Team Building

Mingle

Think about a team that you’ve been a part of - either from your personal or professional life.

In your experience, what’s been the best thing about working in a team?

What’s been the most challenging?

Learning Objectives

• Describe the importance of effectively functioning teams as an essential element to successful public health programs.

• Describe how to create more effective working relationships among team members.

• Create positive and productive team agreements and norms.

• Select specific skills and tools when creating alignment within diverse teams.

• Choose effective responses to resolve common problem behaviors present in teams

Definitions

• A team can be defined as two or more people coming together to accomplish a specific task.

Examples: – Project teams – Coalitions – Management teams

Opportunities - Teams

• Leverage diversity • Harness individual knowledge/wisdom • Increase participation • Gain organizational buy-in • Generate more creative responses/solutions • Can be more productive

Common Team Challenges

• Don’t measure up to potential • Problem behaviors • Lack of clarity/shared accountability for goals • Ineffective decision making • Poor implementation and follow through • Lack empowerment and organizational support

Team Strengths

Source: Team Diagnostic International

Relationships

• Camaraderie • Communication • Constructive Interaction • Optimism • Respect • Trust • Values Diversity

Results

• Accountability • Alignment • Decision Making • Goals & Strategies • Proactive • Resources • Team Leadership

Methods for Building Effective Teams

• Team assessment • Team design • Creating alignment • Working with problem behaviors

Team Assessment and Design

• What might you want to assess about a team? How might you assess an existing or new team?

• What might you want to know in order to design positive and productive working relationships within a team?

• What would you want to explicitly design with a team?

Assessment: What?

• Team structure, members, history • Results strengths: accountability, alignment, decision making, goals and strategies, ability to be proactive, resources, team leadership • Relationships strengths: camaraderie, communication, constructive interaction, optimism, respect, trust, values diversity

Assessment: How?

• Interviews • Surveys • Review of existing team materials (agendas, minutes, ground rules, products) • Observation

Potential Questions

• Strengths/challenges of team • Priorities/goals of team • Roles/responsibilities • Ground rules • Decision making process • Meeting structure, minutes, agenda • Leadership • Resources • Means of rewarding achievement/success • How team functions under stress • Vision of team • What team is tolerating

Design/Planning

• Priorities/goals/vision of team • Team agreements/ground rules • Roles/responsibilities/leadership • Decision making process/accountability

Antidotes for Common Team Problem Behaviors

• Notice your own patterns.

• Call behaviors when you see them.

• Look for the request behind the complaint.

• Don’t make it/take it personally.

• Build positivity within the team.