Stepby

StepGuide to Effective Team Projects

Franky Chernin Student Academic Support Initiatives

Robert Malowany Counselling

&forming your “team”, creating the contract, ensuring effective team meetingsstrategies for success

Resources/Adapted from:Roderick Stuart, Team Development Games for Train-ers (Gower 1998)

North Island Distance Education Schoolhttp://nides.bc.ca/resources/pbl_mini/page10.html

Clarke, Theresa. “Group Contract.” Multimedia Edu-cational Resource for Learning and Online Teaching. MERLOT, 21 Feb 2006. Web. 30 May 2011. <http://www.merlot.org>.

Gibbs, Graham. “Making Group Contracts.” University of Waterloo. University of Waterloo, n.d. Web. 30 May 2011. <http://cte.uwaterloo.ca/teaching_resources/tips/making_group_Contracts.html>.

Levin, Peter. Successful Teamwork. Open University Press,2006

The Teal Trust, http://www.teal.org.uk/et/teampro.htm

BScN Program, George Brown College

Design & Layout by: Natasha James

table of contents

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twoStep

Creating the Contract

Forming

threeStep Storming

The Team Process

NormingfourStep

Moving On

PerformingGetting it Done

fiveStep

sixStep Adjourning

Reflection

Developing Relationships

oneStep GettingStarted

Leadership

Accepting the Leadership Role

Lack of leadership will almost always lead to poor

performance. Strong leadership is often a major fac-tor in why teams succeed.

Identify one or more team members who will act as

the leader/co-ordinator and ensure all team mem-bers recognize the difference between being a lead-er and becoming the “boss”.

The following will help in understanding the difference.The boss drives his/her team; the leader coaches them.

The boss depends upon authority; the leader depends upon good will.

The boss inspires fear; the leader inspires enthusiasm.

The boss says, “I”; the leader says “WE.”

The boss assigns the tasks; the leader sets the pace.

The boss says, “Get here on time”; the leader begins on time.

The boss fixes the blame for the breakdown; the leader fixes the breakdown.

The boss knows how it is done; the leader shows how it is done.

The boss makes work drudgery; the leader makes it a game.

The boss says, “GO”; the leader says, “LET’S GO.”

Author Unknown

As the team leader(s), how can you inspire enthusiasm in your team?

If naming the role “Co-ordinator” would work better for your team, please substitute for “Leader” throughout.

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oneStep GettingStarted

Leadership

2

Bruce Tuckman’s stages of team development outlines a natural process for all teams. In most cases,

your team will have a leader/ co-ordinator. Having

co-leaders/co-ordinators is also a good idea. The

team will initially be driven by the leader(s) and the

process of developing your team may look something

like the chart below.

Forming

Norming

Storming

Performing

Process is driven by leaders. Some people are reluctant to contribute openly. Developing relationships &

direction will aid the process.

Process likely to break down until conflict is resolved.

Re-evaluation of team(vs. Individual) goals will move the process forward.

Process functions well and is adjusted as necessary. Leadership

is shared by all and tasks delegated.

The core process should operate smoothly, although there is a danger of focusing on smaller process issues rather than core team work. Identify

what is working.

oneStep GettingStarted

Leadership

3

Getting to know each otheri. Determine each team members strengths and

weaknesses related to the project (e.g. who is good at creating PowerPoints, who is weak or shy at presenting, etc.).

ii. Determine potential future conflicts (e.g. class and exam schedules, inability to meet due to personal reasons, or living too far away to schedule 8am meetings, etc.).

iii. Doing something fun together helps to break the ice (e.g. go bowling, see a movie, have coffee together, etc.).

Develop a Creative Team Name Come up with your team name.

It is a great ice breaker and you all will get to know each other through the participation.

twoStep

Developing RelationshipsForming

4

Create Your Mission StatementDevelop one or two sentences that exemplify what you want to happen and how you want to work together.

Contract Process To help your team be successful, develop a Contract. Take this TEAM Contract seriously. Spend time with your team determining responsibilities, expectations, meeting times and how you plan to handle potential conflicts. A thoughtful, collaborative and proactive Contract will help to avoid common team pitfalls.

twoStep

Developing RelationshipsForming

A fillable pdf Contract available at www.georgebrown.ca/saf-fairs/index.aspx. You can print but you need Adobe Acrobat if you want to save the completed Contract. A MS Word version is also available at the PAL Centres.

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Strategies for Effective Communication

Create a Meeting Schedule.

Commit to the exact days/times/locations for team meetings so you don’t have to negotiate this later in the semester.

Specify your decision to meet daily, weekly or biweekly.Decide what can be done online and what requires face-to-face interaction.

Where possible, specify exact dates of any special meetings (e.g. two days before the project is due).

Here are some questions that may help:

How long will your meetings last? (no longer than 90 mins. is recommended)

Where will you meet? What other expectations are there for group meetings? What is your group’s expectation for attendance?

twoStep

Creating the ContractForming

6

Develop Team Expectations.

