This presentation is designed to help leaders understand why to use teams and how to lead and work with them. Includes sections on kickoff meetings, team size, dealing with issues of trust, establishing norms and getting people to participate. This is one of the workshops in Pitt’s University Library System (ULS) Leadership Program.

1. Teambuilding Workshop
ULS Leadership Program
Karen Calhoun
5 March 2013
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
1

2. Outcomes – Paths to Personal Mastery
Learning Outcome Units
Understanding teams
Why use teams?
Types of teams
How teamwork develops
Team size
Roles people play in teams
Exercise
Leading teams
Team kickoffs
Dealing with five team dysfunctions
Trust and trustworthiness
Exercise
Working with teams
Establishing norms
Getting people to participate
Creative thinking
Exercise - Rewarding teams
2

3. Agenda Topic Time
Arrival 10:25-10:35 am
Understanding teams 10:35-11:45 am
Box lunches 11:45 am-12:15 pm
Leading teams 12:15-1:15pm
Short break 1:15-1:25 pm
Working with teams 1:25-2:25 pm
Close and get on
shuttle
2:25-2:30 pm
3

4. UNDERSTANDING TEAMS
4

5. Why Use Teams?
□ They get things
done
□ They tear down
organizational walls
□ They strengthen
organizations by
encouraging
communications, a
ction, and
collaboration
5
Photo: Mission Control celebrates
Apollo 13 splashdown
Rights: public domain

6. Some benefits and costs of
teams
Benefits
□ Better solutions from
cross-functional
expertise
□ Educate and increase
understanding
□ Build consensus and
help to manage
transitions
□ Encourage stakeholder
involvement and
networking
Costs or challenges
□ Overhead of
coordination and
integration
□ Team members who
are ―free riders‖
(loafing)
□ Possible middle
management
resistance
□ How to evaluate?
6

7. What is a team?
7
―A team is a small number of people
with complementary skills who are
committed to a common purpose, set of
performance goals, and approach
for which they hold themselves mutually
accountable‖—Katzenbach and Smith
Handout: Katzenbach, Jon R., and
Douglas K. Smith. 1993. ―The Discipline of
Teams.‖ Harvard Business Review 71:
111-120.

8. Calling a group a team does not make
them a team
Work groups
□ Individuals responsible
for own results
□ Individual work
products
□ Often report to a single
manager
□ Often ongoing, formal
part of hierarchy
Teams
□ Responsible for own
and team’s results
□ Collective work
products
□ Usually facilitated by a
team leader
□ Sometimes temporary
(project-based)
8
―The essence of a team is common commitment‖
—Katzenbach and Smith

9. How teams develop
Requirements
□ Distinct identity
□ Shared values
□ Definite intention
□ Understood roles
□ Clear, shared norms
□ Defined processes, e.g.
for planning and
solving problems
Key questions
□ Who are we?
□ What do we stand for?
□ Where are we going?
□ Who will do what?
□ How work together?
□ How will we allocate
resources, manage
conflict, adapt?
9

10. Stages of Team Development
Stage 1
Feelings not dealt
with
Status quo
Low involvement
Unclear objectives
Top-down decisions
Stage 2
Feelings raised
Experimentation
Greater listening
and involvement
Issues and options
discussed/debated
Sometimes
uncomfortable
Stage 3
Camaraderie
developing
Shared purpose and
roles
Commitment
emerging
Constructive conflict
management
Group norms solidify
Stage 4
Interpersonal
responsibility
Responsible for own
and team’s results
Shared commitment
and leadership
Adaptability and
flexibility
Shared group norms
and values
10

11. Tuckman Model of Group Development
11
1 Forming
2 Storming3 Norming
Performing
Adjourning Tuckman, Bruce W. 1965. Developmental
Sequence in Small Groups.
Psychological Bulletin 63 (6)

12. Step Ladder Process
SAFETY
• Who
am I
TRUST
• Who are
you
GROUP
• Who are
we
GOALS
• What’s
our task
VISION
• Where
are we
going
12
(and sometimes we might
have to stop and rebuild)

