Developing Good Habits for Working in Teams (Part 2)
Summary
TLDRJames Peterson's video focuses on enhancing team collaboration through effective meeting strategies. He introduces the PDCA (Plan-Do-Check-Act) model for continuous improvement in team processes. Peterson emphasizes the importance of brainstorming, nominal group technique for idea generation, and the distinction between debate and discussion for better decision-making. He also highlights consensus as the preferred method for team decisions and provides insights on delegation, responsibility, and celebrating team achievements post-project.
Takeaways
- 😀 Building relationships and discussing objectives and expectations are crucial for the first five minutes of a team meeting.
- 🔄 The PDCA (Plan-Do-Check-Act) model is a continuous improvement cycle that can be applied to team meetings for better process management.
- 🛠 Planning involves generating and organizing ideas, with techniques like brainstorming and the nominal group technique to ensure all voices are heard.
- 🤔 Brainstorming should be followed by a discussion to prioritize and cluster ideas by topic, leading to clear next steps.
- 🗣️ The difference between debate and discussion is important; discussion aims to share knowledge and reach the best solution, not to win an argument.
- 🔑 Decision-making in teams should ideally aim for consensus, which leads to better-informed decisions and higher buy-in from team members.
- ⏰ Delegating responsibilities and creating a schedule with clear deadlines are essential after making decisions to ensure individual tasks are completed on time.
- 👥 Each team member should do what they planned, and it's important to address common issues like over-promising, missing deadlines, and ambiguous language.
- 🔍 Checking the quality of work is a critical part of the PDCA cycle, requiring respect for team members' efforts while also being open to improvement.
- 🏆 Celebrating accomplishments and reflecting on the project's process after completion is important for team morale and professional development.
- 📚 Document storage and team wrap-up reports are essential for preserving project information and learnings for future reference.
Q & A
What is the main focus of the second part of James Peterson's video on developing good habits for working in teams?
-The main focus of the second part of the video is on running team meetings, including planning, doing the work, checking the work, and wrapping up the team project.
What are the four things suggested to be done in the first five minutes of each team meeting according to the video?
-The four things suggested are to set up the room, build relationships, discuss the objective, and discuss expectations.
Can you explain the PDCA model mentioned in the video and its relevance to team meetings?
-The PDCA model, also known as the improvement cycle, stands for Plan, Do, Check, and Act. It is used for continuous improvements in processes and is relevant to team meetings as it provides a structured way to plan work, execute it, check the quality, and take corrective actions if necessary.
What is the importance of brainstorming in the planning stage of a team project?
-Brainstorming is important because it allows the team to generate a wide range of ideas without editing them at this stage. It ensures that all ideas are made explicit and visible to everyone, fostering creativity and collaboration.
How does the nominal group technique differ from brainstorming and why might it be used?
-The nominal group technique involves each team member writing down ideas individually on sticky notes, which are then posted on the wall. This method ensures that everyone's ideas are heard and considered, preventing any single or few individuals from dominating the discussion.
What is the key difference between a debate and a discussion as per the script?
-A debate has opposing sides and aims to persuade others that one's position is correct, with the objective to win. A discussion, on the other hand, is about sharing knowledge, experiences, and opinions with the aim of reaching the best solution, not necessarily winning an argument.
What are the different decision-making methods discussed in the video and which one is recommended for collaborative teams?
-The methods discussed are compromise, voting, using individual authority to make a decision, and reaching consensus. The video recommends consensus decision making for collaborative teams as it leads to better-informed decisions and higher buy-in from team members.
Why is it important to delegate responsibilities and create a schedule after making a decision on a team project?
-Delegating responsibilities and creating a schedule is important to ensure that each team member knows what they are responsible for and by when it should be completed. This helps in managing the workload and ensuring timely completion of tasks.
What are some common problems that can occur when team members are working independently on a project?
-Some common problems include over-promising and under-delivering, missing deadlines, having different understandings of the plan due to ambiguous language, and the need to adapt to new information that arises during the project.
What is the purpose of the check and act stages in the PDCA model during a team project?
