Applying the frameworks
As the leader, you can select one of the two assessment frameworks outlined in this section. While either can be used separately, we recommend that you implement the two in combination. Framework #1 introduces the Drexler /Sibbet Team Performance Model™ as a vehicle to diagnose the group dynamics of the team. Building on an understanding of the group dynamics, Assessment Framework #2: the Initial Scan, taps into group members’ perception of the dimensions of control, reward, demand, effort, fairness and support experienced by the worker in his or her particular role in the workplace.
ASSESSMENT FRAMEWORK #1
The Snapshot Assessment: Rate Your Team Intuitively
PURPOSE AND APPLICATION
Assessment Framework #1 provides the leader with a quick and intuitive way to assess how the team is functioning based on the Team Performance Model. The model provides a common ground and language for team members to reflect on and discuss the current dynamics of their team.
After an introduction to the Team Performance Model and a facilitated discussion about resolved and unresolved issues, we then need to determine how to respond to the unresolved issues that may be blocking our team’s performance and success.
The Resources and Toolkit in this web site is organized by utilizing the Team Performance Model as a scaffolding framework. Depending on where the team feels that there are major blocks, check under the seven stages of team development and select two to three tools or interventions. Once the team has agreed to try these approaches, the team may wish to commit to a doable action plan that can help assess and monitor their progress over the next three to four months. A Review Meeting should be scheduled to monitor and celebrate the team’s progress at the end of this period.
SUPPLIES
• copies of the Team Performance Model
• copies of the Team Performance Graph (optional)
• wall poster of the Team Performance Model (optional)
• facilitator manual, Team Performance: Creating and Sustaining Results (highly recommended)
GROUP SIZE
This exercise can be facilitated with any size group.
TIME REQUIRED
1 hour
INSTRUCTIONS
• The team leader circulates a copy of the Team Performance Model to each participant.
• The team leader provides a 10- to 15-minute introduction and overview of the Team Performance Model. This exercise can be facilitated by the director or manager individually or by both together, if confronting a complex issue.
• Following the presentation, have team members look at the Team Performance Model and discuss where they see themselves intuitively. This process invites members to draw on their past experience working as a member of this team, and identify which issues have been resolved and which are still unresolved.
The unresolved issues represent important and legitimate concerns faced at each stage. There is a tension on any team between those who want to deal with these concerns and those who want to move faster (Team Performance: Creating and Sustaining Results, p. 23).
• Ask team members to intuitively rank the team according to how well they think the team is handling each stage of the process. Because teams will go through all the stages many times in their life, only new teams won’t have ratings for each stage. Follow the practice described below to conduct an intuitive rating.
• Ask the group to take a piece of paper and draw “X” and “Y” axes.
• Mark the “X” axis “Unresolved” at the “-2” position, “Not Sure” at the “0” position and “resolved” at the “+2” position. Mark the “Y” axis 1 to 7 for the stages of the model. See the diagram, "How Is Our Team Doing?" below as an example. Consider photocopying a copy for each participant.
• Ask participants to draw a line indicating how many of the issues in each stage of the Team Performance Model they think are resolved or unresolved. Have them draw bars above and below the line.
• Have the team divide into small groups, and share the ratings they have assigned to each stage, discussing what each one means.
• In a plenary discussion, the facilitator(s) can lead a closing discussion and identify where the team seems blocked in its performance.
Tips and Considerations
For more than 10 years, the staff in Organizational Development at CAMH have been using the Drexler/Sibbet Team Performance Model as a diagnostic tool to help assess the dynamics of the teams we have been asked to assist. We have observed that many teams struggle with negotiating the tasks associated with the first three stages of the model (Orientation, Trust-Building and Role/Goal Clarification), and that they tend to grapple even more with developing and maintaining trust. Hence, many of the resources listed here relate to this trust-building phase. Often, teams (and especially new teams) are so focused on action and getting results that they often fail to pay adequate attention to the foundational stages of group formation, including getting oriented and clarifying roles and goals
Once you have assessed the team dynamics, we recommend that you implement one or two interventions or strategies recommended in the toolkit. Follow up with the group two or three months later and have members re-assess themselves either with this intuitive assessment and conversation and/or by re-administering the GuardingMinds@Work Initial Scan. In this way, you and the team can monitor the group’s response to the interventions selected and compare their response to the original benchmark results identified in the first assessment.
Source: This exercise has been adapted from Team Performance: Creating and Sustaining Results (pp. 22–23).
RESOURCES
The Grove Consultants International. (2001). Team Performance: Creating and Sustaining Results. San Francisco: Grove Consultants International.
This facilitator guide provides a wide array of practical activities that facilitators and team leaders can use to help groups improve their self-awareness and team effectiveness at each stage of the Drexler/Sibbet Team Performance™ Model. Many of the exercises in this toolkit have been used and/or influenced and adapted from this rich resource. This resource is highly recommended and can be ordered from www.grove.com.
The Drexler/Sibbet/Forrester Team Performance Inventory. Grove Consultants International
This inventory lets your team assess itself and its leadership. The 72-item inventory is linked to a cross-company database for benchmarking. There are nine questions for each stage of the model, and one question per stage for the team leader. You can place your order online, securely, from The Grove's web store:
http://store.grove.com/store.html
ASSESSMENT FRAMEWORK #2
The Guarding Minds@Work Initial Scan
The Initial Scan offers a quick assessment to determine where there may be problems on a particular team or work group.
CAUTION: In some situations, completing an inventory like this may trigger unpleasant thoughts or reactions, especially with teams who are struggling with (or have struggled with) toxic and trauma-related issues. For more information and resources in this area, see the material pertaining to Vicarious Trauma and Compassion Fatigue under the “Renewal” section of the toolkit.