13. Setting up teams for learning and
performance
13
Figure adapted from Hebenstreit, Karl. 2008. ―IPT Bldg. III -- Implementing IPTs -- An Action View.‖
http://wiki.nasa.gov/cm/wiki/?id=2726

14. Optimal Team Size
14
1 5 10 20
Team Size
(number of people)
Optimum
Team Size
Adapted from Hebenstreit, Karl. 2008. ―IPT Bldg. II -- Understanding IPTs -- A Systems View.‖
http://wiki.nasa.gov/cm/wiki/?id=2725#gen19

15. Team Size
Considerations
A useful source in
addition to this chart:
Hoegl, Martin. 2005.
―Smaller Teams–Better
Teamwork: How to
Keep Project Teams
Small.‖ Business
Horizons 48 (3): 209–
214.
15
Chart: McBurnie, Anton, and 3Circle Partners. Belbin North America. 2013.
―Fast Team Fundamentals: When It Comes To Teams – Size Matters!‖
http://www.3circlepartners.com/news/team-size-matters/

16. Roles People Play in Teams (Belbin)
1. Chair – coordinator: clarifies tasks, coordinates efforts, optimizes
team member talents
2. Shaper – motivated to get results; shapes and guides team
efforts
3. Plant – source of creativity and imagination; problem solver;
―idea person‖
4. Monitor–evaluator - objective analyst, critic, interpreter of ideas
and contributions
5. Company worker - turns decisions and strategies into tasks that
people can accomplish
6. Resource investigator – has many outside contacts; can obtain
ideas or information
7. Team worker – promotes unity and harmony; holds team
together; maintains consensus
8. Completer-finisher – worries about detail, deadlines and what
could go wrong
16

17. Exercise – Evaluating Team Character
□ Working by yourself:
□ Consider the ULS teams of which you are a member and
choose one to evaluate
□ Analyze the character of your team using the ―Team
Character Inventory‖ handout
□ Working at your tables:
□ Compare and discuss your personal findings
□ Select one factor from each Inventory category (Safety
and Trust, Group, Goals, Vision) that you feel is key to the
success of teams in the ULS
□ Of those four, select one to report out to the group
□ Report your choice and explain why you chose it
17

18. Subject of a post-workshop conversation?
18
TWO FLY-BY SLIDES BEFORE
LUNCH

19. Observing Group Roles (see handout)
19
Type of Role Examples
Task Roles Initiating
Information Seeking or Giving
Clarifying
Summarizing
Consensus Testing
Maintenance Roles Encouraging
Harmonizing
Expressing Group Feelings
Gate Keeping
Compromising/Negotiating
Norms Setting or Testing
Hindering Roles Dominating
Withdrawing
Avoiding, degrading
Side conversations, multitasking

20. More on people and teams – for
strategizing at another time
To team or not to team
□ Integrators – like relating to
people from other
departments – want to be
on team
□ Receptors – respect others
but don’t desire personal
relationships – good
contacts but not good
team members
□ Isolates – specialists who
want to work alone – better
as consultants than team
members
Difficult behaviors
□ Arguer – tries to cross others up,
quibbles, challenges
□ Attacker – personally attacks
others, creates destructive conflicts
□ Know-it-all – won’t listen and
resents being told; imposes
opinions on others
□ Gossip – introduces overheard info
and hearsay
□ Busybody – multitasks during
meeting, ducks in and out
□ Mouse – won’t speak up
□ Repeater – ax to grind
□ Wanderer – long winded, often off
track
20

21. LUNCH
21
11:45 – 12:15
Photo by: Blanche, Wil
Persistent URL:
arcweb.archives.gov/arc/action/ExternalIdSearch?id=549911
Repository: National Archives at College Park
Rights: Unrestricted

22. LEADING TEAMS
22

23. Team Kick-offs
23
Kickoff
Figure adapted from Hebenstreit, Karl. 2008. ―IPT Bldg. III -- Implementing IPTs -- An Action View.‖
http://wiki.nasa.gov/cm/wiki/?id=2726

