My appreciation to all who responded to my request for ideas
in developing team behaviors.  I have edited the responses in
the spirit of minimizing this summary, hopefully without real
sacrifices in value.
 
Thanks again, Mike Townes
 
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  Begin at the beginning...
  What is the vision, mission, group norms and groundrules,
values, objectives, action plans seems like a logical start
to me and along the way, you can throw in some of those
"team building" activities we're all too familiar with!!
 
"Burger, Patricia" <[log in to unmask]>
 
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  ... a reasonably large issue, but we totally agree with
your approach.  We teach what they don't use that is in our
book.  Here is some info on the book...   "How To Unleash
The Power Of People" by Bennet Simonton
 
LEADERSHIP IS A SCIENCE, NOT AN ART
 
NOW FOR A BRIEF Description of the book
 
  Discusses the current state of distrust and disrespect and
their major causes.  Defines the characteristics of a
superlative employee and adopts them as the book's goal.
Discusses three characteristics of people relevant to
managing; identical Values, 90% caused to be Followers and
an ability to Choose our actions and reactions.  Discusses
why these three characteristics result in a workforce which
"follows" the boss' "leads" in Values, good or bad,
regardless of the boss' intent (how industrious, safe, neat,
cooperative, enthusiastic, knowledgeable, etc.  to be when
working).
 
  Gives a clear description of high and low standards for
each of 23 Values, their effects on the workplace and why
your "leads" toward low standards result in significant
negative effects.  Describes specific actions by which to
"lead" toward high standards and how to avoid bad leadership
in management support functions such as tools, discipline,
orders, training, union relations, change, peace of mind,
correcting negative attitudes and many others.  Clearly
defines your most important skill of listening, its effects
on commitment and "how" to effectively listen, step-by-step.
 
  Discusses the goals and specific actions required to
successfully interact with people, one-on-one and in 40
person group meetings.  Presents one-on-one as your most
important mechanism for detecting and correcting leadership
errors.  Presents group meetings as your major mechanism for
successful culture change and causing Followers to become
self-directed self-starters, mainly because group meetings
are 5 times more credible than one-on-one interactions.
Provides the details of how to conduct group meetings and
follow-up with corrective action.
 
  A few of many specifics.
+ Why You Have No Choice Over How to Manage People.
+ Why Giving Orders may be Your Weakest, Most Destructive
Action and How not to Create Robots.
+ Eleven Most Valuable Orders You Can't Live Without.
+ Why Bosses Cannot Motivate, but can Release People to
Their Own Motivations.
+ How to Prevent Shooting the Messenger.
+ How to Convert Coaching from Confrontation to Caring.
+ How to Put a Stop to the Bad Effects of Bureaucracy.
+ Why People Turn Off their Brain When Not Given a Chance
to Add Their Two Cents.
+ How to Create a Self-Sustaining Value-Based Culture.
+ Why and How to be a Brake not an Accelerator for Needed
Changes.
+ Why the Chain of Command is the Natural Enemy of Peace of
Mind.
+ How to Equip People to Handle Workplace Conditions such
as Bosses, Unions, Peers, Customers, Change, Stress,
Negative Attitude et al
+ The Connection Between Employee Commitment, Ownership &
Influence and a Listening, Responsive Boss.
+ Six Rationales for Changing Personal Performance and Why
They Appeal to Juniors.
+ Why a Boss is a Supplier to Subordinates, the Boss's
Customers.
+ How to Make People Totally Responsible.
+ Why Admission of Error is a Solution.
+ How to Protect the Rights of Subordinates.
+ How to be Your Own Best Friend.
 
  ... author's source of knowledge.  From college onward,
the focus of his life has been "getting things done through
people".... a boss for over 30 years... studied history,
religions, psychology, sociology and every management book
he could find.  His "hows and whys" were developed day by
day through trial and error in the trenches.  He made every
possible error and little by little changed his fixes from
bad to good to better to excellent.  His biggest challenge
was to make his solutions work for subordinate bosses and
also give them common sense reasons why this action is
better than another one.  He was literally forced to create
a full set of specific tools which could be taught to junior
bosses because he could not find them in any management
book.
 
