A Few Notes From Cheryl
Next Teleclass: I hope you can join us for the next teleclass, on Wednesday July 16: “From Burnout to Boisterous – CPR to bring your overworked team back to life again!” For details and registration, Click Here! Here is just some of the feedback from last month’s teleclass on managing overwhelm - “Really enjoyed it - thanks Cheryl!” and “This class was a great affirmation for me!” and “I found everything valuable – this class was very content rich for being only 45 minutes long!”
Upcoming Workshops: Many of you continue to ask about upcoming workshops. We continue to add new workshops as they get booked on our Speaking page and in the e-zine below, so check back frequently. For those of you who will be in Sacramento, CA (July) and/or Newport Beach, CA (September), be sure to check out the schedule. Hope to see you there!
Feature Article: "3 Steps to Effective Team Agreements" Over the past month, I’ve led several private and public workshops on the subject of building effective teams and I’ve learned that most teams do not have team agreements created and used as a tool to help them better interact with each other. Since many of you have requested more information on this topic, in this month’s article I’ll share with you some simple steps to help your team get started.
Warmest regards,
Cheryl
return to top
Feature Article:
3 Steps to Effective Team Agreements
I led my “building effective teams” workshop during three sessions at the HFMA conference in Las Vegas recently. I asked the same question in each session “how many of your teams have agreements with each other regarding how you will interact and communicate with each other?” In each session, including one with 150 people, only a few people raised their hands. This was an indicator to me that it’s time for us to revisit this topic for all of you (for the first article on this topic, see “Are Your Team’s Agreements Promoting Real Dialogue or Hiding Behind Masks?” - October 2007 Insights.
First – if your team already utilizes agreements with each other on how team members communicate, interact, handle conflict, etc. – congratulations! You may be one of the client teams we’ve been working with, or you may have experienced the importance of creating and utilizing those agreements with your team on your own. Keep using those agreements! And, look for ways to continually improve/enhance your team’s agreements, especially how your team members hold each other accountable to their agreements.
For most of you who likely don’t yet have team agreements, let’s talk about how to create them. Team agreements, or team contracts, are critical to team members working effectively together – they are the foundation of high-performing teams!
Step #1: Create a safe environment for your team to create their agreements
This is critical – in order for your team to hold a meaningful and effective discussion on this topic, there must be a safe environment.
- Meeting space: First, make sure your team is meeting in a conference room (or better yet, an off-site location) where the team won’t be interrupted, and will be free to share their ideas with each other.
- Trusted facilitator: Next, make sure that this discussion is facilitated by someone who is trusted by the team (e.g., a person from a different department who is known to break confidentiality is NOT a good choice!). Also, the facilitator for this discussion should not be a member of the team - otherwise, this team member who is also trying to facilitate the discussion can’t both participate and facilitate at the same time (for those of you who have tried to be both a participant and the facilitator, you know what I mean…it just doesn’t work)!
- Team dynamic expert: Make sure that the person facilitating this critical discussion is skilled in team dynamics – the facilitator needs to know how to pick up on the finer nuances of the discussion, ensure that all “voices of the system” get heard, as well as know when to dig deeper into something that has been said, especially when it could be an “elephant in the room” issue that the team has historically been afraid to discuss. Teams whose organizations have an Organizational Development department often ask an OD facilitator to facilitate the discussion, whereas companies who don’t have team development facilitators typically consider bringing in an outside, neutral third party facilitator who is skilled in team development.
Step #2: Create the team agreements/team contract
Once you have created a safe environment with a skillful leader, it’s time for the fun to begin! This is the time for your team to begin discussing these types of questions, and many more:
- What “ground rules” do we need in order for our meetings to yield the results we need? Teams that we’ve worked with have created agreements such as “be completely present with each other by listening actively,” “we don’t interrupt each other,” “turn off cell phones/PDAs,” “start and end meetings on time,” etc.
- What “ground rules” do we need so that our communications / interactions outside of our meetings yield the results we need? Teams that we’ve worked with have created agreements such as “e-mail will be used for information only/not decision making,” “we will be open and honest with each other at all times,” “we will communicate with respect,” etc.
