Building Effective Teams: A Manager’s Guide

In 1990, only half of U.S. companies had more than 20 percent of their employees working on teams. In a recent study, more than 73 percent of the companies surveyed now use full-time teams of exempt employees on business and organization-improvement assignments.

• The team has become the hero. According to Robert Reich, Labor Secretary during the Clinton administration, "With ever more frequency, Nobel prizes are awarded to collections of people. Scientific papers are authored by small platoons of researchers."
• The ability to work well within a team was one of the most sought-after skills cited in a recent Wall Street Journal survey of business-school recruiters.

Yet, not all teams are created or function equally well. As legendary baseball manager Casey Stengel noted, "Getting good people is easy. Getting them to play together is hard."

WHAT MAKES A GOOD TEAM? CHARACTERISTICS OF TEAMS THAT WORK

Healthy teams are easy to spot and share many characteristics. High functioning teams typically:

• Can tackle tasks or create high quality products without much supervision
• Trust individual members to follow through on assigned tasks
• View conflict as an opportunity for change and deal with it openly
• Share information and resources freely and draw on each other readily when they need advice or assistance
• Make individual members comfortable about sharing their opinions and taking risks
• Display respect for other team members and can "agree to disagree"
• Are honest with each other and frequently give constructive feedback

Dysfunctional teams are equally recognizable, as they:

• Frequently postpone, cancel or start meetings late
• Belittle or second-guess suggestions made by other members of the team
• Have members who consistently miss meetings, or text and take calls throughout the meetings they do attend
• Allow one or two team members to dominate meetings by virtue of their seniority, volume, political connections or lack of self-awareness
• Fail to meet deadlines because individual members don't follow through on commitments
• Lack the skill to be a team (often because team members have never been trained in team dynamics and effectiveness).

"As a manager, it's your job to ensure that every team member not only feels comfortable contributing in meetings, but understands that it's part of his or her job," explains Matt Steinkamp, vice president of service delivery for VITAL WorkLife. "Performance reviews and reward systems should reflect the importance of being an effective, contributing team member."

CREATING A GOOD TEAM: THE MANAGER'S ROLE

While some managers are able to create teams from scratch, many managers inherit or are assigned teams formed by somebody else. Some teams are created by pulling a representative from every department, rather than because they have a specific skill needed by the team. Regardless of what brings the individual members to a team, well-managed teams create synergy that makes them greater than the sum of their parts.

"When it comes to managing teams, a 'one-size fits all' management style is rarely effective," says Steinkamp. "For example, a baby boomer may bring different strengths, have an entirely different work ethic and need different incentives than a Gen Xer."

DEALING WITH DYSFUNCTION: CONFRONTING THE ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM

Many managers are reluctant to confront reports about character or personality traits, even when it becomes apparent that the behavior may be inhibiting team performance. "It's easier to confront clear-cut performance issues such as, 'You didn't meet your quota,' than to say 'Your facial expression makes it clear you'd rather be somewhere else.'

We like to say conflict is often a conversation that hasn't happened yet," notes Steinkamp. "It's amazing how many conflicts can be resolved with a single conversation if the communication is open, honest and respectful. Managers need to be comfortable facilitating these conversations between employees."

Steinkamp recommends that the first time a teamwork-inhibiting behavior occurs, a manager should take the offending team member aside privately to explain why the behavior is unacceptable and won't be tolerated in future team meetings. Let the team member know that if the behavior occurs again, it will be addressed promptly and directly during the meeting.

EFFECTING POSITIVE CHANGE: IT DOESN'T HAPPEN ON ITS OWN

Steinkamp recommends that managers who want to effect positive change in individual team members have regular conversations with individual members of the team, saying:

The talents/skills you bring to this team are:

1. Primary strength
2. Second strength or asset to team
3. Third strength or asset to team

I believe it would be beneficial to the team and more comfortable for me if you would:

1. Continue doing the following things:
2. Do the following things more:
3. Do the following things less, or stop doing them:

BECOMING A GOOD TEAM MANAGER: BEST PRACTICES

General Electric, a company known for the depth and expertise of its managerial talent, pioneered a "New Manager Assimilation" process that's now used widely by organizations that want to jump-start team effectiveness. While some of the specifics vary, the process always includes an independent facilitator and usually happens very shortly after a new manager joins the company, department or team.

Team members are asked to give their impressions of and questions for the new manager with a guarantee of confidentiality. The manager does not know who said what but the facilitator shares the feedback with the manager in a private session. The facilitator and manager work together to create a plan for addressing issues raised and communicating back to the team as a whole.

We Can Help

If you're bringing together or are assigned responsibility for a new team, VITAL WorkLife is here to help. Confidential counseling, coaching and support are free to you as part of your EAP benefit. Call any time you have questions or want information about how to be more effective on the job or in your personal life.

This free, unlimited telephone consultation—available 24/7—is not just for you, but also for every member of your family as well as your employees and their families. Your benefit also includes free face-to-face counseling with master's- and doctorate-level professionals. All you have to do is ask.

HELPFUL ONLINE RESOURCES

The VITAL WorkLife website offers helpful tools and information designed to help managers and supervisors build effective teams, including:

• Developing Team Communication
• Characters in the Corporate Culture
• A Better Way of Dealing with Conflict
• Team Building with Gen X and Gen Y
• Twelve Ways Leaders Tell Their People They Are Important

1. To find these articles, go to VITALWorkLife.com, click on member login and enter your user name and password.
2. On the page that comes up, in the left hand column, click on the "Your Work & Life Resources" button.
3. In the shaded area at the top of the screen, click on the pull down menu that says "Working" and pull down to "Effective Manager."
4. Explore the articles in the categories "Communication Skills" and "Leadership Skills."