720-272-3433 k_main@msn.com

KAREN MAIN

Top 10 Teambuilding Tips

Tips to build your team’s emotional and intellectual intelligence…

Our focus

• Understand the elements of a high-performing team

• 10 strategies & tips to build your team!

High Performing Teams

What makes a team?

Group – Complete tasks

– Work individually

– Little cooperation

– Little cohesion

Team – Collaborate & cooperate

to complete tasks

– Work interdependently

– Cohesive

What makes a high-performing team? 1. Members are committed to positively contribute skills & talents toward:

– Team goal or mission

2. Members feel safe, respected, valued

– Hold themselves & each other accountable

3. Members focus on process and outcomes

Members are clear on the goal or mission

(Goals are usually ambitious…)

Tasks & assignments are clear and measurable.

Clear roles create freedom to focus.

Members agree to contribute & cooperate

Members assume positive intent

• Members pitch in to help

• Cooperate with each other

• Share info with each other

EGO can destroy team

cohesiveness

Instead,

High-performing teams focus on

what needs to be done rather than who hasn’t done

what.

One more thing…

Google’s study

Analyzed existing research, then 180 Google teams, asking what makes for an effective team? Is it:

• Homogeneous members?

• Friends? Strangers?

• Less hierarchy? More?

• Do rewards increase performance?

• Does gender balance matter?

Google’s study

The “right” norms can raise a group’s collective intelligence:

1. Conversational turn-taking

2. Social sensitivity/psychological safety

One example…

What contributed to their success?

Write your ideas on index cards.

One idea per card.

What can you do?

10 tips & strategies for increasing your team’s EQ and IQ

1. Incorporate teambuilding as a regular part of your team’s focus.

2. Encourage participation among team members.

Use strategies to encourage participation:

1. Index cards

2. Play devil’s advocate

3. Voting (thumbs up, sideways, down)

3. Facilitate conversational equity by soliciting input, ideas and advice.

Manage your meetings

• Don’t let one or two people always dominate discussions.

• Rotate where you sit in your meetings. (brings a new perspective!)

• Rotate facilitators, if possible.

• Create expectations for participation and standards for behavior in meetings.

Conflict: The Secret to Successful

teams…

4. Encourage constructive debate

Actively “mine” for different opinions and ideas

Thank team members when they offer a different perspective on an issue.

5. Learn about your team members

Show appreciation for their unique viewpoints, skills, talents and strengths.

Diversity of thought and ideas is the cornerstone of your team’s strength.

6. Catch people doing the right things! Recognize/reinforce positive behaviors when you see them.

7. Hold people accountable for

following through with their commitments.

High-performing teams focus on outcomes and

processes – not personalities.

8. Use activities to

create experiences

for the team.

• Have a clear purpose for

your activity!

• Always debrief, &

discuss after an activity

Using activities:

• Avoid cheesy, vacant games • This can erode trust rather than build!

• Solicit ideas from team • Rotate re.sponsibility for activities

9. Celebrate accomplishments.

10. Debrief and learn from mistakes.

Sample debrief model

Other important strategies

Set clear metrics so performers know how to measure their success.

Do I need a professional?

Hire an outsider if & when… • you are feeling critical, judgmental

or resentful toward team members • team members have “checked out” • productivity is declining • you are spending more than 20% of

your time managing disagreements or conflict

• there’s been a significant redesign of the team (new members)

• there are significant change initiatives

More resources

• “What Google Learned From Its Quest to Build the Perfect Team,” Charles Duhigg, NYTimes

• “High Performance Teams: Understanding Team Cohesiveness,” Daniela Molnau, isixsigma.com

• “Six Ways Successful Teams are Built to Last,” Glenn Llopis, Forbes

KAREN MAIN 720-272-3433 k_main@msn.com