Make Teamwork Happen

I should have known better.  I was working with a team of experts from diverse organizations to consider a controversial proposal.  The participants were used to working together in previous meetings, and my client didn’t feel like a “team building” activity was necessary.  They said, “That’s just way too ‘kumbaya’ for these technical experts.”

The reality is, whenever you start a meeting (especially in the morning), people need a warm-up activity to engage the mind and senses and set the tone for lively interaction.

Knowing that all teams need some type of “warm up” activity, but faced with resistance, I planned on putting the group into smaller groups to discuss a work activity.  This would then serve as a team-building activity as well as one of the first agenda items.  Good idea, but it took precious time to get past the preliminary politeness to get agreement on the purpose and process of the meeting.  It became so awkward that my client asked to do a team-building activity to energize the group!

This meeting reinforced a basic team principle:  Always do something to break the ice and build the team.  Even if it is a nonthreatening, simple question that you ask everyone to answer, get your teammates involved right up front.

For example, when teams are first forming, ask each team member to complete one of the following statements.  Assure team members that they can pass if they want as well as ask questions for clarity (not to challenge):

• The purpose of this team is to …
• From this team experience, I want to gain/get …
• To help this team succeed, I bring these strengths to the team …
• One thing that makes me a good team player is …
• I am most proud of …
• My most significant accomplishment is …
• My main concern about being on this team is …
• The expertise I bring to this team is …
• The one thing that frustrates me the most about working in teams is …
• To achieve our goal, I think the potential hurdles we might face are …
• My most memorable moment on this team/doing our mission is …

As you listen to the answers, capture the main ideas on a flip chart.  When all have had an opportunity to share, debrief the list by asking, “Are there any common themes?  How does this affect our team’s work?  Is there some action we need to take?” 

This simple starting activity gets everyone involved and energized to focus on the team’s work.

Question:  Do you have other ice breakers that you use prior to your team meeting?

More and more organizations have moved toward open office spaces designed to foster communication and teamwork.  Rather than hide behind closed doors, each person has a cubicle or “pod” to do individual work and several areas or rooms to gather as a team.

Conceptually, open space design sounds great.  Unfortunately, many don’t understand or appreciate these neighborly rules of behavior.

Leave Me Alone.  When you see anyone in a “Dilbert Pod,” assume the person is intently working.  When they want to commune with their teammates, they will get up and move to a communal area.

Imagine a Door.  If you must interrupt, knock on the partition before entering the cube space.  Consider each pod has a “door” that deserves the same courtesy as an enclosed office.

Back Up.  Sit with your back facing the entrance to your a cubicle to minimize distractions and discourage people from entering your space.

Post a Sign.  When intently working, post a “do not disturb” sign on the outside of your cubicle or try draping a velvet rope across the entrance. 

Talk Quietly.  Even though you may have a loud voice, that doesn’t give you the right to have loud conversations, use the speakerphone or shout across the bay.

Move It.  When having a mini-meeting of just a few people crammed into your pod, move to a real meeting room.  Team conversations are naturally louder than one-on-one dialogue and will distract others around you.

Be Discreet.  You’re fooling yourself if you think your personal business will not be overheard by others.  If you must conduct personal business on company time, take a walk and make personal calls from your cell phone.

Popcorn, Anyone?  Unless you are willing to share (or suffer the consequences), keep your popcorn, aromatic leftovers, perfume overdoses and other overbearing scents at home.

Check It.  Periodically, review these rules of cubicle behavior.  Provide an avenue to bring up any irritants, express grievances and improve the overall environment.

By following these ground rules, you can work comfortably, enjoy open communication and enhance your team’s work.

Question:  What are your pet peeves while working in a cubicle office space?

Ever wonder where the term “ground rule” comes from?

Frank Bell, a facilitative trainer says the term comes from baseball.  Each baseball park might have different conditions not anticipated in the “book rules.”  For example, when a batted ball bounces over the fence on the first bounce, the book rules declare that the play is a double.  This rule applies to all playing venues.

