Build a positive team environment

Happy 2012! It’s a New Year, and some say this can bring a fresh start for individuals, and leaders are obviously no exception. Whether you’re the type to make a New Year’s resolution or not, you should take a step back and plan your goals for this year.

This is also a perfect time to evaluate how well your team works together.
Yes, your team – also known as the people who come in every day and do the heavy lifting for the company.

For many companies, teamwork is a core value in its culture as teams who effectively cooperate and collaborate can truly make a difference on the company’s bottom line. A successful team will share information and expertise, respect individual and cultural differences, hold each other accountable for their deliverables, and recognize and reward each other for a job well done.

Does that sound like the mood of your team? If the answer is the opposite of yes, your team may not be playing well together. If you feel your team has issues, remember that good teamwork begins with managers showing their commitment to the concept of teams. You might not be adequately encouraging cooperation, teamwork, and commitment to the work group.

The outcome of your own endeavors is often based upon how well your team works together and how well you provide team leadership. This skill is also an important part of communicating and building relations with peers and coworkers.

Here are some tips to keep in mind when it comes to managing your team:

• Allow staff meetings to be team building sessions, with open brainstorming and problem solving.


• Allow the team to take responsibility for its performance. If you take responsibility, the team delegates both initiative and risk-taking upward to you. You lose their creative input, initiative and problem solving and, ultimately, their greater involvement.


• Match crucial assignments and team members so: (1) assignments challenge the team members, and (2) the likelihood of success is great.


• Ask your team members for their input and their different approaches to reach a goal that may have been set by someone outside the team. Use a variety of ways to reach consensus: discussion/persuasion, majority rule, or predicted outcomes and consequences of recommended actions.


• If you want to encourage teamwork, recognize the team for its successes. Make it clear that active involvement is a valued and necessary component for a functioning team. Publicly reward whatever team player activities are observed.


• Develop working relationships with people in different functions or departments, and look for opportunities to participate in interdepartmental teams.

How do you build a positive team environment in your workplace?

Image: renjith krishnan / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Managers, get your team to play together

Many of us at TBC are ready for some football, and with both the NFL and college football seasons just around the corner we are pretty excited.

Since we’re in a football state of mind, let’s talk about teamwork.

Football is a great display of how teamwork can be effective and produce measurable results. Without teamwork, the players will typically lose the game. If the team works as one cohesive unit, it will result in a victory more often than not.

In the business environment, many managers strive to make teamwork a core value in the organization’s culture because the success of projects often depends upon how well a unit works together.

Still, whether it is a professional sports team or a small group at the office, just because individuals happen to be on the same team does not mean they play well together.

When people come from all over the country and have various backgrounds and beliefs, there are going to be conflicts, and some people will just not like one another.

In this case, we are discussing minor annoyances and disagreements among team members at work. If there is more serious activity taking place such as discrimination or sexual harassment, you, upper management, and HR will need to take action.

Anyway, it would be nice if your team at work could just get along and work in perfect harmony, but if you think that is always guaranteed to happen – you might be a bit delusional.

Take, for instance, the classic scene in Remember the Titans where Denzel Washington, head coach of the high school football team, says to his team, “I don’t care if you like each other or not, but you will respect each other.”

That quote is very true. Respect among team members is a key component in how the team works together. And your job as manager is to ensure that your team actually sees themselves as just that – a team.

There may be several issues that are already integrated into the group, but with consistent action and sound leadership, you’ll help improve the team’s dynamic.

A good question to consider as a manager: does your group have a defined purpose, goals, and vision? If the answer is no, you need to make a change to get your team to produce better results.

One way to move your team in the right direction is to schedule weekly or biweekly one-hour team building sessions. These sessions can serve as the perfect time to set measurable goals and to make sure these goals are set in harmony with one another and are mutually supportive.

During these sessions, you need to push communication among team members. When communication is encouraged, the sessions can help team members share information and expertise, along with resolving differences, holding each other accountable for their deliverables, and recognizing and rewarding each other for a job well done.

Look for ways to empower the team to contribute at higher levels through providing special assignments, constructive feedback, and targeted development opportunities. Encourage cooperation, rather than competition, between team members.

