Building a Winning Team

A humorous look at why teams work

A team needs technical skills, plus a desire to be a team. Enthusiasm I believe that a lot of the failed teams are due to too much enthusiasm and too little technical skill. But even the best of the most technically skilled people will sometimes see things differently. A Mathematician, a Biologist and a Statistician were sitting in a street cafe watching an apparently empty house on the other side of the street. Suddenly they noticed two people enter the house. After a while they notice three people coming out of the house. The Statistician said: "The variation is due to permissible sampling error." The Biologist concluded: "They have reproduced." The Mathematician said: "If another person goes into the hose, it will be empty again!"

Initiator / Responder; Conceptual / Practical

There are two sorts of people: Those who believe there are two sorts of people and those who don't. Although it has been suggested that there are really three sorts of people, those who count and those who don't. Let's develop a matrix with two lots of two sorts of people: At the extremes of the horizontal axis place INITIATOR and RESPONDER Residents of a picturesque town at the foot of a mountain were very concerned about the number of sightseers who fell to their death from the lookout above the town. The pro-active villagers - the initiators - wanted to build a fence at the top of the mountain. Those with a reactive mindset - the responders -were in favour of building an ambulance station at the foot of the mountain. At the extremes of the vertical axis, place CONCEPTUAL and PRACTICAL. Height above sea level can be determined by measuring the change in atmospheric pressure. An instructor set the class a problem which required them to use a barometer to measure the height of a building. Some set about using the complex formula and taking the necessary measurements, however a few recognised that to do so accurately would require two barometers. So they set about finding alternatives. One reasoned that the best way would be to drop the barometer from the top of the building and measure the time it took to fall, then calculate the distance. Unfortunately, this requires compensation for air resistance and wind velocity. Another reasoned that the best way would be to attach the barometer to a length of string and lower the barometer over the side of the building. Then measure the length of the string. Unfortunately inaccuracies would be introduced by the extension of the string due to stretching under the weight of the barometer. The most accurate result was achieved by the student who went to a clerk in the city building permits office and said: "If you will look up your records and find the height of the building I will give you this valuable barometer.

Teamwork is not for everybody. In 1998, a friend of mine went as a volunteer to help in a disaster relief project in New Guinea after the tidal wave destroyed the coastal villages. He is an ambulance driver over here, so they put him in the medical corps over there. Even though he had seen a lot of blood on the roadside, nothing could have prepared him for what he encountered. He said the thing that saved him was a doctor that he described as more like Hawkeye, the doctor in MASH, than Hawkeye was. He said that this Hawkeye look alike told him to divide the patients into three categories: Those that no-one could do anything for; those that would get better on their own without any medical intervention, and those whose future would improve with the resources that they had available." In the same way, some people will take to teamwork intuitively. Some will never be abler to accept the demands that teamwork places on them. Our role as motivators is to take middle group - the ones who can only advance with guidance and help and make it possible for them to perform at their best as part of a team.

Team Skills
In addition to functional skills, an effective team needs people to perform team maintenance roles: An ORIGINATOR is a person who creates new ideas. Not every team will need one, and often the originator's role is finished when the team comes on board. Legends of authors who argued with producers about the handling of their book when made into a movie are legion. Yet both the book and the movie were successes - just different. In the same way, the team may adapt, adjust, bend and distort the original idea, often to the chagrin of its inventor, but this is needed to bring it to market. On our matrix the originator is an INITIATOR and CONCEPTUAL. We need to learn to value our originators. A visitor to a large company noticed that despite very tight control over numbers, one person was sitting at a desk in a spacious, very comfortable office with his feet on the desk doing a cross word. The visitor figured that it was a break or something and didn't comment. An hour later, the visitor passed the office and the same man was still sitting there not doing anything that remotely resembled work. Two hours later - the same situation. Finally it was too much for the visitor who said to the guide: "Look, I'm very impressed by the efficiency and tightness with which you run this operation, but there is one person who doesn't seem to do anything." "Oh, you mean Eric. He had an idea once that so far has made this company a billion dollars. We keep him here in case he has another one." The originator's motto: First you jump off the cliff then you build your wings on the way down. When Edison was attempting to construct the first light globe, he didn't have any failures. As he saw it, he discovered 1000 ways not to build a light bulb. But even the greatest originator may become bored at the associated work that goes with being brilliant. When Albert Einstein was making the rounds of the speaker's circuit, he usually found himself eagerly longing to get back to his laboratory work. One night as they were driving to yet another rubber-chicken dinner, Einstein mentioned to his chauffeur (a man who somewhat resembled Einstein in looks & manner) that he was tired of speechmaking. "I have an idea, boss," his chauffeur said. "I've heard you give this speech so many times,

