Secondments and Teams

I didn't make the once a month post deadline but regardless I'm making a new post which is a milestone in itself!!

For my studies I've been doing a lot of reading about teams. This then prompted some thought about teams and secondments. I've worked in a number of teams and have recently started work with a new team at Ipswich Library and Information Service, so I thought that I could share some observations with working in different teams and frequently changing teams.

One of the challenges of secondments is that movement of staff in and out of a team can upset the dynamics. The readings I've read (that sounds really bad but since little one is asleep I'm trying to rush this out so forgive me for any shortcomings in my writing ability) talk alot about getting people with the right abilities into teams so that you can create a highly effective team. I'm wondering how much of the "right abilities" selection criteria team leaders/managers use when selecting people for secondment into their team? And then I also wondered if they had selected a person thinking they had the right abilities to "fit in" with the rest of the team, and then this proved to be wrong, how could one fix it?

Moving on. I found a quote that stood out "Tell me and I'll forget it; show me and I may remember; involve me and I'll understand." Chinese proverb. I think sometimes management forget to involve staff in decision making, and generally lack communication. I've worked in some teams where communication was very much lacking, and in many where the team leader/manager involved the whole team in decisions and let us know where we are going. I think that's where that quote hit me - in the teams where all staff were involved in the decision making and goal planning - things worked so much better. Everyone knew why they were there and what the outcomes should be. I understood why I was doing the tasks I were set. In teams where communication was lacking - most of us were lost and couldn't work together because we couldn't understand why we were doing these tasks. Having a big picture view was something I really valued - how did my work affect the work of other teams in the organisation?!? Once I knew which cog I was in the wheel that turns, I not only felt more valued but I knew how my actions were affecting other members of my team and other teams in the organisation.

Gee, haven't I rambled on - hope it's making some sense.

I have also learned that sometimes it's hard to get the big picture view, especially if you are not working in the organisation every day or don't really get the opportunity to talk with members of other teams. It is my goal to find out what my cog does and how it affects the organisation as a whole. I wonder how many other people like to know what their cog does!!