MODULE 2 > Forming Teams

2.4a. Formation Tasks

1. Have team members list their Personal Goals i.e. those abilities and competencies the members wish to individually develop while on the team. Incorporate them into your project’s plans by delegating tasks that fulfills the member’s personal goals and the team’s goals. Include technical and other interpersonal competencies in this plan.
2. Get to know each other through conversation and Structured Informational Sessions.
3. Decide on the Rotation of the Team Leader. In the formation stage the Team Leader is responsible for initiating the structure of the team. As the leader, you are responsible for the following:
1. Organizing And Defining Relationships In The Team
2. Assigning Specific Tasks
3. Specifying Procedures To Follow
4. Scheduling Work
5. Clarifying Expectations Of Team Members
4. The Team Leader is responsible for developing a written list of tasks to be delegated, showing the flow and time management of the tasks the team is performing. The team is responsible for developing the action plans with the leader.
5. Decide on the Rotation of The Roles for the team and have the recorder report the schedule to those designated by the Course Instructor.
6. The Recorder will be responsible for keeping team records, i.e. Monthly Team Calendars.
7. Create a vision for the team and have the team create a Mission Statement.
8. Have a meeting and Create Ground Rules for the team. Use brainstorming to form the ground rules using the affinity diagram.
9. Gather information about the team member's. Here are some areas that should be covered when making your assessment:
   1. Competencies
   2. Thinking Styles
   3. Intercultural Behavior
   4. Emotional Intelligence
   5. Time Management
   6. Conflict Styles
   7. Leadership Styles
   8. Negotiation Skills
10. Exchange schedules and discuss in detail where members have different perceptions about the quality of work, time commitments, and the extent of commitment they perceive themselves giving to the project. Use this information to create a Team Monthly Calendar.
11. Create a format to run effective Meetings.
12. Create Concrete Goals for the project and plan a Systematic Approach to reaching your goal. Using the overall goals decide what pressures, outside support, or stresses will be affecting the team
13. Create a List of Milestones for the Task.
14. Make Activity Lists for weekly tasks for each team members for the project.
15. Be Directive while leading in the formation stage because members are apt to be lofty and abstract in this stage or look at the formation stage as pointless and show impatience with the process. Team Members usually exhibit low competence at this stage and high commitment.
16. Have open discussions about the complaints regarding forming the team and use your Conflict Management System to address these complaints.
17. Report all the above Formation Activities in a report to the people designated by the Instructor of the course.
18. As team leader check at the weekly meeting how much time other team members actually spent on the task activities and whether the time estimates were correct for the task. If not, make adjustments going forward in your time management plan. Thoroughly discuss what inside and outside influences affected the team's efficiency.
19. At a meeting after a milestone is reached examine how the team members used their time. In the beginning, you will probably find a discrepancy between the time the team expected to use for specific activities and the time actually required. You can use these findings to continually refine your estimates of the time required to carry out specific tasks in your action plans.
20. If you are rotating roles, fill out a Team Leader Transition Report for the next team leader.