FREE online courses on Being a Valuable Team Member - Summarizer – Orienteer – Harmonizer - and Other Helpful Roles

 

"Don't forget to take SOFI HAGE to your meeting. Put her to work and I guarantee she will make a significant contribution to your team's progress and success."  “SOFI HAGE” The name comes from the first letter of each of the task and relationship roles.

 

Team Facilitation Roles

 

 

It's important that all team members understand and employ each of the four task and relationship roles listed in the exhibit.

 

Summarizer

 

The Summarizer urges the group to acknowledge consensus and reach a decision. When team members are wound up like the Energizer Bunny, the Summarizer breaks in with, "It seems like we're all in agreement with the parts of the program that need to be changes; can we move off that topic and discuss specific changes to be proposed?" By asking for verbal agreement with the summary, the Summarizer helps the team get past one decision and onto the next decision point.

 

Orienter

 

The Orienter prevents the team from wandering too far from the topic at hand; he or she brings them back and focuses them again when they do stray. This redirecting should not be done abruptly as in, "Hey, we're way off here; let's get back on track," or "David, you just took us off topic again," because you don't want to introduce a negative effect into the relationship side of the equation. A useful and neutral way to intervene is with the question, "Are we off topic right now?"

 

Fact Seeker

 

The Fact Seeker tests reality to make sure the decision the team is about to make is doable. This team member always wants more information and is quick to point out the difference between a fact and an opinion. The Fact Seeker is also very helpful in pointing out when a team does not have all the information it needs to make a good decision. The Fact Seeker will suggest that the team get more data before proceeding. He or she is also good at checking the decision-making boundaries of the team, asking "Do we have the authority to make this decision?"

 

Initiator

 

The Initiator gets the team started on the right foot by always beginning discussions with the question, "How should we approach this task?" Getting agreement on a game plan before starting to work on the task itself is crucial to team effectiveness and is the distinguishing characteristic of the Initiator.

 

When you plan the Summarizer, Orienteer, Fact Seeker and Initiator roles, you contribute to your team's productivity by moving the task along to completion. Play the following relationship roles to ensure that team members feel valued and respected and you will make a major contribution to your team's cohesiveness.

 

Harmonizer

 

The Harmonizer realizes that conflicts is inevitable and that if left unresolved, it is the biggest barrier to a team's achieving health and success. The Harmonizer called the team's attention to a conflict (especially if team members haven't wanted to acknowledge it), by saying something like, "Let's be honest: we've got some strong conflicting feelings about this issue. What steps can we take to resolve our differences?" The Harmonizer is also able to focus discussion on meeting specific needs as a way of mediating conflict. More help on mediation is given in some of the sections which follow: When You Reach an Impasse, Talk About Needs and `Hey, No Problem'.

 

Analyzer

 

The Analyzer watches for changes in the vital signs of the team and brings these changes to the attention of the team. The Analyzer is the team member most likely to ask, "How is everyone feeling about how we're working together?" or "It seems we've lost our energy; what is happening?"

 

Gatekeeper

 

The Gatekeeper is concerned primarily with team communication and participation. This member makes sure all team members are actively listening to each other and understanding each other's messages. The Gatekeeper paraphrases messages to make sure that everyone is on the same wavelength and that every idea is understood by the group before being discredited or discarded. The Gatekeeper invites quieter members to participate and makes sure that more active members don't dominate.

 

Encourager

 

The Encourager builds and sustains team energy by showing support for people's efforts, ideas, and achievements. If the Gatekeeper focuses on making sure the content of team members' ideas is clearly understood by all, the Encourager emphasizes members' participation by giving verbal approval: "Good point--that's a great idea." This is another role that prevents Whack-a-mos and in general helps people to feel valued.

 

It is extremely important that every member be ready and able to intervene as a facilitator. If you were an eight-member team and each person had a delegated responsibility to wear one of the SOFI HAGE hats and intervene appropriately, you would see a significant increase in your effectiveness. But you can do better than that by having each member wear all the hats and thus provide maximum facilitation coverage.

 

Learning the eight different roles may seem at first like an overwhelming challenge to you and your teammates, but you'll probably be surprised to find that some team members are natural at orienting or encouraging, or that some easily assume the role of summarizers and gatekeepers. To have all eight roles covered may just be a matter of learning a few more facilitation behaviors. I know you can do it and as a team you'll be glad you did.