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?

It happens to everyone: You walk into a meeting and no one knows what’s going on. There’s no agenda, but there are multiple items to cover.  You can either dive right on in — or invest a few minutes in creating structure from the chaos.

Quickly hop up out of your seat, grab a flip chart marker and ask, “What do we need to accomplish at this meeting?”  Write down each idea the way it was stated and the name of the person who suggested the idea.  Note:  You are asking the team to identify outcomes or expected reesults — not just a laundry list of topics.

Before you move on to the next step, ask whether everyone understands the outcomes and clarify if necessary.  Combine similar items — if there’s any dissent, assume that the ideas are distinct and should remain separate.  Elapsed time to list the outcomes:  two to five minutes.

Next, take each item and ask the suggesting person how long it will take to achieve the outcome.  If the team disagrees, allow a few seconds for discussion and write down the most agreed-upon time.  Remember:  An agenda is just a roadmap, and the time limits are guideposts.  If the team later agrees that it needs more time, it’ll have the flexibility to adjust the agenda.  Also ask the suggesting person whether he or she would like to lead the discussion.  If not, ask the team for a volunteer.  Beware:  If just one or two people are leading all the items, you’ll end up with a one-way conversation!  Elapsed time to identify time limits and leaders:  two minutes.

Last, prioritize your list.  Most teams have too much to do and not enough time, so it’s critical to start with the most important.  Some teams simply rank the agenda iems, with No. 1 being the most important, No. 2 as the next-most-important, etc.

Or try the ABC concept, where A is vital (we must accomplish this outcome at this meeting, B is important (we should accomplish this outcome) and C is trivial (we could do this, but the world won’t come to an end if we don’t accomplish this today).  When prioritizing, quickly go through the list and ask, “Is this an A, B or C?” and write down the most agreed-upon letter.  Some teams continue to prioritize by sequencing each group of letters, identifyhing A1, A2, A3; B1, B2, B3; and C1, C2, C3.  Elapsed time:  one or two minutes.

You’ve now built your agenda!  Start with the A1 and move through the list.  Total time:  five to 10 minutes — a worthwhile investment to the teams’s work.

Question:  Do you create an agenda before your meeting?

Napoleon Hill coined the concept of the mastermind alliance in his classic book, “Think and Grow Rich.”  He believed that a group of like-minded, achievement-oriented individuals could dramatically leverage each other’s success.  It’s all about creating the synergy of like-minded professionals to have a safe place to celebrate success, solve pressing issues, offer support and encouragement, unleash creativity, gain valuable insights and expand and grow their businesses.

Mark Sanborn is an international speaker on leadership and teamwork, and he suggests the following guidelines to pursue a meeting of the minds:

Find the Right Mix.  Find great people with complimentary businesses, functions, positions with similar career levels and shared values.  The diversity of the group is a strength, and everyone should have something of value to bring to the group.  Mark warns that “too much disparity between experience levels, however, can hamper the sharing of ideas.”

Agree on Purpose.  Each member should share his or her own “What’s In It For Me” (WIIFM) for participating in the group.  Be very clear on what you are trying to accomplish;  generate leads, provide support, offer advice, encourage each other, etc.

Establish Ground Rules.  Agree on the administrivia that can drive teams crazy, e.g., meeting time, length, attendance and other fundamental beliefs to support the effective functioning of the team.  Melanie Mills, another national speaker from Indiana, phrased this aspect so well when she said, “Establish guidelines for how you operate with each other, like not putting down other members, a solutions-orientation versus a problem-orientation, sharing time so nobody dominates, confidentiality, and mutual respect.  This is probably the most important step, as it creates the atmosphere for you to operate in.  I would keep them simple but clear.”

Agree on Format.  Detrmine location, time and agenda.  Most Masterminds start with an update from each member.  That time can be used to share good news, ask questions, solve problems, etc.  Then the meetings usually move into a specific topic area (agreed to ahead of time) and each team member brings ideas, best practices, resources, suggestions, article reprints, book recommendations, etc.  The meeting usually concludes with a commitment to each other on what each member will do in between sessions.

Select a Coordinator.  One person needs to coordinate schedules and meeting logistics.  This position can be permanent or rotated between team members.

Use a Facilitor.  Make sure that each meeting has a designated facilitator (a Mastermind member or an external facilitator) to keep the process moving, ensure balanced participation and move actions forward.