But at Wrigley Field in Chicago, ivy grows on one of the outfield fences.  The “ground rule” there is that a hit ball that gets stuck in the ivy and consequently becomes out of play is declared a double.  This is an example of a ground rule, not a book rule, because ivy exists only at Wrigley Field, not at Yankee Stadium, Camden Yards or Dodger Stadium.

Every team meeting should have some ground rules – explicit agreements on how the team will function in their specific ballpark.  Ground rules should be established or reviewed at the beginning of each game, before getting down to business.

As you formulate your ground rules, consider how the team is going to deal with their specific concerns such as:

• Interruptions:  What to do when members are called out of the meeting.  How to deal with telephone calls and messages.  Will pagers and cell phones be tolerated?
• Assignments:  If members can’t complete their “homework,” who should they notify and by when?
• Roles:  Should the team  rotate roles?  Which ones and how often?  In the event that a team member can’t make it to the meeting, are “substitutions” allowed?
• Decisions:  How will the team make its decisions?  Are the members aiming for consensus?  Is there a “fallback” in case the team can’t come to a consensus?  Is the team leader making the final decision?
• Confidentiality:  Are there topics or kinds of information that shouldn’t be discussed outside the meeting?
• Penalties:  How will the team deal with minor and chronic violations of the ground rules?

Ground rules simply cover all the bases to ensure effective teamwork.

Question:  What ground rules have you set for your team?

I am in Las Vegas working with Choice Hotels International and had the pleasure to hear Deepak Chopra speak about “Spiritual Leadership”.

Aside from his Liberace/Elton John red rhinestone studded reading glasses (not seen in this picture), Chopra talked about happy people. He said, “Happy people are more successful, have better relationships, enjoy better health and live longer.

It is not the other way around.” You don’t become happy once you acquire success.

Chopra continued, “And people are as happy as they make up their mind to be. The best way to be happy is to make someone else happy.”

Question. Do you make other people happy?

In the April 2008 issue, Meetings & Conventions magazine reported on Personality Hotels’ “Emergency Resources Kit” - given free for planners who book meeting space at certain properties. The article then suggests that “other planners might want to create their own.”

Whether you are a meeting planner, team leader or facilitator, carry your own caboodle of supplies. Here’s my list that I keep stuffed in a briefcase/bag, ready to go for my next meeting:

• Advil, Tylenol or other pain remedies.
• Alcohol swabs
• Bandages (especially finger band aids!)
• Hand sanitizer
• Kleenex tissues
• Low tack masking tape (drafting or painter’s tape)
• Marking pens (Watercolor & Dry Erase)
• Mints, candy, gum, cough drops
• Name tags/name tents
• Index cards
• Paper clips
• Post-it flags
• Post-it notes
• Post-it correction tape
• Power strip and/or extension cord
• Push pins or upholstery “T” pins
• Rubber bands
• Scisssors
• Shout wipes or a Tide pen
• Stapler and staples
• Straight edge ruler
• Tape measure/level
• Toothbrush and toothpaste
• 3 Prong adapter

Question: Do you keep a fully stocked kit that will save your caboodle in a pinch?

Guy DuBois, Vice President of Operational Technologies and Solutions for Raytheon Company’s Intelligence and Information Systems business doesn’t have a blackberry. And it’s not because he’s a Luddite either. He sets aside a few hours each day to answer his emails. But he refuses to carry a blackberry.

Why? Because Guy wants his team to be proactive, to make on the spot decisions without always having to check in with him. PDAs - whether it’s a blackberry, palm or Q create 24/7 accessibility that may hamper effective decision making at the lowest level. Guy says he doesn’t want his people to “flush up” their decisions to him.

Question: Are you managing your email or is your crackberry managing you?

Just got back from taking a few weeks off for the holidays. Hope you did, too!

