1. Team building and needs

Subject title Team building and needs

Purpose of the activity To provide participants with knowledge about the process of team building, types of team management, ways to motivate team members and the importance of learning when being in a team.

Duration 3–4 hours.

Location and tools Writing tools, balloons, projector.

Number of participants 15–20 participants.

Acquaintance/ team building methods The leader prepares slips of papers with celebrity pairs or associatively related phrases (for example, Romeo and Juliet, Alice and Wonderland, Harry Potter and Ron Weasley, etc.) Slips of papers are distributed to participants, who are invited to find their pair and get to know each other within 10 minutes, with each person in the pair answering the following questions:

1. to tell each other about the best teamwork experience;

2. to tell each other about the worst teamwork experience.

Later, taking into account these shared aspects, write down a few points which are important when working and building relationships in a team. Finally, all pairs of participants introduce themselves and share their singled out points and briefly describe why they wrote exactly them.

Practical tasks “Centipede” All participants are given a balloon which they must inflate and tie.

Participants are then invited to stand behind each other (in “snake” or “centipede” manner). All participants connect with each other via balloons, i.e., one balloon rests on the back of the participant who is in front of the other participant, the other balloon rests on the belly. Participants are informed that they cannot touch the balloons with their hands.

The leader places the obstacles in the space (in good weather, the task can take place outdoors) and indicates to the group the trajectory of the whole “centipede” to complete. The most important condition: participants cannot separate, the balloon cannot fall to the ground. If the balloon falls to the ground, the group starts all over again.

With a larger group of participants, it is possible to divide participants into two groups, e.g. two “centipedes” of 8-10 participants each, who compete against each other, who will overcome the obstacle sooner.

The task is being performed until the “centipede(s)” overcome(s) the entire obstacle completely, usually it takes 10–20 minutes.

End of session reflection methods At the end of the practical task, the group is invited to share:

1. How did you manage to complete the task and overcome the obstacles?

2. What leaders emerged in the course of the task? Was there any fight between the different leaders and was there a debate over tactics on how to better overcome the obstacle course?

3. What type of governance (authoritarian, democratic, collegial, bureaucratic, or market rules) dominated when making decisions, related to the successful completion of the task? Why?

THEORETICAL INFORMATION

TEAM DEVELOPMENT STAGES

The process of team building and development is extremely important, because it is precisely the quality of the implementation of this stage that determines the overall success of the project or activity that is being implemented. No matter how competent professionals and strong personalities come together for the planned joint activities, the work cannot immediately become effective on its own and give good results.

We have already reviewed B. Tuckman’s stages of group development in the first Introduction to this methodology (p. 25). We recommend that this information be taken into account and used in the team building and management session – young people will benefit from a better understanding of all stages of team building and life. And in order not to duplicate information already provided, the theoretical part of this session describes some other important topics about the existence of the team.

It is worthwhile for a project coordinator or manager to patiently and consistently lead their team members towards becoming like-minded, moving towards the same goal. So what criteria could be used in determining whether the team has really banded together? Here are some points which testify to the successful achievement of team commonality.

• Team members have a common vision of project goals, project tasks bring members together;

• There are commonly accepted quality standards for individual and group work that are clear and accepted by all team members;

• The project manager is seen not only as a formal leader, but also as an authority for all team members;

• The team is focused on the target group of customers and accepts its needs; • Team members are motivated to solve problems and to help colleagues to solve their problems;

• Conflicts within a team are constructive and quickly resolved;

• Occasional mistakes are accepted with respect and peace, learning from experience and improving further processes.

TYPES OF PROJECT TEAM MANAGEMENT

The type of project management is one of the most important aspects of internal communication within a team, which should be clear and acceptable to all team members. This is an important part of the project’s life culture, which should remain invariable and consistent. Here are five types of team management.

1. The team leader makes all the decisions. This is an authoritarian type of team management. This type is most commonly applied in large corporations with an unlimited number of employees who do not have a higher education degree and work in unskilled jobs. Systematic managerial decisions are applied to the relevant work group circuits without leaving no room for discussion about these decisions.

2. Decisions are relied upon written and unwritten market and work field rules. Legal aspects, political decisions and recommendations, market prices and demand, the prevailing culture of work relations in the market, the culture of how team members are motivated, and the culture of work style have the greatest influence on the whole work culture and everyday decisions.

3. The type of bureaucratic management is most common in public institutions, political structures, and very large corporations with thousands of employees. In this case, each action and decision is documented according to publicly accepted

descriptions and regulations, in which case the main task of the team leader is to ensure that all the necessary performance indicators and bureaucratic requirements are achieved.

