Hicks, Tom J.
Professional Reading - Sophomore Year
Directions: Respond to each of the items below in the space provided. Remember that the summary must be written with the same attention to spelling, grammar, and professional presentation to which all College of Business documents are expected to conform. At a minimum, papers should be two - four pages and address all mandatory topics.
Book Title: 6 Habits of Highly Effective Teams
Content Areas
Summarize the book you read.
Six Habits You Don’t Want to Break
What was the best team in which you ever participated? This is the question that led authors Stephen E. Kohn and Vincent D. O’Connell as they wrote the book 6 Habits of Highly Effective Teams. Data compiled from thousands of responses to this question and other workplace research has unveiled a half a dozen “habits”, or behaviors and attitudes, that add the most value to team experiences. In their first book, 6 Habits of Highly Effective Bosses, Kohn and O’Connell focused on skills for organizational leadership and individual development. Taking effective teamwork into consideration, the authors directed their attention to skills that facilitate project success and group development in an effort to teach the reader the best way to learn and incorporate these skills into the team experience.
Instead of diving headfirst into these six habits, Kohn and O’Connell take the time to introduce the reader to the definition of the word team. It can be hard to determine exactly what this word means simply because it is used so widely and so frequently. Addressing this issue, the authors provide the reader with several definitions of the word team. From these definitions, Kohn and O’Connell were able to derive a concept of highly effective teams that “refers to excellence by groups with highly complementary skills who are committed to highly common objectives and highly common performance goals, for which they hold themselves highly accountable.” (2007, p. 43) These defining features of a team help the reader identify and leverage the factors discussed within this book. While teams can come in a wide range of sizes, the authors find that their model applies best to teams with between six and thirty members.
With a better understanding of teams and how they develop, the reader is introduced to the six habits of highly effective teams model. Kohn and O’Connell decided to employ a pyramid shape because of what the pyramid represents. Much like the six habits, the pyramid has staying power. It also shows symmetry which conveys a sense of rationality and order. The foundation of the pyramid focuses on establishing caring skills while the mid-layer focuses on applying these caring skills to the team process. The sixth habit makes up the top of the pyramid which consists of building team trust. Together these habits work together, complementing each other just like members of a team.
With this model fresh in the reader’s mind, the authors begin elaborating on these individual habits they speak so highly of. The first of these habits is strengthening emotional capacity to improve team relationships. It’s obvious that relationships can play an important part in a team’s overall effectiveness. One must look at members’ relationships with each other, members’ and team leaders’ relationship to the team itself, and the team relationships to external groups. These sets of relationships are interconnected and pertain to superior performance within project teams. While all of these relationships matter, a team must be able to identify which may require the most attention under certain circumstances. In order to build effective external relationships, the authors introduce the reader to the CHEEARS concept. This acronym stands for competence, honesty, empathy, easy to work with, accessibility, responsiveness, and sharing information. It is imperative that teams understand and establish these seven meta-level relationship needs in order to become highly effective. Since relationships are driven by emotions, Kohn and O’Connell suggest that teams should build emotional capacity and grasp a better understanding of emotional intelligence. By doing so, team members will become more receptive of client needs and ultimately improve member-client relationships.
Expanding team self-awareness is the second of the six habits of highly effective teams. Self-awareness can build confidence as well as emotional capacity, an important topic in the discussion of the first habit. Several team behaviors can be used to expand self-awareness such as naming the team, developing a mission statement, and clarifying the team’s values. Kohn and O’Connell also suggest assessing the team’s strengths, competencies, and challenges. This can be completed by measuring performance, conducting customer surveys, and recognizing excellence within the team. Teams can also improve self-awareness by enhancing emotional literacy. Raising emotional literacy of each member will help these individuals apply the best emotional label to specific feelings, ultimately improving the emotional literacy of the team as a whole.
