“Aligned to the overall strategic shift in our company towards a more team-based structure, we need to be better at developing interpersonal and social skills, especially with regard to the new generations now starting to grow in our company.”
– Global HR L&D Manager, Chemical Manufacturing
Focus on Collaboration
The latest thinking tells us that team performance, and collaboration across teams, is essential. Therefore, our recommendation would be to consider the team alchemy system™, a comprehensive framework for team development with a unique focus on collaboration.
Step One: Diagnose
The challenge is to identify where to begin and where to invest in developing interpersonal and social skills for high performance results. Implementing our survey provides the starting and entry point to some of these critical questions, ensuring that all investment is focused on improved business results and performance.
Look Outside
Unlike other team performance surveys, our survey is unique in that it not only asks team members to assess their own performance, but it also asks external stakeholders to assess the team’s performance.
The common approach is to focus on two things: the capabilities of the individual and the process of how a team works together. What is good about this approach is that it gives people transferable skills from one team to the next; what is missing is the practical context of what the team actually delivers. Our innovative process starts outside-in, assessing the performance of the team not only through the eyes of the team members but especially through stakeholders’ eyes.
Step Two: Develop
Your survey results will provide you with a snapshot of where your team is on the team lifecycle, and you will be able to link your team’s lifecycle stage to a set of interpersonal and social skills that have been proven to be key for success at that particular stage of team performance.
Through a series of modular learning events, whereby the focus is on ‘learning by doing’, we help your team to further develop the right attitudes and skills for high team performance.
Step Three: Measure Progress and Continue Development
By re-administering the survey at different points, you can assess how your team is moving from one stage to the next, and be able to focus on developing those competencies needed at each stage.
New Generations, New Tools
Millenials are social learners and social collaboration tools are best suited for this next generation of learners. But we also know how the ‘new generations’ prefer to learn: they look for a good balance between technology-based learning (social collaboration tools, virtual classroom sessions) and face-to-face learning events. This combination is also preferred by older generations.
The key is to create a “physical space for collaborating between generations” and a social platform, such as Jive or Yammer, that uses facilitating, coaching and experiential learning to motivate new and older generations to work together.
If you wish to know more about how our unique team performance system could benefit your organisation, contact us for an introductory chat.