Keep Checking.  All Mastermind groups evolve into new formats and mixes of people.  Periodically, check the “pulse” of the team by reinforcing what’s working well and what can be “upgraded.”  Mark assures us that it’s OK to “revisit your purposes, goals and time commitments frequently, so you can address whether adjustments should be made.”

Question:  If you are a member of a Mastermind group, what is your key to success?

Once a year, the “girls” at Baltimore Gas & Electric and I go golfing. I have worked with Jeannette, Darlene and Doreen on-and-off over the past eight years, and we enjoy bringing each other up to date while trying to hit an itty-bitty tiny white ball. This year, we graced the Turf Valley Country Club on the hottest recorded temperature for that day EVER!

It was the first time out for the season for most of us, so we reasonably decided to play “best cart ball” which means that we would take the best ball that was hit from one of us in the cart, and keep the game moving along. Good thing too, since it was so bloody hot!

Our game is a social event, and we try to stick to the rules (as much as you can stick to rules with a “best ball” format!). Scores are kept more as a frame of reference, but we have won some tournaments in the past, so the score is no slouching matter.

Jeannette and I were in one cart, and Doreen and Darlene were in the other, keeping the official score. What cracked me up is that the end of each hole, we’d ask, so how’d you do and compare scores. Of course, we know how we did (that’s an achievement orientation) and the comparison to others is more about competition. Both are normal and natural in teams. It’s when the competitive aspect moves ahead and overshadows the desire to do your best that makes a team less constructive and more aggressive.

Question: What kind of team are you on? More constructive and achievement oriented or more aggressive and competitive?

No, I have not fallen off the face of the planet. I just completed a “Round the World Tour” with the International Federation for Professional Speakers. Starting in LAX, moving to Melbourne, Australia (with a 6 hour unexpected detour to Brisbane), then on to Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia, Durban in South Africa and then a relaxing safari at Zulu Nyala, communing with the giraffes. Think I need a vacation just to relax and recover from the jet lag!

More importantly, I was able to step back and assess where I am going both personally and professionally. What a gift.

Question: Do you ever take the time to step back and look at things from a “strategic” point of view? I highly recommend it!

My daughter, Marina, was recently interviewed by US News & World Report…a feat her mother has yet to accomplish, but we won’t go there right now.

The article, entitled “Shooting for the Academic Stars: By picking top students and feeding their passions, a Virginia school lands on top” talks about Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, a magnet school for Washington DC brainiacs. It’s essentially a high school version of MIT where she is taking Bionanotechnology “for fun.” (Marina is not only smart, but she’s beautiful. Can you tell I’m proud of her?)

And, like MIT, there is a tremendous amount of pressure to perform. The article says, “Another student responded that the pressure helps improve time management skills. ‘You fail or you figure it out’, shrugs senior Marina Arnold. ‘And by fail, we mean B+’ adds Lepon.”

Question: Do you shrug and figure it out, or whine about it and fail?

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.

Q. What’s the difference between mission and vision? Our team is spending a lot of time on defining our mission and vision. Why do we have to do this?

A. I can understand your confusion over “the vision thing.” Many people get confused over mission and vision. So let’s start with some simple definitions:

The mission defines your team’s core purpose or reason-for-being as concisely and clearly as possible. The mission is the foundation for all team’s efforts. It defines what the team does, and more importantly, defines what it doesn’t do.

A vision, on the other hand, is the team’s declaration of its future. Vision is a long term, over-arching team goal. The vision typically states:

• What and where the team wants to be: A vivid description of the most desirable future.

• When the team wants to achieve this… usually three to seven years in the future.

A well-crafted vision paints the picture of the preferred future and can energize a team to move forward in a unified direction. It should excite and inspire the team so that all their actions can support the expressed vision.

Quite simply, a mission describes what business your team is in. It defines what you do. Vision describes where you are going. It is possible that a mission can be stated within a vision, and a vision can be stated within a mission…and then everyone gets confused!

Regardless of what you call it, there are some great reasons why teams should spend some time defining what they do (mission) and where they are going (vision):

• It provides a sense of purpose and direction to the team.

•  It helps to distinguish your team from others and describe your team’s uniqueness.
• It gives your team a starting point for defining their strategies, goals and structure.
• Â And it becomes a basis for making critical and daily decisions.

