SOCIAL PROCESSES

Without People, There Is No Social System

T
he Social System and its human processes bring life to and enable the organization to succeed and survive long term. 

These processes work together creating a culture or social system which supports their common purpose.  Social processes are always our inventions.  Whether we choose to actively and consciously design them, or permit them to develop by accident is up to us.

Occurring within the team are a direct result of the effective design of these processes.  This section will allow us to explore our social processes in two unique ways:

!	Experiencing and evaluating our specific process for problem solving and decision making 

	!	Understanding and assessing team growth and maturity in all four areas of social process development.

A healthy social system first and foremost must be able to accomplish and achieve its purpose.  However, if it is to continue performing over the long haul, it must also perform three more basic functions (Cherns & Wacker, 1978).  These three survival functions include adaptation in and accommodation to the external environment; integration of the activities and sentiments of people within the system; and attending to the long term development and latent resources of the organization.  

Teams build effectiveness through developing healthy social processes in four critical areas, which are:

	Goal Attainment -		Team processes for setting, measuring,  and achieving goals in line with the system’s primary objectives.

	Adaptability -			Team processes for adapting to changes in the external environments in order to meet the needs of its stakeholders.

	Integration -			Team processes for collaborating and coordinating with the internal environment to manage conflicts and insure overall system integrity and performance.

	Long-Term Development -	Team processes for assessing, maintaining, and expanding their team and individual knowledge, skills, and abilities.
PROBLEM SOLVING/DECISION MAKING PROCESS

	Team Product 5

	THEORY INPUT

H
igh performing teams develop social interactive methods to achieve their purpose while fulfilling individual needs.  Trying to achieve this balance between people and production requirements while fulfilling our primary purpose for existing can create problems.  As adults we have all developed various problem solving methods, which we test and improve with experience.  To become a high performance team, team members collectively must establish and continually improve procedures for solving problems that prevent the team from balancing these needs.

	OBJECTIVE

The purpose of this task is to provide an opportunity for your team to analyze its problem solving methods and to increase the effectiveness of the team’s Social Interactive Processes.

	DESIRED OUTCOMES

!	From the problem solving exercise, “Assignment Unknown,” develop an  understanding of:

a)	Your team’s current problem solving process.

b)	The effect of this process on the team’s ability to satisfy individual and production needs.

!	A set of guidelines that your team will use in the future for solving team problems.

!	A plan to test and improve your team’s ability to solve problems that will enhance its functioning as a high performing system.

!	Based on what your team learned from performing this task, a means of helping members of the other teams benefit from what you learned.
(Each team will be allotted up to 10 minutes for this purpose at the beginning of the next general session).

SUGGESTIONS

Before you begin working on the task, reach agreement as to its objective and expected outcomes.  Once this is done, design a process for accomplishing the objective and producing the desired outcomes.  You may wish to consider the following suggestions:

!	Discuss with each team member the observations they had about your team performance in the problem solving experience.  Summarize your team’s conclusions.

!	Share your feelings and reactions about the problem solving process that your team used in the problem solving exercise.  (Your Group Process Questions on the back of Assignment Unknown will be of use here.)

!	Reach consensus on the barriers that have inhibited your team from being effective at problem solving team problems and determine what can be done to improve your team’s effectiveness.

!	Using the General Problem Solving Model as a start, develop general guidelines that your team can use in the future to solve team problems.  Implement these guidelines.

!	Identify how your team will continue to improve its problem solving skills.  

!	Assess your learnings from this activity, and develop a working theory about effective team problem solving processes.

!	Prepare to share your team’s learning in a manner in which other teams will benefit from your experience.  (Each team will be allotted up to 10 minutes for this purpose.)

GUIDELINES FOR ASSIGNMENT UNKNOWN EXERCISE

!	Each team member reads Assignment Unknown introduction.

!	Privately each team member completes Step 1 of Assignment Unknown by ranking the items listed “1” - “13”  (Take a minimum of 15 minutes to complete this task.)

!	As a team, complete Step 2 of Assignment Unknown by agreeing on a team ranking for the items listed.  Do not change your Step 1 individual scores.  Take a minimum of 45 minutes to complete this step.

!	As individuals complete Step 3.

!	Call your facilitator for the Step 4 rankings.	
GENERAL PROBLEM SOLVING MODEL

Nine Easy Steps

Ž
Identify basic issue/problem

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Define deviation from standard or norm

Ž
Gather necessary information

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Analyze causes for deviation

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Develop possible actions or solutions to 
eliminate causes

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Evaluate consequences of alternative solutions

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Implement the best solution

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Monitor and evaluate results

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Revise, as necessary

TYPES OF TEAM DECISION MAKING

Ž
Lack of Response

Ž
Chance

Ž
Authoritarian

Ž
Minority Rule

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Majority Rule

Ž
Major Majority Rule

Ž
Compromise

Ž
Unanimous

Ž
Consensus

GUIDELINES FOR REACHING CONSENSUS

T
eams must arrive at substantial agreement (not necessarily unanimity) on the rank assigned each item.  This is seldom easy.  Nevertheless, a group simply brings more firepower to problem solving than could any of its members, working alone.

