Team Building Training

Prepared for the Horticultural Industry With Johnson Gitonga: Director, Derimex Food Technologies

Terms Of Reference

A requirement
This is a statutory, customer, ethical, moral or legal

undertaking needed in an organisation in order to be allowed to operate smoothly

A procedure:
This is a set of steps that are predefined with the sole

purpose of standardising the way to do a particular activity.

Standardisation:
This is the process of building the current expected

behavior or outcome of a process into the Quality Management system of an organisation.

Systematisation:
This is the process of inculcating the procedures or

expected behavior of a process into the mind sets of

When are Teams Useful?

When

completion of tasks requires a particular combination of knowledge, expertise, or perspective that cannot be found in an individual. When the work of individuals must be highly interdependent. When the task or project will result in a defined deliverable. When the task at hand will terminate.

Xstics of effective teams

Competence:

everyone brings in a different angle of expertise. A Clear and Compelling Goal. Commitment to the common goal. Every member contributes, every member benefits. A supportive environment. Alignment to companys overall goals to the teams goals

Designing the Team

Specify

the teams goals, authority and duration Identify roles and responsibilities Determine rewards Select team members

Goals, authority and duration

Goals are important for teams to have focus from the beginning. The goals should be specific, realistic, yet challenging. Some should be achievable in a short period of time. They should be aligned to the companys main goals. Some teams make recommendations to management using their expertise. Others must be given the powers to make and implement decisions. Teams need defined latitude. Team Leaders cannot be expected to run to management every time an operational decision is required. Teams must work with time frames. For open-ended teams, completion of targets is the way of measuring achievement of goals.

Roles and Responsibilities

Who will be on the team and what will be their duties?

Team Sponsor: these are the people who authorize

teams and support their activities. They play indirect roles in teams activities. Team Leader: The leader fosters development of the team, secures resources, and arranges for rewards where necessary. Team Members: The members do the bulk of the work. As a result, they must collectively have all the skills required to do the job. Facilitator: Some teams benefit from having someone, often a trainer or consultant, who can help people work together more effectively.

These roles can be shared or rotated periodically. This will form the teams CHARTER.

Determining Rewards

There should be a fair value exchange among team members. Reward structures are influenced by the compensation plan of the whole organisation. Putting too much emphasis on individual rewards can affect team work. On the other hand, too much emphasis on team rewards creates Joy Riding problems. There are no guidelines in this respect. Incentives are not the most important part of a teams performance, rather the satisfaction at the achievement of the goals set for the team.

Selecting Members of a team

Failing to get the right people can jeopardize team performance. Specific skills could include:
People who can speak in groups People who can say no when their time is fully and

effectively utilized. People who can deliver constructive feedback, both positive and negative. People who can make requests to authority e.g. for meaningful and justified amounts of resources. People who can negotiate. People who can take responsibility for their own actions

Numbers in Teams

How Many People should you have in a team?

The optimal number depends on the teams goals. Small teams tend to be more effective than larger ones. The key problems with larger teams are:

Coordination Dilution of member commitment.

Team size need not be fixed. In the life of a project, it

might be necessary to dismiss or bring in different members with different skills.

To articulate the numbers needed, it is always necessary to consider the purpose of the team, duration, roles, timelines, measures of success and resources available to the team.

Operating as a Team

The greatest challenge to teams is;

Working Together.

Other housekeeping issues that need to be seriously considered are:

Prioritizing Scheduling Decision Making

WORKING TOGETHER:
A team that is well coordinated is stronger than the sum

of the strengths of its members. With working together comes the almost unconscious will not to let down the other members The greatest reward in this respect is the achievement, not the benefit to individuals.

Operating as a Team Ctd

PRIORITIZING:
When there are many goals, or many processes to the

achievement of a goal, a team must decide which to attack first:

Which must be attacked first? How will limited people or time be allocated? Which goals need the successful completion of others first?

