How is your team performing? Could they work together better than they do today? This sequence of workshops is designed for an intact work group or team that has an ongoing need to work together. Some of the sessions are basic to the process and always included in the series. Others are selected based on the needs of the team.
The process usually begins with an interview of the leader or of the leader and all team members to understand the concerns and issues. This information gathering process is followed by a proposal for the suggested approach for working with the team. The most common format for working with the team is a series of half day workshops spread over several weeks or months. However, the format is very flexible.
The elements always included are:
This workshop answers the questions:
It includes activities that highlight the teams needs.
Team members working together inevitably run into conflict situations. The conflict can be about the work (e.g. my approach versus yours, schedules, priorities) or about the relationships (e.g. I don't trust you, your style is different than mine). Conflict can be a source of creative solutions, but only if people understand both the value of conflict and how to resolve it. Using the Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Mode Instrument and its supporting video, participants will understand the different response styles and begin to see that they can choose how to respond in each conflict situation.
Miscommunication often causes conflict or errors in the workplace. One of the primary reasons miscommunication occurs is that we don't all use the same style to communicate. In this session, team members will explore different styles of communication and learn how to apply the learnings to this team.
We each have a unique personality. The mixing of personalities in a team can be cause for great creativity or for great frustration. Understanding our core needs, values and talents as well as those of others can allow us to take advantage of the differences rather than let the differences slow us down.
Getting a team or work group off to a productive and positive start or helping the team recover from having gotten off to a bad start is often a challenge. Questions on the minds of members include: "Why are we here?," "What 's my role?," and "How will we work together?" These are valid and important questions that will be answered in the workshop.
Members of high-performing teams give and receive feedback to one another in an open and honest way. Some of us find it difficult to provide feedback in a useful way. Many of us struggle to accept feedback without getting defensive. This session explores both giving and receiving feedback and provides specific techniques to be more effective at both. Team members will have the opportunity to give and receive feedback to each other in the session.
Making good group decisions is a critical skill for teams today. If the group is not skilled in the process, decision making can be very time consuming and often frustrating. Consensus is not the only alternative available to the team. In this session, participants will learn different approaches to group decision making and techniques to make decisions more quickly and effectively.
Highly effective teams use team roles appropriately. This workshop uses the Management Team Roles Indicator (MTR-i) to identify which of eight key roles individuals are currently playing in the team, and what effect that is having on teamwork and productivity. A 360 degree element can be included to provide rich discussion on how members are working together. The result of the session is a team action plan to move toward high effectiveness and performance.