Ring in the new year with some team resolutions or ground rules to enhance your team work. Ground rules are the guidelines a team establishes to ensure a safe, receptive and productive work environment. Ground rules provide the foundation for team effectiveness and ensure a satisfying experience working together as a team.

Here are some ideas for your team’s new year resolutions:

• Start on time.

• End on time.

• Ask for ideas from everyone.

• Offer help without being asked.

• Accept all suggestions as valid for consideration.

• Work together to solve problems.

• Recognize and consider others’ ideas.

• See first to understand, then to be understood.

• Give your undivided attention to the person speaking.

• Respect each other.

• Don’t interrupt.

• Minimize distractions.

• Agree to disagree.

• Participate.

• Honor time limits.

• Be committed to team decisions.

• Celebrate success.

• Be open to a constructive “reminder of our rules.”

To reach agreement on your team’s new year resolutions, read through this suggested list and ask if there are any that would enhance your team’s work. Capture those ideas (and any others that pop up) on a flipchart so all can see. After all ideas are exhausted, go through each item on the flipchart list and ask: “Can we agree to this?” If someone cannot agree, ask, “What is it that you cannot agree to?” If possible, incorporate their concern into the resolution.

Combine similar ideas into a final, agreed-upon list. Ensure that you have agreement on the entire list as well as a commitment to follow the ground rules.

You now have your team’s new years’ resolutions - or ground rules to effective team work.

Discuss how to enforce the team’s ground rules. It may be just to recognize their presence, or that each team member should remind each other by providing a constructive reminder of our rules.  Some teams use a ‘penalty pot’ where each team member contributes a penny, nickel or quarter for each violation of the rules. At the end of the project or year, the team decides what to do with the money.

Read this list at the beginning of every meeting to remind each other of your ground rules.

Question: Does your team use ground rules to enhance your work together?

Want your teams to stay focused? Capture and post key information on the wall - on flipchart paper, whiteboard or the blackboard. Your team members will stay focused and on track as well as remember and act on the information well after the meeting.

Some kinds of information you might post include:

Meeting Purpose - the mission, goal or objective of the meeting

Agenda - the chronological sequence of events or list of items to be discussed in the meeting. Include who will lead the discussion and the timeframes.

Ground Rules - agreed on team norms that guide the effective functioning of the team (e.g. honor time limits, don’t interrupt…)

Team Map - this could be a timeline, schedule, flow of events, project plan or process map.

Parking Lot - make post-itÒ notes available to your team members to “park” items that need to be discussed or done in the future or a comment to the group without taking up valuable airtime.

Action Plans - all teams should have an action plan chart where tasks and deadlines are noted and assigned.

Capture information while the team is talking to ensure understanding and clarity around what has been said. For instance, if an issue was broken down into four parts, capture those four parts on an overhead transparency (more than fifteen people) or a flipchart (less than twenty people) or on a blackboard (small classroom). This serves as a reminder of what has already been said and agreed upon.

A couple of recording tips:

Write in large capital letters.

Capture key words.

Check with team members to see if you have captured the idea correctly.

Abbreviate where possible.

Alternate between two colors with each new point.

Use dark colors to record ideas. Highlight with pastels, yellow, red.

Emphasize with circles, clouds, boxes, underlines, arrows, pictures.

Stand to the side when not writing.

Post on the wall with masking tape or low-tack tape.

If you miss a point or don’t understand, check.

Ask for help if you aren’t sure how to spell a word.

Summarize your meeting by looking and commenting on all the work posted on the walls! Focus on the Action Plan chart and ensure understanding and agreement on the tasks, deadlines, and person responsible. Roll up the Action Plan chart inside out (so the print is on the outside) Unroll it (and the chart will hang nicely toward the wall rather than roll outwards) and post it on the wall at the next session as a reminder of the commitments made.

Even though you work day in and day out with your team doesn’t mean you shouldn’t pay attention to your manners. Without trying to be too prissy (or substitute the Miss Manners’ column), I would like to remind you of some simple rules of etiquette that are constantly abused:

Be On Time. Nobody likes to be kept waiting. Best rule of thumb is to arrive a few minutes early, review the agenda, touch base with your team mates and start on time.

