus lead to the team failure.

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