Team Building
The Need
It’s important to hire highly qualified and motivated employees, but recruiting is only the first step on the path of talent management. When it comes to effective teams, you’ll find that there’s “some assembly required.” Whether your team members are all in one building or working virtually in offices across the globe, you won’t get the true benefit of their abilities until you can get them working together smoothly and happily. Whether you are forming a new team or have an existing group that is struggling, your people will need creative and innovative team building strategies in order to become the kind of high-performance team that you expect them to be.
“Last week’s meeting was very productive and a positive step forward for our Management Team members. Todd did a great job moderating/challenging each of us during the workshop and helped us identify some major gaps/re-alignments needed in our management styles.”
How We Fill It
At Interglobe, we’ve been helping teams reach their maximum potential for over 15 years. In industries as varied as automotive, electronics, high-tech, medical equipment, pharmaceuticals, plastics, software development and telecommunications, our clients appreciate the customized approach we take to their particular problems and goals. Because we are used to working in multiple cultures and countries, we are able to easily address the unique challenges of multicultural and virtual teams. And, because follow-up work is designed into your team building program, you can be assured that you’ll get sustainable results when you work with Interglobe.
A team building program can take place as part of a team kick-off process when a new team is formed as a result of a re-organization or to address a new business need. However, we also frequently work with existing teams with issues that have been simmering for a while. Any time you have a group of people who need to improve output and/or increase team spirit, we can help.
Our Methodology
Before your program begins, we will conduct in-depth needs assessment interviews with each participant as well as sponsors and other stakeholders. This helps the facilitator(s) identify team strengths and challenges as well as expected outcomes.
Whenever possible, our team building programs are co-facilitated by two trainers in order to model the effective team behavior that your employees are striving to achieve. The trainer team will consist of two bicultural, bilingual, experienced team facilitators who offer two diverse but complimentary perspectives and approaches. The role of the facilitators is to give the team process the necessary space to unfold in productive and sometimes spontaneous ways, yet to keep the team on track with regard to the workshop objectives.
Because not everyone has the same learning style, all of our programs contain a variety of learning methodologies, including short lectures, partner and small group activities, critical incidents, simulations, problem-solving exercises, as well as creativity exercises and physical and mental energizers – in the classroom and outside.
Our facilitators strive to create an inspiring and synergy-enhancing working environment in which differences can be openly addressed and handled. However, we strongly believe in an appreciative approach where the focus lies less on problems and challenges but rather, first and foremost, on team strengths and on what is working well.
The theoretical foundations of Interglobe’s team building programs include Whole Systems Design, Appreciative Inquiry (David Cooperrider), Thresholds of Collective Wisdom (Angeles Arrien) and Personal Leadership (Sheila Ramsay, Barbara Schaetti and Gordon Watanabe).
What You Can Expect
At Interglobe, all of our team building programs are custom designed. Typically, they are held for two days and two evenings at an off-site location conducive to outdoor activities and close to nature. Typical program objectives include:
- Identify the strengths and weaknesses of the team.
- Address team stumbling blocks and work collaboratively toward solving the issues.
- Establish clear and concise team communication norms.
- Identify sustainable team values, mission and vision.
- Clarify team roles and responsibilities.
- Develop team spirit and a collaborative attitude.
- Create personal and team action plans, and decide on next steps.
- Secure commitment to action plans and regular check-ups on team process and progress.
Results
Teams who have used our team building programs report results including the following:
- Integration of culturally divergent team members and bridging of cultural differences
- Clearer vision of joint goals and objectives
- Greater clarity regarding team processes and resource use
- Improved understanding of tasks, boundaries, roles and responsibilities
- Increased trust, respect and team spirit
- Higher motivation and productivity