Team working

Problems with managing Clever

People

What is a team?

More than one person

So the crowd at at a football match?

Is a team different to a group? Or a
community?

More than one person working on a

shared task, in which the process
is improved because of the
involvement of different people with
different perspectives, skills and
aptitudes

What do we need to do when

working in teams?

Identify and evaluate approaches to selfmanaging and team management

Characterise yourself and your team in

terms of alternative approaches.

Appreciate the conditions and needs for

managing particular categories and
mixtures of relationships encountered by
managers and consultants.

First Know thyself

To understand a team you first need

to know yourself
SSP Blackboard site has details on:
Learning styles
http://students.shu.ac.uk/services/caree
rs/job/psychometric.html

Only then can you begin to wonder

about others, and how you interact
with them in a team
So if you havent already visited
these pages, do so asap!

What is in it for me? And

them?

Maslow (1943) idendified a hierarchy of needs

which can also be seen as motivational factors:

Physiological

Safety

Self esteem, respect of others

Self-Actualisation

Partnership, friendship, groups

Esteem

Stability, law, structure, clarity

Belongingness

Food, water, shelter, sleep

Meeting challenges, fulfilling promise

Need to know
Aesthetic needs

Lifecycle of a Team

Different sources point at the

same basic model.
Tuckman(1965)
He describes four key stages in
a team's development:
Forming
Storming
Norming
Performing

Tuckman

Forming
Team

depends on leader for

direction, purpose and guidance.
Individual roles unclear
Objectives need clarifying and
reinforcing
boundaries and roles tested

Tuckman

Storming
Much

inter-team conflict
Decisions don't come easily
Uncertainty persists, but there is
the beginnings of understanding of
purpose and goals
Task focus is used to avoid
distraction of relationship issues

Tuckman

Norming
Roles and responsibilities are clear
Consensus broadly achieved
Some delegation used
Important decisions taken jointly
Commitment and team spirit at its
highest
Team working style openly discussed
Task can sometimes take second place

Tuckman

Performing
Shared

vision
Task clearly understood
Disagreements settled positively
and internally
No instruction required
Delegation happens naturally and
members often seek to overperform

Lifecycle of a Directed Team

Hersey and Blanchard (1977)

Theory

of Situational Leadership

Again, four key stages in a

leaders relationship to a team's
development:
Directing
Coaching

and selling
Supporting and participating
Delegating

Managing Clever People

Like Hurding Cats

Drucker (1999) states that
knowledge workers are NOT the
same as manual workers
They are assets to be sweated
not costs to be reduced

Managing Clever People

Cloke and Goldsmith (2002)

suggest some key questions:

Who are we? (team identification)

Why are we here? (task
identification)
Where are we going? (Vision)
How do we get there? (Objectives
and goals)
What is in the way (Challenge
identification)

Managing Clever People

Cloke and Goldsmith (2002)

Continued:

How do we know we are working

well (CSF setting)
Who will do what? (Planning)
How will we learn? (Feedback and
quality control)
What worked? What didnt?
(evaluation)
Good work! What is next?

Managing Clever People

Cloke and Goldsmith (2002) go on to

suggest skills required:

Self management
Communication
[Appropriate] leadership
Responsibilty
Planning
Shaping successful meetings
Supporting diversity
Conflict resolution
Feedback and evaluation
ENJOYMENT!

Team roles

Belbin suggests that: members of a

team have: "A tendency to behave,
contribute and interrelate with others
in a particular way.

http://www.belbin.com/belbin-teamroles.htm

The suggestion is that a good team

has an appropriate mix of of roles
A team full of leaders is useless!

Team roles

Belbin suggests that: members of a

team have: "A tendency to behave,
contribute and interrelate with others
in a particular way.

http://www.belbin.com/belbin-teamroles.htm

The suggestion is that a good team

has an appropriate mix of of roles
A team full of leaders is useless!

BELBIN Team-Role

RESOURCE
INVESTIGATOR

Strengths

Extrovert, enthusiastic,
communicative. Explores
opportunities. Develops contacts.

SHAPER

Challenging, dynamic, thrives on

pressure. The drive and courage
to overcome obstacles.

TEAMWORKER

Co-operative, mild, perceptive

diplomat. Listens, averts friction.

SPECIALIST

Single-minded, self-starting,
dedicated. Provides knowledge
and skills in rare supply.

So what about us?

You are in a team now

How do actual roles map back
to Belbin?
Do you recognise the maturing
of your team?
Have you the skills required?