Team Building

Team Building Sessions

Team Building for us means creating deeper understanding among members about individual and team strengths, forging stronger connections among them, and inspiring them to lead in ways that create conditions for excellence.  We have a credo that says: no games, no gifts, no gimmicks – let’s focus on the critical conversations we need to have to move things forward in the best way.  Of course there can be lightness and fun in the process and we do at times use simulations or experiential activities, but only with a clear intention to help highlight learning useful to the team.

Customized on-line team assessments

  • Efficient – easy to take – no more than 15 minutes
  • Best Practice Based – pulling from a variety of sources
  • Assess Team Focus – strategic, operational, tactical
  • The Team in Context – external influences on team dynamics
  • Useful Reports – highlighting strengths, weaknesses and questions to explore
  • Focuses Discussion – leverage strengths, change to enhance effectiveness
  • Sets Up Team Member Feedback Process – how behavior impacts team results

Hundreds of teams have benefited from our assessments including teams at: Pearson, plc; Nokia; DSM Pharma; US Army; USAID-Kosovo, Serbia, Liberia; and Colleges and Universities

Rigorous Behavioral Feedback

Imagine a frank, open conversation among your team members about each person’s great strengths, how these support team results and what each can do differently (stop, start, change) to enhance team effectiveness.  Not for all teams all the time – when the time is right it’s transformative.

Teams in Trouble

Over the years we’ve worked with a variety of ‘teams in trouble’ …

  • A breakdown between two executives on a leadership team – both very valuable and leading their functions well, yet their inability to work together is compromising the effectiveness of the top team and hampers collaboration between their functions at other levels…
  • A millennial sales force threatening mutiny at a critical moment in the annual business cycle …
  • A major IT system breakdown leaves executive leadership wondering how this could happen
  • A stalled change process – needing to step back, take stock, learn from what’s transpired and re-engage with the change
  • A strategy that’s well conceived but isn’t getting traction – how to engage the top tiers of leadership productively
  • A newly hired executive flames out, what happened – bad selection, sabotage, cultural factors…
  • Higher than normal turn over – increased hiring costs, good talent leaving, poor glass door reviews…
  • Low morale impacting customer service and results

With some teams in trouble, it’s a matter of taking swift, decisive action.  With others, the stakes are high and the way forward is less clear, calling for a thoughtful approach, good judgment and skilled intervention to understand what’s going on and find workable solutions.  The focus is on averting the crisis and building for the longer run.  Leaders who have engaged us in these situations have come to trust our judgment and approach, finding us a helpful partner in understanding what’s going on and crafting workable ways forward.  If you have a team in trouble or a stalled process, give us a call.