Participants respond to the questions on-line and a confidential summary is compiled illustrating the team results. (You can also see how your results compare to other organizations across Canada.) You may have uncovered some areas that indicate “serious concerns” or “significant concerns.”
The following interventions are suggested by GuardingMinds@Work to address six aspects of a healthy work environment and foster psychological safety: control, reward, demand, effort, fairness and support. The tools that follow provide recommendations for how to achieve them.
Control
I am satisfied with the amount of involvement I have in decisions that affect my work.
Foster a culture where employees have responsibility and accountability (i.e., avoid micro-management).
Tool: Consider using the Conversation Café as a communication vehicle to supplement the standard staff meeting.
Give staff some control over job design, how work tasks are organized, and how responsibilities evolve.
Tool: Consider using the Performance Conversation as a forum for each employee to have a dialogue on the nature of their job and how tasks and responsibilities flow and develop over time. This process also connects directly to PACT (the Performance Assessment and Communication Tool) process that is used at CAMH. Provide training and support that allow work units or teams to operate autonomously (e.g., through self-directed work teams).
Tool: Consider scheduling a half-day educational session introducing the Drexler/Sibbet Team Performance™ Model.
Following this session, staff can identify issues that need attention by forming a focused and time-limited work team to define the issue or challenge and make recommendations on how the larger team can resolve it.
Note: Many theorists and managers have argued the value of work teams addressing an actual work issue over simply participating in a “team-building” workshop.
Reward
I feel I am well rewarded (in terms of praise and recognition) for the level of effort I put out for my job.
Create a culture where innovation and creativity are valued and reinforced.
Tool: Consider striking a Journal Club or establishing a Community of Practice for your team members and consider the following references for the reading list:
Leonard-Barton, D. (1995). Wellsprings of Knowledge: Building and
Sustaining the Sources of Innovation. Boston: Harvard Business School Press.
Pink, D.H. (2005). A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Inherit
the Future. New York: The Berkley Publishing Group.
Recognize and celebrate employees’ personal and professional milestones. Create a culture where praise outweighs criticism (e.g., “80/20 rule” of providing eight positively-reinforcing comments for every two pieces of constructive criticism).
Tool: Check out the Strength Bombardment exercise.
Train managers and supervisors in the art of providing constructive feedback.
Tool: The Performance Conversation can address this issue.
Demand
In the last six months, too much time pressure at work has caused me to worry or feel stressed.
Orient the staff with accurate and realistic information about job demands and expectations.
Tool: Ensure that all new employees have attended the Staff Orientation and other mandatory programs. Ensure that all staff have updated job descriptions.
Provide education on resiliency, stress management and burnout (e.g., signs and effects of stress and strategies for self-care).
Tool: Check out the classroom and online educational programs available from Education Services, Organizational Development, Human Resources and other departments at CAMH and equivalent resources in your organization.
Consider the CAMH resources available from the Health Promotion Unit, Spiritual and Religious Care, and the Work and Well-Being Research and Evaluation Program.
Take a look at the Professional Quality of Life Scale, which measures compassion fatigue.
Actively involve employees in developing strategies to better manage workload (e.g., reduction or elimination of redundant or unnecessary tasks).
Tool: The Performance Conversation can be helpful here.
Consider hosting a strategic planning session with the team to focus on how we will address these issues.
Also, see the Manager Workload / Span of Control Audit (this is a CAMH specific resource).
Effort
I have experienced no excessive worrying or undue work-related stress from mental fatigue at work.
Develop formal and informal networks to support management, human resources teams and union representatives when dealing with employee mental health issues.
Tool: Consult the Employment Works! Program and Unusual Suspects (these are CAMH specific resources).
Create opportunities for training and/or mentoring to enhance managers’ interpersonal and people management skills.
Tool: Investigate the Leadership for Managers Program and the Emergent Leaders Program.
Supply managers with the tools and supports (including time and incentives) they need to succeed in supporting employees with mental health concerns.
Tool: Familiarize yourself with the Mental Health Works! Program and Unusual Suspects.
Fairness
I am satisfied with the fairness and respect I receive on the job.
Provide opportunities for teams to learn and develop together in order to strengthen relationships (e.g., team-building exercises).
Tool: See the Rainbow Profile and the Strength Bombardment.
Provide employee training, education and resources on civil and respectful workplace behaviour (e.g., interpersonal conflict resolution, anger management).
Tool: See the Workplace Harassment and Discrimination policy.
Implement diversity training (e.g., on mental disability issues) throughout the organization.
Tool: See Introduction to Diversity and Diversity for Managers and Asking the Right Questions. These are programs scheduled throughout the year and are sponsored by Education Services (CAMH).
Seek out support pertaining to diversity issues by contacting the Diversity Program Office at CAMH.
Support
My supervisor supports me in getting my work done.
Foster a culture where the growth and development of interpersonal and emotional skills is valued and encouraged. (Note: “Interpersonal/emotional skills” refer to individual employees’ abilities and capacities to manage emotions and relationships, and to effectively solve challenging interpersonal problems at work.)
Tool: Consider the Emergent Leader program; Leadership for Managers and the Strengths Deployment Inventory.
Use collegiality and humour to maintain an open and creative culture, promote group cohesion, enhance communication and strengthen leadership.
Tool: Consider bring the Releasing Stress Through Laughter Yoga (half-day program) sponsored by Organizational Development as an in-service for your team.
Consider the interpersonal/emotional skills of candidates in promotion decisions.
Tool: The Emergent Leader Program is an excellent program to prepare potential leaders for future management positions and for candidates to determine for themselves if management is an appropriate career pathway for them. Also, see Coaching opportunities.