Tag Archives: team building

The Jungle of Teamwork

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Navigating the ins and outs of teamwork can be as difficult as trekking through the jungle.  In the jungle we can try to push through the dense vegetation with no tools – just like we can push teams to work together – but without the right tools we just get nowhere.

Teamwork is vital to the workplace but we often don’t know how to deal with teams when conflicts arise and productivity drops.  So, where and how do you start addressing these problems with teamwork?  By demonstrating how a well-oiled team acts and thinks.

Teamwork

A well-oiled team recognizes the impact of individual behaviors on group activities and demonstrates a balance between planning and execution.  It clearly understands the project’s purpose and feels enthusiastic about its contribution. Each team member is aware of the dynamics that operate within the team and finds ways to encourage the critical teamwork elements so that the team is empowered to grow, develop and become more productive.

Jungle EscapeDiscover how a well-oiled team works by taking your team on an adventure with Jungle Escape. Teams will discover where they are and create an action plan for improvement. This exciting, bestselling game provides a unique experience for teams to explore their interaction by being flown away from the classroom and into the jungle.

After a crash landing, teams must work together to plan and then build a helicopter to escape the jungle.  Jungle Escape’s hands-on design enables players to practice and discover critical group-process skills such as team planning, problem solving, decision making, and conflict resolution. This memorable experience is an excellent way to introduce basic teambuilding, improve productivity, and energize teams.

Start your adventure now!

It’s going to be summer time. School’s out forever.

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LearningAnd honestly, that’s pretty awesome.  Once we let go of the constructs that frame positive change, we see that it is possible – and happening – everywhere.  Learning is happening everywhere, all the time.

Learning is great – it makes you strong and self-sufficient.  It makes you able to travel through social spaces, figure out what’s right and wrong, and help those in need around you.  To make learning possible and accessible to others is one of the most valuable things you can do for them.

As a trainer, you are always looking for the most efficient ways to deliver that value.  You need:

  • A renewable resource – something that functions as a part of your organization – something that’s always there to support and enrich your organization’s culture.
  • A tool (not a prescription) – something that provides all the content you need, while giving you the freedom to tailor that content to your organization’s brand, values, and goals – something that lets you be the trainer.
  • A catalyst – something that reminds your participants that improvement is always possible – something that develops a critical society within your organization to incite a desire for positive change.

The Reproducible Training Library is all that, and more.  A comprehensive library of customizable soft-skills training resources, the RTL is your source for research-based content that will improve performance in your organization.

The RTL isn’t about seduction or prescription – it’s about proven models for positive change.  Participants will apply effective behaviors to their current work, and experience the benefits of behavioral research as they grow and excel.

The RTL is a collection of 75 programs, addressing all aspects of work like and how best to approach the challenges of organization membership.  Each program is complete and training-ready from the moment you make your one-time, license-free purchase.

Reproducible Training Library

What makes the RTL truly unique is its plasticity.  All programs in the library are delivered to you as native files in Microsoft Word and PowerPoint format.  You’ll be able to apply your organization’s brand to the materials, add your own examples and talking-points, and provide a take-away that’s exactly what you want your participants to hold onto.

Whether you’re training an audience of one or one hundred, the Reproducible Training Library is the most efficient way to make learning happen – because you don’t need school to learn – all you really need is a library.

And if that don’t suit ya, that’s a drag.

Team Emotional and Social Intelligence

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There are many measurable skills that contribute to individual high performance.  Furthermore, there are essential soft skills that make possible the delivery of that performance to an organization.

A majority of these soft skills pertain to interpersonal relationships, and so are only visible in team settings.  Working as part of a team is much more difficult than working on one’s own – it means having to rely on others, committing to a common set of objectives, and modifying one’s own behaviors to accommodate those of others and move everyone toward shared goals.

Team EMotional and Social Intelligence

There are, however, simple choices that can improve overall team function, and allow individuals to contribute their individual best – unhindered by team discord.  These choices amount to team emotional and social intelligence, which, in turn, enables sustainable productivity.  Intelligence, here, s used in a non-traditional way – meaning something closer to awareness than ability.  For everyone is able to choose “emotionally intelligent” behaviors, but we to be cognizant of their value and how to put them to use.

