Team Communication

Team Communication
Aimun Noor
Communicating in Teams
• Collaboration—working together to meet complex challenges—is a
prime skill expected in a wide range of professions.
• A team is a unit of two or more people who share a mission and the
responsibility for working to achieve a common goal.
• Problem-solving teams and task forces assemble to resolve specific issues
and then disband when their goals have been accomplished. Such teams
are often cross-functional, pulling together people from a variety of
departments who have different areas of expertise and responsibility.
• Committees are formal teams that usually have a long life span and can
become a permanent part of the organizational structure.
Advantages and Disadvantages of Teams
• A successful team can provide a number of advantages
 Increased information and knowledge.
 Increased diversity of views.
 Increased acceptance of a solution.
 Higher performance levels.
• At the worst, working in teams can be a frustrating waste of time.
 Groupthink- Groupthink occurs when peer pressure causes individual team
members to withhold contrary or unpopular opinions.
 Hidden agendas
 Cost – Time and money
 Overload
CHARACTERISTICS OF EFFECTIVE
TEAMS
• The most effective teams have
• a clear objective and shared sense of purpose
• have a strong sense of trust in each other
• communicate openly and honestly
• reach decisions by consensus
• think creatively
• know how to resolve conflict
• and believe that their work matters.
Reasons For Dysfunctional Team Efforts
• Common reasons for dysfunctional team efforts include
• management expectations that are either unclear or not accepted by
all team members
• a reluctance by team members to prioritize team goals over their
personal goals
• reward systems that don’t recognize team contributions
• and leadership that tolerates negative and counterproductive
behaviors.
Group Dynamics
• The interactions and processes that take place among the members of a team are
called group dynamics.
• Productive teams tend to develop clear norms, informal standards of conduct that
members share and that guide member behavior
• Assuming Team roles
 Members who assume self-oriented roles are motivated mainly to fulfill personal needs. Tend
to be less productive than other members.
 “Dream teams” comprising multiple superstars often don’t perform as well as one might
expect because high-performing individuals an have trouble putting the team’s needs ahead
of their own.
 highly skilled and experienced people with difficult personalities might not contribute, for
the simple reason that other team members may avoid interacting with them.
 Far more likely to contribute to team goals are members who assume team-maintenance
roles to help everyone work well together and those who assume task-oriented roles to help
the team reach its goals.
Group Dynamics
• Allowing for Team Evolution
 A variety of models have been proposed to describe the evolution toward
becoming a productive team. One such model is below:
Orientation: Team members socialize, establish their roles, and begin to
define their ask or purpose. Team-building exercises and activities can help
teams break down barriers and develop a sense of shared purpose.
Conflict:
Brainstorming
Emergence
Reinforcement
Group Dynamics
• Resolving Conflict
 Conflict in team activities can arise for a number of reasons: competition for
resources disagreement over goals or responsibilities, poor communication,
power struggles, or fundamental differences in values, attitudes, and
personalities.
It can be constructive if it forces important issues into the open, increases
the involvement of team members, and generates creative ideas for solving
a problem.
conflict is destructive if it diverts energy from more important issues,
destroys the morale of teams or individual team members, or polarizes or
divides the team. It can lead to win-lose or lose-lose outcomes.
Group Dynamics
• Seven measures can help team members successfully resolve conflict
Proactive behavior
Communication
Openness
Research
Flexibility
Fair play
Alliance
Group Dynamics
• Overcoming Resistance
One particular type of conflict that can impede progress is resistance to change.
Whenever you encounter resistance, your first instinct might be to argue even more
forcefully for the proposed change. However, this approach is often counterproductive
because it doesn’t get at the roots of the resistance, and the other party is likely to dig in
even deeper.
Rather than pushing harder, stop talking and start listening. Apply the active listening skills.
With a line of communication open, recognize that your primary goal is not to win the
argument but rather to build a relationship that can lead to solving the dilemma at hand.
As you establish a comfortable working relationship, continue to be aware of elements of
resistance that remain unspoken.
With a better understanding of the resistance, the next step is to move toward a resolution
through collaborative effort.

Team Communication

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