In any organization, significant part of the work is done by different kinds of teams, and the success of the organization as a whole relies on the abilities of managers and staffs to work efficiently in teams towards achieving a common organization goal. NGOs management is about reaching a set of goals, through executing a set of specific activities with a set of specifications and expectations to be met. A manager of the NGO has a responsibility to ensure the organization is able to reach these organizational goals in a good, timely and mutually beneficial way. However, to achieve this, a team that works efficiently and fostering positive relationship between team members is necessary. Team building and teamwork is among the major challenges of management of NGOs and it is the most challenging and difficult aspect of the manager’s job whether in developing or developed countries, whether in small or large organizations and effective managerial skills are needed to merge these diversities into a common goal. With evidence from peer papers, this essay present challenges of Team building as part of NGO manager’s role in health sector and suggest approaches to address them.
Team building is a major challenge in NGOs management because individual team member’s objectives may conflict with staff roles and responsibilities at the organization. Effective teamwork requires ongoing Team building. NGOs, in particular faces more team building challenges as a result of the complexity of the organizational structures and most teams never manage to work optimally, failing to fully benefit from their powerful potential. Each staffs join organization as a result of different desires, aspirations, purpose and objectives. An individual may join an organization because it offers considerable salaries and benefits than other or as an opportunity for personal professional growth. Aligning individual staff’s objectives with Organizational objective’s and goals is often a challenging task to managers. Balbin’s team role theory explains that every team member can behave, contribute to a team and “interrelate” with other team members in a “particular way” (Balbin, 1993; 2004) and often staff has different perceptions, experiences, opinions, beliefs and background thus consolidating these characteristics towards a ‘common’ team goal is often challenging and a source of conflicts among staffs in NGOs.
Another challenge in terms of Team building and teamwork is what George Sawiris call “Intra-Team Conflicts” in a 10 barriers to Team work document. In NGO teams, when a manager’s lack of constructive conflict resolution skills between staffs or between a manager and staffs, may lead to poor team performance. While conflicts between team members or between team members and a team leader may not be avoidable, conflict-solving skills is necessary for effective teamwork. A strong conflict resolution is the one that not only help to avoid repetitive fighting between team members but also directing the fight towards ‘meeting’ the team goals and objectives. Moreover a ‘win-win’ conflict resolution is necessary for team survival.
Another team building and teamwork challenge is duplication of team roles, if it happens, will impact negatively the performance of the team (Belbin, 1993). Thus, creating an effective team and managing team members requires proper role distribution to avoid unfavorable interaction in terms of responsibilities of team members. Each person is unique, and has peculiar skills and experience; it’s a manager’s responsibility to make sure each team member as clearly refined roles accordingly.
Effective team is the one in which members are intrinsically motivated to work towards a common goal. Lack of motivation among team members lead to inadequate or performance and although individuals can behave and interact differently (Belbin, 1993), theories of motivation such as Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, Theory X Theory Y, Mayo, Herzberg etc., may be able to predict the behavioral aspects of most of the people most of the time, however, these theories cannot be counted on predicting individual’s actions whenever there is a unexpected challenging situation The art of team management is knowing the limits of which these motivation theories can be applied and to contextually modify the predictions whenever necessary.
Before discussing the approaches to address these challenges, a description of necessary terms and concepts and advantages of teamwork in relation to NGO management is evident. There are several definitions of a ‘team’ that share some commonalities. Team Technology’s online resource defines a team as “a group of people working together towards a common goal” (Team Technology, 1995-2012, web). Lewis-McClear and Taylor (1998) defines a team as “a group in which members work together intensively to achieve a common group goal” and another authors, Katzenbach and Smith (2003) define a team as ” a small number of people with complementary skills who are committed to a common purpose, performance goals, and approach for which they are mutually accountable”. These three definitions have commonalities in a sense that the all view a team as a ‘group of people’ and these people ‘work together’ to achieve a ‘common goal’. This signifies that a team leader ‘inspires’ team members (a group of people) to (work together) to achieve or reach their goals.
