Building a High

Performance TeamRetreat Agenda

December 10, 2007

John Blattner, Ph.D.

I. IntroductionsII. ExpectationsIII. Vision for Retreat

To have partners apply their collective efforts toward the same goal as a basis for the continual development of a high performance team

To focus on leadership which is a key factor in the establishment and maintenance of high performance teams. A fundamental requirement is that the leaders have a strong belief in teams that are results oriented.

To come together to review internal and external work relationships and processes of senior management.

III. Vision for Retreat (continued) Internal factors, which contribute to team

performance, are: individual performance, accountability, trust, problem solving/conflict resolving ability, getting the job done efficiently, with the desired results and belief in the team.

External factors are identifying critical outside groups (business partners) and individuals, relationships with those outsiders, team performance action plans, and being seen as winners. (Image)

Agenda

Team Development

EQi

Culture

IV. High Performance Team Development Inclusion for New Member The partners themselves should have a

clear understanding of its: History, Values, Vision and Mission before it can carry on the mission/goals of the organization.1. History of the team including key

members and events via a time line2. Sharing Expectations:

• What is your biggest concern about being part of this team?

• How would this team function if everything progressed just as you hoped?

• What actions do you think must be taken to ensure positive outcomes?

IV. High Performance Team Development Inclusion for New Member (continued)

3. What are the key driving values of the team?

4. Vision-what image and impact do you want the team to have on the organization including internal and external customers?

5. What is the mission of the team?

V. High Performance Team Emotional Competence Inventory Group Report1. Presentation2. Discussion3. Problem Solving and critical thinking

activity4. Action Planning

Emotional Reality of Teams When teams face their collective

emotional realities – They begin a healthy reexamination

of the shared habits that create and hold that reality in place

Teams begin to change only when they first have fully grasped the reality of how they function

It is critical to understand this reality on an emotional level

Emotional Reality of Teams Recognizing discomfort does not, in

itself, enable change Team members must discover the

source of the discontent-an emotional reality chat usually goes beyond such obvious sources as a “bad boss”

The root of the problem often lies with long established and deeply embedded ground rules

Emotional Reality of Teams

Those are called Norms, when we talk about teams and cultures, when we refer to the larger organization

When there is an understanding of the emotional reality, norms of teams and the culture of an organization, it can be used to develop the ideal vision for the group

The more aligned the reality is with the ideal, the more the change can be counted on to persist over the long term

Power of Norms

We take norms for granted, but they are immensely powerful -

Norms represent implicit learning at the team level

The norms of a group help to determine whether it functions as a high-performing team or becomes simply a loose collection of people working together

Norms dictate what “feels right” in a given situation, and therefore govern how people act

Power of Norms

Collective emotional intelligence is what sets top-performing teams apart from average teams

Group emotional intelligence determines a team’s ability to manage its emotions in a way that cultivates “trust, group identity, and group efficacy” and so maximizes cooperation, collaboration, and effectiveness

Emotional intelligence results in a positive-and powerful emotional reality

Group Emotional Intelligence A group’s emotional intelligence

requires the same capabilities that an emotionally intelligent individual expresses -Groups have moods and needs, and they act collectively

Group Emotional Intelligence Self-Aware Team

A team expresses its self-awareness by being mindful of shared moods as well as of emotions of individuals within the group

Self-Managed Team Holding team members accountable for

managing how they work together Positive Norms will stick only if the group

puts them into practice over and over again

Group Emotional Intelligence Self-Aware/Self-Managed Teams

In self-aware, self-managing teams members themselves will step up to the plate to instill and reinforce resonant norms to hold one another accountable for sticking to them

Team self-management is everyone’s responsibility

When core values and the team’s overall mission are clear and when self-management norms are explicit and practiced over time, team effectiveness improves dramatically

Group Emotional Intelligence The Empathetic Team

This team has the collective equivalent of empathy, the basis of all relationship skills

Being empathetic at the team level doesn’t just mean being nice

It means figuring out what the whole system really needs and going after it in a way that makes all those involved more successful and satisfied with the outcome

Group Emotional Intelligence The Empathetic Team (Continued)

Empathy across organizational boundaries-team to team-for example is a powerful driver of organizational effectiveness and efficiency

This kind of empathy goes toward creating a healthy emotional climate organization-wide, as well as creating a positive emotional environment in teams themselves

VI. High Performance Team operational guidelines review and development:1. How will we make decisions?2. What is each individuals most effective

work method?3. How will the partners assure that

everyone gets a chance to discuss issues and raise concerns?

4. How issues will be resolved/conflict managed?

5. How will the group manage tasks?6. How will the group address change for

areas that are not producing results?

Exercise Overview

During the last two years, much of the culture has been torn apart and we now see it as starting to come together. Thus as a leadership group, now is the time to help mold it

We want to keep the focus on people and safety. We need the optimism of “all things are possible” but combined with pragmatism as to what we can get done and the accountability to make sure we get things done once we commit to them

We need to look at streamlining – only the paperwork needed, involve those people needed but no more, moving quicker, simple systems, clear accountability and the willingness to take intelligent risks

Exercise1. Can usually be found in some

“common frame of reference”a. Can be taken for grantedb. Can be treasured

What? Who?

Example: All things are possible. A willingness to take on lots of projects but combined with an acceptance that we may not meet deadlines (and not always holding people accountable for that)

Exercise2. Is acquired and governs

a. Can be socially learned and transmitted How?

b. Can provide rules for organizational behavior What?

Example: A bit risk adverse. People sometimes wait until their boss tells them what to do

Exercise3. Endures over time

a. Can be identified via a historical record of significant events and individuals What? Who?

4. Is symbolica. Via language, behavior, and other

things What?

Exercise5. Has a core

a. Can be compromised of values and assumptions What?

Example: At times a seeming desire to choose the perfect very complicated solution rather than the simple one. A tendency to want to talk about things a lot and get everyone involved

6. Is modifiablea. Can be a challengeb. The pathway to change is determined by a

respect for, and an attempt to identify and understand items 1-5

Summary

I. Review of Current History and Transitions

II. Identify StrengthsIII. Identify ChallengesIV. Identify Strategies to maintain

Strengths and address ChallengesV. Establish quarterly action stepsVI. Closure