The document summarizes key aspects of teamwork based on the research of Frank LaFasto and Carl Larson. It discusses 5 dynamics of effective teamwork: 1) competent team members, 2) unified relationships based on openness and support, 3) focused problem-solving, 4) collaborative leadership, and 5) supportive organizational environments that provide resources and clear priorities. The best time to improve teamwork is now by focusing on these dynamics.

1. “The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best
time is now.” - Chinese proverb
Teamwork:
What it Really Means
and How it Really Works

2. Think of a challenging team you were on…

3. Frank LaFasto and Carl Larson
• 1989: TeamWork: What Must Go Right/What
Can Go Wrong
• 2001: When Teams Work Best - 6,000 Team
Members and Leaders Tell What it Takes to
Succeed

4. Frank LaFasto and Carl Larson
(continued)
• Began working together in 1981
• LaFasto - Senior Vice President of
Organizational Effectiveness for Cardinal
Health, Inc.
• Larson - Professor of Human
Communication, University of Denver

5. First Sample
• Boeing 747 design team
• United States space command planning team
• Mountain climbing teams
• Space shuttle Challenger
• Accident (Pres. Commission)
• Cardiac surgery teams
• National championship athletic teams

6. TeamWork: What Must Go Right/
What Can Go Wrong
• Clear, elevating goal
• Results-driven structure
• Competent team members
• Unified commitment
• Collaborative climate
• Standards of excellence
• External support and recognition
• Principled leadership

7. When Teams Work Best
• 600 teams/6,000 team members
• Airline, auto, banking/finance, chemical,
computer, distribution, education, food,
healthcare, insurance, industrial equipment,
law enforcement, legal, retail, sports,
telecommunications, utilities

8. Five Dynamics of Teamwork
and Collaboration
• Team member
• Team relationships
• Team problem solving
• Team leadership
• Organizational environment

9. 1. Team Member - Working Knowledge
• Experience
• Problem-solving ability

10. Team Member - Teamwork Factors
• Openness
• Openness Issues:
– Communication climate
– Results
– Policies and bureaucracy
– Planning
– Role clarity
– Performance issues
– Passive Conspiracy

11. Team Member - Teamwork Factors
(continued)
• Supportiveness
• Action orientation
• Personal style

12. Team Member – Putting It To Work
• Collaborative Team Member Rating Sheet
“ Everybody thinks of changing humanity, and
nobody thinks of changing himself.”
- Leo Tolstoy

13. 2. Team Relationships
• Best and worst relationship exercise
• Research/best relationships:
• Constructive for both people
• Productive
• Mutual understanding
• Self-corrective

14. Team Relationships (continued)
• Research/most important - Openness and
supportiveness
• Research/most challenging - Dealing with
contention

15. Team Relationships - Connect Model
• Commit to the relationship
• Optimize safety
• Narrow the discussion to one issue
• Neutralize defensiveness
• Explain and echo each perspective
• Change one behavior each
• Track it

16. Team Relationships –
Putting It To Work
• Plan conversation with team member where
relationship could be better.
“A long dispute means that both parties are wrong.”
-Voltaire

17. 3. Problem Solving
• Focus
• Climate
• Communication
“Search all the parks, in all our cities. You’ll find no
statues of committees.”
-David Ogilvy

18. Team Problem Solving
• Mental, physical and spiritual energy
• Energy drain
• Goal

19. Team Problem Solving -
The Single Question Format
• Identify the issue
• Create a collaborative setting - agree on
principles for discussion; surface any
assumptions and biases.
• Identify and analyze the issues
• Identify possible solutions
• Resolve the single question

20. Team Problem Solving –
Putting It To Work
• Describe your team’s goal - what tangible, concrete
outcome trying to achieve?
• Describe the energies (mental, physical, spiritual)
that members of the team have focused, or should
be focusing, on the goal.
• Is the team’s energy drained away from the goal?
If so, where is it going? If so, is this impacting
team’s success?
• What could help the team regain focus on goal?
What is your role in this?

21. 4. Team Leader
• Focuses on the Goal
– Defines goal in a clear and elevating way
– Does not play politics
– Keeps the goal alive
– Helps individuals align their role and
responsibilities with team goal
– Reinforces goal in fresh and exciting ways
– If goal adjustment is needed, makes sure team
knows why

22. Team Leader (continued)
• Ensures a collaborative climate
– Makes communication safe
– Demands a collaborative approach
– Rewards collaborative behavior
– Guides the team problem-solving efforts
– Manages ego and personal control needs

23. Team Leader (continued)
• Builds confidence
– Gets results
– Makes team members smart about key issues and
facts
– Exhibits trust by assigning responsibility
– Is fair and impartial
– Accentuates the positive
– Says “thank you”

24. Team Leader (continued)
• Demonstrate sufficient technical know-how
– Know your stuff
– Get help

25. Team Leader (continued)
• Sets priorities
– What must happen and what must not
– Changing priorities

26. Team Leader (continued)
• Manages performance
– Requires results: make performance expectations
clear
– Review results: give constructive feedback and
resolve performance issues
– Reward results: recognize superior performance

27. Team Leader – Putting It To Work
• Collaborative team leader questionnaire
“My responsibility is to get my 25 guys playing for
the name on the front of their shirt and not the one
on the back.”
-Tommy Lasorda

28. 5. Organizational Environment
• Management practices
– Clear direction and priorities
– Balances resources and demands
– Establishes clear operating principles

29. Organizational Environment
(continued)
• Structure and processes
– Effective processes - foster effective decision
making, keep people connected
– Effective communication processes - align
information, understanding, and effort.

30. Organizatonal Environment
(continued)
• Systems
– Necessity of reliable information
– Relevant rewards drive required results
– Standards lead to consistency and fairness

31. Organizational Environment -
Putting It To Work
• Three dimensions of organizational
environment
“I never worry about action, but only about
inaction.”
-Winston Churchill