The concept of teamwork is considers a ‘team’ as the right people with the right and complementary skills, knowledge and perspectives join to collectively explore challenges, generate creative solutions, and work diligently (committed) to build the necessary support and commitment for implementation of different activities or strategy to meet the common goals (Katzenbach and Smith, 2003). The most important characteristics to the members of a true team are that the team’s goal is more important than their own individual pursuits.
In NGOs, an effective team is of critical importance because, strong team results into; Increased performance; improved quality of decisions; High commitment to group decisions and Increased member satisfaction. An effective team creates synergy from its members’ individual skills and knowledge, however, good social climate that motivates the members and makes synergy-creation possible is necessary (Katzenbach and Smith, 2003; Wellins et al, 1991). A manager coordinates team activities to enable team members to “clarify their own goals, transform their own situation, and share the responsibility for the effectiveness of the organization”.
Team Performance describes or measures the degree to which members agree that the team’s productive output (product, service or decision) meets the needs for quality, quantity and service expected by the team’s customers (Wellins et al, 1991) that is another teams, another organization, donor, the government, a big boss from a parent organization etc. However for optimal performance, Team satisfaction that measures the extent to which group members enjoy being a member of the team and experience the social rewards for membership is necessary. Only the team itself truly knows how well it is performing and how skilled member are at working together, so it is usually best to ask the team itself to assess its performance and level of satisfaction. An effective team tries to evaluate its performance (Wellins et al, 1991) and work and learn from it and allows disagreements that are necessary for good Team Decisions. If there is no disagreement and discussion about how things should be done, it is difficult for a team to make very good decisions.
The essential elements of a successful team include: Team members sharing a common goal or goals; Team members have individual tasks and roles that help to achieve group goals; Members participate equally in discussion and decision-making, and in sharing the workload, and there is no duplication of roles, this builds ownership and mutual respect among team members (Belbin, 1993) Team members co-operate with and respect one another, and tolerate individual differences; Honest and open communication is fostered among team members; Team members are willing to resolve conflicts quickly and A team is united in its efforts and individual accomplishments are secondary. The concepts described here may also be seen in Dr. Henry Perry’s lecture on Basic Principles of Managent, slide 8,12 and a lecture on Personal Lessons from Working with NGOs – Large and Small of 23rd February 2012, slide 3,14,23 &27.
Some managers make the mistake of choosing people who seem to be the same. Most teams need people with different technical skills. Team members will also have different personal and social skills (Quinn et al, 1998). Some members of the team will be coordinators, resource investigators, team workers, shapers implementers, finishers monitors/evaluators and/ or specialists (Belbin, 2004). To build an effective team, a manager should be aware of the skills of the team members and realize that every member of the team is a useful asset A team is more effective when it can draw on a range of different skills and abilities and when the individuals recognise their own weaknesses and strengths.
Again a team leader must be able to identify the team’s stage for him/her to be able to meet the challenges of each team development stage. The team development stage includes forming, norming, storming, performing and adjoining (Tuckman, 1965) and generally all teams passes through these five stages. It is difficult for a team to feel like a team if it never comes together as a team and it’s the role of a team manager to help different team members to get along with each other (Bolton and Bolton, 1996) to achieve maximum team performance.
The first few paragraphs of this essay described different Challenges on team building and teamwork in NGOs and somehow created a basis upon which methods of addressing challenges below are built on. This was followed by a discussion of concepts and advantages of team building. I am now going to suggest different approaches to build a strong and effective team for maximum performance. While there is no a single approach to build a strong team, a combination of different practices, behaviors and skills is needed to inspire team members for team performance.
