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I. Interpersonal Team Norms
Author:
Tom
Siebold. Tom is a writer and consultant in
Minneapolis. He is editor of two websites: 1 College
Grazing -- Free college planning tools for college bound students,
2. Teachers on Target --
Free professional development ideas and classroom activities.
Objective:
To identify interpersonal skills that support team success
How
the author has used the activity: Successful teams
find a way to interact in a productive and effective way. I like to use
this activity to encourage participants to not only identify
interpersonal skills that lead to team success, but also to make a
commitment to core interpersonal norms.
Activity:
Divide into small groups. Each group should have a Team
Interaction Chart (see below). The groups are directed to do four
tasks:
A. Make a list of key
interpersonal skills that teams must practice in order to be successful
(one example is listed on the Chart).
B. From the skills
listed in column one on the Chart, the group should write three core
team interaction norms (one example is given on the Chart).
C. Have the group
brainstorm to identify things that individuals can do to practice or
reinforce each norm.
D. Have a
spokesperson share the small group's interpersonal norms with the full
group. From the norms presented, the full group can compile a master
list of team interpersonal norms. This list should be printed and
subsequently given to all team members. The team may even want to have a
poster made of the norms to be placed in the team meeting room.
Team Interaction
Chart
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Key
Interpersonal Skills
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Norms
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Some
things to work on
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Example:
“Think before you speak.”
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“Listen
to learn”
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“Be
aware on NOT interrupting as others speak.”
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1.
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2.
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3.
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4.
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Added thoughts or considerations: It is always a challenge to
translate training content into actual behavior change. This activity
moves from brainstorming to concrete behavior.
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II.
Musical Insights
Author: Tom
Siebold. Tom is a writer and consultant in
Minneapolis. He is editor of two websites: 1 College
Grazing -- Free college planning tools for college bound students,
2. Teachers on Target --
Free professional development ideas and classroom activities.
Objective (s): To
gain insights into the overall “personality” of a team
Activity Description:
This activity is a good introduction to team building.
Before the workshop prepare three to five different musical clips
to represent different team “personalities.”
For example, music that portrays the team that is quiet, stormy,
indifferent, excitable, icy, divided, aggressive, disjointed, etc.
List the musical titles and play the clips.
Ask individuals to explain to the group which musical piece fits
the team they are on and why. This
should open up some enjoyable introductory discussion about teams and
how team members interact with one another.
Added
thoughts or considerations:
I like to transition out of this activity by asking the group if
teams have personalities and how these personalities are shaped.
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III. Assessment Builder
Author: Tom
Siebold. Tom is a writer and consultant in
Minneapolis. He is editor of two websites: 1 College
Grazing -- Free college planning tools for college bound students,
2. Teachers on Target --
Free professional development ideas and classroom activities.
Objective(s):
To identify team
preferences, opinions, and/or expectations
Activity:
This activity asks small groups
to build a team interaction assessment (or another topic of your
choice). This will require
the group to explore the topic in detail and ultimately identify those
things that are most important. Have
each group fill in the blank assessment form below:
Your
purpose is to construct an assessment for team members to complete. The
purpose of this assessment is twofold: 1. To help clarify
characteristics that shape a team, 2. To help participants identify team
characteristics that are both strong and weak.
Assessment title
______________________________________
Assessment Objective:
_________________________________
Assessment rationale or
justification or purpose: ___________________________________________
Directions: Complete the
assessment below using the following continuum: 5= ________;
4= _______; 3=_________; 2= __________; 1= _________ .
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Scoring
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Team
Characteristic
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5
4 3
2 1
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1.
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5
4 3
2 1
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2.
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5
4 3
2 1
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3.
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5
4 3
2 1
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4.
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5
4 3
2 1
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5.
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5
4 3
2 1
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6.
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5
4 3
2 1
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7.
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5
4 3
2 1
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8.
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5
4 3
2 1
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9.
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5
4 3
2 1
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10.
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Scoring Directions:
Scoring Interpretation:
Added
thoughts or considerations: I feel that it is
always a good idea to tap the wisdom of a group. This activity does
that. You can leave it up to the group to
decide if they want to use their assessments and, if they do, how they
want
to use the results. The logical transition from this activity to the
next step is to challenge the group to come up with strategies to
strengthen
the characteristics in which they are scored low. In short, challenge
them to
identify
what makes a team strong and how a team can become stronger.
