A definition: A tight knit team, is a group of competent individuals who care deeply about each other are fiercely committed to their mission, are highly motivated to combine their energy, expertise and complimentary skills to achieve a common objective.
Focusing a tight knit team on the achievement of ‘SMART’ objectives, (see below) is the basis of creating a high performance team.
Team players
In order to work successfully within a team, it is important to be or become
a team player- a person who works well with other people. Employees who get
along well, are more likely to get the job done. Good team players are willing
to compromise, for the success of the team.
Skills needed for teamwork
Aside from any required technical proficiency, a wide variety of communication
and social skills are desirable for successful teamwork, including:
• Listening
• Questioning
• Persuading
• Respecting
• Helping
• Sharing
• Participating
What role for Team Leadership?
It is generally agreed that there are a number of key Leadership functions
that are required of leaders/ managers to achieve success teamwork and these
need to be constantly developed and honed to maintain that success.
• Defining the task: Using SMART goals. (Specific, Measurable, Achievable,
Realistic and Time-Constrained.)
• Planning
• Briefing
• Controlling
• Evaluating
• Motivating
• Organising
• Setting an example
Team development
Teams develop in many different ways for many different reasons and individuals
within teams inevitably develop differently too. To understand this process
we believe the forming – storming – norming - performing model
makes sense of the transition through four stages of team development and
maps quite well on to many project management life cycle models, such as initiation
- definition - planning - realisation.
As teams grow larger, the skills and methods that people require grow as more ideas are expressed freely. Leaders/ Managers must use these to create or maintain a spirit of teamwork change. The intimacy of a small group can be lost, and the opportunity for misinformation and disruptive rumours grows. Leaders/ Managers often find that communication methods that once worked well are impractical with so many people to lead.
As organisations get involved in increasing large and ambitious projects usually requiring increasing large groups of people, the requirement for effective teamwork has become an increasingly important concept for many organisations. As people often represent an organisation’s greatest asset and greatest operational cost, investing in those ‘Teams’ is a sensible commercial judgement.
Team Building Workshop
TAGF Activities has developed a team-building workshop that covers a combination
of the key elements for developing successful teams and delivers a ‘Team
Charter’:
• goals and challenges,
• shared values, vision and mutual trust
• empowerment, responsibility accountability and measurement,
• problems solving techniques and exercises,
• Team Charter- team created, mutually agreed, signed Charter
Combining a Workshop with Outdoor Activities
Outdoor Team Building activities provide a number of key opportunities:
• For the Individual- a chance to learn new skills, increase individual knowledge and confidence and be part of the entire decision making process in a safe environment.
• For the Team- a chance to 'bond' by share a memorable common experience and see now effectively you operate under ‘SMART’ rules whilst having great fun.
• For the Leaders (organisation)- a chance to see the team perform outside of the structures and systems of the daily work environment. A chance for communication, team-work and social skills to be aired naturally. Perhaps some training gaps will be identified.
TAGF provides an extensive range of outdoor activities that are complimentary to its team building workshops.