In team building trainings, we often consider a TEAM as an acronym of Together Everybody Achieves More. To the members of a true team, the team’s goal is more important than their own individual pursuits. Team members also cooperate in work planning and co-ordinate roles. Their work lives are linked together and they depend on each other. The main Strategy of maintaining team cohesion is Build agendas or goals and objectives together, share setting norms, facilitation responsibilities, collaborate, and act together (WHO, 2007). A BRAC story in Smillie Ian’s reading (Freedom from Want) is an example of how individual goals are aligned to organization goals motivating staffs beyond financial motivation. People should have a thorough understanding of their team’s task. As a manager, it is important to compare your view of that task with the views of your colleagues. The entire team needs to have the same understanding to achieve the goals that have been set. The team is more effective when the individuals are willing to play an active role and are confidant enough to sort out problems when they arise, even when it is not specifically the responsibility of any one person to do so.
A “team” necessarily means that each team member shares in the overall responsibilities according to their ability and knowledge. In a football team for example, players are arranged based in the field place (numbers) in which they can perform well. Connecting passes from one person to another in a good arrangement that allow confronting and escaping challenges (opponents) successfully results in scoring a goal. Decisions are made openly, and whenever possible, the team uses consensus as the primary means for making decisions. To foster a co-operative working relationship among team members, it is important to remember the following: 1) Team member’s share in achieving the overall goals of the group – thus promoting the feeling that everyone is responsible for some portion of the work and that everyone can contribute according to their abilities and knowledge. To the degree feasible, each team member has a work assignment. Each team member has a clear understanding of his or her individual responsibilities and the relationship of these individual responsibilities to achieving the group’s overall goals (The football team example). However, it’s important that each member has willingly accepted or volunteered for those responsibilities. 2) Team members listen actively to all proposed ideas and expressions of feeling. Discussion and participation by team members is actively encouraged and 3) Team members make decisions as openly as possible, explicitly stating assumptions and reasons for a decision. Whenever possible, seek consensus, accept different points of view, and attempt to incorporate or to acknowledge differences of opinion—without pretending they don’t exist.
Teamwork requires different attitudes than those needed to perform solitary work. Team members need to work together and support one another rather than try to do all of the work or get all the credit themselves. The “Stars”, cannot light the night because each one produce light on its owns, if the stars were to join together, we would be having daylight throughout the night. As a manager of NGO, you play a guiding or facilitating role in order to allow the team to find and maintain its collective style.
Choosing the Right People is the critical step towards building a strong team. Dr. Henry Perry’s lecture on Basic Principles of Management of 7th February, 2012 slide 41-42 recognizes that for creating and effective team “Getting the Right People and Putting Them in the Right Place” is the first step followed by providing them with the “the right level of support to get the job done well, including information, training and resources”. Human have different qualities of “knowledge-experience, intuition, and beliefs” that are the most valuable and difficult to manage, and “applying the insights and practices of Working Knowledge is every manager’s first step on that rewarding road to long-term success” (Davenport and Prusak, 1997). Some managers do make mistakes in choosing people to be part of the team, this is often true if personal relation (eg family member) is considered than individual’s capacity and performance or choosing people who seem to be the same. Most teams need people with different technical skills. Team members will also have different personal and social skills. The manager needs to be aware of the skills of the team members. As I said before, a team is more effective when it can draw on a range of different skills and abilities and when the individuals recognize their own weaknesses and strengths. It is difficult for a team to feel like a team if it never comes together as a team.
Another approach to effective teamwork is defining Team Roles. The big question here is how will each member contribute. Basically, there are some roles that a team usually needs to work efficiently. Avoiding duplication of team roles will positively impact the performance of the team (Belbin, 1993). Team requires ongoing coaching and its manager’s responsibility to provide the team with “the right level of support to get the job done well, including information, training and resources” Dr. Henry Perry’s lecture on 7th February 2012 slide 44.
Another approach is for a manager to ‘be part of the Team’. As a manager, the team cannot work well without you. You cannot be totally effective without the team. All members of the team depend on each other (Margerison and McCann, 1985) .It is the manager’s task to create a working environment in which everybody feels free to: Check what is expected from her/him; Clarify his/her role with others; Take the initiative; Be prepared to accept responsibility; Support colleagues; Value different qualities and skills in other people; Share information; Communicate with the team and Approaches to strengthen team. A class reading on Total leadership by Stewart D.Friedman comments that, in the path-goal model of leadership, a team leader “cleans the path towards the goal of the group by meeting the needs of subordinates”(p.16).