Scheduling:
Helps the team to Keep its head by doing things at a

planned sequence and frequency. The team determines:

What has to be done How long a particular activity will take In what order each activity will happen Who is responsible for each activity

There is software that can make scheduling a team with many tasks easy, e.g. Microsoft Project Manager

Operating as a Team Ctd

DECISION MAKING: The team must determine: Who will make decisions and How the decisions will be made. There are four possible approaches Majority Rules Consensus A small group decides The leader decides Different teams have different ways of decision

making, but for teams to work, whatever approach is used should not compromise buy in

The Leaders Role

The leader should essentially:

Be the main source of the teams energy. Be the primary contact between the team and the rest of

the organization Be the teams spokesperson Always keep the team in focus to the larger picture of the organization. Obtain needed resources Motivate people. Get the team unstuck when it runs into problems. Evaluate results at agreed timeframes and guide the team on the way forward Document progress for review with top management

Sources of Problems in teams

Problems arise in teams when: Some members sense of direction and commitment weaken. Others put their individual interests before those of the team and the organisation. Critical skill gaps may emerge, especially those of the team leader. Feuding between members may weaken team spirit. Leaders may imbue favoritsm among members making others disgruntled

Team Trouble shooting guide

Create a troubleshooting guide with three columns, namely; Problem Characteristic behavior Try this

Example:

Trouble shooting guide:

Unhealthy Conflict
Personal attacks Arguments Absence

and sarcasm

Interrupt personal attacks

and

of support for others Aggressive gestures

sarcasm. Ask members to focus on behavior instead of personalities Create norms about contentious discussion
Look for smaller areas

Trouble reaching Consensus

Holding rigidly

to positions Same arguments with no new information

of agreement Ask what needs to happen in order to reach agreement Discuss the consequences of no consensus
Confirm that the

Low Participation

Assignments not completed Poor Attendance Low energy meetings

leaders expectations for participation are generally shared. Assess the fitness of members with their tasks Restate goals and confirm what remains to be done Move members from closed issues.

Lack of progress

Meeting seems to be a waste Continuing to revisit closed issues

Evaluating team performance

There

should be two levels of evaluating performance;

Evaluating Results of the Projects Evaluating how these results were

achieved
This

means that the results of the team are as important as the process of getting them. Examples of evaluation parameters include;

Evaluating team performance

RESULT FACTORS; Achievement of goals Customer satisfaction Quantity of work completed Job knowledge and skills acquired PROCESS

FACTORS:

Support of team process and commitment Collaboration Conflict resolution Planning and goal setting

Evaluating team performance ctd..

PROCESS FACTORS cont.: Oral and written communication Problem solving and application of

analytical skills. Standardisation and systematisation of processes and procedures. Building and sustaining interpersonal relationships. Win-win decision making Creation of alternatives where consensus fails

Methods of Evaluation

Consider elaborate methods when teams work is extensive and impacts heavily on organization performance.
Use Benchmarking: where you compare team

performance to best practise in the industry. Use measurable aspects of goals, schedules and procedures. Use outside consultants to observe and give opinions. Use exit interviews and debriefs to enable team members revisit what did or didnt go according to expectations.

Evaluating Members

Use Peer Ratings: e.g. by use of Hedonic scales on key areas of individual qualities of peers. Customer satisfaction ratings: e.g. by trending customer complaints, response times etc. Self appraisal: e.g. allowing employees to appraise themselves through clear individual qualities. Team Leader Reviews: e.g. by doing appraisals on essentially similar qualities as mentioned in self appraisals.

Being an Effective Leader

Be an Initiator:
Begin actions and processes that propel the

team towards achievement of goals

Be a model to others:
Use your own Behavior to set expectations for

the team.

Be a good Coach:
Act as a counsellor, mentor and tutor to help

team members improve performance.

Be a facilitator of communication Be a mediator of conflicts

Q&A The End