4. A type of democratic management, which an increasing number of Western culture states seek to apply in a wide range of sectors of activity. In this case, the team is seen as a community of professionals that unanimously seeks an overall result, and each team member is focused on both the overall result and his/her own personal growth. The main engine of this type of activity is the commonly adopted rules and democratic decisions which the whole team adheres to.

5. The type of collegial management is relatively new. In this case, the forms of management are equally distributed among several management subjects. The most important management factor here becomes the professionalism of the members of the management team who have certain specific competencies and knowledge. Often, the mechanism of collegial management is made up of several strong leaders, one of whom focuses more on the long-term strategy of future visions, the other – on the strategy of effective enforcement, the third – on the quality of processes and the like.

MOTIVATION OF TEAM MEMBERS

Another important aspect for the successful existence of the team is the motivation of team members. The planning and implementation of this responsibility usually falls on key team leaders. However, it is welcome when decisions on this issue are made or at least needs and ideas are expressed by all team members. In this methodology, when addressing the topic of motivation, we have already discussed the existence of external and intrinsic motivation. External motivation is usually a financial motivation, which is expressed in financial supplements, additional social guarantees, discounts, services, etc. At the same time, the methods of external motivation also have their disadvantages: when there are no more opportunities to externally encourage team members and when the external motivation factor disappears, the motivation of employees decreases significantly and disappears.

In any case, where possible, financial motivational tools are undoubtedly important and useful. However, even greater value and efficiency in the team is encouraged and developed by factors that raise intrinsic motivation. Several different methods and techniques for promoting intrinsic motivation can be distinguished: 1. Personal thanks are expressed to the team members for their participation and contribution to the whole project, activity. It is important to show a team member, even one who performs a minor function in the activity, that he/she is important and that the results of his/her work are significant. A member of the team is invited to a conversation, during which it is discussed how he/she managed to carry out the said task, what went well, what went not so well and he/she is thanked – personally or publicly.

2. Creating and applying a “leadership on call” schedule in team work. This means that during each meeting or each new activity, a particular team member is appointed who is fully responsible for that particular episode of teamwork or is given responsibility for a specific period of time.

3. An invitation to evaluate together team work in various aspects of a project or activity, even in those with which team members are not directly related. In this way, the team member feels that he/she is a significant part of the team and that his/her opinion matters.

4. Organization of various informal and recreational activities, the main function of which is to psychologically relax the atmosphere in the team, allow team members to get to know each other better and emotionally “restart” themselves and relationships in the team. 5. Providing opportunities for team members to broaden their overall and professional horizons, by changing the nature of their activities, migrating between project activities, divisions, departments, or responsibilities. This aspect is important because in the 21st century, vertical team management, that was usual a few decades ago, is being replaced by the vertical one. This means that even in the relationship between team members of large corporations and different departments, an equal relationship and shared mutual responsibility begin to entrench.

6. Additional days off, trips, the opportunity to study and change your work profile. 7. Combination of tighter and more detailed and flexible work schedules, enabling team members to plan their work time on their own and without stress, returning to shared responsibilities and accountability in certain episodes.

LEARNING NEEDS OF THE TEAM AND ITS MEMBERS

Before embarking on any new project, team commitment or activity, it is important to give all team members the opportunity to assess whether they have all the necessary knowledge and competencies for the successful implementation of the project and what training they would need to deepen and expand the required knowledge. As mentioned before, providing opportunity to learn and thus improve is one of the strongest tools for fostering intrinsic motivation. At the same time, it is important to anticipate how the acquired knowledge will be integrated into all work processes and how it will improve further work quality and indicators.

Below is an algorithm that will help to successfully reflect on all the most important issues related to learning needs and outcomes:

Team goals

What do we want to achieve?

Quantitative and qualitative results

What knowledge and skills are required in order to successfully achieve the projected goals? Learning needs analysis Why and what do we want to learn?

Areas of work and activities, where people lack knowledge Personal development and career needs Learning Integration Self-assessment

What are our learning goals?

What do we need to learn?

Who needs to learn and what?

How will learning be combined with work?

How will learning outcomes be measured? How will knowledge be integrated into everyday responsibility processes?

How will the knowledge gained be shared with other colleagues?

How will the acquired knowledge improve the quality of work?

What have we achieved thanks to our enriched knowledge baggage?

Qualitative indicators

Quantitative indicators

Changed work algorithms Financial indicators