A team is two or more people working together to accomplish a common purpose. If two or more people are seeking to work together, successful communication is critical. The CRCA Team Communication Cycle is an effective way to facilitate communication within the team.

Teams are a resource of tremendous potential and tapping the genius, insight and potential in any team is the challenge of team communication. Individuals who make up the team can bring a vast knowledge, understanding, ability, expertise, insight, intuition, access and energy to the team, yet these assets are not immediately obvious or easily accessible. We have an unmined deposit.

While the team contains the untapped resources of great knowledge and energy, it also harbors misperceptions, partial understanding, blind spots, invalid assumptions, irrational responses, prejudice and bias. The key to successful teamwork is to separate the two (untapped resources) (misperceptions) utilizing the former and discarding the latter. Just as the prospector panned for gold and carefully sorted the gold from the mud, a team must select the genius of insight from the mud of misinformation.

The CRCA Team Communication Cycle, a specifically designed communication method, facilitates the team’s gathering of information and the sorting of the valuable from the worthless. It is a very specific method used to facilitate teamwork by managing communication. It utilizes the same probing questions that drive the team process to stimulate each team member to draw on the pool of resources he/she brings to the task in order to utilize the collective resources for the team.

The challenge of an effective team facilitator, like a prospector of old, is to separate what is valuable from what is not. While teams generate a great deal of information, not everything is useful. To collect and sort information, effective teams follow the five sequential steps of the CRCA Team Communication Cycle:

1. Ask a probing question.

2. Provide time to find potential answers.

3. Report all potential answers.

4. Discuss and analyze all potential answers.

5. Agree as a team on the answer.

Team Facilitation is the key to successful teamwork. Effective teams are facilitated by leaders who know and understand both the art and the science of TEAMS.

1. A Team Facilitator is experienced in participation methods and in team facilitation.

2. A Team Facilitator believes that teams can and will generate synergistic results.

3. A Team Facilitator leads with optimistic expectancy.

4. A Team Facilitator can balance the dynamics of the team.

5. A Team Facilitator uses a team-friendly process.

Creative Root Cause Analysis is a positive and effective team-friendly method that facilitates an environment where synergy can be realized. The process itself does not produce synergy, but aids the team in producing synergistic results. The team-friendly, problem solving and discussion steps utilized by this method create an environment where teams can be highly efficient and effective.

Understanding and utilizing this unique and powerful process requires people to assess their attitudes and assumptions about problem solving. It requires abandoning old problem-solving prejudices and shifting to a new paradigm of team problem solving.

There are Five (5) popular strategies/methods that are most often used by teams to “reach a consensus.” Using “win/lose” language, these methods can be ranked in a value order from the lowest level of greatest losses to the highest level of most gains. It is useful to a team to agree on the method they will use to “reach consensus.” This is illustrated by the picture and the definitions.

Consensus: Reaching agreement by some form of strategy acceptance (i.e., agree to agree, and/or accept decision).

Synergy: A total effect or outcome that is greater than the sum of any one individual effort. It occurs when team members innovate/create together by being catalysts to one another.

Collaborate: An agreement forged by mutual efforts. It occurs by deliberately, diligently working and massaging thoughts and ideas in such a way that a joint decision emerges. It is a win/win strategy.

Cooperate: An agreement for mutual benefit that occurs by making a joint decision of quid-pro-quo (trade offs) so that the greatest success can be accomplished. It is a lose a little/gain a lot strategy.

Vote: A majority decision that occurs by use of win/lose polling. It is very efficient as a win/lose strategy, but not necessarily effective.

Compromise: An agreement by concession or giving up something. It occurs by making the safest, non-threatening decision and is a lose a lot/gain a little strategy.

The details of consensus are included in Advanced Team System, Volume I and Making Team Decisions.For more information, visit the Products link on the upper left of this blog.

The phase of team development where the team establishes rules for working together is called Norming. The disappointing reality is, most teams never evolve to this point and the teams that do are often left to struggle through without benefit of structure or guidance. To assist teams in the Norming process, I developed a process tool called Discovering Team Operandi that guides a team in contracting guidelines for working together successfully.

