Team Building Case Study
Advanced HR Solutions was asked to facilitate a one-day team building workshop for an internal audit group in a large organisation. On enquiry, our consultant found out that this was a very dysfunctional team, very much in crisis mode. There was a marked lack of trust, respect and openness in this ‘team', and largely as a consequence, they were not achieving their goals.
A team is sometimes defined as "A group of people working together to achieve a common goal, and who need/support each other to achieve that goal." Given this definition, the above was certainly not a team. People were stabbing each other in the back, complaining about the team and each other to people to anyone willing to listen, and there were very poor relationships between staff members and the section manager. There was also a distinct lack of regular, two-way open communication throughout this work unit.
Our consultant suggested to the unit manager that he should confidentially interview each team member, so that the core issues affecting the team could be properly identified and dealt with. This was agreed to, and in addition, each staff member was asked to complete a team effectiveness questionnaire with external benchmarks. Advanced HR Solutions then amalgamated the data, and fed the broad results (minus any identifying comments) to the unit manager.
Our consultant told her that a lot of the criticism was aimed at her, and that she would need to be open to the feedback at the team-building day. This didn't mean passively agreeing with everything staff said However, it would mean listening to them, acknowledging the comments, agreeing where appropriate, and not coming across as defensive (”yes, but...").
At the start of the team-building day, our consultant indicated the day’s aims, which were to:
(a) take stock of where they were currently at in relation to team outputs and relationships
(b) develop a team vision and core values that would help guide them in the right direction
(c) develop strategies/action plans with clear time frames and accountabilities that would
also help them progress toward the achievement of the team vision and broad goals
(d) do team building activities to enhance the sense of working together to a common goal.
Our consultant then provided a model of team development, and showed them the combined feedback from the interviews and questionnaire responses. There was a hush, as team members absorbed the impact of this dramatic feedback. This was indeed a ’moment of truth', and they could either continue down the same destructive route, or all take ownership for moving forwards in a constructive manner. Fortunately they chose the latter path, and the rest of the day was a positive experience, with team members learning to be both assertive and empathic with each other. At the end of the day, there was a clear 'shared vision’, and specific goals with clear accountabilities and timeframes.
Three months later, Advanced HR Solutions was asked to come back and facilitate a follow-up team building day. The same format was followed (confidential interviews and questionnaire completion), and we were delighted at the dramatic change. Team members said they actually looked forward to coming to work, the questionnaire results had progressed from being well below external benchmarks to well above them, and the manager indicated that they had, indeed, become a very effective team in terms of both outputs and relationships.
Call 0438 792 300 or email us at
training@advancedhr.com.au, so that we
can discuss your needs and explain our process.
|
