Scenario

You are the new manager for Careers Call Centre Sales Team B. The team has 3 staff members- Fernando, Chaoran and Yuki.

Careers Call Centre sell mobile phone plans and Sales Team B has the lowest sales figures of all the current teams.

All three sales members are from different cultural backgrounds and there seems to be quite a bit of tension between different team members, as well as between your team members and the other teams.

Chaoran's average sales per day are 3.5 and he has issues with Fernando. He thinks Fernando is being overly loud and very opinionated. He believes that Fernando is trying to become the new team leader and complains that he has no right to tell him what to

Yuki's average sales per day are 2. Yuki finds Chaoran to be very abrasive in his mannerisms and feels that he is always angry and upset at her. This makes her not want to talk to him and she avoids him where possible.

Fernando's average sales per day are 4. He feels frustrated that Yuki doesn't speak up for herself when Chaoran is being mean to her and feels Chaoran is stubborn; refusing help and advice.

The reason for your appointment as manager is that there have been complaints about the services delivered by this team, and therefore senior managers decided to hire someone externally to manage the team efficiently. They have also identified a few problems in the team:

Communication between team members appears to be strained at times

The levels of cooperation are falling

Communication with the other teams within the organisation are not as good as they should be. There is no one currently taking on a leadership role

Prioritisation of tasks appears to occur on an ad-hoc basis

Average individual sales are supposed to be 5 units per day and 25 per week for a full-time employee

Last week the total sales were 50 (10 for Yuki, 25 for Fernando and 15 for Chaoran)

Currently the management has no systems in place to gather team members input into planning, decision-making and general operational aspects of the team or support team members to achieve the organisational objectives and goals. Only team meetings are held on quarterly basis, where the team leaders have input into the planning, decision making and operational aspects of team members performance and the support or the training that the they need. Based on the team leaders' feedback, the training sessions are organised. There is no input from the team members.

While each of the team members were selected for their role on the basis of demonstrated skills and expertise, they seem unable to work together effectively.

Your initial role, therefore, is that of trouble shooter, problem solver and team facilitator. You need to bring this group of people together to form a cohesive, effective and productive team and to make sure that the organisational goals, plans and objectives are well understood by them, and that there is a common understanding of team purpose, roles, responsibilities and accountabilities.

The organisational goals, plans and objectives are as follow:

Organisational goals

A sustainable workplace environment.

Meet or exceed call center metrics while providing excellent consistent customer service.

Organisational objectives

Improving sales and recommendations for products and services better suit client needs.Building lasting relationships with clients and other stakeholders based on trust and reliability.

Improve support for team members regular feedback on performance. Improve conflict resolution between members

Focus on the efficiency of the organisation, not the effectiveness of the individualContinuous professional development and training of employees

Continuous gathering of internal and external feedback from all stakeholders for improvement of workplace processes better.

Empower customer service staff to handle customer issues and trust them to do the right thing.

Key performance indictors

Average sales per day

Compliance with all company policies and procedures

Achievement of sales targets

Task

A: Participate in a role play

Task AParticipate n role play

You (the student) will play the role of the new manager and participate in a role play.

The aim of the role play is for the team manager to establish a mutual understanding of team purpose, roles, responsibilities and accountabilities.

Your trainer/assessor will allocate the role of team members (Fernando, Chaoran and Yuki) to the students in the class. If there are insufficient number of members in the class, then your trainer/assessor will play multiple roles and switch the role based on the requirements of the role play.

During the role play, Fernando will:

Complain that Yuki doesn't speak up for herself when Chaoran is being mean to her and feels Chaoran is stubborn; refusing help, advice.

During the role play, Chaoran will:

Complain that Fernando is overly loud and being very opinionated. He believes that Fernando is trying to be the acting team leader and trying to tell him what to do.

During the role play, Yuki will:

Complain that Chaoran to be very abrasive in his mannerisms and feels that he is always angry and upset at her.

During the role play, you (the manager) will be required to:

Gain trust and confidence of team and provides feedback to them in forms that they can understand and use.

Adapt personal communication style to build positive working relationships and to show respect for the opinions, values and their needs.

Demonstrate high level conflict resolution skills and ability to engage and motivate others. Establish a common understanding of team purpose, roles, responsibilities and accountabilities in accordance with organizational goals, plans and objectives

Provide support to team members to achieve expected performance outcomes. The role play must cover the following points:

PRJ2.1: Discussion about team purpose, roles, responsibilities and accountabilities as per the organisational goals, plans and objectives.

After the role play, you must fill in template 1 for a Team Learning Plan.

Template 1:

TEAM LEARNING PLAN
Team members present
Date
Venue
Review conducted by
1. Understanding of goals all team members clearly understand purpose and goals of the team? How is this expected to be achieved? What opportunities can you identify for improvement?
2. Team member support Are team members provided with the support required to achieve team outcomes?

TEAM LEARNING PLAN

What support is usually provided?

How can team members be supported more effectively?

3. Strategies for Team member input

Are team members given sufficient opportunities to provide input into planning, decision-making and general operational aspects of the team?

How is this currently done?

What opportunities can you identify for improvement?

4. Responsibility for own work

Are team members encouraged sufficiently to take responsibility for their own work?

TEAM LEARNING PLAN

KPI's/Targets/Goals for each team member (minimum of two for each team member) How is this expected to be achieved?

