With only a few weeks left until graduation, I find that most of my time is spent working on projects, meeting with teams and preparing for a number of presentations. Even when given the chance to write a paper or blog, the topic of teamwork seems to find it’s way into my work (just wrote an awesome paper on creating effective environments for developing team skills in online classes!). Teams are useful in allowing us to work on larger scale projects and really use our education to benefit businesses around Vancouver.
I think early on team formation, as Katzenbach states, a strong commitment to how the work will get done is important. Most of us have many groups going on at once and having an idea of what is expected of you is crucial is both managing time and reducing stress by breaking the project down into smaller tasks. Building trust is also crucial at this stage and is particularly difficult when you don’t know the other group members. It’s important that everyone is mutually accountable for the work that needs to be done. I really liked how they differentiated working groups from teams and in particular the part where he shows that teams must have shared leadership roles. I think this is crucial for good teams and helps all members to build good leadership skills. It creates a better environment and promotes group discussion as opposed to someone delegating work. The team definitely needs a driving force, but this person can change as a project progresses.
The ten faces of innovation was an interesting article to read, especially after we had talked about the importance of the devil’s advocate (or red hat) while using the thinking hats tool. While the negative attitude is definitely an “idea killer”, there is a point in a discussion where it is necessary to determine if an idea is worth carrying on any further. The 10 faces are great for creating an innovative culture and generating ideas, but there seems to be room within the building personas for a devil’s advocate.
My experience with teams so far has been a great experience. I think one thing lacking from the first article is promoting social interactions within groups. Allowing team members to socialize and become more comfortable with each other not only increases trust, it makes the entire experience more enjoyable and provides a counter balance to the day to day stresses of the team project. Working on group projects that are fun can be a substantial motivator. This is definitely important for my groups as some of the more interesting companies and projects are the ones that I spend the most attention on (especially if coffee is involved!).