All of those initiatives will help inspire a culture of respect. Once respect is established, the team will work that much better together, and start producing improved results.

If competitive football players can learn to respect one another, your team at work can as well.

What advice do you have for teams to play well together?

Keep your team focused during the summer

We’re in the middle of summertime, the temperatures are reaching 100 degrees, and many people are daydreaming about their pools and upcoming vacations.

It is not a secret that summertime months can lead to sluggish productivity, and even you, the manager, may be counting down the days until your vacation. That is understandable, everyone should be encouraged to take time off – it helps prevent burnout.

But when people are not on vacations, summertime also provides an opportunity to help people become better workers. Here’s a handy check list to keep in mind for the rest of summer.

Maintain your energy

Sure, summertime provides a more laid-back attitude, but you still need to set the standard of remaining enthusiastic and displaying a high energy and drive to your direct reports.

For example, if you start coming in late and leaving early every day of the week, your coworkers may also start slacking off. Why? Well, because you’re sending mixed signals about the importance of your organization’s mission and direction. Just because summer provides opportunities for vacation, doesn’t mean you or the team needs to take the entire season off.

Don’t miss out on the chance to inspire, energize, and motivate your team – especially during the summer.

Provide new challenges

The slower summer pace can give employees a chance to grow. You should challenge your team members to find ways of improving business and the work processes. Use various forms (e.g. team meetings, private conversations, performance plans) to stimulate and reinforce the need to make continuous improvements. Think about giving team members an opportunity to lead a project that is outside of their normal responsibilities.

Be sure to set aside a specific time during the week with team members when you are available to discuss new ideas, along with problems and concerns with group members.

Team-building activities

Okay, I know the word ‘team-building’ causes many to roll their eyes in annoyance. That is because many team-building exercises are the opposite of fun. But there are plenty of relatively inexpensive exercises that your team could partake in that can get everyone out of the office and get people engaged.

You could set up a company picnic at a local park or take the whole team out to play laser tag. Whatever you decide, use the day to get to know one another better and celebrate team’s success.

Extra time off

One way to motivate your staff is to allow them to leave early on Fridays. For businesses that can’t really afford for all employees to leave early on Fridays, offer it on a rotating basis. This can increase motivation for employees, and also shows that you as a manager are supportive and appreciative of all their hard work.

Now it’s your turn. How do you maintain your team’s focus during the summertime?　

More heads are better than one

As an avid fan of football, basketball, and baseball, I read plenty of sports articles. And no matter what game, or what team, there is typically one line that is used to describe why a team won - “they played as a team”.

While that line may not seem like a big deal, it is actually a pretty high compliment. After all, it is not easy to get a bunch of rich, talented players to forgo egos to play together as one team.

When a team wins because “they played as a team,” the credit is usually due to the leadership style of the team’s coach. Many times the success of a coach depends on how well the team works together and what the performance is on the court. It’s really not that different in the business climate, where many managers strive to make teamwork a core value in an organization’s culture.

In the modern workplace, teamwork can produce incredible results. As awarding as the team approach can be, fostering a team environment is sometimes a challenge. The size of the team to interpersonal dynamics can all affect how well the team will work together. Like many aspects of an organization’s culture, good teamwork begins with the managers.

So if you want your team to, well, “play like a team,” keep these development tips in mind.

· Allow staff meetings to be team-building sessions, with open brainstorming and problem solving.

· Match crucial assignments and team members so: (1) assignments challenge the team members, and (2) the likelihood of success is great.

· Ask your team members for their input and their different approaches to reach a goal that may have been set by someone outside the team. Use a variety of ways to reach consensus: discussion/persuasion, majority rule, or predicted outcomes and consequences of recommended actions.

· If you want to encourage teamwork, recognize the team for its successes. Make it clear that active involvement is a valued and necessary component for a functioning team. Publicly reward active team players.

Tell us, how do you build a team environment?

Photo credit: Bleacher Report

Becoming a Winning Team: Lessons Learned from the World Series Champion Yankees - by Ron Esposito, Ph.D.