To develop this awareness, self-assessment couldn’t be more valuable in providing insight into current behaviors and tendencies as juxtaposed with statistically sound, effective behaviors.  The Team Emotional and Social Intelligence (TESI) soft-skills training program is the perfect way to develop a practical picture of an entire team’s effectiveness.

Team Emotional and Social IntelligenceRevealing a 360 degree evaluation of a team’s “Collaboration Skills,” the TESI shows common strengths and weaknesses in seven areas of teamwork.  Stressing the idea that each member of a team needs a personal association with their team (a reason they have to continue working toward team goals), this program shows participants that it is possible for every team to possess excellent collaboration skills, achieve high performance, and feel emotionally and socially well while acting as part of their team.

An experiential learning program, the TESI will not only allow participants to learn from their self-assessments, but to participate in activities and action planning that will apply directly to their own experience – learning that can take effect immediately, and that will resonate with teams as they work together.

Try TESI today!

Free Webinar! How to Build Emotional Intelligence for Individuals and Teams: The Top 7 Skills

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FREE WEBINAR
Hosted by HRDQ
Presented by Marcia Hughes and James Bradford Terrell
Wednesday, May 15, 2013
2:00pm – 3:00pm eastern time

If your organization’s teams are lacking direction, control, or the desire to achieve, underdeveloped emotional intelligence could be the cause. A prerequisite for success, research shows that emotional intelligence is a key driver in team and interpersonal dynamics.

Join presenters Marcia Hughes and James Terrell for an informative free webinar that will help trainers, consultants, team leaders, and OD professionals navigate the road of emotional and social intelligence. They’ll explore the seven emotional competencies and discuss how each relates to team performance. Marcia and James will also present the Collaborative Growth Model, a practical framework that maps the route to emotional and social effectiveness at individual and team levels.

James Bradford Terrell and Marcia Hughes are co-authors of Team Emotional & Social Intelligence, which offers a unique set of tools for determining and developing a team’s emotional effectiveness in seven dimensions that are a prerequisite for high performance.

What You Will Learn

  • The biggest challenge to productive teamwork
  • How to identify and develop the seven core behaviors of emotional effectiveness
  • Techniques to spark candid team conversations about what does or doesn’t work
  • How to use emotional intelligence skills to integrate individual goals into team goals
  • Creating buy-in with team members

Who Should Attend

  • Trainers
  • Consultants
  • Team Leaders
  • Team Members
  • OD professionals

About the Presenters

The president of Collaborative Growth, LLC, Marcia Hughes serves as a strategic communications partner for teams and their leaders. She presents her expertise in emotional intelligence through her consulting, keynote sessions, and program facilitation. She is co-author of the Team Emotional & Social Intelligence, which includes the TESI® Short, A Coach’s Guide to Emotional Intelligence, The Emotionally Intelligent Team, and Emotional Intelligence in Action as well as the Team Emotional & Social Intelligence Survey™ (TESI®). Marcia is also the author of Life’s 2% Solution. She is a certified trainer in the Bar-On EQ-i ® and EQ 360® and provides train-the-trainer facilitation and coaching in powerful EQ delivery.

As the Vice President of Collaborative Growth, LLC, James Bradford Terrell applies his expertise in interpersonal communication to help a variety of public and private sector clients anticipate change and respond to it resiliently. He is co-author of the Team Emotional & Social Intelligence Facilitator Guide Package, which includes the TESI® Short, A Coach’s Guide to Emotional Intelligence, The Emotionally Intelligent Team, and Emotional Intelligence in Action. James also coaches leaders, teams in transition, and senior management using the Bar-On EQi®, EQ 360®, and other assessments. Terrell is co-creator of the Team Emotional and Social Intelligence Survey™ (TESI®), and he provides train-the-trainer workshops on how to develop the insightful interpretation and application of EQ results.

Register Here!

Don’t Kiss Me, I’m Systematic

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On St, Patrick’s Day, everyone is Irish.  It’s not really about ethnicity or religion – it’s about finding things that are special and unique in us and in others, and celebrating them.  It’s about being aware and appreciative of differences.

Personality StyleBut more than that, it’s an acknowledgement that behavior is a choice.  We can shape our interactions and interpersonal relationships by choosing certain behaviors.

On St. Patrick’s Day, everyone incorporates the good, fun parts of the signifier “Irish” into their own behavior.  In the same regard, we can all flex our personality style to incorporate positive aspects of other styles into our behavior in situations that call for them.

