The previous article in this series emphasised how team functioning was increasingly seen as an important aspect of control room operations.Control room managers or any other manager for that matter ,cannot force a team to work together effectively.Rather ,the manager is responsible for encouraging its growth and facilitating its development.
Team functioning is one of those social dynamics that occurs because people begin relating to each other and a common goal of what they want to achieve. It involves willingness to be together and a common understanding and appreciation of others in the team. Most importantly it involves positive shared experiences and a sense of achievement and reward. The manager has to nurture conditions for teams to form and function, encourage this process and provide support where necessary.
Team functioning and a sense of a control room community is seen by John Penberthy, MD of Business Against Crime in the Western Cape, to be a key success factor in the achievements of the Cape Town CCTV centre in reducing crime. Although a combination of civilian personnel, police and traffic is involved, he says that people have taken on their professional task related functions and fallen naturally into roles within the team context.
Penberthy goes on to say that as things occur and interest grows, it attracts a teaming effect. There is a 'buzz' in the control room with personnel automatically taking on responsibilities that will ensure the best surveillance results. When an incident occurs and culprits are caught, everybody celebrates. For Penberthy, the important thing is to replicate that atmosphere of community over time and the move to a larger control room which is currently under design.
A common sense of purpose
Generating a common sense of purpose and accomplishment is essential to team development. A critical leadership role is to ensure that the team is goal directed at the individual and team level. Taking time to ensure that all team members are committed to the aims and purposes of the team is time well spent. Penberthy points out that personnel in the Cape Town control room are enthused. "There was a sense of ownership created from early on," he states. New members coming in soon begin to 'buy in' to the sense of purpose and feelings of shared accomplishment. Ultimately, the commitment and success leads people to feeling that they are all making a constructive contribution.
Control room standards
The way you structure your control room plays a major part in enabling the natural team dynamics to come through. This aspect has been recognised and addressed in the draft ISO standards for control rooms. Rather than discouraging people from talking to each other, the standards indicate that the layouts of control rooms should facilitate team working opportunities and the social interaction for operators. Social contact within the control room is also recommended by grouping operators within the control room so that informal conversation can occur between individuals, as long as this does not compromise operator efficiency.
For example, the standards state that 'layouts should allow, wherever practical, direct verbal communication between the control room operators'.
They also indicate that operational links between control room operators, such as speech, sightlines or direct voice communication should be promoted. The draft ISO standards suggest that informal links should be maintained in larger control rooms when staffing levels are reduced during quieter periods. Getting operator participation in designing the kind of setting they want to work in is also encouraged.
The incorporation of a team-based environment was an initial design consideration in the Cape Town CCTV facility and management have been pleased with the contribution this has made to creating the right atmosphere and working relationships. Based on this, it has become an important part of the focus on the new expanded control room and work processes under design.
Leadership remains critical
The emphasis on the team does not mean that the manager should withdraw and let people get on with things themselves. Leadership skills are important in setting the climate and norms for the team. Part of this is defining acceptable behaviours and nonacceptable behaviours that are expected. It also calls for the control room manager to strike a balance between defining the roles and responsibilities of people in order to remove ambiguity, but also letting people find their natural styles of working together and accomplishing performance objectives.
Effective teams tend to have a number of characteristics, including:
p Leadership skills exist both with the manager and through the group.
p The atmosphere tends to be relaxed, comfortable and informal.
p There is a concern to achieve and objectives are felt to be worthwhile.
p People want to be part of the solution and they take ownership of their areas of responsibility.
p The members listen well to each other and participate in a lot of task-relevant discussion.
p Lively but effective ways to solve problems together are used.
p Team members are developed to provide their own contributions and these are respected.
New teams typically go through a formation process during which there is usually a degree of conflict before things settle into shape. It is important that the manager be involved during these processes, but he or she should try and facilitate issues rather than prescribe. If the manager is too authoritarian, it will stifle the group processes and a truly effective way of working together will not emerge. The cohesiveness and effectiveness of the team may also change over time due to a variety of reasons. Managers need to keep their finger on the 'pulse' of team health and guide and encourage people where necessary as part of their responsibility in managing team functioning.
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