leadership lesson 7

7/31/2019 Leadership Lesson 7

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Modern Whig Party of America

Whig Academy

Leadership Course

Lesson 7:

Team Dynamics


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Table of Contents

Introduction.................................................................................................................................... 3

In this Lesson................................................................................................................................. 3

Group and Team Differences ....................................................................................................... 3Stages of Team Development ...................................................................................................... 3

Stages of Team Development: Forming...................................................................................... 4

Stages of Team Development: Storming .................................................................................... 4

Stages of Team Development: Norming ..................................................................................... 5

Stages of Team Development: Performing................................................................................. 5

Stages of Team Development: Transforming............................................................................. 6

Team Roles..................................................................................................................................... 6

Team Roles..................................................................................................................................... 6

Team Roles..................................................................................................................................... 6

Individual Role Tendencies .......................................................................................................... 7

Individual Role Tendencies Assessment.................................................................................... 7

Key Points ...................................................................................................................................... 8

Key Points ...................................................................................................................................... 8

Review Exercises .......................................................................................................................... 8

Summary ........................................................................................................................................ 9

MWP Academy Leadership Course - Lesson 7 2


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Storming.

Norming.

Performing.

Transforming.

Lets take a more detailed look at each of the stages of team development.

Stages of Team Development: Forming

Forming: The team first comes together.

Team member characteristics and whats going on:

Hesitant participation, but feeling optimistic.

Wondering who the key people are.

Trying to figure out what this group is about, how they fit in the group, what the group wantsfrom them, and what they will get out of their involvement.

Serious topics and personal feelings are avoided.

Some suspicion and fear of the team situation.

Desiring acceptance by the team.

Closely watching other team members behaviors for similarities and differences.

(minimal work is accomplished)

Once the members are feeling a little more comfortable with one another and the group, they willthen move onto the second stage of team development, which is called the Storming Stage.

Stages of Team Development: Storming

Storming: Conflict between team members begins to show.


Team members express discontent and personalities clash.

Becoming testy, blameful, or overzealous.

Relying on personal experience and resisting collaborating with other team members.

Confusion about team members roles.

Jockeying for positions within the group. Some members become silent; others attempt to dominate.


Just remember that at times this battleground may seem a little extreme for groups. But like anystorm, it too shall pass and the end result will be emerging leaders, new ideas, and membersassuming various roles and tasks within the group. Things will settle down, issues will be



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resolved, and you will see the team begin to gel. In other words, the team is starting to come

Stages of Team Development: Norming

Norming: Greater team cohesiveness develops.


Members feel secure in expressing personal opinions and listening to others.

Conflicts reduced and members are trying out how to best work with one another.

Members are willing to change their own ideas and opinions based on facts presented byother team members.

Work methods become established and recognized by the team as a whole.

Members take on leadership roles.

Cliques begin to dissolve.

Accepting team ground rules (norms).

Accepting their roles within the team.

(moderate levels of work are accomplished)

We now have a team that is communicating openly and supporting one another in accomplishingthe teams goals and tasks.

Stages of Team Development: Performing

Performing: Team behavior becomes the norm and the team is self-functioning.


Team identity is complete.

Supporting one another.

Communicating openly.

Team members become more confident.

Accepting each others strengths and weaknesses.

Intense loyalty among team members develops.

Members are highly task oriented.

Teams become more innovative and make things happen.

Team morale is high.

(high level of work accomplished)

Remember, just because a team is performing well at a given point is no assurance that it willcontinue to do so. Effective teams can become stagnant. Initial enthusiasm may give way toapathy. Teams do not automatically stay at the performing stage.


together.


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Stages of Team Development: Transforming

Transforming: Transitioning due to changes in leadership, task, new group members or there isstagnation due to lack of motivation or enthusiasm.


Members may be nervous, apprehensive, and asking themselves how the group shouldinterpret and respond to change.

Sadness about conclusion of task or members leaving the team.

Questioning communication, how changing roles will influence current team members, andhow these implications will be handled.

Excitement about the new challenge.

Preparing to do it again.

Reverting to the characteristics described in the forming stage.


Remember, teams that are characterized by ongoing change will experience frequenttransformation. Such teams display flexibility and are capable of change. In some cases, theseteams are constantly reinventing themselves. As an active member of a team, you can help theteam in its transformation and its continued success.

Team Roles

As the team evolves through the process of the five stages of team development, members willtake on roles within that team. There are many roles and sub-roles that members can assumewhen involved with teams. For the purpose of this lesson, we will discuss two key roles we will

Task roles help the team achieve its aims and goals, and maintenance roles help the team toremain focused and harmonious. Task roles become significant as a team tries to solve aproblem or progresses toward a goal.

