Is your team underperforming?
Are intra-team distractions impacting team performance?
Are you losing good employees?
TEAM DEVELOPMENT
Organizational leaders often learn that building and maintaining a collaborative, cooperative, high-performing team is one of the most challenging obstacles they will face. When team chemistry problems and intra-team conflict arises, most leaders find themselves spinning their wheels, recognizing they have a problem, but unsure of what to do to improve the situation. What they may not realize is that poor team dynamics impacts everyone on the team and causes decreased performance and commitment. It also often results in retention issues as good employees seek employment elsewhere.
We use the term team development rather than team building because most typical team building includes "feel-good" out-of-the-office activities with little, if any, strategic purpose. Research shows these "team building" events rarely have any long-term results. Our team development programs and workshops help team members and leaders get to the root of team-related issues, address the issues, and learn how to work together more effectively - so everyone is more satisfied and effective long-term. Our programs and workshops are focused on becoming more aware of personal and team strengths and preferences, building stronger relationships with teammates, and improving team communication and collaboration.
Customized Programs
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Because teams are comprised of different individuals, each team has different issues and challenges. That's why our team development programs are customized to diagnose and address day-to-day issues that impact performance and team member satisfaction. We work with managers and leaders to identify perceived issues then develop methods to assess and address the issues.
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More often than not, what leaders and managers believe is causing poor team performance or dissatisfaction is only part of the story. We have expertise in using and interpreting psychometric assessments and use a variety of validated assessments (eg: Gallup Strengthsfinder, NEO-PI-R, Communication Styles, Thomas-Kilman, Organization Network Analysis) to evaluate team functioning, diagnose team problems, and design team development sessions that help get everyone on the same page and headed toward higher performance.
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The image depicts connections between three different teams (red, blue, and green). The image shows that Patti (blue) is particularly well connected, not only within her own team, but also with the red and green teams. She is likely "in the know." Conversely, Rebecca (blue), Pamela (red), Bernie (green) and Ana Maria (green) are not well connected to others. These employees may be at risk of leaving the organization if attempts to connect them are not implemented. Factors like leadership, trust, communication, and perceived knowledge, can also be examined with a team network analysis.
One insightful team assessment is an Organization Network Analysis (ONA), shown above. An organization network analysis provides a visualization of networks within a team or organization and can help leaders gain insights about important factors that impact team performance including communication, leadership, trust, and connectedness.
Gaining insights about team members who are not well connected to other team members, for example, can help leaders implement specific retention strategies to better connect that team member before he or she leaves the organization. Likewise, learning which team members are perceived as leaders by other team members can help leadership teams select and begin developing future leaders.
Bringing together disparate personalities to form a team is like a jigsaw puzzle...We want to make sure our players fit together properly and complement each other...If personalities work against each other, as a team, you'll find yourself spinning your wheels. - Pat Summit, University of Tennessee Women's Basketball Coach
TEAM DEVELOPMENT OUTCOMES AND SATISFACTION
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"Your workshop with us last week was incredible. People are still talking about it and how it helped us understand each other better and communicate more effectively." NCAA D2 Head Coach
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“I learned the importance of collaboration and sharing my observations with teammates.” USACE participant​
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“We had to be efficient and listen to each other, be open-minded, and take risks.” USACE participant
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“Each team member was open to hearing the other perspective and willing to discuss different options.” USACE participant
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“I learned I can lead a team and that it’s okay to say, no we are not doing this.” USACE participant
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“I enjoy working on team projects more than I thought I did.” USACE participant
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"Wow! This is spot on information. Really outstanding and awesome stuff! Everything you shared about our team last year (personality and social networks) was true. It was amazing! We want you to work with our coaches and team again this year. NCAA D1 Head Coach
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Our personality insights have been most helpful on the coaching side. Getting a better idea of how players respond in competitive situations and how they view themselves has helped us with coaching and instruction...Thanks for all you have done!" NCAA D3 Head Coach
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I understand now how everyone is different. I think this has truly helped my team see how our differences can benefit us not hinder us. NCAA D1 athlete
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Just simply knowing how different people are has made it easier to understand and overcome differences or small miscommunication. NCAA D2 Athlete
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Team Development Clients Include:
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US Army Corps of Engineers, Kansas City
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US Army Corps of Engineers, Walla Walla, WA
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University of South Dakota Softball Team
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University of Central Missouri Softball and Volleyball Teams
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University of Missouri Kansas City Softball Team
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Washburn University Softball Team
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Emporia State University Softball Team