-The check stage is for evaluating the quality of the work done, while the act stage involves taking actions to improve the work or fix any identified problems. This ensures continuous improvement and quality control in the project.
What should be done after a team project is completed according to the video?
-After a team project is completed, the team should celebrate their accomplishments, reflect on what went well and what could be done differently, ensure proper documentation and storage of project documents, and maintain connections within the team for future networking opportunities.
Outlines
📚 Team Meetings and PDCA Cycle
James Peterson introduces the second part of his video series on developing good habits for working in teams, focusing on the structure and execution of team meetings. He outlines the PDCA (Plan-Do-Check-Act) model as a framework for continuous improvement in team processes. The video emphasizes the importance of setting up the meeting room, building relationships, discussing objectives, and managing expectations within the first five minutes of a meeting. Peterson also highlights common issues teams face, such as lack of planning, miscommunication, and non-compliance, and suggests brainstorming and the nominal group technique as methods for idea generation and organization.
🤝 Decision Making and Team Dynamics
This paragraph delves into the nuances of decision-making within teams, contrasting debate with discussion and emphasizing the value of collaborative discussion over debate for reaching the best solutions. It explores different decision-making methods, including compromise, voting, using individual authority, and reaching consensus, with a recommendation for consensus due to its potential for wise decisions and strong team buy-in. The paragraph also addresses the challenges of delegation, individual responsibility, and the importance of setting clear deadlines. Additionally, it touches on the issues that can arise during the 'do' phase of the PDCA cycle, such as overpromising, missing deadlines, and ambiguity in understanding the plan.
🔍 Quality Check and Team Wrap-Up
The final paragraph discusses the latter stages of the PDCA cycle, focusing on the importance of checking the quality of work and taking action to address any issues. It acknowledges the emotional attachment team members may have to their work and the potential for conflict during the improvement process. The paragraph stresses the need for good conflict management skills and respect for each team member's contributions. It concludes with advice on team wrap-up, including celebrating accomplishments, reflecting on the project, maintaining professional connections, and documenting storage for future reference. The video wraps up by emphasizing the significance of collaborative teamwork and the continuous improvement of individual teamwork skills.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Team Meetings
💡PDCA Model
💡Brainstorming
💡Nominal Group Technique
💡Debate vs. Discussion
💡Decision-Making Methods
💡Compromise
💡Consensus
💡Delegation
💡Quality Check
💡Team Wrap-Up
Highlights
Introduction to part two of the video series on developing good habits for working in teams, focusing on running team meetings and the PDCA model.
The first five minutes of a team meeting should be spent on setting up the room, building relationships, discussing the objective, and expectations.
Explanation of the PDCA (Plan-Do-Check-Act) model for continuous improvement in team processes.
Importance of having a clear plan and doing exactly what is planned to ensure quality and identify problems.
Brainstorming as a method for generating and organizing ideas in a team, emphasizing no editing at this stage.
The misuse of brainstorming and the need for post-brainstorming discussion to prioritize and cluster ideas.
Introduction of the nominal group technique as an alternative to brainstorming for idea generation.
The distinction between debate and discussion in team meetings, with discussion being more effective for collaborative teamwork.
Different decision-making methods: compromise, vote, use individual authority, and reach consensus.
Reaching consensus as the ideal method for decision-making in teams, leading to wise decisions and easy implementation.
The importance of delegating responsibilities and creating a schedule after making decisions in a team.
Potential problems during the 'do' phase of the PDCA model, such as overpromising, missing deadlines, and misunderstandings.
The need for good conflict management skills when checking the quality of work and taking actions to improve it.
Celebrating team accomplishments and reflecting on what went well and what could be done differently post-project.
Document storage and the importance of keeping all project documents easily accessible for future use.
The potential requirement for a team wrap-up report or a 360-degree feedback form for professional development and team evaluation.
Conclusion emphasizing the importance of collaborative teamwork, mutual respect, and continuous improvement in team projects.
