Team Development - Free eBook in PDF Format
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Book Description - ISBN 978-1-62620-986-2 (25 Pages)
The best leadership style for any particular team will be influenced by its purpose and composition. This free eBook provides a practical guide to understanding team development to help you with practical day-to-day team building.
Chapter 1 - How to Motivate Your Team
A great deal of research has been published on team building and team motivation. Even though most of this research is purely academic and has been performed in a research environment rather than in the workplace, some of it does contain value for a working manager.
Chapter 2 - Bruce Tuckman's 'Stages for a Group' Theory
This model of group development was first proposed by Bruce Tuckman in 1965, who maintained that these phases are all necessary and inevitable in order for the team to grow, to face up to challenges, to tackle problems, to find solutions, to plan work, and to deliver results.
Chapter 3 - Richard Hackman's 'Five Factor Model'
In 2002, whilst working at Harvard, Richard Hackman developed a research-based model for designing and managing work groups. His research looked at why some groups were successful and what it was that made them so.
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Explains the Stages of Team Development
In an effort to increase my understanding of team dynamics and how to build relationships in a team environment, I recently read this eBook on Team Development. Overall, I enjoyed the short book and felt that it added some real value to my base of knowledge. I have always felt a little bit unsure of the best way to proceed when organizing a team for a specific project, and I think this book has brought a little bit of clarity to my planning. Time will tell as I put some of these principles into action, but I am confident that the returns will be positive.
Once section of this book that I found more useful than expected was the highlighting of what a team is and how one is put together. This introduction seemed sort of rudimentary at first, but I actually learned a lot from it and it made me think hard about when teams are really necessary in the work environment. In retrospect, I think I have assembled teams in the past when the issue could have been handled more informally by just a couple of individuals. This book explains in simple terms when a team is called for, and what to look for in members of that team.
While the introduction to teams was helpful, the most useful part of this eBook for me was the explanation of 'Tuckman's Stages for a Group'. I think this is really where I have needed help in the past, and I found this information to be very interesting and hopefully useful. There are four stages, and each is carefully explained so you can identify them as they are occurring within the team. The most important part of this explanation is when the book highlights how the manager of the team should respond to each stage. I had not thought about managing a team in this manner, yet it makes perfect sense. I plan to keep an outline of this section at hand and consult it as I am trying to guide a team through a development process.
The eBook goes on to highlight to Hackman 'Five Factor Model', which I found to be a little less useful for myself personally, but interesting none the less. Depending on what kind of team and business you are involved in, this section may be more or less useful to you than it was to me.
Overall, the Team Development eBook is definitely worth your small time investment to read through it. There are valuable pieces of advice, and clearly outlines ways of thinking that will help you to approach any team exercise with a new perspective. I'm glad I found this book and took the time to read it, and I look forward to putting some of these ideas into action.
Francis Marshal
Great for Anyone Who Needs to Improve Their Team Development Skills
This book takes you through every point you need to know about team development plus more! I recommend this e-book to anyone who finds themselves in the same situation that I was in, trying to lead an effective team for the first time. There are many factors that go into team development. I am very happy that I chose this book to download. The book starts off with the preface, which is a good reference to see what the book is going to help you better understand. I like that this book guides me on how much I need to be involved with my group and how to deal with conflict. Those to me are very important topics that I really struggled with.
The book starts off with defining what a team is. I felt like this part of the book should be common sense. I did not feel the need to know the difference between temporary teams and permanent teams. I really would like to see those two pages left out of the book. If you are new to a leadership position then maybe those pages would be relevant to you.
The next part of the book dives in depth into Tuckman's four stages of groups. The four stages are: forming, storming, norming, and performing. The first stage, forming, is when the team is first put together. This "orientation" stage is different for every group and the length that the team stays in this stage really depends on the type of group, its members, and its leader.
The second stage is storming. Storming is when your team starts questioning decisions and reason that some decisions are being made. At this stage it is a leader's job to keep everything as positive as possible. Norming, the third stage, is where all of the team members learn how to work with all of the other team members. In this stage, you as a leader need to become a team member and not just the leader. The last stage is performing.
The performing stage is where your team should be able to work together with a positive attitude and your role as a leader should be a little less hands on. The book then moves on to Richard Hackman's reasons why groups were successful. As the book states, the reasons are "they satisfy internal and external clients, they develop capabilities to perform in the future, and the members find meaning and satisfaction within the group". I thought it was very interesting and important to understand what makes a group successful.
I really thought that the "Five Factor Model" was extremely helpful. The five factors are being a real team, compelling direction, enabling structure, supportive context, and expert coaching. The first factor, being a real team, is making sure the team is stable. The second factor is a compelling direction for your team. Be sure to guide your group in the best direction. The third factor is to enable structure. As a leader you will be able to control some things while others you cannot. This e-book does a great job of giving ideas for helping with this factor.
The fourth factor, supportive context, is made up of reward, development, and information. The last factor is expert coaching. Expert coaching involves evaluating your team members to see what type of leadership style each individual members need.
This e-book will take you step by step on how to better your team. It is great for anyone who needs to improve their team development skills, whether you are a newbie or a seasoned leader. I highly recommend this to anyone who is a part of a team and wants to improve their leadership and team work skills.
Ervin Ward
Team Development and Different Leadership Styles - A great deal of research has been published on team building and team development. Even though most of this research is purely academic and has been performed in a research environment rather than in the workplace, some of it does contain value for a working manager.
Leadership Styles in Business - The Leadership Continuum described by Tannenbaum and offers a continuum of potential ways a manager can behave along which many leadership styles are placed. This offers you great flexibility in selecting the style of leaderships that best suits the different circumstances you encounter every day at work.