Set up ground rules and team expectations that all team members can agree with. They should relate to the Contract and might include:

Be on time Participate actively (Individual evaluation) pg. 18 Submit work on time (Work back schedule) pg. 10 Submit quality work (Tasks outlined in Contract) Practice win/win (Group evaluation) pg. 19Respect others’ ideas/opinionsCommit to team goals (Sign Contract)

Be sure to be specific in your Contract. Different peo-ple might interpret vague wording differently. Be sure to include as much information as you can to prevent confusion later.

For example, “participate actively”; what does that mean? Choose specific items from the individual evaluation. (page 18)

twoStep

Creating the ContractForming

7

Determine how your team will make decisions.

This is a necessary component of team work. Decisions may be made by:

Consensus All members of team agree on a decision.

Majority vote Issues decided by the larger number of team members; method is often employed when it is not possible to reach consensus.

Minority decision May be formulated by a self-delegated subgroup appointed as a subcommittee to explore a situation in greater depth and reach a decision.

A Note About Confidentiality To promote trust-building, some rules regarding confidentiality should be established.

Decisions about what will and will not be shared outside the team are necessary.

Members should be responsible to the team for maintaining the confidentiality of the team.

Need Help? Consult a Counsellor or PAL Centre Co-ordinator.

twoStep

Creating the ContractForming

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Preparing for Conflict Resolution It is important to take the time to get to know each other, to learn about and appreciate what each member brings to the team and come to agreement on how conflict will be resolved.

It is normal for a storming stage or conflict to occur.

Think about what process you can engage in if the contract is not being followed. For example, mem-bers do not complete assigned tasks, miss meetings, do not participate. What steps will the team take to effectively resolve the situation in the case of “team slacker” or other issues?

How we plan for and approach the conflict will be determined by our underlying feelings about team members.

Will we look for ways to understand and support team members or ways to blame them? Will we view it as a team problem or the individual’s problem?

Are we willing to come together as a team and make the necessary adjustments?

Develop a list of appropriate measures. They should be reasonable, and agreed to by all. For example, Code Red Meeting (see pg. 17), reassessment of Ac-tion Plan, Work -back Schedule.

Being prepared and being able to adjust and adapt tasks and plans is an essential component of effective teams.

twoStep

Creating the ContractForming

9

Discuss How You Will Share Your Files.

This section addresses how your team prefers to share files with each other. List the method that your team will utilize.

Some examples:Google Docs - A free web-based platform, which allows you share and collaborate online. See http://docs.google.com/support to learn how to use Google Docs.

Facebook Group

Other (specify)

twoStep

Creating the ContractForming

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twoStep

Creating the ContractForming

Create a Work-back Schedule.

A work-back schedule has you start by visualizing the end product and working backward in your schedule until you arrive at today.

Follow these steps:

1. Make a list of what needs to be in place to complete a successful project.

2. Take each item on the list and break it down to what needs to happen to complete that item (tasks):

i. What needs to be learned?

ii. What needs to be accomplished?

iii. Break it down into steps.

3. Once each item has been broken down into steps, decide which of the items need to occur first and start placing the steps into your work-back schedule (Calendar), starting at the end and working back to today ( Enter on your Contract).

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twoStep

Creating the ContractForming

Develop an Action Plan.

Address how you will split the workload. Work on this as a group in order to provide equal learning opportunities and create the best project possible. You do not have to address every bullet point below, rather make some decisions regarding what feels right to your team. You may wish to include issues such as:

Who will be responsible for typing/creating the final deliverables?

How will you divide the work to ensure it is equitable?

How will you record what transpired at each meeting? Will someone be designated as the team secretary or will you rotate this duty?

How and when will you evaluate each other’s work before it is placed into the final report/ presentation?

Will you work on all sections of the project individually and then discuss your results at team meetings, or will you do all work at team meetings?

Will you make all of your decisions and have all discus-sions at the team meetings? Will some decisions and discussions be conducted electronically?

What is your proposed schedule to tackle the individ-ual components of this project?

How will you go about resolving team conflicts?

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twoStep

Creating the ContractForming

Signed:

Collect Team Contact Information

List the names and complete contact information for each group member (home phone, work phone, cell phone, e-mail, fax, pagers, instant messaging, etc.).

Put an asterisk ( * ) next to the contact method most preferred by each member of the group.

Commit to the Contract

In order to be valid, all group members must provide their written signature and the date on the final Group Contract. Do not forget to provide a signed copy of the Contract to each person in your group.

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Your contact is signed and in place.

When all is not going according to plan, team members can become frustrated, angry, or can behave differently – you are now in the Storming stage. How do you move forward?

You may be feeling that you are doing all the work, that some of the team members just don’t care; the Work-back Schedule may be a vague memory; team meetings have become confrontational with no positive outcome.