I'll bet I could give it for you." Einstein laughed loudly and said, "Why not? Let's do it!" When they arrived at the dinner, Einstein donned the chauffeur's cap and jacket and sat in the back of the room. The chauffeur gave a beautiful rendition of Einstein's speech and even answered a few questions expertly. Then a supremely pompous professor asked an extremely esoteric question about antimatter formation, digressing here and there to let everyone in the audience know that he was nobody's fool. Without missing a beat, the chauffeur fixed the professor with a steely stare and said, "Sir, the answer to that question is so simple that I will let my chauffeur, who is sitting in the back, answer it for me." The role of the PROMOTER is to take the idea and make it useful. On the matrix, the promoter is an INITIATOR and PRACTICAL. Perhaps the promoter's role may be to convert something that is happening now. A wise old gentleman retired and purchased a modest home near a junior high school. He spent the first few weeks of his retirement in peace and contentment. Then a new school year began. The very next afternoon three young boys, full of youthful, after-school enthusiasm, came down his street, beating merrily on every trash can they encountered. The crashing percussion continued day after day, until finally the wise old man decided it was time to take some action. The next afternoon, he walked out to meet the young percussionists as they banged their way down the street. Stopping them, he said, "You kids are a lot of fun. I like to see you express your exuberance like that. Used to do the same thing when I was your age. Will you do me a favour? I'll give you each a dollar if you'll promise to come around every day and do your thing." The kids were elated and continued to do a bang-up job on the trashcans. After a few days, the old-timer greeted the kids again, but this time he had a sad smile on his face. "This recession's really putting a big dent in my income," he told them. "From now on, I'll only be able to pay you 50 cents to beat on the cans." The noisemakers were obviously displeased, but they did accept his offer and continued their afternoon ruckus. A few days later, the wily retiree approached them again as they drummed their way down the street. "Look," he said, "I haven't received my Social Security check yet, so I'm not going to be able to give you more than 25 cents. Will that be okay?" "A lousy quarter?" the drum leader exclaimed. "If you think we're going to waste our time, beating these cans around for a quarter, you're nuts! No way, mister. We quit!" And the old man enjoyed peace and serenity for the rest of his days. The promoter is the networker, the person who probably can't do it alone, but knows someone who can. In addition, the promoter will be a lateral thinker, who can appreciate an alternative way to solve the problem. The promoter would agree with Thomas Carlyle: The man who is most original is the one who can adapt from the greatest number of sources. The SYNTHESISER will highly prize rules, structures and systems. The Synthesiser brings the positives from the other team members together and takes steps to minimise the negatives. When the more creative team members challenge the rules which keep the process in place, the Synthesiser may have to justify the situation. A customer lit up a cigarette in a supermarket. The store manager pulled him a side and said politely: "Excuse me sir, there is a no smoking policy in this supermarket." "That's hypocrisy - you sell them, why can't I use them?" countered the irate customer. The manager explained: "We also sell condoms!"

The Synthesiser will also have ability to find ways to do the undoable: An employee was leaving the factory with a wheel barrow containing what appeared to be water. The security guard stopped him and asked, "What's in the barrow?" "Water," answered the employee. The guard says: "We'll just see about that..." The guard took a bottle full of the water out of the barrow sent it away for analysis. He detained the employee overnight, but the report came back: nothing but pure water. Reluctantly, the guard released the employee, topped the barrow up with water and let him go. A week later, the same thing happens -- the employee again has a barrow full of water. The guard asks him, "What have you got?" and the employee replied, "Water." Again the guard does a thorough examination and discovered that the barrow contained nothing but water. He gives the water back and the employee goes out through the gate.. This sequence is repeated every Thursday for several years until finally it is time for the employee to retire. "Hey, Buddy," says the guard to his nemesis, "I know you've been stealing something... It's been driving me crazy. It's all I think about! I can't sleep. Just between you and me, what are you smuggling?" The employee grins and reveals: "Wheelbarrows."

