OD Process Technology
Facilitating Collaborative Engagement and Organizational Commitment

Holistic Approach to Team Building

Teams don't just happen. They are built! This is particularly true of high-performing teams.

As organizations become flatter in structure—by stripping out irrelevant layers and roles—and as they renew their processes and vitalize their technologies to gain competitive advantage, it becomes increasingly important to have successful, high-performing work teams.

Teamwork, team working skills and leadership team development for sustainable high performance result from using a holistic approach—encompassing team mission, attributes, culture, technology, processes, and performance management systems, among others. This would require the commitment of team members and relevant stakeholders in the team's business mission, strategy and outcomes—and in the team's culture, development, and working processes.


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Team Building

Holistic approach to team building encompasses team mission, attributes, culture, technology, processes, and performance management systems, among others.

Team Building - Insights
Team Building

Team building, in real terms, begins with a focused assessment of each team's operational, workplace, strategic and competitive environment.

Team Building - Insights
Team Building

The best activities for team building are those that foster effective teamwork skills, team bonding, problem solving, and teamwork processes and reflect the teams' workplace, operational and strategic needs and realities.

Team Building - Insights
Team Building

Teamwork building activities should be continuous and integrated with the workplace activities, organizational culture, and the expected outcomes that determine team success and rewards.

Team Building - Insights
OD Principles

Without solid guiding principles, the choices and decisions a business or an organization makes on an organizational development project and its outcomes would be left to chance. There would be no guarantee of achieving the organizational change, performance, and leadership the business craves.

OD - Principles
Making Team Building Fit For Purpose

Overview on Holistic Team Building

Holistic team building integrates aspects of organizational systems and the organizational culture with actualizing attributes of effective teamwork and team performance while promoting effective functional interdependencies across busiess units and levels. It begins with a focused assessment of each team's operational, workplace, strategic and competitive environment.

Various team building activities and business-linked analytical tools would then be used to promote team insight and develop team commitment. Team-focused projects—developed on the basis of the strategic and operational realities of specific teams—should be used for reinforcing and sustaining effective teamwork in the business.

Actions and activities that would promote holistic team building and make team building fit for purpose would include the following, among others:

1. Insightfully and strategically identifying team gaps and team workplace challenges.
2. Assessing and enhancing teamwork and teamwork skills.
3. Developing optimal team-based environment and empowering teams for sustainable high-performance.
4. Facilitating team and team working insight.
5. Integrating functionally interdependent teams for effective organizational synergy and strategic collaboration.
6. Building leadership teams for competitive edge and organizational leadership.
7. Building team leadership skills for high-performing teams.

Developing insight on team working environment and teamwork realities

Workplace and Team Context Analysis

Team building activities and intervention should start with gaining insight on the team working environment and the operational and strategic realities and mission of the team. This means undertaking a systematic analysis and assessment of the team's workplace, operational, strategic, and competitive situation—including challenges and experiences relating to team's competitive mission, nature of the team tasks, circumstances, operations, experiences, results and aspirations.

Exploring the team challenges should take cognizance of the perspectives, meanings, and values which the team members and other stakeholders in the team life ascribe to such experiences and challenges. These assessments and the team members' agreements would impact the nature, direction, and quality of team building.

Faciliting relevance, fidelity and integrity of team building activities

Best Activities for Team Building

The best activities for team building are those that foster effective teamwork skills, team bonding, problem solving, and teamwork processes and reflect the teams' workplace, operational and strategic needs and realities. Team building in real terms involves handling the real business of each target team in a manner that is operationally and strategically meaningful.

It means immersing team members and stakeholders in dealing with and tackling real time, workplace, and strategic issues. When teams work on what they care about and see as central to team mission, vision, and strategic direction they would be motivated. Teamwork activties and team interventions focusing on games and simulations lacking in real-life, team essence are just what they are—games!

Reinforcing successful teamwork for breakthrough performance

Teamwork for Sustainable High Performance

Teamwork building activities should be continuous and integrated with the workplace activities, organizational culture, and the expected outcomes that determine team success and rewards. Teamwork and team performance metrics should be aligned, optimized and assessed on an ongoing basis. Activities and teamwork skills that build harmonious functional interdependencies with other teams and across teams should be emphasized. Team-themed organization workshops and workouts should be mainstreamed at all business units and levels. Individual capacities of key team members and team leaders should be assessed and developed on an ongoing basis. Team-level empowerment and commitment would benefit from specific team-managed re-engineering of their teamwork processes, engagements, and rewards.

In this way, creative and imaginative engagement, and empowerment, of team members and stakeholders would flourish, and this would sustain desired team outcomes.

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Proactive collaboration and productive engagement

Technical Assistance and Partnership

Need our technical assistance or partnership on team building? Get Help:info@odsynergy.com.

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