Cohesive team building. I am going to describe how to build cohesive teams that perform well and explain how targets are set and team performance is monitored. I will also assess the value of different methods of monitoring the performance of a team.

• The chairperson- This person is charged with the sole responsibility of ensuring the team’s success. They are confident, sometimes strict, have the ability of assigning the right task to the right person and ensure that every individual contribute fully to the team.
• The shaper- This person is task focused. Their main aim is to ensure that set goals are achieved. Therefore they will be motivated and be able to motivate others to achieving the aims of the team.
• The plant- This is a person that have a high level of creativity. They are the ones that can think of different solutions to the problems a team might be facing or other ways of doing things.
• The Monitor Evaluator- They indulges in monitoring, evaluating analysing a team’s work. They ensure that they perform their duty with a clarity of mind and ensure they aren’t biased.
• Resource Investigator- They look up and give feedbacks on ideas that are been used outside the organisation. These ideas might belong to other organisations so you can simply say they steal ideas. Therefore, you can say they are charged with the sole responsibility of creating contacts outside of the organisation which might be of a benefit.
• Team worker- They are the ones who keeps the team running. They listen carefully to issues arising, settle conflicts, assist team members to perform better by either giving a helping hand or suggesting other ways of doing things, generate a good team spirit (motivation), communicate ideas to the team etc.
• Company worker- This is a person that is loyal to the team. They tend to do the work according to what they are been told and also assist in doing the tasks that others do not want to do.
• Finisher- This is the person that goes the extra mile in order to ensure that tasks are completed properly. They double check completed tasks so as to ensure there are no mistakes or omission. They bother themselves with paying attention to minor details and are concerned with meeting deadlines.

Each team role makes a unique and valuable contribution to the team.

Tuckman’s Theory:

He (Tuckman) propounded this theory in 1965. He believes that for an effective team building you have to go through four stages which are:

• Forming- This is the first stage whereby a number of people comes together with no idea on what their purpose is.

• Storming- This is the stage whereby the assembled group starts to bring up and share ideas. At this particular stage, the team is not organised and there’s no plan to taking the group forward.

• Norming- This is the stage whereby the team start blending together. They will assign a leader and start to work on ideas which were formulated through meetings.

• Performing- This is where the group starts to perform on a high standard. They are organised based on mutual respect, they debate on ideas because they expect some people to be against some proposed plan. This will also encourage every member of the team to make a contribution to the group.

Team performance

Team performance is the level of productivity or the amount of contribution that a team, makes toward the completion of a task. Team performance is very important because not everyone is perfect in all areas which means someone could be creative while someone else strong area might be designing therefore assigning the right task to the right people will ensure for a good team performance. Team performance can be measured in various ways like:

• Performance indicators: This is a set of measurement put in place by an organisation to determine the performance level of a department, team or the whole of the organisation. This will enable the organisation be able to arrive at the decision whether the team is performing well or not. Performance indicator can also be used on individuals; this measures the extent to which an individual meets targets.
• Target setting: This ensures that teams achieve the targets set out for them. Target setting involves setting out objectives, evaluation and review. The TPI (team performance indicator) is used to measure team performances. TPI involves things like; the team will meet on a monthly basis, each person gets a chance to chair a meeting at some point, the team sets out to make sure that the views of all participants are listened to, setting work-based targets for example increase sales by 5%.
• Monitoring: This will enable supervisors to be able to arrive at a decision regarding individual’s performance, whether they are coping with their assigned tasks or needs help e.g. asking someone to design a leaflet when they are not creative.  This also enables individuals to be watched closely in order to ensure they understand what their task is all about and if they know the step by step guide to completing their assigned task.
• Reviewing: This involves examining/testing the contributions of individuals to the total outputs of the team. This will enable the organisation to decide on the team performance and suggest ways of improvements.
• Performance against targets: This is when team leaders evaluate team performance against their set targets in order to know if they are able to meet their targets. From this they will be able to know what measures to take in assisting those that are lacking behind.
• Support and development of team members: This is when support is given to team members who lack weaknesses in certain areas. Team leaders will work closely with the training and development manager so as to identify the training and development needs of their individual employees. Organisations do this by using TDNA (Training and Development Needs Analysis) to identify areas of weaknesses in an employee. This will enable them to be able to identify the type of training needed by team members or individuals to perform better.

