The Full Spectrum
Volume 1 Issue 1 January 2005

In Focus: Teambuilding

Welcome

Welcome to The Full Spectrum, Kaleidoscopic’s new e-newsletter. As we considered launching a newsletter, we thought that January would be an appropriate time. January brings new beginnings, new resolutions, new outlooks and new hopes, not only personally but also professionally. A number of colleagues have remarked that they are looking forward to a better 2005. For some it was the start of a new position, for others it was passing the six-month mark of a new position and beginning to feel more comfortable with their role, and more prepared for what was to come. Consider your team – are they comfortable where they are? Have any of them hoped this year would be a ‘better’ year professionally? The rest of this newsletter offers comments, insights & tips to helping the start of 2005 live up to some of the expectations you and your team may have. Happy Teambuilding!

Characteristics of a High-Functioning Team

A high-functioning (HF) team is one in which the individuals on the team have a commitment to the work that they do, both as an individual and within the organization overall. In other words, their level of engagement is high. Engaged teams mean higher productivity and less time lost to non-work-related issues. The following are a few of the traits that high-functioning teams enjoy and support:

Open communication – In good times and bad, a HF team communicates constantly with each other. Communication is characterized by its transparency – for example the decision-makers sharing information with the frontline – and by its consistency – regardless of whether the news is good or bad, it is communicated and people are open to receiving it. Continental Airlines did this well in 1994 and avoided the bankruptcy they had been headed for. Communication can be constructive or destructive - could your team use a communication refresher?
Shared understanding of values – Sharing a common set of organizational values brings individual members together into a team. Those without anything else in common bridge the gap with the company’s values. In times of trouble, the values are a glue and foundation, holding the team together. In good times, the values are a magnet for other like-minded individuals to join the team. Organizations such as The Injoy Group, a consulting firm in the States, that communicate their values find their team members have more trust in the organization and are therefore more engaged. Performing a Values Exercise with your team starts you off right.
Diversity – True diversity is a commitment by an organization not just to reflect differences in the workplace but also to seek them out and to encourage everyone’s ideas and value their contributions. Japanese automaker, Toyota, does this well by encouraging all employees to make suggestions from the plant workers to management to mailroom staff. This system generates trust and commitment from the entire Toyota team and nets some terrific ideas that may not have been otherwise conceived. Consider how your organization demonstrates its commitment to diversity.

High-functioning teams share these and several other characteristics that will be explored in a later issue of The Full Spectrum. For the moment, consider how your team doing in these three areas. What can you do to increase the functioning of your team?

New Team Members – Case Studies

Adding a team member, can be difficult. What if the team has participated in a specific teambuilding programme and the new person has missed it? What if you’re about to do training and the new person has yet to start? Recent clients dealt with these situations. Here’s what they did:

Case Study 1: Specific Programme

The entire staff of this organization had participated in a temperament, or personality, theory workshop where they each discovered their personal preferences and worked in groups to understand how their individual personality differences made different contributions to the team. The director was concerned that the new person starting would not only not benefit from this knowledge, but would also be ‘left out’ because the staff tended to use the program’s lingo on a regular basis to understand how those differences continued to play out at work. In speaking with the director about her concerns, I suggested that the new staff person’s orientation include a rough outline of the theory, particularly focussed on the ‘lingo’ that the new person would be hearing around the office. The new member would therefore be able to follow along with the conversation. The director reported back that this had indeed worked and that, coupled with comparable model that the new member had been exposed to in his prior workplace, the new member was fitting in just fine with the rest of the team.

Case Study 2: Upcoming Training

With a training date that had been scheduled far in advance approaching, the organization was unsure whether the incoming individual should be invited to attend the training or not. The new employee would be filling a maternity leave and the current staff member would not be finished her term before the training was scheduled. Management was concerned that the current staff member not feel as though she was being pushed out the door, however, recognized the relevance of the topic for the incoming team member. After some discussion, it was determined that the manager would speak with the current staff member to present the idea of the new colleague benefiting from the team time together. The manager acknowledged directly that the new hire would still not be starting until the agreed-upon date and that her attendance at the training was not intended to undermine the current staff member’s position. The transparency had the desired affect. Both current and incoming staff members were able to attend and benefit from the session.

Team Tip

Bringing a new team member into the fold? Try the following at the next team meeting:

Have each staff person introduce themselves using an item that they have with them or on them to give a detail about themselves. It could be that they are wearing a blue shirt and blue is their favourite colour, or their palm pilot because they would be lost without it. This not only creates some humour in the meeting but is also more memorable for the new person than just names.

If you would like to help your team achieve peak performance, contact Kaleidoscopic at 416-238-7454 or send a note to Inquiries@kscopic.ca.

February "In Focus" - Temperament (personality) Theory