Building Better Teams

Teams are an important building block of successful organizations. Whether the focus is on service, quality, cost, value, speed, efficiency, performance, or other similar goals, teams are the basic unit that supports most organizations. 
With teams at the core of corporate strategy, an organization’s success can depend on how well team members operate together. How are their problem-solving skills? Is the team enthusiastic and motivated to do its best? Do they work well together? This one-day course can help participants get there!

Audience

This workshop will be useful for team members and their leaders who want to learn the basics of creating a cohesive and well functioning Team.
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Prerequisites

There are no pre-requisites for this workshop.

Workshop Outcomes

This one-day workshop will teach participants:
  • The value of working as a team
  • Ways to develop team norms, ground rules, and team contracts
  • How to identify their team player style and how to use it with their own team
  • Techniques for building team trust
  • The stages of team development and how to help a team move through them
  • The critical role communication skills will play in building and maintaining a team atmosphere
  • Ways that team members can be involved and grow in a team setting

Workshop Outline

The following is a list of modules which can be taught as part of this workshop.



Course Overview
You will spend the first part of the day getting to know participants and discussing what will take place during the workshop. Students will also have an opportunity to identify their personal learning objectives.

Defining Teams
To get started, you will help participants define what a team is and what different kinds of teams there are. Participants will also demonstrate synergy through a simple exercise.

Establishing Team Norms
This session will look at some of the advantages and disadvantages of teams. Participants will also explore ground rules and team contracts.

Working as a Team
During this session, participants will learn how to use the Degrees of Support to help a team work through controversial issues.

Your Team Player Type
Next, participants will score their pre-assignment and identify their team player type. Participants will then work in small groups to discuss the strengths and weaknesses of their type and how to use this information to their advantage.

Building Team Trust
Trust is one of those mainstay virtues. It is the bond that allows any kind of significant relationship to exist between people. In this session, participants will explore some ways to establish and build trust on their team.

The Stages of Team Development
Every group of people, whether they are a team or just a group working together, grows and evolves. Participants will spend this session looking at Tuckman and Jensen’s five stages of team development: forming, storming, norming, performing, and adjourning.

Team Building with TORI
Another way of looking at team development is the TORI model, developed by Jack and Lorraine Gibb. Participants will experience this model through a fun exercise.

Communication
If a team is going to succeed, they must be able to communicate well with each other. This session will cover some basic principles of communication.

Becoming a Good Team Player
To wrap the course up, participants will think about ways to increase interaction among their team and build trust.

Workshop Wrap-Up
At the end of the day, students will have an opportunity to ask questions and fill out an action plan.