Summary of Team Skills

Within the three team processes (inclusion, synergy and integration) there are nine critical team member skills. Note that it is necessary not only that the skills are expressed but also that other team members perceive these attributes as present. These skills are in a hierarchy; i.e. Listen and Support must be present before and takes priority over Fight Fair.

  • Inclusion Process
    1. Listen and Support

”Listen and Support” runs contrary to the American norm of “Talk and Convince”. “Active Listening” is a prerequisite but also working at finding something one can support is essential.

    1. Fight Fair

Disagreement is good when it results in new ideas, approaches and testing. Fighting need not mean physically damaging another. Rather it means standing up for what you know and feel.

    1. Value the Whole

Everyone on the team is important, critical and truly essential. All must be valued regardless of tenure, skills, and power.

  • Synergy Process
    1. First Things First

It seems obvious but teams rarely prioritize what needs doing much less following these priorities.

    1. Find and Keep Resources Used

Resources can be human, tangible and intangible. Teams must inventory what resources are important to them, maintain them and discard those not needed.

    1. Share the Burdens

Who writes the minutes, for example? This apparantly lowly task is, in fact, one of the most important for he who writes the history is in control for if it is not written down, it doesn’t exist.

  • Constant Improvement Process
    1. Use the Inclusion and Synergy process skills

How do you know where the team is performing? It can be objectively measured, classified, provided targetted training and improvement tracked.

      • Measure, type and develop prescriptions
      • Obtain outside feedback