Yearly Archives: 2017

difference between a group and a team

What is the Difference between a Group and a Team of Employees? The Secret Sauce Revealed

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What is the difference between a group and a team of employees? I ask this question during our training programs on leadership and team development.

 

difference between a group and a teamThe most common answer is that a team of people have a common goal. While this is certainly an important aspect of mobilizing a team, a group of people can also have a common goal.

 

Take for example the construction of the building or structure. Many groups of people are working on the project but do not necessarily function as a team. Yet all the groups have a common goal for the result of that project.

 

Most people agree that teams can outperform groups of people. We see proof for that in sports where a team of people with lesser individual talent can outperform a team with superstars and win the top prize at the end of the season. There may be many reasons for this but the one that is vital we call TEAM SPIRIT.

 

Team spirit can drive a team to higher performance because a team that possesses greater team spirit can overcome obstacles to performance and avoid getting bogged down by petty conflicts.

 

Employees working in teams need to be able to collaborate, which means taking time to discuss ideas for improvement and engage in problem-solving activities. Training in human relations skills such as active listening, diplomatic disagreement, meeting management and collaborative problem-solving are vital for teamwork to progress.

 

But these skills alone do not necessarily create team spirit. Team spirit is created through self-knowledge and mutual understanding. People that know themselves and apply that knowledge to others that they work with, creates more of a tolerance and acceptance each other.

 

 

For example, let’s say one person on the team is an idea type who tends to push forward their ideas as they think they are the best. Another person may be an action type who just wants to get things done and is concerned about get bogged down by discussing new ideas too often. Because their styles are so different it could easily cause conflict between them. By learning about themselves and each other, both individuals can see how their natural styles are very different and to collaborate better they each need to use active listening in their interactions.

 

Active listening is a way to integrate empathy into group discussions and peer to peer communication. This is where training in human relations skills combined with personal development around self-knowledge and mutual understanding can bring the secret sauce that we call team spirit.

 

In our Style Of Leadership and My Team And I training development programs, we include an important segment on self-knowledge that is weaved into every module of the program. This way as people are learning the human relations skills component of the training, they can see how their type of person is affected when attempting to apply a newly learned skill such as active listening.

 

For example, the emotionally centred type that we call the Supporter tends to listen well to people. Thus, for them learning and applying the skill of active listening is relatively easy. But the same skill for an action type is quite different because they tend to value human relations less and at first may find active listening a waste of time. The only way to interrupt these patterns of thought and habits is through building self-awareness and goal setting.

 

difference between a group and a teamThe other component of team spirit is mutual help and support. When people know themselves better they can set a personal development goal to work on to overcome their key challenge in human relations. Then real caring and support for each other can happen.

 

This is where having a common goal becomes crucial so people can work towards that while applying better skills in human relations. Team members may not like everyone on the team but once they understand each other better and start practising better human relations, they can put aside their mutual differences much easier. This will eliminate getting bogged down in conflicts that breaks down communicating.

 

Having said this, it is up to the leadership of the organization to understand the importance of self-knowledge and human relations skills development to build teamwork.

 

Management often thinks that bringing people to team building activities such as adventure challenges is enough to build greater teamwork back on the job. While these activities are surely fun and do build camaraderie, they must be complemented by training in self-knowledge and human relations.

 

keeping track of employee performance

Keeping track of Employee Performance for Better Feedback and Improvement

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Keeping track of Employee Performance for Better Feedback and Improvement

Conducting effective employee performance evaluation sessions requires being able to give examples of performance warranting recognition and improvement.

 

The best way to do this is by keeping track of performance using an employee performance record for each employee. You can download a simple for to use for this purpose.

 

 

setting personal development goals

Setting personal development goals with employees

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Setting Personal Development Goals Within an Employee using the KSS method

Setting personal development goals with employees is essential to ensure continued improvement in performance and productivity.

 

The best time to do this is when conducting an employee performance evaluation. In my recent videos and articles, I covered how to conduct an employee performance evaluation and provided five core competencies that every employer could use to discuss and evaluate performance. I also provided forms that can be downloaded and used during an employee performance evaluation.

 

The KSS method to set employee performance improvement goals is a highly effective method to pinpoint both positive performance and areas that need improvement. I am also making available the individual development worksheet to make this process easy.

 

The KSS method is simple. The K stands for keep doing, the S stands for stop doing and the other S stands for start doing. By using this approach, you are recognizing what the employee does well, what they should no longer do and what they need to begin doing.

 

setting personal development goalsThe KSS Individual Development Worksheet uses the five core behavioural competencies that I covered in my last article. These are productivity, quality of work, initiative, teamwork and problem-solving.

 

Each employee will have different strengths and weaknesses for each of these competencies. The key is to take the time to sit down with the employee and discuss their performance by referring to personal observations as well as tangible work situations from the past.

 

This method can be applied whether you are using the five competencies I mentioned or the evaluation criteria that you currently are using.

 

I have taken this worksheet from our behavioural assessment, the Profiles Performance Indicator. Once the employee completes the assessment, the individual development worksheet is used to discuss the feedback from the report and then fill out the worksheet based on a discussion with the employee.

 

For example, an employee who is highly productive may not always produce quality work because they may tend to rush things to get onto the next task or project. They may be motivated by getting things done. Obviously, you would want them to keep being productive but perhaps pay more attention to detail especially when it’s pertains to the most important tasks relative to the job.

 

setting personal development goalsWhen completing the worksheet, focus on one or two items for the employee to work on. These items can be turned into a goal that is smart, specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and timed. You can download my goal planning form to aid in setting a goal.

 

Set a target date for the goal and meet the employee after 30 days to track progress. These types of goals require a change in habits and can be difficult to achieve. After 30 days, you might find specific obstacles that could be holding the employee back from making progress. You want to discuss solutions and these will become new actions for the employee.

 

Continue to follow-up every 30 days on the progress the employee is making and you will see an improvement in performance and productivity.

 

You can also do this for yourself as a leader or manager to become more effective and act as an example to your employees.

 

writing job descriptions

Free resource for writing job descriptions

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Here is a great resource for wiring job descriptions. Onetonline.org is a resource for both employers and job seekers from the US Department of Labour. You can find detailed job descriptions on most jobs and many other resources. This makes writing job descriptions much easier.

I use job descriptions as a tool for hiring new employees and for managing employee performance. You can read article and watch my video on how to write a job description here, and also download my job description form template.