This two-day workshop is designed for new or existing teams responsible for product development. Its objective is to improve team dynamics; accelerate the stages of growth toward a high performing team; and develop an understanding of the team’s responsibilities, plans and team interfaces with the rest of the extended enterprise. The workshop combines teambuilding exercises (meeting skills, communication skills, personality styles) and planning exercises focused at the details of the team function (roles and relationships, team inputs/outputs, team charter, team deliverables and schedules). Pre-workshop preparation is required to support workshop exercises.
1. INTRODUCTION
- Workshop Objectives
- Warm-up Exercise and Discussion
- Characteristics of Good and Bad Teams for new teams
- Team Self Assessment to understand the state of an existing team
(pre-workshop preparation)
2. HIGH PERFORMING TEAMS
- Principles & Elements
- Internal and External Success Factors Model
- Discussion of Success Factors
- Stages of Team Development (Storming, Forming, Norming & Performing)
- Establishing Trust and Respect
- Steps for Rapid Team Development
- Focusing on Team Process
3. ADDRESSING TEAM MEMBER DIFFERENCES
- Personality, Work, Information Gathering, & Decision-Making Styles
- Understanding Style Differences
- Working with Different Styles
- Personal Style Inventory Exercise (Pre-Workshop Preparation) and
Discussion of Implications
4. COLLABORATION AND CONSENSUS
- Model for Collaboration – the Win-Win Approach
- Finding Common Goals and Addressing Concerns
- What Consensus Means
- Steps to Avoid Conflict
- What Decisions Require Consensus
- Achieving Consensus
- Consensus Exercise
5. EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION
- Active Listening and Avoiding Offensive Communication
- Balanced Participation
- Effective Communication Exercise – Role Playing
- Meetings, Bloody Meetings Video
- Effective Team Meetings: 12 Steps for Effective
Team Meetings
6. TEAM LEADER
- Exercise – Characteristics of a Good Team Leader
- Team Leader Roles and Responsibilities
- Discussion of Team Leader Development Needs
7. TEAM GROUND RULES
- What are Ground Rules, Why are They Needed, and What Do They Cover
- Exercise – Developing Each Team’s Ground Rules
8. TEAM CHARTER & EMPOWERMENT
- Empowerment & Team Boundary Conditions
- Group Discussion – Identifying and Overcoming Impediments to Empowerment
- Group Discussion – Characteristics of Desired Culture (optional)
- Team Charter – What is It & What is Needed to Develop It
- Negotiating and Gaining Approval
- Exercise – Developing or Committing to the Team Charter
9. TEAM DEVELOPMENT PROCESS
- Identifying and Understanding Inputs and Outputs
- Exercise – Identifying Input & Output Requirements (Input/Output
Chart)
- Defining and Understanding Team Member Tasks and Responsibilities
- Exercise – Defining Team Member Roles and Responsibilities
- Developing and Committing to the Team’s Project Plan and Schedule: Identifying
Team Tasks & Establishing Relationships
- Exercise – Developing a Preliminary Workplan or Diagramming and
Reviewing the Current Plan
- Next Steps for Completing the Plan and Establishing the Plan in Formal
Company Systems
- Interfaces with Other Entities (Functional Organizations, Program Management,
Customers, Subcontractors, and Suppliers) and Other Teams
- Exercise – Defining Team Interfaces (Data Flow Diagram)
- Team Planning and Review Discussion
10. CONCLUSION
- Summary, Questions
- Discussion of Issues & Next Steps