Four Keys For Groups

A team I was working with last week came up with four key ground rules for their team building session. As their facilitator, I was impressed at how the four keys matched up with the Insights Discovery model. The keys were:

Say What You Think
They all agreed that it was important that if someone had an idea, or an issue, they should raise it and not bottle it up.

Watch What Happens
We all tend to live a lot of our lives on "autopilot". To get the most from teambuilding we have to raise our awareness of ourselves and others and what is happening.

Support Each Other
This is the caveat to "Say What You Think"! Disagreements can be expressed in a constructive way; don't let things get personal.

Have Fun
Some people had come to the session straight from an overnight shift, with just a packet of biscuits for breakfast! Their ability to dive in and be as enthusiastic as everyone else really impressed me.

How you you use these four keys to make sure you get the most out of working with others this week?

All the best,

Dave Bull
Team Coaching Network Ltd
http://www.teamcoachingnetwork.com

Encouraging Mutual Support

I attended a networking event with a difference this morning. Paul Cornish of CW Concepts facilitated the meeting, where each individual was asked for one challenge they were currently facing. Other attendees then asked questions, gave suggestions and provided encouragement. I personally came away with some very useful and practicable ideas and so did many of the others, I'm sure.

How can we use this idea to make our teams more effective? The fact is that for any one person in your team with a problem, there are often at least two with potential answers. If you've created an atmosphere where people feel comfortable to speak up about challenges, it's an easy step to open each one to the whole group to provide suggestions and advice.

All the best,

Dave Bull
Team Coaching Network Ltd
http://www.teamcoachingnetwork.com

The Power of Self Awareness

I did some work recently with the national sales team of an international manfuacturing company. I called the manager yesterday to get some feedback on how the team are doing, and what they are applying, and was just overwhelmed by her enthusiasm for the changes she's seen in her team.

One of the things she mentioned was their changed behaviour in team meetings; previously only "the usual suspects" ever spoke up, conversations tended to be circular, the manager's requests for ideas and contributions were met with embarrasing silence. (Think wind and tumbleweeds!)

During the sessions we used a personality model http://www.insights.com to raise their self-awareness and give them a non-judgmental language to describe behaviour.

Now she's seeing enthusiastic, creative discussions, everyone contributing, team members not flinching when confronted with their "difficult" customers, and a significant increase in sales figures.

The team building effect of raising people's self awareness through an accredited personality theory such as Insights Discovery or MBTI is amazing. People seem naturally fascinated with this stuff - which makes it easier to teach - and can actually apply the model to themselves, to colleagues, to customers, the moment they walk out of the seminar room.

Getting a new team working together effectively doesn't need to be black magic - it could easily be Blue, Green, Yellow and Red magic! (Go the the Insights website if you don't know what I mean!)

All the best,

Dave Bull
Team Coaching Network Ltd
http://www.teamcoachingnetwork.com