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IV. Fill in the Blanks
Author: Tom
Siebold. Tom is a writer and consultant in
Minneapolis. He is editor of two websites: 1 College
Grazing -- Free college planning tools for college bound students,
2. Teachers on Target --
Free professional development ideas and classroom activities.
Objective(s):
To focus team thinking and identify key ideas
How
the author has used this exercise:
In order to encourage participants to think about teams (or any
professional development topic), I often ask them to complete
fill-in-the-blank cards (see sample below).
Activity
Description:
Have participants individually complete the fill-in-the-blanks card (see
sample below). Then have
them meet in small groups of five to seven and pass the completed cards
around the group. Once all
the cards have been read, they should reach consensus and complete a
group card that selects their best responses.
These cards are shared with the full group.
This is a good way to identify ideas that are important to the
group.
Thinking
about Teams
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The
main benefit of teams is ________________________________________.
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One
important reason teams make sense for an organization is
________________________________.
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In
order for a team to work the team leader must
_________________________________.
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The
number one thing that weakens teams is
___________________________________.
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The
key factor for a team’s success is
_______________________________.
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In
order to make a team effective, team members must agree to
________________________________.
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An
important indicator of team empowerment is
__________________________________.
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V. Any Questions?
Author: Tom
Siebold. Tom is a writer and consultant in
Minneapolis. He is editor of two websites: 1 College
Grazing -- Free college planning tools for college bound students,
2. Teachers on Target --
Free professional development ideas and classroom activities.
Objective (s): To
use questions to focus team thinking
Activity Description:
A big part of team success is the ability of its members to ask good
questions. Good questions
shape a topic and focus thinking.
In
this activity participants will explore five basic types of questions.
List the five types of questions
and provide a brief definition for each.
Then have the team identify a current topic, issue, or concern.
After reflecting on the selected issue, the team should generate
one to three questions for each question type.
See the chart below…
Issue/Topic/Problem:
_________________________________________________
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Question
Type
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Type
Definition
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Group
Questions
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1.
Open-ended questions
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Questions
that encourage broad discussion
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2.
Clarification questions
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Questions
that help focus a topic or issue
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3.
Detail questions
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Questions
that request facts, details, or yes/no
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4.
Explanation questions
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Questions
that request descriptions or explanations
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5.
New direction questions
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Questions
that move thought into new areas
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Once the questions have been
articulated, select the key questions and answer them.
Added
thoughts or considerations: We make a mistake
when we assume that groups or teams
know how to ask good questions.
Good question asking is a skill to
be learned and practiced. Team
meeting
facilitators must be particularly good at asking questions.
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VI. Define
Your Terms
Author: Tom
Siebold. Tom is a writer and consultant in
Minneapolis. He is editor of two websites: 1 College
Grazing -- Free college planning tools for college bound students,
2. Teachers on Target --
Free professional development ideas and classroom activities.
Objective:
To explore the various dimensions of teamwork
How
the author has used this activity: I have used this
exercise to encourage teams to understand how they interact.
Activity
Description:
Write the following terms on the board or on flip chart paper: cooperation,
collaboration, and collegiality.
Have the group
discuss how each of the terms are different and how each of the terms
works within successful teams. The goal is to move team members to
understand that they must connect with one another on various levels.
Option:
You may break the group into three small groups and have each group
define one of the three terms. Then in full group pool their responses.
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VII. Situation
Brainstorming
Author: Tom
Siebold. Tom is a writer and consultant in
Minneapolis. He is editor of two websites: 1 College
Grazing -- Free college planning tools for college bound students,
2. Teachers on Target --
Free professional development ideas and classroom activities.
Objective:
To stimulate new thinking, best practices, and mutual team support.
How
the author has used this activity: I often use this
activity format to help teams work together to find practical solutions
and, at the same time, uncover patterns of problem solving.
Activity
Description:
In this activity team members bring to the team a “real work
situation” that they have recently encountered. One at a time, members
relate their situation as objectively as they can, being careful not to
reveal how they handled it. After
each example the full team brainstorms for strategies asking themselves
“What would be the best way to deal with this situation?” This
activity should help the group to formulate best practices and draw to
the surface core team values.
Options:
The team may divide into pairs to do this situation exchange. You may
also want to stretch this activity out over several meetings by doing
only one or two situations a time.
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