About the Philosophy:
My philosophy for teambuilding is a rule of threes. Firstly, there are the three aspects of teambuilding itself: the team, the individual and the task. This trio all need to be present in order for the team to function properly and effectively. This requires the group to acknowledge each section individually and bring them together to form a cohesive whole. Most teams when they first get together think solely about themselves, or possibly about themselves and the task. Some solution focussed people think only of the task itself. It is very rare for anyone to begin the process thinking about the group. Naturally this element takes time. You need to be aware of the variety of skills, interests, and abilities of the group members in order to utilise all members to their full potential. The second problem that is encountered is a swing too far. People look to the group as a form of collective responsibility which detracts from the ability of individual members to function autonomously without incurring blame from the group or being perceived as having taken control. All of this is a natural process of group formation, and in order for a group to function properly the boundaries of individuals and the group must be explored (more about this later). There are within each of the three sections a further three areas that are the bedrock of that section and when approached and incorporated fully, allows the team, the individual and the task to become a cohesive whole. We will explore each of these in turn.
Individual:
Firstly, there is the individual. We all know that each individual is a complex set of skills, abilities, thoughts, feelings, and emotions. So how do you focus all of these on what appears to be an altruistic aim; that of forming a cohesive group. In some ways this is easier than you might think, we are after all social beings who have an innate desire to belong to social groups. Just belonging, however, is not enough. We need our group members to elevate their participation to a point where they are committed, focussed and on task. This requires three key aspects of the individual to be consciously applied to the situation; these are focus, determination and good humour. Let us explore these in more detail.
Focus:
This is the ability of the individual to remain on task and not be distracted by outside influences. This is usually fine as long as the task appears achievable and there are no other issues to contend with such as weather, difficulties between group members, distractions from other people (noise, other activities etc) and the task is progressing in a manner in which the team are happy. If these perfect conditions do not exist (which is the majority of the time) then there can be problems to overcome. As an instructor it is important to try to maintain focus not by changing the task, but by highlighting it as an issue in the review and allowing students to find a group These are the three factors that we need to let influence us most when forming a team. They are individual characteristics that are beneficial to the formation of productive group solutions (more on reviews later).
Determination:
This is the ability of the individual to stay on task when things are physically or mentally difficult. At its best it is the ability to see the task through to the very end despite every setback. Again, it is usual for group members to put up barriers or disengage in a variety of ways when things get tough. This is a natural way of maintaining the status quo; you will often hear phrases such as ‘what’s the point’, ‘this is stupid’, ‘no-one’s listening to me’, ‘I can’t do it’ or ‘this team is rubbish’. These are all ways of shifting the perceived blame for failure to the group or the task. This is natural but unhelpful and highlighting the need for determination before tasks is useful. Don’t expect this to work straight away, it will come with time.
Good Humour:
This is critical for all group activities and involves myriad aspects to do successfully. It requires group members to listen to criticism and take note of it, to approach problems in group dynamics or tasks with a positive attitude and to keep negative thoughts and feelings to themselves. Again, this is difficult and will require work, it will be easier however, when the three aspects of the group are followed in conjunction with the aspects of the individual.
Team:
Secondly, then, we come to the three aspects of the group that need to be present for a team to function efficiently. This is where the individual becomes a functioning interrelated part of a wider group. As stated before, this needs to be more than simply being present, it requires full participation. This is key to all teamwork, no team will fully accept a member that they consider is not pulling their weight, and even if this is not voiced it will cause issues in terms of performance. The three aspects of teamwork are communication, respect and personal responsibility.
Communication:
It is self-evident that for a team to function there needs to be good communication between all team members. It is inherent in our nature to want to communicate, just as it is for us to form groups, however, this pattern of social grooming and small talk is not at a level suitable for group cohesion under difficult circumstances or adverse conditions. A deeper level of communication is needed where there is a trust and respect present amongst team members leading to active listening and team members taking on board difficult feedback in order to improve the group output. It requires a maturity level to see beyond the individual and employ the three aspects of the individual in order to stop putting up barriers and become interdependent. It is often the hardest part when groups form and there are often many arguments as the various roles and personalities assemble and find areas of compromise and shared understanding.
Respect:
In order for a group to function it is critical that the members of that group respect each other, this is the only way that compromise, and co-operation can occur. Everyone brings with them a huge range of skills, abilities and experience that is lost to the team if they cannot respectfully include that member. It is as simple as this, the less respect there is the more diminished the team becomes; if you have one individual who leads through force and does not respect their team all that happens is that person operates with satellite arms and legs that will follow instructions and nothing more. If that individual leads with respect and listens, communicates, co-operates and is willing to compromise then they gain all the collective experience, skills, abilities, and commitment of everyone else involved. Although this sounds simple and is clearly objectively of benefit, it is not easy to do. Make sure that reviews include what has been learnt by mistakes in this area to help teams become aware of the potential they have not yet tapped into.
