TEAM BUILDING:  REQUIREMENT OF AN INTERVENTION

 Team building has been one of the dominant needs of organizations. For fulfilling this need , a range of training programs have been designed and implemented.The predominant approach to team building has emerged from the psychological & the socio-psychological sciences.The outcome focus has always been the development of team oriented perspectives,emotions,feelings & skills.For this purpose trainers have been triggering conceptual learning & experiential learning through team exercises followed by group analysis & synthesis of learning.
 

 

                                                   FIG.1
 Some software organizations , where "Team Building" has been a key focus area , all the project teams have gone through such workshops. Most of these workshops have managed to get good feedback .However visible changes in team working and  team performance have not materialized. Sharing the comment of a participant of a "Team Building" Workshop, "The workshop was good. After 1/2 weeks of implementation , it was felt that the changes would not work . So , they were dropped ".
 
 Let us examine another case of a workshop on Team Building,which was conducted around 4 years back.It was a roaring success in terms of participant satisfaction & feedback.During the workshop ,  a team process called , "Team Open Feedback" was identified for implementation.After 3 months of the workshop it was found  that no team process , identified during the workshop, had been implemented .  This happened, inspite of the whole-hearted acceptance by every team member that ,"Team open feedback" would significantly add to the team's effectiveness.This was contrary to  expectations  and quite a  shock to the trainer.
 
 After analysing these outcomes,the following two questions come to the fore:
  "How do we catalyse visible improvements in Team Effectiveness and Performance?"
  " What is the point of wasting 2 days in a team building workshop which is not going to show any visible results ?"
 The answers though obvious have been residing at the periphery of our perception.If we want to see some concrete results , we need to address real issues. This requires the collection of "Live Data" , before the workshop regarding points of inadequacies prevalent in the team, unmet expectations of team members ,unmet expectations of internal/external customers,inadequacies as perceived by suppliers and the underlying team processes.
 
 In order to get a holistic perspective of the malaise in the team , this data needs to be collected from all the players in the system , i.e  Team members , customers of the team's services,suppliers to the team and team leader.

 

                                                 FIG.2
The workshop framework that emerges is mapped in Fig.3 :

 

 
 

                                               FIG.3
 On implementing the framework , some welcome changes become visible during the workshop. The "Data Collected" acts as a catalyst for creating rapt attention of the participants. The suggested solutions to team problems trigger discussion and analysis ,thereby creating shared perception of key issues.Resistance to change is surprisingly missing.  Infact , the team members themselves become initiators of change.Team alignment  regarding the team process changes required ensues.
 It has been noticed that team processes tend to remain obtuse even after a long time of team formation.The joint (re)designing of team processes that lie underneath the points of inadequacies not only removes the prevalent problems from their roots but also develops a shared understanding of future methods of working among the team members.Therefore,the team changes at its core rather than at the surface.
 Additionally,the deployment of "team open feedback" facilitates  inter-personal perception expansion of all the team members and the delivery of undelivered communication. This reduces long standing misperceptions and misread intentions.Thus the roots of mistrust & disbelief get reduced, resulting in improved understanding of basis of actions & stands taken.Hencethe development of skills of giving effective feedback & live ,"Team open feedback"has to be an integral part of the team building workshop/imtervention.
                The workshop effectiveness of such a workshop is aptly demonstrated by the statement of a team leader whose team had gone through such a workshop.He said , "There is palpable improvement in inter-personal interaction. Everybody is trying to implement the things planned". He seemed to be happy with the workshop outcome.

 On collecting workshop effectiveness  data again after 2 months he said , "After the workshop a new air was blowing through the office. However , things seem to be slipping again".
 This feedback indicates that  workshop effectiveness declined as time passed.There are obviously some gaps in the intervention framework.The failure analysis yielded the following insights:
  1. The implementation structure is missing.
  2. Skill building regarding process mapping is inadequate.
  3. A team process for continuous development of shared perceptions among the team members,regarding goals,team processes and resources,  is missing.
  Therefore , the three perspectives mapped below have to be an integral part of the "Team building Intervention Framework".
 

 

                                                                  FIG.4
The consolidated framework(fig. 3 & 4) was implemented in a team intervention conducted for a leading internet focussed organization.The focus was on "Creating a High Performing Team of 2 sub-teams".The data collected after the intervention indicated visible changes in team performance and working. In the words  of one of the team participants, "The team has moved from 20 % effectiveness to 60 % effectiveness. It however still is some distance away from 80 % effectiveness , which is our target.

 All the cases quoted above indicate that the an exclusively behavioural approach to team building is inadequate.It needs to be accompanied with live data collection regarding team inadequacies,its analysis & joint problem solving by team members , skill building in terms of "Process Mapping" , live team process mapping & the designing of an implementation structure. This ensures visible changes in team performance & an adequate retuen on investment for the organization.
 The integration of these elements into the team building programme creates the dominant flavour of an intervention . Buy it today!