Introduction Presentation to Team Foundations

Material from a workshop on starting & enhancing teams

1. GREAT TEAMS
Jeff Kosciejew | www.AgileMagic.ca

2. WHAT DO I MEAN
WHEN I USE THE
WORD “TEAM”?

3. Working Group or Team?
■Individual goals
■Individual roles
■Individual accountability
■Focus on efficiency
■Focus on individuals
■Leader decides
■My work
■Individual success/failure
■Shared/common goals
■Collaboration over roles
■Shared accountability
■Focus on effectiveness
■Focus on the interactions
■Team decides
■Our work
■Shared/common success/failure

4. WHAT MAKES
A GREAT TEAM?

5. An example of a great team, well
optimized, is a good orchestra. The
players are not there to play solos
as prima donnas, each one trying
to catch the ear of the listener.
They are there to support each other.
Individually they need not to be the
best players in the country…
An orchestra is judged by listeners,
not so much by illustrious players,
but by the way they work together.
Paraphrasing Edward Martin Baker: The Symphony of Profound Knowledge
“

6. What Makes a Great Team?
Results
Accountability
Commitment
Conflict
Trust

7. Trust & Psychological Safety
■“Broadly defined as a climate in which people are comfortable expressing and being themselves.”
■Amy C. Edmondson, The Fearless Organization
■“A condition in which you feel (1) included, (2) safe to learn, (3) safe to contribute, and (4) safe to challenge the status quo -- all without the fear of being embarrassed, marginalized, or punished in some way.”
■Timothy R. Clark, 4 Stages of Psychological Safety
■“A state in which you’re not afraid to be yourself, take
risks, make mistakes, raise problems, ask questions and disagree with others.”
■Joshua Kerievsky & Heidi Helfand

8. https://rework.withgoogle.com/blog/five-keys-to-a-successful-google-team/

10. The characteristic way of management
that we have taught in the Western world
is take a complex problem, divide it into
parts, each with so-called experts, and then
try to manage each piece as well as possible.
And if that’s done, the team as a whole will
deliver exceptional results and outcomes.
And that’s absolutely false.
Because it’s possible to improve the
performance of each part taken separately
and destroy the overall result, simultaneously.
Paraphrasing Russell Ackoff: A Theory of a System for Educators and Managers
https://youtu.be/2MJ3lGJ4OFo?t=1m18s
“

11. TEAM DEVELOPMENT
STAGES

12. Tuckman’s Stages of Group Development
Team Performance
Time
Forming
Storming
Norming
Performing

13. Team Performance
Time
Forming
Storming
Norming
Performing
Except Tuckman was Wrong
https://onbelay.co/articles/2017/5/5/tuckman-was-wrong