These are common problems for teams and have various causes. It is normal for teams to experience these challenges.

threeStep Storming

The Team Process

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A Common issue is the “Free Rider” – a team member is taking advantage of the fact that he/she will get the same grade even if he/she doesn’t contribute to the work. He/she doesn’t contribute in meetings or follow the Work-back Schedule. Other team members are angry about the unfairness.

There are many possible reasons and it is good idea for one team member to approach this person, rather than at a team meeting. Try to engage the person and find out what is going on. After the discussion, there may be some legitimate issues that need to be brought to the whole team for resolution (e.g. unforeseen external pressures, initially unrealistic about ability to complete task and now doesn’t know how to bring forward).

threeStep Storming

The Team Process

Need ADVICE? Meet with a Counsellor

Research confirms that “if one person doesn’t care about the project or working as part of the

team, the attitude can quickly spread…often people don’t see how what they are doing af-

fects others. Sometimes just telling a ‘bad apple’ how others perceive them can be enough to

make them more aware.”

Wallace Immen, There is no shrink in teamwork, Globe and Mail, September 30, 2011

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If there is evidence that the person is a ‘free rider’, the team needs to go back to their Contract. Was this discussed? If necessary the team may need to consult their professor or counsellor for advice if a process is not already in place.

Other reasons for dysfunctional teams might include:

Team members may not feel that their contribution is valued. Conversely, team member(s) may feel that some are not committed to the team – do not take the Contract seriously;

Or“Social Loafing” – people working in a group sometimes put less effort than if they were doing it alone because everyone is doing the same thing or members are getting in each other’s way;

threeStep Storming

The Team Process

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Or

One or two people have taken charge and others feel shut out;

Or

A team member is putting in more time and effort than the agreed contract and is having unfair expec-tations of other team members.

Remember that Storming is an expected and normal stage of team process.

threeStep Storming

The Team Process

Here are some tips for navigating your way: Call a meeting. You may want to build into the con-tact a ‘Code Red’. Any team member may send out a ‘code red’ once over the course of the project. Code Red means the next meeting is mandatory for all members.

Pointing fingers or accusing a team member will often add to the conflict. Instead, understand the conflict, actively listen to each other.

Remember what positive quality you initially identified about each team member and what insight you have developed about their motivation. Discuss barriers to positive team effort.

Complete the individual and team evaluations pg. 18,19. Reflect upon your personal accountability and identify what is and is not happening within the team.

Share your feelings, do not judge others’ feelings.

Find areas of agreement. You have a shared goal: getting the project completed and getting a good grade. Go back to your Mission Statement.

Renegotiate the contract, identifying and address-ing conflict areas, (e.g. roles, expectations, meeting schedule).

Re-evaluate your Work Back schedule.

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threeStep Storming

The Team Process

Evaluation – Individual

Complete ASAP after each team meeting during the Forming and Storming stages.

How did you operate as a team member at this team meeting?

I was on time yes no

I was prepared yes no(Work Back Schedule) I know that I am important to the team’s success.

yes no

If no, what would it take to make that happen?

Rate your level of participation and cooperation.

1 = never 2 = rarely 3 = sometimes 4 = mostly 5 = always

I shared my knowledge and opinions.

I “actively” listened to other team members.

I encouraged others to participate.

What can I do at the next team meeting to move it up one number?

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threeStep Storming

The Team Process

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Evaluation - Group

During the Forming and Storming stages, leave 10 minutes at the end of each team meeting to complete.

Do individually first and then as a group. Discuss where evaluation differs and where items need to be addressed.

1 = never 2 = rarely 3 = sometimes 4 = mostly 5 = always

We all took part in deciding how work should be allocated.

We acknowledged good contributions from team members.

We handled disagreements and conflicts constructively within the team.

We were good at making sure that everyone knows what’s going on.

When one of us was under pressure, others offered to help them.

We trusted each other.

We referred to our Contract and reviewed it when necessary.

threeStep Storming

The Team Process

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To ensure that you get to Norming, share leadership. All successful teams need good leaders but nobody can do it alone.

“Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence wins championships.” Michael Jordan

Accept roles, create mutual respect.

Reconcile opinions with the greater needs of the team.

The Work- back Schedule becomes the driver at this point(pg. 10).

NormingfourStep

Moving On

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Emphasize reaching the team goals, rather than working on team process. Build loyalty towards each other. Acknowledge behaviours that promote collaboration. Focus on clear communication instead of making assumptions.Support team members who appear to be struggling with their tasks.Regularly assess your team’s progress.

Let your Work Back schedule guide team activity.

PerformingGetting it Done

fiveStep

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1. What specific strength did each of my team members bring to the project?

2. I would give our team a grade of ____ for Team Performance? ( A – F)

3. What is something I have learned about myself as a team player?

4. What specific strengths did I bring to the team?

5. What was most difficult for me?

6. What can I do to change that with my next team?

sixStep Adjourning

Reflection

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Notes: