Breaking the Old Paradigm on Teams

Recording from December 2, 2021

About the Webinar

The last 18 months of a global pandemic have profoundly shifted our world views and our attitudes toward work and life. We have different expectations about where and how we want to work, who we want to work with, and how to find meaning and purpose in our work. The satisfaction we receive in our professional lives is dependent upon the level of joy and sense of achievement we experience with our teams. As organizations try to learn their way forward in a hybrid, 24-7 global work environment, we need to learn how to help teams grow together.

How the Pandemic, and Shifting Attitudes, are Changing Teams

Working virtually and hybrid for this extended period has exposed many of the hidden, destructive issues that can derail teams. Teams are the new center of gravity for organizations. Top companies are now looking for an answer to a question: how do we create an environment that is not about teams, but “teaming”?

In this session we will explore what “teaming” really means, as an active, iterative journey rather than a static analysis of forming and norming stages, or a laundry list of individual capabilities. Teaming as a verb, connotes a journey where team members foster their own positive environment, taking responsibility for acting in ways that create joy and productivity. Teams that do this are able to seize the moment, recognize opportunity, drive change, innovate and achieve extraordinary results.

Getting Teams Un-Stuck so they start “Teaming”

When it comes to teams, we see them getting stuck thinking about where they are in the old “forming” and “storming” phases. As they muddle through the mire of unconstructive conflict and unhealthy team behaviors it isn’t clear how to move beyond storming.

What is missing in part is how we have so often viewed teams as a collection of individuals, rather than a living, breathing entity. Research shows that in fact it isn’t the “who” of the team that matters so much as “how” the team works together toward common goals. These challenges in looking at improving team performance extend all the way from middle management to the C-Suite. People tend to show up representing their function or business, and not the enterprise. And they don’t know how to move from those positions to becoming one, true team.

A New Paradigm to Define and Deliver on Teams Capable of Executing

Creating a high performing team is not just a question of how to charter and christen a new organizational unit, but how to inculcate a “teaming” dynamic into the culture. Recognizing that “team” is both a noun and a verb, you can set teams up for success with a mindset and expectations about how they do their work every day.

What you’ll learn from our conversation is how to redefine and measure team performance as setting free the genius of the members, to create the extraordinary together, and how to build the mindsets and behaviors into a teaming culture that propels action and delivers results.

In this session, we will:

• Clarify the distinct characteristics of teams that are “teaming”
• Draw the link to a global research-based model of team performance
• Reveal four essential elements required to enable and sustain teaming

We will open up a discussion on a few real-life case studies of leadership teams who overcame barriers to driving execution and discuss what interventions helped these teams to:

• Operate more effectively and efficiently
• Engage around critical challenges and collaborate on solutions
• Make faster better decisions and get things done in a timely way

You’ll walk away with ideas for breaking the old paradigms in your organization to meet the new world of work with fresh insights on teaming. Come and learn, and share with colleagues, ways you think teams can apply these principles, to make it easy to rev up team engagement, satisfaction, and performance.