Interpersonal Effectiveness: Essential to Successful Teams

1. Interpersonal Effectiveness:Essential to Successful Teams Reproduced with permission from BESTEAMS 2004

2. Acknowledgment of Support • The material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under grant No. DUE-0089079: “Implementing the BESTEAMS model of team development across the curriculum.” Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation. • Additional support was provided by the A. James Clark School of Engineering, the Mechanical Engineering department at the University of Maryland, College Park, and Morgan State University, the United States Naval Academy, and Howard University. Reproduced with permission from BESTEAMS 2004

3. Interpersonal EffectivenessLearning Objectives • Appreciate group dynamics and their impact on team performance • Understand basic stages of group development in teams • Practice basic communication skills (e.g., active listening, giving and receiving feedback) • Learn brainstorming techniques to increase team productivity Reproduced with permission from BESTEAMS 2004

4. Why Focus on Teams? • They allow us to offer a more balanced product (remember Kolb) • They improve effectiveness by helping to minimize personal weaknesses and utilize individual strengths • They encourage students to become effective problem solvers– a vital skill in “the real world” Reproduced with permission from BESTEAMS 2004

5. Typical Stages of Team Development • Forming • Storming • Norming • Performing • Adjourning/Completing Reproduced with permission from BESTEAMS 2004

6. Characteristics of Forming The team is figuring out the task ahead and individuals are becoming acquainted • Typical Feelings: Excitement, pride in participation, anxiety about unknowns ahead • Typical Behaviors: Attempts to determine acceptable behaviors, how to deal with problems, identify roles in the group Reproduced with permission from BESTEAMS 2004

7. Characteristics of Storming The team feels everything seems to be falling apart; group is demoralized by the task • Typical Feelings: Resistance to trying new approaches, emotional highs and lows, worry about workload • Typical Behaviors: Arguing, blaming instructor for unrealistic expectations, competition Reproduced with permission from BESTEAMS 2004

8. Characteristics of Norming The team comes together and adapts to ground rules, emotional conflict is reduced • Typical Feelings: Sense of team cohesion and pride; relief that task is going to be completed after all • Typical Behaviors: Greater collaboration and sharing among members, smoother team functioning, ability to use feedback constructively Reproduced with permission from BESTEAMS 2004

9. Characteristics of Performing The team recognizes its strengths and overcomes weaknesses to accomplish the task • Typical Feelings: Insight into group processes, satisfaction with team’s progress, close attachment to team members • Typical Behaviors: Ability for members to self correct and prevent or work through group issues Reproduced with permission from BESTEAMS 2004

10. Characteristics of Adjourning/Completing The team gears down, occurs once the project nears completion • Typical Feelings: Satisfaction, sadness at ending of group interaction, insights into personal abilities in terms of teamwork • Typical Behaviors: Analyses of team strengths, weaknesses, history of project, what could be done differently to improve future projects Reproduced with permission from BESTEAMS 2004

11. Group Discussion • What have been your best and worst team experiences and why? • How does understanding the stages of team development allow you to interpret why you felt that way about your team experiences? Reproduced with permission from BESTEAMS 2004

12. Basic Communication Skills • Giving and receiving constructive feedback • Engaging in active listening Reproduced with permission from BESTEAMS 2004

13. Effective Feedback:General Guidelines • Remember to give POSITIVE and NEGATIVE feedback • Understand the context: Put comments in a time/place/situation (vs. “you always….”) • Determine if the person is receptive to feedback Reproduced with permission from BESTEAMS 2004

14. Giving Effective Feedback:Specifics • Talk first about yourself (“I feel…”) THEN others (“When you do….”) • Be descriptive and specific about actions, behaviors • Do not use labels or exaggerate • Restrict your feedback to things you know for certain (perhaps have checked out with other members of the team) • Give feedback about behaviors people can change Reproduced with permission from BESTEAMS 2004

15. Receiving Feedback • Listen carefully (try to put defensiveness on hold) • Ask questions for clarity • Acknowledge valid points, recognize how a person could have come to that conclusion (acknowledge the feedback) • Take time to sort out what you heard • Tell the person what you will do to change • Ask for assistance or future feedback • Say THANKS! (Gibbs, 1994) Reproduced with permission from BESTEAMS 2004

16. Steps to Good Listening • Step 1: Once your attention is focused, listen carefully to the words being said (try to minimize internal distractions-- e.g., focusing on what YOU want to say next, daydreaming) • If external distractions (e.g., noise, unpleasant surroundings) are too much, ask the speaker to wait until you can listen better Reproduced with permission from BESTEAMS 2004

17. Steps to Good Listening (cont’d) • Step 2: Paraphrase what was said: • “what I hear you saying is…” • “as I understand it…” • “in other words…” • “so, you are saying…” Ask the speaker to repeat if you have misunderstood! Reproduced with permission from BESTEAMS 2004

18. Practicing Team Communication Skills • Break into triads • Use the scenario provided to give and receive feedback • Third member observes and provides feedback about the interaction Reproduced with permission from BESTEAMS 2004

19. Why Brainstorming? • Builds interpersonal expertise because all students participate • Quiets the loudest talker and prevents quick solutions • Develops a skill that is useful in project management Reproduced with permission from BESTEAMS 2004

20. Verbal Brainstorming: Procedure • Present a carefully designed problem • Appoint a facilitator to safeguard the process and a recorder to capture ideas • Recorder copies all suggestions on board/easel as they are named • Take a moment to think about the problem before addressing it verbally • Ground rules: No discussion, no reaction, no judgment Reproduced with permission from BESTEAMS 2004

21. Non-Verbal Brainstorming: Why Brainwrite? • Sometimes called “brainwriting” instead of brainstorming • Useful with controversial, emotionally charged topics, or when building upon ideas is more important than creating a wide range of options Reproduced with permission from BESTEAMS 2004

22. Brainwriting: Procedure Pass around sheet of paper with topic to be addressed written at the top. First person WRITES an idea and each other team member builds on, or adds, to ideas noted • Done silently • Cycle paper 3-4 times around group or until people run out of ideas Reproduced with permission from BESTEAMS 2004

23. Optional Slides • Kolb in Teams Reproduced with permission from BESTEAMS 2004

24. Review of Kolb Learning Styles What is a Learning Style? • Key dimensions • Preference for processing or sensing the information • Preference for using or judging the information • Combining dimensions results in 4 types • Divergers (high CE and RO) • Assimilators (high RO and AC) • Convergers (high AC and AE) • Assimilators (high AE and CE) Reproduced with permission from BESTEAMS 2004

25. Style Strengths Key Take Away Point Styles Prefer to Learn in Different Ways All Styles Contribute to Team Success IF? Why? How? What? Reproduced with permission from BESTEAMS 2004

26. Expected Behavior in Teams (Typical Answers) Reproduced with permission from BESTEAMS 2004

27. Exercise: Using Kolb to Enhance Team Skills • Students divide into groups of diverse learning styles and discuss individual Kolb types • Brainstorm within group: How do you prefer learning something new (e.g., programming a palm pilot)? • Groups: Using the results of the brainstorming, write a “how to” set of directions so all learning preferences can get help with the task Reproduced with permission from BESTEAMS 2004