Discovering Team Operandi: The Team Norming Process

When teams articulate their operational expectations and contract their working arrangement (meaning they have mutually agreed on the rules for working together) they make a significant step toward becoming an effective team. The net result of Discovering Team Operandi is that the Storming stage is bypassed or eliminated (tension, frustration and dysfunction) and the team has a positive, working experience. The momentum created in the Norming process carries the team to its unified purpose.

Discovering Team Operandi:

✦Provides a logical, orderly, easy-to-follow way for teams to establish their norms.

✦Effectively bypasses the destructive Storming stage encountered in the unstructured evolution of a team.

✦Quickly moves to synergistic performance without being frustrated by the time and energy-wasting quagmire of Storming.

Teams are like people; no two are exactly alike. As a result, no two teams will operate exactly the same. Purpose, nature of the work, number of team members and combinations of individual personalities are all factors that make it necessary for each team to develop its unique manner of operation.

Since some team members may not have explicitly considered their operandi expectations, examples have been provided as a reference point to help teams quickly establish their own norms. Twenty-five examples of norms, adopted by teams, appear in a random list in the process workbook. These are common examples of “operandi” that have been established by other successful teams. The process helps a team think through and communicate its own unique “operandi.” It provides the team a process for ownership and commitment to its “operandi” and everyone believes in and supports it.

It has been my experience that the sooner a team establishes it guidelines for working together, the sooner it can get down to teamwork. Early in the team process, I first facilitate Targeting Team Purpose and then move to Discovering Team Operandi. To return to the baseball metaphor (in my blog on The Team Building Process) is like hitting a “double.” Ninety percent of the liabilities of team dysfunction are eliminated, the team ends up on “second base” without the negative impact of dysfunction and it is ready to work on THE.

To learn more about Discovering Team Operandi, go to the product link at the top left of this blog. The Facilitator’s Guide is a part of the Advanced Team System, Volume I.

In investigating team dysfunction, I have discovered that Fifty percent of the problems with teams are related to “Intra-personal” issues, such as personality, style, attitude, values, competence and motivation.

Driving Team Performance is a useful tool in addressing these issues. When followed, the 4-Phase, 8-Step Process can facilitate a team from the initial phases of forming a team through the final stages of delivering results.

Fifteen to Twenty percent of the time, problems are “Procedural” issues, such as communication, decision-making and operating procedures.

These are actually the easiest to solve using effective tools and processes like Creative Root Cause Analysis, Planning Team Strategy and Driving Team Performance.

Fifteen to Twenty percent of the dysfunction is “Behavioral.” This includes issues of responsibility, accountability, and communication conflicts.

An effective tool to address these “Behavioral” and “Intra-Personal” issues is the Discovering Team Operandi tool and process.

Ten percent of the time, dysfunction is related to conflicting, unspoken and non-existing “Goals.”

Goal setting with a team is easy and effective using Targeting Team Purpose. Teams quickly identify and agree on their unified and driving purpose as a team which enables the WE to focus on THE. (See The Team Building Process.)

The root cause of the problems of team dysfunction can be traced to team leaders and facilitators who do not understand the “Art” and “Science” of teamwork and who are not equipped with the tools and training of effective team facilitation. (Visit “Products” in the upper left links on this blog.)

Successful teamwork is based upon three fundamental assumptions: insight/intuition, team synergy and repeatable success.

1. Insight/intuition means that the team is made up of people who embody knowledge, experience, insight and expertise that are essential to the success of the team.

2. Team synergy means two or more people working together in a collaborative effort who produce more than any one individual working alone.

3. Repeatable success means a team can learn and follow best practice team process steps.

These three beliefs set the parameters for success of any team and are important for both the team facilitator and the team members. It is reasonable to expect that not every participant and, unfortunately, some facilitators do not know and understand these key assumptions. Therefore, the first exercise in the fundamentals of teamwork is to measure the perception of bias and attitudes of the participants and the facilitator by using the Team Value Perception Inventory, a useful tool I have developed to measure these perceptions.

