Chapter Three: OD Skills and Teamwork
Chapter Overview
This chapter examines the key skills an individual should develop to apply the OD approach effectively when facilitating change. It also explores the fundamentals of teamwork, a crucial aspect of facilitating change. It introduces the topic of teamwork broadly, then focuses on teamwork within the organizational context. This chapter will also position the importance of teamwork within the workplace and explain why teamwork is an important part of the OD approach. This chapter aims to describe and apply the basic skills for healthy and effective collaboration on a team project within the workplace.
Contents
3.1 OD Skills
3.2 Thinking Broadly About Teams
3.3 Tools to Support Teamwork
3.4 The Importance of Teams in the Workplace
3.5 Essential Aspects of Healthy and Effective Teamwork
3.6 Tips for Developing OD Skills: Effective Communication and Collaboration
Questions for Reflection & Summary
3.1 OD Skills
There are a variety of skills that a change facilitator needs to leverage in order to help move projects forward, accurately pinpoint issues and opportunities for change, and ultimately, bring teams or organizations together around a particular change. The following table highlights some key skills that a change facilitator should have. Some of these skills are more technical, while others are more interpersonally oriented. Some of these skills may be somewhat innate, while others may be skills that you haven’t had the opportunity to engage with yet. The good news is that all of these skills can be developed over the course of your involvement on a team, during your experience as a student, and as a professional. These are skills you can continue to refine over time, and you will see growth within yourself as you continue to work in this space as a team member, leader, or a change facilitator.
In the following chapters, we will explore each of these skills in greater detail and provide suggestions on how to practice and develop them. In this chapter, we will discuss communication and collaboration as essential skills for effective teamwork.
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OD Skill (chapter discussed) |
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Effective communication and collaboration (Chapter 3) |
Effective communication is the ability to express oneself clearly and concisely, as well as to listen attentively to others. Collaboration is the ability to work with others towards a shared goal, understand the interdependence between everybody’s work, and the value of incorporating multiple perspectives. |
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Active Listening (Chapter 4) |
Active listening is a specific skill that individuals can develop in order to listen in a deeper way. It involves the ability to listen to others fully and with curiosity, reduce prejudgment, and be open to considering their ideas. |
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Asking Good Questions (Chapter 5) |
Asking “good,” meaning thoughtful and intentional, questions can help to make individuals feel seen and heard. This can be an important tool to establish trust with those you are working with. An important part of asking good questions is participating in active listening (the previous skill), as listening deeply to others will help guide your questions through reflection on their thoughts and experiences. These two skills go hand in hand. |
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Systems thinking and problem identification (Chapter 6) |
Systems thinking is the ability to see a problem from multiple perspectives and identify interconnections and interdependencies. This requires understanding the pieces that constitute a system and how they interact to make the system work. Organizations are systems that are interdependent, which is an important insight to have as a change facilitator. Problem identification is the ability to recognize a problem and identify the systemic factors contributing to it. It is the first step in solving a problem, but it is often not given the necessary attention. This lack of attention to problem identification often leads to inefficient solutions |
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Openness to Different Perspectives (Chapter 7) |
Being open to different perspectives involves being genuinely curious and developing the ability to set aside preconceived judgments until a deeper understanding of the situation is gained. It also involves recognizing that our perspectives are partial and often biased, which makes expanding our knowledge crucial. |
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Flexibility and dealing with ambiguity (Chapter 8) |
Being flexible means the ability to adapt and change directions when necessary. Being able to deal with ambiguity involves developing a certain level of comfort with continuing to progress even when things are uncertain, unfinished, or not completely known. |
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Planning and process management (Chapter 9) |
Planning is the ability to establish goals and milestones, define necessary tasks to achieve these goals, and consider potential problems that may arise along the way. Process management is about putting the plan into action and monitoring its outcomes. Requires the ability to organize resources to accomplish the planned tasks and deal with problems and needs that emerge along the way, and adapt the plan if needed. |
3.2 Thinking Broadly About Teams
Working in teams is an ever present interpersonal experience. Reflect on all the teams or groups you have been a part of! At work, student groups on your college campus, clubs in high school – even your group of friends can be seen as a team. Your family can be thought of as the first team you were a part of in your life that required you to learn how to, learn together, work together, and communicate. Working in teams effectively is an essential skill for an individual to develop for a variety of reasons. Human beings are social creatures, and even if we have a preference for alone time or working independently, teams are really an inevitable and unavoidable part of human life, starting in school as children. Working in teams can energize some, and drain others – sometimes we can like it, and other times it can feel tedious, however, when experiences within groups are successful, they can be rewarding, joyful and productive, and often we achieve more in teams than we could independently within the workplace. Teams provide a window into the thoughts and perspectives of others, introducing a diversity of viewpoints in order to achieve a goal.
