Category Archives: Team Development

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Why Leaders Should Emphasize Teamwork In Any Organization

Team Circle MapTeamwork is one of those buzzwords that fly about whenever you hear anything about organizational processes. In fact, you would be hard pushed to find a resume that doesn’t include the fact that the applicant is “an excellent team player” somewhere in there. Similarly, any time there is a vacancy, the requirement for team work will be firmly noted on there as well. Unfortunately, it has become so much of a buzzword that people have stopped thinking about what it actually means. Sure, it is about working together, but what does that entail exactly? And why is it so important within an organization to have teamwork? Isn’t it a case that everybody has their own job?

Individual Control

For a long time, businesses operated on a process of “individual control.” This means that one person covered the reception desk, one person did the photocopying, one person did the finances and so on. This works to a degree, particularly in a very small organization, because it makes it clear who does what. However, it stops individual employees from feeling like they are part of the whole. Besides this, if anybody is ever off sick or takes a vacation, all of the operations stop. Transitioning into an environment of team work can be a difficult process, but it is one that must be achieved.

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Developing Teamwork Using The Philosophy Of Phil Jackson

On a recent episode of “Bones” Dr. Temperance Brennan, played by Emily Deschanel, became intrigued by a book from Phil Jackson that outlined his management philosophy and style. As a result she pulled her team of interns together to work on an unsolved, cold-case murder. This murder occurred over 10 years ago and it seemed an impossible task to solve it now. Using the legendary basketball coach’s philosophy she challenged her team to take a look at solving the mystery through fresh eyes. This caused the interns to come together as a team, put aside egos and solve the mystery proving to them that when they pulled together as a team they could accomplish the impossible. An excellent object lesson for all of us trying to develop strong teams.

That’s When The Light Bulb Went Off

This started me thinking about teamwork and how it can energize an organization or doom it to repeated failure. Can we as business owners and leaders learn anything from a basketball coach? As organizational development consultants we at Intesi! Resources are always helping our customers tackle the issue of building, fostering and sustaining effective teamwork. We, as consultants, are always looking for knowledge and inspiration. How about you? Continue reading

Using The DiSC® Profile to Train and Develop New Hires

What Makes Them Vital To Human Resources and Managers?

Use DiSC Profiles to Hit the Hiring TargetThe DiSC Profile remains a very valuable tool when developing training and development programs for newly hired personnel. By using these assessments prior to hiring candidates, organizations are ahead of their competition in understanding how candidates might fit into their culture and how they can cultivate them in the post-hire process of training and development.

While it seems impractical to believe that every person you hire will possess every skill necessary to be successful in their prospective position, you can plan to help these people learn and utilize new skills to help them grow in the future and succeed.

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The DiSC® Profile Helps Create Successful Teams

Every company and organization maintains varying opinions and concepts concerning the methods and desired goals pertaining to the creation of organizational teamwork.  If managers and leaders within your organization can get access to effective tools, like The DiSC Profile, their probability of success increases substantially.

Several Unique Suggestions To Cultivate Teamwork

DiSC Profiles Help Build Successful TeamsAt this point, I’m certain most of you will be wanting to know exactly how you accomplish this seemingly monumental undertaking.  Probably the most daunting problem you must deal with is how to comprehend and contend with all of the individual personalities, behavioral tendencies, along with the egos associated with them.  The introduction of a DiSC Profile into any team building program will offer team managers personalized information on each team member.  If there are significant communication issues the use of an Everything DiSC Workplace Profile could be warranted. By analyzing everyone’s DiSC Profile the manager will quickly realize what motivates, demotivates, what they tend to avoid, how they react to stress, their natural behavioral tendencies, and much more.  This is exceptionally beneficial information for the manager given that they might also discover their particular group culture and exactly how they function as a team by grouping the individual DiSC Profiles into a Group DiSC Report.

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When Would You Use The Team Dimensions 2.0 Profile?

Team Dimensions 2.0 ProfileTo Build Effective Focused Teams

Successful team members don’t do the same thing at the same time. They do the right thing at the right time.  The Team Dimensions 2.0 Profile helps individuals work from their strengths by identifying their most natural team role, while giving them added appreciation for the contributions of others.

Discover the Right Roles for the Right People for Team Development

The Team Dimensions 2.0 Profile identifies the following five team roles:

  • Creators generate new ideas and fresh concepts.
  • Advancers communicate new ideas and carry them forward.
  • Refiners analyze ideas for flaws or revise projects systematically.
  • Executors deliver concrete results and seek successful implementations.
  • Flexers have an equal preference for most or all of the roles and can often adapt their styles to fit the team’s needs.

“Z PROCESS” Keeps Teams Moving in the Right Direction

The Team Dimensions 2.0 Profile maps the flow of assigning roles, completing tasks, and handing off tasks to other team members through the “Z Process.”

In this relay process, tasks are passed from Creators to Advancers, from Advancers to Refiners, and from Refiners to Executors. Flexers fill in the gaps to keep the process moving forward.

To Capitalize on Individual Strengths for Total Team Performance

As organizations rely more on teams to innovate, problem-solve, produce, and compete at the speed of change, understanding and capitalizing on individual approaches to group processes is key to creating high-performance teams. Use the Team Dimensions 2.0 Profile to:

  • Match individual strengths with team roles
  • Build team unity
  • Foster innovation
  • Shorten project cycle time
  • Reduce conflict