Lecture 6Team Dynamics

Leadership & Management

 Learning Outcomes

Picking a Team / Team Working

Developing Communication & Empathy Skills
Resolving & Avoiding Conflict
Unlocking your Team’s Potential

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 Team-working

It is often said that if you want to arrive fast, you

should walk alone and if the objective is to arrive far,
you should do it in a team.
Beyond any philosophical issue, the truth is that few
people are self-sufficient, especially when the target
is one of high impact and big objectives.
We should work in teams, but everyone has their own
preferences about the role they take in the team and
there are certain key profiles in order to commit the
goal. Belbin points out that there are 9 of these
alternatives:

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 The 123 Test
A total of 100 points are divided over the various roles. A group role can have up to 25 points.
Driver – Generally very ambitious and energetic, impatient and impulsive
Chairman – Strong coordinating role, bringing and keeping team together
Explorer – Extrovert, cheerful, gregarious, investigative, interested and
curious. Good communicator and presenter
Innovator – creative generator of a team, strong imagination
Team Player – caring, avoids conflict, fosters harmony, team cohesion
Analyst – reserved and critical, rational and sensible. Favour prudency
Expert – skilled and has the expertise for the task at hand. Strong focus
Completer – very conscientious, responsible, controlling, detail orientated
and a finisher
Executive – Organiser, generally disciplined and eager to get the job done.
Diligent.

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 Belbin Team Roles
123 Test Belbin

Chairman Coordinator

Driver Shaper

This is the conversion from Innovator Plant

the 123Test to Belbin Team Analyst Monitor Evaluator
Roles
Explorer Resource Investigator

Completer Completer Finisher

Team Player Team Worker

Executive Implementer

Expert Specialist

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 Belbin Team Roles

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 Belbin Team Roles
Overall Belbin roles Description

Well-organized and predictable. Takes

basic ideas and makes them work in
practice. Can be slow.
Implementer

Doing /
acting
Lots of energy and action,
Shaper challenging others to move forwards.
Can be insensitive.

Reliably sees things through to the

Completer/Finisher end, ironing out the wrinkles and
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 Belbin Team Roles
Overall Belbin roles Description
Solves difficult problems with original and creative
ideas. Can be poor communicator and may ignore
the details.

Plant

Thinking /
problem-
solving
Sees the big picture. Thinks carefully and
Monitor/Evaluator accurately about things. May lack energy or ability
to inspire others.
Has expert knowledge/skills in key areas and will
Specialist solve many problems here. Can be disinterested in
Leadership all other areas.
& Management
 Belbin Team Roles
Overall Belbin roles Description
Respected leader who helps everyone focus on
their task. Can be seen as excessively controlling.

Coordinator

People /
feelings
Cares for individuals and the team. Good listener
Team worker and works to resolve social problems. Can have
problems making difficult decisions.

Explores new ideas and possibilities with energy

Resource/investigator and with others. Good networker. Can be too
optimistic and lose energy after the initial flush.

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 Know the strengths and Allowable
Weaknesses
Plants could be unorthodox or forgetful
Resource Investigators might forget to follow up on a lead
Monitor Evaluators could be overly critical and slow moving
Co-ordinators might over delegate leaving themselves little work to do
Implementers might be slow to relinquish their plans in favour of positive changes
Completer Finishers could be accused of taking their perfectionism to the extremes
Teamworkers might become indecisive when unpopular decisions need to be made
Shapers could risk becoming aggressive and bad-humoured in their attempts to get
things done
Specialist may have a tendency to focus narrowly on their own subject of choice

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 Balance
The key was balance. For example, Meredith Belbin found
that a team with no Plants struggled to come up with the
initial spark of an idea with which to push forward.
However, once too many Plants were in the team, bad ideas
concealed good ones and non-starters were given too much
airtime.
Similarly, with no Shaper, the team ambled along without
drive and direction, missing deadlines. With too many
Shapers, in-fighting began and morale was lowered.

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 Over to You!
Class Exercise – Form teams of 4 or 5

Go through the Belbin Team Roles sheet you have been

given and complete the activities. Are you missing any
‘Belbin Types’ to complete your team do you think? What do
you need.
Go and head-hunt your missing members!
When you are ready – the fun begins!!