3.3 Tools to Support Teamwork
There are a variety of tools that can be used to support teamwork in the workplace. Later in this book, we will explore team interventions that can help facilitate a specific change more in depth. Many of these activities can also be helpful tools that can be integrated into more day to day formal structures that teams leverage to work together more effectively.
One simple yet effective tool for supporting teamwork is a team agreement. Team agreements can be used in order to establish ‘ground rules’ or expectations on how a team will work together and articulate desired norms for the team. Working on creating the team agreement document together is a way to open up dialogue for individuals on a team to have discussions that can often be overlooked when starting teamwork, such as: what are our goals? How do we want to work together? How will we know if we are successful? It also provides an opportunity to formalize these ideas and agreements by writing and documenting them. These documents can be tailored to fit a team’s needs, and there are no set rules for what needs to be included.
Below we have included some resources that can be a helpful starting point for teams:
- Suggestions for developing a team agreement.
- Tips for defining team roles.
- Tips for navigating conflict.
3.4 The Importance of Teams in the Workplace
Teams are an essential part of any workplace. Teamwork leads to learning, can improve problem-solving by including diverse perspectives, nurture working relationships, and foster collaboration[1]. Efficient teamwork has also been linked with better organizational results and innovation[2]. Therefore, developing teamwork skills is critical for anyone in the workforce.
“Teams” can vary significantly by context. At times, depending on the situation at hand, a team can be an entire department or smaller groups that range in size within a department or the broader organization. Teams can be cross-functional, where members come from various departments and roles within an organization, or they can consist of peers who are at the same level within the company. Teams can be formal, officially designed by the company, or informal, coming together on their own for a shared purpose. In the current work climate, some teams can consist of some remote work employees and some employees who work in person, and some teams can be fully remote and work exclusively virtually with one another, never having in-person interactions. For virtual teamwork, defining communication channels (e.g., Slack, Teams, Google Chat) and working agreements is even more critical.
3.5 Essential Aspects of Healthy and Effective Teamwork
While all teams are different and should always be uniquely assessed based on their members, goals, and dynamics, there are some qualities that all healthy and effective teams should have, or at least be working towards and striving for. We have outlined these things broadly as: a defined structure, open communication, accountability and commitment, clear, shared goals, and psychological safety. See more about each description below. We have outlined these things broadly as: a defined structure, open communication, accountability and commitment, clear, shared goals, and psychological safety.
Defined Structure: a team should have clear roles, ongoing progress evaluations at important points, and plans to facilitate corrective action if needed
Open Communication: a team should allow for open communication, making it a part of the team norms, expectations, and culture
Accountability and Commitment: all members are willing to dedicate the energy and time required for the team to be successful. While individuals may have different roles, each member should put in what is required of them in order to impact the team positively
Clear, Shared Goals: all members understand the goals of the team, share in those goals by feeling accountable to the team and its results
Collaboration: members within the team develop a climate that encourages and supports working together in a way that highlights their interdependence and the overall value of having multiple voices
Psychological Safety: psychological safety is defined as having the feeling that you can “take interpersonal risks, to speak up, to disagree openly, to surface concerns without fear of negative repercussions or pressure to sugarcoat bad news” (McKinsey, 2023). Psychological safety helps to create an environment where people feel encouraged to share ideas without the fear of judgment. When individuals have psychological safety in their team environment, they can share brainstorming, ideas and feedback with their teammates, including feedback that might be perceived as “negative” to teammates, managers, or leaders. Psychological safety is an important part of working in teams because it helps to support innovation, inclusivity, and interpersonal connection between individuals.
