Corporate Team Building Events & Training
Unless you are a hermit, you have likely worked with others in a cooperative way at some point in your life. Working with others toward a common goal is usually the purpose of a team. The larger and more complex the organization the more likely it is that different people come together for form a team and often it is a different constellation of people.
When people do the same things over and over again, they usually get pretty good at it. If that is true then why aren’t we more successful in teams? Why is it that each project taken on by a team looks like people have never worked with another person before?
The answer is that each project and its team are unique and most members have not learned the essential skills and characteristics required to be successful. Sometimes the members of the team have “just clicked” and at other times there is a total breakdown with virtual open warfare.
There are some skills, knowledge and attitudes which can dramatically affect the success or failure of a team and when understood and mastered have a dramatic impact on the success of a team effort. The first and likely the most important characteristic of a successful team is that they agree on their purpose and the outcome desired. As fundamental as it appears, it is all too often ignored.
Successful teams also understand the strengths, weaknesses, preferences, avoidances, and stressors of one another. This doesn’t mean that all team members have to have a psychological profile that is shown to the team, rather there is an introductory period where the most likely behaviors one can expect are revealed, often though the use of one of the many profiles available (DISC, SDI, MB, etc.)
Open communication is important as is the ability to value differences. One of the reasons for addressing a project or task as a team is to bring together different perspectives and skills. Interestingly, these differences are often treated with disdain or so much noise that different ideas are not heard.
Among the other characteristics of successful teams is making a commitment to the team. If it is just another burden to be carried and tolerated, it shows and affects other team members. The same is true if there is not an agreed upon set of rules or norms. Each team has its own culture and that can include a culture of chaos. Establish the culture or it norms and rules early on, it will save lots of time and energy as well as provide grease for the wheels of progress and decision making.
The last critical item is follow through. It is not only important for each member to accept responsibility but the team as a whole needs to do what it says it will, when it says it will and how it says it will. |