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 Recruiting your Team

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 Recruitment and Selection Process
Step 1 Step 2 Step 3

Planning for Recruitment & Recruitment: Locating Selection: Evaluation and

Selection Prospective Candidates Hiring

Screening Resumes
and Applications
Job Analysis Initial Interview
Job Qualifications Intensive Interview
Job Description Testing
Recruitment & Internal Sources
External Sources Background Invest.
Selection Objec. Physical Exam
Recruitment & Selection Decision
Selection Strategy and Job Offer

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 Recruitment System
Internal Sources : Includes
1. Promotion
2. Demotion
3. Referral
External Sources : Includes
1. Advertisement
2. Direct, head hunting
3. Schools, colleges, training institutions
4. Job center
5. Placement agencies
6. LinkedIn, networking

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Communicating to Your Team

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 Communication Skills

The major barrier to mutual interpersonal

communication is our very natural tendency to
judge, evaluate, approve or disapprove the
statement of the other person or group
Your primary reaction is to evaluate it from your
point of view, your own frame of reference

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 Communication
When you are not emotionally involved and you observe a
heated discussion you often go away thinking “well they
actually weren’t talking about the same thing”.
And they were not.
Each was making a judgement, an evaluation, from his own
frame of reference.
Real communication occurs when we listen with
understanding. To see the expressed idea and attitude from
the other person’s point of view, to sense how it feels to
them.
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 Empathy
Empathy is the most effective agent we know for
improving relationships and communications with others.
If you can listen to what they can tell you and
understand how it seems to them, if you can sense their
emotional flavour, then you will be achieving an
empathic understanding.
Understanding with a person, not about them. This is
such an effective approach that it can bring about major
changes in personality
Feel, Felt, Found

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 Example – Who is Right
Who the heck is Donald
Trump to fire me? I regret I
didn't tell Donald Trump,
'You need to fire your
barber. I'm sorry. I ain't
feeling you, man. You're
fired! I fire you, Donald
Trump.'Sinbad

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 Or This Chap
Winning 'The Apprentice'
changed my life in ways I
could never have
imagined. It has been an
amazing experience
working for Donald
Trump and I am very
grateful for the whole
opportunity.
Bill Rancic
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 Need For Courage
If you really understand another person in this way,
if you are willing to enter their private world and
see the way life appears to them, without any
attempt to make evaluative judgments, you run
the risk of being changed yourself
The ability to change one's mind, to admit
implicitly or explicitly that we were wrong,
ultimately boils down to an issue of character—of
our ability to transcend our small-minded ego and
care more that value is being created than we're
the ones creating it
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 The Biggest Block
Assumptions create a chain of perceptions and
negative feelings
The inability to listen intelligently and understand
skilfully creates a block
Our deficiency to understand and inability to
empathise and listen causes human kind the most
appalling problems

How is this causing serious problems in our society today

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 The Benefits of Empathy
When disputing parties realise that they are being
understood, that someone sees how the situation
seems to them, the statements grow less exaggerated
and less defensive and it is no longer necessary to
maintain attitude.
It is no longer the case that “I am 100% right and you
are 100% wrong”
In this way mutual communication is established and
some type of agreement becomes much more possible

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 Workshop
Take this point of view ….

I get paid to do 37.5 hours a week and I refuse to

work longer hours even if it means me turning
down taking a sales call 5 minutes before my shift
ends!

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 Put your Empathy to the Test
Form pairs, each of you take up either the position as
manager or worker
Work towards a win-win outcome
All the workers to begin by restating their position
“I get paid to do 37.5 hours a week and I refuse to work longer
hours even if it means me turning down taking a sales call 5
minutes before my shift ends!”

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 The Outcome
Understanding, not judgement, is achieved
Mutual understanding tends to be pointed
toward solving a problem rather than
attacking a person
A willingness to express and accept
differences
A more amicable scenario can be created to
find a solution
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So How Do We Handle Conflict

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 Constructive Conflict
Healthy and constructive conflict is a component of high-
functioning teams.
Conflict arises from differences between people; the same
differences that often make diverse teams more effective than
those made up of people with similar experience.
When people with varying viewpoints, experiences, skills, and
opinions are tasked with a project or challenge, the combined
effort can far surpass what any group of similar individual could
achieve.
Team members must be open to these differences and not let
them rise into full-blown disputes.
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 Resolving Conflict
When a team oversteps the mark of healthy
difference of opinion, it starts to become conflict,
resolving conflict requires respect and patience.
The three-stage process that follows is a form of
mediation process, which helps team members to do
this.

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 The Three Stage Process
1. Prepare for Resolution - The conflict has to be
acknowledged
2. Understand the Situation - Each person's
position is heard and understood
3. Reach Agreement - See the issue more
objectively, the team must decide what
decision or course of action to take

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 Step 1: Prepare for Resolution
The conflict has to be acknowledged before it can be
managed and resolved. Once the team recognises the
discussion has gone beyond healthy debate, you can
start the process of resolution.
Discuss the impact – as a team, discuss the impact
the conflict is having on team dynamics and
performance to create a sense of urgency to resolve
the matter.

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 Step 1: Prepare for Resolution
Agree to a cooperative process – Everyone involved must agree to
cooperate to resolve the conflict - set aside your opinion or ideas
for the time being for the sake of the team
Agree to communicate – The most important thing throughout the
resolution process is for everyone to keep communications open
Active listening is essential here, because to move on you need
to really understand where the other person is coming from.
Take time to make sure that each person's position is heard and
understood. Remember that strong emotions are at work here so
you have to get through the emotion and reveal the true nature
of the conflict.