Patrick Lencioni is an organizational consultant who talks about the five dysfunctions of a team. Check the video to learn about these five dysfunctions and see if you can make connections with the points we discussed here.
3.6 Tips for Developing OD Skills: Effective Communication and Collaboration
Communication and collaboration are essential skills for change facilitators as well as anyone hoping to have healthy, strong, honest relationships in both their professional and personal lives. The definitions of these are broad and vary tremendously based on the particular context of the organization or team. However, it is important to introduce these early as a way to ground subsequent skills and ideas within the OD process, as these two skills are core to many of the others that follow.
Communication is an ever-present part of being an individual existing within a variety of social groups and systems. Communication is a seemingly simple or obvious skill that we engage in all the time, yet if we want to ensure that our communication is effective and supportive, we have to consider the feelings, positions, and viewpoints of those around us. Active listening (which will be explored as a skill in chapter four) is an essential part of communication as well, as communication involves verbal and nonverbal communication and cues, including words that are spoken, eye contact, and body language. Learning to be honest yet delicate when providing difficult news or feedback, as well as supportive and developmental, and clear in communication, is an ongoing journey that people aim to work on over the course of their professional and personal lives. Keeping these goals in mind will be helpful as you embark on this journey as both a change facilitator and an effective employee. Consider these suggestions for effective communication with your team. And check this website for further improving your communication skills.
Collaboration is another inevitable part of social life. Whether it is working on a group project for a class, being a part of a professional team with an upcoming deadline, or being a part of a family, we are forced to collaborate with those around us all the time. Clear, effective communication (as briefly mentioned above) is an important part of collaboration, but this skill also involves engaging with your empathy in order to understand the goals of the team and work with those around you to achieve those goals by interacting with and listening to all members of the team to make sure all voices are heard. Collaboration involves compromise at times, and understanding that sometimes the group’s goals and priorities will take precedence over your own. Communication and collaboration are essential parts of any team that hopes to create a healthy and open environment with one another in order to be successful.
- When you are working in groups, you can ask yourself some questions to help you hone a collaborative attitude:
- How will my work contribute to the overall success of our teamwork?
- What do I need from others so I can do my part in the teamwork in the best way possible?
- What can I offer others so they can do their part the best way possible?
- What are the consequences for the team if I do not do my part?
- How is my behavior affecting others in the group? Is there anything I can change in my behavior or the way I work to collaborate more with the team?
Some tools can also help to foster collaboration in a team. Check these tips for surviving group projects and teamwork in the classroom.
Questions for Reflection
- Go back to the OD skills table, and reflect on yourself:
- Which of these skills do you believe you already have well developed?
- Which of these skills do you believe you need to acquire or develop further?
- Reflect on a few teams that you have been a part of, either in your academic, professional, or personal life.
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- Were they effective or ineffective?
- What made them either effective or ineffective?
- Did you enjoy working on these teams? Why or why not?
- How would you describe the ‘norms’ or working routines of that team?
- What (if anything) would you have changed about these teams? You may find that some of these changes you would have made are things that can be addressed through the OD process we will be exploring in this book!
Summary
Working in teams is an ever-present interpersonal experience. There are a variety of tools that can be used to support teamwork in the workplace. While all teams are different and should always be uniquely assessed based on their members, goals, and dynamics, there are some qualities that all healthy and effective teams should have, or at least be working towards and striving for. We have outlined these things broadly as: a defined structure, open communication, accountability and commitment, clear, shared goals, and psychological safety. Learning how to work in teams effectively and develop the skills necessary to create effective team environments is a journey, and it is something that people work on throughout their careers.
