Group Name:Group Name:

What is a team?

A team is a number of persons associated together in work or activity: as a group on one side (as in football or debate).”

In other words, when one person cannot accomplish a job alone and several individuals must cooperate to fulfill a mission, you need a team. The better the cooperation, communication, and coordination among team members, the more efficient the team

Why Teams?

Teamwork distributes the work load

Teams develop a synergy

Teamwork develops diverse thinking which leads

to innovative problem solving. It also provides

team members an opportunity to work together

in a non-competitive environment and it builds

their self-confidence.

Start with objectives for developing a team

Teach team members how “teamwork” can be

effectively used.

Teach the basics of effective team strategies.

Develop and understanding of team development.

Make an assessment of the skills of each team member.

Establish the members of team and a team name

Set the teams goals and end results

Establish team rules

Develop team procedures including communication protocols

Discuss team control and the decision making process

Team conflict will occur guaranteed and hostility may arise causing a lack of team unity

Poor team performance due to storming This includes project creep or wheel-spinning Team performance slips and non-implemented decisions

due to conflict Unproductive meetings with unclear objectives and

scheduling problems This conflict will lead to members withdrawing into their

own work environment thus defeating the whole purpose of the team

This is when members of the team begin to mutually accept each other

Harmony starts to settle in and group bondingThe team starts to fall into place with a clear

purpose, group participation, open discussions, team listening, sharing of ideas and non-exclusive leadership

Other sensitive areas come together like civilized disagreement and team decision making

This is when the team becomes a problem solving machine

In other words, solutions start to emerge like flowing water and subjectives give way to the objectives

Stage 5 Team Completion

This is when the project is complete and the team is ready to disburse. This is an exciting time but a sad one as well. There is a sense of fulfillment and a loss of team unity.

Documentation needs to be complete before the team can disburse. This includes: Lessons learned Reports written Problems and Solutions

Communication exerciseThis type of team building exercise is exactly what it sounds like. Communications exercises are problem solving activities that are geared towards improving communication skills. The issues teams encounter in these exercises are solved by communicating effectively with each other.

• Goal: Create an activity which highlights the importance of good communication in team performance and/or potential problems with communication.

Problem-solving/decision-making exerciseProblem-solving/decision-making exercises focus specifically on groups wrking together to solve difficult problems or make complex decisions. These exercises are some of the most common as they appear to have the most direct link to what employers want their teams to be able to do.

• Goal: Give team a problem in which the solution is not easily apparent or requires the team to come up with a creative solution.

Planning/adaptability exercise

These exercises focus on aspects of planning and being adaptable to change. These are important things for teams to be able to do when they are assigned complex tasks or decisions.

• Goal: Show the importance of planning before implementing a solution

Trust exerciseA trust exercise involves engaging team members in a way that will induce trust between them. They are sometimes difficult exercises to implement as there are varying degrees of trust between individuals and varying degrees of individual comfort trusting others in general.

• Goal: Create trust between team members

If you only remember one thing remember this: a team is only as strong

as its weakest member so team members need to pull together to

accomplish the task at hand.