The Importance Of Team Building In The

L – ED : Provided essential direction, vision, example, the ethical basis for action, expectations for performance, priorities. Leaders

should protect and build their teams, remove obstacles, and provide resources.

Y – OUTHFUL : Creative, spirited, and excited about what they do.

V – IBRANT: Active in instituting initiatives that align with and help

to further

A – SSESSED : Active in periodically examining their operations and the

quality

L – INKED : In alignment, vertically and horizontally. Their work operations should be well-integrated with other teams and

departments as well as with external stakeholders. Cooperation should be the norm.

U – NIFIED : Cohesive in spirit and singular in direction.

E – MPOWERED : Given authority to act in furtherance of their

responsibilities. Given wide latitude to take actions to satisfy internal stake holders and external ?customers.?

S – ATISFIED : With their jobs, their leaders, their support, their rewards, and their contributions. Leaders who attend to these factors are likely to achieve high perrformance and excelent morale.

Over the last few years, we have been involved in a number of situations

where a team was in severe difficulties. Examples include:

people forced to work together following mergers;

groups with a mutual mistrust and competing agendas;

teams in which particular individuals have behaved badly, and yet

need to be reintegrated into the team

executive teams that have been through power struggles and political

intrigue.

There are no magic solutions to these problems, and the journey from

team sickness to health may be a difficult one. However, the most

difficult stage is sometimes simply to admit that a team is not working. It is

one of those issues that is more comfortably left in the shadows of

organisational life than directly addressed.

But that is only delaying the inevitable. The risk is that the

situation will deteriorate until either a key player leaves, or the

organisation is forced into more drastic measures such as an unwanted

reorganisation. Both of these are costly outcomes that will hit productivity even

more.

There is no blueprint for success, but there are some definite stages

that a team will need to work through. Often our starting point is a

group of hurt people, suffering bruised feelings and resentment. There is

a real need for people to listen with their whole heart, which is much

more difficult than it may sound, as it leaves you vulnerable. The crux

lies in enabling the team to understand what has really been going on

from everyone?s perspective, and how different people feel differently

about it.

When people are truly heard and understood by their antagonists,

something profound happens to both sides, and it is this which allows real

change, starting with a change of heart. Because this level of listening,

with the routine defense/attack responses outlawed, causes people to

draw on a deeper level of their humanity, to explore more subtle nuances

of their feelings, which in turn often evinces a surprising compassion.

The pull towards the old habitual way of working can be very strong,

and we see our role as helping people to turn their good intentions into

reality. Once the corner is turned and things start to improve, there

is more energy for the future, but there is still a risk that a careless

word or action can set up a downward spiral, so reviewing and

stabilising the new approach is crucial.