The Self in Teams (Coda)

Team A was formed in early September 2019 to formulate by December 2019 tips for managers to energize teams in organizations.

Pell-mell, the tips that Team A formulated to implement or empower teams in organizations are: (a) design workplaces that are open to growth; (b) build trust through effective communications; (c) identify conflict and work out strategies to manage or leverage it; (d) appreciate intrinsic and extrinsic motivation at individual and team levels; (e) recognize and reward employees depending on their needs; (f) develop soft virtual teaming skills; (g) foster learning in virtual teams and map learning curves; (h) redefine virtual teaming away from geographically, organizationally, and/or time-dispersed collaboration because, these days, teams make choices about virtuality based on a confluence of factors including group structure, task, and interaction frequency; (i) conduct social network analysis to make out relationships and knowledge flows and see how they might be measured, monitored, and evaluated for higher team (and organizational) performance; and (j) accept that team leadership is not synonymous with a single team leader’s style but hangs on efficient interdependence powered by distributed approaches.

In social psychology, self-improvement refers to the motive behind efforts to become a better individual. The other, less common, motives that might drive self-evaluation are self-assessment (to appraise aspects that are important to one’s identity), self-verification (to be known and understood according to what beliefs one holds), and self-enhancement (to maintain self-esteem) (Sedikides, 1993).

Apropos learning, the team charter averred that “Learning expands the horizons of who we are and what we can become. Individually and working as a group, the team will strive to ask, learn, and share throughout the project: related actions will include being open to new ideas or ways of doing things; promoting a team environment where critical thinking is encouraged; and mastering tools, methods, and approaches that enrich team discussions” (Serrat, 2019b).

Merriam-Webster defines mindfulness as the practice of maintaining a nonjudgmental state of heightened or complete awareness of one’s thoughts, emotions, or experiences on a moment-to-moment basis.

According to Beckhard (1972), team building serves to set goals or priorities; analyze or allocate the way work is performed; estimate the way the team is working; and examine relationships among team members.

Babe Ruth’s assertion rings the bell: the term “team” was borrowed from sport by management.

For example: Tell me about a project that required inputs from different people. Give me an example of a team that failed. Share a rewarding team experience. How would you work with a difficult team member? Tell me about a time you stepped up to a leadership role.

Self-management skills include emotion regulation, a growth mindset, patience, perceptiveness, perseverance and persistence, resilience, self-awareness, self-confidence, skills to forgive and forget, and stress management. People skills have to do with coaching and mentoring, communicating, dealing with difficult people and situations, facilitating, influencing, leading, managing, managing upwards, negotiating, networking, persuading, presenting, self-promotion, selling, and savviness about office politics.

In a basketball team, to pursue the parallelism between teams and sport, the five primary roles include two guards, two forwards, and a center (or—to be exact—a point guard, a shooting guard, a small forward, a power forward, and a center), each with his or her own roles and responsibilities.