On Wednesday evening, October, 21, 1998 the New York Yankees had just won four straight games against the Padres to win the World Series. The Yankees also finished the year with an astounding 114-48 record. The players and the fans were, of course, very excited and two days later, New York honored the team with one of the biggest ticker tape parades in its history. The debate has continued over the past ten years whether this was the best Yankee team of all time. The Yankees did go on to win the World Series again in 1999 and 2000.

Coincidently, on Wednesday evening, November 4, 2009 the New York Yankees had won four games out of six against the Philadelphia Phillies to again claim the World Series title. The players and the fans were certainly thrilled, especially winning the series during their first season in a new stadium. And yes, there was a ticker tape parade on Wall Street attended by over one million people.

Why did it take the Yankees nine years to rebuild their team and win the series in 2009 to capture their 27th championship? With many players traded or retiring after 2001, the Yankee ownership bankrolled a collection of "super stars" for the explicit purpose of continuing to win the World Series. But even with all their talent and one of the biggest payrolls in baseball, the Yankees were unable to regain their top place and in some years they did not even reach the playoffs. It is my premise that the Yankees won in 1998-2000 and in 2009 because they played together as a winning team.

Certainly, if you are a Yankee fan, as I am, there was cause to celebrate during these four World Series wins. But the victory was more than celebrating a World Series Championship. It was the celebration of being a team. In 1998, every newspaper article, television show, player, manager and owner interviews, and speeches by public officials praised the victory of Joe Torre, the manager, for building this group of talented players into a true winning team. On October 23, 1998, the New York Times wrote an article on the editorial page titled "World Champs." The following quotes some excerpts from the editorial:

"For starters, egos were in unusually short supply, as were superstars. There was little of the old Yankee swagger, and even less of the backbiting of the Reggie Jackson/Thurman Munson era. When Chuck Knoblauch made a silly mental error that helped the Cleveland Indians win a crucial playoff game a couple of weeks ago, the team rallied around him, with nary a snide comment to the press. The players seemed genuinely to believe in teamwork and unselfishness – virtues reflected in the series sweep, when everyone made an important contribution."

Two days later, David Cone, one of the starting pitchers was quoted in the New York Times as saying: "When you play for a team that’s better than the sum of its parts, and you’re part of that equation – it’s overwhelming, when you have a team that really buys into that philosophy." Many similar quotes were made in 2009 by Joe Girardi, the manager, and by the players and the owners. The most poignant comment came from owner Hal Steinbrenner after the Yankees won the playoffs to go to the World Series.

"What I like about our team is they really care about each other. They are a family. They have all the ability, we know that. But they support each other, they pick each other up, and they never quit." (New York Times, 10/26/09, D1)


What Makes a Winning Team?

For many years, we have seen the proliferation of literature on team management and team building. We can hardly pick up a copy of Training and Development, Fortune, or the Harvard Business Review, without seeing a new article on team management. Certainly, many of these articles and books are valuable and provide worthwhile information. But it is unlikely that Joe Torre and Joe Girardi regularly read these scholarly works. So what made these Yankee teams so successful?

Teamwork is not something that automatically happens when a group of people get together, even if they share a common objective such as winning the World Series. Teamwork takes effort. It requires working together as a cohesive team to build trust among team members based on a shared sense that what they are doing together is important and valuable and that they are all in it together. It requires a good game plan, a clear set of signals, a lot of hard practice, good leadership and a willingness to review mistakes. Each of these components has its equivalent in effective task team functioning.

Cohesiveness and Trust: The Yankees of 1998 and 2009 were a very cohesive team. No longer was A-Rod (Alex Rodriguez), the Yankee third baseman, preoccupied with his personal and professional difficulties. In most TV interviews, A-Rod spoke about being a member of the Yankee team and contributing as best he could. Other new players acquired for this 2009 team brought a lively team spirit to the locker room. This change of chemistry and behavior and greater camaraderie contributed to developing cohesiveness, the desire to help the team win games and to put forth a united and strong team effort.

