TEAM (Together Everyone Achieves More) Part II

The four main stages of building a team
Forming
And that is the beginning of exploration between team members and one another. Exploring their communication style, their professional skills and what they consider as an acceptable behavior among the team.
Storming
The most challenging phase where conflicts and arguments come to the surface. However, it's the most essential stage of forming a team from my point of view, specially when conflicts are about the job at hand not the person. I consider it healthy for it enriches the team experience and give more quality to the outcome.
Norming
This is the stage where everyone starts to put aside the differences and develop a sense of support towards each other, and a sense of focus towards the common goals of the team. The beginning of actual team progress is achieved in this particular stage.
Conforming
Now the team is ONE. More importance is place on accomplishing goals and the team begins to take pride in the progress it makes.

Being familiar with these four stages can relief most of the anxiety caused by your feelings towards working within a team. Understanding these stages will keep you from overreacting towards common problems and prevent you and your teammates from setting unrealistic expectations.

TEAM (Together Everyone Achieves More) Part I

The Concept of Team Building

Teams are an important part of the workplace. They help achieve great goals and projects through collective collaboration towards common objectives. They are most needed in the sort of work that a person can't do alone, however, they can be hard to manage sometimes.

Five myths (lies) about team work:

1. I always choose my team members.

2. My friends have to be my team members.

3. My team members should have the same technical skill level I possess.

4. My team members should adapt to my way of thinking.

5. An effective team should have no conflicts.

There are many factors contribute to the process of forming a team and choosing its team members. The degree of allowed free choice vary, because not everyone you want to work with share you the same desire. Besides, teams might have a preset number of members, which might force you to work with more or less people than you initially wanted. Sometimes team members are obliged to work with one another by a higher authority.

There's a big difference between your "team mates" and your "friends". These two groups can intersect sometimes, but this should not be the norm in forming your team. A team is a way to achieve more professionally, not a way for personal companionship. Not that your personal comfort is not a necessity, but the professional outcome should be given a higher priority.

Believe it or not, we are all differently the same :-) How come??? We all have good things and bad things. We just have different good things and different bad things. The trick is to bring to light the good things in yourself and your team members, and minimizing the effects of the bad things on yourself and others.

One of the things we all do is "Thinking", but we just think differently. Adapting to other people's way of thinking helps you have a better understanding of their nature, let alone minimizing the chance of escalating conflicts. Do this by listening to what every one has to say, instead of developing an instant reaction towards what is being said.

However, conflicts remain inevitable. Personally and Professionally. It requires great skills and honesty to deal with conflicts. Moreover, acknowledging that conflicts are "Normal" and "Essential", helps you to manage it more efficiently. And if you look at it from the bright side, you will find that conflicts help you develop your problem- solving skills.



I-YOU or I-IT

What type of connections do you conduct with people???


There are two types of connections between yourself and another person. The first type of connections is when you are fully empathizing with this person. And to empathize with someone, is to acknowledge his/her feelings and emotions and interact with him/her accordingly. This type of connections is referred to as (I-YOU). You treat the other person as a deserving human being, and this way you help him/her interact with you more efficiently and give them a sense of self worth.

The second type of connections is what happens when you are fully wrapped up in your own emotions and feelings that blocks you from empathizing with other people's feelings,needs and emotions. In this case you treat others as a mere object. That's why it's called an (I-IT)connection.

Situations:

- Talking to a person, while he's not paying attention to you. Instead his attention is focused to his computer monitor. He rarely maintains eye contact with you. It gives you a sense of disinterest in your discussion, though the topic can be of some importance to you.

- Hurrying towards the cashier in a super market, carrying three or four items. At the same time another man with lots of groceries approaches the cashier as well. The man looks at the items in your hand, think of it as no big deal, smiles at you and let you go on first.

 In the first situation, you are faced with a brick wall. Depending on the urgency of the topic you are discussing with that person, you'll develop an emotional reaction varying from a frustrated "I'll come back later" to an angry "Are you even listening to me???". Emotionally you'll feel that you've not been given what you wanted, and that is what the (I-IT) connection is all about. Someone that treats another as an object rather than a person with needs.
However, in the second situation, the man empathizing with your rushing to get out of the supermarket can give you the comforting feeling of someone who cares for you, even when it comes from a complete stranger. And that's the person who's aware of your needs and empathizes with you. This empathy forms the (I-YOU) connection.

 Where does all that lead us to???

Sometimes we are overwhelmed with our own feelings that we barely notice how others feel. The trick is to be fully aware and present in the situation. A key to learn why people react this way is to monitor your own reactions first. Giving people the(I-YOU) connection will help you interact with them easier and faster. Be the caregiver and eventually you'll end up receiving their care for you.