Building Cohesive Teams

Teams are an important building block of successful organizations. Whether the focus is on service, quality, cost, value, speed, efficiency, performance, or other similar goals, teams are the basic unit that supports most organizations.

With teams at the core of corporate strategy, an organization’s success can depend on how well team members operate together. How are their problem-solving skills? Is the team enthusiastic and motivated to do its best? Do they work well together? This course can help participants get there!

Course Objectives: This workshop teaches participants: 

• The value of working as a team
• Ways to develop team norms, ground rules, and team contracts
• How to identify team player style and how to use it within the team
• Techniques for building team trust
• The stages of team development and how to help a team move through them
• The critical role communication skills will play in building and maintaining a team atmosphere
• Ways that team members can be involved and grow in a team setting

Course Outline

LESSON 1: COURSE OVERVIEW

• The Instructor will spend the first part of the day getting to know participants and discussing what will take place during the workshop. Students will also have an opportunity to identify their personal learning objectives.

LESSON 2: DEFINING TEAMS

• To get started, you will help participants define what a team is and what different kinds of teams there are. Participants will also demonstrate synergy through a simple exercise.

LESSON 3: ESTABLISHING TEAM NORMS

• This session will look at some of the advantages and disadvantages of teams. Participants will also explore creating social contracts to better manage team behaviors and accountability.

LESSON 4: WORKING AS A TEAM

• During this session, participants will discuss how synergy begins on a team when they understand how to use the Degrees of Support to help the team work through controversial issues.

LESSON 5: YOUR TEAM PLAYER TYPE

• Next, participants will score their pre-assignment and identify their team player type. Participants will then work in small groups to discuss the strengths and weaknesses of their type and how to use this information to their advantage.

LESSON 6: BUILDING TEAM TRUST

• Trust is one of those mainstay virtues. It is the bond that allows any kind of significant relationship to exist between people. In this session, participants will explore some ways to establish and build trust on their team.

LESSON 7: THE STAGES OF TEAM DEVELOPMENT

• Every group of people, whether they are a team or just a group working together, grows and evolves. Participants will spend this session looking at Tuckman and Jensen’s five stages of team development: forming, storming, norming, performing, and adjourning.

LESSON 8: TEAM BUILDING WITH TORI

• Another way of looking at team development is the TORI model, developed by Jack and Lorraine Gibb. Participants will experience this model through a fun exercise.

LESSON 9: COMMUNICATION

• If a team is going to succeed, they must be able to communicate well with each other. This session will cover some basic principles of communication.

LESSON 10: BECOMING A GOOD TEAM PLAYER

• To wrap the course up, participants will think about ways to increase interaction among their team and build trust.

LESSON 11: WORKSHOP WRAP-UP

• At the end of the day, students will have an opportunity to ask questions and fill out an action plan.