BUILDING TEAMS

Most people, either at work or outside, function in some kind of team and very few would argue with the fact that effective teamwork often holds the key to improved performance in organisations.

Typical Challenges The whole concept of teamworking has been transformed by the changing nature of modern business. It is now commonplace for a team: To comprise individuals in different countries that have never met face to face To have individuals that are active members of other teams To report to a number of different managers To need to start to perform very quickly before relationships are established To integrate with other teams and have objectives that are closely aligned To constantly change focus in order to meet requirements of both internal and external customers Some teams may not experience any of the above but still need and want to improve performance or take some time out to review their effectiveness.

Opportunities

GNA can help with these challenges. Our consultants have facilitated the development of different types of teams across a diverse range of businesses and cultures. Approaches will depend on specific need but might include:

• Use of the Performing Team Questionnaire (PTQ) – an online survey sent to each team member to diagnose key areas for attention. See below.
• a meeting / conference call with selected individuals to get some initial feedback on the team and how best to move things forward
• use of some diagnostic tools such as Strength Deployment Inventory, Myers-Briggs and Belbin team role types as a way of exploring individual preferences
• a workshop (usually 2-3 days) involving all team members with a strong focus on individual and team behaviour in a safe but challenging offsite environment. Our expertise is in creating high impact learning experiences that transfer to the work situation
• a cross-team workshop that focuses on the alignment of objectives and on developing important cross-team communication

The Performing Team Questionnaire (PTQ)

This is a great tool for diagnosing team needs or reviewing team effectiveness. It is a questionnaire that can be completed online, or manually if preferred, that requires input from each team member. There are 30 questions that evaluate effectiveness in five areas: Goals and objectives Processes and procedures Values and relationships Leadership and followership Energy and commitment In addition, respondents have the opportunity to provide their own personal comment against four open questions that relate to effective team performance.

The output is a PTQ report that collates the feedback and provides an anonymous summary of the numerical data and the open comments from team members. The PTQ is often the forerunner to helping to create the agenda for a team workshop or sometimes used part of a team review process.

A sample PTQ is attached below.

Reviewing Team Performance

At GNA, we focus a lot of our time helping teams to review their effectiveness and performance. This can happen in a variety of ways:

• follow up / review activities that help the team to measure changes in behaviour and performance against objectives. This may take the form of one-day workshops on site or be achieved through other means
• repeated use of the Performing Team Questionnaire as a way of benchmarking performance against the initial feedback and diagnosis
• use of Motivational Reviews – Motivational Maps

Motivation Reviews

Motivation Reviews improve results and reduce HR costs primarily by improving
retention and recruitment of staff. They help individuals, teams and organisations
to achieve enormous benefits by understanding individual and team motivation
profiles and tailoring rewards to those profiles.

Businesses use Motivation Reviews to :-

1. Increase profitability through having the RIGHT people in the RIGHT roles
2.  Maximise employee motivation to retain staff.
3.  Boost team performance for better customer service and sales.
4.  Significantly improve employee performance.
5.  Identify immediate motivational issues and take action.
6 . Reward staff effectively through tailored, non-financial reward strategies.
7.  Improve your managers’ understanding of their teams.
8.  Improve individual understanding of what motivates you and others in your team

For more information on the use of Motivational Maps, download the attached PDF summary

The Performing Team Questionnaire - download