Joan Pomo Simonton Associates [log in to unmask]
 
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  I agree with you that the most effective teambuilding
results from efforts of a group applied to "real" work.
Often, when the group is working together successfully, some
more fun/exploratory team building activities can be
introduced to improve specific interpersonal or team skills.
 
  I think your merging groups may benefit from some work in
mission, vision, values, goals, norms, etc.  Key at each
level of the organization, is to keep other layers informed,
and to provide opportunities for input.  Then when you
cascade the work of the executive group throughout the
organization, there is some willingness to buy in and
support decisions.
 
  I usually make recommendations but begin the process by
asking the executive group to formulate a plan that will
result in accomplishing the goals.  The goals are
established by this group and by the people creating the
alliance.  What must we do to attain these goals?
 
Susan Heathfield Heathfield Consulting Associates 4100
Thatcher Williamston, MI 48895 Susan Heathfield
<[log in to unmask]> 517-655-3320
 
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  Check with Texas Instruments in Dallas.  When they built a
chip plant in Italy, they had to integrate US, Italian and
Japanese teams.  I believe they have been pretty open about
some of the problems and, of course, the success.
 
Martin Asdorian Jr., Ph.D., SPHR LAMA Associates, Inc.
[log in to unmask]
 
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  You may want to try looking into some of the programs
Tichy runs on compressed action learning.  He does it with
international groups.  For a brief summary see a book called
Globalizing Management by Pucik, Tichy and Barnett (Wiley
press) in which he discusses the program in the chapter on
Global Development.
 
  Jeff Shay, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14850 (607) 256-
1154 Jeff Shay <[log in to unmask]>
 
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  Here are some very quick ideas for creating alignment
across or within organizations.
 
  Visioning to make sure that they all are on the same page
with the same vision and to create the desired state.
 
  Appreciative inquiry to get them all to talk about what
they each bring to the table and look at their strengths.
 
  An environmental scan to ID challenges and opportunities
over the next year or two, internally for each, as a group,
and external in their industry etc.
 
  With the top team the issues below could be worked on a
macro level, then use a large scale process like Dannemiller
or Axelrod's Conference Model for the 500 with the same
questions/issues both across and within organizations.
 
  Identification of the behaviors required for them to
accomplish their desired outcomes, together across
organizations and for each player within their own
organizations, and what would cause them to fail.
 
?  What systems level strategies and capabilities need to be
developed to support accomplishing the behaviors (strategic
planning )and identification of the skills, strategies and
training needed to be in place at the dept. and work group
level?  (Policies, reward systems, selection processes,
compensation systems )
 
?  What values and beliefs need to be in place at the top
and reinforced all the way down and across organizations to
support the desired change and align the organizations
together?  What do they have in place now? cultures and
values and a check on what will get in the way of the change
in terms of existing values and beliefs from the existing
cultures.  What are the unspoken cultural assumptions that
could blow it up?  How are cultural beliefs limiting and
what could be done about that.  What is in it for them for
people to change?
 
?  How does each organization see itself (in terms of an
organizational identity) and what would have to change or be
given up to make this partnership happen?  What would make
it worth while for people.  (managers) to support this.
 
Vicky Baugh 408-494-8296
 
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  We have just completed  focus groups and written surveys
for training.  One of the questions was about team building.
It is often requested but I had a concern that many varied
opinions about team building existed.  My concern was
correct.  The idea of what a team building is all about is
from one end of the spectrum to the other.
 
  So, first you need to make the distinction between team
building and team work.   They have common characteristics
but are very different.
 
