Team Building Without Time Wasting: Coaching For Behavioral Change

Summary

This team-building process focuses on improving collaboration quickly and effectively without wasting time. Team members assess their teamwork, identify key behaviors for improvement, and engage in feedforward sessions to enhance communication and interaction. With monthly follow-ups and measurable outcomes, the approach ensures sustained progress. It’s a practical, disciplined system that drives real results without the need for time-consuming retreats or activities, making it a powerful method for CEOs and teams seeking long-term improvement and efficiency.

Takeaways

• 😀 Teams often rate their teamwork around 5.8 but aim for a level of 8.7, indicating a common gap in team collaboration.
• 😀 The focus of the team-building process is on improving behaviors, not discussing individuals or past actions.
• 😀 The process begins by evaluating the current state of teamwork, using two questions: 'How well are we working together?' and 'How well do we need to be working together?'
• 😀 Each team member writes down two behaviors that could improve the quality of teamwork (e.g., listening, recognition).
• 😀 The behaviors are shared with the team, but the discussion is focused purely on the behaviors, not the individuals.
• 😀 The team collectively prioritizes the most important behavior to improve for the group as a whole.
• 😀 Feedforward, rather than feedback, is used during one-on-one dialogues, focusing on future improvement suggestions, not past mistakes.
• 😀 Team members cannot critique or judge during feedforward conversations; they simply listen, take notes, and thank the person providing feedback.
• 😀 Each team member selects one behavior to focus on improving, such as better recognition or listening.
• 😀 Follow-up is essential: each month, team members check in with each other about their selected behaviors and suggest ways to improve.
• 😀 A simple survey is used to measure the impact of the process and track progress, ensuring continuous improvement in teamwork.

Q & A

What is the core idea behind 'team building without time wasting'?

The core idea is to create a quick, efficient, and results-driven process for team building, focusing on improving teamwork behaviors without spending excessive time on traditional, time-consuming team-building activities.

How do team members assess the current state of teamwork in this process?

Each team member evaluates the team's current performance on a scale of 1 to 10 based on two questions: How well is the team working together in terms of communication and interaction, and how well does the team need to be working together?

What are the two key questions for team evaluation?

The two key questions are: 1) How well is the team working together in terms of collaboration, communication, and interaction? 2) How well does the team need to be working together?

What happens after the team members rate their team's performance?

After rating the team’s performance, each team member writes down two behaviors they believe, if improved across the team, would enhance teamwork. These behaviors are typically common sense actions like listening or recognition.

What is the significance of prioritizing behaviors in the team-building process?

Prioritizing behaviors helps the team focus on the most impactful area for improvement. By selecting one key behavior, the team can direct their efforts toward a specific goal, ensuring a focused and actionable approach to improvement.

What is 'feedforward,' and how does it differ from feedback?

'Feedforward' is a method where team members give suggestions for future improvement rather than feedback on past actions. It is positive, forward-looking, and focuses on how to improve going forward rather than critiquing past behavior.

What are the rules for conducting feedforward conversations?

The rules for feedforward are: 1) Only give suggestions for the future, not feedback on the past; 2) Listen actively, take notes, and respond with gratitude; 3) Do not judge or critique the suggestions.

How do team members follow up on the improvements they've made?

About a month after the feedforward conversations, team members follow up with each other. They ask for one idea to improve their key behavior for the next month, ask for feedback on their personal area of improvement, and request suggestions on how to be a better team player.

What is the role of measurement in this team-building process?

Measurement plays a critical role in tracking progress over time. A simple survey or check-in process is used to evaluate improvements in the team’s performance, ensuring that the process leads to long-term change.

Why is this approach considered more effective than traditional team-building activities?

This approach is considered more effective because it is efficient, focused, and results-driven. Unlike traditional activities like retreats, which often lack follow-up, this process includes regular check-ins, feedback, and measurement, ensuring continuous improvement and real results.