CHAPTER 14 

TRAINING ACTIVITIES FOR TEAMWORK

I.  Introduction to Team Training

Many books on team building have activities that the team leader or consultant can use in order to build teams.  Some books include these activities as an appendix to text about building teams, while other books dedicate themselves exclusively to training activities. 

A  DDI/AQP/Industry Week survey shows that in 72% of the companies that say they use self-directed teams, those teams get an average of ten days per year or less of training per year:  7% report receiving no training; 9% say they receive 11-20 days of training per year; and 8% report 21-30 days of training per year (Wellins and George  28).  The same survey reports that insufficient training is the number one barrier to successful teams.  An ASTD survey in November 1990 shows three common types of team training activities: 1) problem solving (used by 72% of firms with teams); 2) team building (used by 61% of the firms with teams); and quality improvement (used by 58% of the firms with teams) (Wellins and George 28).

II.  The Benefits from Training

"Team training is primarily seen as an effort to make people feel good about each other," writes Husczco (37). "It is seen as an easy way to reduce tensions or build relationships between team members."

There are three areas that are benefited from training:  1) job skills; 2) interactive skills; and 3) qualitative or action skills, such as problem solving, implementation, and improvement (Wellins and George 28). If the training includes humor, writes Bettenhausen, it can lead to cohesion (362).

III.  Training Formats

Wellins suggests that "training works best when it is provided over time rather than in one lump sum" (Wellins and George 27).  If the training is provided in four to six week long "training colleges," writes Wellins, it is difficult, particularly for production workers not used to the classroom environment.  Wellins also clarifies the role of a team leader in the training exercise: 1) coaching; 2) reinforcing effective performance; 3) encouraging and supporting initiatives; and 4) leading work teams.

The Experimental Learning Cycle is presented by Pheiffer in The Encyclopedia of Team Building Activities (7).  It includes seven steps:  1)experiencing through activities; 2) publishing through sharing reactions and observations; 3) processing, through discussing patterns and dynamics; 4) generalizing by using "real world" principles and 5) applying, by planning more effective behaviors.  This is a cycle, writes Pheiffer, for after step five the training should return to step one and newly focused training.  Husczco calls training a process, not a program, because a program has an end, while a process has no end (41).

Scholtes in The Team Handbook writes that teambuilding activities should be in two stages:  1) warm up activities (two to fifteen minutes); and 2) team building exercises.  Husczco writes that training also requires preparation, for "without prework, trainers tend to use a shotgun approach to team development" (39).

III.  Resources for Team Training Exercises

Rapoport and Chammah had one early team evaluation game, called Prisoner's Dilemma, which they published in 1965.  This game studies issues of trust, communications, interteam interation, and intrateam interation.  This game, and variations of it, are commonly used today.

A common  team based training exercise is the "NASA Moon Survival" game, which is described by Yelton and Bottger (95).  Team members are given information about a survival situation, and they are asked to rank items as to their importance for survival.  This method of training has been used by many others, including Human Synergistics International, which has the Desert Survival, Sub-Arctic Survival,  and other similar activities.  Human Synergistics also has complete training packages for team assessment and team building.

Pfeiffer has published several resources for trainers and group facilitators, including  The Annual Handbook for Group Facilitators,  The The Encyclopedia of Team-Building Activities and The Encyclopedia of Team Development Activities.  These are particularly good resources, for they use works by many different authors, contain all the forms needed to conduct the exercises, and the forms are copyright free. 

 Nilson's Team Games for Trainers, is 300 pages of high-involvement games and training aids for developing team skills in these areas: 1) information sharing; 2) conflict resolution; 3) cultural assessment; 4) role fulfillment; 5) task/process evaluation; and 6) group/individual empowerment.

Scannel and Newstrom have written the Games Trainers Play series, which includes Games Trainers Play (1980),  More Games Trainers Play Still More Games Trainers Play (1983), and Still More Games Trainers Play (1991).  These contain instructions for conducting games in group and team environments.

Scholtes' The Team Handbook contains a chapter on team-building activities. This includes warm-up activities such as introductions and continues with ten training exercises.  These include an overview of the exercise, and detailed instructions.

Another good resource for activities is Improving Work Groups: A Practical Manual for Team Building, by Francis and Young.  It includes twenty-five excellent activities which are aimed at team assessment and addressing blockages in teams.