Open and accurate communication is essential to reaching the best possible decision.

SOME GUIDELINES

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No averaging, majority-rule voting, or horse-trading.

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Avoid arguing to win as an individual.  What’s “right” is the 
best collective judgment of the group.

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Avoid changing your mind only to reach agreement or avoid conflict.

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Accept responsibility for both hearing and being heard.

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View differences of opinion as helpful rather than as a hindrance.

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Make value judgments about what is best on the basis of the
 information, logic, and feelings of the members.

LEARNING JOURNAL
SOCIAL—PROBLEM SOLVING

Teaming Skills and Learning Checklist

(Check the areas in which you excelled)
(Circle the areas you wish to improve in next session)

	Growth Values

Empathy

Authenticity

Spontaneity

Courage

Open-Mindedness

Intuition

Teaming Skills

Meeting Effectiveness

Brainstorming

Problem Solving

Planning/Organizing

Decision Making

Assessing Results

Conflict Resolution

Giving Feedback

Receiving Feedback

Decisiveness

1.	What did I learn most around Growth Values and Teaming Skills:

2.	What I learned about compromise was...  About win-win...

3.	The best thing about our team’s problem solving process was...

4.	What strengths/limitations did I bring with me that helped/hindered our effectiveness?  

5.	The things I learned that I most want to be able to use back home are:

TEAM GROWTH PROCESSES

Team Product 6

	THEORY INPUT

High-Performing Teams have social processes that enable them to grow and develop.  Work teams and organizations who aspire to become High Performance Systems need to develop growth processes that help them mature.  The process of team maturity begins with team members assessing the degree to which they have assumed functions formerly handled by supervision.

	OBJECTIVE

This task provides your group the opportunity to investigate your team’s growth process and develop ways to increase the effectiveness of your team’s social process.  Through this experience, each member should learn individual responsibility to create synergy.  

	DESIRED OUTCOMES

!	Awareness of your team’s social process and the elements associated with your team achieving higher levels of performance.

!	Understanding of how individual and team energy impact team performance and what conditions influence this energy.

!	A plan to enhance your team’s effectiveness.

!	A report of what your team discovered as a result of this task and the working theories on team growth and development.

!	A sharing of what your group discovered that will benefit other groups in the workshop.  (Each team will have 10 minutes to share at the beginning of the next session.)

	SUGGESTIONS
 
Your team needs to reach agreement as to the desired outcomes (objectives) for this task.  With your objectives in mind, design a process for accomplishing the desired outcomes.  The following elements will help your group accomplish this task.

!	Talk through the concept of “social core processes” and determine what it means to your group.  Some items you may discuss or explore are:
-	interaction with one another
	-	perception of each member being part of the group
	-	common sense of group purpose
	-	awareness of each other’s needs and potential resource contributions

!	Draft your feelings about your personal energy for the workshop so far and then share with the team.  The following table can be helpful.

High

Energy

Low		
	-------------time/day/am/pm-------------	

		!	When did you feel excited, turned on?
		!	When did you feel bored, disenchanted?
		!	Describe what you were doing at these times.
		!	Describe what others were doing.

!	Read through the material on Team Growth Stages and complete the group process questionnaire.

!	When this is completed, share your findings with your team members.  Reach agreement on what stage your team is currently in and what stage to which your team aspires.

!	Identify the methods your team plans to use to reach the desired growth stage and what changes need to be made in your team’s social processes to attain this.

!	Construct some working theories on the relationship between social processes, individual performance, and team performance.

!	Determine how you will help the other teams benefit from what your team learned from this experience.  

	TEAM GROWTH STAGES

T
he process of maturity begins with the team members assessing their own growth and the degree to which they have assumed functions formerly handled by supervisors.  As the individual team members grow and mature, one can observe the team’s growth from dependency on others to true interdependence between team members and other teams.  A first step to renewal can come from assessing how the team is currently functioning.  “The Questionnaire on Team Maturity” is a list of the characteristics that can be condensed into three basic categories:
		
DEPENDENCY

The beginning stages of dependency on others is initially characterized by adventure, apprehension, excitement, and enthusiasm.  Team members attempt to clarify their hopes and fears and identify the norms and ground rules by which they intend to operate.  At this stage, members usually feel that they have little or no control.  They are polite and submissive and look to the “established line” for direction and leadership.