Teams also have members who play maintenance or social roles. These maintenance roles helpbuild team cohesion. Maintenance roles become significant in building team relationships, easingtension, offering praise, encouragement, and making others feel their contributions are importantto the team.

Team Roles

Click on each team role for characteristic, action, and behavior details.

Team Roles

Team members can be both task and maintenance oriented. Usually team members take morethan one role or play different roles in different groups.


see individuals assume when working on teams: Task roles and Maintenance roles.


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In addition, the roles that members find themselves playing can vary from task to task. This leadsto a delicate balancing act. Team members need to be task oriented, yet they also need topromote strong team relationships.

Both roles are important to the development of a team. The roles balance each other; task-oriented people help to get the job done while maintenance-oriented people help buildrelationships.

Because the roles are focusing on different tasks, conflict can occur between these two roles.For example, task-oriented people might get impatient because they think maintenance-orientedpeople are wasting time and maintenance oriented-people may think task-oriented people dontcare about people. It is important to understand that these dynamics can occur when working ina group or on a team.

Individual Role Tendencies

Now lets perform an individual role tendency assessment.

Each of the following statements describes an action and an attitude needed to support effectiveteam building. Think about when you are interacting with others as a member of a team. As youread the two choices for each numbered item, decide which statement (in column I or column 2)best describes your tendency in a group. Which would you most likely do? There are no right orwrong answers.

Individual Role Tendencies Assessment

Column I Column II

1. _____ I offer facts and give my opinions, _____ I encourage all members of the team tothoughts, ideas, feelings, and information in participate and let them know I value theirorder to help the teams discussion. contributions to the team.

2. _____ I solicit ideas, facts, information, _____ I help communication among teamopinions and feelings from fellow team members by making sure that each membermembers to help the team discussion. understands what the others say.

3. _____ I provide direction to the team by calling _____ I tell jokes and suggest interesting

attention to the tasks that need to be completed ways of doing work in order to reduce tensionand assigning responsibilities to different team in the team and increase the fun the team hasmembers. working together.

4. _____ I pull together related ideas or _____ I observe the way the group is workingsuggestions made by team members and discuss how the team can work together bettersummarize the major point discussed by the team.


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5. _____ I encourage team members to work hard _____ I promote open discussion of conflictsto achieve their goals. among team members to help resolve

disagreements and increase teamcohesiveness.

Key Points

The key is to remember that each of you can make a huge impact on any team with which youserve; therefore, its important to know yourself as well as understanding which team dynamicswill take place around you and how you can work with those dynamics. Knowing your ownstrengths, areas for improvement, and how you relate to others is an important factor in anyteams success.

Something to keep in mind is that you cant always change your environment or the people wi thwhom you work. But what can you change? Your own attitude.

Even if you are the most junior person on the team, you can have a profound effect on thosearound you. Grab every opportunity you find. Look for the opportunities and be persistent andremember to be patient, as things do not change overnight.

Key Points

Find the excitement in what you do, share that enthusiasm, and you will find that yourenthusiastic attitude is infectious and will spread to those around you.

Use this Team Member Checklist as a resource to ensure you are supporting your team and

playing an integral part in its development and success.

You are never as powerless as you may believe you are! As a member of a team, you can be theinitiator helping to make that team great.

Review Exercises

1. A group of individuals who share work activities and the responsibility for specifican outcome is the definition of:

a. A team

b. A group

2. Which stage of team development is made of a transition due to leadership, task, newgroup members, or stagnation due to lack of motivation or enthusiasm?

a. Forming

b. Storming

c. Norming

d. Performing

e. Transforming


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3. In which stage of team development is a high level of work accomplished?

a. Performing

b. Forming

c. Norming

d. Storming

e. Transforming

4. What are the characteristics of the Maintenance team role? Bold all that apply.

a. Listensactively

b. Encourages

c. Compromises and harmonizes

d. Offers information and opinions

e. Starts the group working

5. What are the actions and behaviors of the Task team role? Bold all that apply.

a. Initiates action by proposing goals and tasksb. Develops plans for approaching the task and sharing responsibilities; helps group

Focus on task

c. Offers facts, opinions, ideas, suggestions, and relevant information

d. Receptive to others ideas and gives verbal and non-verbal feedback

e. Tries to reconcile disagreements when opinions differ or conflict arises

Summary

Congratulations! This completes the lesson Team Dynamics. In this lesson, you learned aboutthe differences between a group and a team, stages of team development, team roles, andindividual role tendencies.

You should now be able to:

Discuss the various stages of team development.

Define team roles and their impact on team cohesion.

Discuss individual interpersonal style and how to be a supportive team member.


This document is property of the MWP PAC and is not part of any political campaign or

specific candidacy.

leadership lesson 7

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