Up and Coming Weekly is a weekly publication in Fayetteville, NC and Fort Bragg, NC area offering local news, views, arts, entertainment and community event and business information.
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4 MARCH 30 - APRIL 5, 2016 WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM Team (noun) a group of players forming one side in a competitive game or sport. Team (verb) come together as a team to achieve a common goal. I've spent a lot of time the past couple of weeks hearing and talking about teams. All kinds of teams: work teams, athletic teams, couples who work as a team, even our political leaders. For the past couple of weeks, the conversation has not been about successful teams, but rather unsuccessful teams. Dysfunctional teams. These conversations have sent me into research mode. What happens between people that make them so unable to work together, so unable to find a common ground, so unable to put aside their anger to actually hear one another? How do you take people who are that far apart and get them to work together? How do you build a team when no one is listening? It's a major problem in our schools, our communities, our country. So, in the hopes of building a bridge, I thought I would share some information that I found on building a strong team — whether it's in your business, your school, your place of worship, your home or in our community. The following are suggested as the building blocks of building an effective team: Clear objectives: Understand that a team has mutually-agreed aims and objectives. It is imperative that everyone has a clear understanding of what they are. Balanced roles: A good team knows how to balance the skills, abilities and aspirations of its members. On an effective team, every member has a clear understanding of each individual's role in achieving the overall team objectives. Effective processes: Teams that work have developed good processes for making, communicating, implementing and reviewing decisions. Effective information systems are in place and coordination of resources is key to the team's success. Good communication: Meetings are the bane of most teams. Particularly when meetings don't really serve a purpose other than checking a block or are battlegrounds where axes are ground between the members of the teams. Meetings must be productive and everyone involved has to have a voice. If that isn't the case, then frustration builds and the team moves further apart instead of together.. Appropriate leadership: A successful team has a leader. If the leader fails, the team fails. If there is mistrust between the team and its leadership then nothing is going to be accomplished. Support and trust: Members of the team have to have respect and trust in their teammates. They help each other by listening, evaluating, offering ideas, encouraging experimentation and giving support. Openness and conflict: People express themselves openly and honestly. That means people talk to one another in a civil manner. A differing opinion, is not a reason for name calling or abuse. True team members must be will to work through difficult situations or conflict constructively. Mutual cooperations: There is a readiness to be involved and committed. Individuals' abilities, knowledge and experience are pooled and used by the team. There is acceptance of each others' strengths and weaknesses. One team member does not use the other's weakness against them, instead steps up to fill the gap. Individual development: 'Mistakes' are faced openly and used as a vehicle for learning. Individuals are given opportunities to develop new skills and experience. A coach who takes a player out of the game because they male a mistake isn't teaching the player anything. A great coach knows that a player learns from his or her mistakes. They become better for the making of them. A good coach also knows not to let the mistakes go on for a long period of time, when that happens, instead of being a teaching tool, the mistake becomes a weapon. Regular review: The team regularly reviews its performance and goals and alters its priorities and practices in the light of review. That means they make an honest assessment of what has happened and use the assessment not to place blame, but to move forward. If you take a close look at where we are today, it would seem that these common sense approaches to teamwork could really help our city, our state and our country. PUBLISHER'S PEN The Building Blocks of Teamwork by JANICE BURTON STAFF PUBLISHER Bill Bowman Bill@upandcomingweekly.com ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER Janice Burton editor@upandcomingweekly.com EDITOR Stephanie Crider stephanie@upandcomingweekly.com SENIOR REPORTER Jeff Thompson jeff@upandcomingweekly.com ART DIRECTOR Sara Smith art@upandcomingweekly.com CONTRIBUTING WRITERS D.G. Martin, Pitt Dickey, Margaret Dickson, John Hood, Erinn Crider, Jim Jones, Shanessa Fenner, Heather Griffiths BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT MANAGER Keri Dickson keri@upandcomingweekly.com SALES ADMINISTRATOR/ DISTRIBUTION MANAGER Laurel Handforth laurel@upandcomingweekly.com ACCOUNTING Paulette Naylor accounting@upandcomingweekly.com MARKETING/SALES Linda McAlister Brown linda@upandcomingweekly.com Beverly Pone beverlypone@upandcomingweekly.com Melissa Zalaznik melissa@upandcomingweekly.com ––––––––––– Up & Coming Weekly www.upandcomingweekly.com 208 Rowan Street P.O. Box 53461 Fayetteville, NC 28305 PHONE: (910) 484-6200 FAX: (910) 484-9218 Up & Coming Weekly is a "Quality of Life" publication with local features, news and infor- mation on what's happening in and around the Fayetteville/Cumberland County community. Up & Coming Weekly is published weekly on Wednesdays. Up & Coming Weekly welcomes manuscripts, photographs and artwork for publi- cation consideration, but assumes no responsi- bility for them. We cannot accept responsibility for the return of unsolicited manuscripts or material. Opinions expressed by contributors do not necessarily reflect the views of the pub- lisher. The publisher reserves the right to edit or reject copy submitted for publication. Up & Coming Weekly is free of charge and distributed at indoor and outdoor locations throughout Fayetteville, Fort Bragg, Pope Air Force Base, Hope Mills and Spring Lake. Readers are limited to one copy per person. ©2007 by F&B Publications, Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction or use of editorial or advertisements without permission is strictly prohibited. JANICE BURTON, Associate Publisher, UP & COMING WEEKLY. COMMENTS? Editor@upandcomingweek- ly.com. 910.484.6200. Fayetteville's Weather Forecast Call 910-354-1679 for more info. 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