24. □ Is a team approach best?
□ Mission, tasks, deliverables
(charter)
□ Resources, constraints,
timeline
□ Level of team authority
□ Membership
□ Team leader 24
Management: situational
assessment, scenarios, people
Team: Kick-off
meeting
Team is formed
□ Introductions
□ Big Picture
□ Vision and mission
(empowering)
□ Expectations
□ Tasks/deliverables
□ Timeline
□ Communications
requirements
□ Dependencies
□ Some kick-offs start with
a social event
□ Some kick-offs are offsite
TEAM KICK-OFF
MANAGEMENT ACTIONS
C
H
A
R
T
E
R

25. Apollo 13 Kick-off Meeting?
25
WATCH THE CLIP AND IDENTIFY:
Senior Management Actions Team Actions
--Situational assessment --First meeting
--Scenarios for success
--Assign people

26. Some ideas for kick-off meetings – warming
people up, orienting them
□ A lot depends on context, but maybe …
□ Food
□ Walk around / field trip
□ Pre-readings to discuss
□ Guest speaker
□ Brainstorming exercise (with post-its)—maybe goals
or stakeholders or …
□ Self-audit with group exercise of some kind
□ Lightning round (to get everyone to say something)
□ …
26

27. Dealing with Team Dysfunction
27
From:
Lencioni, Patrick. 2005.
―Overcoming the Five
Dysfunctions of a
Team.‖ Audio-Tech
Business Book
Summaries 14 (5).

28. Who do you trust?
28
Gallup. 2012. ―Honesty/Ethics in Professions.‖ December 3.
http://www.gallup.com/poll/1654/honesty-ethics-professions.aspx#1
85
70
58 53 52
38
24 21 19
11 10 8
Honesty/Ethics in Professions - Extract from Gallup
Poll, Nov 26-29, 2012
% Very high/High
Please tell me how you would
rate the honesty and ethical
standards of people in these
different fields—very high,
high, average, low or very
low?

29. Trust, Leadership, Credibility, Influence
and Reputation
29

30. Trust and Trustworthiness
□ Trust:
□ Strengthens
relationships
□ Sustains positive
change
□ Increases
effectiveness
□ Trustworthiness:
□ Your own and
others’ confidence
in your character
and competence
30
CHARACTER + COMPETENCE = TRUSTWORTHINESS

31. Character and Competence
□ Character:
□ True to your feelings,
values,
commitments
□ Expressing yourself
with courage and
consideration
□ Abundance
mentality
□ Competence:
□ Practical knowledge
and skills (incl.
communication)
□ Able to plan,
organize, forecast,
solve problems,
innovate…
□ Able to work
cooperatively with
others
31

32. Trust is Fragile – Handle with Care
Deposits
□ Clear expectations
□ Kindness, courtesy
□ Making/keeping
promises
□ Loyalty to the absent
□ Apologies
□ Accepting responsibility
□ Listening openly
□ Giving credit
Withdrawals
□ Unclear expectations
□ Unkindness, rudeness
□ Breaking promises,
underdelivering
□ Disloyalty, duplicity
□ Arrogance
□ Blaming others
□ Being defensive
□ Taking credit
32

33. Exercise – Trustworthiness Survey
1. Working by yourself, complete the
―Trustworthiness Survey‖ handout and circle
one or two items where you gave yourself a
lower score
2. Then on the back, complete the following
―personal workout‖ by jotting down for
yourself:
a. What specific ―deposits‖ will you make, when, to work on your trust
challenges?
b. Make a quick inventory of the promises/commitments you have made to
others. Ask yourself how you are doing on fulfilling them. If not as well as
you want, jot down ideas of what you can do in future to avoid
undelivered promises
33

