Team Effectiveness
The term 'team building' can refer generally to the selection and motivation of teams, or more specifically to group self-assessment in the theory and practice of organizational development.
When a team in an organizational development context embarks upon a process of self-assessment in order to gauge its own effectiveness and thereby improve performance, it can be argued that it is engaging in team building, although this may be considered a narrow definition.
The process of team building includes
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clarifying the goal, and building ownership across the team
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identifying the inhibitors to teamwork and removing or overcoming them, or if they cannot be removed, mitigating their negative effect on the team.
To assess itself, a team seeks feedback to find out both:
- its current strengths as a team
- its current weaknesses
To improve its current performance, a team uses the feedback from the team assessment in order to:
- identify any gap between the desired state and the actual state
- design a gap-closure strategy
Typical presenting issues that suggest Team Effectiveness should be explored:
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A team is underperforming (not achieving desired results)
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There is conflict or tension on the team which interferes with team results
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There is a pattern of concerns, confusion, or complaints related to any of the following:
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Getting the job done
- Organizational and leadership support of the team
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Team mission and guiding principles
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Processes and planning
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Relationships among team members
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Skillsets and interdependencies in roles among team members
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Structure of the team
- Communication across the team