Personal Responsibility:
At first glance it appears that personal responsibility has little to do with the team as a whole and is more suited to the areas covered by individual members. This is far from the truth. Personal responsibility is the very essence of teamwork. Without personal responsibility team members would not work to their full potential, they would not improve on communication and in other areas of critical importance. There would be no improvement. But personal responsibility does more than this. It stops people doing two things; firstly, it stops them shifting blame onto either the group or the task, and secondly it stops them from perceiving failure of the task as the end outcome and allows them to progress, grow and improve by learning from these mistakes as a group. It gives each member of the team a full and potent part within the group by allowing the team to function without egos, negative influences and focus on inability within individuals and the group. It can be summed up simply as leading by example, making sure that everything done in the group is to the standard of commitment workmanship and effort you would expect to put in on individual tasks. The effort you would expect someone else to put in when you ask them to complete a job for you is the same effort you should put into the team.
Task:
As individuals who have come together to form a team there is an end goal; the completion of one or more tasks. In order for this to happen there are several key things that need to happen. Firstly, as an instructor or manager you need to step back and allow the group to form. Secondly there are three key things to consider with the task: autonomy, ownership and process
Autonomy:
This is the capacity of a rational individual to make an informed, un-coerced decision; in the context of the task this is a decision made by a collection of people, but the principles still apply. This is a key process as it requires all team members to listen and discuss openly in order to reach conclusions. It implies that there is an element of planning as a group involved with the task and that there is an element of review in order to improve. It is not possible to function as a team without this autonomous process taking place as there will be a power imbalance acting as a barrier to the free exchange of ideas. This process of collective autonomy within the task allows the group to function in an interrelated way where the skill sets of everyone are fully implemented. Rather than an ‘octopus’ scenario with one person steering many in the group, it allows everyone to utilise their full potential. Much like personal responsibility it is this autonomy that steers the task to completion in the most productive manner.
Ownership:
If the team does not take ownership of the task, then there is no ‘buy in’. They are likely to disengage or not fully participate. In many of the activities in this book there needs to be an understanding of the long-term focus of the group for there to be any buy in to what appears to be an arbitrary set of activities. This point is key because there should be an underlying focus on the team throughout all tasks, whether work related or specifically designed for the teambuilding skill development. When you are dealing with people you must look to the effectiveness of the group not the efficiency of the group in any given task. You are looking for a wider and more effective set of skills that can be used in a variety of contexts; this will maximise the effectiveness of the group in any future scenarios. It is more valuable to have a group who can be highly adaptive in a number of situations than a group who is highly effective but only at one task or process. If you are looking to maximise efficiency of process, you need to invest in technology; a computer is very good at doing the same thing consistently over a long time period. If this is work done by staff, students, or other groups then they are not being effective to their full potential (remember the octopus idea!). The other thing that ownership allows a group to do is to think outside the box. It gives a group the power to break parameters and create new solutions within the rules of the task. It allows people to be creative and to entertain ideas that would not be considered if the task was too prescriptive. The group needs to feel that they are steering the task to its conclusion in their own way. As an instructor this means you must step back and allow mistakes. Your role in fixing these mistakes is to guide the review process at a later date.
Process:
The processes that are defined by the task are simply the rules. These should be explicit and simple. You can do this, you can’t do that, everything else is fair game. Allow scope for creative approaches and new innovative solutions. Give the group a start point and an end goal and let them draw their own map in-between. There is no more bonding experience for a group than to take ownership of a task and apply their own process to its solution. It is key that certain elements frame the task, although the process for the task itself should be open to group control, there should be a planning element involved (in some cases and with some groups this may need to be explicitly built into the process) and a review element at the end. This framework allows the group to fail constructively. It gives an idea of where the failure occurred and how to stop that particular mistake from occurring again. Without these processes as a framework failure to complete a task is a standalone defeat that brings nothing to a team that it can grow from and potentially can start to tear a team apart. The key message here is that the processes of a task should be set by the group, but that a larger framework should be in place to allow that freedom to take place in relative safety (in terms of group growth and dynamics). In many other areas this system is called built in redundancy, the concept is the same here. Build in planning and reviews, they will be invaluable if the task fails, and if it succeeds then they provide a great opportunity for everyone to praise the work of the team and strengthen bonds. Win win is always the best way forward.
It is important to note with these 9 factors; three for individual, three for team and three for task, that they are not linear. Teams will get better in one area which will lift other areas, often to begin with this will be at the cost of areas that were working superficially well at the start. Each new attempt at a task will create new opportunities for these skills to be put together and used to create that balance between team, individual and task. It is not a smooth path and there will be arguments and issues along the way. These are important and will ultimately help the group to function in an honest and responsible way, allowing personal responsibility and autonomy to become the norm. Eventually you will have a team that can approach a variety of tasks in a wide number of contexts in balance between the three factors: team individual and task.
Note: If you are interested in learning more about team building my book will give you a much deeper insight and lots of practical examples and activities as well.
Shevek Pring 