Implementer
The Implemeneter's motto is: Just Do It Sometimes implementers don't do all the work, but their priority is setting things up so that the work gets done: An implementer who was in jail received a letter from his wife. "I have decided to plant some lettuce in the back garden. When is the best time to plant them?" The prisoner, knowing that the guards read all mail, replied in a letter, "Dear Wife, whatever you do, do not touch the back garden. That is where I hid all the gold." A week or so later, he received another letter from his wife: "You wouldn't believe what happened, some men came with shovels to the house, and dug up all the back garden." The prisoner wrote another letter: "Dear wife, now is the best time to plant the lettuce." The DIRECTOR expects instructions to be followed. This is ideal in a crisis, when the motto may be necessary: Be reasonable, do it my way Ten year old Johnny rushed home from school. He invaded the fridge and was scooping out some creamy vanilla ice cream when his mother came into the kitchen. "Put that away, Johnny. You can't have ice cream now. It's too close to supper time. Go outside and play." The youngster whimpered and said, "There's no one to play with." Trying to placate him, she said, "OK. I'll play with you. What do you want to do?" He said, "I want to play Mommy and Daddy." Trying not to register surprise, and to further appease him, she said, "Fine, I'll play. What do I do?" Johnny said, "You go up to the bedroom and lie down." Figuring that she can easily control the situation Mom went upstairs. Johnny, feeling a bit cocky, swaggered down the hall and opened the utility closet. He donned his father's old fishing hat. As he started up the stairs he noticed a cigarette butt in the ashtray on the end table. He picked it up and sliped it in the corner of his mouth. At the top of the stairs he moved to the bedroom doorway.

His mother raised her head and said, "What do I do now?" In a gruff manner, Johnny said, "Get downstairs and get that kid some ice cream!" When all of the other team members come together, the HARMONIZER's role comes to smoothing the interactions: People are really important The HARMONIZER knows that different people see the same thing different ways. This role is positioned at the responsive end of the horizontal axis, and at the Practical end of the vertical axis. A traveller in the country saw a farmer, who was a harmoniser, standing in the field. "Can you tell me anything about the people in the next village?" he asked. "What were the people like in the place you just left?" asked the farmer. "They were terrible to do business with. They showed little interest in my needs, they were rude, and they were incompetent," advised the traveller. "Unfortunately the people in the next town are not much different," the farmer announced. An hour later another traveller asked the same farmer the same question. "What were the people like in the place you just left?" asked the farmer. "They were wonderful. They showed that they cared about me, they were polite, and they were helpful," advised the traveller. "I'm pleased to tell you that the people in the next town are exactly the same," the farmer announced. When each of the travellers returned, the farmer was still in his field. "You were right!" they both said. The CRITIC is at the responsive end of the matrix, mid way between conceptual and practical. Madame Curie: "One never notices what has been done, one can only see what remains to be done Sometimes the critic will appear to be a bit harsh: A bus load of politicians were driving down a country road when suddenly the bus ran off the road and crashed into a tree in an old farmer's field. Seeing what happened, the old farmer went over to investigate. He then proceeded to dig a hole and bury the politicians. A few days later, the local sheriff came out, saw the crashed bus, and asked the old farmer, "Were they all dead?" The old farmer replied, "Well, some of them said they weren't, but you know how them politicians lie." The critic is able to keep focussed on the future while reflecting on the present and what has happened in the past. Last week-end, I saw a woman in the grocery store with a three year old girl in her trolley. When they came to the cookie section, the little girl asked for cookies and her mother said no. The little girl began to cry but the mother just said quietly: "Now Trish, we just have half of the aisles left to go through; don't be upset. It won't be long." Soon they came to the candy aisle, and the little girl began to shout for candy. And when told she couldn't have any, she began to shriek. The mother said, "There, there, Trish, don't be upset--only two more aisles to go, and then we'll be at the checkout." When they got to the check-out, the little girl asked for gum. She burst into a terrible tantrum when she was told that there would be no gum. The mother patiently said, "Trish, we'll be through this check out in 2 minutes and then you can go home and have a nice nap." I followed them out to the parking lot and stopped the woman to compliment her. "I

