Miriam,
Equally important is to choose the right team members for the job as well as providing leadership and direction.
Ron Obstfeld
I think clearly defining the purpose and vision of a team allows them to do their work effectiviely. If team knows the goals and the forecasted outcomes they can move forward with ease allowing them to make good decisions.
katina,
If team members do not know their parts it is critical that the leader clarify. Understanding your role is critical for full participation and achieving positive results.
Ron Obstfeld
I would tell my team their task and how important it is. I know they say they don't know their part.
Audrey,
The improvement items you listed could be avoided during the initial team set-up. Frequent success monitoring toward goals would also be a preemptive action to ensure a team is progressing as planned.
Ron Obstfeld
Ajani,
Self directed teams can be very effective. What has prompted you to change this dynamic? What is not working?
Ron Obstfeld
I would first find out exactly what is issue is and why the performance is leaking. After developing my plan of action I would conduct a meeting that outlined the specific issues. If certain areas were not being met I would ask for explanations as to why the items were not completed. If employees were in need of help or direction I would reassign tasks bases on the outcome. Working as a team is the best way to accomplish a goal.
As a long-leaderless team, my people have become very strong individual contributors, but now need a group identity. To correct our comparative lack of collectivism, we are employing a handful of group activities in the quarterly staff meetings as well as establishing a more coherent network of references for finding out what other team members do.
So true Kathleen, what I have found in my team is that they come to meetings with problems but with no solutions. When going through this lesson, I have some ideas I will use with my team at meetings. They at times seem to ponder on the problem meeting after meeting but no one offers any solutions. When going through this lesson the one thing that really stuck with me is when it stated that your team should find the good in others and focus on that instead of the negetive. Building on the postive will only help them to see the good in each other as well as what they can do as a team member to help make the situation better. This was a good lesson for me as a leader. I at times wondered how could I get them to look at the situation at hand and focus on the solution is instead of complaining.
Kathleen,
I agree. Be sure that you track progress, issues and give feedback and guidance frequently.
Ron Obstfeld
Clearly defining the team's purpose and vision allows team members to create their own strategies for self-motivation and increased performance. I've found that if the goals are clearly understood, team members find the means to get there by drawing on their individual strengths
cesar,
Be careful about creating rules and regulations in isolation...even though you are the team leader. It may beneficial to present a draft as a talking document and then involve the team is setting up rules and regulations. You then a better change of buy-in of your team.
Ron Obstfeld
Set up guide lines to better communication with each member of the team , create a rules and regulations for the members to follow to created better results and any task
