A team of one

(Another class notes blog.)

 

Okay, chapter three of Downs and Adrian is not one I will use during the class: Conducting Team Audits. Unless, of course, I become a team of one.

Basic Considerations

For being client focused toward a common goal, being too independent or competitive are weaknesses. The rest of the chapter looks at the audit phases, but with special notes for team audits.

Initiation Phase:

Focus Efforts Inward

The team needs to be integrated before the work begins. Members need to be aware of how they are different, the unique qualities they bring to the team.

Create a Vision for the Team

While the previous focus was inward, the vision should be outward: assisting the client organization. The authors use the example of a couple of team audits done by a graduate class. In one case some members would only do work that would be actually graded for their class.  In another some members would only do audit work during the academic term. Fortunately in both cases there were more professional students who covered the work that needed to be done for the client, whether it was part of the academic program or not.

 Planning Phase

Designate Team Roles

Three primary roles are suggested: Contact Person, Scheduler, Coordinator. The purpose of these is to encourage accountability and keeping the responsibility from getting too diffused.

Publicize the Audit Team to the Organization

Proper publicity gives the audit team more confidence, and gives their work more efficiency. Many methods may be used: electronic, live meetings, voicemail are some examples

Create mechanisms for Collaboration

Planning extra time for meetings and using tools like e-mail for discussing findings are examples of collaboration mechanisms.

`Assign Areas of Focus

Giving team members assignments that fit their area of interest or expertise is often a good idea. The key is to keep the contribution in a team perspective, making sure the various individuals don’t skew the results by only focusing on the areas of interest they were responsible for.

Determine Primary and Secondary Roles

People need to work in areas of strengths, while getting experience in both the Quantitative and Qualitative aspects of the audit.

Establish Collaborative Norms

Norms help prevent tunnel vision during the audit and encourage open discussions of the material collected.

Data Collection Phase

In this phase we discuss elements and processing of both qualitative and quantitative data.

Systematize the Quantitative Data Collection

• Centralize data coding
• Limit the number of data coders
• Determine guidelines for coding
• Verify the Data
• Postpone tests until data is verified
• Print two copies of the output

Summarize Qualitative Data

•  Develop Interview Teams
• Type written summaries immediately after interview
• Determine how the data will be synthesized

Interpretation Phase

Groups can fall prey to two weaknesses: Groupthink or destructive conflict. These can be avoided by:

1. Communicate like crazy
2. Use focus groups to synthesize team interpretations
3. Triangulate data
4. Test assumptions

Final Report Phase

The final report needs to be more than just a cut and paste of each individuals contributions. The report and accompanying presentation need to be unified in format. Some suggestions follow.

Agree on Standards for Writing the Final Report

• Determine verb tense
• Determine how results will be reported
• Make wire language choices
• Organize consistently
• Generate charts

Develop a Plan for Report Presentation

Organization members have probably seen the report before the presentation.  What the presentation does is get them to consider the audit findings.

1. The presentation must impress the client with benefits
2. Assign specific roles for the presentation
3. Deal with client questions

Special Instructions for Audit Classes

• Be client-focused
• Share roles and responsibilities
• Be professional
• Do not expect to be able to conduct an audit using just regular class time

Conclusion

In the chapter the auditors note that a team audit involves communication on two fronts: within the team, and as studied within the organization. Failure of the team effort can lead to failure of the audit for the organization.

Reference

Cook, D., Patterson, J., Downs, C. (2004). Conducting Team Audits.In Downs, C., Adrian, A. (Eds), Assessing Organizational Communication: Strategic Communication Audits (Location 990-1281), New York, NY: The Guildford Press.