The best teams aren’t just a random conglomeration of strong team members, just as a quality jewelry chain isn’t simply a bunch of precious metal strung together. Fine gold doesn’t gain any value if it’s soldered together without care, and the same is true for your work teams. Approaching team building with the right resources and level of consideration lets you increase the value of each member’s contribution and ensure a culture where everyone supports each other in a positive, productive manner. One way organizations can invest in their teams is via customized team development training.
An effective team is a collaborative unit that's able to work toward a common goal successfully. If your team is dysfunctional in any way, you'll see a failure to meet your goals or a delay in meeting them, as well as fractured relationships and non-productive interaction between team members.
Turnkey Coaching and Development Solution's team development program focusing on the Five Behaviors of a Cohesive Team provides a highly useful metric by which to evaluate your own work team or leadership team.
Former professional basketball player Phil Jackson once said, "The strength of the team is each individual member. The strength of each member is the team." That quote says everything about the importance of working together and developing trust — each team member is weakened if the group isn't cohesive and working toward common goals. The team as a unit is strengthened when everyone communicates, works together and applies their unique talents and skills in logical, cooperative ways.
Louisa May Alcott, author of the classic book Little Women puts it even more succinctly. She says, "It takes two flints to make a fire." Organizations that want to light a fire within work groups must bring the right people together and help them understand how to strike against each other in positive ways to create the right flames.
Your team development program must include a way to assess whether your development efforts are working. The Harvard Business Review recommends paying attention to the team's output and the ability of the team to collaborate, as well as individual assessments of each of the team members.
The Five Behaviors of a Cohesive Team Progress Report provides a template for just such an assessment, allowing you to pinpoint areas of improvement to celebrate and build on as well as those ways in which your team still needs to improve.
If a team is truly working together in a relationship of mutual accountability, the Progress Report makes that clear. It also shows obstacles to development and paves the way for team members to assess their own collaboration.
Team development isn't a one-and-done task. It's something companies must commit to and invest in consistently over time. As new staff members integrate into the fold or long-time staff members continue to grow or face new challenges together, team development training provides the communication, collaboration and conflict-resolution skills required to support productivity and continued improvement. It's also important to know where your team is now so you can accurately measure improvement.
Ask yourself: Do you have a pseudo-team, a potential team or an actual team?
To get a better idea of these three team structures, imagine a giant field of wheat that needs harvesting. The pseudo-team attacks the field with scythes and other tools, and each person is responsible for gathering a certain amount of product. Some team members have better skills or tools, and they collect wheat faster. When they fill their quota, they go home, and an overseer is responsible for ensuring all sections of wheat are harvested.
Individuals in a potential team repeat the same process, but they might share equipment or help each other meet quota. This ensures the entire field is harvested faster and the overseer isn't left cleaning up unfinished work.
The members of the real team gather alongside the field first. They present ideas for getting the job done, and they pool the tools and skills they have. They might build a machine or devise a process from what resources they have;
the wheat is harvested quickly and everyone is less stressed, less tired and happier with the outcome.
Any organization can have real teams — teams that ideate, plan and work together toward common goals. At Turnkey Coaching & Development Solutions, we offer customized team development programs to help you take pseudo- and potential teams and turn them into real teams.
The Five Behaviors of a Cohesive Team leadership team training and development program is tailored to meet your organization's very specific and unique needs and culture. Through training, coaching and team development, you can facilitate trust, strengthen your team members’ ability to deal with conflicts, and their collaborative skills, all of which come together to produce the results you want your executive and work teams to achieve.
When you're able to harness the talents and personalities of your team members to work together cohesively toward a common goal, everyone benefits. Imagine your team making smart decisions together, tapping into each person's special abilities, and staying focused cooperatively to get results. That's the kind of teamwork that provides your organization with the ability to compete at its best.
The right team training and development programs help your work groups move toward cohesive teams. At Turnkey Coaching & Development, we provide training for both small and large teams to ensure your entire group is equipped with the tools and skills needed to work inclusively, positively and productively. Whatever stage your team is at today, we can help them increase communication, collaborate more effectively and resolve conflict in positive, meaningful ways.
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