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.
To build up a team, you first have to discover that team’s most glaring pain points. The Five Dysfunctions of a Team by Patrick Lencioni outlines the following:
Each dysfunction forms a pillar supporting the team as a whole; even one weak column increases the threat of collapse. High-performing teams aren’t necessarily perfect and rarely (if ever) are all five dysfunctions permanently banished. Instead, team members are constantly asking questions, re-evaluating their individual roles and interpersonal skills, and addressing any changes that need to be made.
Our leadership team development experts turn training retreats into launching pads, igniting long-term discussions that create enduring and positive change. Patterns shift, attitudes evolve, and groups acquire a deep understanding of where they are so they can consciously influence where it is they want to go.
In 2012, Google began a new research project in team development, which it dubbed Project Aristotle. The Googlers studied 180 productive, effective teams but couldn't figure out what they had in common. Was it hierarchical structure? No. Did the team members have compatible backgrounds or personality types? Sometimes, but not always. Were all the team members friends who hung out together after work? Again, sometimes.
The Google researchers drilled deeper and deeper, finally discovering the one element that all great teams share: psychological safety.
According to Harvard Business School professor Amy Edmondson, psychological safety is the "shared belief held by members of a team that the team is safe for interpersonal risk-taking." To reach a point of psychological safety, trust is vital, as is the ability to disagree in a healthy manner.
The Project Aristotle researchers then looked at how psychological safety manifests itself in healthy teams,
highlighting two defining factors that show up in the give-and-take of the top productive teams.
On the flip side of dysfunction, you’ll find both power and purpose — two things our team training initiatives are designed to achieve. The heart of that journey is an assessment-based learning experience called
The Five Behaviors of a Cohesive Team.
This model turns the dysfunctions above on their heads, reintroducing those pain points into tools.
By learning about each team member and educating them on their own key behavioral characteristics — powered by Everything DiSC® or AllTypes (MBTI)— we begin to break down each group into its most elemental components so we can better structure a more capable and vigorous whole. You’ll discover more about yourself than you thought possible as you watch your own processes improve, but the real magic is in witnessing how each individual’s attributes gradually interlock with their teammates’.
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.
Many experts refer to team building as one of the most important investments you can make. Improving team cohesion and function means making better decisions based on aggregate input, wasting less time, and, perhaps most importantly, boosting your bottom line. Whether you’re a nonprofit or a Fortune 500 company, success can be quantified and a high-functioning team creates superior outcomes.
Speaking of quantifying results: every group that completes the Five Behaviors assessment is eligible for a Progress Report six to 12 months later. This serves to reinforce the idea that change is not a single step forward but rather a treadmill — you’re never truly “there,” but you can increase your endurance, lengthen your stride, and teach your body to work more efficiently and effectively so you’re in a position to re-imagine your goal into something even bigger and better.
Turnkey Coaching & Development Solutions designs training and employee development programs for leadership teams, work teams and cross-functional teams. Our curriculum uses research backed building blocks and then is custom-built for each client’s unique needs, goals, and team makeup. We create a one-of-a-kind “adult-learning” environment and agenda that’s tailor-made and remarkably effective. Most companies come to us with between 10 and 30 employees at time, allowing for targeted training that compels progress.
We have two programs:
Single-Day Team Development Training
Provides an intense overview of what high-performing teams must learn to outperform their competitors and fulfill their goals. When your team only has a single day to give to the goal of effective teamwork, this is the program that can change the course in a snap.
Team Development for Lasting Change Program
This is not a quick "day program" or a cookie-cutter seminar that repeats word for word from city to city. Instead, we offer a laser-focused approach that uses the best practices in leadership development and work team development to help your team not only create but sustain results.
Turnkey Coaching & Development Solutions has programs across the United States, centered in all major metropolitan areas. Dates and times are set according to your needs, reflecting our adherence to client-centric systems. You’re not sending your leaders to participate in a managerial meet-and-greet or to learn skills that only hold unilateral benefits. This is coordinated learning founded on well-respected principles molded to fit your team’s makeup, and it truly works.
First-rate teams aren’t born; they’re built out of hard work, positive intentions and a recognition that every piece of the puzzle brings something integral to the table. Those realizations often flourish only as the result of outside guidance — the assistance of a specialist who can see not just the big picture but how each brush stroke complements the next. By investing in development, you invest in the people with the ability to turn your business’s trials into triumphs.
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