Cohesiveness is a critical element for successful team performance. Hal Steinbrenner’s quote about the Yankee players caring about each other demonstrated this high level of cohesiveness. Although we live in a world, in both sports and in organizations, of "free agents", both Joe Torre and Joe Girardi knew that you "cannot buy team." They worked diligently to build cohesiveness by pulling together a talented and high paid group of superstars into a winning team.

As a leader in an organization, how will you contribute to building cohesiveness and active engagement in work teams? Think about the processes that facilitate trust, expressing concern and support for colleagues even when things don’t quite go right, recognizing each person’s contribution, creating an atmosphere where concerns can be raised during a meeting or in an evaluation session rather than "hallway critique sessions," and developing that strong desire to remain in this work group, to remain a Yankee. Johnny Damon summed it up when he was quoted as saying: "We have the best owner, we have the best team, and we have the most revenue. Who wouldn’t want to be part of that Yankee tradition?" (NY Times, 11/7/09, p.D5)

A Good Game Plan: Many hours are spent by players and coaches reviewing scouting reports and game video tapes. Based on this data and an assessment of each player’s capabilities, such as who has the best batting average against the starting pitcher, every game has a plan, a strategy to be competitive. Most organizations spend a great deal of time and money developing their business plan. The biggest failure, however, is that the vast majority of business plans are not implemented or not implemented as intended. The first place to correct this problem is to improve the functioning of work teams throughout the organization. Are these teams aligned with the strategy and can they function to successfully execute the strategy? To be successful, work teams must clarify objectives, assess appropriate utilization of people resources, determine the rules of the game and lay out steps to be taken over the life of a project. A successful team should take periodic "time-outs" to review its game plan and make adjustments as needed. A good game plan increases cohesiveness, engagement and trust.

Clear Signals: All baseball teams have developed a set of signals which must be understood by players and coaches. These signals, catcher to pitcher, coach to players and head coach to field coaches, are part of the plan for every game. Everyone is expected to follow these signals. Work teams could also increase their effectiveness by clarifying what they expect from each other. Without these shared expectations, it is difficult to give help and support. This is especially crucial in a task team setting where people from different backgrounds and departments have limited time to accomplish their task. Developing signals to remind team members of the agreed-upon ground rules and procedures can be an effective way to keep the team functioning well.

Hard Practice: The Yankee players practice just about every day during the season, in the batting cages, on the field, and in the dugout. Teamwork doesn’t come instantaneously. It develops over time. It requires a lot of practice before execution becomes smooth. Sometimes team members can become frustrated or disillusioned because progress might be slower than expected. It is critical for team leaders to help members understand that a slow start and hard practice are to be expected. It takes time, commitment and effort to focus on the team dynamics and to build the processes that will eventually help the team to become a cohesive unit and to successfully accomplish its objectives. There is just no substitute for the discipline of hard work and teams are no exception.

Leadership: As a team leader, one must first recognize that power resides unequally among members of a group. Leaders in groups are those individuals who have the power to move the group in different directions to help the group accomplish its goals. Joe Girardi adjusted his leadership style after his first season. He was able to be looser or softer his second year as the coach taking some advice and cues from Giants Coach Tom Coughlin. He even played pool with his team during spring training.

Many players also stepped up as leaders. Derek Jeter has certainly been a positive influence as the captain of the Yankees over many years. A-Rod set a new example by emphasizing that we all need to play together as a team. A. J. Barnett, a pitcher, initiated a "pie in your face" routine for players who hit for a walk-off win. The veteran players on Yankees who previously won World Series titles inspired the younger players. Leadership is not about maintaining the power of the assigned leader but rather giving that power away. An authoritative and sometimes coercive style does not help teams to be productive. Leadership in groups is about building the leadership capabilities in the team. We can accomplish this by valuing employee participation, jointly building team meeting agendas, paying attention to individual strengths and roles, focusing on cohesiveness, and building respect and trust for each other.

