Unit 2 Collaboration Lesson 2

Roles on a Team:
While each problem might require different approaches, and therefore different roles among the team members, there are a few roles that are important. Among these are a Team Leader, a Scribe, and a Facilitator.

Every team needs a leader. The leader is not necessarily the one who does the most work, and is certainly not a “ruler”. The leader is the one who coordinates the efforts of all of the team members, often ensuring that everyone has a role to play towards the completion of the project. The leader is the one who is overall accountable for the team.

One definition of “accountable” is “subject to giving an account”. A synonym is “answerable”. The team leader is the person who knows what is happening with the project, and can answer any question about it. That’s because the team leader maintains contact with team members, checking into their progress and keeping them moving. The team leader is the one who inspires the team members to complete their work.

The scribe is the notes taker. If the project is large enough, it will involve multiple stages and many actions to complete. The scribe keeps track of who is doing what, what is complete, and what is next. The scribe also keeps notes from team meetings, so that anything discussed can be recalled later. These notes can be stored electronically, and each person may have the ability to add to them (depending upon the computer application used), but someone needs to be responsible for them.

The Facilitator is the team member who ensures that everyone has what they need to do their job. If there are reference materials to gather or permissions to obtain, the Facilitator is the one to coordinate that effort. The Facilitator may not the person who actually gets the material, as it may involve requesting assistance from others, but the Facilitator knows what is needed and arranges for those items to obtained before they are needed.

Resolving Conflicts:
No matter how friendly and cooperative the team, conflicts will occur. Teams can minimize the number of occurrences by following a few simple guidelines:
1. Be considerate. Treat the other members of the team like you’d want to be treated. Don’t interrupt them, don’t personally insult them, and don’t attack them verbally.
2. Listen to each person, and don’t be quick to ignore anyone’s input. Different people have had different experiences. Just because something sounds strange to you, that doesn’t mean it won’t work. Be open to new ideas.
3. Don’t dominate the team. The most effective teams are a partnership, where each person has an equal stake in what’s happening.

Sometimes, even with the best of intentions, conflicts can still occur. When they do, the most important thing is not to make them worse. The most important thing to remember is to do NOTHING in anger. When you are angry, you say and do things you would not normally do. Actions done in anger, and words spoken in anger, could damage the affinity among the team members, and permanently shatter the effectiveness of the team. Other pointers to resolve conflicts on the team are included in one of your additional readings.

Communication Considerations:
The most important aspect of effective teams is smooth communication among the team members. In this course, we facilitate that with the Mail and Chat facilities on the web site. We also encourage the team to meet together between class sessions. These meetings don’t have to be devoted to work. We encourage you to have some fun together. The more comfortable the team feels with each other, the more effective the team.

Helpful references for team roles and communication:
Elements of Effective Teams
Personalities on a Team
Conflict Resolution
Effective Team Communication