Teams & Leadership

A presentation by Kevin Chesser, Eoin Hanrahan, Paul Mulkearn, and John Ryan

Contents:

Purpose of Teams & The role of teams in engineering.

What makes a good team?What makes a good leader?Resolving issues.Team VS Individual.

The Purpose of a Team

“ Coming Together is a Beginning, Keeping Together is Progress, Working Together is success. ” - Henry Ford

What is a Team?

A team is a small number of people with complementary skills who are committed to a common purpose, performance goal and approach, for which they are mutually accountable. (Katzenbach and Smith,1993)

“A team differs from a group in that it is united by a common function and set of goals”

Teams in Engineering

Teams are used to divide a workload between colleagues, often into different disciplines to obtain the best end product.

Good teamwork is a vital aspect of engineering and is required by recruiters when hiring new employees.

Sample Job ApplicationEmployee Requirements

What makes a good team?

“The way a team plays as a whole determines its success. You may have the greatest bunch of individual stars in the world, but if they don’t play together, the club won’t be worth a dime.” - Babe Ruth.

Examples:Good team: Barcelona FC.Bad team: The English national soccer team.

What makes a good team? Willing and able team members that want to be in a team!

Good teams have leaders that recognize that each team member has a different style.

Good teams will identify the tasks required to be completed to achieve their goals and carry out these tasks in a timely manner.

Communication within the team is one the most critical parts to it being successful.

Trust is also a major influence among peers. A great example of this was the ‘Jigsaw’ game.

Recovery from a failure: learning from its mistakes. Example: the minefield game in the ULAC.

What makes a good team? Communication will cover a number elements within a team.

Communication is key in respect to a team that works well together, individuals with different personalities and outlooks must be able to establish good working relationships if it is to be successful.

Feedback - “In teamwork, silence isn’t golden, it’s deadly.” - Mark Sanborn.

An atmosphere of mutual respect is essential! Members must be open and honest with each other and be able to express and defend their ideas with respect to the views of others.

Effective listening. Teams solve problems together so each member has to listen to and build on the ideas of others.

What makes a good team?A good Leader: “A true leader has the confidence to stand alone, the courage to make tough decisions and the compassion to listen to the needs of others. He doesn't set out to be a leader, but becomes one by the quality of his actions and the integrity of his intent. In the end, leaders are much like eagles... they do not flock; you find them one at a time”- Unknown

What makes a good team?- A good Leader.

A good leader: Henry Ford – Revolutionary in the Automobile industry.

Born: July 30, 1863Springwells, Michigan Died: April 7, 1947Dearborn, MichiganFounder, Ford Motor Company

Ford is known as one of the men who started to use the ideas of mass production and sub-divided labour. By demonstrating the positive effects of his manufacturing techniques, more companies started using these ideas.

Henry Ford also believed in bettering the conditions of workers. He showed the industry that with increased efficiency, a company could pay their workers higher wages paired with a shorter work week

The Ford Motor Company was started in 1903. With the creation of this company Ford stated, “I will build a car for the great multitude.” With his vision becoming a reality, it jump-started the Motor Age. Ford wanted to have a company that was able to create affordable automobiles

The Ford Model A – Henry Fords first car. (1903)

What makes a good team?- A good Leader.

A good leader: Henry Ford – Revolutionary in the Automobile industry.

Henry Ford created the Ford Foundation which promoted human welfare through research grants, educational grants and development.

Henry Ford was a strong leader whose actions reflect the characteristics of a great leader ,  He changed many areas of American life ranging from travel, road systems, urban developmental patterns, and working wages. Henry Ford will always be remembered as being a great inventor, businessman, and leader whose impact on the world will forever be evident.

Issues – The ‘Storming’ phase.

“It is one of man’s curios idiosyncrasies to create difficulties for the pleasure of resolving them”- Joseph De Maistre.

Issues – The ‘Storming’ phase.

Basically when everything goes wrong.

Personalities collide, and everyone is in

disagreement. No communication – everyone wants

to do what they want, and don’t care about anyone else’s opinions, ideas, or views.

Issues – Resolution & how to avoid the ‘Storming’ phase.

Use facilitators: – They keep everyone focused on the task at hand, suggest structures and practices to keep everyone on course. Example: Our group leaders at the adventure centre.

Issues – Resolution & how to avoid the ‘Storming’ phase.

Feedback: 1. Positive – Praise good things. This reinforces

commendable actions. 2. Negative – Criticism must be neutral, and

focused on the task, not the personality. It can be thought of as mutual coaching, and must be accompanied by a positive suggestion for improvement.

A great example was the ‘low ropes’.

Issues – Resolution & how to avoid the ‘Storming’ phase.

Handling failure: 1. Don’t brush it off. Explore it. 2. Examine causes, and don’t repeat.3. Delegate an agreed solution to the

person who made the mistake. This demonstrates trust.

Issues – Resolution & how to avoid the ‘Storming’ phase.

Handling deadlock / conflict:1. Common ground must be found,

and the differences viewed as an alternative strategy.

2. Debate the differences and decide which are more relevant to the task.

3. Flip a coin / Rock-Paper-Scissors / Fight-to-the-death if the issue is not resolved after some time.

Issues – Resolution & how to avoid the ‘Storming’ phase.

Avoid Single Solutions: 1. First idea isn’t always the best, so

alternatives should be generated.2. Monitor outcomes of solutions,

review them and be prepared to make changes to the solution.

Team VS Individual.

“An individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrowconfines of his individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity” - Martin Luther King, Jr. 

Benefits of a Team/ Disadvantages of an Individual

A wider range of ideas can be produced, this results in a lot of innovation.

It is a lot easier for a team to motivate themselves than an individual.

A team brings a wider range of knowledge and skills to solve a problem.

Synergy: The whole sum of the team is greater than the sum of the individual parts. i.e. 2 + 2 = 5

The whole of the team can compensate for the person who is temporarily absent or off form.

Benefits of teams to us as Students/Engineers

In addition to preparing for our future , teamwork benefits us as students in many ways:

1. Exposure to different points of views2. Communication Skills3. Critical Thinking and Evaluation Skills4. Conflict Resolution skills5. Decision making skills6. Prepares us for opportunities in

promotion and management.

Individual fails while the team succeeds

Conclusion:

A good leader, trust and communication are essential.

No group is perfect – You have to make them work.

By making the group responsible for its own support, the responsibility becomes an accelerator for the group process.

To avoid issues/problems the ‘group process’ must be planned, monitored, reviewed, and changed if necessary.

Any Questions?