Sixth Thing: Building Research Teams

For most academics, research means working with multiple teams to get things done. Ranging from grants and industry engagement to most types of research projects, nearly all academic research activities require academics to build and manage their research teams. In this post, Niharika Garud and Victor Sojo showcase some key tools to make things easier for academic leaders to build and grow their research teams. 

Getting Started

Before you begin, take a moment to outline your team’s goals and plan how you will act to help the team achieve these goals. There are three kinds of goals a team undertakes and depending on the type of goal, your team management style as well as underlying team processes should change and evolve [Thompson, L. L., & Thompson, M. (2008). Making the team: A guide for managers].

Tactical goals

When a team is executing a well-defined plan with clearly outlined tasks/jobs for each member, the team has a tactical goal (e.g., running experiments in the lab). Tactical goals require high degrees of role and task clarity for each member, well-defined operational guidelines, and task execution accuracy. Here, the team leader should avoid ambiguity. Clarify the expected outcomes, overall plan, interconnected tasks, and operational outcomes. Assess early on what kind of training and development is required for each member and for the whole team to equip them to execute their assigned tasks. And finally, ensure that communication in the team is open, quick, and fast paced. 

Problem solving goals

When a team is trying to solve or investigate a problem, the team has a problem-solving goal. Such goals require “evidence” focus. Encourage the team members to focus on the problem at hand, separate opinions from facts as well as from people, and suspend judgment. As a team leader, you should focus on bringing the team’s attention to the problem and facts when they deviate from their course. You should facilitate an open-mind and open-communication approach in the team so that the team does not fixate on a single solution and falls prey to confirmatory bias or groupthink.  

Creativity goals

When a team is working on developing something new, the team has creative goals. Such teams are required to explore possibilities and alternatives with out-of-the-box thinking. As a leader, you should focus on removing blockages in idea generation by team members and encourage all team members to participate, instead of focusing your attention on the “creative” ones. Modelling effective communication and setting explicit standards of expected interpersonal behaviours will help you develop the positive team climate you need to have a creative team. 

Got a problem?

Do you feel your team is feeling stuck or just a bit stale? Maybe the team has lost its collective sense of purpose and cohesion. What do you do? Team leaders must understand, acknowledge, and embrace that it’s normal for team dynamics to ebb and flow over time, as well as reflect on what exactly feels off. Then you can decide whether the team needs to be realigned or revitalised. 

Assessing the situation

Team development is the general pattern or pathway through which a team goes from a group of siloed individuals to a cohesive performing unit. There are five stages of team development [Tuckman, B.W., and M.A. Jensen. (1977). Stages of small-group development revisited. Group and Organization Studies, 2(4), 419–27].

1. Forming – the ice-breaking stage when the team begins to come together. People are holding back as the mutual trust is low and individuals are busy in assessing others and what is going on. Here, the leader should set the tone for appropriate interpersonal interactions and work ethics as well as provide members with the infrastructure they need to complete their tasks.
2. Storming – the team members have had a series of initial interactions and have started to figure out the team hierarchy and may form subgroups. Subtle acts of rebellion may occur as the members test boundaries, norms, and rules. This stage requires leaders’ facilitation to help the members respect and understand each other and what’s expected of them to achieve team goals.
3. Norming – the team begins developing norms and thus, more cohesion is realised at this stage. The conflicts between members lessen and member interactions increase. 
4. Performing – team members begin to perform activities and get work done without hampering others. Climate of open communication, cooperation, and helping behaviour is felt at this stage. Here, the leader should monitor the team for the emergence of blockages and coach members in solving problems.
5. Adjourning – when the team starts to move closer to its goal, members feel it is time to disband where team members begin to focus on wrapping up. Leaders need to manage the positive and negative emotions during this stage to make sure individuals and teams are motivated to complete tasks with a high standard, keep learning, and are motivated to progress into future individual or teamwork. 

Teams are dynamic and it is very much possible for a team to slide back from performing to norming or storming stages due to a variety of reasons, including changes in team membership, governance, environmental, and organizational changes. Leaders need to pay close attention to these changes to manage them effectively.  

Solutions, you ask?

To realign your team, focus on resetting the team goals and mandates. Begin this process by asking yourself and your team the following questions: what external and internal trends do we need to adapt to? How do we shift our team’s role and values as the things have evolved around us? Carefully select and adapt your targets and metrics accordingly. Re-evaluate your strategies, norms, workflows, and individual job responsibilities to optimise for these new team goals. Discuss them with your team members to bring them to the same page.  

To revitalise your team, first, you need to audit your and your team’s communication processes and habits. The goal is to establish new norms and ground rules that make collaboration across the team simpler and more respectful. Ask your team – what’s working and what is the source of friction? Do we need to collectively rethink how the team collaborates to perform the interdependent tasks? Embrace the idea that you might need to redesign your team’s communication channels and expectations to reflect the needs of your team and achieve your goals [Davey, L. (2023). 20 Questions to Ask When Your Team’s Vibe Is Off. Harvard Business Review. Forthcoming].

About the authors

Dr. Niharika Garud is an Associate Professor in Management and Director of Engagement at the Department of Management and Marketing, Faculty of Business & Economics at University of Melbourne. She is also a Research Fellow at Centre for Asian Business & Economics and Change Management Theme Coordinator, Building CRC 4.0 initiative. 

Dr. Victor Sojo is a Senior Lecturer in Leadership at the University of Melbourne. His research focuses on workplace equality and leadership development. He works with organisations to develop evidence-based policies and practices. He is a board director on Our Watch’s and SAGE’s boards, and an Associate Editor of the Australian Journal of Social Issues. 

References

Davey, L. (2023). 20 Questions to Ask When Your Team’s Vibe Is Off. Harvard Business Review. Forthcoming. 

Thompson, L. L., & Thompson, M. (2008). Making the team: A guide for managers. 

Tuckman, B.W., and M.A. Jensen. (1977). Stages of small-group development revisited. Group and Organization Studies, 2(4), 419–27. 

Cite this Thing

You are free to use and reuse the content on this post with attribution to the authors. The citation for this Thing is:

Garud, Niharika; Sojo Monzon, Victor (2024). Sixth Thing: Building Research Teams. The University of Melbourne. Online resource. https://doi.org/10.26188/25287451

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