Communicating in
Groups and Teams
 The
mindless to mindful team/group
continuum presents four categories of
teams/groups:
• Group of Individuals
• Group in Name Only
• Collaborative Group
• Team
Strategies for Organizing Teams
Successful teams do the following:
• Develop effective leadership strategies
• Outline strategies for team participation locally
and globally
• Develop criteria for the selection of team
members
• Practice adaptive communication skills, such as
behavioral flexibility
• Create collaboratively stated goals and objectives
for group work
Developing Effective Leadership
A successful leader is one who manages the
communication within the team and ensures the following:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Choose team members
Clarify individual and team goals
Facilitate communication
Build consensus
Seek and provide information
Make assignments
Evaluate, summarize, and report
Celebrate success
Leadership:
key to developing
synergy in team
communication
 Synergy
• the stage on the conscious communication
continuum where people are truly collaborating
(working together)
 Jamming
• engaging in a spontaneous, energetic group session
• the positive energies that emerge from total group
coordination when every individual has a role to play
in the team and a chance to demonstrate skills
Participating in Teams
 Questions
to ask oneself:
• What does the team expect from me?
• How can I best serve the team?
• Do I have any promises or commitments to the
team I haven’t fulfilled?
• Is there any reason I cannot succeed?
• What information do I need?
• Is there any way that I can help other members
of the team?
 Strategies
member:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
to be an effective team
be fully committed to the team
prepare for dialogue
listen carefully, without interruption
provide verbal and nonverbal feedback
ask relevant questions
be adaptive
participate in team rites, rituals, and traditions
stay on task
 Adaptive
skills refer to the ability of team
members to adapt their behavior to the
needs and expectations of others.
 Behavioral flexibility includes:
• developing a repertoire of self-presentations
• being an example of collaborative
communication
• accepting the legitimacy and honesty of others’
self-perceptions
 Choose
• Clearly defined goals
• Commonly perceived strategies
 Create
• Agendas
• Visioning sessions
 Coordinate
• Problem solving process
• Creativity and constraints
 Deliver
• Five ways of delivering teamwork
 Team
experiences improve when the
members choose productive strategies for
organizing team activities.
• develop effective leadership strategies
• outline strategies for team participation locally and
globally
• develop criteria for the selection of team members
• practice adaptive communication skills, such as
behavioral flexibility
• create collaboratively stated goals and objectives for
group work

Agendas
• Functional document used to organize meetings and
share information.
• Agendas should include:





date
time
place of the meeting
speakers and their topics
Vision statement
• the overall, far reaching idea of what a team or
organization should accomplish.
• The vision statement should include the values that will
lead the team.
 Cross-team
problem solving is most
effective when teams balance creativity and
constraints.
 Creativity
• the result of giving people the freedom to explore
alternatives beyond the traditional ways of doing
things.
 Constraints
• the restrictions or limits (resources, time, or money)
which can hinder problem solving.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
Understanding the charge
Phrasing the question
Fact-finding
Establishing criteria for a solution
Generating alternative solutions
Testing each alternative solution against the
criteria
Formulating a solution
Presenting the solution
 Five
ways teamwork can be delivered:
• Memos and reports
• Staff briefings and weekly sessions
• Planning and problem-solving meetings
• Virtual meetings
• Conferences, workshops, and seminars