While participants identified that face-to-face communication was an effective method of sharing information, they believed that team members would benefit if they could develop active listening skills. Through the data gathered, participants understood that communication was reciprocal and one participant put it succinctly, ―not only do we need to develop the skill of making ourselves understood clearly and accurately, we need to put some effort into understanding what the other person is saying by actively listening‖ (I1). Salas et al. (2000) agreed that effective communication involved more than the ability to converse with others it involved the act of listening. Covey (2004) elaborated,
To truly listen means to transcend your own autobiography, to get out of your frame of reference, out of your own value system, out of your own history and judging tendencies, and to get deeply into the frame of reference or viewpoint of another person. (p. 192)
Kouzes and Posner (2007) concluded that active listening is a process of asking questions to gain clarification or to paraphrase what a team member has said. To be actively listening is to pay attention to the wants and needs of another. Effective communication and active listening skills are naturally tied together, and JFSC has an opportunity to build on existing teamwork and collaborative capacity through promoting open and effective communication.
Conclusion 4: Team Members Would Like to Have Fun
During this research project the survey and interview participants expressed the need to have fun and provided JFSC with a specific suggestion—teambuilding retreats. Kouzes and Posner (2007) concurred that when team members have fun together they build relationships, develop a common purpose in an atmosphere of trust and collaboration, and they feel more committed to the organization. Without social interactions,
people might come to believe that the organization revolves around individual work . . . social interactions remind [team members] that they‘re in it together, that they need each