266 lines
12 KiB
Plaintext
266 lines
12 KiB
Plaintext
May 1991
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TEAMWORK: AN INNOVATIVE APPROACH
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By
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Alan Youngs
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Captain
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Lakewood, Colorado, Police Department
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and
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Eric K. Malmborg
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Management Consultant
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Boulder, Colorado
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As humans, we strive for individuality. We pride ourselves
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on the unique talents and problem-solving capabilities each of
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us possesses. Our individual capabilities, when combined with
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those of others in a professional setting, work to build a
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successful team. However, effective teamwork does not come
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easily; it requires coordination, cooperation, and communication
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on the part of all involved.
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THE NEED TO WORK TOGETHER
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At times, individual needs and goals, as well as an
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inability to communicate effectively, interfere with effective
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team building. And, while the diverse skills of several persons
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working together can solve problems, combining these human
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efforts successfully to achieve a goal poses difficult
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challenges. Nonetheless, as society becomes more complicated
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and as individuals become more specialized, effective teamwork
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becomes an essential requirement to solve common problems.
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For example, the problems facing society as a whole
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increasingly require the input and joint coordinated action of
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the police and the community. As these problems become more
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complex, the consequences of ineffective solutions increase
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correspondingly. The recent upsurge of gang activities in
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metropolitan areas is only one problem that points to the need
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for a team effort.
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Then, there is the realization that police departments are
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becoming more "civilianized," another emerging trend. More and
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more, civilians perform many jobs within police departments that
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do not require the training and skills of professional police
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officers. For this transformation to work, the barriers between
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these two groups must come down.
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Therefore, police departments must begin to promote team
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building within their ranks. Then, the strategy can be adapted
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to work with members of the community. As Sir Robert Peel, the
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first commissioner of London's Metropolitan Police, pointed out
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in the first part of the 19th century, "The police are the
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people and the people are the police."
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PROPERTIES OF SUCCESSFUL TEAMS
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What are the secrets of successful teams? Why do some
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teams achieve remarkable success, while others fail or are
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assigned to mediocrity? To find the answers, Dr. Carl Larson, a
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former Dean of Social Sciences at the University of Denver, and
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Dr. Frank M. J. LaFasto, Vice-President of Human Resource
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Planning and Development for a private health care corporation,
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conducted a 3-year study of individual teams and their
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achievements. (1) By interviewing a wide range of teams,
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including a space shuttle team and a championship football team,
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they discovered a surprising consistency in the characteristics
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of an effective team.
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Larson and LaFasto identified eight properties of
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successful teams:
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1) A clear, elevating goal--a worthwhile and challenging
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objective that is compelling enough to create team
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identity and has clear consequences connected with its
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achievement;
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2) A results-driven structure--a team design that is
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determined by the objective and supported by clear
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lines of responsibility, open communication, fact-based
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judgments, and methods of providing individual
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performance feedback;
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3) Competent team members--members who possess the
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essential skills and abilities to accomplish the
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objective;
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4) A unified commitment--a team goal that is given a
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higher priority than any individual objective and
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inspires members to devote whatever effort is necessary
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to achieve success;
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5) A collaborative climate--a common set of guiding values
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that allows members to trust each other;
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6) Standards of excellence--high standards that motivate
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members to constantly strive to improve performance;
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7) External support and recognition--necessary resources
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and support required to accomplish team objectives,
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including recognition and incentives; and
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8) Principled leadership--leaders who take the
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necessary actions to inspire commitment, reward
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superior performance, delegate meaningful levels
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of responsibility, and confront inadequate
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performance. (2)
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BUILDING AN EFFECTIVE TEAM
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The Lakewood, Colorado, Police Department recently
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implemented an innovative approach to help its management-level
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officers understand and develop a more successful team approach
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to problem solving. Faced with the growing realization that
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well-executed team-work is required for effective law
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enforcement, and successful participation in the community team
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as a whole, the department developed a strategy to train its
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management personnel to become more effective team participants.
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Department administrators realized that traditionally, law
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enforcement training has been confined to the classroom. And,
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although classroom training provides the opportunity to listen
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to instructors and exchange ideas with fellow students, it is
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not the ideal place to experience and assimilate what is being
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taught. Oftentimes, when students return to the work setting,
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they do not have the opportunity to practice what they learned.
