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Team Development
Effective teamworking has long been recognised as a key factor in high-performing businesses.
With the changing shape of organisations today, individuals are increasingly being called upon to participate in many and different types of team, such as:
- Global teams spread across different locations and time zones.
- Temporary teams set up for a specific purpose, such as projects.
- Cross-functional teams, with different skill sets and priorities.
- Virtual teams that may only meet occasionally.
Teamworking is now even more essential in these new types of team. However, the concept of team development programmes is still largely misunderstood. Mention team development and many people think of teambuilding activities, such as playing games, driving off road vehicles or making videos.
Whilst these events are undoubtedly good fun and can contribute towards building team spirit, true team development is far more complex. It is generally a longer-term process that involves assessment of a team%uFFFDs skills and improvement opportunities and the design and implementation of a programme of activities to increase the effectiveness of the team.
With our background in training, business and event management, Pearlcatchers Ltd are perfectly placed to design tailored team development programmes to cover a wide range of objectives, such as:
- To recognise the importance of teamworking.
- To develop a team identity and sense of purpose.
- To work through the stages of team development and build trust and morale.
- To better handle problem people or conflict between team members.
- To understand how the role of each team fits into the overall objectives of each department - and how this in turn relates to corporate strategy.
- To introduce the concept of the internal customer within departments.
- To address specific issues that cause ongoing friction between key departments.
- To increase awareness of the constraints and requirements under which different departments operate and how this impacts the service they are able to offer others.
- To better understand the impact of your actions on other departments.
- To break down departmental silos and streamline processes.
- To recognise the value and power of virtual teams and matrix management.
- To aid in the establishment and management of cross functional and virtual teams.
- To raise awareness of the possibility of belonging to many different teams in parallel and the important role individuals play in each of these teams.
- To assist individuals in become members of a global team.
- To recognise the importance of agreeing common purpose as soon as possible to ensure the success of project teams.
- To prepare a team for a time of change.
- To improve productivity, motivation and employee satisfaction.
- To implement a team briefing or team listening programme.
So what is different about Pearlcatchers' approach?
- Focus - Although having fun is important, our focus throughout remains on achieving the objectives the client has specified for the event.
- The individual as part of the team - effective teamworking relies on the input of all team members. Therefore, many of our activities revolve around the team identifying and utilising the strengths of different team members.
- Debrief - often missed on teambuilding activities, this is the most important session of any teambuilding activity with Pearlcatchers, as it changes the game from just a fun activity to a memorable learning experience.
- Observation - we use trained observers who, as well as facilitating the session, can (if required) assess how well the team and individuals work together and then give feedback on what went well and what did not.
- Theory into Practice - because we are trainers as well as teambuilders, we understand the concepts of team dynamics, team roles etc. and can apply such theories to the events of the day.
- Variety - we are able to offer a comprehensive range of activities and techniques as part of our team development programmes from short and simple team games to formal assessments and self-analysis to full day workshops incorporating theory, practice and a range of activities.
Breaking Down Departmental Silos
Silo working is a key issue today and Pearlcatchers specialise in helping teams to work across boundaries. One particularly useful activity is the Love Letters Workshop - an interactive team activity, based on the work of Richard Pascale, a practitioner of 'chaos management' and author of 'The Art of Japanese Management' and 'Managing on the Edge'.
This highly facilitated session allows teams/departments to identify the major cause of problems in their area, refine these down to specific requests to other areas, which are then 'posted' to that area. Each team then investigates the 'love letters' they have received and attempt to develop resolution strategies. The teams are then brought back together for a group discussion on a selection of the issues and to agree how they will work together in the future.
Please also refer to our Teambuilding and Motivationsection for further details on some of the games and activities we provide.
