1. Team Building
Dr. Nicola Mezzetti
Software Architect, Team Leader
venerdì 12 febbraio 2010 1

2. The Idea
“A team is a small number of people with complementary skills
who are committed to a common purpose, performance
goals, and a common approach for which they hold
themselves mutually accountable ”

A team is the best organization for involving all employees in creating business success and
profitability

How can the disciplines, the frameworks, and techniques required for team building and good team
performance be developed and implemented?

How can what is already in place and in play be improved?
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There is a great need for groups of all sorts to learn about team building and how to go about it
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3. The need for team building

The symptoms that signal a need for team building are
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Decreased productivity

Negative reactions to the manager or conflicts and hostility between staff members
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Confusion about assignments, missed signals and unclear relationships
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Decisions misunderstood or not carried out through properly

Apathy and lack of involvement, initiation, imagination, and innovation

Complaints of discrimination or favoritism
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Ineffective staff meetings, low participation, minimally effective decisions

Complaints about quality service
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4. Reasons for Team Building

Improving communication

Making the workplace more enjoyable

Motivating a team or improve team productivity
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Getting everyone "onto the same page", including goal setting

Teaching the team self-regulation strategies
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Helping participants to learn (more about) themselves

Identifying and utilizing the strengths of team members

Practicing effective collaboration with team members
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5. The ingredients of team building

Selection of participants

Establishing visions, goals, missions and/or objectives
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Distribution of workload
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Timetabling
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Balancing skill-set
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Metrics
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Harmonizing personality types
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Training on how to work together
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6. Skills needed for teamwork

A wide variety of social skills are desirable for successful teamworking, including

Listening – it is important to listen to other people's ideas.When people are allowed to freely express
their ideas, these initial ideas will produce other ideas

Questioning – it is important to ask questions, interact and discuss the objectives of the team

Persuading – individuals are encouraged to exchange, defend, and ultimately to rethink their ideas
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7. Skills needed for teamwork

More skills needed:
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Respecting – it is important to treat others with respect and to support their ideas
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Helping – it is crucial to help one's co-workers
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Sharing – it is important to share with the team to create a team environment
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Participating – all members of the team must participate in it
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8. Steps to build an effective team

Consider each employee's ideas valuable
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Be aware of employees' unspoken feelings
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Act as a harmonizing influence
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Be clear when communicating
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Encourage trust and cooperation among employees
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Encourage team members to share information
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Delegate problem-solving tasks to the team
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Facilitate communication
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9. Steps to build an effective team
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Establish team values and goals; evaluate team performance
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Have a clear idea of what you need to accomplish
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Establish consensus
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Set ground rules for the team
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Establish a method for arriving at a consensus
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Encourage listening and brainstorming
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Establish the parameters of consensus-building sessions
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10. The CARB model
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The CARB model defines four dimensions over which a good team builder has to work in order to
create a solid and effective team
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Commitment to the team and each other
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Alignment and goal agreement
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Relationships among team members
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Behaviors and skills
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11. Commitment to the team and each other
 Belief: Individual motivations are clear and generally understood. People are able to believe
in the team, its individual members and the work of the team
 Agreements: People have a mutually agreed on a set of norms that define performance,
behavior and “how things are done,” productivity is greatly improved
 Trust: Trust in team members and trust in leadership are necessary for the levels of
commitment required for high-performing teams
 Support: If people are supporting team decisions, commitment is likely present. If people are
supporting each other through tough parts of a team’s life, they are likely committed
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12. Alignment and goal agreement
 Start at the beginning:

Make sure the organization’s goals and strategies are set. At a minimum the team needs to
understand, from the start, why their work product matters in the bigger picture and how they can
make a positive impact
 Generate conversation:

Make the time to have conversation. The alignment we are searching for needs to be deep. Help
individuals and the team develop meaning and purpose. Help them understand how they can create
work that matters.
 Get the team's help:

When people have the chance to shape the goals of the team, and when given the opportunity to
have input into those decisions, they will have greater agreement with the goals.
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13. Alignment and goal agreement
 Provide a connection:
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Teams need someone in leadership “above” them that can provide support and resources ―
someone who can answer questions and keep them on track.
 Make them accountable:
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If the alignment is clear and the goals set, then the team needs to be held accountable for results.
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14. Relationships among team members
 Learn each other’s strengths:
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Strong teams not only like each other, they know each other’s strengths.
 Find ways to capitalize on those strengths:
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The best team building activities give people a chance to be themselves, without all the structure and
trappings of the workplace, helping others see how those strengths can be tapped by the team.
 Get comfortable with asking for help:
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Highly effective team members are willing to ask for help, regardless of their role on the team.
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15. Relationships among team members
 Initiation processes:
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The application of processes that require teams to agree on norms will have greater success with
teams that change membership frequently.
 Role definition:
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Team members need to understand where they fit in and what their roles are. When new teams are
chartered or started there needs to be a format and plan for discussion of team member roles and
expectations.
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16. Behaviors and skills
 Strong technical skills and competence:

Having the subject matter knowledge, industry perspective or specific skills the team needs
is critical.
 Able to trust others:
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The best team members though are willing to start from a position of basic trust in their
teammates. This trust can deepen and grow, but the most effective team members are
willing to assume the best and work together more effectively from the beginning.
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17. Behaviors and skills
 Able to participate and lead effective meetings:
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Meetings develop the ability to contribute ideas and insights, to help the team move towards the
desired results, to provide feedback when needed, and the ability to and willingness to stay focused.
 Comfortable and competent at group problem solving:

Effective team members know how to work together to solve problems, how to listen to the ideas of
others, to ask questions without being condescending and to make sure that the strengths of each
team member are taken into account in the problem solving process.
 Willing to continuously learn:
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For teams to succeed each individual on the team needs to continuously improve their individual
skills.
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18. Types of teams

Interdependent team
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No significant task can be accomplished without the help of essentially all the team members
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Independent team
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Every person performs basically the same actions
− Whether one team member performs well or not, that has no direct effect on the performance
of the next person
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19. Types of teams

Virtual team

Consists of members joined electronically, using technology tools such as the Internet
− This allows teams to be formed of members otherwise unavailable
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Project team
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A team used only for a defined period of time and for a separate, concretely definable, purpose
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20. What team building should be

Team building must be:
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A natural behavior
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The responsibility of any team member
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A continuous process about developing a clear and unique identity
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Focused on a clear and consistent set of goals
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Concerned with the needs and ambitions of each member and recognizing his unique contributions
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An awareness of the potential of the team as a unit
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Result oriented
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Enjoyable
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21. What team building should not be
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Team building must not be
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Imposed without regard to people's feelings
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Reserved for only some members of the team
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An excuse for not meeting personal responsibilities
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A process where actions contradict intentions
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Without a goal shared by all members
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22. Stages of team development
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Stage 1: Forming
− The team is created with clear structure, goals, direction and roles
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Stage 2: Storming
− The team refocuses on its goals, breaking larger goals down into smaller, achievable steps
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Stage 3: Norming
− Members shift their energy to the team's goals and increase in productivity
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Stage 4: Performing
− The team makes significant progress
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Stage 5: Termination/Ending
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23. Forming
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Supervisors need to be directive during this phase
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Team initially concern themselves with orientation accomplished primarily through testing
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Team members get to know one another, and their respective strengths
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Team members are focused on themselves and tend to behave independently and to show their best
behavior
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Testing allows to understand how each member of the team works as an individual and how they
respond to pressure

Testing also allow to establish the dependency relationships with leaders, other group members,
or pre-existing norms
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The team learns about the opportunity and challenges, and then agrees on goals and begins to
tackle the tasks
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24. Storming
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Team members open up to each other and confront each other's ideas and perspectives
− what problems they are really supposed to solve,
− how they will function independently and together, and
− what leadership model they will accept

The maturity of some team members usually determines whether the team will ever move out of
this stage
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This stage can become destructive to the team and will lower motivation if allowed to get out of
control
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Supervisors may still need to be directive in their guidance of decision-making and
professional behavior
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25. Norming
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Team members adjust their behavior to each other as they develop work habits that make
teamwork seem more natural and fluid
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Team members begin to trust each other
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Motivation increases as the team gets more acquainted with the project

Team supervisors tend to be participative more than in the earlier stages

Team members can be expected to take more responsibility for making decisions and for their
professional behavior

Team members work through this stage by agreeing on rules, values, professional behavior,
shared methods, and working tools
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Some members can begin to feel threatened by the amount of responsibility they have been given

If the norming behavior becomes too strong, teams may loose creativity
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26. Performing

Teams are now able to function as a unit as they find ways to get the job done smoothly and
effectively without inappropriate conflict or the need for external supervision

Team members have become interdependent, competent, autonomous and able to handle the
decision-making process without supervision
− Dissent is expected and allowed as long as it is channeled through means acceptable to the
team
− Supervisors of the team during this phase are almost always participative

Many teams will go through these cycles many times as they react to changing circumstances
− A change in leadership may cause the team to revert to storming as the new people challenge
the existing norms of the team
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27. Belbin team inventory

Plant
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Creative, bright and free-thinking
− Can ignore incidentals and refrain from getting bogged down in detail
− Often poor in communicating ideas to others
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Resource Investigator
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Focused outside the team, he is a maker of possibilities and an excellent networker
− Can give a team a rush of enthusiasm at the start of the project
− Can have a tendency to lose momentum towards the end of a project and to forget small details
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28. Belbin team inventory
 Coordinator
 Confident, stable and mature; chairperson of a team, stepping back to see the big picture
− Because they recognize abilities in others, they can delegating tasks to the right person for the job
− Clarify decisions, helping everyone else focus on their tasks
− Can tend to delegate any activity
 Shaper
 Task-focused leader who has a high motivation to achieve and for whom winning is the name of the game
− Will ‘shape’ others into achieving the aims of the team
− Will possibly challenge, argue or disagree; will display aggression in the pursuit of goal achievement
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29. Belbin team inventory