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 Step 2: Understand the Situation
The next stage is to understand the situation, and each team
member's point of view
Clarify positions, whether there are obvious factions within
the team who support a particular approach or idea, or each
team member holds their own unique view, each position
needs to be clearly identified and articulated by those
involved.
This step alone can go a long way to resolve the conflict, as it
helps the team see the facts more objectively and with less
emotion.

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 Step 2: Understand the Situation
List facts, assumptions and beliefs underlying each position – What
does each group or person believe? What do they value? What
information are they using as a basis for these beliefs? What decision-
making criteria and processes have they employed?
Analyse in smaller groups – Break the team into smaller groups,
separating people who are in alliance. In these smaller groups,
analyse and dissect each position
Is additional analysis or evaluation required?
Consider using formal evaluation and decision-making processes
where appropriate. Techniques such as Quantitative Pros and Cons ,
Force Field Analysis, Paired Comparison Analysis and Cost/Benefit
Analysis are among those that could help.

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 Step 3: Reach Agreement

Now that all parties understand the others' positions, the team
must decide what decision or course of action to take. With
the facts and assumptions considered, it's easier to see the
best of action and reach agreement
If further analysis and evaluation is required, agree what needs
to be done, by when and by whom, and so plan to reach
agreement within a particular timescale
If such additional work is required, the agreement at this stage
is to the approach itself: Make sure the team is committed to
work with the outcome of the proposed analysis and
evaluation.

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 Reaching Agreement

Tip:
If the team is still not able to reach
agreement, you may need to use
techniques like Win-Win Negotiation
or Multi-Voting to find a solution that
everyone is happy to move the team
ahead.

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 Preventing Conflict
As well as being able to handle conflict when it arises, teams need to
develop ways of preventing conflict from becoming damaging. Here are
some of the key ones to work on:
Dealing with conflict immediately – avoid the temptation to ignore it.
Being open – if people have issues, they need to be expressed
immediately and not allowed to fester.
Practicing clear communication – articulate thoughts and ideas
clearly.
Practicing active listening – paraphrasing, clarifying, questioning.
Practicing identifying assumptions – asking yourself "why" on a regular
basis.

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 Preventing Conflict
Not letting conflict get personal – stick to facts and issues, not
personalities.
Focusing on actionable solutions – don't belabour what can't be changed.
Encouraging different points of view – insist on honest dialogue and
expressing feelings.
Not looking for blame – encourage ownership of the problem and
solution.
Demonstrating respect – if the situation escalates, take a break and wait
for emotions to subside.
Keeping team issues within the team – talking outside allows conflict to
build and fester, without being dealt with directly.

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Want to unlock the Potential from your Team?

Who has the key…

You?

………….. Or the Team?

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 Discussion - When Might You NOT
Involve the Team in Decision Making?

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 When Might You not Involve the Team?

The outcome does not affect them

There is genuinely no time
You have sufficient information
They are not experienced enough to
contribute
They are not interested
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 When Would You Involve Your
Team in Decision Making

When might allow your team to make decisions

and why?
What are the potential outcomes for such
action?

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 When Would You Involve Your
Team in Decision Making
Which action to take depends largely on what the manager
wants to accomplish;

To raise the level of employee motivation

To increase the readiness of subordinates to accept change
To improve the quality of all managerial decisions
To develop teamwork and morale
To further the individual development of employees

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 Giving Your Team More Authority To
Make Decisions
Manager power and influence Non-Manager power and influence

Use of Authority by manager

Use of freedom for non-managers

Manager Manager ManagerManager Manager Manager Manager

makes sells presents
presents presents defines permits non-
decision decision to ideas &tentative problem, limits, managers to
which non- gain invitesdecision gets asks function
managers acceptance questions
subject to suggestions, group to within limits
accept change makes make defined by
decision decision organizational
Resultant manager and non-manager behaviour constraints

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 Risk Taking
Risk Taking is a very powerful success skill and yet most people
have never cultivated this important leadership discipline;

‘The further you go out on a limb, the easier it is to fall. But

then again, out on the limb is where all the fruit is.’
Visionary leaders take chances, they are constantly trying new
things, and that becomes a habit.
‘It is not because things are difficult that we do not dare; it is
because we do not dare that they are difficult’

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 In Summary
Know the strengths of your team members and assign roles
according to them
Discuss more than argue
Listen more than hear
Accept a little chaos and incorporate creativity – innovation is
the outcome
Accept the mistake and learn from it – all the greats have
Apprehend the mission – gain commitment, challenge individuals
Allow risk taking – that’s how we grow, learn, adapt and innovate

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