SESSION EIGHT: CHARACTERISTICS OF GREAT TEAMS

When we study great teams, we can determine the common factors that they share and then learn from them. You’ve probably seen some teams that work really well together, and others that have a way to go.

In this session, you’ll start looking at characteristics of effective teams as gathered by one of the leading thinkers about teams.

The 12 Characteristics

These 12 characteristics of effective teams were developed by Glenn Parker, who has devoted his life’s work to studying and developing teams.

• Clear purpose
• Informality
• Participation
• Listening
• Civilized disagreements
• Consensus decisions
• Open communication
• Clear roles and work assignments
• Shared leadership
• External relations
• Style diversity
• Self-assessment

Clear Purpose

It can be frustrating to be part of a group with no clear idea of why you are there or what you should be doing. Do your team members know and accept the vision or mission of the organization? Are they part of the goal setting for the department or unit?

A clear purpose will set the direction for the team. Without it, the team could easily question why they exist, and what they are supposed to accomplish. Part of the team forming stage should include defining goals and outlining objectives.

Informality and Participation

With high-performance teams, we encourage and nurture an environment that leads to greatest results. This means that a climate that is informal and comfortable, even relaxed, is encouraged. The team is observed to ensure that frustrations caused by boredom or personality conflict are dealt with so that participation levels remain high. As leaders, we encourage teams to interact comfortably and easily. We encourage lots of good-natured conversation and laughter.

Seating arrangements can facilitate this. A circle is usually the best seating arrangement so that people face one another, and a typical classroom arrangement is the worst where they have backs to one another.

Listening

High performance teams focus on using effective communication techniques, particularly listening and asking questions.

Active listening means that we try to understand things from the speaker’s point of view. It includes letting the speaker know that we are listening and that we have understood what was said. This is not the same as hearing, which is a physical process, where sound enters the eardrum and messages are passed to the brain. Active listening can be described as an attitude that leads to listening for shared understanding.

When we make a decision to listen for total meaning, we listen for the content of what is being said as well as the attitude behind what is being said. Is the speaker happy, angry, excited, sad…or something else entirely?

To improve your listening skills, use these tips:

• Make a decision to listen. Close your mind to clutter and noise and look at the person speaking with you. Give them your undivided attention.
• Don’t interrupt Make it a habit to let them finish what they are saying. Respect that they have thoughts they are processing and speaking about, and wait to ask questions or make comments until they have finished.
• Keep your eyes focused on the speaker and your ears tuned to their voice. Don’t let your eyes wander around the room, just in case your attention does too.
• Carry a notebook or start a conversation file on your computer. Write down all the discussions that you have in a day. Capture the subject, who spoke more (were you listening or doing a lot of the talking?), what you learned in the discussion, as well as the who, what, when, where, why, and how aspects of it. Once you have conducted this exercise 8-10 times, you will be able to see what level your listening skills are currently at.
• Ask a few questions throughout the conversation. When you ask, people will know that you are listening to then, and that you are interested in what they have to say. Your ability to summarize and paraphrase will also demonstrate that you heard them.
• When you demonstrate good listening skills, they tend to be infectious. If you want people to communicate well at work, you have to set a high example.