Write a blog entry on task-facilitating and
relationship-building roles. In your blog, reflect upon your understanding of
how these roles enhance team performance.
1. Consider how you
generally relate as a team-member.
2. Do you actively engage
your team to accomplish its mission?
3. Do you work to improve
the team cohesion and collaboration?
My role as team member is
very dynamic depending on the team setting. In my current work team, I make
myself available to help as needed, but I am not as outgoing and collaborative
as I am in most other team settings. In my opinion, this is attributed to the
fact that my work team is right in the middle of the first stage of team
development – the forming stage. I joined my team of nine employees, two
managers, and one director approximately ten months ago. When I joined, two
other people were also new. Since I have joined, one of the managers has been
changed and so has the director. In addition, four of my peers have left and
been replaced by new people. This means that 75% of my team has been in the
group less than a year – many of them less than six months.
At this forming stage, our
team is just learning to become comfortable with one another, and this is
taking place of our collaboration over the accomplishment of tasks (Whetton &
Cameron, 2016). It’s difficult to get into my organization, so most people are
really excited and motivated once they start. With that said, no level of
excitement about joining a team can overshadow the fact that people “are
usually hesitant to demonstrate their emotions to others until they begin to
feel at ease” (Whetton & Cameron, 2016, p. 409). The forming stage is one
of the most important stages in team development because “the main reason teams fail is due to a lack of
trust” (Boss, 2015).
When I am comfortable and familiar with my team
and feel as if we have established the level of trust required to reach the
“performing stage,” I become much more proactive. During the performing stage,
team members work as a well-oiled machine and they are motivated by
opportunities to foster change and improve organizational performance overall
(Whetton & Cameron, 2016). The most important thing that I do to actively
engage my team so that it can accomplish its mission is to serve the role as a
task facilitator. According to Whetton & Cameron (2016), task facilitators
provide instructions, give direction, and monitor performance, all in an
attempt to help the team be more successful at meeting the mission.
I think my strongest contribution to my teams is
that I am very outgoing, and I love to strategize with people, which helps
improve overall team collaboration and cohesion. I enjoy pulling ideas out of
people and then supplementing their ideas with my own to come up with the best
overall solution for the organization. One of the best ways to get the most of
each team member is to provide helpful feedback that allows them to improve
upon inefficiencies or misguided ideas (Whetton & Cameron, 2016). One of my
previous managers once told me that she appreciates leaders who take the time
to give constructive criticism to people because it’s one of the most effective
methods of making someone better. According to Wujec (2010), teamwork is
important because it generates an iterative process where people get instant
feedback on their performance. This instant feedback allows people to implement
real-time course corrections and become a stronger employee.
Another thing that I do to improve collaboration
and cohesion is to enable my team to get to know each other on a personal
level. We have an extremely stressful organization, and this leads to lots of
long working hours and does not leave much time for socializing. To address
this, I make a special effort to talk to people when I see them in the hallway,
even it’s only for three minutes. I also bring in home-made treats and offer
them up at staff meetings, which does wonders for opening people up and
enabling them to loosen up for a few moments. In this role, I serve as a
relationship building teammate, both relieving tension and energizing people to
make connections on a personal level (Whetton & Cameron, 2016).
At the end of the day, I believe that the best
teammate is one who is dynamic and can fill different roles depending on the
needs of others on the team. A strong teammate must be able to provide feedback
but also receive feedback and implement suggestions with the understanding that
changes help everyone. As a leader, it is critical that I continue to improve
my skills at participating and leading teams because the business climate today
simply demands it. Whetton & Cameron (2016) pointed out that most organizations
won’t even consider a candidate for a management or leadership position if they
don’t have a proven record of successfully leading teams. The value of teams in
undeniable. Teamwork increases efficiency and productivity, offers differing
perspectives and feedback, motivates unity, and promotes synergies – all of
which are critical for the success of any business (Wehbe, 2017).
References
Boss, J.
(2015). Why some teams fail, and others prevail. Forbes. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffboss/2015/12/22/why-some-teams-fail-and-others-prevail/#103ffa555303
Wehbe, S.
(2017). 5 Important reasons why teamwork matters. Potential. Retrieved from https://www.potential.com/articles/5-important-reasons-why-teamwork-matters/
Whetton, D. A.
& Cameron, K. S. (2016). Developing
management skills, 9th ed. Boston, MA: Pearson.
Wujec, T.
(2010, April). Build a tower, build a team [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H0_yKBitO8M
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