Transcripts
[Music]
hey everyone this is james peterson here
this video is part two of developing
good habits for working in teams this
video focuses on running team meetings
which includes planning doing the work
and checking the work we'll also take a
look at wrapping up the team project
when the project is complete
here are the habits for working in teams
in part one of this video i suggested
that the first five minutes of each team
meeting should be spent doing four
things set up the room build
relationships discuss the objective and
discuss expectations
now in part two of this video our focus
is here doing the work and team wrap up
so let's start doing the work plan do
check act
if you study business or project
management you'll recognize this model
as the improvement cycle or the pdca
model this model is used to make
continuous improvements in a process
such as improving a manufacturing
process
however the improvement cycle is also a
useful way to think about team meetings
so let's go through each part on any
team project the first step is to plan
plan what you are going to do
the next step is to do
do exactly what you planned
after that you need to check check the
quality of what you did
and then you need to act taking counter
measures fixing any quality problems
that need to be fixed
and this model continues it's a cycle
plan what you do
do what you planned check what you did
and fix it this model is useful to
identify problems teams make
some teams start doing work without
having a clear plan
more discussion was needed in the
planning stage or perhaps the team had a
clear plan but some team members didn't
do what was planned this could be
because of a disagreement on the team
miscommunication or simple
non-compliance
some teams don't check the quality of
work for other teams quality is checked
but the team doesn't act and the
problems aren't fixed
so let's take a look at the planning
stage once you understand the objective
of the project you can start planning
planning starts with generating and
organizing ideas to find the best ideas
you need to hear from everyone and one
method of generating ideas is
brainstorming here the team starts with
a specific question and team members
shout out ideas while one person writes
all the ideas down
don't edit ideas at this stage the key
point is to get all the ideas out there
make all ideas explicit and visible to
everyone
now brainstorming is also one of the
most misused techniques the most
important part of brainstorming is what
you do after as a team you need to
discuss all of the ideas cluster ideas
by topic making decisions as part of
this you'll also need to prioritize some
ideas and eliminate ideas that prove
less relevant
the key point is brainstorming should
lead you to your next steps the next
step should be clear
now one of the problems with
brainstorming is that one or two people
might dominate the discussion
so another good technique is this the
nominal group technique here each team
member sits quietly for five to ten
minutes writing down ideas on sticky
notes the notes are then posted on the
wall the advantage of this technique is
everyone's ideas make it on the wall we
hear every voice
but again this method is often misused
the most important part is the
discussion after you need to prioritize
ideas organize ideas cluster ideas by
topics brainstorming and the nominal
group techniques should lead to a clear
plan about next steps
so now you're discussing ideas i think
it's important to note the difference
between debate and discussion the debate
has two opposing sides a discussion
doesn't have opposing sides
in a debate there's an attempt to
persuade others that your position is
correct
in a discussion there's an attempt to
share knowledge experiences and opinions
in a debate the objective is to win
in a discussion the objective is to
reach the best solution
in a debate we listen to find out where
the other side is mistaken
in a discussion we listen to find out
what other people know
in a debate you can use debating
strategies talk over people logical
fallacies flexing your power however in
a discussion there's no point in using
debating strategies what's the benefit
of winning
finally a debate has a conclusion
somebody wins and the debate ends a
discussion doesn't have a conclusion
now this was an extremely simple
overview and deserves much more
discussion than we have time for here
debating's not all bad however for our
purposes collaborative teamwork trying
to learn what other people know trying
to find the best solution
discussion is more effective than debate
so you've discussed the ideas and your
team has achieved a kind of mutual
understanding now you need to make
decisions about what actions you'll take
what is the difference between these
decision-making methods compromise vote
use your individual authority to make a
decision for the team reach consensus
compromise
if you're compromising everyone is
giving up something they may be giving
up something important in relationships
when there's trust that decisions will
balance out over time compromise can be
very effective however for making
important team decisions compromise is
probably not the best method
voting
voting is a useful method for making
fast decisions but it's probably not the
best method for making wise decisions be
weary of calls for a vote five minutes
before the end of the meeting these
votes can help you in the meeting on
time giving the appearance that a
decision was made but there's probably
very little buy-in to the decision the
biggest problem with voting is that
everyone who loses will feel little
motivation to implement the decision
use your individual authority to make a
