Develop great teamwork
Working in teams is not as easy as it looks. All sorts of things can get in the way of doing what needs to be done in a smart, effective and enjoyable way (not that all decisions are a pleasure to take, of course). High performing teams stand out in an organisation – they appear to have tremendous energy, they take the initiative, they lead from the front, they get things done. They take pleasure in and benefit from each other’s strengths, learn from one another and laugh a lot.
Sounds good? It’s not magic.
High performing teams do not occur by accident. Someone is shaping their performance – it might be the team leader, it might be a combination of team members. Whoever it is, they are doing something which brings the best out of the combined skills and strengths of the individuals in the team - all of them.
Bespoke programmes
That is the objective of Next Level Team Development Programmes. They focus on teams discovering for themselves what they need to do to be high performing. Discovering for themselves is important, because it enables them to pass on their new learning to other teams, particularly those for which individual team members have direct responsibility.
Programmes are shaped to fit the needs of a particular team but generally include some simple but extremely effective elements – understanding each other’s strengths and weaknesses, for example; agreeing what’s important; designing values which underpin behaviour and approach.
We introduce and use simple tools to address key issues – simple so that the team can not only use the tools easily in a workshop but can also use them in their day-to-day activity and pass them on so they are of use to others.
Case study: North West
Prior to initiating the coaching programme the individual team members were largely working in isolation. Poor communication was evident across functions.
Through the programme the team established and owned a set of clear behaviours that were then cascaded through their teams.
They set joint priorities to ensure success for the business unit as a whole and they committed to an open and honest form of communication, sharing and supporting each other with personal challenges.
The feedback from the reports to the functional manager confirmed that the programme had benefited the business unit as a whole, particularly with respect to open communication.
General Manager
North West