Team Building
“In the past thirty years or so, teamworking has grown in importance. Until relatively recently, roles at work were well defined. But with advances in technology and education, employers began to place a growing emphasis on versatility, leading to an increasing interest in teamworking at all levels”
CIPD Teamworking Factsheet 2006
- Assess the strengths and gaps within teams through group and individual assessment using psychometrics
- Improve overall performance and communication between members.
How do you make the most of your teams and of the individuals within them? What are the strengths, weaknesses and gaps within your team? Are the individuals within the team making the most of their natural personal attributes? Can they work on some of their behaviours to improve their performance? Have the individuals in your team ever sat down together and discussed how they operate as a team? Have they ever considered the makeup of the team?
When you recruit do you hire people like yourself rather than people who have different ideas and contrary ways of working from you? If so, maybe your team is unbalanced and has a “gap” in its formation. Alternatively, why not assess your team’s assets and capitalise upon them?
The permutations of how Team Building events can be run are endless. But once it has been decided what it is you want to achieve, an event, short or long, using psychometric tools as appropriate, can be put together to accomplish your objectives. The benefits of Team Building events are usually realised over time as mutual trust grows, communication improves and individuals feel more confident that they are part of a group dedicated to the achievement of common goals.
Case Study: Team Building/Cultural Change
Background
Fundamental restructuring had taken place within the Purchasing & Facilities Division of First Data Europe, a leading credit card transaction processing company. The Director, Ingrid Jacobsen, now had the team members in place, ready to deliver a top service. But how could she get them to gel together and how could she improve her relationship with them?
What did we do?
We started with her top tier - her direct report managers. They undertook the Myers Briggs Type Indicator and gained an understanding of the make up of the team. This helped them to appreciate the differences between themselves and the value that each brought.
Next we employed a simple feedback game, looking at strengths and weaknesses. The Director set the scene and explained the importance of honesty and truth. The first thing she did was to admit to her own faults. Each member of the team gave an appraisal of every other member of the team in terms of strengths and weaknesses, giving examples where possible. The recipients asked for further information where they were puzzled by the feedback, be it negative or positive, as well as providing an explanation of their behaviour. Greater understanding was achieved and a physical relief was experienced in having this honest communication. Each team member publicly committed there and then to improve.
What was the result?
Now the staff joke about each-other’s behaviour! This banter encourages openness and has taken much of the tension out of the office. For example, individuals who did not realise that they can sometimes appear aggressive now understand that they must temper their approach in order to gain a better response from others. If they fall back into their old ways, their colleagues can legitimately correct them. It actually works!
The feedback exercise was cascaded down through the whole Division. A significant difference was perceived in the morale of the staff. Ingrid Jacobsen remarked, “There really is a different atmosphere. People are markedly more friendly with each-other. I’ve gone a step further: I’ve written my good and bad behaviours up in my office and colour coded them. If I lapse at any point during a meeting, the staff shout ‘red behaviour!’ It really eases the situation, lets us have a laugh and actually makes me personally perform better. You don’t have to do anything complicated to change people’s relationships within a group. Straight talking and honest feedback given in a supportive and constructive way works brilliantly!”
She added, “My Purchasing role inclines me to consider hard financial savings. As a result of this cultural change we have delivered record savings to the bottom line with 250% performance versus target. We have also delivered record levels of employee satisfaction with a number of older individuals now positively seeking out personal development opportunities. We have thus been able to achieve both hard financial savings as well as high motivation, which are often considered either/or options”.