How to Build a Stronger Team

Group / Team Communication Analysis of a group I am familiar with An environmental group that I occasionally meet with and interact with as a volunteer has a great track record in rescuing and rehabilitating injured and orphaned wildlife. They had a strong leader for several years but apparently he got burned out and chose to step down. The present leader, unfortunately, has a milquetoast personality and although she is a very hard worker and a dedicated team member, her leadership abilities are seriously lacking.

Communication, diversity, power structure, decision-making and progress. The group is mostly women (two Latinas are the only minority persons involved), and they have more meetings than they need to. Last week they had a board meeting (7 board members) in which they discussed future fundraising activities. The time wasted in this meeting was terrible, because each board member should have polled volunteers that work in the center for their ideas, and should have come to the meeting with a long list of possible ideas.

Instead, the communication was not useful, because the board was just throwing out ideas and arguing about which ones would make sense. In fact the board shouldn't have been meeting on this topic. The board should have delegated a committee to come up with fundraising ideas, and among the committee members several volunteers who work in the center should have been included. The group could take a lesson from a Microsoft Business article; "Set clear goals" is a powerful idea, and this board has not done that.

Working collaboratively, "everyone must have a clear idea of the end goal for the project," the article author Sarah Parish emphasizes. With those clear goals, efficiency will be "boosted" and the likelihood that a solution can be achieved is greatly increased. Changing the leadership style of the group: One good idea from the Microsoft article is that this group could "rotate roles"; that is, each board member would have a chance to serve as president.

"This helps to keep things fresh and ensures team members approach each individual project from a different standpoint" (Parish). Mike Myatt writes in Forbes that groups need to "get specific…learn to communicate with clarity" because "simple and concise is always better than complicated and confusing" (Myatt, 2012). Perhaps several board members should be allowed to attend a seminar or training session on communication in leadership, so they have an idea of how to be more effective.

If you're asking board members to come out on a week night and slog through a boring agenda that is not well thought out, then you need training. "When you speak, know what you're talking about," Myatt explains: "If you don't possess subject matter expertise," no one is going to listen, Myatt continues, and this goes for the current board president. Improving communication within the group: Myatt suggests that a leader should speak to a group as individuals.

What do great communicators do when speaking to ten people or to one thousand people? They make each individual feel as though the speaker is "speaking directly to each one of them as individuals" (Myatt). Leigh Richards writes in the Houston Chronicle that effective teams work well together when there is "cohesiveness," which is achieved by the development of strong relationships between the team members (Richards, 2013).

Good communication can result from a cohesive team, and perhaps this board should plan a retreat for a weekend, and hire a trainer to help them learn to work together through.