may neglect to revise their behavior when they should.

"

3.3 Teams Face Challenges

Fast-forming, fast-acting, temporary groups do not have the luxury of time to allow all necessary team
processes to develop slowly and naturally. Practices that are particularly helpful in this context37
include (1) emphasizing the team's purpose, including

why it exists, what's at stake, and what its shared values are; (2) building psychological safety,38 making
clear that people need to and can freely speak up, be honest, disagree, offer ideas, raise issues, share
their knowledge, ask questions, or show fallibility without fear that others will think less of them or
criticize them; (3) embracing failure, understanding that mistakes are inevitable, errors should be
acknowledged, and learning as we go is a way to create new knowledge while we execute; and (4)
putting conflict to work by explaining how we arrive at our views, expressing interest in one another's
thinking and analyses, and attempting to fully understand and capitalize on others' diverse perspectives,
39

psychological safety when employees feel they can speak up honestly and freely without fear

3.41 Some Groups Develop into

Teams

page 282

As a manager or group member, you should expect the group to engage in all the activities just
discussed at various times. But groups are not always successful. They do not always engage in the
developmental activities that turn them into effective, high- performing teams.

A useful developmental sequence is depicted in Exhibit 12.3. The figure shows the various activities as
the leadership of the group moves from traditional supervision, through a more participative approach,
to true team leadership.42 At the traditional supervisory leadership level, the team leader handles most
(if not all) leadership duties, including assigning tasks, making and explaining decisions, training team
members, and managing members one-on-one. As the group evolves to a more participative leadership
approach, the team leader seeks input from group members for decisions, provides assignments and
experiences to develop members' skills and abilities, and coordinates group effort. At the team
leadership level, the team leader's job focuses on building trust and inspiring teamwork, facilitating and
supporting team decisions, broadening team capabilities through projects and assignments, and creating
a team identity.