Team Challenge - Establish a Climate of Trust

In summary of this section it has been determined that teams need practice fields for controlling time and for allowing mistakes to be made without fear of consequences. Teams need to learn and practice Senge's (1990a) left-hand column techniques for placing as much focus on what is not said as much as on what is said. This is similar to understanding the meaning of music as much as hearing the notes and rhythms. Teams are sometimes faced with internal conflict, but conflict helps to bring important issues to the surface for engaging into dialogue and inquiry of individual's assumptions. Empowerment is a positive reinforcer of dialogue, and with the absence of hierarchy, empowerment can help facilitate deep fundamental change.

Team goals are the foundation of the team's vision, and it is crucial to involve everyone in the formulation of team goals. Trust according to Covey (1989) is the "glue" that holds everything together. With trust, failures are seen as learning opportunities. Trust also facilitates honest feedback in processes of dialogue as well as accelerating positive forces in the teaming processes. Dialogue promotes open, frequent, and powerful communication processes that are beyond the benefits of discussion. Through dialogue the collective intelligence of the team is maximized by processes of exploring issues from many perspectives without concern for right and wrong. The process of dialogue exploits what is commonly not said, rather than what is said, and this is necessary for seeing interrelationships.

In team meetings that utilize dialogue as a team tool, the thinking becomes collective rather than the sum of individual thoughts. Collective thinking is needed for synchronizing action among the team and for expanding the team's creativity in processes of brainstorming and scenario planning. Brainstorming is related to dialogue in terms of being open to all ideas and placing individual assumptions in "front" of the team for exploration and inquiry.

Finally, teams need to consider learning curves and strive to work in both the present and in the future so that a new curve can begin while the team works in the present curve. Teams need to consider learning curves and change a "way of life," while they promote effective change processes through modeling their goals and desires. Teams need to benchmark by looking at other quality standards and reference points. When these reference points are used to gage team performance, they serve as a "compass" for providing team direction as well as an aid in team goal establishment.

Section I - Transform with Teams
	Teams	Technology	Learning
Goals	Future driven and the foundation of the team's vision.	Accelerates technological development.	Learning opportunities from failure and re-defining goals while maintaining vision.
Trust	Foundation for accelerating positive team processes.	Enables open and accessible information. Accessible information helps builds trust.	Implicit knowledge made explicit through sharing of information.
Conflict	Essential for building strong and meaningful relationships and blending team talents.	Facilitates open and instant communication for working with conflict.	Necessary for reaching deep levels of discussion and dialogue.
Empowerment	Increases decision-making authority and facilitates synergistic processes.	Accelerates systems and reduces the gap between action and results.	More accurate communication of problems and reduces need for supervision.
Benchmarking	Standards and reference points that the team uses to gage performance.	Accelerates development of stretching performance levels and setting new benchmarks.	Learning results through benchmarking as a continuous improvement process.
Coaching	Motivating others to succeed. Inspiring others to reach high levels of performance.	Modeling the use of technologies and encouraging involvement.	Leading team problem-solving activities and encouraging a free flow of feedback within.
Dialogue	A team "core competency" for developing effectiveness and facilitating interaction.	Enables the "higher order" of communication within and outside of the district.	Facilitates open and powerful communication for moving beyond single understandings.
Meetings	Helps motivate members while building relationships as well as developing shared vision.	Enables asynchronous and synchronous meetings as well as geographically dispersed.	Synchronized action results without the need for an "action plan."

Last updated: March 10, 1998