Teams and organizations are made up of personalities.  Successful teams and organizations are conscious of the different strengths and weaknesses of these personalities, and understand that behavior is a choice.

Personality Styles

By helping your team understand their own behavioral tendencies, you’ll encourage them to recognize and develop their special, unique strengths while appreciating the strengths of others.

The HRDQ Style Model is based on the understanding that everyone has inherent tendencies – a personality style – and that no style is fundamentally better or worse than any other.  Measuring the expressiveness (desire to share thoughts and feelings with others) and assertiveness (desire to influence others) of individuals, HRDQ Style Assessments reveal a personality style based on individuals’ response to statements regarding interpersonal behavior.

Offering eight different assessments targeted towards varying soft skill sets, the HRDQ Style Series is your tool for building healthy and productive workplace relationships.  On their own, or as part of broader training on related topics, HRDQ Style Assessments are an effective foundation for a variety of soft-skills training topics, including communication, leadership, team building, and supervisory skills.

Get Started with the HRDQ Style Series Today!

Celebrate your style with a blinky button!

Celebrate your style with a blinky button!

I used to think the sum of one and one was two…

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There’s a reason we work in teams.  We’re not that lonely, we don’t really need to make others feel included, and we’re not not-good-enough on our own.  But we can be better.  When individuals face a common problem (or opportunity!), they can produce results that reflect the combined strengths of everyone involved.  Broadening not just the potential for production, but the set of benefactors of success.  More goodness from more people for more people – synergy.

But, if you’re working as a team, and the results you’re coming up with are not better than could be achieved by your single most capable team member, something is broken.  You’re not achieving synergy.

Synergy?

There are many reasons why this may not be happening for your team – but the result of all teamwork comes first from team decision making.  If there are problems with your decision-making process, your implementation will suffer.  Every decision has consequences – choosing to embark down the wrong path can effect each decision that follows, and setbacks can amass exponentially.

In training, it’s important to acknowledge that group decision making can be much more difficult than individual decision making – especially when the decision at hand needs to be made under pressure.  Circumstances that require high-pressure decision making are times of uncertainty, in which people tend to reach for the familiar.  They may rely on comfortable ideas and not consider all available possibilities.  They may be too eager to agree with other group members to preserve relationships, rather than fully sharing their own perspective – unintentionally denying the group their own individual expertise.

Black BearKeeping your group decision-making process at its best is no easy task, especially if there is no opportunity to objectively assess the solution while it’s in progress.  Simulations can provide a non-threatening environment for experiential learning and decision-making assessment.

HRDQ’s Black Bear (part of the Team Adventure Series) highlights a variety of soft skills required by teams, and focuses on consensus decision making under pressure.  Providing a detailed and exciting scenario, Black Bear transports participants into a life-or-death situation in which their individual and group decision-making skills are put to the test.  Specific to teams working under pressure, Black Bear sets out a model for consensus decision making that touches on all aspects of teamwork and improves results and relationships for participants.

Help your team add up to more with Black Bear!

Communicating From Earth to Mars: Averting Communication Disasters

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In 1999 the Mars Climate Orbiter burned up as it entered the Martian atmosphere after $125 million spent in development and nine months of travel.

The cause? A lapse in communication.

It all came crashing down because the navigation team and the designers of the spacecraft weren’t communicating essential information in a common language; one used English measurements and the other used metric to relay vital data.

“It is very difficult for me to imagine how such a fundamental, basic discrepancy could have remained in the system for so long,” John Pike, Space Policy Director at the Federation of American Scientists, said about the incident in a Los Angeles Times article. While it may be hard to imagine, it happens all the time to organizations around the world and employees at every level. The good news is such an enormous, costly communication disaster can be easily averted.

It starts by making sure information is continuously and precisely conveyed to all involved in a project, both within and between teams. In a recent Harvard Business Review blog post, Georgia Everse reminds leaders that “there is no such thing as over-communication.” She urges them to avoid jargon, build a common language, and “be explicit about using terminology that resonates with everyone in the organization.”

In Personality Style at Work, Kate Ward suggests that in order to convey your message clearly and accurately one should avoid sweeping generalizations and check for understanding to make sure the message was understood in the way it was intended. Following such simple steps can keep the lines of communication open and prevent chaos in the future.

