DRI Consulting: Team Development
“Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success.” - Henry Ford
A team is a group of people who come together to achieve a purpose. There is no magic formula for building a team. Teams grow and change, and we study how they work, which affords great capability in helping members learn how to work effectively together. The leadership team is the first and most important factor of organizational success. Teams go through natural and predictable stages, identified by Bruce Tuckman:
- Forming: The group comes together and gets to initially know one another.
- Storming: A chaotic vying for leadership and trialing of group processes.
- Norming: Agreement is reached on how the group will operate.
- Performing: The group practices its craft and becomes effective in meeting its objectives.
- Adjourning: The process of “unforming” the group, or letting go of the group structure and moving on.
Movement through these stages can occur faster and better with conscious effort, some key activities, and outside help. Being purposeful, intentional, and conscious about situations – as individuals and collectively as a team – is essential, and makes a difference in success. Setting performance goals works here, and implementing some kind of checks and balances ensures accountability.
How we help:
We work closely and quickly with clients and help them leverage what is already good and working in order to:
- Get to know the organization, the team and its individuals – where they are and where they want to be;
- Identify the vital few and timely things that will close these gaps, affirming what is good and working already; and
- Work with the team and its individuals, according to-sagreed upon plan and budget, to:
- get results,
- build the team,
- build skills for capacity and sustainability, and
- have fun!
Key tools we use:
- Information gathering tools (based on business and psychological science) – surveys, interviews, observation, testing;
- Facilitated work sessions/team building – with pre-work, co-delivery, real-world focus – done incrementally within the agreed upon timeframe;
- Metrics to track progress and results;
- Individual consultations/coaching; and
- Website as project bulletin board.
