This research considers three communication tools, three performance tools, and a team-building activity to enhance team performance. For the purposes of this exercise, it is assumed that the team is relatively small-having eight members-that all members are located in the same physical facility, but come from different departments.
The first communication strategy is to minimize the use of e-mail. While an effective communication tool in many instances, e-mail messages lack the nonverbal cues that can lead to misinterpretation, and can require several iterations that could be handled more quickly through a phone call or face-to-face contact. The team leader can also take the initiative to ensure that all team members are active listeners rather than passive participants. This can be done through techniques such as asking direct questions of "quiet" participants such as "Sharon, what do you think of this approach?" Avoiding yes/no questions provides an opportunity to elicit greater participation, as well. The third strategy involves finding common ground among team members (more of this will be discussed in the team-building activity); while meetings should be kept on-track, there is time before and after the meeting for the leader to encourage "chatting" among members about plans for the weekend, how they're doing, etc ("Listening and Critiquing," 2005).
The first strategy is to have a clear goal for the team. Teams lacking this clear goal will have a much harder time being effective, and will have no clear definition of when they have succeeded-or failed. The second strategy to improve performance is to have regular feedback both to the group as a whole and to individuals, as necessary. The practice of "praise in public, criticize in private" should be followed by the team leader (L
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