  There is a program that Wilson Learning offers called
"Team Mastery."  This is a true team building.  They work
very specifically with the entire (emphasized) team to
create the charter, mission, goals, roles, processes,
relationships, decision making, etc.    The key is that the
entire team is always present.  You could take this intact
team and do outward bound, ropes, and other activities
designed to enhance and build the team relationships, etc.
If you have a team encountering difficulties, team building
is actually much like an OD intervention in that a
facilitator would go in and identify issues and help the
team work through them.   Most often when a team is in
trouble, they jump right to team building when in actuality,
what they need to look at and clarify are these 4 things in
this order:  1) goals, 2) roles, 3) process and then 4)
relationships.  Just clarifying those 4 things can be a team
building session.
 
  Team work applies to a broader range of people who are
often on different teams for varied amounts of time.  If you
do activities, they might center around esprit de corps, the
need to work together, how to build networks, methods of
communication, holding effective meetings, understand
conflict resolution, negotiation, etc.  The entire team may
or may not be present but that's OK because your focus is
broader.
 
  This is always our dilemma - getting the entire team to
commit to spending a couple of days which is why we do team
building case by case.
 
  I have participated in team building sessions with people
that I never work with and I often wonder what the purpose
really was.  It was actually team work but most people don't
distinguish between the two.  When you do, however, then you
can create a team building which is valuable to the team and
organization and, most of all, effective.
 
  Sue G Eklund <[log in to unmask]>
 
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  Interesting Challenge.  I agree your approach.  We argue a
similar case working with alliances/ partnerships or what
ever you call them.
 
  When asked to explain we often find it helps to refer to
three 'Rs'
 
1.  Reasoning [or rationale] - just what is the partnership
really for [which can get challenging]
 
2.  Rules - unwritten.  Just what behaviours really get
rewarded in the participating organisations.  Is there a
context that will encourage 'self interested collaboration.
[THIS USUALLY THROWS UP ACCIDENTAL ADVERSARY TYPE ARCHETYPES
IF you are into archetypes or just plain cussedness if
you/they are not]
 
3.  Relationship - just how good is the speaking for
partnership.  What are people up to being with each other in
the partnership etc.
 
If Price, The Harrow Partnership, Pewley, Fort Guildford, UK
[log in to unmask]
 
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  First and foremost, if the objective/goal is indeed
shared, you're halfway there.  In my experience, shared
experiences are what teams are made of.  (I'm not talking
basketball or football, but workteams, groups of
collaborating people.)  Beyond that, any group of people
(defined for me as two or more when I was in junior high
school) need some "rules of engagement" or norms they will
operate by.  Only the people who have to live with the rules
should develop the rules.  If "team behaviors" are all
you're looking to develop, then the process should be
facilitated by an experienced coach/facilitator.  You can
find a list of qualified coaches (to varying degrees) at
<http://www.coachu.com>.  Look for the Coach Referral
Service (CRS) for someone with the qualifications you need--
there's probably one right in your neighborhood.
 
  Given the size of the group and what you say needs to be
accomplished, I would strongly advocate a Future Search
Conference to marry the vision of all three entities into a
common action plan for the future.  Like your gut is telling
you, the team behaviors will come (if professionally
coached), so why not focus on the outcome and trust the
process.
 
  Ginger Shafer The Leadership Dimension "Bringing
Leadership to Life" [log in to unmask]
 
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  I have been doing similar work for many , many months
now!!
 
  Do you know anything about Large Scale Interventions - I
would point you in the direction of Billie Alban and Barbara
Bunkers workshops - they have one in San Franciso in June
(5-7) and in Boston in Oct. (30 - Nov. 1) and in the UK the
following week.  I would also suggest you have a look at
Robert Jacobs book Real Time Strategic Change which deals
with one of the key approaches which can deal with numbers
of the sort you are talking about...
 
  In ideas are you talking principles or processes?- I would
offer build a common database - processes which allow them
to share the 'strategic issues' facing them - things they
are wrestling with and things which energise them and
structure the questions to relate to the context of the
partnership - might also include sharing some of the issues
with each other - they are bound to have some historical
'stuff'
 
  Aim to build community - processes which have them build a
sense that they have a common purpose collectively which is
bigger than they are individually (and they could not do it
alone) I usually do this with some envisioning this is
successful type of work...
 
