Making the Team: A Guide for Managers

Find Out Who the Group Is

This is extremely tricky. The group members, in most cases, will know one another intimately, but you will not know them. Before the meeting, request information, such as biographies of the group members.

If the group members do not know one another well, it is useful for everyone to introduce themselves. If the group members do know one another well, having members talk about themselves is boring for other people. In this case, a useful technique is the next-in-line strategy, in which members introduce others in the group. For example, each person introduces the person to their left. This is more interesting for group members because they hear, perhaps for the first time, how they are viewed by others. This also serves ...