34. WORKING WITH TEAMS
Last hour!
34

35. Establishing Group Norms (Not!)
35

36. An early team conversation
□ Pay particular attention to first meetings
□ What leaders do is more important than what they
say
□ Talk/brainstorm about ―how we will work together‖
to meet team purpose and goals. Possibly:
Starting and ending on time – Coming prepared – Having agendas -
Attendance, paying attention, multitasking during meetings -
Contributions (everyone does real work) – Results orientation
(everyone gets assignments and does them) – Making the team a
priority - Discussion (no sacred cows) – If you don’t understand, ask –
Don’t hesitate to disagree - Participate, don’t dominate – Don’t talk
over someone else – Actively listen – Evidence-based analysis -
Offering constructive criticism – No finger pointing - Have some fun!
36

37. Getting people to participate
□ Pay particular attention to
first meetings
□ Be patient
□ Gradual acceptance of
group norms will help, as
people feel safer
□ Early, interactive training
session will help
□ Use interactive approaches
that make it easy for all to
contribute
□ Encourage creative thinking
and use brainstorming
techniques
37

38. Building Your Team Interaction Tool Kit
(more handouts)
□ Brainstorming, brain-writing
□ Force field analysis – Explore factors
that support or hinder a change
□ Criteria analysis – generate criteria,
then use them to evaluate alternatives
□ Stakeholder analysis – Identifying those
affected by an upcoming change
□ So many more …
38

39. Creative Thinking
39
―Remember: every right idea is eventually
the wrong idea. Innovation means not only
generating new ideas, but escaping from
obsolete ones as well.‖—Roger Van Oech

40. Barriers to Creative
Thinking
Killer phrases:
―You can’t be serious‖
―It just won’t work here‖
―That sounds complicated‖
―We need more
background‖
―Who thought of that?‖
―Let’s think about that later.‖
Roadblocks:
Self-imposed barriers
Fear of appearing foolish
Conformity
Closed mindedness
No sense of humor
Evaluating too quickly
40
Photo by Neil Howard. CC-BY-NC
http://www.flickr.com/photos/neilsingapore/497645303/

41. "It is easier to tone down a wild idea than to
think up a new one."- Alex Osborn
□ Osborn’s four rules for brainstorming:
1. Defer judgment – withhold criticism – no
positive or negative judging during ideation
2. Free-wheel – be aware of barriers and
consciously suspend them
3. Quantity, then quality – four tons of ore for
one ounce of gold
4. Hitchhike – piggyback – during ideation,
suspend the notion of idea ownership
41

42. Team recognition: Celebrating success
42
Photo: US Air Force. CC-BY-NC
http://www.flickr.com/photos/usairforce/6927743582/

43. Recognizing and Celebrating
Teams
43
Examples –
Recognition for:
Leading subteams
―Extra mile‖ efforts
Speaking up
Hitting targets
Dashboards
SharePoint updates
Orchestrating events
Etc., etc.

44. Last exercise: Trying out brainstorming
at your tables
□ In what ways might
team success be
recognized and
rewarded?*
*Do not consider direct
monetary
compensation
1. Follow Osborn’s
four rules for
brainstorming (slide
41)
2. Group prizes for:
□ The most ideas
□ The wildest idea
□ The funniest idea
44

45. In what
ways might
team
success be
recognized
and
rewarded?*

46. In what
ways might
team
success be
recognized
and
rewarded?*

47. Outcomes – Paths to Personal Mastery
Learning Outcome Units
Understanding teams
Why use teams?
Types of teams
How teamwork develops
Team size
Roles people play in teams
Exercise
Leading teams
Team kickoffs
Dealing with five team dysfunctions
Trust and trustworthiness
Exercise
Working with teams
Establishing norms
Getting people to participate
Creative thinking
Exercise - Rewarding teams
47

48. Other References
□ Belbin, R. Meredith. 1981. Management teams: why
they succeed or fail. Oxford: Butterworth-
Heinemann.
□ Osborn, Alex Faickney. 1953. Applied Imagination:
Principles and Procedures of Creative Thinking.
Scribner.
□ Von Oech, Roger. 1990. A Whack on the Side of the
Head. New York: Warner Books.
48