1.8 How to build a talented team (G)

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• • Sasja van Warmerdam (Sasja van Warmerdam)
  • 1731916944

  Edited on 18 November 2024

  What is your everyday behavior that benefits you and others? And how does it help to build effective teams? Let's start today with a dialogue about your talents and how these talent contribute to make a valued difference in stimulating teamwork. This were the central questions during the workshop How to build a talented Team by the TU Delft.

  I would like to thank you all for participating in this workshop, we learned from each other and a good energy in the room, thank you!

  As we promised we wanted to share more information about the workshop, so here it is.

  First started with speeddate rounds in duos with answering the question: 'my colleagues always ask me to..'. The result was a lively conversation on getting to know each other and each other talents.

  Second we dove into the success factors TU Delft High Performing University Teams

  The 9 factors below were mentioned in the interviews to facilitate the success of TU Delft teams. Factors 1 to 6 are more generally found in the literature, but success factor 7 to 9 (group growth mind set, collaborative contributions, and autonomy) were new and specific for stimulating TU Delft teams.

  1. Organisational prerequisites

  • The organisation supports teamwork (in people, information, time; resources).
  • The HR policies and administrative processes are developed and aligned to include teamwork (resource allocation, strategic planning, recruitment, on boarding, the results and development cycle, promotion, talent & development).

  2. Psychological safety

  Psychological safety is a shared belief among team members indicative of an interpersonal climate that supports risk taking and learning. Learning from errors (i.e., to find, reflect, and diagnose them and develop right solutions) is particularly important in science as well as in other teams charged with innovation, and therefore, fostering psychological safety may be uniquely valuable for science teams and larger groups. (National Research Council, 2015).

  3. A teamwork fostering leadership style

  The leadership style of the team leader is conducive to collaboration. The team leader assigns importance to teamwork, balances individual and collective interests in the team and practically supports collaboration/ teamwork. The 2 most prevalent team leadership styles are transformational and servant leadership (Carter, 2013).

  4. Connectivity/ availability of a broad network

  Connectivity as a metaphor to explain intra- and inter-organizational interactions has become more important in our interconnected world (Kolb 2008; Kolb et al. 2009; Murphy 2007). Generally, to be socially connected seems to be a good thing (Kolb et al. 2008).

  5. Shared a common vision and team goals

  Actively sharing a common vision and defining shared goals and aims collectively that are concrete, challenging, and attainable (Appley and Winder 1977, Mattessich and Monsey 1992, Schrage 1995, Daniels (2006).

  6. Positive reinforcers/ rewards (including positive emotions such as joy & contentment)

  Positive reinforcers are events, actions or objects that are received by individual team members and/ or the team that increase collaborative behaviours and team achievements. These include tangible, social & work-content related rewards that a team members appreciates because they are in line with their personal preferences, needs, wishes & values. And that therefore lead to positive emotions (Daniels, 2006, Den Broeder and Kerkhofs, 2020).

  7. Group growth mind-set (new finding)

  Open mindedness of a team that nurtures curiosity and which welcomes new ideas (Driessen, 2022).

  8. Complementary contributions to innovation (new finding)

  Diverse teams have a greater amount of information and ideas, and a greater number of perspectives, than teams in which everyone is the same. (TBM Multiannual plan 2022-2025, p.68). In the TU Delft’s HPAT’s this variety within the team is valued and made productive. The team helps uncovering the unique information team members bring and their exchange of these complementary contributions (their respective knowledge, skills, career tracks and phases and personal and cultural backgrounds). This multi perspective taking then acts as a comparative advantage for innovation and (Wicked) problem solving (Driessen, 2022).

  9. Autonomy

  Autonomy is the extent to which individual employees can structure and control how and when they do their tasks (Spector, 1986). The Relationship motivation theory states that respect for autonomy helps high quality, truly responsive, mutually satisfying relationships (Martela et al, p.4, 2020). This is relevant for university teamwork as academic staff are characterized as professionals that drive their own learning and work relatively independently (Wierdsma & Swieringa, 2002).

  Third we made the switch towards Personal Leadership, which is key to create an environment to thrive as a High Performance Team.

  To support the dialogue about personal leadership we let the participants play the Leadership Dialogue Game to experience themselves how quickly you can have a meaningful conversation about your personal leadership.

  As a wrap up we looked at to which of the 9 success factors playing the dialogue game contributed to: Psychological safety!

  More information:

  • TU Delft Leadership profile see here: TU Delft Leiderschapsprofiel - RRview
  • Leadership Dialogue game was created with TU Delft and InContext
  • The 9 success factors were created by Floor Driessen for TU Delft
  • Creating excellent teams – TU Delft - RRview
  • 30 TU Delft Teamwork-dilemmas and paradoxes - RRview

  If you want to know more, please contact me.

  Sasja van Warmerdam, s.vanwarmerdam@TUDelft.nl