Broad, practical coverage of team skills offered in a conversational tone that encourages reader participation.   Teams offer us many advantages as an organized way to accomplish tasks — but what are the best methods and practices for harnessing the full power of a team successfully? In its second edition, Learning Team Skills offers insight into how both those in a college and corporate environment can use teambuilding skills as well as their individual strengths to create, participate in, and lead successful working teams. With a concise format and relaxed tone, this text teaches readers about the overwhelming advantages of teamwork over individual striving as well as how teams can foster meaningful interpersonal relationships, aide in conflict resolution, and, in due course, lead to goal achievement.   The newly-revised second edition of this practical and interactive text retains its many reader participation features and true-to-life anecdotes while adding major new sections on best practices for virtual teams; ways to diagnose team problems; measurement instruments for evaluating the motivation of team members; cultural considerations when building a strong team; effective inclusion of team members born after 1985, and more than a dozen online resources for forming and managing excellent teams.  

Table of Contents:
  Chapter 1         Why Teams?                         Teams and Buy-In                         Teams and Censorship, Pro and Con                         Teams and Cross-Training                         Teams and Follow-Up Responsibilities                         Teams and the Social Aspect of Enterprise   Chapter 2         Assessing Your Team Experience and Insights     Chapter 3         Building a Balanced Team                         The Importance of Balance                         Causes of Team Imbalance                         How and When to Plan for Balance                         The Limits of Personality Tests                         Making the Most of Gender Balance                         Characteristics of Men’s and Women’s Communication Habits   Chapter 4         Becoming a Team Member and a Team Leader                         How to Know If Your Organization Needs Teams                         Putting Together Your Case for a Team                         A Sample Communication to Management Regarding Team Formation                         Preparing for Team Membership                         Preparing to Lead a Team                         Activities for the First Team Meeting                         Writing an Informal Agenda for Team Meetings                         Taking Notes or Minutes for Team Meetings                         Keeping the Team Informed Between Meetings                         Virtual Teams   Chapter 5         Observing Team Leadership Skills at Work                         Welcome to the New Employee Orientation Team                         The Meeting Begins   Chapter 6         Observing Team Member Skills at Work                         Welcome Back to the New Employee Orientation Team                         The Meeting Begins Again   Chapter 7         Understanding and Resolving Team Problems                         A Case History of a Troubled Team                         Teaching People How to Be Team Members                         Five Common Team Problems and Tools for Repair and Prevention                         How People Indicate That a Team Is in Trouble                         A Lighter Look at the Challenge of Managing a Team   Chapter 8         Motivating Team Members and Leaders                         Eight Motivators for Productive Teams   Chapter 9         Completing Collaborative Projects Through Teamwork                         Why Teams Often Have Trouble with Collaborative Projects                         Why Collaborative Projects Are Good for Teams and Good for Business                         Steps in the Collaborative Process for Documents and Presentations                         Guidelines for the Team Leader of a Collaborative Project   Chapter 10       Developing Intercultural Teams                         Shared Information Without a Shared Culture                         What’s at Stake in Understanding Cultural Differences                         Grasping the Deeper Aspects of Cultural Difference                         Communication in the Intercultural Team Meeting