  Reality as key driver - looking at things as they are, not
pretending they are better or imagining they are worse,
balancing all of the competing realities and polarities in
the situation - how do our needs match and compete??
ensuring the discussions are non-judgmental and accept
'everyone's truth as truth'
 
  Empower throughout - let people leave the meeting when
they want to and have coffee etc. available all day - trust
the process is engaging enough for people to 'want' to stay
 
  My guess is that this first meeting might share historical
perspectives on the work they are about to do and the
changing context within which it has been done.
 
  Explore the factors impacting the work present and future
and maybe share some 'prouds' and 'sorries' about the way
things are - should get them nicely to a sense of no-blame
shared responsibility
 
  Build a visualisation of what success would look like in
their work - and why they are doing it  - pull out of this
some key themes and focus these in to construct tangible
shared goals, action plan and agree roles and
responsibilities....
 
Julie Beedon <[log in to unmask]>
 
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  I agree that team building rarely works if the objective
is teambuilding.  I facilitated a strategic planning
workshop for a $150 mechanical contracting company.  The
intent was to define the future.  After that was done, we
ask the question, was the company organized to achieve that
future.  The answer was no.  The result was organizing the
company in a wheel fashion, with profit center headed by
operations mangers.  They had P/L responsibilities for
projects and accounts.  When that occurred, and with some
coaching on open book management concepts, the company
pulled together.  The profits have risen every year (now 4
+) since then.  It requires commitment from the President
and a lot of hard work.
 
  Paul Schmitz Washington, DC [log in to unmask]
 
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  I am looking at doing action research to develop better
long term relationships between customers and suppliers.
Action research involves actually getting the interested
parties involved in all stages (planning and participating)
of the process.  I just read an article about the
development of the relationships that are necessary for
teamwork (trust and commitment).  It is mainly about
customer/supplier relationships but the authors state that
their ideas are very applicable to strategic alliances, such
as yours.  The article is The Commitment-Trust Theory of
Relationship Marketing by Robert Morgan and Shelby Hunt,
published in the Journal of Marketing, July, 1994.
 
Doug Young <[log in to unmask]>
 
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  My ideas can be found on the net at:
http://www.ee.ed.ac.uk/~gerard/Teaching/art0.html
 
  I believe they are a foundation for long-term team
development even in an environment with flexible (changing)
teams.  If you do not have net access - please reply and I
will email the article directly
 
  Gerard M Blair, Senior Lecturer, The Department of
Electrical Engineering, The University of Edinburgh,
Scotland, UK, [log in to unmask], Home page:
http://www.ee.ed.ac.uk/~gerard/
 
***********************************************************
 
  Have you considered a large scale interactive change that
focuses on process redesign?
 
  Randall W.  Kindley" <[log in to unmask]>
 
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  Like you, I have found that most team efforts result in
temporary teams, then its back to work as usual.
 
  The only measure of success that I have had is when taking
a more long term approach.  We designed a teambuilding plan
that used incremental steps to the team building process.
Management was behind the program (and gave it full
support).  Each team met every other week with an outside
facilitator present.  The program was planned for 3 years.
I was involved in the first 2 years.  Based on statements
made by several members, results seem to have gone like
this.
 
+ Some reported that they started to "feel like part of a
team" after about the first 8 weeks.
 
+ As we reached the first 6 months, most thought that it
was coming to an end.  We were ending what was termed
"Phase 1" in the team meetings.  Most members didn't
expect "Phase 2" to ever materialize.
 
+ As it sunk in that Phase 2 was well under way, the team
concept came to be more accepted.  After 1 year workers
started acting more like team members.
 
+ As year 2 began to draw to a close, workers started to
take the team concept for granted.  The assumptions of
team success were more frequent.  I think that by this
stage, the culture of the organization was beginning to
change.  Unfortunately I wasn't around for the final
stage, but if they were successful at fully realigning
the organizational culture to include the team concept,
then I think it would be hard to go back.
 
