REC - EMTC: Insight 2/2: Learning to work as a team player

T E C H N I Q U E

Learning to work as a team player

Clear goals, communication, unity and skill enable small groups to conquer big tasks

BY DIRK AMTSBERG

Everyone agrees you've found the perfect way to accomplish that huge, important project - you all will work together to get the job done. It sounds ideal until the work gets under way. Suddenly the group cannot function. Pavla is preoccupied with her own problems. Janos and Jiri are ready to kill each other. And no one has a clue how to use the computer.

If working in teams is supposed to yield better results than working alone, why do so many group projects end in unproductive strife? The answer lies in a number of factors, many of which can be easily implemented along the way. During a workshop at the 6th EMTC Network meeting in Sinaia, Romania, Dana Nicolescu, director of Opportunity Associates-Romania, gave an instructive and funny half-day session outlining these keys to successful interaction.

The goals of the workshop were to teach the criteria for building an effective team, to outline the major obstacles to team building; and to clarify individual and group needs and maturity indicators. Also, the workshop itself was an exercise in team building because participants had to work together to progress through the exercises and finish the learning.

In one exercise, blindfolded team members had to rely on working together to get themselves back in order.

Creating an effective team

One explanation for the dynamics of group interaction involves the "Jo Hari Window." According to Jo Hari, the human personality consists of four parts, or "windows" (see diagram). The windows describe information based on who knows it. In a good team, everyone communicates and thus most information lands in the "public window."

H. B. Karp defines a team as a "group of individuals who must work interdependently in order to attain their individual and organizational objectives." In a team-working exercise, participants (with the help of Nicolescu) brainstormed the criteria for an effective team.

First, an effective team should have a common and very clear goal/mission. It sounds like a self-evident pre-requisite, but still it often happens that people working together have no clear idea of their common task. The group should all understand the goal and be motivated to solve this task.

An effective team furthermore needs a leader - not a hierarchical leadership but a leader that is a member of the group, furthers group dynamics and leads only when it is necessary to keep the work on track. The leader should combine the individual efforts to create the group's success.

A good team also needs a certain unity and collective identification. This includes mutual understanding and affection. This is not to say, however, that everyone should agree on everything. On the contrary, conflict is necessary because it brings about alternate ideas. Without differing views, there would be no innovation or creativity. When conflict does arise, it must stay on a professional level and team members should remember the importance of team unity.

In order for the team to accomplish its goals, team members should have appropriate skills to fulfill their task. The various skills must be complementary to create a certain synergy. Everybody should be motivated to solve his or her given problem. The majority of team members should have experience as well in both their professions and in working with others.

THE JO HARI WINDOW

The Jo Hari window categorizes pieces of information based on who knows them. In a good team, everybody tries to communicate and thus increase the size of the public window. The bigger your public window, the better communication you have and the more effective your team will be.

	OTHER PEOPLE KNOW	OTHERS DON'T KNOW
INDIVIDUAL KNOWS	PUBLIC WINDOW: Something someone knows that has also been revealed to others	HIDDEN WINDOW: Something someone knows that remains hidden from the others
INDIVIDUAL DOESN'T KNOW	BLIND WINDOW: What other people know about someone that the person doesn't know or recognize	UNKNOWN WINDOW: Things neither the person nor the other people know

Major obstacles to team building

The list of major obstacles to team building is basically the inverse of the list criteria for an effective team. The first two possible mistakes can be committed when choosing the team; the others depend on the team itself.

Bad selection of the team members. This could be a result of incorrect matching of abilities or simply personality conflicts that cannot be resolved.
No common goal; the task was not properly made clear to everyone.
Individual group members seek stardom or want to show off instead of working together to solve the group's problems.
Team members are selfish or jealous of each other and start a destructive competition; there is no sense of the necessity of being a group.
Communication fails among the group.

Eventually, when all the factors fall into place, a group will become more productive than the individuals working independently. There are three factors used to gauge this type of mature group. The degree of maintenance of the group, the degree of taking into account individual needs, and the ability to handle the task itself. In a mature group, each of these factors should have its place.

REC * EMTC * PUBLICATIONS * INSIGHT * AUTUMN 1997