couldn't help noticing how patient you were with little Trish," I began. Whereupon the mother said, "I'm Trish.......my little girl's name is Paige." The CLOSER picks up the pieces that are left to be done. The closer knows that the job is not completed until all of the details have been attended to: Joe found himself in dire trouble. His business has gone bust and he is in serious financial difficulty. He was so desperate that he decided to ask God for help. He began to pray... "God, please help me, I've lost my business and if I don't get some money soon I'm going to lose my house as well. Please let me win the lotto". Lotto night came and somebody else wins it. Joe again prays... "God, please let me win the lotto! I've lost my business, my house and I'm going to lose my car as well". Lotto night comes and Joe still has no luck. Once again, he prays... "My God, why have you forsaken me?? I've lost my business, my house, and my car. My wife and children are starving. I don't often ask you for help and I have always been a good servant to you. PLEASE just let me win the lotto this one time so I can get my life back in order ... " Suddenly there is a blinding flash of light as the heavens open and Joe is confronted by the voice of GOD himself: "JOE, MEET ME HALF WAY ON THIS ONE ...PLEASE BUY A TICKET!" The promoter says the glass is half full, the critic says it is half empty, the director says the glass is too big, the implementer fills it, and the closer drinks the water, washes the glass, dries it and puts it away.

http://www.cornell.edu/OHR/TNET/Icebreakers/Icebreakers.html
http://www.ideazone.com/IceBreakers_&_Warmups.html

Names & Adjectives

Ask each participant to take a few moments to think of an adjective that starts with the same first letter as their first name (e.g. "Merry Marilee"). Start by modeling it yourself. Then move around the group asking each person to state their name/adjective combination. Additionally, participants can be asked to share "where they work," or other pertinent information. At various points during introductions, or at the end, ask for volunteers to remember each of the names, with adjectives, that have been volunteered thus far. Reinforce the efforts and successes of volunteers.

Names & Stories

Ask participants to introduce themselves, with each person talking briefly about the most ridiculous thing they've done in their working life.

Meeting warm-ups
Quick ideas to get people focused in the room on each other; also ready to participate. Go around the table (or circle) and complete one of these sentences: Once upon a time, I... My ideal vacation is... The riskiest thing I ever did was... The wildest thing I ever did (that I'll admit to ) is... These are easy to make up and can be topical (what I did on my summer vacation, my plans for the weekend are...)

Toilet Paper Go-Round

Purpose: Use for short introductions at the start of a "heavy" or "intense" kind of meeting in order to lighten the atmosphere. Material: 1 roll of toilet paper (if you "borrow" it from an office bathroom, be kind and leave some for your colleagues!) Instructions: Pass around a roll of toilet paper and say something like "just in case this meeting gets a little messy, everyone needs to take some" (with no other qualifiers or instruction). Then go on with other business (agenda, minutes, "housekeeping" items...) as the roll makes it way around the room. Some folks by nature will take many "squares" and some just a few.. once everyone has had the roll, and you've finished other business, ask everyone to introduce themselves and share with the group as many "things" about themselves as number of "squares" they took! You can suggest the "things" be generic or make it work-related.. you choose.