  So to sum it all up, I don't think that the actual plan of
"how to be a team" is as important as to how patient you are
willing to be to implement the plan.  Expect it to take
years.  After several years of incremental change, it will
be hard to remember what "business as usual" used to be.
 
  Mitchell Adrian Instructor of Management Longwood College
201 High St.  Farmville, VA  23901 (804) 395-2832  FAX:
(804) 395-2203  [log in to unmask]
 
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  The approach that we use for teambuilding (Entrepreneurial
Teambuilding) actually works, and we have hard data to prove
it.  The approach is to help the team, using their
individual Visions, and their shared Values, to align
themselves around a sense of purpose to which they are
committed in spirit.  Once they have that alignment around
purpose, they CANNOT go back to business as usual.
 
  I have attached an article that my partner, Larry Garner,
and I wrote on this subject.
 
  Duane C.  Tway, Ph.D.  Consultants for Organization
Response and Effectiveness (C.O.R.E.) 7022 E.  Hacienda
Reposo Tucson, AZ 85715-4919 520 721-6642 Fx 520 721-1398
[log in to unmask]
 
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  I normally complete a comprehensive organizational and
team readiness assessment of the organization.  From there
we customize the development processes for the client.  This
customization might include leadership or management
development to fine-tune the skills here prior to engaging
in team building or it might include working with top
management to insure that their behaviors are supportive of
and model the expected behaviors.  Beyond that initial
intervention, team building sessions are scheduled wherein
real examples and issues are used to identify the areas
needed for emphasis such as conflict resolution, role
clarification, feedback and problem resolution.
 
  The people are carefully selected for the interactive
sessions and the sessions conclude with specific goals and
action plans developed for each of the participants and
their respective groups.  Most importantly, no amount of
team-building will work if the behaviors of those at the top
don't change and the reward and recognition systems continue
to reinforce the old behaviors.
 
Jim, 814-835-1758, [log in to unmask]
 
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  I currently work for Human Synergistics/Center for Applied
Research.  We have many exercises ans surveys that may help
with this group.  I will briefly dsecribe just a couple:
 
  Group Styles Inventory (GSI):
The GSI identifies patterns of behaviors that emerge when
group members interact to perform tasks.  This circumplex-
based measurement indicates how effectively or ineffectively
members of a group feel they work together.
 
  Building new Teams with Style
This team building activity combines the best features of
simulations and questionnaires.  Members of a newly-formed
team are asked (individually) to describe the interpersonal
styles of teams with which they have previously worked.
They are then asked (as a group) to describe how team
members should interact to maximize effectiveness.  By
comparing past teams to their ideal, members are able to
identify a set of styles toward which their new team should
strive.
 
  Organizational Culture Inventory (OCI):
The OCI measures "what is expected" of members of an
organization - or, more technically, the behavioral norms
and expectations associated with the more abstract aspects
of culture such as shared values and beliefs. Specifically,
this 120 item self-scoring inventory can be used to measure
current and ideal behaviors and norms of leaders, managers,
and employees in an organization.  This inventory has been
used successfully in merging organizations to determine a
future direction and to facilitate potential synergies.
 
  Leadership/Impact
Leadership/Impact is a new inventory designed to provide
leaders with otherwise unavailable feedback on their impact
on others as well as the behaviors bringing about this
impact.  The inventory is divided into two major sections:
 
Part I:  Impact on Others--measuring the extent to which the
leader motivates or drives people to behave in constructive
versus defensive ways.
 
Part II:  Leadership Styles--measuring the extent to which
the leader personally acts in prescriptive versus
proscriptive ways.
 
All of these instruments can be used in conjunction with
"working on the day to day real issues."
 
Matthew Sher, Human Synergistics/Center for Applied
Research, Inc. 216 Campus Drive Suite 102 Arlington Heights,
IL 60004 e-mail:  [log in to unmask] phone:  (847)
590-0995
 
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