Interventions
A good number of team members have little knowledge of group dynamics. They allocate more focus on managing individuals as opposed to creating effective teams. This is an issue as most of the team members take most of the time in some type of group activity. Teams build the foundation of a company. Yet, teams can afford to fail if the team members do not understand the role and ability of the group or how it should be handled.
Performance in the team is acquired with the help of processes that aims to focus on all members and bring them together for success. Our team, just like people, have processes that ought to be followed:
- The team went through the Orientation stage where each person is informed of the various elements and functions that they should handle. Here people are always excited.
- This was followed by At this stage, every team member is excited about the group until they get to have frictions. Teamwork in most cases calls for extensive cooperation than what is projected. Here the team gets frustrated by being brought together to meet a certain objective.
- The third stage was Resolution, here the team comes together to solve their issues and work together.
- The fourth phase is the Production stage where the team acquires harmony and starts to perform.
- The last stage is the Termination stage where the team meets their goal and ends.
For effective results the manager has to be ready to expect and manage all of these stages of team advancement. Otherwise, the team may not work as it should. This means allocating direction at the start of the process and shifting to allocating leadership style as the team has the capability to manage itself.
The team did not face any form of challenge. When it came to making vital decisions for the group. The team members would just have to speak out and their opinions would be taken seriously. Issues regarding coming up with decisions were solved by settling on one decision that was of great value in solving the issue at hand. The absence of a group leader, or a form of authority enabled us to respect each other’s thoughts and opinions.
Cases of individuals that did not pull their weight never arose, the members pulled their own weight and hence this proved useful when coming up with decisions for the group. This was attributed to the trust that each and every person had in addition to the respect we accorded each other. The decisions were made very easily and never formed a barrier where all the members disagreed. The team felt that this this opinion laid on the personal benefit and not for the group. As a result, there was effective process of managing the goals of the group and all the team member were on board by them being aware of the need to play as a team; all members had different contributions to the group that made it stronger. It was necessary to respect each and every member’s views.
Synergies
A basic element for synergy is that the team members have to effectively interact with other members. Those that try to work together but reduced chance for interaction often leads to poor outcome; they are confused and often blame others. To avoid this, the team employed four elements vital for interaction.
First of all, there is the commitment to the work undertaken by the group. This calls for extended time and energy. All the members were involved in the process and were willing to commit their resources to be involved. Additionally, additional duties were allocated to the members as well as setting priorities so that there exists no competition with the vital elements that have to be followed.
The second one is the application of direct and consistent communication. For interaction and performance, the members have to communicate with each other effectively both verbally and in writing. Issues that arose were cases where members used third parties to pass their information which is an error in communication.
It is necessary that the communication has both the desire and ability to determine a person’s ability for synergy. One may have the ability to communicate directly but chooses not to do so. The team had to play a role in getting all the members to communicate with each other in passing information and this was of great significance when it came to making decisions.
The third one is actively listening to the facts and feelings being projected by others. For communication to be made effectively, there has to be content and feelings that come with it. These elements are vital as one without the other is just but part of the message.
The group made use of both elements of communication; through listening. From this synergies relationships are formed where the listeners take in the responsibility for accuracy of message being passed. The group members are alert for the both verbal and written signs that produce the feelings and content of the information being passed. This enables the members to believe that they are being listened to and understood, they hence become willing to take part and give their ideas to the group.
Another way is communication in a manner that creates trust and credibility. The formation of trust in the team members is vital as it does away with defensive elements in the members. This has the negative impact of leading to poor listening, distortion of information and indirectness. On the other hand, credibility is valued in the group has the meaning of valuing other people’s information. This proved vital when implementing change in the group. The absence of credibility, people are not willing to focus on other people’s contribution to the group.
On the whole, the combination of both trust and credibility as well as interdependence, communication and listening contribute to vital elements that arise from the team performance. The team made good use of them though certain issues arose in terms of communication which the team managed to solve. This proved vital in achieving performance.
This class assignment offered varied values that proved useful. One of them was the aspect of communication both verbally and non-verbal. This enabled one to be keen in every person’s feelings in addition to the message being conveyed. Another element is credibility and trust which makes the team to offer credence to other people’s contributions. This makes one to take time and allocate value to other people’s contributions as this plays importance to the overall success of the team.
