Dream Teams versus Scream Teams

On January 26, 2016 Dartmouth ’99 Kate Hilton, Director at ReThink Health, facilitated a MLDP session on the conditions that enable ordinary teams or even “scream teams” to become “dream teams.”

According to Hilton, “dream teams” are teams where 1) everyone knows each other and their respective roles, 2) there is a collective shared purpose, and 3) there is an enabling structure which allows the team to function efficiently. The strongest teams have the strongest ties and these bonds can only be formed when all three of these components exist.

While the first two components were pretty easy to grasp, the third one of "having an enabling structure reinforced by team norms," was harder for some in the group to appreciate as vital to team success. Students said creating norms in a group dynamic was often awkward and unnecessary. However, Hilton noted how important having norms is, especially postgraduate in the workplace.  "Effective management is holding your team accountable to its goals, which can sometimes be the difference between keeping and loosing your job," said Hilton.

During the session, Hilton had each participant fill out a personal team assessment based on an actual team they are currently involved with. Hilton demonstrated how this tool provided students the structure in which to evaluate their team and an opportunity to address and overcome obstacles their teams may be facing in the three different team aspects.

Submitted by Mary Sieredzinski ’17, MLDP Student Program Assistant