“We are by nature a tribal people”
- Linda EllerbeeTeambuilding
Competent teams operating at their maximum potential are critical to an organization’s profitability and success. However, problems such as an absence of trust, difficulty allowing for constructive conflict, a lack of commitment to team goals and a lack of individual accountability both inside and outside the team may arise. This will guarantee difficulty for teams to consistently perform at a high level and achieve the desired business results.
Some signs of below-par team performance are:
- A lack of openness and honesty within the team.
- Difficult issues not being discussed and opinions being ignored.
- “Groupthink” leading to poor decision-making.
- Poor performance by team members being ignored.
- Use of blame to deflect attention from poor team results.
- Team members going behind the team to cut back-room deals.
TMG’s teambuilding mission is to eliminate these problems and to work with teams to develop productive and supportive behaviors that foster commitment and attention to results. Our structured, experientially-based team development processes provide teams with the structure, support and skill-building to resolve these challenges.
Regardless of any team’s performance, its members should periodically step back from their daily tasks and activities to refresh and review how they are working together. We provide ongoing team “tune-ups” to ensure that team performance continues to improve.
- Organizations have enlisted our help in building and renewing their teams when they need to:
- Build new teams from scratch.
- Move new and existing management teams to higher performance.
- Develop team leaders.
- Build virtual teams that require building distance team management and relationship skills.
- Repair poor team functioning.
Examples of client assignments
The sales organization of a major cable TV content provider wanted to use cross-location teams to create and implement sales strategies for their major customers. The Mayhew Group consulted with sales management and provided a team rollout plan. We then prepared management to manage, evaluate and reward the teams. We also trained the team leaders and team coaches in team management skills. The result of this work was improved cable operator penetration and an increased subscriber base for the operators.
The newly appointed Head of Engineering for a global gaming manufacturer inherited a group of executives that were individually effective but did not consider themselves a team. We were asked to conduct an assessment to determine what was needed to create a high-functioning executive team. After the assessment process was completed we conducted a team retreat for the executives. We used our assessment data to identify how they could work together more effectively and then combined experiential activities with discussion of their business issues to build team skills and create team commitments. We then conducted a series of retreats for their management staff to build alignment and commitment around the division’s vision and strategies. These events resulted in the Engineering executive team operating with increased trust, support and renewed commitment to achieving their team goals.
You must be logged in to post a comment.