Revving up Your High-performance Project Team

Overview/Description
 The first two stages of team development are the most difficult to work through. In the initial stage, the team leader has challenges in getting his new team members to commit to the team and the project. By recognizing lack-of-trust behaviors and the common concerns of new team members, leaders can address their concerns and gain their commitment. Team leaders can help their team emerge from chaos by creating tools to help them work together. Once new teams are up and running, conflicts become a common occurrence. As team members learn to work together, they discover their differences in skill sets and work styles. As arguments and disappointments continue, team members stop collaborating and working as one unit. If conflict is not resolved, the project has a high likelihood of not being completed successfully. Team leaders will explore three common causes of team failure and learn to address them. By learning how to make team decisions, use techniques to build trust among team members, and develop self-managing capabilities, team leaders can ensure the success of their new teams.

Target Audience
 Team members, team leaders, managers, supervisors

Expected Duration
2.5 hours

Lesson Objectives:

The Chaos Stage

  • recognize the value of knowing the characteristics of teams in the chaos stage.
  • identify the characteristics of team members who have a lack of trust.
  • identify the common concerns of new team members.
  • select the reasons new teams often experience low productivity.

    • Emerging from Chaos

  • recognize the importance of new team members learning to work together.
  • match the components of a team charter with specific examples.
  • identify the appropriate way to assign team roles in a given scenario.
  • apply an understanding of the steps for setting up operating guidelines by putting the steps in the correct sequence.

    • The Conflict Stage

  • recognize the value of knowing the characteristics of teams in the conflict stage.
  • select the causes of team conflict.
  • identify the obstacles to team collaboration.
  • identify the reasons teams fail by matching each reason to its example.

    • Conquering Conflict

  • recognize the benefits of members of a new team becoming interdependent.
  • apply the steps to reach consensus on team issues.
  • match the examples to the critical components of team trust.
  • apply strategies that encourage shared responsibilities among team members.

    • Course Number: TEAM0144