Motivating your Team Members is another approach for effective teambuilding and teamwork. The word motivation comes from Latin word movere, which means to move. Numerous definitions are given for term. Usually included are such words as aim, desire, end, impulse, intention, objective, and purpose. These definitions normally include the three common characteristics of motivation. First, motivation is concerned with what activates human behavior. Second, motivation is concerned with what directs this behavior toward a particular goal. Third, motivation is concern with how this behavior is sustained. Understanding motivation itself helps the manager to determine what motivates people to be more productive (Katzenbach and Smith, 2003; Wellins et al, 1991). We do not do a project only for others but for ourselves as well. It is the manager’s task to identify what makes people enjoy the project. Dr. Henry Perry quoting Nelson and Economy, p. 13 in his lecture on Basic principles of Management of 7th February 2012, commented that a manager must be “up to the task of working with people – helping them, listening to them, encouraging them, and guiding them” (slide, 11)
Again Dr. Hennry Perry’s lecture cited above, talks on Effective Communication as a method of building a strong team. He describes communication as “the ability to communicate effectively, including through written and oral presentations, as well as an ability to work with others are essential for managerial success”(slide 19). Communication is the act or action of transmitting information. Effective communication is an essential part of everything managers does and in communication ” is an essential part of life” (Calculator and Jorgensen, 1991). Every function of management planning, organizing, staffing, leading, and controlling, requires effective communication skills. For example, objectives set in the planning process must be communicated and explained to the entire project team. Communication with the project team and organization can occur in many forms, from face-to-face contact involving facial expressions and body movements to written communication in the form of memos, letters, reports etc. Managers have to be very good communicators and “interaction approach” will ensure effective teamwork (Oikkonen et al, 2000). The message has to be clear. Managers must make certain that their team members have understood the message.
Another approach to building strong team is to Delegating Responsibilities. Delegating tasks to the NGO team is an important method of not only motivating your staffs but also building your team. Delegation here is not limited to job only but even representation of organization in some partnership activities. The negative attitude of ‘If you want something done right do it yourself’ should be avoided. Managers who try to do everything themselves finds that there time is very quickly consumed and that unimportant tasks take up more time than important ones. The best way to delegate is to decide which tasks can be delegated. The first step is to analyze how the manager spends his/her time. Keeping a daily time dairy in which the manager records how his/her time is actually spent can help identify the functions and duties that can be delegated and those that cannot, and is an aid in setting priorities. Classifying tasks in terms of urgency, and importance is necessary and a manager can handle very urgent and important tasks when delegating the rest.
Lastly, another approach to building an effective team is using appropriate leadership style according to the context. Although Participatory or charismatic leadership style is a recommended, a team leader should understand how to apply different leadership styles depending on the context. Moreover, the team environment should be participatory as much as possible. Participatory approach will allow maximum utilization of individual members skills during formulation of a strategic plan, implementation, monitoring and evaluation processes. Also during brainstorming on common issues participation is guaranteed if participatory leadership style is employed. However, a team leader should understand that everybody would require different kind of leadership to be managed for results.
In conclusion, a team manager must understand the team performance stage, and know when to make necessary adjustment to maintain team focus. While there is no a single approach to build a strong team, a combination of different practices, behaviors and skills is needed to inspire team members for team performance An effective team is necessary to meet organizational goal and objectives and successful team management require more strategies beyond leadership style. Organizational team performance is a combination of many factors including individual team member’s qualities and skills, Team manager’s qualities, proper team building process and performance motivation. Team building is a continuous process and applying team-building activities such as annual retreats, holiday resort, and team building techniques such as simulation exercises or trainings are important for team success.
