Develop a plan for building an effective team with representatives from different functional areas that will work together to solve a business problem. Use the Team Planning Worksheet [DOCX] for the team building plan.
In preparation for this assessment, study your chosen company website to see what characteristics make its teams successful. Notice if it has any particular team guidelines or communication strategies that contribute to the group functions. You may have to observe the images on the website to make some assumptions about their teamwork.
Gather the background information you need about key characteristics of effective team members, group processes such as conflict resolution, and communication strategies that make teams successful. If you choose, you can read the articles in the “First Steps” resource.
Access the Team Planning Activity to review the profiles of eight current employees. Select three people to be members of your team based on their representation of the various functional areas and their individual characteristics. Fill in the grid with the information about each team member. Don’t forget that your manager will also assign one person to your team, so be on the lookout for the additional member. You will meet the individual within the Team Planning Activity.
Consider the business problem presented above and in the worksheet. In the Team Planning Worksheet:
Explain the reasons for including the specific functional areas in the organizational team.
Create a communication plan that includes recommendations for how the team will connect daily, weekly, and over the course of the project.
List 3–5 steps of a plan to solve the problem.
Explain strategies for delegating the various responsibilities in each step.
Describe how business skills from the functional areas will contribute to problem-solving and how individual soft skills of the team members will help to maintain a positive working relationship and functional problem-solving on the team.
Explain strategies that the team can use to resolve conflict.
