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A Study Of Team Dynamics

Team development should not be considered a haphazard activity. For my own team building interventions, my team and I only feel confident about the program’s success once we have done a complete individual, team and organizational study. This deep understanding about the team plays a decisive role in the development of a result-oriented team development process, structure and methodologies. The major strength of any team-building initiative is the process you use to study team dynamics. My team and I conduct frequent meetings with the senior management, HR team and key leaders in the organization. Through questionnaires and assessments, we strive to collect as much information as possible about the team. I am in great favor of using a variety of tools to get to know the real issues and challenges that the team is currently facing. Without an in-depth knowledge of the specific issues and requirements of the team, the team-building initiative can end up adding little or no value to the organization. It is important that you study the team from various angles and dimensions before choosing a course.

Element # 01 

Inside Team Climate

The very first thing you should understand about a team is its ‘inside climate’. Because this understanding will allow you to know the extent to which the team members feel free to ‘be themselves’. It also helps you judge the degree to which team members express or do not express their true feelings and emotions toward each other. You learn a great deal from the way team members’ express needs and desires, joke, tease, and argue with each other. Try to uncover situations where team members express themselves while completely ignoring the interests of the team as a whole. I have also seen teams where the ‘inner climate’ inhibited the expression of personal desires, fears, opinions and fun.

Element # 02 

Relationship Between Team & Leader

 Before starting a team-building initiative, another area that you should deeply dig into is the relationship between the team and its leader. Is the relationship productive? To what degree do the team members enjoy a close relationship with the formal leader? Is there a strong rapport, openness, and sharing? Are the team members generally antagonistic or resentful toward the formal leader? After working with various teams, we have observed that in the majority of teams; members generally feel indifferent to, or do not enjoy any frank and open communication with their formal leader.

Element # 03 

Thinking Style 

A team study is incomplete if we don’t study the team’s ability to think clearly, use team creativity, and problem-solving skills. I have worked with teams which made decisions hurriedly. These teams do not do much thinking as a team. The members let its formal leader do most of the thinking. We have also had the opportunity to witness teams where some, but not all the members collaborated in the thinking process, and the result is a confused movement towards a solution.

Element # 04 

Team Motivation 

Another dimension is the current motivation level of the team. You can assess motivation by ascertaining the answers to the following questions:

  • What is the current level of motivation within the team? 
  • Is the team clear on the direction it is moving toward? 
  • To what extent does the team create its own motivation?

Different teams answer these questions differently. You will see teams which experienced little stimulus from anywhere, either from its members or from its formal leader. You will also come across a team with some level of self-thrust but needs major pushing from its formal leader. There are also teams where initiation, planning, execution, and evaluation come from the whole team. While studying a team, you may also come across a team which is dominated by a strong single member. In a few cases this person can be someone other than the formal leader.

Element # 05 

Level of We-ness 

Another important to collect information on is the extent to which the team demonstrates a feeling of closeness towards each other. In other words, you can call it togetherness, cohesion, or ‘we-ness’. In our recent team study with an IT company, we realized that the team was just a collection of individuals; there was little team feeling. Participants did have some team sense, but they didn’t know that unity stems more from external factors than from real friendships.

Element # 06 

Conflict Handling 

To make a solid development plan for your team, spend a good amount of time understanding the team’s strategy for resolving conflicts. When faced with problems, there are teams who wait for its formal leader to resolve differences. Sometimes there are sub-groups in teams which fight with each other to gain dominance. Issues only get resolved when these sub-groups decide to compromise and evolve a solution that satisfies the whole team.

Element # 07 

Leader Centricity 

Studying team dynamics is half-finished unless you determine the extent to which the team is centered on the formal leader. The interests, desires, and needs of the formal leader determine all team activities, discussions, and decisions. In certain teams the formal leader acts as a stimulus. She helps the team to find ways of making its own decisions. Sometimes the leader stays out of discussions and makes few suggestions, letting the team members decide for themselves.

Element # 08 

Leadership Roles 

You cannot know much about a team without knowing much about the leader of that team. Strive to explore the extent to which team-leadership roles are distributed among the team members. We have noticed that in some teams there are a few team members who assume a leadership role most of the time, while others decide to play a passive role. The best situation is where team leadership is shared by all members of the team. Highlighting the importance of shared leadership doesn’t mean that we ignore the significance of sharing responsibilities at the same time. It is important to know the extent to which responsibility is also shared among the team members.

While studying teams in-depth, we have seen the following:

  • Everyone tries to get out of doing the job. 
  • Responsibility is owned by only a few team members. 
  • Many team members accept responsibilities but do not carry them out. 
  • Responsibilities are distributed among team members and carried out by nearly all the team members.

Element # 09 

Level of Openness 

Don’t forget to assess the degree of openness the team displays to new and varied activities. In some teams, members simply hate variety. They prefer to maintain the status quo and stick to safe and familiar things. You will also see teams that like considerable variety in their activities and are continually trying out new experiences. The use of team skills, creativity and the achievement of full potential are other areas of focus in our team assessment, because the ultimate purpose of team development is to help team members stretch upward and outward, and thus realize their full potential. This in-depth analysis of various aspects of teams, as elaborated above, not only will give you confidence but also provide you with a solid foundation on which to build a result-driven team-building intervention.

Remember, for any team development initiative to be successful, preparation is the key.