Inside a Balanced WorkLife Team Session
You’ve probably seen or heard about team building sessions either from your own personal experience, television, or other media, but you probably haven’t seen a team session like ours before. No one had to be caught by the rest of the team as they fell from a table and we didn’t make everyone stand in a circle and hold hands.
Instead, we had a day filled with training, exercises, breakouts and plenty of food, all centered around building exceptional teams.
Yesterday one of the teams from DMB Associates Inc visited our retreat to participate in one of our team alignment sessions. This was the last of 9 teams from DMB that we worked with, involving over 100 employees. The exciting part for The Balanced WorkLife Company was that the engagement and commitment was as high at the last session as it was for the first.
This was a very interesting group and much like a stand-alone business as it represented development, construction, marketing/sales, golf, finance, contracts, and legal compliance. Some participants hadn’t worked together much at all.
Morning
As soon as team members started arriving we greeted them and served breakfast consisting of bagels, fruit, sweet rolls, coffee and fresh orange juice. There is a strong correlation between hunger and happiness, so we make sure our clients are filled.
Once everyone had a chance to eat and enjoy the beautiful 74 degree weather, (a great day for us in AZ), we gathered in the conference room to start the day’s events.
Integrating Past Experiences
The first item of the day was an exercise we call Integrating Past Experiences.
The team members took some time to reflect and share some of their major accomplishments from the past, why they were important, and how they could apply them. We had them share this with team members they don’t work with too often.
As a result, the team came away with a much greater appreciation and understanding of the people they have around them and the experience and strengths they can bring to the table.
This exercise always amazes me because of what I learn about some of the team members we help facilitate. One of the most interesting stories I’ve heard came from a young business owner who managed to pull off one of the most amazing bike trips I’ve ever heard of. When he was in his early twenties he wasn’t completely sure about what he wanted to do with his life. So he decided he would take the very little money he had and bike from Vancouver, Canada to Rocky Point, Mexico and back. Since he didn’t have the money to stay in a hotel each night he found similar interest people on MySpace that were willing to have him spend the evenings at their place.
He said the experience was incredibly rewarding. While biking 3,600 miles he was able to reflect on just what he wanted to accomplish with his life. Today he is the owner of a successful company and has a great team supporting him. Hearing a story, like this, gives you a completely different perspective of that person, and often opportunities to share these types of experiences don’t come up on their own.
The DMB team is highly skilled and the stories of their past experiences are noteworthy.
Bonnie and Tracy find a comfortable place to go over their past experiences
Who Am I
Along the same lines as Integrating Past Experiences, the team members had a chance to share more about themselves with a document we provide. Among the items listed are topics such as what you are most proud of, favorite leisure activities and business background.
It’s a simple exercise but provides a great icebreaker in getting to know each other better.
Leveraging Team Talents
This part of the team session is very eye opening. Before coming to the session we ran DISC and Motivation Assessments with all the team members, giving them a better understanding into how each of the team members naturally prefers to work, communicate, and be motivated.
This allowed the group to see a number of different ways the team ideally would behave, such as which team members like to be involved on new ideas and making changes vs those who wanted to implement the ideas. Furthermore, we could break down which members were people oriented vs task oriented. Next, we went into how to communicate with each of the different styles, what could upset them, what do they appreciate, what to be prepared for, etc.
Lastly, the team was able to see how they adapt between their natural behavior and work behavior. So for example, some individuals are naturally charismatic and social, but may be in a role that has them doing tasks all on their own. The managers in the room could quickly understand how to help their employees feel more compatible with the work they do, and at the same time help lower some stress.
As the team could visually see who fit into each of the styles and learned about their personalities, communication and motivation styles they started to see a major benefit in how to apply these tools into making a more balanced workplace.
Connection or Conflict
In the next module we shared how to recognize, understand and then connect with the personality styles that were different from your own natural style. So for example, one common trait is someone who has a take charge attitude; but to someone on the other side of the spectrum, that trait can be perceived as being bossy and demanding.
By going through some examples and a quick exercise, they were able to understand the keys to connecting with the people who may have been much more difficult to communicate with in the past.
A great lunch was provided including sandwiches, saled, chips, brownies and more
Lunch
It was a busy morning, team members were so engaged and focused on problem solving, it was difficult to break up their group discussions to move back to the agenda. They had brainstormed really creative ideas and wanted to be able to plan their next steps.
By noon lunch was served. We had a variety of sandwiches including roast beef, tuna and chicken, along with salads, sweet potato chips and brownies. The team had a lot of fun sharing some of the insight from their personal assessments.
Engagement Study
Once everyone settled down after lunch we started the next session. Here, we looked at a survey we conducted prior to the session. It looked at the satisfaction levels across 18 different areas of the company. One example of a question was, “Do employees feel their opinions count”?
By looking at the database of answers we could compare how other teams in the company ranked these questions, what areas could increase morale, and more.
Jenny and Dea sit by our ornamental orange tree while working on some team exercises
People Profiling
The next segment was very interesting to the team. We taught them how to profile anyone they interact with, so that they can quickly understand how to best approach them on goals, get their support, and create a connection. One example our facilitator Carol used, was how might a man go about getting his wife to support him in buying a motorcycle.
We ran through examples of people we could profile like Michael Jordan and even some DMB employees.
We provided the team with the knowledge of how to adapt their own personal style in a way that can help them grow relationships that will help them to succeed.
How to Become a Trusted Adviser
Jim, the owner of Balanced WorkLife, then shared a valuable process for becoming a trusted adviser. He went over 6 Steps in the Relationship Process and helped the team learn how to get past common barriers.
Gratitude
As the day ended we worked on an exercise about gratitude. This is one thing we feel every work place could use more of. There are several benefits of gratitude such as increased emotional stability, confidence, focus and performance.
The DMB team was very good about this. Their comments varied from being thankful for jobs when many in their industry are less fortunate, to being thankful for team members who work very hard and often go unnoticed. Everyone left feeling uplifted.
Terri and Ron find an excellent place to do their breakout. Right next to all the food.
Action Plans
All throughout the session the team came up with great ideas, goals, and new commitments that they could make to improve the future of working together.
In a month or so we will make sure to follow up and see how the progress is going.
Shane, Jenny and Chris discuss the day's activities
Ending the Day
We build great relationships with the teams we coach, and this team wasn’t any different. We ended the day enjoying dinner, answering questions and sharing techniques with each other.
Overall, the team was able to;
• Increase their capabilities as a high performing team
• Reinforce opportunities for high trust across the team
• Maximize the opportunity to effectively work together in the future
• Understand each others’ collective and individual talents
• Work more effectively as individuals and as a team
• Build a team skill & plan to become a trusted adviser to their key stakeholders
It was an exceptional day of education and application. Four of the team had previously attended other team sessions and we were very pleased to hear from one of them directly that he had actually had a lot of additional learning at this session.
How About You?
If you want to learn more about our team sessions give us a call at 1-877-523-0212
