Facilitate teamwork
Well-constituted and well-led teams make better decisions than individuals otherwise would, and they
can implement solutions more smoothly. These advantages exist because a team with a diverse
membership can offer a range of ideas and expertise to provide a balanced perspective. Input from
team members opens up a wider range of options and ideas that can be applied to problem solving.
However, some form of coordination and cooperation exist and that team members accept different
roles in different situations, with the object of fulfilling team rather than individual needs. In other words,
teams work well when everyone is prepared to listen to and respect others, to contribute when required,
and to follow the appropriate leadership at the time. In an effective team, we cannot all be leaders at the
same time or even leaders all of the time.
To operate effectively and to achieve results, there must be clear objectives, supported by clear and
cooperative communication among all team members. This means clear instruction, agreement on
goals and the processes you will use to achieve those goals, plus active listening and respect for other
people’s points of view. Without appropriate communication, team objectives will not be attained.
It might take longer to gather input from all team members than to make individual decisions; however,
a good leader facilitates effective and inclusive processes that, over time and with practice, become
streamlined and very efficient. Such teams can connect and coordinate across the whole organisation,
improving cross-functional efficiency and effectiveness.
What is the difference between leading and facilitating?
First, a facilitator is a neutral party. He or she is there to guide a group and help them to accomplish
their tasks. The views of the facilitator are not required specifically.
However, the skills required by the facilitator are problem-solving and decision-making, excellence in
communication, and the ability to engage all the members of the group to ensure that their contributions
are considered and included.
At times, the facilitator will need to lead and guide the group to a satisfactory conclusion or to help reach
consensus. Understanding when to encourage from a position of neutrality and when to step in and
lead.
The term ‘leader’ implies someone at the head of the team or organisation. There have been wonderful
leaders throughout history, but did they lead or facilitate to support, connect, and help their teams to
achieve great outcomes?
Leaders need to be members of the team who contribute and encourage, not just stand at the front and
issue instructions.
Be the leader who facilitates the team. A strong team will be a successful team.
3.1 Encourage team members and individuals to participate in and
take responsibility for team activities, including communication
processes
Hint
This content may help you with Assignment 3, Task 1.
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Without the positive participation of all members, teams will not be as successful as they could be.
Individuals who not involved in the team’s activities, they cannot reach their full potential, and neither
can the team. There is a range of reasons that people might be resistant to participate in team activities:
• They feel shy and nervous.
• They do not understand why their input is needed/desired.
• They do not agree with the activity.
• They do not feel confident enough to participate.
• They do not understand how to contribute.
Each of these barriers has its own solutions to breaking them down. How do you encourage your team
to contribute and participate?
• Actively seek participation.
• Remove any real or perceived penalties for participating (don’t always give the most capable
person the last-minute, high-stress challenges).
• Deal with participation-blocking behaviours independently, discreetly, and fairly.
• Develop a sense of ownership (can be a self-fulfilling prophecy – the more participation is
encouraged, the more people ‘own’ the team, and the more participation occurs), which can be
encouraged by giving team members guidance and goals relating to tasks and leaving them to
design how they can be achieved.
• Include all team members in the process of problem-solving.
• Encourage all members to be leaders by adopting an approach through which every member
takes responsibility for one area of the process.
• Avoid dominating, and make sure that no one else does either. Allowing one person too much
time will stop others from contributing.
• Involve the team in activities; if team members are not confident to speak in front of the group,
encourage communication and contribution via email or other written form.
• Stay positive and ask questions to encourage contribution; listen to the answers; there are no
wrong ones; all must feel that their opinions are valued and welcome.
• Reward participation; it may make the person more inclined to participate again.
• Draw all members into the discussion, or construct activities that require interaction to
encourage members to be more comfortable with sharing opinions and thoughts with the group.
Example
A person who lacks confidence but has considerable skill in a particular area might be
encouraged to participate by being given a specific task to undertake and report back to the
team. In this way, they have time to prepare thoroughly and have a designated role to play.
Team members need to contribute to all aspects of the team. Team leaders need to encourage
members to join in and take initiative.
As discussed, a leader is not there to provide all the answers; he or she will be more effective by
encouraging team members to use their individual strengths to benefit the team.