The Team Value Perception Inventory lists ten questions about the individual’s expectations related to a team. After the inventory is completed, team members discuss their answers in small groups or within their teams. The Team Value Perception Inventory questions are:

1. Teams increase the perspective from which problems or issues are seen?

2. Teams increase the intellectual capacity that is focused upon an issue or problem?

3. Teams create a higher number of options from which to choose a course of action?

4. Teams have greater potential of energy to unleash and focus upon an issue or problem?

5. Teams promote a higher percentage of ownership in the solution?

6. Teams, because they possess a higher degree of ownership in the solution, promote a higher degree of motivation?

7. Teams increase the resources available to fulfill a course of action?

8. Teams increase the networking capabilities for resources?

9. Teams fulfill social needs and can produce higher morale and emotional enthusiasm within the organization?

10. People working effectively in teams are more productive than the best and brightest individual within the team?

All ten statements are true. However, the Inventory is not given to test people’s knowledge but rather to expose the values, beliefs and perceptions that they bring to teamwork. The value is conversation to build constructive expectations of teamwork.

(The Team Value Perception Inventory Master is included in the Driving Team Performance Facilitators Guide Volume I. It may be reproduced and used by those who purchase the Facilitator’s Guide. Click on the Driving Team Performance Icon on the left panel of this blog to learn more.)

As noted in Part I, good facilitators know that creating a proper environment for effective teamwork is critical to success, and they understand that the team’s attention needs to be focused on the task at hand and not on any one individual or individuals.

The room setup you choose will be dependent upon the number of team members, the availability of space and the type of furniture present in the room. For a team of up to eight people, leave them as one group. For a team of nine or more, you may want to divide the group into sub-groups of four or five. Choose a room that fits the group (as noted in Part I) and find a balance between comfort and communication.

The U-Shaped Setup, grouped as a “Village,” is frequently recommended for situations where two or more teams or groups are involved. Use round tables when possible because they help provide a “level” communication environment. When round tables are not available, provide a configuration that is balanced, such as a square. Seat participants around three sides of the table leaving one end open. Be sure to provide each team member with sufficient working space. Crowding people too tightly together can be problematic and will cause some members to move back from the group for personal space.

Place a flip chart or moveable easel at the open end of the table during group processes. This will focus the energy and attention of the team on the task represented on the flip chart.

If you have two or more teams, keep the groups close enough so they feel like one team, but far enough apart so they don’t disturb each other during group processes. It should be noted that this setting is very dynamic and can be difficult to control.

Village Setup

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Other Setup Options

Facilitators who are more comfortable with control, structure and conformity or who dislike distractions, may opt for a less dynamic arrangement.

Many facilitators find a Semicircular Setup works well for teams. It presents a good opportunity for communication and provides a good balance of control and creativity.

The U-Shape Setup is a variation of this.

The Circular Setup encourages a sense of warmth and togetherness. This can also heighten the mood of the group and can sometimes become a distraction.

The Boardroom Table Setup is an effective control mechanism, but can stifle communication.

As the facilitator, you need to be aware of the advantages and disadvantages of each room setup. In order to create the participative and collaborative environment, you will need to be creative in your furniture arrangement. Most importantly, be prepared to handle the challenges that the environment affects.

To encourage a linkage with the work, flip charts should be placed where everyone can see them and located close to the participants. Each team needs one to record information during discussions (visualization is critical to success). Other helpful materials include multi-colored markers for flip chart paper, 3 x 5 Post-it Notes and tape and/or push pins.

Noise and lighting are subtle, yet critical. Effective facilitators pay attention to the environment and manage it to work for them.

Agriculture has long understood the principles of teamwork. Ancient farmers knew that two or more oxen, mules or horses teamed togethercould accomplish more work in any given period of time than those same animals working individually.

