Facilitating or Inhibiting Group Formation
PERFORMING
NORMING
STORMING
FORMING
Stag e
Factors that inhibit formation
Factors that facilitate formation
Leadership is unclear
Always provide clear direction and purpose
Group has a number of very strong personalities
A clear explanation of the goals.
Communication is poor or lacking
Define roles and responsibilities (if possible)
Direction of the group is unclear
Involve everyone in devising a plan
Procedures are inconsistent
Have status updates regularly
Team members have a negative attitude
Rotate jobs until skills set is recognised
Individuals having limited success with workload
Celebration of small successes
Conflict resolution skills limited
Focus on restoration of relationships after conflict
Questioning skills of leadership
Leader has strong negotiation skills
Questioning skills of team member
Leader able to keep positive environment
Rumour-mongering and secret alliances
Leader identifies and deals with power struggles
Individual differences are highlighted and mocked
Everyone is involved in the decision-making process
Leader hoards responsibilities
Leader has a good idea of personality types
Weakness in the group is not dealt with supportively
Be sensitive to non-verbal communication
Group rules remain rigid
Criticism is seen as constructive
Individuals made to feel bad for asking for help
Appreciating other’s strengths
New challenges undermine the recognised path
View challenges as a way to strengthen group
Falling into a rut or boring routine
Group rules change to reflect new dynamics
Limiting group dynamics to one-dimension
Recognising milestones
Allowing the group to ‘rest on its laurels’
Consistent communication
Delegation is not supported by the leadership
Clear process and guidelines
Newcomers or leavers are not recognised
Continued collaborative planning
‘Back-sliding’ is not caught quickly enough
Honing of individual skills
How to lead for Team Inclusion From leader’s perspective, what are the ways to insure full participation/inclusion/contribution of team members? How does the leader or other team members insure the involvement of a passive and uninterested team member? Every team consists of different individuals with different personalities, background and values. Some team members are more active than others, some contribute more than others, some are more motivated than others. To ensure a viable and effective team, a team leader must make sure that every team member participates, contributes and feels as part of the team.
Put yourself in his/her shoes In order to influence the behaviour of a team member, a team leader must first understand that team member. In order to do so, one should understand the background and values of each team member. Acknowledging the fact that each team member is different will show respect and consideration. In addition, understanding the values will help to identify what kind of things a certain person would cherish or neglect. Values come handy when a leader needs to use motivation. Overall, the objective of the leader in this step is to get to know his/her team members, in other words, a leader needs to think as a team member does.
Motivation Motivation is perhaps the most important factor to ensure effective inclusion of team member. The foundation of recognition and motivation is that people need and want acceptance, approval and appreciation. Almost all positive motivation is based on these needs. People want to know that what they do makes a difference. Just recognizing the staff is the most important step one can take. In addition to financial rewards, there are number of other ways that can be effectively utilized. One of them is to reward the team members for their contributions to the team. A gift certificate or a free dinner might go a long way. The recognition given for work that is well done and public praise will also strengthen the sense of importance and belonging to the team.
Build Confidence Recognising that “everyone brings something to the table� . Part of the reason that a team member will not fully contribute could be the lack of confidence in self and his/her abilities to perform the job. A leader's duty is to notice and take steps to improve the behaviour of the team member. Even though building self-confidence is a personal matter and a leader may have little influence over it, a leader should be able to identify the strengths of team players and build on those. One way to do it is to delegate responsibilities with freedom to think and act. It is also important to remain fair and impartial as slight advantage given to one member over the other may hinder the progress and undermine the efforts of some team members. Accentuating the positives is another tool a leader should continually keep in his arsenal.
Ensure collaborative climate and effective communication Lastly, the team's ability to effectively collaborate, share ideas and insight in open and positive climate will affect the degree of participation of its members. Nonjudgemental attitudes void of team politics is an essential ingredient to building such climate in teams. In addition, a team leader should be able to establish open and direct relationship with a passive or uninterested team member and encourage other team members to do the same.
Personality Types and Group Formation We are all different and that what makes life so interesting. Your personality is that part of you that you take with you into any situation. Sometimes we can ‘mask’ some of the aspects of our personality but in times of stress we often revert to our baser instincts. As a leader or manager of teams it is important that you are aware of the subtle differences and how they may all be beneficial to the success of the team.
