Team Development
After years of being on teams as an engineer, I realized my dream of the perfect team — one that clicked and had fun, with team members who appreciated each other's strengths, all while delivering great results for the company and the customer. It was amazing how much we got done, in an almost effortless way. My work with teams is meant to create this same experience for others.
-- Carol Ross
Work environments are getting faster paced. Employees are expected to be available via email throughout the day and into the night. Meetings are held virtually, via conference call, with employees multi-tasking using instant messaging and Blackberries. At best, employees take in half of what's being communicated in meetings.
What does this have to do with teams? Everything. Because the magic of teams--the leveraging of diverse skills and talents--can't happen without true connection. And true connection is easily lost in the flurry of multi-tasking and information overload that's typical in today's world.
Working with our experts on team development, individuals learn to appreciate and use the talents that team members bring to the table. But more fundamentally, they become attuned to what it means to be a good listener, how to use whole-brain thinking to communicate effectively, and quite frankly, how to connect more deeply. All of this means that information that previously would have been overlooked or ignored can now be discussed and acted upon.
What would it mean for teams to head off small problems before they become big problems?
To discuss unspoken concerns?
To have everyone's smarts applied to the team's biggest challenges?
Team members soon realize they know more collectively than they know individually. Relationships are smoother. Work gets done, on-time and with higher quality.
".Today's complex products demand integrating the expertise of individuals who do not innately understand one another. Today's pace of change demands that these individuals quickly develop the ability to work together."
-- Harvard Business Review article, "Putting Your Company's Whole Brain to Work"
Services
We take a holistic approach to team development. That is, teams are systems that shift over time. Providing support for all parts of the system over time is the most effective and efficient way to get the desired results.
Our work with teams generally starts with a one-day workshop (in person, if possible) for the team leader and all team members. This is followed up with several months of group coaching for the team members via conference calls and one-on-one coaching for the team leader. Goals for coaching are tailored to the client's needs and progress is tracked through team assessments.
This follow-on support is important to create sustainable change and new behavior throughout the entire system. Otherwise, our experience is that the benefits of the one-day workshop quickly recede once the team is back in the day-to-day environment. We also offer tools like team blogs that keep a team connected when they get back to the office. This is especially useful for globally dispersed teams in different time zones.
Different teams have different challenges. Based on the specific challenges for the team, the one-day workshop can address any of the following:
- Team Jump Start. How do you accelerate the process of individuals becoming a team? We go past the usual ice breaker exercises to build lasting, meaningful connections, all while having fun. Useful for newly formed teams or existing virtual teams that have the rare opportunity to come together face-to-face.
- Team Identity. Often teams operate only at the tactical level-putting out fires and chasing the next deadline in front of them. Through the use of metaphor, building, and story-telling, we help teams be more strategic in their thinking and increase commitment and insight. Out of this comes action leading to great results. Team members understand how their roles fit together and create simple principles to guide decision-making.We use the services of Robert Rasmussen and Associates and the Lego Serious Play methodology to deliver the Team Identity workshops.
- Team Talents. Most teams are tapping into only a portion of the resources that are available to them. Using a research-based assessment, we identify each individual's top 5 talents and teach you how to leverage them more effectively to achieve team goals. Team members learn how to appreciate their talents and those of their team mates, leading to smoother relationships and better communications.
- Teams in Conflict. When there's friction on a team, it's easy to attribute the problem to one or two people. But what we've learned is that conflict is not just between two people; it's a sign that something is trying to happen in the system as a whole. When we take a systemic approach to teams in conflict, things shift easily and naturally, without blame or guilt. We use a variety of techniques to help team members see the larger picture, appreciate all the voices in the system, and begin to have more productive conversations.
"I found the Team Talents workshop to be a fascinating method for building better team communication and productivity. The workshop was fast-paced, fun and enlightening. I am using the concepts and tools each day to foster a more pleasant and productive work environment."
-- James Warder, Finance Manager, Celestial Seasonings
"We asked Carol Ross and Associates to design for us an effective half-day team building session that didn't look, smell, or feel like traditional team building. Their added challenge was that it was for 33 technical employees from around the world who had never met each other. Modeled after "speed dating", they ran a series of short, face-to-face, one-on-one structured discussions to quickly allow participants to connect with each other as more than just names, e-mails, and voices on the phone. The event was wildly successful, and jump-started new relationships and connections to improve our team members' ability to work across temporal, cultural, and geographical boundaries." -- Ken Herron, Former Director, Performance Communications, Avaya Labs |
 | Board members of Associated Solo Artists, with Carol and her Associate, Robert Rasmussen, relaxing after a Team Identity workshop. |
Ready to be part of a dream team? Let's start talking. Contact us for a complimentary consultation and we'll send you a copy of the Harvard Business Review article, "Putting Your Company's Whole Brain to Work."
