Week 9 Reading Summary

Chapter 9 Effective Teams

In teams the main connection between the competencies are self-awareness, relationship
and network and communication with the peers in the team. If these competencies are
developed or are under developing, one can fully utilised the effectiveness of the team and
achieve the task efficiently.

Effective teams have interdependent members. The productivity and efficiency of an

entire unit is determined by the coordinated, interactive efforts of all its members.

• Effective teams help members to be more efficient working together than alone.

• Effective teams can outperform even the best individual’s performance.

• Effective teams function so well that they create their own magnetism. Team members
desire to affiliate with a team because of the advantages they receive from membership.

• Effective teams do not always have the same leader. Leadership responsibility can rotate
and sometimes is shared broadly.

• In effective teams, members care for and support one another. No member is devalued or
unappreciated. All are treated as an integral part of the team.

• In effective teams, members cheer for and bolster the leader, and vice versa. Mutual
encouragement is given and received by each member.
• In effective teams, there is a high level of trust among members. Members are interested
in others’ success as well as their own.

Self-Directed Teams

In studies of self-directed teams, Near and Weckler (1990) found that individuals in self-
directed teams scored significantly higher than individuals in traditional work structures on
innovation, information sharing, employee involvement and task significance. Macy et al.
(1990) reported that the use of self-directed teams correlated highly with increases in
organisational effectiveness, heightened productivity, and reduced defects.

Disadvantages of Teams
A leading expert on teams, Richard Hackman (1993), pointed out that mistakes are common
in team building and team management. Rewarding and recognising individuals instead of
the team, not maintaining stability of membership over time, not providing teams with
autonomy, not fostering interdependence among team members, using the team to make
all decisions instead of having individuals make decisions when appropriate, failing to orient
all team members, having too many members on the team, not providing appropriate
structure for the team and not providing the team with needed resources are all common
mistakes Hackman found in his studies of teams. Moreover, a team is not always an
appropriate mechanism for dealing with a challenge facing an organisation. For example,
simple, routine or highly formalised work (for example, stuffing pimentos into olives) is not
well-suited to teams.

Sinclair (1989) suggested that all individuals experience substantial and continuing internal
tensions as group members, and that participation in groups is usually stressful and only
occasionally, for some, satisfying. This tension derives from individual needs to establish a
special relationship with the leader, a need that groups inevitably frustrate, and from the
inevitable conflict between individual and group/organisational goals and values.

Typical Attributes of the four stages of team development

Forming
Storming
Conforming
Performing
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Effective leader behaviours

Teams functioning in the performing stage do not require strong, directive leadership in the
traditional sense. They become more and more like a self-managing team, able to manage
their own processes, training, rewards and membership. On the other hand, an important
role for a leader does exist that related more to the cultural or cognitive aspects of the team
than to its task performance or relationship building. Prescriptions for effective leader
behaviours in this stage include
 1. Foster innovation and continuous improvement simultaneously
2. Advance the quality culture of the team
3. Provide regular, ongoing feedback on team performance
4. Play sponsor and orchestrator roles for team members
5. Help the team to avoid reverting to earlier stages

Virtual Teams
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The four Ps of effective meeting

Purpose
Participants
Planning
Process

Handling difficult team member

Only response is mentioned
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Google Guide to Understand Team Effectiveness

The term team can take on a wide array of meanings. Many definitions and frameworks
exist, depending on task interdependence, organizational status, and team tenure. At the
most fundamental level, the researchers sought to distinguish a “work group” from a
“team:”
 Work groups are characterized by the least amount of interdependence. They are
based on organizational or managerial hierarchy. Work groups may meet periodically
to hear and share information.
 Teams are highly interdependent - they plan work, solve problems, make decisions,
and review progress in service of a specific project. Team members need one
another to get work done.

The researchers found that what really mattered was less about who is on the team, and
more about how the team worked together. In order of importance:
 Psychological safety: Psychological safety refers to an individual’s perception of the
consequences of taking an interpersonal risk or a belief that a team is safe for risk
taking in the face of being seen as ignorant, incompetent, negative, or disruptive. In
a team with high psychological safety, teammates feel safe to take risks around their
team members. They feel confident that no one on the team will embarrass or
punish anyone else for admitting a mistake, asking a question, or offering a new idea.
 Dependability: On dependable teams, members reliably complete quality work on
time (vs the opposite - shirking responsibilities).
  Structure and clarity: An individual’s understanding of job expectations, the process
for fulfilling these expectations, and the consequences of one’s performance are
important for team effectiveness. Goals can be set at the individual or group level,
and must be specific, challenging, and attainable. Google often uses Objectives and
Key Results (OKRs) to help set and communicate short and long term goals.
 Meaning: Finding a sense of purpose in either the work itself or the output is
important for team effectiveness. The meaning of work is personal and can vary:
financial security, supporting family, helping the team succeed, or self-expression for
each individual, for example.
 Impact: The results of one’s work, the subjective judgement that your work is
making a difference, is important for teams. Seeing that one’s work is contributing to
the organization’s goals can help reveal impact.

1. Establish a common vocabulary - Define the team behaviors and norms you want to
foster in your organization.
2. Create a forum to discuss team dynamics - Allow for teams to talk about subtle
issues in safe, constructive ways. An HR Business Partner or trained facilitator may
help.
3. Commit leaders to reinforcing and improving - Get leadership onboard to model
and seek continuous improvement can help put into practice your vocabulary.

Whatever it is that makes for effective teams in your organization, and it may be different
from what the Google researchers found, consider these steps to share your efforts:

Here are some tips for managers and leaders to support the behaviors the Google
researchers found important for effective teams. These are based on external research and
Google’s own experience:

Psychological safety:
 Solicit input and opinions from the group.
 Share information about personal and work style preferences, and encourage others
to do the same.
 Watch Amy Edmondson's TED Talk on psychological safety.
Dependability:
 Clarify roles and responsibilities of team members.
 Develop concrete project plans to provide transparency into every individual’s work.
 Talk about some of the conscientiousness research.
Structure & Clarity:
 Regularly communicate team goals and ensure team members understand the plan
for achieving them.
 Ensure your team meetings have a clear agenda and designated leader.
 Consider adopting Objectives & Key Results (OKRs) to organize the team’s work.
Meaning:
  Give team members positive feedback on something outstanding they are doing and
offer to help them with something they struggle with.
 Publicly express your gratitude for someone who helped you out.
 Read the KPMG case study on purpose.
Impact:
 Co-create a clear vision that reinforces how each team member’s work directly
contributes to the team’s and broader organization's goals.
 Reflect on the work you're doing and how it impacts users or clients and the
organization.
 Adopt a user-centered evaluation method and focus on the user.