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MODULE – 4
Management of Team Dynamics
 Introduction to Setting Objectives

 Objectives are potential attainments of the individual that can be

realistically achieved by them by following a certain number of steps.
 Setting and agreeing objectives is important to ensure that expectations are
clear, fair and consistent. Employees should understand what is expected of
them and the behaviors required, as well as how this will be measured.
Managers should be aware of the employee’s personal circumstances and
training needs, and consider these when setting achievable objectives.

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 Specific:Be concrete. Use action verb
 Measurable: May be numeric or descriptive of quantity, quality or cost.
How will you evidence that the objective has been met?
 Achievable:The objective should be appropriately limited in scope (it is
better to split big stretching objectives into sub stretching objectives for
clarity, especially if there are different deadlines, targets or measures) and
within the employee's control and sphere of influence
 Relevant:Measure outputs or results not activities
 Time specific:Identify target dates, including interim milestones and plans
to monitor progress
 Extending:Should be challenging and make a difference to established
practices, ways of doing things. Does it link to the bigger picture / goals?
 Rewarding:What's in it for the employee as well as for UCL? What
motivates them to want to complete this objective? Is it something they can
get passionate about and fully engaged?

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Benefits of Setting Team objectives
 Transparency
Setting team goals keeps things open and ensures everyone’s on the same
page. Providing team goals means people have their own responsibilities,
but also that they know what the rest of the team is working on alongside
them and thus never feel unfairly burdened by the team’s objectives.
 Motivation
Keeping employees in the loop in terms of wider organizational goals means
people understand the wider purpose of what they are doing, and appreciate
the value of their work outside of the actual tasks they’re undertaking. This
boosts motivation levels and encourages people to achieve more.
 Collaboration
Wrapping everyone’s individual goals up in the team goals means one
person’s success is everyone’s success. Employees will be more likely to
actively help their peers with any issues, and work collaboratively to get
results, rather than adopting a more ruthlessly competitive mindset. 4
 Boost work performance
The primary goal for any team is to grow better and better as each day goes
by. The first step to achieving this is to identify the various elements that
affect your work quality. There are endless possibilities for such, anything
ranging from personal challenges to external distractions. Next, the team
can collaboratively pick a particular problem to tackle together and solve as
a unit.
 Finish projects on time
A key goal that every team needs to possess is to finish projects before they
are due. There are many factors that can affect a team’s performance, one of
the commonest being procrastination. This greatly affects the whole process
along with its result, considering the amount of stress and pressure that the
team has to put up with. It’s therefore important to practice proper time
management.

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Team planning
What is team planning?
 Team planning is the process of setting strategic and operational plans for
your team for the year. It involves strategically aligning your team's work to
the overall direction of travel for the business. It provides a clear roadmap
to success by identifying the strategic objectives for your team and breaking
these down into specific projects, goals, and tasks. Instead of focusing
solely on day-to-day tasks, team planning allows us to zoom out and see the
bigger picture.
 This type of planning ensures that everyone in your team has a clear
understanding of what they need to do in order to succeed. It also helps you
demonstrate what needs are being met by your team and how your work
contributes to a successful business.

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Team Planning Process
1. Identify and align strategic goals
 The first stage of creating a team plan involves strategic goal setting. Team
leaders meet with senior management to review the company's overall
business strategy and how their team can contribute to the plan in the
coming year. This meeting discusses the direction of the company and what
the company hopes to accomplish in the next twelve months. Discussing
the role that the team is going to be responsible for ensuring the business's
success is also beneficial.
2. Organize a planning session
 Planning sessions may differ in length depending on the size of the team
and the organization. The entire team meets to discuss their goals for the
upcoming year. Meetings begin with the team leader providing a brief
overview of how their goal align with the organizational strategy. Leaders
may then outline the team targets for the year. Each member of the team
then helps brainstorm how they can accomplish those goals.
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3. Assign roles to each individual
 Instead of assigning a variety of tasks to each member of the team, consider
assigning them a specific role. The goal is for everyone to be aware of their
responsibilities and hold themselves accountable for their actions.
Assigning roles can also increase productivity by reducing the likelihood of
too many individuals working on the same task while overlooking other
duties. Here are the roles you may assign to team members:
 Leader: This individual leads all strategic planning sessions on behalf of
the team. A leader maintains a high level of organization to guarantee the
achievement of the team's goals and ensures that everyone has the
opportunity to contribute.
 Timekeeper: The team's timekeeper tracks meeting times. Keeping track of
time can ensure the team adheres to the agenda at each meeting and that
group discussions remain within the allotted time.
 Note-taker: Note-takers keep records of all pertinent points discussed
during meetings and prepare detailed meeting notes for each participant
following the meeting. Note-taking may be an alternate role that rotates
between team members to allow each member to take a break. 8
4. Draft a formal team plan
 Following the team's planning session, the team leader drafts a document
containing the team's plan. To remind themselves of their goals and
responsibilities, team members may refer to the formal team plan on a
regular basis. Team members can use the plan to manage their tasks,
timelines, and performance indicators. The team leaders can also use the
document to assess the overall progress of the team toward achieving its
goals.