Cohesion

• Team goals: This is setting out what the team is seeking to achieve. This will enable the team to know what they are aiming to achieve.
• Group conflict: This is the argument that might occur between team members due to different views on the way of doing things. Team managers therefore needs to put measures in place in order to tackle conflict that might occur. For example; we were told to design a packaging for shoes, we decided on the weaknesses of each team members and their strong part as well, the person who is creative brought ideas while the person who can draw dealt with the painting etc. This allowed no room for conflict because we all had our strong part while in another case if we didn’t know each other’s weaknesses then conflict might arise if one person is not performing.
• Group turnover: Group turnover can be affected when some employees are leaving for some reasons and the new ones don’t have the skills or knowledge to perform their tasks. In order not to suffer, organisations need to train some other staff from other department in been able to do that work. This will enable performance to be continued until the new staffs have been trained properly.
• Recognition of contributions: This is when staff are rewarded for their contribution towards the success of the organisation. Reward can be in form of promotion, giving award or increase in wages. This will make them feel appreciated and don’t want to leave the organisation (retention).
• Team leadership: Team leadership is the ability of a person to be able to direct and guide the team in the right way. A team leader must be able to lead by example, which means just seeing the way he/she acts can motivate his/her sub-ordinates. Therefore, a team leader must not be lazy, be friendly but that depends on the situation. For example some if you are in the army you have to be strict while if you are working with students you will need a friendly approach because students won’t work well if you are too strict to them.

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How Targets are Set and Team Performance is Monitored

• Targets Setting: In every organisation, it is very important to set targets so that team members will be aware of what they are to achieve. Different organisations set different targets e.g. Manchester United FC will be hoping to win the league while Sunderland see a top ten finish as their target, while Aston Villa might be hoping to gatecrash the Top four. The processes involved are:
• Identifying objectives: This is when organisation sits down to decide on what their target is, what they want to achieve. These targets might be set in relation to competitors, or to the economic situation. E.g. ASDA’s target is to take over from TESCO as the market leader.  
• Planning: This enables the team to have a better understanding on what the objectives are, this will enable individuals to know the part they have to play in achieving that role.
• Organising and structuring: This is the relationship that exists within an organisation. Who to report to after tasks are completed.
• Strategies for raising achievement: These are the plans put in place by team leaders in order to raise achievements among his/her team members. In order to raise achievements team leaders uses different strategies like assisting whoever is lacking behind, giving rewards that will show that their efforts are valued, been friendly to members which will take the pressure off them, team leaders should also set good example for sub-ordinates to emulate etc.
• Scheduling of work: This is like a time table that’s set out so that you will be reminded on what tasks is due to be done and whom this task is assigned to. This is to be monitored by supervisors or team leaders so that they will know if the said task has been completed.

• Prioritising: It is the duties of team leaders to prioritise duties. Team leaders need to make sure that each team members have and know the role they have to play in meeting the organisation’s objective. Prioritising includes tackling essential activities first before wasting time on less important activities.
• Controlling: Team leaders need to ensure that the works of their team members are controlled so that they can meet targets. If when necessary they could switch people around among teams in order for an improved performance.
• Dealing with contingencies and emergencies: team leaders should try and ensure that they have at least two options in place so that if one fails they can rely on the other. This will ensure that task can still be completed. When we were given a task to create a packaging, we decided to just draw the painting on the carton if we are unable to design a shoe to put on the carton.
• Coordinating: This is when team leaders co ordinates the various activities that the team are to perform. They will establish schedules so that when one task is completed the other can start.

Methods of Monitoring Team Performance

It’s the duty of team leaders and supervisors to monitor the progress of their team. They need to ensure that activities are carefully planned, that the team has all the necessary support and ensures that members are motivated to work efficiently. There are a number of tools used in monitoring team performance which are:

• Milestones: These are markers that show how much distance you have made towards reaching your destination. These shows team leaders how far they have to go to meet their targets. This is a very important tool because you can use it to divide your aim into objectives, like ASDA wants to take over from Tesco as the market leader so they might decide to do more advertising, provide cheaper goods increase sales through promotional activities.
• Responsibilities: This involves allocating responsibilities among members so that you can identify who is responsible for performing a certain task. W hen you create responsibilities for individuals you will be able to break down the overall organisation and team goals.
• Accountability: Accountability is when an individual and teams have to be charged with the responsibility of achieving or completing a certain task. This will give each team member a sense of responsibility as they will know that they are going to be responsible for the outcome of a task (whether it be achieved or not).
• Review and evaluation: After a team have been set up, it’s the duty of the team leaders to ensure that the team are motivated and are working according to the best of their abilities. In this case the team leader will use review and evaluation to look into things like; how well is the team working? What steps can be taken to enhance a better performance? What other supports can be given to the teamwork process? Etc. This is used to look at the changes that might occur in a team’s performance (if they’ve achieved a better performance than previously). They can then put processes in place to enhance a better performance. Review and evaluation also enable team leaders to see if the team has managed to complete the task assigned to them on time, also ensuring that the task has been completed without no errors or that it’s done to a satisfactory level.