decision for the team
if you have authority this certainly is
an option often decisions have to be
made and they have to be made by a
certain time ideally the decision would
be informed by listening to the concerns
of the team
using a directive style without
listening to the team can be
demotivating and the team may not
implement the idea fully
a more serious issue though is when
someone who doesn't have authority tries
to make a decision for the team this can
lead to conflict
finally reach consensus to truly reach
consensus you have to have mutual
understanding with your team this means
you have to listen to your team members
and discuss the issues that they see as
important once everyone has this
understanding a decision can be made
considering all of the information
consensus decision making often leads to
very wise decisions and once the
decision is made the decisions can be
implemented very easily there's good
buy-in everyone already agrees the
problem is it can take a very long time
to get consensus
collaborative teams should aim for
consensus decision making to the
greatest extent possible simply the act
of trying to reach consensus will lead
to better decisions the team members
will all be better informed about the
issues and you will have more buy-in of
course decisions will have to be made in
a timely manner and sometimes this might
mean directing voting or even
compromising
so once you've made a decision about
what you're going to do you need to
delegate responsibilities and create a
schedule
in this meeting here an important thing
to ask is
who's going to do what by when
because after this meeting each team
member is going to break off on their
own and work independently and you need
a deadline and the deadline is probably
this next meeting here where you're
going to check your work
hopefully you're beginning to see what i
mean by plan do check and act plan what
you're going to do do what you planned
and check what you did
so let's talk about do
each team member is working
independently the key is to do what you
plant
however several problems often happen
here first some team members over
promise and under deliver
second miss deadlines
third each team member has a different
understanding about the plan language is
ambiguous we all understand different
things
fourth is new information often while
you're working on a project things don't
go as planned and you have to adapt
ironically with this video project the
video you're watching right now i think
i grappled with all of these problems
all of my own doing problems happen
however on some teams there may be more
serious compliance issues it's useful to
pull up the team charter in that case
look at the rules that your team agreed
to the team charter should also speak to
how those rules would be enforced you
may need to enact those rules
so let's turn to the last two parts of
the pdca model check and act
first you need to check the quality of
work and second you need to take actions
to improve the work to fix the problems
here's the problem
most people are emotionally attached to
their work they worked hard it may be
their best effort
on the other hand most work is not
perfect it can be improved however
improving work takes time and does it
really need to be improved team members
may disagree
there's a lot of potential for conflict
at this stage and you need good conflict
management skills at this point i'll
just say remember that another person's
work is important to them try to be
respectful of that work at the same time
you can't ignore problems aim to be a
collaborative leader warm with people
tough with problems so the project is
complete your team has completed and
submitted everything and you've
delivered the final presentation so next
is team wrap up
first i would say celebrate your team
likely had struggles take a moment to
relax and celebrate your accomplishments
while you're celebrating have an
informal chat with the team reflect on
what went well and what you would do
differently this informal discussion
after the project is often really good
for professional development also this
team is now an important part of your
network stay connected
one thing to do after this project is
document storage make sure that you can
easily find all of the documents for
this project you may be able to reuse
information perhaps if you have to do a
similar project in the future
some companies may ask you to write a
team wrap-up report summarizing the
project the results what went well and
what could have been done differently
some companies may have a team
evaluation form a kind of 360 degree
feedback with these forms be truthful
but always be respectful so to conclude
many of the team projects we work on in
our business life are incredibly
important the outcome of the projects
matter collaborative teamwork is
important because collaborative teamwork
can get the best results when you're
working on a team project stay focused
on the objective but also create an
environment of mutual respect of
civility where team members can speak
freely and everyone's contributions are
valued
in this video we took a look at several
ideas for creating this collaborative
team environment setting up the room
building relationships discussing the
objective discussing expectations
planning doing checking and fixing the
work and team wrap up
the ideas in this video are meant as a
starting point a kind of checklist
understand why these ideas are important
but then develop your own style your own
habits
after each team project reflect on your
own teamwork skills and continuously
work to improve
[Music]
do
you
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