COUNTERDEPENDENCY

As team members gain a better appreciation of their new roles and become more comfortable with their own work requirements, they begin to challenge the existing authority structure.  Some decide that they no longer need superiors and bosses.  This counterdependence toward others outside their team is displayed as rebellion, blaming others and management for their problems, as well as challenging the new design.  So much energy, both physical and emotional, is expended in resolving these issues that a “burnout” or “peaking out” syndrome often follows.

INTERDEPENDENCY

As team members begin to resolve internal conflicts and discover that they must take responsibility for their own behavior, a new sense of dependency on others outside their team is realized.  External relationships are revisited and revised and the larger purpose is viewed in light of the interdependent parts.  The team itself stabilizes and views the new design and the organization more realistically.  The excitement, “easy fix” mentality, and the fighting are gone.  New, redefined attitudes and approaches toward other teams, departments, and management begin to emerge.  Teams begin to accept responsibility for solving their own problems.

A Questionnaire on Team Maturity

Instructions:  Check as many of the following characteristics as you feel your team is currently experiencing.

1.	Objectives poorly set		___
2.	Resistance to change		___
3.	Members protect the team	___
4.	Selective listening		___
5.	Aligned with the needs of the
	stakeholders			___
6.	Blaming others for production 
	problems			___
7.	Failure and mistakes expected	___
8.	Pride and satisfaction		___
9.	Fuzzy goals			___
10.	Little care for others		___
11.	Looking for new opportunity	___
12.	Who says we should change?	___
13.	Evaluations made outside meetings	___
14.	New members welcomed		___
15.	Self-serving team members	___
16.	Strong need for structure		___
17.	Goals are imposed on us		___
18.	Need permission to act		___
19.	Strong opinions shared respectfully	___
20.	Polite conversations		___
21.	Little listening			___
22.	Conflicts unresolved		___
23.	Outside input is welcomed	___
24.	Supervisor/leader has the power	___
25.	Suspicion			___
26.	Bids for power			___
27.	Authority is questioned		___
28.	Real feelings shared outside	___
29.	Strong need for approval		___
30.	Happy, vital and rewarded	___
31.	Authority is central		___
32.	Feelings kept to oneself		___
33.	Development is a waste of time	___
34.	Conflicts resolved by voting	___
35.	Confusion and stress		___
36.	Misdirected energy		___
37.	Lack of stability			___
38.	Flexibility			___
39.	It’s up to “them”			___
40.	Second guessing			___
41.	Commitment debated		___
42.	All team members contributing	___
43.	Success emulated by others	___
44.	Hidden agendas			___

45.	Mistakes defended at all costs	___
46.	Conformance to the established line	___
47.	Informality and respect		___
48.	Goal is to make it through the day	___
49.	Alliance to myself only		___
50.	Purpose is central		___
51.	Hidden feelings			___
52.	Clear common objective		___
53.	Alliances and cliques formed	___
54.	Discussions focus on the past	___
55.	Outside help expected		___
56.	Little thinking			___
57.	Trust and openness		___
58.	In-fighting/Attacks at authority	___
59.	Objectives not known/cared about	___
60.	Burn-out			___
61.	Personal weaknesses ignored/
	covered-up			___
62.	Open to purposeful change	___
63.	Set own goals to achieve overall
	objectives.			___
64.	Lack of trust			___
65.	Cohesiveness			___
66.	Resistant to outside input		___
67.	Mistakes are used as evidence	___
68.	Personal weaknesses attacked	___
69.	Fear of change			___
70.	Whole system is important	___
71.	Leadership discussed behind their
	backs				___
72.	We can handle anything		___
73.	Nit-picking			___
74.	Shared leadership		___
75.	Active listening			___
76.	Not working in a unified way	___
77.	Act, regardless of the consequences	___
78.	Protecting knowledge from others	___
79.	Act in awareness and responsibility	___
80.	Outside help is required		___
81.	High goal attainment		___
82.	Mistakes are made but eagerly 
	examined			___
83.	Appreciate each other’s talents and
	skills				___
84.	Pioneering spirit felt in team	___

Scoring the Questionnaire

Part 1—Team Maturity Assessment	
	
Characteristic	Questionnaire #’s	Number
Circled	% of
Total Circled	
Dependent

	6, 9, 10, 13, 16, 18, 20, 21, 22, 24, 25, 29, 31, 32, 36, 39, 44, 46, 48, 49, 51, 54, 55, 56, 59, 61, 69, 80			
Counter-Dependent

	1, 2, 3, 4, 12, 15, 17, 26, 27, 33, 34, 35, 37, 40, 41, 45, 53, 58, 60, 64, 66, 67, 68, 71, 73, 76, 77, 78			
Interdependent

