Most people in organisations work in teams. Improving team work can lead to long term improvement in business effectiveness. This note specifically describes team building workshops. There are many other ways of improving team working across the site.

Excellent  teams:

·         Have a clear, attractive and shared long range vision

·         Are clear what steps need they need to take to achieve their vision

·         Have excellent internal communications. Everyone can contribute and everyone listens well

·         Are able and willing to influence the organisation outside the team

·         Have members that give each other accurate and helpful feedback

·         Have positive and effective team meetings

Team building starts with a meeting with the manager of the team followed by a meeting with the team members and the manager together. Sessions with individuals may be helpful if there is a lot of conflict in the team. The purpose of the meetings is to understand the issues, culture and expectations of those involved and to build some trust and with the participants. At the end, we create a design that suits the team's particular needs. The workshop itself  takes one to two days depending on the numbers of people in the team and their needs. There is a follow-up session six weeks to three months later.

The results of this approach include:

• Members appreciating that they all want the same future

• Greater agreement on priorities and clearer plans to reduce ineffectiveness.

• Vastly improved mutual listening and support

• Managers developing rapidly because of enhanced feedback and support

• Substantial progress on key business issues

Quotes from two participating teams

Communication and delegation have improved out of all recognition

Everyone is feeling far more confident. This is leading to more effectiveness.