Brenda
I guess the first question is what are you trying to with team - is a
project to be delivered or is a workplace team that will perform a task
day in day out or is it a virtual team that will come together
occassionally to address a specfic issue - the answer will shape the team
building approach. I'm sure that you will get a lot of relevent advice
from the list if you could post a little more infor on the context for
team building -e.g. purpose, participants, timescales, constraints,
success criteria etc.
I'm also happy to talk on the phone as I find it more effective than text.
In the meantime here are some thoughts which were directed at another list
enquiry a few dyas ago - they may be of help.
1. commissioning the teams - once a project is identified, we hold an
initiation workshop lasting half a day where all of the key senior people
- or as many as possible - get together to agree issues to be addressed by
the team, scope, objectives etc. This lasts half a day and normmally
teases out a lot of the early misconceptions. They also idenitfy potential
tream members. horse trading and volunteer drives then go on and the team
is brought together for a day or so with the original group (where
possible) to tease out a morte detail scope and project definition / high
level plan and identify potential issues / allocate responsibility for
resolution amongst the team and the mgt. It also helps get over initial
confusion and people can decide quickly if they don't want to be on board.
i'm sure youv'e been involved in such activities but I can let you have
examples of workshop designs we've used.
We find the teams really get mobilised well and ther is a much stronger
shared understanding - you need to keep testing and reinforcing that
understanding but it is a good way to get going, clarify the org-wide
understanding of the project remit and create momentum.
2. Team support infrastructures - we usew a mixture of sponsor, steering
groups, task force (the team), advisory groups, brainstorming sessions
involvcing all of them, workshops, open forum discussions, invited
speakers (external and internal - for example we've had the CEO in on
several occasions to help us cut through complexity or clarify
relationships with parallel projects), workshops with other project teams,
projetc forums where terams report to each other and the break out to
discuss issues), newsletters etc. etc. the key issues seem to be regular
contact amongst the team, continued contact with the world outside the
team and a clear team charter. It sounds tacky to some, but we find it
really helpful to spend time up front getting the team to define the
values, acceptable behaviours, ground rules, etc
3. Team reporting - paper or electronic bulleting boards work extremely
well - making this two way can also help so that others can ask questions
of the team. Another method is the forums within and across teams to share
learning, discuss and work on issues, plan next steps, etc.
althougn much of what I've said relates to projects, we've adapted the
principles quite effectively for work teams, continuous improvement teams
and permananent cross-functional teams.
A final thought, we've found that the more shared experiences you can put
the team through at the start - be it workshops, training, fun events etc,
the stronger the bond and the more effective the common language they
create - obvious I know but so powerful to see it practice!
Regards
Rohit Talwar
Tel 44 171 435 3570
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