Our Highly Effective Team intervention supports teams wanting to unify their collective expertise and improve their standard of strategy execution.
Expanding on Patrick Lencioni’s 5 Dysfunctions of a Team Model, we develop deeper and stronger foundations for building a Highly Effective Team by using a validated individual profiling tool that measures interests, motivations and perspectives, The Birkman Method. The robust and scientifically validated tool allows the team to share their unique tendencies, share intent and gain transparency into their conscious and unconscious, potentially counterproductive, behaviours. It is a platform for individual team members to gain self awareness, self management of any counterproductive behaviours and to optimise their most effective interpersonal approaches, in order to foster an environment that promotes challenging and robust conversation. In short the insights we generate and the understanding our work fosters, enables team members to “bring their best self” to important interactions both inside and outside their team.
While our Highly Effective Team Intervention develops all of Lencioni’s levels, we consider the key to a truly productive team is the operating context it can create; psychological safety. More comprehensively establishing the 2 foundational levels of Lencioni’s Model, being Trust and Healthy Conflict, grounds a team culture that is developing in a psychologically safe context. Amy Edmonson’s characteristics of a psychologically safe working environment allows people to bring their full self to work by feeling open, liberated and engaged in challenging and questioning aspects impacting their work. A psychologically safe team environment drives learning, innovation, growth and improved strategy execution. Establishing the environment is accelerated with the aid of self-insight knowledge gained through The Birkman Method used at an individual and team level. Recent research shows that individuals with more accurate perspectives on themselves can more effectively take-on others perspectives, typically referred to as displaying empathy.
Speaking candidly in a team is effortful and contains risks. Having the confidence to vigorously challenge the ideas and positions of your leader or colleagues is an essential function of improved sensemaking in a team. Through critical thought and conversation, without the fear of second guessing or the need for posturing or impression management takes both a deep and accurate understanding of one another. Knowing your own interpersonal style, your needs and potential counterproductive responses, when under pressure (which is information provided through individual team member’s Birkman Method Profile), provides the team with an unparalleled awareness that allows them to confidently engage in a robust manner. Building awareness of one another’s approach is the groundwork to establishing Trust that allows for engagement in healthy conflict and confidence in teams to debate and challenge to solve the most complex problems, drive innovation and intrinsically connect in dynamic operating environments.
A tailored approach is provided to the Leader who has the critical role of channeling their energy into engendering a psychologically safe team environment. Their own self awareness is necessary to observe with genuine curiousity about their team’s dynamic, its team members, ideas and opportunities, and then, deeply listening to their team.
Sharing individual insights gained through The Birkman Method data back facilitation allows team members to synthesise collective insights with a practical focus through understanding of one another. It also allows the team to identify opportunities to leverage collective strengths and respond to risks in respect to their collaboration and approaches to goal achievement. Insights generated from The Birkman Method Profiles are aligned to each of Lencioni’s levels; Trust, Conflict, Commitment, Accountability and Results. The facilitation by Birkman experts engages and focuses the team during the Intervention to reset and unify, providing the team with clarity and accountability that will drive results aligned to their business and strategic plans.
Beyond awarenesshe Intervention produces individually-owned commitments identified in an action plan for the team that drives the shared commitment integral in goal achievement together with priority objectives aligned with the businesses strategic direction. The team will confirm and be accountable for Team Behaviours assigned to each of Lencioni’s levels. Individual team member plans will be developed that also drive the social component of goal achievement at an individual level.
The Highly Effective Team Intervention is conducted with intact teams through the completion of The Birkman Method profile by each team member followed by a tailored program over a dissected workshop format. The program may be broken into a series of 3 small workshops or 1 longer team workshop based around the specific characteristics of the team identified through the Birkman Profile.