- How will we handle conflict with each other? Teams that we’ve worked with have created agreements like “we address the elephants in the room in the moment by speaking up,” “we address conflict when it arises,” “no one’s ideas are wrong,” “conflict is good,” etc.
There are many more questions in this step of the process that teams discuss during the process, but hopefully this is enough to jump start your thinking about what is possible for your team!
Step #3: Create the team’s accountability to their team agreements / contract with each other
Accountability is key to these agreements leading to sustainable change for your team in their communications and interactions with each other! Without clear accountability, these agreements will not be fully utilized by your team. The team must build enough trust and respect for each other to be comfortable enough to speak up when a team agreement is broken.
Here are a couple of questions for your team to consider:
- How will we hold each other accountable to our new agreements? For example, when a team member breaks a team agreement, what will a team member say or do?
- How will the new team agreements be utilized? Will they be distributed via e-mail, and then forgotten about? Or, will they be printed/read by the team at the beginning of every team meeting, as a reminder of what the team agreed to? One project team that we’ve worked with printed out their team agreements onto a poster-sized sheet of paper, and every team member signed their name on it, thereby agreeing to utilize the agreements! The team then posted the agreements in the team’s project meeting space so that the team contract would be prominent in every meeting.
Next Steps
Teams who go through this process and consistently integrate their team agreements into their daily work lives are well on their way to becoming high-performing, sustainable teams! The steps above are just the tip of the iceberg of the entire team agreement process (there is so much more to talk about, because the process is so critical!), but I hope that this is enough to get you thinking about the results your team could achieve if they created and utilized specific agreements with corresponding accountabilities.
If your team needs help with this process, we’re here to help you be successful. Just let us know and we can talk about which of our programs might be the right fit to help your team go through the team agreement process with flying colors!
return to top
Upcoming Workshops
Who Moved My Stress? 9 Steps to Help Your Project Team Transform Stress & Pressure Into Peace and Productivity!
Thursday, July 10, 2008
5:30 to 8:15 pm (one-hour presentation - dinner program)
Project Management Institute - Sacramento Valley Chapter (open to members AND non-PMI members)
Marriott Sacramento Rancho Cordova: - 11211 Point East Drive - Rancho Cordova, CA 95742
By attending this interactive presentation, you'll learn practical tools and tips to help your project team de-stress and enhance their productivity
Complete details at Speaking Schedule
~~~
Who Moved My Stress? 9 Steps to Help Your Project Team Transform Stress & Pressure Into Peace and Productivity!
Saturday, July 26, 2008
8:00 to 12:00 pm (half-day workshop)
Project Management Institute - Sacramento Valley Chapter (open to members AND non-PMI members)
Marriott Sacramento Rancho Cordova: - 11211 Point East Drive - Rancho Cordova, CA 95742
By attending this interactive, half-day workshop, you'll learn the 9 steps, practical tools and tips to help your project team de-stress and become more productive!
Complete details at Speaking Schedule
~~~
Create Your Desired Work-Life Balance
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
12:00 to 1:00 pm
Healthcare Financial Management Association - 2008 California Fall Conference
Hyatt Regency, Newport Beach, CA
Become a better leader at work and in your personal life by designing a strategy for each area in your life that you want to bring into balance, including balancing the demands of your work!
Complete details at Speaking Schedule
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Team Building Events and Off-Site Meetings:
Could your team use some help to be more cohesive?
Is it time to enhance your team's relationships and productivity?
Some teams know that something isn't working, but they don't know exactly
what that is or how to improve it. Some organizations hold team building seminars
and employee retreats because they know it's time to enhance their teams' productivity
and relationships. Do either of those statements describe you/your team? If
so, and if you haven't already contacted us to discuss your needs, feel free
to give us a call to see if we can help you.
We offer a variety of programs to enhance the performance of your teams as
well as improve the ways in which your teams interact,
so we invite you to visit our Training and Seminar page. This is a great way to show appreciation for your team and enhance their productivity,
thereby improving the bottom line for your organization!
return to top
About Goals InSight, Inc.
Goals InSight,
Inc. helps organizations achieve their desired results in the following ways
- click on any of the links for details:
return to top