The foundation of the six habits model is completed with the addition of the third habit, practicing empathy and respectfulness. Members of a team should be other-oriented in order to gain a better understanding of teammates, clients, and even themselves. Team members can begin taking an other-oriented approach by first becoming active listeners. This can easily be achieved by being non-defensive and accepting the perspectives of other members of the team. Active listening improves team communication and lays the foundation for empathy. Empathy can be demonstrated by using communication methods such as supporting others and being attentive, rephrasing content, probing, and providing feedback just to name a few. Teams can show respect by being honest, demonstrating fairness, and embracing fairness. Practicing empathy and respectfulness will help spur interdependence within the team.
The mid-layer of the six habits model begins with the fourth habit, establishing and regulating team norms. Kohn and O’Connell define norms as both implicit and explicit rules of behavior. Teams should strive to establish and maintain these norms which ultimately reflect the values of the team. Doing so will have a positive impact on the functional capabilities of the team which in turn will influence productivity. This concept goes hand in hand with the fifth habit, thinking laterally. This habit completes the mid-layer of the pyramid which, as mentioned previously, focuses on applying the recently obtained caring skills to the team process. Thinking laterally involves aligning the thoughts of team members and encourages a creative process of thinking. The reader is introduced to the “six hat” method which promotes lateral thinking within a team. The six hats are of different colors which reflect different ways of thinking. Under this method, teams are encouraged to work together and make progress in a creative fashion.
Last, but definitely not least, comes the top of the pyramid. This habit is entrusting team members with appropriate roles. Members of the team must be aware of the responsibilities and boundaries that come with individual roles. If role boundaries are crossed, team trust and morale could ultimately be affected. Trust is built when people match up well with their respective role. An individual’s personality, interpersonal style, and previous experiences ultimately determine the best fit for that individual. A team composed of individuals that don’t necessarily fit their respective roles can have a hard time delegating tasks and building trust. Once this type of trust is established within the group, members become united as a whole, setting the foundation for team effectiveness.
Discuss what you learned from this book as it relates to your coursework.
For a team to be successful, members must be able to work effectively with one another. In an effort to build team skills, the College of Business at East Carolina University has developed a variety of courses and concepts to help students become effective in team situations. BUSI 2200 has not been the exception. This course is a strong source of team related knowledge. This course not only puts students in situations requiring team collaboration but it also teaches students how several factors can influence individuals in a team based environment. Six Habits of Highly Effective Teams adds to the wealth of knowledge I have gained from this course. It focuses on improving individuals within a team to get the most out of the team as a whole. Over the course of the semester, I have been an active part of several teams, all of which required members to work together to accomplish a common goal. The concepts provided by Kohn and O’Connell will have an important impact on current and future team experiences. I will be able to implement these habits even after my time at East Carolina University has come to an end, improving myself as a team member and improving any team I may be a part of as a whole.
Critique the book. Would you recommend the book to someone else? Why or why not? What did you like about the book? What didn’t you like about the book?
Six Habits of Highly Effective Teams is a book that I would definitely recommend to others. This piece of literature can become a valuable source of information for anyone who is a member of or looking to improve a team. Stephen E. Kohn and Vincent D. O’Connell do an excellent job of describing their six habits and the positive impacts they can have on a team’s effectiveness. The authors don’t just stop there. They provide the reader with a variety of exercises that will help team members strengthen these habits. I really liked how the reader was not left wondering how these habits could be implemented into the team experience.
The only part of the book I questioned was the discussion of the first habit, strengthening emotional capacity. This chapter of the book had the greatest amount of information; however, the content seemed to veer somewhat off topic as the authors brought the chapter to a close. The focus of the chapter is improving team relationships. As the authors mention in the beginning of the chapter, there are three sets of interconnected relationships that pertain to team performance. While this concept proved to be interesting, the majority of the chapter seemed to be devoted to external relationships. Aside from this shortcoming, the authors did an excellent job conveying their message in an easy to read book that can definitely bring a lot to any team’s table.
Works Cited
Kohn, Stephen E., and Vincent D. O'Connell. 6 Habits of Highly Effective Teams. Franklin Lakes, NJ: Career, 2007. Print.
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