Monitor Evaluator
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Fair and logical observers and judges of what is going on; they are often the ones to see all available
options with the greatest clarity
− Can be very critical, damping enthusiasm for anything without logical grounds
− Can have a hard time inspiring themselves or others to be passionate

Team worker

Good listeners and diplomats, talented at smoothing over conflicts and helping parties understand
each other without becoming confrontational

Because of an unwillingness to take sides, a Team worker may not be able to take decisive action
when it is needed
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30. Belbin team inventory

Implementer

Motivated, efficient and self-disciplined; can always be relied on to deliver on time
− Can take what the other roles have suggested or asked
− They will often take on jobs everyone else avoids or dislikes
− Will often have difficulty deviating from their own plans

Completer Finisher
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Perfectionist with a strong inward sense of the need for accuracy
− The delivered artifacts can be trusted to have been double-checked
− Tend to worry excessively about minor details and to refuse to delegate tasks that they do not
trust anyone else to perform
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31. Belbin team inventory
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Specialist
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Passionate about learning and constantly improving their knowledge in their own particular field;
they will have the greatest depth of knowledge, and will enjoy imparting it to others
− Bring a high level of concentration, ability, and skill in their discipline to the team
− Can only contribute on that narrow front and will tend to be uninterested in anything which lies
outside its narrow confines
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32. What to do about team failures?

Learn about teams. Don't invest in anything without first finding out what it will (or won't) do for
you
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Learn before you leap. Visit other companies, read, send people to conferences, etc.

Develop your vision and strategy. Create a specific picture of what you want to have in place

Explore readiness. Take a careful look at where to start
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Choose the right team structure to fit your needs
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Craft a plan. You can't implement workplace teams in an ad-hoc fashion
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33. What to do about team failures?

Focus on real work. Effective work teams get high quality results with high levels of engagement
and satisfaction
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Expect transition time. Success won't happen overnight
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Form friendships. A “best friend at work” is one of the most important factors that contribute to
high performance teams

Fire people who refuse to join in
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Give permission to start over.
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Appreciate how powerful teams really are. The momentum they bring can be unstoppable and
highly influential
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34. Contributions of a team leader
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Put forward, in cooperation with team members, a vision of what the team is to do
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Participate in defining the composition of the team
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Help developing a set of principles that will contribute to success
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Should be the liaison between the team and upper management
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Obtaining full commitment managers in support of the team
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Allow capable members to help provide some leadership
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Be fair, supportive, and can make final judgments as needed
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35. The good team leader
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In order to implement the desired team behavior, you have to watch what you say to others

Be kind
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Be aware of your effects on others
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Emphasize the positive
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Don't assume you have been understood
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Know when to shut up
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Don't interrupt
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Don't gossip
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36. Be kind

No matter what you say or how you say it, at bottom your communication will always reveal
your true thoughts and attitudes

You can communicate from a standpoint of kindness or from one of uncertainty

Kindness means respect, appreciation, acceptance, joy, delight, wonder

Uncertainty means sarcasm, blame, threat, anger, anxiety, worry, and control

Kindness enables setting up a working environment governed by mutual respect and motivation
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37. Be aware of your effect on others

We often use language to criticize and attack others

Some people are masters of doing this in disguise; others do it openly

For many, communication is a battle that they have to win and words are their chief weapons of war

Harsh words can cut people deep and leave their scars for days if not years

Knowing what effect your words have on others, and knowing how to adjust it, is the key for
positively affecting the teams morale
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38. Emphasize the positive

Governing a team is not just about getting your message across or even clarifying what someone
else is trying to say to you

Great team leaders leave people feeling better than they did

They say something of value to the other person

Or they appreciated what the other person was saying to them

Governing a team means working with people, not with words
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39. Don’t assume you’ve been understood

The history of relationships is littered with the history of misunderstood communications

A word gone awry here, a meaning missed there: they all add up to distorting your message
and being mis-received

First, seek to be understood; then understand
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40. Know when to shut up

If there was a problem and you had responsibilities in finding a solution, you’ll know how hard it
is to say nothing

When facing problems, many leaders just talk to take time or to show themselves dominating the
problem

Talking is a way to impress, even if it isn’t relevant, even if the point has already been made

As a result, team members could be disoriented and worried
− Possibly, they did not understood or they don't know what to do

The best team leaders are those who are secure enough to admit when they have little to say or
little to add
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41. Don’t interrupt

If you’ve ever eavesdropped on a conversation between two people, you’ll probably have noticed
that, instead of there being a progression of ideas building one on top of the other, most people
talk over one another

It resembles a contest more than a dialogue

It is rare to see people listening with openness and non-judgment until the other person has
stopped speaking

And even rarer to hear people asking for clarification and help with understanding

The good leader can hold back while listening to others, and further ask for reasons or
clarifications
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42. Don’t gossip

Gossip is a particularly pernicious form of communication

It is idle, often indulged in merely to pass the time, and serves no real purpose other than to make
ourselves feel better at the expense of others

If you work with others who like to gossip, simply learn the trick of disengagement: don’t reply,
don’t be drawn in, and never do it yourself
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