Is it worth the time to define the mission and vision? You bet. Otherwise, you have a bunch of individuals working on their own goals and agendas. Just don’t get bogged down in terminology. A statement(s) about what you do and where you are going is the “glue” that holds the team together.

Unfortunately, many teams agonize over mission and vision, wordsmithing the statements until they are perfect. In the meantime, it drains all the energy from the team!

When crafting your mission/vision, let the team contribute the main thoughts, words, phrases, insights and then let a few volunteer team members wordsmith the statement “off-line.” This will save the entire team time, energy, and they’ll remain positive and upbeat about their purpose and direction.

As I travel about the country, I meet people who are part of a “team.” Perhaps they wear a “team” button, hang a picture proclaiming teamwork, or cheerfully answer the phone “Team Blue. How may we help you today?” These are the front line workers who make team work happen. They, above all people, should understand the essence of team work. And yet, when I probe beneath the surface and ask about their team work, I am immediately transported to my Top Ten Not-So-Great Reasons to Form a Team:

• Get Your T-Shirts Here! A fast food restaurant has tons of buttons, ball caps, and t-shirts proclaiming “Team ***” all over the restaurant. When asked what makes their staff a team, a young man replied, “Well, I got this really cool polo shirt.”

• One Person is the Hero. An automotive dealership assigned a “team” of professionals to service my car. I was assigned “team blue” where Terry is the main man. He checks me in, tells me what he’s going to do, how much it’s going to cost, and when it’s going to be ready. Now, I know Terry didn’t do the actual work on my car, but who did? The blue team elves did, that’s who.

• Test the Customer. So when I came back to get my car serviced again (yes, I did come back!), the service department voice-mail operator asked for my team: white, red, blue, yellow, or green? How am I supposed to know? I dealt with Terry – the human being. I don’t remember the color. I don’t care about color. I just want to get my car serviced (presumably by those cute little elves). So I press “O.” “Ooops,” she said. “Terry works all the positions. He’s a floater. So we’ll just assign you to a new team!” As far as I can tell, I have NEVER had the same person, team, elves, work on my car.

• Hide from Problems. A manufacturing plant used “teams” as an excuse to call a meeting to discuss a problem, to then call another meeting to continue to discuss the problem (you get the picture?), to then call another meeting…all in an effort to make the problem go away.

• Look Good on Paper. One project manager formed a “team” involving all the departments who would “touch” the process. Unfortunately, he didn’t trust them nor expect them to do any work to develop the new product. In fact, the less others were involved, he reasoned, the better. But it looked great on paper (and to his boss) that he had formed a team to achieve buy-in and involvement to the process.

• Achieve Your Own Agenda. A close kin to the project manager, a high-falootin’ lawyer was the president of a special commission to make some recommendations. He said all the right buzzwords, went through the motions of building a team, but when it came right down to it, he drove that committee like a steel tent peg. Needless to say, the commission did nothing and reported nothing of consequence. Dilbert would have been proud.

• Diffuse Blame. A hospital uses the “team approach” to patient care. Doctors, nurses, therapists and other caregivers assemble to agree on the care management of each patient. So when a patient receives conflicting reports, team members shrug and point the finger at another patient care team member.

• Dump the Undesirable Work. A financial services office formed a team of the company misfits – the sick, lame and lazy – to do the work nobody else wanted to do. Needless to say, they didn’t accomplish much.

• Keep ‘Em Hungry. A sales and service company supports the team work concept where the seasoned salespeople are supposed to train and mentor the younger sales force. Unfortunately, all sales team members are still compensated by a dog-eat-dog commission system where the old timers eat their young. There is no incentive to work like a team. And they certainly don’t act like a team. But I just love the “Team Work” picture hanging next to the company mission statement.

• It’s a Party! A manufacturing plant changes shifts every eight hours. The process is pretty simple: the offgoing watch briefs the ongoing watch. The ongoing watch relieves the offgoing watch. Total Elapsed Time: 5 minutes. However, during the shift change, a gazillion people attend. Not only do they change the shift, but others are invited “just in case” some problem needs to be solved, or the plant manager needs to have an immediate answer to some off-the-wall question. Total Elapsed Time: Anywhere from one to three hours.

Do you see yourself or your teams in any of these situations? Use teams where they make sense.

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.