Ha
This exercise asks the participants to pass the word 'ha' around a circle. This activity is generally more effective when used during the later stage of the training program or session. Time Reference: Approximately 5 to 7 minutes. Group Size: Best suited for a group of 20 or fewer participants. Space Required: A room that has the potential for flexible seating. Material Needed: None. 1. The trainer first asks the group members to form a circular seating arrangement. 2. When the participants are seated. the group leader explains that the object of this game is for the participants, without laughing, to pass the word "ha" around the circle. 3. The trainer then designates one participant to be the head of the circle. That participant begins the game by saving "ha". 4. The person sitting to his or her right must repeat the "ha" and then say another "ha." The third person must say ha. ha and then given an additional "ha." In this manner the "ha" continues around the circle. The game ends when all of the participants. trying not to laugh (a virtual impossibility), have repeated the "ha's" that preceded them and then added their own "ha." Variations: 1. The trainer may use another word in place of "ha." For example: "yuk," "har," or "tee hee." 2. The group leader may ask all of the participants to repeat the "ha's." stopping only to let the person whose turn it is pipe in with his or her own. 3. The trainer may continue the exercise for five minutes. regardless of how many times the "ha's" go around the circle. Honey I Love You In this game everyone is sitting in a circle. As the facilitator you will normally go first. The object is to identify someone in the circle, go up to them, and say "Honey, I love you, but I just can't make you laugh" with the express purpose of making them laugh. The person you are saying this to has to look at you and work at keeping a straight face. If after three tries at getting them to laugh you haven't succeeded, pick another target. If they laugh or even smile they move into the middle of the circle and select a target. You can do just about anything to get someone to laugh except touch them. Funny faces, strange voices, props, etc. are all fair game. Once a person has been made to laugh, they can no longer be a target. The game goes on until the last person either breaks down and laughs or withstands the final three attempts at getting them to laugh. Note that depending on the size of the group and the ability of folks to keep a poker face, this is often not a quick game. Nevertheless, its always a lot of fun.

LOGOS
Each person is given a blank name tag. Explain to the group that corporations are recognized by a specific logo or symbol. (McDonalds arches, 3M, Apple Computer's Apple, etc.) They are given 2 minutes to draw their personal logo. This logo should reflect their personality, their interests, major or any thing they would like other people to know about them. Then give the group time to mingle and see what each others logo looks like. When it looks like the entire group has mixed, instruct everybody with a similar logo to form a small group. You may be surprised at how many similarities there are in your group.

Two Truths & a Lie

Objectives: To allow people to get to know and appreciate one another better, through discovering both common and unique interests and experiences. To help level the playing field within a group through making human connections that aren't related to either organizational or power structures. To help people begin to be more comfortable talking and listening with one another. To begin to facilitate the process of people exposing something of themselves and their ideas to a group. But most of all -- to have some FUN! Design: In groups of three to eight (depending on how much time you want to devote to this exercise) have individuals take turns making three statements about themselves -- two which are true; one that is a lie. After an individual makes their statements, the other folks in the group discuss among themselves which seem most plausible and what is most likely to be the lie. Once they come to some sort of consensus, the individual who made the statements not only tells which is the "lie" but also provides a bit more background about the "truths" as well as what made them think folks might have thought the "lie" was a "truth." A group of three can easily do this in less than 10 minutes. A group of eight can take from 20 to 30 minutes. Comments: This game works well with groups that are new to one another. It is often surprising how relative strangers can instinctively pick up the nuances between truths and lies based on very little information. The game also works well with groups that have been together awhile and Think they know a lot about each other. The first person or two asked to make statements can find it pretty difficult, but after a couple of folks have taken a turn others typically find it easier to do. One way to help alleviate this and make the process run smoother is to alert a couple of people beforehand to begin thinking so that they can be somewhat more ready to volunteer. This type of a "plant" can make it much easier for folks who come later because they won't see someone "struggle" and get "uptight" about their ability to "perform." Another way to get around the difficulty the "first" folks have is to start it yourself. This exercise can also be done "electronically" with groups that aren't physically located together, but have been "assembled" to work together on some task -- for example a cross-functional committee or a committee of a national association that has folks from across the country participating. It takes a little longer -- a group of seven I once participated in took a month of calendar time to do an e-mail version of this -- but it provided the same benefits.

"Do you know me?"

Each person is given a nametag and an index card. The name tag has the name of another person in the group on it. Everyone is told to circulate, meet, mix and mingle to gather information, insights or stories about the person on their tag from group members. The opening line "Do you know me?" is used to help generate clues and conversation. The index card is to be used to write down the information collected. At the end of a designated time - about 15 minutes, each participant introduces their "name tag" and its person to the group.