HRDQ’s What’s Your Communication Style can help identify communication problems and improve communication skills, BEFORE they result in the crash landing of a promising project.

Avert a communication disaster and see how HRDQ can help today!

Read more about Kate Ward’s advice!

Wear Your Personality on Your Sleeve (or Which Ninja Turtle Should You be for Halloween?)

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Our Personality Style comes through every day, whether we are conscious of it or not.  Awareness allows us to take control of – and improve – our interpersonal relationships.  Developing an understanding of our Personality Style can be the first step in improvement.  This Halloween, you can start by choosing to celebrate your style.  Obviously, you were planning on being a Ninja Turtle.  I didn’t even have to ask.  But which one should you be?

Do you have a Direct style?

Raphael embodies the Direct style.  Never hesitating to take action, he’s always ready when the team encounters conflict and isn’t reluctant to dive in feet first.

Do you have a Spirited style?

Michaelangelo’s big personality always keeps the team engaged and communicating – on a personal level, and when it’s time to get down to business.

Do you have a Systematic style?

Donatello is a total Systematic.  As the team’s technical expert, he’s always thinking of new ways to improve strategy and resources to get things done more efficiently.

Do you have a Considerate style?

Leonardo pulls the team together with his Considerate style – reminding them of their purpose and the teachings of their leader, and keeping everyone working together, harmoniously, toward common goals.

One reason the Turtles are such a successful team is their variety of styles.  Each style has a different way of contributing to the group dynamic and taking on leadership.

Not sure exactly which Turtle you have the most in common with?  The What’s My Team Member Style?  Assessment can help you better understand the contribution you make to your team, and how to capitalize on your personal strengths to benefit your organization.

Try it now at the HRDQ Store!

When show beats tell. The ‘a-ha’ moment.

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A Post by HRDQ President, Brad Glaser.

“Why can’t these people work together as a team?”

There’s no doubt in my mind you’ve heard that cry for help. If you’re a training professional, you’re well-aware that teamwork is vital to workplace success. After all, the once novel concept is now considered part of the modern organizational structure. This trend will only continue to grow in importance with the emergence of virtual, cross-functional, and multi-functional teams.

So why do some teams continue to struggle with the concept of teamwork? Believe it or not, the answer may be quite simple. They probably don’t have a clear vision of how a well-oiled team thinks, acts, or feels.

The Complete Jungle Escape Game Kit

You can stand in front of your audience and tell—even push—them to be better team members, but we have a better idea. Let them experience it. In other words, show them. Hands-on training games like Jungle Escape whisk teams away from the traditional classroom and places them in a learning adventure that’s fun, effective, and memorable. It’s been a perennial favorite among trainers since it was first introduced more than 30 years ago, and it continues to be a bestseller today. And for one reason: It works.

At HRDQ, we believe show beats tell. There isn’t a more powerful way for adults to learn a new skill than to experience it for themselves. It’s what makes the lightbulb go on—the proverbial ‘a-ha’ moment trainers strive to achieve with their audiences.

And that’s what you get with Jungle Escape.

Immersed in a survival scenario, teams are challenged to work together to build a makeshift helicopter with only toy parts, limited access to a model—and each other. Real learning is quickly absorbed through the discovery and practice of critical group-process skills such as planning, problem solving, and decision making. Before they know it, your audience has experienced firsthand the difference between a Cohesive team and one that’s either Fragmented or Divergent. Voila. The ‘a-ha’ moment.

Jungle Escape is an excellent way to introduce basic teambuilding, improve productivity between multiple work groups, or energize mature teams. Give it a whirl. We guarantee it will be an experience your teams won’t soon forget.

Food for Thought: Team Dysfunction

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Teamwork is the ultimate competitive advantage.  Fostering teams is a direct route to higher performance and a healthy organization.  While teams may encounter all sorts of conflict and discord, Patrick Lencioni (author of The Five Dysfunctions of a Team and business expert) suggests that the obstacles to team success boil down to five issues:

  1. Absence of Trust
  2. Fear of Conflict
  3. Lack of Commitment
  4. Avoidance of Accountability
  5. Inattention to Results

Here are some articles we’ve been reading while thinking about ways to keep our team healthy and successful:

Click here to read about Team Dysfunction

Patrick Lencioni has created an assessment to measure your teams’ strengths and weaknesses in these five key areas – allowing for targeted improvement.

Try it with your team today!