As a leader, how can you encourage your team to participate in idea generation, coaching, mentoring,
and sharing with others and in communication processes that inform all stakeholders (not just team
members)? You obviously wouldn’t hand over all processes without monitoring results. However, we are
not talking about either micro-managing or letting go altogether. The role of an effective leader is to
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encourage and support. Provide guidelines for reporting and communication. You as a team leader are
responsible for outcomes and need to understand where the team is.
One of the crucial processes for communication is between you and your team members. Set guidelines that
work for you and your team. Talk about how this will work.
Strategies to help the team with communication and taking responsibility for the process as part of their
roles can include the following:
• Allocate different team members to weekly meeting chairing, including gathering agenda items.
• Encourage team to measure and share results with team and relevant stakeholders.
• Ask the team to come up with ideas and share them with the team before sharing the best and
most effective ideas with other stakeholders.
• Involve all team members with their individual wins and roadblocks at regular meetings; each
person will need to share and can be supported by the team.
• Collaboration with others will support the problem-solving and idea generation needed if one
team member is held up on a concept.
Address how your team is to take responsibility and participate in the processes, especially how they are to
communicate with their team members and other stakeholders.
You may decide that face-to-face meetings are the best method for your team, or you may choose
email. Perhaps a chart to record milestones as they are reached is an important part of communicating
wins. Ask how people want to receive communication from you. Constant interruptions or emails are
unlikely to be helpful. Regular updates and special sessions or meetings as needed will be valuable.
Remember, the best communication skills are integral to getting this right for your team and your
managers.
3.1.1 Communication skills
Effective communication skills – Interpersonal skills
Interpersonal skills are life skills we use every day to communicate and interact with other people,
individually and in groups. People who have worked on developing strong interpersonal skills are
usually more successful in both their professional and personal lives.
Employers seek to hire staff with ‘strong interpersonal skills’ – they want people who will work well in a
team and be able to communicate effectively with colleagues, customers and clients. People with
excellent interpersonal skills are skilled at the following:
• Questioning to clarify and confirm customer needs.
• Listening to the answers and clarifying needs.
• Summarising and repeating requests to be sure you have heard them, properly as they were
intended!
• Use appropriate body language – the conscious and unconscious movements and postures by
which attitudes and feelings are communicated. The 5 Cs of body language at Changing Minds
is a great place to start research into body language and the nonverbal ways we all
communicate.
Example
Jack’s arms were crossed and he was frowning! It seems pretty obvious that things were not
going well. Or is it? Perhaps he is unhappy or unwell?
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Face-to-face interpersonal skills
• Set a positive tone.
• Give people opportunities to ask questions and voice their concerns about the process and use
of the information.
• Probe for information you need with confidence but not arrogance.
• Ask questions encouraging people to describe applicable occurrences and situations.
General notes on communication
Verbal communication: Clarity of speech, remaining calm and focused, being polite and following basic
rules of etiquette will aid effective verbal communication. The words we use are as important as the
tone of voice.
Nonverbal communication: When we communicate, non-verbal cues can be as important, or in some
cases even more important, than what we say. This refers to body language and body movements,
posture, eye contact and proxemics (closeness and personal space).
Listening skills: Listening is the ability to accurately receive and interpret messages in the
communication process. Listening is not the same as hearing. Hearing refers to the sounds you hear,
listening requires more than that: it requires focus. Pay attention to the story and how it is told. If you are
talking you cannot be listening!
Reflecting skills: Even if you have excellent listening skills the only person who can tell you if you have
understood correctly or not is the speaker. Reflect on what you have heard and what this means to you
and others concerned with the message. If you are not sure you have understood or need to be sure,
move onto the clarifying stage.
Clarifying skills: This involves offering back to the speaker the essential meaning, as understood by the
listener, of what they have just said. Checking for comprehension avoids confusion and
misunderstanding. Think of the number of times you have misunderstood, not asked for clarification and
gone off on a tangent.
Building interpersonal relationships
Some people build interpersonal relationships easily and naturally, while others gain this ability with
experience and practice. Either way, improving and understanding these skills can help you with your
relationships in life as well as at work.
Effective interpersonal skills are not necessarily a natural function of age and experience. You may find
you have to work at particular skills you lack, such as listening well, being assertive, tact and
confidence.
Poor interpersonal skills Excellent interpersonal skills
Communication skills may be basic. May be reasonably
good at listening.
Communication skills are well developed. Practiced and
skilled listeners.
Assertive behaviour may need developing. Assertive (not aggressive).
Not persuasive, may not clarify or reflect. Highly persuasive, tactful and diplomatic.
Lacking confidence to approach variety of people. Confident approaching a range of people.
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Assertiveness: This is often wrongly confused with aggression. To be assertive you are neither passive
nor aggressive in your interactions with others. Assertiveness means standing up for your personal
rights and expressing your thoughts, feelings and beliefs in a direct, honest and appropriate way.
Building rapport: Rapport is a state of harmonious understanding with another individual or group that
enables greater and easier communication. In other words, rapport is getting on well with another
person or group of people. Rapport can be built and developed by finding common ground, developing
a bond and being empathic.
Charisma: Ultimately, charisma is the result of excellent communication and interpersonal skills. These
skills can be learnt and developed, developing charisma is possible!
The art of tact and diplomacy: These are methods used to aid effective communication, especially
during negotiation and when attempting to be persuasive or assertive. Using tact and diplomacy
appropriately can lead to improved relationships with other people and are a way to build and develop
mutual respect. Tact and diplomacy are skills centred on an understanding of other people and being
sensitive to their opinions, beliefs, ideas and feelings. Sometimes the most appropriate action may be to
withhold your opinion, or it may be possible to introduce an idea, or favoured outcome, in such a way
the other person can take ownership of it.
‘Tact is the art of making a point without making an enemy.’ – Isaac Newton.
How to be polite: Courtesy means being aware of and respecting the feelings of other people. We may
not always notice politeness but we usually notice rudeness or inconsiderate behaviour. Exercising
good manners includes using appropriate language and being respectful of gender, race, religion,
political viewpoints and other potentially controversial or difficult subjects.
Persuasion and influencing skills: The art of persuasion is to convince others to support the idea and
want to do it your way. The best way to do this is in a way others will not notice.
Consider the following Aesop’s fable:
The wind and the sun decided to have a competition to decide, once and for all who was
stronger. They agreed the winner would be the one who could persuade a man to take off his
coat. The wind blew and blew, but the man only held on more tightly to his coat. Then the sun
shone gently down, and within minutes, the man took off his coat.
The lesson in the story is that bluster and aggression is far less effective than gently persuading
someone to want what you want.
Facilitation skills: The facilitator’s role is to support the process. It is not necessary to be a subject
expert to be a good facilitator. Facilitate during communication so everyone is given a chance to air their
views. Support the building of effective relationships, including mediation, if necessary.
3.2 Support the team in identifying and resolving work performance
problems
Hint
This content may help you with Assignment 3, Task 2.
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It is a normal and healthy part of group dynamics to experience problems when executing the team’s duties.
How these problems are raised and addressed is critical to whether a team is high performing. The leader of
the team and/or the manager responsible for the supervision of the team plays a vital role in supporting the
team to resolve issues effectively and efficiently whilst preserving the desired culture and the required level of
performance output.
Team leaders who communicate well are honest, respectful, and good decision-makers, they help team
members to feel supported and valued. The leader’s role in a successful team is one of role model and
facilitator rather than of supervisor. Poor leaders can undermine teamwork by creating competition,
resentment, and lack of respect. Team leaders can play an important role in resolving performance
issues and solving problems by providing un-emotive and constructive feedback on performance, giving
individuals an opportunity to put their point of view forward, and assisting them to reach a solution. It is
important that team leaders be seen as experienced, trusted, and independent when facilitating
resolutions to problems and conflict within a team. Positive communication, negotiation, and problemsolving
techniques are useful tools for leaders when resolving conflicts.
When maximising team performance, leaders should consider the following:
• Appropriate team size – do not make teams too large.
• Meaningful selection of work flow.
• Degree of autonomy and independence.
• Training and some degree of multi-skilling.
• Appropriate external relations.
• Appropriate group boundaries.
• Authority and access to resources to achieve objectives.
• Leadership style.
• A workplace culture that supports team activity.
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