Team building

How to start up a team building process

To start up a team building session we need to focus on four key steps.

ESTABLISH THE PURPOSE AND OBJECTIVES OF THE TEAM – GET PEOPLE WORKING TOGETHER

Team members can often have different levels of commitment and to avoid later conflicts it is a good idea to:

• Detail the fundamental purpose (Mission) and goals (Objectives) for the team.
• Invite each team member to contribute their thoughts about the goals or task.
• Invite the team members to explain their current priorities and assignments.
• Ask team members to commit to the team’s priorities. It is better to resolve potential conflicts about availability and commitment sooner rather than later.
• Invite the team to determine a realistic timetable for completing the work.

SHARE ANY CONCERNS AND EXPECTATIONS

Invite discussions around any team members concerns. Make any issues part of your team building agenda as this will help ensure a positive and productive working climate. It is important to get any difficult issues out the way at an early stage. Allow team members time to prepare responses to the following questions:

• Do you have any concerns about working on this project with this team?
• How would you like this team functioning if it was working at maximum capability?
• Do you see any potential barriers we face in trying to develop a high performance team?
• What specific actions do we need to take to ensure that we do operate as a highly effective team?

CLARIFY THE GOALS

Team goals need to be set to provide direction and unify the team’s future efforts. In discussing the goals all members will need to:

• Agree on the central mission and goals of the team.
• Evaluate and commit to all proposed plans and strategies to achieve the goals.
• Discuss and agree the necessary resources and timescales for achieving the team’s objectives.

DEVELOP OPERATING GUIDELINES

The team also needs to establish a clear set of operating principles and guidelines for operating. The team will need to decide:

• Any operating guidelines for how they will work together.
• Decision making processes that will be used – by team consensus, the team leader or the individual responsible for the task?
• How the work will be assessed and reviewed.

How individual concerns will be dealt with.

• How potential differences will be resolved – majority vote or leader decision?
• How any revisions to plans will take place.

Once your team building session has been completed and you have agreed a set of operating guidelines your team will be ready to begin working on the overall goals and objectives.