There has been a progress of development, an evolution of teamwork applying these group/team dynamics to accomplishing meaningful work. This development can be organized in three phases:

Childhood:  First Generation Teamwork

Teamwork and teamwork training in the modern organization has followed a very clear pattern of development. First generation of teamwork can be likened to the childhood of team building. Team building in its early childhood focused on adventures, game and survival simulations. These elementary exposures and experiences introduced many people to the principles of teaming together. These adventure and survival simulations and games have been available for several years and continue to serve as excellent training tools to demonstrate and teach team synergy. They help  participants understand that working together is more effective than working alone. Still other experiences in the childhood of team building focused energies on breaking down interpersonal barriers and led people to feel more comfortable working together in close proximity. Underwater Adventure (listed under products to the left) is a survival simulation.

Adolescence:  Second Generation Teamwork

Business simulations were the next steps to be taken. The principles and discoveries of team building adventures and survival simulations were applied to such things as safety, business principles and project  management training. This second generation of teamwork products and training represents the adolescence of teamwork. Team building grew in its adolescent stage with business simulations which took the next step to use a simulation model and apply it to learning important business processes, such as planning and conducting effective meetings or managing a project. Driving Team Performance and Creative Root Cause Analysis (listed under products to the left) are both business simulations that teach a business process.

Adult: Third Generation Teamwork

Many people are eager to move beyond team building games and see teamwork applied to the delivery of bottom-line results. While the adventures and survival simulations and games were, and continue to be, effective ways to introduce the principles of teamwork, they have done little to teach individuals and teams how to take those elementary  principles and apply what they have learned to real life, day–in–day–out business. This involves facilitating specific team process methods to team meetings, team strategic planning and team problem solving.

Until now, there have been no practical advanced team processes that could facilitate team synergy (like simulations) and, at the same time, produce effective results. The success of teams rested totally on the craft of the facilitator. Under the product heading (to the left) you will find reference to The Advanced Team System, Volumes I-III Master Facilitator Guides  (a set of team tools available in paper or pdf). Master Facilitator Guide, Vol. I, Driving Team Performance, teaches team process; Master Facilitator Guide, Vol. II, Creative Root Cause Analysis, teaches team problem solving and Master Facilitator Guide, Vol. III, Planning Team Strategy, teaches team strategic planning.

Teams and teamwork are popular business concepts. People love to talk about teams, be viewed as “team players” and talk about the concept of teams in their work and training jargon. Eighty percent of Fortune 1000 companies expound teamwork and have some sort of team concept in their mission statement. Yet, in these same companies, less that Ten percent of the workforce participate in teams and many privately believe that teams are not worth the hassle.

The most commonly reported team problems are: misapplication, no training, no support, work systems not changed to fit team work, frustration over purpose, endless meetings and unclear expectations. In investigating team dysfunction, I have discovered that Fifty percent of the problems with teams are related to “interpersonal” issues, such as personality, style, attitude, values, competence and motivation. Fifteen to Twenty percent of the time, problems are “procedural” issues, such as communication, decision-making and operating procedures. “Behavioral” issues, like responsibility, accountability and communication conflicts, are another Fifteen to Twenty percent of the dysfunction. Finally, Ten percent of the time, dysfunction is related to “goals,” including conflicting, unspoken, and non-existing.

The root cause of these problems in team dysfunction can be traced to team leaders and facilitators who do not understand the “art” and the “science” of effective teams.

Team effectiveness is a result. Teamwork is a process. And, an effective leader or facilitator is skilled and accomplished in the “art” of teamwork (interpersonal and behavioral aspects) and the “science” of teamwork (the procedures, goals and communication).

During the weeks ahead, I will post details of both the “art” and “science” of teamwork. To start, let us begin with a clear understanding of “What is Teamwork?”

A team is “two or more people working together to accomplish a common goal.”  Teamwork is that these two or more people working together efficiently and effectively will accomplish more in a measured period of time than any one or two individuals working alone. Both are facilitated by what I have entitled, the Advanced Team System. http://www.oxenrideronsynergy.com/products/