Team Norms

1
Team Norms
2
What are norms?

• Norms are defined as, The mutually agreed upon
  standards of behavior.
• Norms usually involve communication, consensus,
  conflict, and respect.
• Social norms, norms of collaboration, societal
  norms, and educational norms are examples.

3
Why are norms important?

• Sociologists believe that it is upon norms that
  societies are built.
• It is also true that it is upon norms that teams
  are built.
• Norms help to alleviate roadblocks to
  communication and collaboration.

4
Examples of norms

• Garmston and Wellmans Seven norms of
  Collaborative Work
• 1- Pause
• 2- Paraphrase
• 3- Probe
• 4- Put ideas on the table
• 5- Pay attention to self and others
• 6- Presume positive intentions
• 7- Pursue a balance between advocacy and inquiry

5
Examples of norms

• Ford Motor Company
• 1- Help each other be right, not wrong.
• 2- Look for ways to make ideas work, not for
  reasons that they wont.
• 3- Dont make negative assumptions.
• 4- Help each other win and take pride in
  victories.
• 5- Speak positively about each other.
• 6- Maintain a positive attitude.
• 7- Do everything with enthusiasm.
• 8- Whatever you want, give it away.
• 9- Have fun!

6
Developing norms

• On each of 5 note cards, write something that is
  a barrier to effective teams.
• On the other 5 note cards, write something that
  is a promoter of effective teams.

7
Developing Norms

• Choose one member to read their 10 cards.
• If anyone has a duplicate card, discard it.
• Continue until everyone has read their cards.

8
Developing norms

• Have a recorder write all remaining cards on a
  notepad in list form with promoters on one page
  and barriers on another.
• Each group member will be given 6 stickers to use
  to vote on the 3 most important promoters and 3
  most important barriers.

9
Developing norms

• The facilitator chooses the top 10 vote-receiving
  items (5 promoters and 5 barriers).
• The group converts these items to norms that will
  encourage the promoters and discourage the
  barriers.

10
Coming to consensus

• When the list of norms is completed, use the
  Fist to Five method to come to consensus.
• Consensus does not mean that everybody loves the
  idea. It means that everyone has had a chance to
  speak their opinion, compromises are reached, and
  everyone will support the decision.
• If consensus was difficult to come to, steps must
  be taken to ensure compliance and avoid sabotage.

11
Fist to Five process

• Fist- I cannot live with this
• 1- I need to talk more about this
• 2- I would like to discuss minor issues
• 3- I am comfortable
• 4- Good idea
• 5- I want to lead the charge on this item

12
Fist to five process

• Based upon how important the decision is,
  determine which level is unacceptable. i.e. VERY
  important decisions cannot allow any fists, 1 or
  2 fingers. Routine decisions cannot allow any
  fists. Any low numbers explain why they voted
  that way and what compromise would be acceptable.
• Determine how many rounds of voting or how much
  time will be spent attempting to come to
  consensus. If time or rounds run out, think
  about it and continue next time.

13
Sabotage Ideas

• Have a conversation beginning with
• I know that none of you would ever sabotage this
  agreement, but under what conditions would you be
  tempted?
• List the conditions and discuss the proper course
  of action should those conditions arise.

14
Adherence to Norms

• Periodically, teams must evaluate how well they
  are adhering to the norms and how well the norms
  are working.
• A simple Likert Scale may be used as follows.

15
Adherence to Norms

• Assessing our norms
• Low High
• Norm 1
• Norm 2
• Norm 3
• Norm 4
• Norm 5
• Norm 6

16
Adherence to norms

• After each individual assesses how the group is
  doing, have everyone transfer their responses to
  a notepad.
• The group then discusses strengths and weaknesses
  in adhering to the norms.