5. Review the plan

 You can ensure that you're on schedule to achieve your goals by reviewing
the team's progress regularly. Conducting a review meeting every quarter
may be beneficial for team members and leaders. You may also consider
adding a meeting to review the team plan to the team or organization's
weekly or monthly meeting agenda as a standing item.

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Who takes part in the planning process?
Team members
 Having each member of the team take part in the planning process is
beneficial for the entire team. Involving all team members helps team
leaders to better understand the team's strengths and weaknesses. By
including all members of the team, team leaders can receive direct feedback
regarding the feasibility of their plans from employees who perform the
tasks on a daily basis. It also promotes a sense of responsibility and
autonomy among team members by enhancing their understanding of their
respective roles within the plan.

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 Team leader
Team leaders are instrumental in the execution of team planning sessions.
Their role is to serve as a point of contact between senior management and
strategy and the operational delivery team. During the planning session,
they facilitate the conversation and ensure that they tailor the meeting to the
needs of the team.
 Senior manager
 An effective team leader engages a senior member of the organization in
discussions regarding strategic planning. Depending on the size and
structure of the team, it may be necessary to speak directly with a senior
executive or to speak with an intermediary level of management. The senior
leaders of an organization are typically responsible for making the final
decisions regarding the team's strategic objectives.

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 External facilitator
 An external facilitator is someone from outside an organization, group, or
community who guides a process that enhances the ability of the group to
address and discuss important topics. An external facilitator can be
beneficial, especially if you're planning with a large team. Their
professional expertise and understanding of organizational planning
techniques can enable teams to formulate a more effective plan. Using
external facilitators can also be very helpful for team planning sessions.
They can manage the day's agenda and structure, allowing team leaders to
focus on engaging their participants.

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Four Crucial Elements of a Team Plan
1. Vision, Goals & Objectives
 First things first, you need to outline the vision, goals, and objectives of the team – based
on those of the organization. You also need to define how the team’s vision will reflect on
the company.
 Once you’ve pinpointed the vision and mission, you can move on to the goals and
objectives. A goal is an outcome you are working towards, and objectives are the actions
you intend to take to achieve this outcome.
 Just think of it as a pyramid, with vision being on the top, goals located beneath the
visions, and tangible/measurable objectives at the bottom.

2. Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

 Now, it’s time to define the KPIs. In case you don’t know, a KPI is a measurable value
that lets you understand how well the objective was reached.
 And, thanks to KPIs, you can observe and modify the objectives of your teams as and
when required. Also, to keep a solid track of all your KPIs, it’s best to present them on a
dashboard.
 There are multiple tools for creating dashboards for your KPIs, but, if you don’t have the
budget to purchase a tool, you can simply use a graph chart. 13
3. Timeframe For Achieving The Goals
 Whether it is a month, four months, or even an entire year – every team
plan needs to have a set time frame. So, even at this stage, you can ask
your team members to help you set the right timeframes for all the
tasks. As we said above, your team members know the best about how
long a task or process would take. With their input, you can form more
accurate and reliable timelines!

4. Expectations and Observations

 This is another important element that you must include in your team
plan – your expectations. You can write down your predictions on the
basis of the information you have so far.
 You can then compare these expectations with the end results, and see
whether the team is progressing or if there’s something they need to
improve.
 In addition to expectations, you can also add ‘observations’ in your
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team plan as you go along. Spot the details that improve or hinder your
team’s performance, and note them down.
 Motivation
Employee motivation is the level of commitment, energy and innovation
that a company's staff hold during the working day. It's as important as
it is difficult to track; maintaining and improving motivation in the
workplace can be a problem for many companies, as not every task will
be interesting.

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Benefits of Motivated Employee
 Increased employee commitment
When employees are motivated to work, they will generally put their best
effort in the tasks that are assigned to them.
 Improved employee satisfaction

Employee satisfaction is important for every company because this can lead
towards a positive growth for the company.
 Ongoing employee development

Motivation can facilitate a worker reaching his/her personal goals, and can
facilitate the self-development of an individual. Once that worker meets
some initial goals, they realize the clear link between effort and results,
which will further motivate them to continue at a high level.
 Improved employee efficiency

An employee’s efficiency level is not only based on their abilities or

qualifications. For the company to get the very best results, an employee
needs to have a good balance between the ability to perform the task given
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and willingness to want to perform the task. This balance can lead to an
increase of productivity and an improvement in efficiency.
How to Increase Employee Motivation
 Improve communications
 Value individual contributions
 Positive workplace environment
 Promote positive employee self-esteem
 Provide employee recognition

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 Communication
 Workplace communication is the process of exchanging information and
ideas, both verbally and non-verbally between one person or group and
another person or group within an organization.
 It includes e-mails, videoconferencing, text messages notes, calls, etc.
Effective communication is critical in getting the job done, as well as
building a sense of trust and increasing productivity.
 Workers may have different cultures and backgrounds, and may expect
different ways of working and understanding how things should be done
within an organization's workplace culture. To strengthen employee
cooperation and avoid missed deadlines or activity that could affect the
company negatively, effective communication is crucial.

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 Benefits of effective workplace communication

1. Mitigated conflict
Effective workplace communication can help reduce conflict or tension at
work. Most conflicts arise due to ineffective communication tactics which
lead to individuals misunderstanding what's being communicated.
Misunderstandings can result in employees or other members of an
organization feeling not understood, disrespected, disregarded or simply not
performing in an expected manner.
2. Increased employee engagement
Effective communication does more than just ensure information is
accurately received. It also works to connect others and keep open lines of
communication between employees and other members of the organization.
This ultimately works to create better engagement between employees,
which can lead to increased employee satisfaction and healthier company
culture.
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3. Improved productivity
Employees who feel connected to their work and have a clear
understanding of what's expected of them are more likely to be productive
and perform efficiently. When employees don't understand their role or
expectations in a position or have limited resources to perform their duties,
they often feel confused or as if they aren't able to perform their job to the
best of their ability. Ensuring information is readily available and
communicated in an effective manner allows employees to accurately
perform their duties and can increase productivity throughout the
organization.
4. Improved client relations
Good communication in the workplace isn't just relevant to employees of
the organization. Effective communication also directly affects client
relations. Organizations that communicate well with their customers or
clients are more likely to build solid relationships and retain clients versus
companies that don't prioritize client communication. Customers look for
companies that value their relationship and keep them up-to-date on
changes and are more loyal when they feel connected to these companies.
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5. Healthy workplace culture
 Effective communication plays an important part in maintaining a healthy
workplace culture. Many workplaces employ people of all different
cultures, races and beliefs, and conflict will naturally arise when so many
differences are present. A culture of open communication fosters a healthy
and accepting environment where all employees feel equal and understood.

6. Boosted employee job satisfaction

 Employees who are part of an organization that practices good
communication in the workplace are more likely to experience increased
job satisfaction. A transparent and trustworthy environment supports
employee satisfaction by creating a harmonious workplace that is enjoyable
to work in and keeps employees engaged in their positions.

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 Monitoring and Controlling team
 Managers have to monitor the work activities of their team and the external
forces the impact the way their team performs. Without that monitoring,
you won't know whether your management plan is working or if it needs to
be adjusted. As a manager, you must control those elements that you
can control to keep everyone moving toward the goal.

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 Monitor Progress Toward Goal
 In the control task, you monitor the work being done, you compare the
actual progress of the management plan and you verify that the organization
is working as you designed it. If everything is going well, you won't need to
do anything but monitor.
 However, that seldom happens. Someone may get ill, the database sort
could take longer than projected, a key competitor might drop their prices,
and the list goes on and on. All of these events can impact your
management plan.
 Control the Situation
 The control step now dictates that you have to take action to minimize the
impact and brings things back to the desired goal as quickly as possible.
That could mean going back to the management planning stage and
adjusting plans.
 This planning change may require a change in the organization and re-
directing team members toward the new goals. You will then monitor and
control the new plan and adjust if needed. This cycle continues until you
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complete the task.
 Control the Situation
 The control step now dictates that you have to take action to
minimize the impact and brings things back to the desired goal
as quickly as possible. That could mean going back to the
management planning stage and adjusting plans.
 This planning change may require a change in the organization
and re-directing team memberstoward the new goals. You will
then monitor and control the new plan and adjust if needed. This
cycle continues until you complete the task.

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 Monitor and Measure the Right Items
 There is no point in monitoring if you don't take action based on
the information. Don't just keep track. Make sure you are
measuring the right things and then take appropriate action to fix
whatever problems the measurements point out.
 Unless you measure something you don't know if it is getting
better or worse. You cannot manage for improvement if you
don't measure to see what is getting better and what is getting
worse. This article helps you know how and what to measure.
 While this article specifically addresses the issue of
overplanning, it also applies to the monitoring task. Don't focus
so much on the monitoring task that you don't take control and
make the changes that are necessary.

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 Provide Coaching and Feedback
 A good managerwill always monitor what their employees are doing, but
will not intervene to micromanage or coach their employees except in
specific circumstances. Knowing when to let an employee make a mistake
they can learn from and when you need to step in and coachthem is a
balancing act. You have to balance their opportunity to learn and grow
against the harm they could do to themselves, their team, and the company.
 When a manager needs to step in and control the activity of the team or an
individual it is often necessary to give negative feedback. Be sure to do it
properly as outlined here.

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