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Guided Team Self-Correction

Background

“A team development strategy designed to enable teams to enhance their performance. Team self-correction involves developing the team’s ability to diagnose their behavior in terms of specific topics that should be discussed during debriefings and how they conduct the discussion of the specific topics identified” (Shuffler et al., 2018, p. 18).

Guided team self-correction uses a trained facilitator during after-action reviews to structure the team's discussion, foster a positive learning environment, and guide reflection and improvement strategies.

Signs that indicate a team might benefit from a guided team self-correction intervention include organizing debriefs chronologically, discussing events in the order they occurred rather than in order of importance, or focusing on scenario-specific outcomes, evaluating performance based on the results in one specific situation. This focus can lead to the development of strategies that are tailored to one specific scenario, hindering generalize learning and adaptability.

  • Shuffler, M. L., DiazGranados, D., Salas, E., & Coutu, D. L. (2018). Developing, sustaining, and maximizing team effectiveness—An integrative, dynamic perspective of team development interventions. Academy of Management Annals, 12(2), 688–724. https://doi.org/10.5465/annals.2016.0045

Relevant Readings

  • Millikin, J. P., Hom, P. W., & Manz, C. C. (2010). Self-management competencies in self-managing teams: Their impact on multi-team system productivity. The Leadership Quarterly, 21(5), 687–702. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.leaqua.2010.07.001
    • Millikin et al. (2010) demonstrate that multi-team systems with self-managing teams achieve higher productivity. They also find that this positive impact is stronger when the teams within the system are highly cohesive.
  • Smith-Jentsch, K. A., Cannon-Bowers, J. A., Tannenbaum, S. I., & Salas, E. (2008). Guided team self-correction: Impacts on team mental models, processes, and effectiveness. Small Group Research, 39(3), 303–327. https://doi.org/10.1177/1046496408317794
    • Smith-Jentsch et al. (2008) investigate how guided team self-correction impacts teams. Their research indicates that teams using this method, based on an expert teamwork model, develop more accurate mental models and show improved teamwork and effectiveness compared to other debriefing approaches.