Team-Building

Teams get work done . . . sometimes. Teams do get work done when people understand their role on the team, when they know their limitations and their strengths.

Dysfunction is often the characteristic of a team. When teams are not efficient or effective, they fall into two classes. They are either conflictual or floating.

On a conflictual team, members are often "at each others' throats." Harsh words are heard. Tempers flare. If you're one who avoids conflict, you'll be miles away from this type of team. Communications between team members do not address the issues. They address the personalities on the team and members begin to take it personally.

A floating team is just an ineffective. Members become apathetic and bored with the mission of the team and with each other. This is, perhaps, the more common of the two teams. Communications between members, unlike the conflictual team, are non-existent. Why bother communicating with another member of the team if they are going to ignore or belittle you?

The root issue for both teams is, paradoxically, the same: Every member of the team thinks the other guy thinks like him or her. If I don't like this mission definition, nobody likes it. So we'll just bicker about it or ignore it altogether.

No one has stopped to think that just the opposite is true: Every member of any team is unique. Some like people, some like privacy. Some want the facts only, others make intuitive leaps. Some make decisions from logic, others from the gut. Some are ordered, some are not. Mix these combinations up and you have variety, variety that can solve problems, variety that can create vision, variety that makes one want to get up and go to the office.

We use testing and demonstration to help members of a team understand what talents they bring to the table as well as the strengths of their colleagues.
Using the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI^Ž) as a testing instrument, we look at how each individual answers the following questions:

What energizes you?

How do you acquire data?

How do you make decisions?

How is your world organized?

Based upon these broad categories we are able to decipher personality type and fit on any given team. This information is then used to elucidate the dynamics of meetings and one-on-one interactions.

Here's what some of our clients have said about our approach:
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