PEOPLE SKILLS AND TEAM BUILDING

Volume #43 - September 2005

This summer I went to the Center for Creative Leadership and took a week-long course learning the six main instruments that CCL uses for coaching. In CCL¹s well-known 360 Feedback instrument, Benchmarks®, there is a section that identifies five main problem areas that can stall a person¹s career. Of the five, one of the derailers has to do with how effective we are at building and leading teams.

In my model of leadership, there are three domains of leadership. The first involves our relationship with ourselves, the second our relationship with others, and the third our relationship with business. In this issue I¹m going to address that second domain and provide some guidance on ways to be a more effective team builder so that you can develop your leadership and not stall your own career development. I¹ve written about team building before (See Issue #37 from February 2004 on my website www.columbiaconsult.com/newsletters), but this issue will focus on two aspects that I didn¹t address the last time, but which are mentioned in Benchmarks®.

1. Resolve conflict among your direct reports. In any group of people, you are going to find some people who get along fairly well and a few who can wreak havoc on the team. I¹ve found that many difficulties between people tend to stem from behavioral style differences. One person sees the world one way and thinks his way is the right way and one person see the world another way and thinks her way is the right way. The best way to bridge these differences is to bring the people together, get them to expose their thinking, and get them to talk about what¹s happening. This is where I think training is so important to organizations. If an entire team has been trained to understand gender, cultural and style differences, there is a model to follow and shared meaning and language to address and understand the differences. I tend to use the DISC behavioral instrument for this kind of work, and my clients have reported how valuable this tool is in helping them resolve conflicts between team members. But whether your team has experienced training or not, here are some ground rules for managing conflict through dialogue. Bring the people involved together and let know that you expect them to:

• come to the conversation with a mature, emotionally intelligent attitude that is focused on resolving the conflict
• interact with respect for each other by listening to each other
• talk about what¹s happening using facts and observable behaviors, not inferences, innuendoes or blaming statements
• use "I" language to talk about feelings, thoughts or beliefs
• ask questions in a respectful way, using "what" or "how" questions (For example, What made you decide to go ahead and begin implementing without checking in with me?)
• leave defensive behaviors at the door and come with an open attitude to learning something about themselves and others
• bend to understand the other person¹s perspective
• look for mutually satisfying solutions

When you don¹t address conflict, it grows either visibly or invisibly, but either way it distracts from the functioning of the group as a whole and undermines people¹s level of motivation and commitment. Unresolved conflict diminishes trust, a key ingredient for a well functioning team. Remember that your team members expect you as the leader to manage them. If you can¹t solve internal problems, it undermines their belief in you to solve external problems effectively. And it makes solving those external problems even more difficult.

2. Hire or include the right people. In today¹s global, demanding world, diversity is the answer ‹ diversity of skills and styles as well as diversity based on gender and culture. You need a team of people who have technical skills, people skills, and a global perspective. You need idea people, creative people, technical people, drivers, collaborators, implementers and quality control people. You need people who can focus on both the task at hand as well as the people involved. You need a woman¹s point of view and a man¹s point of view. And you need the cultural perspective and understanding of the regions in which you do business.

If you only hire people who look like you, who believe the things you believe, and who have a narrow focus and can only contribute in a limited way, your team will be limited. It will lack the breadth and scope necessary for success. It is no longer sufficient to excel in an area of expertise; for a high performing team, it¹s now a requirement that people know how to interact with and influence others who come from a diversity of environments with a diversity of beliefs and skills. A team that consists only of people skilled in the domain of business (who are experts in the work they do) but who lack skills in the domain of others (who don¹t know how to build relationships or influence others) will not succeed.

As a leader, it¹s your responsibility to examine your team and make sure that people are well rounded. Provide them with opportunities to develop their interpersonal skills as well as their technical skills. Also look at your group to make sure that you have a diversity of styles present so that you have people who can drive toward goals and see the big picture as well as people who can analyze the details and ensure quality results. Your ability to manage and lead others will effect the outcomes of the team¹s efforts as well as your own professional growth.

COACHING QUESTIONS

1. What do you do when people on your team are in conflict with each other?
2. How does your approach help or hinder resolution of the conflict?
3. Who tends to be in conflict the most? What is it about the styles of these people that might be contributing to the conflict?
4. What are the issues that people tend to have conflict over? What role might you be playing that might be contributing to the conflict around these issues?
5. How diverse is your team?
6. What skills are missing from your team?
7. What skills would help your team be more effective?
8. What kind of interpersonal skills do your team members possess?
9. What have you done to help team members develop their interpersonal skills?
10. What else could you be doing to help them?
11. How good are your own interpersonal skills?
12. What do you need to develop more so that you can be a role model for your team?
    

Copy © 2005 Virginia O'Brien All s Reserved

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