Valley Crossing - a lesson in TeamWork

What is teamwork in practice? How many times have we talked about or heard from others the word being used to mean the ability to work along with a set of people. But TeamWork means more than that. The Valley Crossing Problem is one such case where teamwork finds it true meaning. 

But what is the valley crossing problem? 

As the figure shows the problem is based on three people crossing the bridge over a gap. The points to focus in this case is that all the people have to play a role here, be it a prominent or a supporting one. The gap shown in the figure is greater than one normal step of the people there and less than two steps so that one cannot easily bridge the gap by jumping one step over it and at the same time not so large that two people are left hanging in the air at the same time. 

The roles that each of the three people involved play differs from time to time and also with the wants of the different situations. Initially when the people are on the ground all have the same role to play. Thus all are safe. As soon as they reach the gap the person in front has to take risk of clinging onto the pole and letting others take control. In this position he is exposed to partial risk while the others are safe. One step later the person in the front is at full risk with no ground under his feet. The one in the middle plays the fulcrum (safe position) while the last one acts as the support (safe position). As the scene unfolds further the roles change and so does the risk for all the participants. The steps are completed as shown in the figure above. My takeaways from this task is that different roles need different skills and call for different approaches to a particular situation. The first person is the one who undertakes the work. And other two will follow him. Being the first person to undertake the job he may be called ‘ DISCOVERER’ who is said to be assuming additional effort in assuming the work.The next person follows his fore walker and hence he is a FOLLOWER.  Comparatively, follower's job  is less risky compared to the last person and more risky compared to first person. Similar to the second person, the third person will  follow his fore walkers in crossing the valley.  Comparatively , his job  is less risky compared to second and first.

Three wise men Crossing the valley  - Detailed task process

Persons	First Person	Second Person	Third person
Step
1	Safe	Safe	Safe
2	Half Risky	Safe	Safe
3	Full Risky	Safe	Safe
4	Half Risky	Half Risky	Safe
5	Safe	Full Risky	Safe
6	Safe	Half Risky	Half Risky
7	Safe	Safe	Full Risky
8	Safe	Safe	Half Risky
9	Safe	Safe	Safe

We observe that each of the three people have to face the same situations equal number of times and situations never stay the same for each of them as well. In practice in an organisation too, the setup may change from time to time. A pragmatic managers keeps his ears and eyes open so as to preempt such occurrences and prepare accordingly. 

Forming, Storming, Norming and Performing

Image Courtesy : http://www.nwlink.com/~donclark/leader/leadtem2.html

Psychologist Bruce Tuckman first came up with the memorable phrase "forming, storming, norming, and performing" back in 1965. He used it to describe the path to high-performance that most teams follow. Later, he added a fifth stage that he called "adjourning" (and others often call "mourning" – it rhymes better!).


In the "forming" stage, some members are positive and polite while some anxious, as they haven't yet worked out exactly what work the team will involve whereas others are simply excited about the task ahead. The leader plays a dominant role at this stage: other members' roles and responsibilities are less clear.This stage is usually fairly short, and may only last for the single meeting at which people are introduced to one-another. At this stage there may be discussions about how the team will work, which can be frustrating for some members who simply want to get on with the team task.


Then after clarity comes, the team moves into a "storming" phase. Leader's authority may be challenged as others jockey for position and their roles are clarified. The ways of working start to be defined and the leader must be aware that some members may feel overwhelmed by the amount of work or uncomfortable with the approach being used. Some may react by questioning how worthwhile the goal of the team is, and by resisting taking on tasks. This is the stage when many teams fail, and even those that stick with the task may feel that they are on an emotional roller coaster, as they try to focus on the job in hand without the support of established processes or relationships with their colleagues.


Gradually, the team moves into a "norming" stage, as a hierarchy is established. Team members come to respect the authority of the leader, and others show leadership in specific areas. Now that the team members know each other better, they may be socializing together, and they are able to ask each other for help and provide constructive criticism. The team develops a stronger commitment to the team goal, and make good progress towards it. There is often a prolonged overlap between storming and norming behavior: As new tasks come up, the team may lapse back into typical storming stage behavior, but this eventually dies out.


When the team reaches the "performing" stage, hard work leads directly to progress towards the shared vision of their goal, supported by the structures and processes that have been set up. Individual team members may join or leave the team without affecting the performing culture. The leader is able to delegate much of the work and can concentrate on developing team members. Being part of the team at this stage feels "easy" compared with earlier on.


Project teams exist only for a fixed period, and even permanent teams may be disbanded through organizational restructuring. As team leader, your concern is both for the team's goal and the team members. Breaking up a team can be stressful for all concerned and the "adjourning" or "mourning" stage is important in reaching both team goal and personal conclusions. The break up of the team can be hard for members who like routine or who have developed close working relationships with other team members, particularly if their future roles or even jobs look uncertain.


For more: http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newLDR_86.htm