What opportunities can you identify for improvement?

5. Mutual support

Do team members assist each other in undertaking required roles and responsibilities? What current policy or document makes this expectation?

What opportunities can you identify for improvement?

6. Dealing with issues

Are issues, problems or concerns that arise in the team environment generally resolved successfully?

TEAM LEARNING PLAN

What policy or procedures should be in place?

What opportunities can you identify for improvement?

Identify who you consulted with when undertaking this review and describehowyou consulted with them.

Feedback/Gap analysis given by Team Leader for each team member (minimum of two points each) Chaoran:

Yuki:

Fernando:

B - Team Performance Improvement plan

Continuing from PART A, with your groups, fill in the team performance improvement plan - based on the discussions held in the role play, on the template provided underneath.

The team performance improvement plan must cover the following point:

PRJ2.2: Develop a team performance improvement plan and take into consideration the expected outcomes, outputs, key performance indicators (KPIs) and goals for the work team. You must use template 2 to prepare team performance plan.

Template 2:

Team Performance Improvement Plan (TPIP)

Confidential

TO: ___________________________________

FROM: _____________________________

DATE: __________________________

RE: Team Performance Improvement Plan (TPIP)

The purpose of this Team Performance Improvement Plan (TPIP) is to define serious areas of concern, gaps in work performance, reiterate the organisation's expectations, and allow the team the opportunity to demonstrate improvement and commitment.

Areas of Concern:

Bullet point issues and how employee's lack of performance and/or behaviour has affected his/her co-workers, the company and clients/customers.

Observations, Previous Discussions or Counselling:

Recap dates/times you have addressed the issues in the recent/relevant past. Reference previous documents when applicable.

Step 1: Improvement Goals:These are the goals related to areas of concern to be improved and addressed:

1.
2.
3.

Step 2: Activity Goals:Listed below are activities that will help the team reach each goal:

Goal #	Activity/Strategy	How to Accomplish	Start Date	Projected Completion Date

Step 3: Resources:Listed below are resources available to the team to complete the Improvement activities (may include other people's time or expertise, funds for training materials and activities, or time away from usual responsibilities.)

1.
2.
3.

Management Support:Listed below are ways in which your manager will support your Improvement activities.

1.
2.
3.

Step 4: Expectations:The following performance standards must be accomplished to demonstrate progress towards achievement of each Improvement goal:

1.
2.
3.
4.

Step 5: Progress Checkpoints:The following schedule will be used to evaluate the team's progress in meeting the Improvement activities.

Goal #	Activity/Strategy	Checkpoint Date	Type of Follow-up(memo/call/meeting)	Progress Expected	Notes

Follow-up Updates: You will receive feedback on the team's progress according to the following schedule:

Date Scheduled	Activity	Conducted By	Completion Date
		[SupervisorManager ]
		[Supervisor Manager ]
		[Supervisor Manager ]

Timeline for Improvement, Consequences & Expectations:

Effective immediately, the team is placed on a 90-day PIP. During this time, all team members will be expected to make regular progress on the plan outlined above. Failure to meet or exceed these expectations, or any display of gross misconduct will result in further disciplinary action, up to and including termination. In addition, if there is no significant improvement to indicate that the expectations and goals will be met within the timeline indicated in this PIP, employment may be terminated prior to 90 days. Failure to maintain performance expectations after the completion of the PIP may result in additional disciplinary action up to and including termination.

Signatures:

Print Employee Name: _____________________________________

Print Employee Name: _____________________________________

Print Employee Name: _____________________________________

Print Supervisor/Manager Name: _____________________________________

Supervisor/Manager Signature: _____________________________________

Date: ___________________________

C: Develop and facilitate team cohesion

During the discussion with the team members, you came to know that the team members issues were never discussed before and neither were they addressed. The team members told you that their inputs have never been valued and that has also led to change in their behaviours toward work and downfall in their performance.

You discovered that there had been no strategies, policies and procedures and processes to develop and facilitate team cohesion. You have discussed these matters with the executive management team. After the discussion, they have allocated you the task to develop strategies, policies and procedures and processes to improve and facilitate team cohesion.

Task:

In this task, you are required to develop:

PRJ 2.3. Strategies that ensure that team members participate in planning, decision making and operating activities.

Strategies must include:

oRoles and responsibilities

oTraining and development activities

oMentoring and 'buddy' systems to support team members in providing inputoStrategies must also include strategies to ensure that team members feel that they are a part of the organisation and that their input is valued.

PRJ 2.4. Development of processes to make sure that issues identified by team members are recognised and addressed.

Create a matrix of issues and concerns and distribute them to top management for their inputs on how to address the situation.

PRJ 2.5. Policies and procedures to:

oEnsure that team members take responsibility for their work.

oAssist others to undertake the required roles and responsibilities.

Polies and procedures must include Standard Operating Procedures (SOP's)

Document your work in the template provided below.

Template:

Strategies to ensure that the team members participate in planning, decision making and operating activities
Roles and responsibilities (Any three)
Training and development activities (Any three)
'Buddy' systems to support team members in providing input
Strategies to make sure that the team members feel that they are a part of this organisation and their input is valued (Any five)

Responsibility Matrix of Issues and Concerns
Distribution chart
Policies and procedures
Make sure that the team members take responsibility of their work.(

Assist others to undertake required roles and responsibilities.(