Discover in this deck our first exclusive webinar for Shiftup Explorers and Facilitators: Turn a Group into a Team (about team size; diversity; and more), hosted by Jurgen Appelo

1. Turn a Group
into a Team
About team size, diversity, and more
Wednesday 20 May 2020, 18:00 CEST
Jurgen Appelo
@jurgenappelo

2. At the end of this session, you will…
Know what is needed to turn a group into a team
Have concrete tips for several team exercises
Get pointers to the background research

3. In my latest art project I worked
with what I had

4. Are you able to pick any team members
you want to create a team?
Photo by Muyuan Ma on Unsplash

5. Usually, you have to play the cards
that you were dealt.
Photo by Clifford Photography on Unsplash

6. Innovative Teams &
Team Formation
What does it take to create a
well-performing team out of
the group that you have?

7. The team model
Cognitive diversity & team culture
Psychological safety & creative tension
Team purpose & personal meaning
Supportive context & self-organization
The Team Model, extended
Wrapping up
Turn a Group into a Team

8. Team definitions
“a number of people who act together in order to achieve something”
Cambridge dictionary
“a number of persons associated together in work or activity”
Merriam-Webster dictionary
“a group of people working for a common cause”
YourDictionary

9. Group Development
Model (1965)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuckman%27s_stages_of_gro
up_development
https://medium.com/unexpected-leadership/forming-storming-norming-and-performing-5d06d021a969
Bruce Tuckman’s model still stands.

10. We need to revisit what it means
to be a team in the 21st century.
Photo by Austin Distel on Unsplash

11. The team model
Cognitive diversity & team culture
Psychological safety & creative tension
Team purpose & personal meaning
Supportive context & self-organization
The Team Model, extended
Wrapping up
Turn a Group into a Team

12. Diversity correlates
with performance.
(But correlation is
not causation.)
Photo by Ernest Brillo on Unsplash

13. Team Formation Exercise
Imagine the classroom as a two-dimensional map:
• Introvert versus extrovert
• Favorite color on the rainbow
Agree on how the two dimensions divide the
classroom.
Take a position in the room depending on your
personality and preference.
Now do it again with two other dimensions.
The facilitator will use this to form teams.
10 minutes

14. Suggestions for cognitive diversity on teams
• Level of Lean-Agile experience
• Small-business versus large-corporate experience
• Business-orientation versus technology-orientation
• Generalist versus specialist
• Design-focus versus development-focus
• Distance to place of living (or place of birth)
• Generation (Boomers, Gen X, Millennials, Gen Z)
• More?

15. Inventive/curious Consistent/cautious
Efficient/organized Easy-going/careless
Outgoing/energetic Solitary/reserved
Relationship focus Content focus
Optimization Exploration
Generalist Specialist
Friendly/compassionate Challenging/detached
Sensitive/nervous Secure/confident
Conservative Progressive
Authoritarian Libertarian
Cognitive diversity correlates with and increases performance.
Openness to experience
Conscientiousness
Extraversion
Agreeableness
Neuroticism
Attachment
Exploration
Managing complexity
Social
Economic
Big Five Model
AEM-Cube
Nolan Chart

16. Diversity
is being asked to the party.
Inclusion
is being asked to dance.
Equity
is being helped onto the dance floor.

17. Beware of teams selecting
their own members!
Photo by Ben Weber on Unsplash

18. &Cognitive
diversity
Team
culture
Great teams have both

19. Great teams have a shared identity
Photo by Natalie Scott on Unsplash

20. Great teams have shared rules
Photo by Mark Duffel on Unsplash

21. Working Agreements are also called Social
Contracts or Team Charters.
Start with, “You can count on me to…”
instead of, “What I expect from you is…”
Making and updating a team agreement
matters more than just having one.
Get people to own and sign the agreement.