All My Neighbors #1 You need an odd number of people for this game that is a distant cousin to musical chairs. Everyone begins by sitting on chairs in a circle with the facilitator standing in the middle. Explain that the person in the middle needs to find some "neighbors." To do so, they'll make a true statement about themselves and hope that it will be true for others. Everyone that "identifies" with the statement has to then stand up and find an empty chair. The person in the center is also looking for a chair, so once again someone will be without a chair, and they get to go to the middle and find some "neighbors." The facilitator then begins with something like: "All my neighbors wearing blue jeans." At this, everyone who is wearing jeans should jump out of their seats and look for an empty seat. The odd person out goes to the middle This game can easily last ten to fifteen minutes. "All my neighbors wearing white underwear." are wearing socks have an older sibling were born in a month without an R in it whose last digit of their social security number is odd haven't been caught speeding in a year like Frosted Flakes don't eat meat were engaged to be married more than once remember the name of Yogi Bear's sidekick have watched Gone With the Wind in one sitting know how to tie a bow tie play the piano (even a little bit) have been to a Grateful Dead concert have voted with an absentee ballot Figure on ten minutes tops for this activity. Person-to-Person There has to be an odd number of people for this activity to work. The facilitator stands in the midst of the group and asks everyone else to pick a partner. Explain that you'll give them from two to five commands that they must perform as a pair. The last command is always "Person-toperson" and everyone, including the person giving the commands, will have to scramble to find a new partner. The odd person out gets to go into the middle of the group and provide the next set of commands. The game begins with the person in the center (initially the facilitator) giving instructions such as: "Elbow to elbow" and the pairs must put an elbow to elbow. The facilitator can then say: "Ear to ear" and the pairs then have to put an ear to an ear, as well as keeping the elbow to elbow. Then the facilitator says "Person-to-person," everyone finds a new partner, and you go on to the next person calling out commands. Depending on the group, this can get pretty interesting! Stop the game when you feel like it.

Color Jacuzzi:
The object of this small group exercise is to get the group to quickly meet the other members. The facilitator calls out a color of the rainbow: - for example RED:

Red typically is the stop/turn- off color - so each member of the group quickly tells
what is the one thing (that they can disclose in public) that is really a turn off to them .

Orange: is the motivation color - what motivates them Yellow: is the inspiration or creativity color - what was the best idea they've had Green: is the money color - what they plan to do for money, or the dumbest thing
they ever did for money.

Blue: is the sky's the limit color - what is your favorite fantasy about your future Indigo: is an odd, or different color - what is the most daring thing they ever did. Purple: is the color of royalty - if you were ruler of the universe for a day - what is
the first thing you would do?

Creativity and the Learning Process

As I studied the creative process I realized, in retrospect, that I probably opted for five components because of my work in teaching and with health education. These processes are often described as consisting of five parts. The Sure-Fire Five Step Learning Process consists of:

Step One: look Step Two: see what you look at Step Three: understand what you see Step Four: learn from what you understand Step Five: act on what you learn
Health education is also a learning (or often a relearning process) is which one attempts to replace un-healthy habits with healthy habits. My personal version of the health education process, PICCA, consists of five steps:

P = Perception and understanding of the problem I = Information transferral relevant to the problem C= Comprehension of the information C= Conviction to propose solutions and actions A= Application of the solution and actions
Another approach to learning and habit formation is described in the book, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey. The author defines habit as the intersection of three components:

1) knowledge (the what to, why to) 2) skills (the how to) 3) desire (the want to)
Just as the all the components of health education must work together to result in the establishment of good health habits, the components of knowledge, skills and desire intersect to produce effective work habits. These examples led me to the conclusion that there is a close parallel between the learning and creative processes. This relationship is shown in the following table:

LEARNING PROCESS
LOOK SEE UNDERSTAND LEARN ACT

HEALTH EDUCATION
PERCEPTION INFORMATION COMPREHENSION CONVICTION & SOLUTIONS APPLICATION

COVEY'S "7 HABITS"

KNOWLEDGE (what to & why to)

FRANK'S CREATIVE PROCESS

FORAGE

SKILLS (how to)

REFLECT ADOPT NURTURE KNUCKLE DOWN

DESIRE (want to)