Book Review:
Working in Teams...The Systems Way

	This volume of  “...The Systems Way” series is designed for team leaders, trainers, and internal consultants charged with continually, incrementally yet relentlessly, improving the total learning quotient of their workplace (or in other words, the people “sizzle” behind the products’ merit) through team management and process improvement.

Part One: Establishing the Continuous Improvement (CI) Philosophy.

Part Two: Market Share Measurements as Indicators of Continuous Improvement.

Part Three: Weaving Continuous Improvement into Your Overall Marketing Strategy.

I. Introduction to Continuous Improvement: Teams & Tools

A.   The Building Blocks for Team Effectiveness.
B.   STI Improvement Cycle.
C.   Leadership for Organizational Change.
D.   Ten Keys to Leading a Successful Change Effort.
E.   Exercise: What forces are driving your organization to adopt a continuous improvement philosophy?
   customer demand/desire/partnering
   political
   economic
   technological
   competition: global/local/mixed

II. Seven New Perspectives for Continuous Organizational Improvement

A. Overview of the Seven Views, Paradigms, or Perspectives
B. Discussion: What Industrial Age paradigms about work, workers, Supervisors, and Teamwork are suggested in Charlie Chaplin’s Modern Times and how do they differ from those of Fritz Lang’s Metropolis?
C. The Seven Perspectives
1.   Quality Redefined.
2.   Continuous Improvement.
3.   Adopt Y.O.U.R. Personal Acronym as a framework for your personal change model
4.   Process Improvement versus Results.
5.   Systems Thinking.
6.   Three-dimensional Structure.
7.   Teams as a System.
D. Discussion: Which of these paradigms, or more simply, views, do you feel are most critical for this organization to adopt and execute for organizational success? What other new views should the organization embrace?

III. The Continuous Improvement Cycle

A. The Elements of the STI Cycle.
1.   Vision, Mission, Values
2.   Canon: A Symbol is a Promise
3.   Delivering on the Promise of Performance.
4.   Evaluating Performance against the Vision.
5.   Improving the Process.
B. Linking the Performance Promise to the Team Charter.

IV. The Leadership Requirement: Vision, Mission, and Values

A.   Their Purpose

B.   Linking them to the STI Improvement Cycle.

C.   Background and Boundaries of Developing the Organizational Vision.

D.   Developing the Organizational Mission: Background and Boundaries.

E.   Developing Organizational Principles: Background and Boundaries.

F.   Implementing Vision, Mission, and Values.

V. The Team Charter

A.   The Age of the Customer: New Standards & Expectations.
B.   Hearing the Customer’s Voice
C.   Team Partnerships.
D   The Purpose of the Team Charter.
E. Team Charter Elements
1.   Defining the Team Mission: Background and Boundaries.
2.   Identifying O.U.R. Products and Services.
3.   Identifying O.U.R. Processes.
4.   Identifying O.U.R. Internal and External Customers.
5.   Identifying Customer Requirements.
6.   Validating Customer Requirements.
7.   Identifying Competitive Benchmarks for O.U.R. Performance.
8.   Establishing Supplier Personnel & Data Requirements.
F. Discussion: The role of the Team Charter in managing the business.

Part Two Objectives:

A.   To understand the fundamental skills of process management and the role and responsibilities of teams in process management.

B.   To learn how to identify organizational and team performance measures.

C.   To learn the characteristics of an ideal team, stages of development, and the skills necessary for effective team work.

D.   To learn and practice team communication and team meeting skills.

E.   To understand successful techniques for managing conflict within teams.

I.   Process Management

A.   Defining Process Management.
B.   Teams’ Role[s] and Responsibilities in Process Management.
C.   Video: The Customer Is Always Dwight
D.   Identifying a Process to Improve.
E.   Implementing Process Management.
1.   Defining the Process Objective.
2.   Defining the Boundaries of the Process.
3.   Mapping the Process.
4.   Identifying the Causes of Variability.
5.   Collecting and Analyzing Data.
6.   Identifying Improvements/Solutions.
7.   Implementing Improvement Activities and Tracking Results.
8.   Revise and Repeat as Necessary.
F.   Process Mapping Tools
1.   Scalable Maps: Mosaic Management™ from Design to Practice.
2.   Relationship Maps; Buzan’s Mind-Mapping
3.   Flowchart Symbols: K.IS.S!
4.   Exercise: Mapping a work process.
G.   Process Redesign.
1.   Process Redesign Questions and Tools.
2.   Exercise: Redesigning a work process.
3.   Live Fire Exercise: Redesigning & Implementing a work process in your organization!

II.   Organizational and Team Performance Measures

A.   Overcoming Resistance to Measurement
B.   Performance Measurement Categories
C.   Identifying Team Measuring Sticks.
D.   Measuring Technical and Creative Work, Valuing ‘IP’.

III.   Team Development and Team Effectiveness

A.   Ideal Team Characteristics
B.   Team Lifecycle Stages
1.   Team Leader's Role During Each Stage.
2.   Team Members' Roles During Each Stage.
C.   Communication Skills for Effective Teams.
1.   Background and Boundaries
2.   Initiating Discussions.
3.   Reacting to vs. Clarifying Comments.
4.   Bringing In Team Members to the Discussion.
5.   Leading a Team Discussion.
D.   Role Play Exercise: Team communication skills.
E.   Special Conflict Management Dimensions for Teams.
F.   Team Effectiveness.
1.   Planning the Team Meeting.
2.   Creating a Participative Environment.
3.   Team Ground Rules.
4.   Meeting Tools.
5.   Agenda Topics for Team Meetings.
6.   Targeting Areas for Improvement.
G.   Role Play Exercise: Team meeting.

Part Three Objectives:

A.   To learn and practice the seven step problem solving model and problem solving tools for teams.
B.   To understand the usefulness of statistical process control.
C.   To learn the use of different decision making styles and decision making tools with teams.
D.   To understand the characteristics of Accomplished Teams and YOUR acronym for self management.
E.   To understand how to implement a continuous improvement team system.

I.   Problem-Solving Tools & Techniques

A.   Y.O.U.R. Definition of ‘Good Problem Solving’
B.   Seven Steps of Problem Solving.
C.   Napoleon Hill's MasterMind: Effectively Teaming Thinking
D.   The Tool Kit Overview.
1.   Brainstorming
2.   Mind-Mapping
3.   Cause-and-Effect Diagrams
4.   The House of Quality
5.   The Pareto Chart
6.   Statistical Process Control: Histograms, Run Charts and Scatter Charts
E.   Exercise: Using the problem-solving tool kit.

II.   Fundamentals of Statistical Process Control: Overview

A.   SPC Benefits for Teams.
B.   Control Charts for process monitoring

III.   Team Decision Making

A.   The Decision Process.
B.   Analyzing a Decision.
C.   Decision Making Tools
1.   Decision Matrices
2.   When People are like Tree Diagrams
D.   Factors that Influence Decision Making Styles.
E.   Using Different Decision Making Styles.
1.   Command
2.   Consultative
3.   Consensus
F.   Exercise: Using decision making tools.

IV.   Accomplished Teams and Self-Management

A.   Accomplished Team Characteristics
B.   The Team Leader’s Role of an Accomplished Team
C.   Skill Mastery for the Accomplished Team.
D.   How Accomplished Teams Think.
E.   Personal Quality: YOUR Acronym Model.

V.   Implementing a Continuous Improvement Team System.

A.   Action Planning.
B.   Next Steps.

VI.   Seminar Feedback.

Survey the rest of …the Systems Way series  More Food for Thought from the Rock Eel Café