	5, 7, 8, 11, 14, 19, 23, 28, 30, 38, 42, 43, 47, 50, 52, 57, 62, 63, 65, 70, 72, 74, 75, 79, 81, 82, 83, 84, 			
	TOTALS		100%	

Part 2—Team Process Breakout	
Characteristic		Questionnaire #’s	Number
Circled	% Circled
By Category	
Goal Attainment					
	Dependent	9 - 24 - 29 - 36 - 48 - 55 -59			
	Counter-Dependent	1 - 17 - 26 - 40 - 45 - 67 - 73			
	Inter-Dependent	7 - 8 - 43 - 52 - 63 - 81 - 82			

Adaptability					
	Dependent	16 - 18 - 31 - 39 - 46 - 54 - 80 			
	Counter-Dependent	2 - 12 - 27 - 37 - 58 - 66 - 77  			
	Inter-Dependent	5 - 23 - 38 - 50 - 62 - 72 - 79   			

Integration					
	Dependent	6 - 13 - 21 - 22 - 32 - 49 - 61 
			
	Counter-Dependent	4 - 15 - 34 - 41 - 53 - 68 - 76			
	Inter-Dependent	14 - 28 - 47 - 57 - 65 - 70 - 75			

Long Term Development					
	Dependent	10 - 20 - 25 - 44 - 51 - 56 - 69 			
	Counter-Dependent	3 - 33 - 35 - 60 - 64 - 71 - 78 			
	Inter-Dependent	11 - 19 - 30 - 42 - 74 - 83 - 84			
BUILDING A PLAN

A
fter exploring the concepts, building and understanding and agreeing together on where our team should develop, we need to put this information into an actionable format and begin to move from Quadrant 2 to Quadrant 3.  The action plan involves three major parts:

	First:		Identifying the most important “gaps” between our development goals and objectives.

	Second:	Setting short term goals and ways to measure our progress.

	Third:		Do it, Do it, and Re-do it.
	
Development of new skills, abilities, and habits, whether personal or for the team, is the “great divide” between awareness and competency, between knowing and doing, and between hypocrisy and integrity.  It has been said “Those that can—Do.  Those that can’t—Teach.”  I think that is gravely miss spoken.  Teaching a team, especially one which is to perform efficiently and effectively, requires competent leaders who have taken the developmental journey and are willing to go on it again with the team.

There is no “magic formula” to making the plan effective.  There are several suggestions which we offer:

!	Keep it Simple and Straight-forward (KISS)

!	Focus on the “Critical Few” (Pareto Principle—20% of the problems account for 80% of the results)

!	Set Goals together, with the team

!	Measure it yourself, when it’s happening.  After-the-fact measures rarely give you the information quick enough to adapt, integrate, and attain.

!	Depend on each other and set regular, focused follow-up.

Review, re-set, and refocus within 6 months.  

SOME OTHER MODELS

Various researchers on group development have proposed any number of clearly-identifiable stages of group life.  These lists represent seven such examples:

	!	Ritual Sniffing	!	Polite
	!	Infighting	!	Why are we here
	!	Experimentation	!	Bid for Power
	!	Effectiveness	!	Constructive
	!	Maturity	!	Esprit

	!	Formation	!	Forming
	!	Control	!	Norming
	!	Effectiveness	!	Storming
	!	Maturity	!	Performing

	!	Test Membership	!	Inclusion
	!	Establish Friendship	!	Control
	!	Address Disagreements	!	Productivity
	!	Manage Differences	!	Maturity
	!	Support Individuals	!	Death

	!	Adventure
	!	Dependence
	!	Counterdependence
	!	Resolution
	!	Inflation
	!	Disenchantment
	!	Interdependence

Adapted from:  Woodcock & Francis
Taylor & Felten
George Charrier (Cog’s Ladder)
Interact
Felten & Christensen
Blanchard

LEARNING JOURNAL
SOCIAL—TEAM MATURITY

Teaming Skills and Learning Checklist

(Check the areas in which you excelled)
(Circle the areas you wish to improve in next session)

Growth Values

Empathy

Authenticity

Spontaneity

Courage

Open-Mindedness

Intuition

Teaming Skills

Meeting Effectiveness

Brainstorming

Problem Solving

Planning/Organizing

Decision Making

Assessing Results

Conflict Resolution

Giving Feedback

Receiving Feedback

Decisiveness

1.	What did I learn most around Growth Values and Teaming Skills:

2.	My personal energy and maturity impacted the team’s synergy in the following ways:

3.	What can I do to help our team grow through low cycles?

4.	What is our team’s biggest obstacle to higher performance?

5.	The things I learned that I most want to be able to use back home are: