Leadership Team Development: Five Behaviors that Guarantee a More Cohesive, Effective Team in South Bend, IN

Proven Team Training and Team Assessment that Enables Cross-Functional Teams to Meet Business Goals in the South Bend area

Successful companies are run by cohesive teams that work together to achieve the same goals. That requires trust, excellent communication skills and a give-and-take flow that doesn’t come natural to every person or group. Our team development programs help work groups understand and practice the behaviors that put these traits in action, and we even provide assessment tools so teams can continuously gauge their progress and work to create an ever more positive, productive culture.

What Does an Effective Team Look Like?

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.

• Do the members of your team trust one another? Do they communicate with transparency and honesty, or do individuals try to protect themselves, often at the expense of others on the team? Once your team members are able to be vulnerable with each other, they can provide the support needed to reach common goals.
• Do the members of your team thrive in an atmosphere of healthy and supportive conflict? Are they able to address ideas constructively and honestly? Teams that are afraid of conflict often hinder their ability to create something exciting and to solve intractable problems, whereas teams that have learned to listen to the alternative points of view that arise during healthy conflict can move on to constructive solutions.
• Are the members of your team afraid to commit to decisions? Do they hesitate to come to a conclusion or even to state a clear opinion, perhaps out of fear that they'll be censured or mocked? If your leadership team has all the data and experience it needs, but they can't reach a decision, no plan of action can be executed.
• Does your team hold one another accountable for measurable results? Do they meet deadlines effectively, or do you hear countless excuses as to why an action item couldn't be accomplished? Team members that trust each other, that have explored all the options together, and that have committed to a clear and actionable plan are able to encourage each other toward completion because they share a desire for mutual success.
• Does your team have its eyes on the final goal? Do the members of your leadership team (or cross-functional team) know what they want to accomplish individually and collectively? Once you have the fundamental team development building blocks in place, your team can achieve the results they once only dreamed of.

Opportunities for Growth Mean Everything

Several recent studies by Gallup and the American Psychological Association reveal a distinct relationship between career-related stress and opportunities for learning in the workplace. Roughly 40 percent of participants reported significant levels of stress at work, and over 40 percent of those individuals said they felt stressed because of a lack of opportunity for growth or advancement. When polled, 89 percent of company owners blamed staff turnover on a quest for higher wages; in fact, only 12 percent of employees left to seek more profitable positions.

Taking these statistics into account, it appears reasonable to assume that most employees actually enjoy learning and want to advance beyond their current positions. Engaging and well-conceived team-building courses and team development programs can help unsteady teams grow into truly excellent teams who collectively produce results on behalf of your company. In turn, department employees benefit from better working environments, and staff turnover rates often fall as a result.

How Can You Evaluate Your Team?

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.

The Five Behaviors of Effective Teams

The need for psychological safety plays itself out as you work through team development, making itself evident in every stage of the process. These five behaviors join to create the environment in which a successful team can flourish.

1. Trust.
   Building the kind of trust that allows true vulnerability is vital for a team to thrive. Even a simple statement like, "Your solution to the problem is better than mine" can open doors that allow trust, empathy and insight to flourish.
   If an individual is worried that another member of the team is likely to use their weakness against them, take credit for their idea or make commitments they fail to keep, for example, the work team will fracture in an environment filled with a lack of trust. When team members can be honest about their misgivings and weaknesses, they're not afraid to admit if they make a mistake. That opens the door to being able to ask for help, making it possible for team members to join together to meet deadlines and achieve common goals.
   
   
2. Conflict
   Conflict is inevitable among any group of people. When you combine people with different gifts and personalities on a workplace team, however, conflict can cause progress to slam to a stop.
   Once trust is established, healthy conflict is achievable. When team members engage in healthy conflict, they're able to debate ideas on their merits rather than vying for political advantage. An environment that welcomes all ideas equally helps a team focus on finding solutions.
   
   
3. Commitment
   Your entire team doesn't have to agree on details to commit to decisions made. However, when individual team members feel they've been heard, it becomes easier to set aside personal agendas or desires to work together to achieve the goals of your organization. When it's clear that a decision has been made in the best interests of your organization, even team members who retain some modicum of disagreement can buy in to the actions to be taken.
   
   
4. Accountability
   In a truly cohesive team, the team leader doesn't have to become “the heavy” in demanding accountability. An effective team consists of members who hold each other accountable to meeting deadlines, taking appropriate action and adhering to the standards the group must meet. When a team member expects and receives consistent respect and trust from other members of the team, a call to accountability isn't taken as an insult but rather as a statement of shared responsibility.
   
   
5. Results
   With a team development program focusing on the Five Behaviors, you don't end up with a group of individuals who place their own agendas, egos or aspirations ahead of the team's goals. Instead, you see a true team with members who can set aside individual needs to achieve results.

The Importance of Customized Team Development Solutions

Moving through these stages and creating an environment of psychological safety isn't something that happens at a day-long event with people from other companies undergoing training as well. At Turnkey Coaching & Development Solutions, we design each program to meet the needs of each client, looking at specific goals, managerial levels and existing programs. We customize each team development program to be specific for your unique intact teams, operational teams, decision-making teams and work-groups to reach true effectiveness.

The Team Development Program That Moves Your Team Forward

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.