Come Prepared. You can get a lot more done if team mates can rely on each other to do smaller tasks between team meetings. Come prepared to discuss your assignments, issues and conclusions. It’s always a nice touch to have a summary handout if you have something significant to report out.

Pagers and Cell Phones on Stun. If in a meeting with your team, turn your pager and cell phone off or on a silent vibrate mode. If you are expecting a high-priority call, let your team mates know at the beginning of the meeting. If you need to make an outbound call, excuse yourself from the room. Make the call in private. We don’t need to hear the gory details.

Adult Rule. If you must leave the meeting, go quietly. Keep your absence brief and return as soon as you can to rejoin the team’s activities. If you know that you will be leaving at a certain time, let your team mates know your intentions at the beginning of the meeting.

Don’t Get Too Personal. Don’t complain or gossip about others, use profanity, tell inappropriate jokes, invoke your religion or reveal information that’s just too personal.

Don’t Eat with Your Mouth Full. Many meetings are scheduled around mealtime – or you are dashing from one meeting to another, grabbing a bite to eat. We know you need to eat. We just don’t want to see it in your mouth or regurgitated for us to see!

Go Dutch. Speaking of food, if you all go out to eat together, each team member should pay for his or her meal (unless the company or team leader is gracious enough to pick up the tab). If the restaurant can’t provide separate checks, then divide the bill evenly among all team members. Don’t quibble over a buck or two. And just remember, what goes around, comes around!

Avoid Alcohol. Unless your team is part of the food and wine industry, drinking alcohol while on company time is not appropriate. However, if you are off-site and alcohol is being served or is available for purchase, it’s okay to have ONE drink (maybe two over several hours). Not three, four or five martinis!

Offer Help. Be aware of what your team mates need and then offer help without being asked. If someone asks for help, assist your team mate if humanly possible. On the other hand, if someone offers help, don’t be stupid, take it! (But if you can’t or don’t want their help, tell them why and how they might be able to help you in the future.)

Say Thank You. If someone does something nice for you, say thank you and with a sincere smile. Or write a simple note. Acknowledgement reinforces gracious acts of kindness.

The first few minutes of your team meeting sets the pace and tone for the rest of the session. You only get one chance to make a good impression, and your team is looking to you for leadership, guidance and support. What you say and how you say it creates a climate which contributes to the success or failure of the team. Here are a few tips to set your team up for success:

• Countdown: “We’re going to start in two minutes.” Then, start on time.

• Capture their attention with a smart move to the front of the room or head of the table.

• Begin with confidence: Start with an anecdote - share a personal experience that would be understood by all. Make it relevant and genuine. Or use an imaginative visual weekend comic strips or editorial pages. Don’t forget to check your copyright laws and if necessary, ask permission to use the artist’s work.

• Ask a rhetorical question to stimulate thinking on the topic.

• Give a unique demonstration or example.

• Discuss the purpose of the meeting, background information, and explain the team’s value to the organization. Review the team charter or mission, if there is one.

• Introduce who you are and your role on the team. Allow others to introduce themselves, their experience, expectations and/or reservations. Agree on the approach, agenda, and activities Show how their individual expectations, purpose and agenda correlate. Check for understanding and agreement.

• Clarify expectations for team involvement: e.g. attend meetings, take notes, do homework, read material, conduct research etc.

• Explain the evaluation system: Let them know if they will have an opportunity to critique the team’s work and their performance as well as how the overall team will be evaluated.

• Agree on ground rules, logistics and other administrivia. Some typical examples might include agreements on start and stop times, breaks, how decisions will be made, who will take notes etc.

To ensure success, keep your comments upbeat and focused. Discuss each point and move on to the next item on the agenda. Don’t allow your comments to drag. Show the team that they are in good hands - that you are well-prepared.Then they will be able to put aside some of their concerns and focus on the team’s work.