Team Building Is a Hot Topic Now

Team building is a hot topic now in the competitive work environment / Especially during hard economic times, it is necessary to have a competent team that competes well. Previously, business and organizational professionals relied primarily upon scholarly disciplines such as sociology and psychology to model team building. Increasingly, they are now using sporting and military models to help build effective teams that will win in their operations. In Joe Torre's book about leadership and team building, he applies the lessons he learned in his career as a major league baseball manager.

Torre in his book presents his twelve keys to team building and successful management. These principles are directly applicable to most business and lifetime situations. These include handling and dealing with both apparent setbacks and success, tough bosses and earning the trust and respect of the team. This leads to the forging of a diverse group of individuals into a cohesive winning team (Torre, 1-6).

The most unique and prevailing of Mr. Torre's principles involves treating each player uniquely, but also applying the same rules to all on the team equally. According to Mr. Torre, a lot of team building and leadership is largely about giving and commanding respect. People will only follow those that they respect and that have shown respect for them. This involves an intimate knowledge of the team members by the manager. This knowledge is tempered by with open communication as well as calmness under fire, keeping optimism alive, trusting your gut instincts as a leader, maintaining composure under the fire of tough superiors over you fair, and compassionate, fair and trusting communication with subordinates (ibid).

Torre feels that bosses must treat subordinates and coworkers like contributors. Respect, like trust, is earned. Leaders owe people the benefit of the doubt when it comes to respect. That is, leaders need to treat people in the workplace as contributors. You also have to treat them as human beings who have talents, skills and emotions. Fair treatment is an essential base component of the team. If the team members fail to live up to expectations of the leadership, then they should be moved to new roles. One should not disrespect them by treating them poorly. However, if these people disrespect the place they are working for by treating the other team members poorly, then they should be separated from the organization. This must of course be done tactfully with the manager always striving to stay on the moral high ground. They should not allow themselves allowing to be dragged down to the level of the behavior that they are punishing (ibid).

Leaders should expect high standards. Employers certainly have every right to expect their people on the team to perform the job that they are hired to do. Competent managers take this much further. Additionally, they insist upon high standards of behavior expectations. The manager mandates that people cooperate and coordinate with each other. This does not mean everyone must be friends. However, team members people be expected to treat each other with respect and help each other. This is to make the team functional and able to complete the organization's mission. This represents respect as well as competence on the part of the team members (ibid).

While bosses are in charge, they must be open to feedback. Respect is something that flows both ways, up and down. Bosses must also provide feedback to their employees. Additionally, bosses and leaders should find out what their subordinates think about their work in addition to how they are performing as supervisors. Being open to feedback means that the leadership cares what people think. This way the work load and flow can be optimized. Also, the performance of the team and as well as their supervisor. Sometimes the manager can make changes, but other times this is not possible. The important thing is active listening skills. This ability of active listening is what respect is built upon. Will people take advantage of the respect they are shown? Some people probably will, of course. However, this must be overcome, as we will see further on (ibid).

Accountability underscores respect. The individual who stands up for consequences good or bad deserves a degree of respect. Respect can never be separated from performance. Failure to win it all may result in termination, as it did for Torre, but the man is no less deserving of common decency from his employer. The same applies to a manager who cannot bring a project to fruition. Just like any member of the team, he deserves to be But he is owed respect for effort. While a person may not have been right for the job, but may be owed another chance at another position. How the company treats its people casts a long shadow. When people see under achievers and achievers treated equally well or equally poorly, they lose confidence and good performers will move on (Baldoni).

For Joe, such things are best done quietly. Followers respect cool leadership under fire. This is the key behind the Methods Leadership Style of which Joe's leadership was a type of. Those who use the Methods Perceptual Style lead logically and matter-of-fatly. They believe that analysis of the facts will point to the correct and most effective course of action, so they do not take unnecessary risks. Those with the Methods style tend to be calm in the face of crisis and steer a steady course through chaotic times. However, they intervene reluctantly and change direction only after a complete empirical examination of a situation. When things are moving forward smoothly, they are content to let things be, refusing to unsettle a plan that is working just for the sake of change. Methods leaders attract followers with the common sense aspect of their clear, rational approach (ibid).