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Therefore, hands-on experience should reinforce classroom
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instruction.
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This is particularly true when a group of individuals
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endeavors to increase its ability to work as a team. In
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essence, the group learns to be a team by actually working
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together. Team training in an environment that is new,
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unfamiliar, adventurous, and challenging allows each individual
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to see the resources available in others, discover creative ways
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to solve problems by using these resources, and develop the
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communication skills and the trust needed to operate
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successfully as a team.
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This is why department administrators decided to take their
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team building effort beyond the classroom. Working with a
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management development organization, the department developed a
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workshop designed to improve communication, increase team
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effectiveness, and enhance the leadership capabilities,
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creativity, and vision of its managers. The goal of the
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workshop was to build an effective management team through
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reinforcement of classroom training.
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TEAM BUILDING WORKSHOP
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To begin, mandatory attendance at the team building
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workshop was required of every police supervisor from the rank
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of sergeant to the chief of police, as well as every civilian
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supervisor. The participants were divided randomly in teams,
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although each team did include persons of every rank. The
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program was repeated four times during a 6-month period.
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Day one of the workshop concentrated on various practical
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exercises designed to assess each participant's current ability
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to work with others and to reinforce team building. This also
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enabled the participants to learn firsthand the dimensions of
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high performance teams as identified by Larson and LaFasto. By
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the end of the day, these exercises surfaced issues such as:
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* The importance of trust and clear communications
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* Creative problem solving and the impact of
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organizational structure on that process
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* The importance of clearly defined goals and the need for
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everyone to work toward those goals
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* Role clarity and understanding individual abilities, and
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* The need for team leaders to focus on team goals and to
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maintain the direction of the team.
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For example, in one of the more-simplified exercises, teams
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worked together to get all their members up and over a 12-foot
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wall safely. Each team member displayed different strengths
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and/or weaknesses when encountering the wall. In order for the
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team to be successful, team members needed to recognize and
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adapt these individual abilities to obtain a common goal. Team
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members had to align themselves with the goal, communicate with
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others, place trust in team members, and use creative thinking
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to solve the problem at hand.
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In-depth discussions followed team exercises. Participants
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voiced the trust and confidence they felt at the end of each
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exercise and discussed experiencing, or not experiencing, these
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same feelings on the job.
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These exercises and discussions explored a number of issues
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critical to team performance. Through this process, team
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members became aware of their individual abilities to work as
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part of a team and learned team skills that could be put to use
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in their individual assignments.
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During the second day of the workshop, participants "took
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stock" of the first day's activities and examined personal and
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team accomplishments. Workshop coordinators also presented a
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review of the characteristics of high performance teams,
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according to the work of Larson and LaFasto, and shared the
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results of a feedback instrument that each team member filled
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out before the workshop began. After reviewing the feedback and
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assessing the information, teams focused on areas that they
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thought were the most critical to team development and the
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individual plans that should be used on the job to accomplish
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team goals.
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FOLLOWUP
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In a followup study, participants identified the most
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significant things they learned from the workshop. Some of
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their comments were:
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* "A team can work together to achieve goals and
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objectives"
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* "I was impressed with all the different ways that a task
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can be solved when different members of the team provide
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input"
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* "Team functioning hands-on is far more effective than
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mere talking or working"
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* "Free, creative thinking should be encouraged within an
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organization for effective problem solving"
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* "The strength of our team was impressive."
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Other benefits of this experience included the formation of
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a committee to promote and facilitate communication within the
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department and the establishment of a citizens' police academy
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to increase community awareness of police operations and to
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provide an opportunity for police and community members to
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develop a team relationship.
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CONCLUSION
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Effective teamwork is critical to any organization.
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But, a team is only as strong as its members. The
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"out-of-the-classroom" learning experience assisted team members
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to identify the elements of teamwork and to communicate them to
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others. It also helped them to recognize their individual
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strengths and weaknesses.
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This program also allowed the civilian personnel and
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officers of the Lakewood Police Department to discover that each
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member's individuality is an asset to building a team. And it
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is that individuality, combined with coordination, cooperation,
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and communication, that makes for a successful team.
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FOOTNOTES
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(1) Carl Larson and Frank M.J. LaFasto, "Teamwork--What
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Must Go Right/What Can Go Wrong" (Newbury Park, California: Sage
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Publications, 1989).
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(2) Ibid, p. 8.
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