Team Building

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I. — Team Development Workshop

Team members need to function as ongoing partners, share resources, communicate openly, and make decisions that focus continuous improvement.  The success of teams will be influenced by the technical skills of their members, but these talents alone cannot insure that the teams will achieve their goals.  Teams need to be skillfully trained and developed if they are going to function most effectively.  The following workshop is useful for individuals as well as teams to learn key skills for enhancing team effectiveness.

Objectives

At the conclusion of the workshop, participants will be able to:

• Define teams and teamwork
• Implement an effective method for team chartering and kick-off
• Team alignment around goals and objectives
• Apply key steps to develop teamwork
• Team facilitation
• Define support needed for teams to be effective
• Define roles within a team
• Apply operating guidelines

II. — High Performance Team Start Up

Often a group of individuals is labeled a “team”, given a vague task or goal with a short time frame to accomplish the task, and is expected to be operating at a high performance level from the first day.  Unfortunately, asking a group to work as a team or calling them a team does not provide the tools, skills and experience to allow the team to quickly become effective.  The best results come when teams invest the time to do the “work” of building the team’s foundation up-front.

Teams must be chartered with a clear task or purpose.  The team start up process should include both planning to accomplish the goal as well as learning to work together as a team.  The team can then focus on continued development, working together for maximum results and continuous improvement.  The following process supports team start up and operation.

Teams can be used to introduce work improvements more rapidly, address complex challenges, provide the means for considering diverse perspectives, and bring new products to market in record time.  They can also be the basic structure for the organization where department or work group level teams operate on an on-going basis.

Phase I – Management Chartering of Team (1-3 hour facilitated session)

Management must provide a clear charter for each team so that the team knows what is expected of them, when and using what resources.  Phase I is a 1-3 hour facilitated session with management to clarify what is expected of the team, establish team boundaries and plan for team kick-off.
 

Phase II – Team Start-up and Planning (1-2 day facilitated process)

The team start-up process includes clarification of the team charter provided by management, making explicit commitments around team operations and planning for accomplishing the goal of the team.  During the session, the group is provided information on teams and then given the opportunity to determine how their team will operate.  Team Operating Guidelines will be established, a Communication Plan put in place and an initial team Operating Plan drafted.

Following the session, the team will start working together to achieve the goal of the team

Phase III – Team Support During Initial Operation 

During the initial stages of working together teams benefit from periodic working sessions to allow them to assess team operation and plan for improvement.  This is also an opportunity to provide additional information to the team about effective team practices.  It can also be used to support the team in working through problems or conflicts.

III. — Organizational Support for Teams

The Infrastructure in Place to Support Team Operation (facilitated process)

Teams are often put in place without adequate consideration being given to the initial team start-up, resources needed to operate effectively and on-going support required.  In this facilitated working session Management is provided with information about the infrastructure needed to support teams.  The management participants are then facilitated in a discussion determine what processes need to be put in place to support teams. 

Objectives

• At the conclusion of this workshop, participants will be able to describe the relevance for the following team support processes:
• Team based rewards
• Team start-up process
• Process for allocation of personnel to teams (staffing and de-staffing teams)
• Roles and responsibilities clarification
• Process for resolving conflicts between teams
• Team budget and resource tracking
• Team reporting requirements
• Communication and tracking of team results

IV. — Facilitator Training

Often a group of individuals is labeled a “team”, given a vague task or goal with a short time frame to accomplish

Teams benefit when effective facilitators support them.  This workshop focuses on developing key skills so that facilitators can work with teams as they develop.

Objectives

• At the conclusion of the workshop, participants will be able to:
• Describe the role of a facilitator
• Differentiate the role of the facilitator and leader
• Demonstrate key facilitation skills including focusing the discussion, summarizing and allowing for equal participation
• Structure discussions to achieve a specific end
• Describe methods for preventing and responding to challenging situations

The success of an Integrated Product Team (IPT) depends on the structure provided by the organization, the tools and processes used by the IPT and the skills of the team leader and members.  IPTs integrate customers and suppliers into the team so that they contribute to IPT success. The role of the customer in an IPT is often a significant change for many organizations.  To effectively work with customers in an IPT requires role and responsibility definition, boundary clarification, joint problem-solving processes and clarification of reporting requirements.  This workshop presents a process for IPT start-up and operation.

Objectives

 At the conclusion of the workshop, participants will be able to:

• Implement the key steps for IPT start-up
• Implement key steps for IPT operations
• Define requirements and develop plans to fill IPT goals