According to various studies especially by the Center for Creative Leadership, approximately 40% of senior leaders who transfer from one company to another do not last past 18 months. One key factor is the inability to manage a new team. Thus, at the core of many of the new leader consulting programs are interventions designed to help the team and the leader quickly assimilate, to get all the hidden agendas on the table, to assess the strengths and weaknesses of the team and to put together an action plan for effective team functioning. This is a step which should not be overlooked. High performing strategic teams have assigned leaders who understand the importance and the power of building leadership among group members.

Review of Performance: Only by constant evaluation can we improve the quality of team performance. Sports teams spend considerable time viewing videos of previous games. Your team can evaluate performance by setting aside the last ten minutes of each meeting to discuss progress as a team and the overall game plan. As a team becomes more cohesive, an atmosphere will be created where people can give feedback to each other (not just to the team leader) about what was helpful and what seemed to slow or block the team’s progress. A simple format for this discussion is to ask everyone to say (and have someone record) what they think the team should do more of, do less of and stop doing. Periodically teams can also use a more formal process such as completing a team meeting evaluation form, compiling the scores and discussing actions to improve problem areas.


Make Every Team a Winning Team

Cartwright and Zander (1968, NY: Harper & Row) over forty years ago wrote one of the major classics on groups titled Group Dynamics: Research and Theory. The following quote appears in their introduction:

"If it were possible for the overworked hypothetical man from Mars to take a fresh view of the people of Earth, he would probably be impressed by the amount of time they spend doing things together in groups…He might be gladdened to see groups of people enjoying themselves in recreation and sports of various kind. Finally, he might be puzzled why so many people spend so much time in little groups talking, planning and being "in conference." Surely he would conclude that if he wanted to understand much about what is happening on Earth, he would have to examine rather carefully the ways in which groups form, function, and dissolve." (p.3)

This hypothetical "man from Mars" would today observe this same phenomenon. We spend a lot of our working time in groups and teams. A major part of the Yankee payroll is devoted to following Cartwright and Zander’s advice on how to form the team and improve functioning to become world champions. This message was very clear. Joe Girardi even wore #27 on his uniform everyday to remind his team that everyone was united around the goal of the senior executives’ to win their 27th championship. Work teams also need to have well defined goals and a clear set of objectives. Successful teams devote the time and the resources on comprising teams, getting the right players in the right positions, and evaluating team performance.

Although I am proud to have been a Yankee fan my entire life, many other baseball teams and other sports teams have demonstrated these qualities. Although there is no love lost between the Yankees and the Red Sox, the Boston team of 2004 was a good example of how well they played together as a team to rally from three losses to win four straight games in their odyssey to capture their first World Series title in 86 years. Strategic, high performing teams are critical in sports as well as in most organizations.

In today’s business environment it is imperative that work teams possess collaborative and strategic skills to create business solutions. As organizations have eliminated a tier of middle managers, the effectiveness and the accountability of work teams are now more important than ever. Our global economy has also influenced work teams since organizations have become more dependent on the effectiveness of both cross-cultural and virtual team performance. Advances in technology provide teams with information and analysis that is instantaneous, real time, and comprehensive thus impacting team performance. The key to a leader’s effectiveness is his or her ability to build high performing work teams that can function globally and are effective in aligning vision with strategy as well as implementing strategy. Yet, few teams live up to their potential. We should examine how we can improve the functioning of all types of teams in the workplace: teams with a new leader or a completely new team; poorly functioning teams which are experiencing conflict, or disruption or inability to achieve objectives; virtual teams where people are working together from all over the world; high performing teams that might be facing extraordinary challenges; and how to collaborate with other teams. Good team leaders focus on team performance by empowering individuals and the team.

Every work team has the potential to achieve their goals, to wear #27 and to become a winning team.


Ron Esposito, Ph.D.
Ron Esposito, Ph.D. is a professor at New York University specializing in group dynamics, consulting and leadership development, cross-cultural psychology and understanding the meaning of work in people’s lives. He is also an acknowledged international expert with over 25 years experience working with major organizations in the fields of Executive Leadership Development, Action-Learning Processes to Implement Strategy, Organizational Change, Team Alignment and Multi-Cultural Training. He has particular expertise in developing innovative and high-impact consulting interventions to help senior leaders and senior teams drive change and implement strategy, especially for international and global companies.