Consultancy Skills Toolkit
Effective Team Communications Behaviour
The researchers were carrying out studies into what it was that made some groups successful whereas others were not. They looked in detail at the way people in the groups behaved and identified the following particular behaviours:
Seeking Ideas |
Asking other people for their ideas. |
Proposing |
Putting forward ideas as statements. (i.e. We should do this! |
Suggesting |
Putting forward ideas as questions (i.e. "How about doing so and so?") |
Supporting |
Agreeing with something someone else has said. |
Seeking Clarification/ Information |
Asking other people for further clarification or information. |
Clarifying/Explaining/ Informing |
Giving information, opinions and explanations. |
Disagreeing |
Explicitly disagreeing with something someone has said. |
Difficulty Stating |
Point out the snags or difficulties with something someone else has said. |
In the Successful Groups:-
- Members contributed in roughly equal amounts.
- Over 25% of all proposals were built-on.
- Far more positive supportive behaviour than negative.
- 10% of the time was spent on "Testing Understanding & Summarising"
- Significant time was spent on discussing how a problem should be tackled, rather than leaping straight into it.
- Typical behaviour profile of a group:
- 16% - INITIATING (proposing 12%, building 4%)
- 14% - REACTING (supporting 8%, disagreeing 6%)
- 70% - CLARIFYING (seeking info. 17%, giving info. 43%summarising & testing understanding 10%)