Introduction
Teamwork involves working in a group of people, where an individual’s opinions are coordinated with other contributions, and refined to produce the desired outcome. At times, individual opinions may be sidelined for the benefit of unity and efficiency of a group. Through teamwork, people enhance their communication skills and coordination ability. However, when working as a team, they’re bound to be lots of disagreement, interpersonal rivalry, and superiority complex within a discussion (Goleman, Boyatzis & McKee, 2002). Are there foundations that facilitate a team to build and maintain effective relationships in an organization? Yes, there are, these include; self-awareness, leadership knowledge, skills, and behavior (Goleman, Boyatzis, & McKee, 2002). This essay elaborates on an activity that can be incorporated in an organization to enhance teamwork, develop trust and build a positive relationship.
Activity
Tennis ball gets acquainted activity can be used to enhance teamwork, develop trust and build a positive relationship in an organization. The requirements include two or three tennis balls and one of different type-texture or colour, team members (Nelson, Ivey and Federich, 2002).
Instructions
- Participants get into a circle and introduce themselves in turns.
- After the introduction, one person throws the tennis ball to another in the circle, then the person throws to the next and the sequence continues.
- The leader introduces the second ball in the same pattern in the circle; beginning from the person in step two.
- A third tennis ball may be added if the group is large and so on.
- The team is instructed to try and throw the balls faster without dropping them.
- When the throwing of the ball gets in synch, the leader introduces the different balls in the circle.
- The ball disorganizes the participants.
- The activity continues until all the balls are dropped
- The leader asks the members to share what they have learnt from the activity.
Outcomes expected
The different ball causes participants distraction and alter the communication and team’s cooperation and coordination. All the balls in the activity will eventually get dropped during the interference (Nelson, Ivey and Federich, 2002).
Discussion
Why did the ball bring distraction, and change communication? How does the group handle the distraction? What are the lessons learned?
To start with, the distractions symbolize disagreements, interpersonal opinions among others. They may originate from either side of the coin i.e. from the leaders or the followers. Dropping off the ball signifies the expensive costs individual differences can bring about in an organization. The lesson learned from the activity is that even groups comprising of brilliant individuals will collapse if the team disintegrates into bickering, interpersonal rivalry, or power plays. More so, trust, good leadership, and team coordination are essential for every organization’s success.
Teams must have a leader to guide the effort. This team leader must have good leadership skills. Great leaders should have vision, reality, ethics and courage (Kouzes & Posner, 2007)
Effective teams should have a clear performance objective, be result-driven, comprise competent members, be collaborative, supportive and must have principled leadership. Moreover, for teams to become effective, they must work through the following growth stages; 1) Forming- members outline boundaries of acceptable behavior and sort leader’s guidance. 2) Storming- members are still inexperienced, some become impatient and may pull out. 3) Norming- members reconcile, differences get resolved and conflicts reduce. Significant progress is achieved. 4) Performing- members open up, entrust each other and prioritize tasks (Larson and LaFasto, 1989).
Conclusion
Team self-awareness and enduring values are key components required for effective achievements in organizations. Teamwork does not necessarily disregard individual efforts but only implies that teamwork goes beyond a person’s accomplishments. Therefore, effective teamwork is achieved when individuals merge their effort towards a common goal. Moreover, key values such as trust, openness, and positive relations are vital for a team to progress together.
References
- Goleman, D., Boyatzis, R., & McKee, A. (2002). Primal Leadership: Realizing the Power of Emotional Intelligence. Boston: Harvard Business School Press.
- Kouzes, J., & Posner, B. (2007). Leadership Challenge 4th Ed. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
- Larson and La Fasto (1989). Teamwork: What must go right/what can go wrong. London. Sage publications.
- Nelson, K.., Ivey, D., Federich, S. (2002). Support for journal district leadership team activities.