Teamology

The art and science of influencing teams.

A good few years ago I worked for an organisation that specialised in developing teams by opening minds with regard to theories about working in organisations. It was great fun and practical but I always wondered what impact it had.

Then one day I found myself in a staff meeting that was disfunctional to say the least, tempers were getting hotter and nothing was being achieved, business as usual for that team. The most bizarre thing about it was that the people in that meeting were all specialists in team working and were all good people who really wanted the team to do well and yet it was as if each of them wanted the team to self distruct. For some reason that day I did not get dragged into it, but instead sat quietly through it watching the drama unfolding until I got to a point where I thought I could make a difference. The result, it got worse. So there I am, the team specialist, despite a good understanding of team theory, failing, not knowing what to do next. That thought stayed with me and over the next few months I started spotting occasions when individuals made a difference to how a team was functioning. Then I started changing what I did so that I could make differences too. Now I use my skills as a coach and trainer to help others develop the ability to influence teams that they are part of, teams that they lead, or teams that they come across in the course of a normal working day.

So to be specific about what Teamology is about. Teamology is about an individual influencing the results that a team gets. That team may be one that they are leading, are a part of or that they are external to.

This website is a taster...............

After a while you spot people who know exactly what they are doing and make a conscious effort to affect teams, then you see others who do it subconsciously

The website so far has:

• A section of theory on related matters.
• Blogs relating to being a team leader and a teamworker giving insights
• Inspirational one liners relating to teams
• The core section on what teamology is all about

How to use Teamology Who is the site aimed at, what to do with it.

Why teams covers the basic reasons that we have teams in the first place.

Why not teams looks at some the basic issues that arrive with teams.

Type A and Type B teams looks at the two key team types and recognises that the level of effectiveness of each depends upon the behaviours that team members use.

People v Roles considers a confusion that happens from time to time with regard to people and what their job is.

Situations There are a few different situations that teams find themselves in, new, expanding, static, contracting

Where do we go from here. so could the task approach model, as could how well does the team manage the goal approach model and something in there about the bakers shop sample. Roles v people.