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

With team development, individuals learn to appreciate and use the talents that team members bring to the table, the left-brain analytical skills as well as right-brain creative thinking. 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 include:

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.
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.

"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." workshop photo

-- Ken Herron, 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.”