BSL4060 CSU Unit 3 Team Building & Leadership Discussion

Describe the components of the team-building cycle and why it is important to understand each phase. In addition, select one of the six stages and provide a personal/professional example of how you or a current/former leader performed this step during a team-building engagement. In response to other students, continue to share and compare worthy experiences/scenarios to validate your understanding of this team-building process.

Textbook:Dyer, W. G., Jr., Dyer, J. H., & Dyer, W. G. (2013). Team building: Proven strategies for improving team performance (5th ed.). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

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Please respond to my classmate response below:

The six components of the team building cycle are problem identification, data gathering, data analysis, action planning, implementation, and evaluation. The most important thing to understand about this model is that it is a cycle. That means it is not a one-time activity that will fix all that ails an organization. It is a program that should be implemented continuously in order to be effective. Problem identification is important because often there are several issues that arise from a single source. Treating the symptoms doesn’t cure the disease, so we need to determine the root cause. Once that is identified, it is important to understand the contributing factors during the data gathering phase. During data analysis, you can narrow down the issues to the core problems, and devise different solutions to address them. Action planning is the step where specific courses of action are devised to address the current issues. There should be more than one possible plan so that if one is ineffective the organization can pivot to another method. Implementation is done when a course of action to address the problem is put in motion, and evaluation is continuous. Seeing a bad plan through to the end will only generate more problems and potentially exacerbate the existing issues.

We had a large amount of turnover at our department a few years ago. Once everyone left, we were understaffed, and having a difficult time attracting new members. The first step our chief took was to identify the reasons that people were leaving. Part of it was financial, but the biggest issue was that prior to him taking command, there was a lot of division among the department. Cliques had been formed, and there was a lack of trust. Luckily, the people who contributed to the internal division left during the turnover. The chief immediately brought everyone in and laid out a plan to move forward. He was able to raise the salary a bit, nothing major, but it was better than it had been. Next he shuffled the deck. All of the shifts changed over which helped to break up any remaining isolated groups and forced the department to become more cohesive. Next there were new assignments and promotions, and some other changes to routine operation. It took some adjusting and time for everyone to get used to the changes, but now we are fully staffed, and the work environment is much more cohesive than ever before. People are working harder, working together better, and displaying a more positive attitude.