There are many personality types that are very constructive and which help in becoming a high-performing team. Some people just seem to have the "gift" of working with and leading a team and ensuring its success. These are hard-working people with a mind for collaboration and putting the success of the team above their own ego. This type of person will help others achieve their goals by working with them to resolve frustrations, remove impediments, and create an atmosphere of mutual satisfaction. This type of team player encourages the rest of the team to work collaboratively towards the team goals.
CONSTRUCTIVE PERSONALITIES
Silent Contributor
Devil's Advocate
Facilitator
Leader
Follower
Someone who gets the job done without saying much. They silently complete the tasks that are assigned to them, and very rarely create conflict. One must take care to balance this type of team member with someone who is not afraid to speak up, however, so that necessary communications happen for the team to progress. Someone who likes to challenge ideas and processes. They act as an internal "check" on what you are doing and the processes you use. Although this person can generate conflict, oftentimes it is healthy conflict that brings ideas to light or helps to challenge biases. People who like to keep structure to meetings, organize documentation, and make sure things run smoothly. These people facilitate the operation of a team by making sure everything goes according to plan, on schedule, and in order. People with this type of personality help to reduce the probability that chaos will ensue from random team members trying to accomplish their distinct agendas simultaneously. Some people are really good a leading a team to success. This type of person is not afraid to take charge, delegate assignments, enforce accountability, encourage others, and facilitate success. Some are natural born leaders, others simply learn by doing. A dutiful worker. Some people are really good at following directions and assignments, and they work very hard to get their work done on time. This type of person more suited to this type of role because they know how to work hard and are okay with following instructions. Having the bulk of the work taken care of by the "followers" allows the other roles within the team to take care of their functions.
There are personalities that may not be collaborative in nature. Although their intentions might be good, they may not see eye-to-eye with team members on processes, methods or goals. Oftentimes this type of person will be confrontational and impatient. Even though they would like the team to succeed, sometimes their own work ethic or personality gets in the way. This type of person can learn to work better within a team if they recognize their impact on others and are willing to make changes to their style. Some people simply won't work with a team. This type of person thinks they can get the job done faster, easier or better than the team could, and therefore simply will not cooperate. A good leader needs to learn to work WITH these personalities and not simply to ignore them (as is mostly the desire). It is imperative that leaders help these personalities to first become self-aware and then be empathetic before learning a new emotional tool-kit.
INHIBITIVE PERSONALITIES Aggressive
Deceptive
People who engage in deceptive behaviour aren’t comfortable with direct confrontation and prefer to attack from a distance from behind some kind of protection. People with this type of personality are still vocal and tend to either complain quite a bit without direct attacks or compensate for their frustration and dissatisfaction by being everything from sneaky to overagreeable. People who are meek in the workplace present problems as well. Passive personalities are negative, but portray themselves as victims, always ready to dismiss any solution presented to them. Often they say “its not my job”
Passive
Perfectionists
Dictators
Every detail must be perfect or the perfectionist becomes negative. They are never satisfied with their own work and are own worst critic. They have unrealistic standards and even work that is praised by other workers as the highest quality work is not acceptable to the perfectionist. They cannot accept any kind of criticism and will focus on anything not perfect, even if that part is a tiny part of the overall work done. A person with this personality will make a great deal of demands on everyone and will try to tell them how to do their jobs. They will walk all over the more passive personality types because they will let the dictator roll over them. Dictators are often angry and hostile and have a strong need to control. For the dictator, it is “my way or the highway”. These are attackers who have a superior attitude and think they know it all. They charge forward with their disapproval of anything that they as experts feel is not going the way it should. Egotists are arrogant and will disagree with most everything that is said because they like to be right. They always find problems, not opportunities. They often criticize others to make themselves feel better.
Egotists
Criticizers
Bullies
People showing these personalities demonstrate hostile and forceful behaviour toward others. People exhibiting aggressive behaviour charge forward in an attacking and forceful way to display the frustration or anger they feel but cannot resolve. These people need to be heard and have a need to vent while at the same time needing people to listen to them.
A criticizer will strike down anything this is new, creative or different. His or her mission is to disagree with anything that is said. They will jump on any mistake and disagree with it with negative feedback. A manager who is a criticizer exhibits it by always saying no to all requests. The bully uses threats and intimidation to undermine others. Bullies attempt to undo another person as part of their plan to retain popularity and power. Bullies have an inflated view of themselves and is threatened by someone who is likeable, highly skilled or attractive. They will humiliate, destroy, discredit or intimidate another person to make themselves look better
**Personality Tests like the Myers-Briggs, Colour-Code Test or the Big Five can be done online for free