Team Dynamics in Facilities Planning: Building Successful Project Teams

1. IENG 471 - Lecture 08 Teaming and Effective Meetings IENG 471 Facilities Planning

2. Teaming Factors • What makes for a good project team? • Clear, challenging goal • Results-driven team structure • Competent members • Commitment to team goal(s) • Positive team culture • Honesty • Openness • Respect • Performance consistency • High team standards for performance • External support and recognition • Effective leadership IENG 471 Facilities Planning

3. Successful Team Life Cycle • Five Stages of Team Development (Tuckman & Jensen) • Forming • Storming • Norming • Performing • Adjourning • Not Everyone, Every Team Goes Through All Stages • Some opt-out • Some teams are aborted IENG 471 Facilities Planning

4. Stage 1: Forming • Brief Description: • Transformation of individuals into team members • Characteristics: • Struggle to: • Define nature of the task to be performed • Knowing each other’s personalities, motives, work styles… • Determining acceptable group behavior • Determining where, when, how to begin • As a group, members are: • Likely to be polite, but guarded • Passive, and dependant on a leader to tell them what to do • Need a nurturing and structured environment IENG 471 Facilities Planning

5. Stage 2: Storming • Brief Description: • Similar to adolescence, team members vie for control over the group and the way the group will work together. • Characteristics: • Conflicts, because the team has unrealistic expectations for themselves, and others: • Some success leads to over-reaching • High energy, enthusiasm, optimism at the same time as frustration, resentfulness and restlessness • Polarization and scape-goating as team self-identifies • Some may voluntarily (or be forced to) leave the group IENG 471 Facilities Planning

6. Stage 3: Norming • Brief Description: • Team resolves their basic differences and begins to work together in atmosphere of cooperation, respect. • Characteristics: • Remaining members have become more accepting of: • Each other • Their own roles • The team’s goals and objectives • Members: • Share information willingly • Communicate openly • Solve problems effectively • Begin to understand individual strengths & weaknesses • Start to identify as a group, socialize, some become friends IENG 471 Facilities Planning

7. Stage 4: Performing • Brief Description: • Members feel intimacy with each other and gain a great deal of satisfaction from interaction • Characteristics: • No issues over power, control, or status • Members work through problems as part of the interpersonal and team dynamics in an open manner • Team is productive, efficient, highly focused • Credit is shared • Members recognize that a synergy occurs as they work together IENG 471 Facilities Planning

8. Stage 5: Adjourning • Brief Description: • The team accomplishes its mission and disbands. (This phase does not always occur) • Characteristics: • Period of letting go and moving on with individual lives • Members recognize that their time as a group is over, consequently, mixed emotions prevail: • There is a sense of loss • There is some remorse, sadness, and grieving • There is pride is what they achieved • There is pride in having been a special group • If team members don’t experience some of these feelings, the team probably never reached Stage 4 IENG 471 Facilities Planning

9. Successful Team Key Behaviors • Communication • Ability to restate, express concisely, solicit feedback, accept criticism • Decision-Making • Ability to gather input from all affected, consider options and alternatives, advocate a differing view, encourage risk-taking • Collaboration • Ability to commit to team purposes, support team members, share responsibility and credit, accept weaknesses and strengths of other team members • Self-Management • Ability to communicate and stay focused, commit to quality work, meet professional and personal standards, empower others without controlling them, and get yourself started IENG 471 Facilities Planning

10. Effective Meetings • Member Roles • Primary Facilitator • Scribe • Timekeeper • Secondary Facilitator(s) IENG 471 Facilities Planning

11. Effective Meetings: Roles • Primary Facilitator • Prior to meeting: • Purpose of meeting • Agenda for meeting • State desired outcomes for meeting • Assign roles for Scribe & Timekeeper • During the meeting: • Responsible for beginning • Drawing information from all members • Processing information • Aid in drawing conclusions & developing actions • Keeping the meeting on track • Contributing to the meeting IENG 471 Facilities Planning

12. Effective Meetings: Roles • Scribe • During the meeting: • Records proceedings of the meeting • Provides feedback on what is recorded • Checks for consensus • Act as a secondary facilitator • After the meeting: • Sends notes of the meeting • Minimal Notes: • Date, time, location and attendees • Actions completed, discussion points and decisions • Task assignments and target dates IENG 471 Facilities Planning

13. Effective Meetings: Roles • TimeKeeper • During the meeting: • Keeps meeting on schedule • Assist in keeping meeting on track • Act as a secondary facilitator • Secondary Facilitator(s) • Prior to the meeting: • Perform assigned tasks • During the meeting: • Actively contribute to the meeting • Volunteer to take on assignments IENG 471 Facilities Planning

14. Facilitation for Effective Meetings • Start the meeting on time (3 people starting point) • Ask members for information, opinions, and feelings • Paraphrase what was said to aid understanding • Ask for specific examples to comprehend • Clarify assumptions • Probe ideas: depth = insight • Summarize key points & issues • Encourage consideration of all information • Reflect on expressions and member feelings • Refocus on issues when necessary • Draw out differences of opinion • Encourage “out of the box” thinking about issues • Recommend processes for moving forward • Test for consensus • Move the team forward: help make decisions, identify actions IENG 471 Facilities Planning

15. Questions & Issues • Each team will need to send a bi-weekly progress report memo (e-mail): • Addressees: • Dr. Jensen (dean.jensen@sdsmt.edu) • Team members • Subject: IENG 471 Progress Report - <date> • Content: • Summary of actions on old tasks • Summary of decisions made • Summary of next tasks and responsible personnel • 1st Meeting: Team Organization • Include hardcopy in your project report. • Due every other Friday at Noon. IENG 471 Facilities Planning