22. The team model
Cognitive diversity & team culture
Psychological safety & creative tension
Team purpose & personal meaning
Supportive context & self-organization
The Team Model, extended
Wrapping up
Turn a Group into a Team

23. Psychological safety means taking risks
without getting harmed.
Photo by Loic Leray on Unsplash

24. It means curiosity and vulnerability
without experiencing hostility.
Photo by Justin Peterson on Unsplash

25. Personal Introduction Exercise
2. What is your favorite food and what food do you like the least?
3. What is your favorite job/role and what job/role do you like the least?
4. What was a recent success and what was a recent failure you learned from?
5. What small things make you happy in your daily life?
6. In which city do you live now and where do you want to live later?
7. What is the best book you recently read?
8. What is the most difficult project you are working on now?
9. What is something that you have a lot of knowledge of?
10. What is the best day of your life?
11. What is one thing that is still on your bucket list?
12. What is the dumbest thing you’ve ever done?
Each person rolls two dice and
answers one of these questions
10 minutes

26. &Psychological
safety
Creative
tension
Great teams have both

27. Arguments
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ohDB5gbtaEQ

28. Great teams argue continuously
Photo by Sarah Kilian on Unsplash

29. They have strong opinions
weakly held
Photo by Jason Rosewell on Unsplash

30. The team model
Cognitive diversity & team culture
Psychological safety & creative tension
Team purpose & personal meaning
Supportive context & self-organization
The Team Model, extended
Wrapping up
Turn a Group into a Team

31. Great teams have a clear goal
Photo by roya ann miller on Unsplash

32. They know how to make an impact
Photo by MI PHAM on Unsplash

33. Moving Motivators
management30.com/practice/moving-motivators

34. &Team
purpose
Personal
meaning
Great teams have both

35. People seek meaning through work
Photo by Junior Moran on Unsplash

36. Ikigai
ikigai
What you can be paid for
What
you are
good at
What the
world
needs
What you love
Make fun
Make money
Make progress
Make a difference

37. management30.com/practice/happiness-steps

38. The team model
Cognitive diversity & team culture
Psychological safety & creative tension
Team purpose & personal meaning
Supportive context & self-organization
The Team Model, extended
Wrapping up
Turn a Group into a Team

39. Great teams have structure,
transparency and feedback
Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash

40. The optimal team
size is 5 +/- 2
maybe
https://www.informit.com/articles/article.aspx?p=1674234
“7 plus or minus 2”
“5, 15 and 150”
“Anything below 20, except 8”
“4.6”
Team size

41. &Supportive
context
Self-
organization
Great teams have both

42. Team Canvas
http://theteamcanvas.com/

43. The left side is more
important than the right side
Collaboration over collocation
Motivation over rewards
Interactions over individuals

44. Remixed from these sources:
The Secrets of Great Teamwork
https://hbr.org/2016/06/the-secrets-of-great-teamwork
What Google Learned from Its Quest to Build the Perfect Team
https://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/28/magazine/what-google-learned-from-its-quest-to-build-the-perfect-team.html
How to Turn a Group of Strangers into a Team
https://www.ted.com/talks/amy_edmondson_how_to_turn_a_group_of_strangers_into_a_team
5 Attributes of Successful Teams
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/blog/2019/11/19/5-attributes-successful-teams/

45. The team model
Cognitive diversity & team culture
Psychological safety & creative tension
Team purpose & personal meaning
Supportive context & self-organization
The Team Model, extended
Wrapping up
Turn a Group into a Team

46. Group Development
Model (1965)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuckman%27s_stages_of_gro
up_development
https://medium.com/unexpected-leadership/forming-storming-norming-and-performing-5d06d021a969
Bruce Tuckman’s model still stands.

47. https://medium.com/unexpected-leadership/forming-storming-norming-and-performing-5d06d021a969
But we need to deal with parallel curves
Teaming = forming
teams-on-the-fly

48. https://medium.com/unexpected-leadership/forming-storming-norming-and-performing-5d06d021a969
And we need to speed up & extend the curve
Reteaming =
keeping teams fresh

49. The team model
Cognitive diversity & team culture
Psychological safety & creative tension
Team purpose & personal meaning
Supportive context & self-organization
The Team Model, extended
Wrapping up
Turn a Group into a Team

50. Cognitive diversity & Team culture
Psychological safety & Creative tension
Team purpose & Personal meaning
Supportive context & Self-organization
The balancing act of great teams

51. hello@shiftup.work
shiftup.work