“Our people are just not working well enough together.”
Research shows that when a group of individuals are brought together as a team to work on a task, the level of group performance is less than we would expect to find if we were to simply measure and then add their individual effectiveness.
We regularly see that many teams are simply collections of individuals, working at the individual level and not at the team level.
This comes about because each member brings their own cognitive, emotional and behavioural styles to the team, but fails to become part of an overall team structure and culture. This results in the team expending a significant proportion of its energy and resources in non-efficient or non-task related practices aimed at overcoming individual differences. These are naturally occurring and predictable phenomena, and represent a significant distraction when the team tries to carry out its functions or achieve its goals. Researchers are well-aware of this phenomenon and the problems it causes. Unresolved team functioning issues can lead to personal burnout, disengagement and reduced team performance – eventually to the point of failure.
Our Team-building intervention is a structured, evidence-based method of addressing and resolving obstacles to effective team performance. It emphasises the knowledge and skills required for effective team functioning and is ideal for teams who need to understand, prevent and resolve the problems they may run into.
Each of our interventions is unique and based around the client/team’s needs. It may range from a one-off development centre to an ongoing support program lasting for a number of weeks or months.
The content of the program is designed around the client’s specific needs. It may address some or all of the following :
- Barriers to effective team performance – precursors, warnings, symptoms & fixes
- Developing a deeper understanding of competitors
- Developing a deeper understanding of dysfunctional teams within your own organisation
- Setting team goals and objectives
- Group problem solving and decision making
- Creativity and innovation
- Adaptability and flexibility
- Pro-activity and initiative
- Conflict resolution
- Team member feedback and development
- Coaching and support
- Information sharing and communication
- The structural and cultural characteristics of teams
- Forming and developing an effective team
- The role of individual differences within the team
- Team leadership skills
- Bargaining and negotiation
- Project management
- Risk Analysis and management
More sophisticated analyses may include individual interviews and psychometric assessment, or an Interaction Process Analysis to establish the team’s social-emotional/task orientation.
Targeted team development can achieve results very quickly. However, it is important to understand that some of the information uncovered, and the interventions and recommendations made, can themselves be difficult for a dysfunctional team to process and deal with – but that in itself is part of the challenge the team may need to face.
It is also important to note that some elements of the programme are only suitable for high level teams with strategic decision making authority.