Teaming and Teambuilding

PROBLEM

The centralized department was simultaneously required to downsize to a fraction of its previous size, integrate many new senior members who brought different ideas about how the department should best operate, operate less as a centralized policing function and more in collaboration with the worldwide operating units, and rejuvenate the marketing programs and practices of its brands.

Members of the team quickly developed practices of criticizing each other and failing to communicate on any constructive basis. Morale and productivity was low, and relations with the regions were strained with disrespect and criticism.

WHAT WE DID

We interviewed all members of senior management to understand the backgrounds and concerns they brought to the team, and identified a number of recurring destructive patterns in their communication. We also conducted a survey to assess the team's developmental stage to provide a context for the group's progress.

An initial workshop was held with the senior executive of the department to address some shared interests, discuss destructive practices, and gain renewed commitment to cooperation. We met with all managers and introduced them to Interpersonal Style, the Developmental Stages of a Team, and helped them begin to develop their own Code of Conduct.

In a second meeting held five weeks later, we taught the group a range of management and communications tools to improve productivity, as well as provide them with individual "Tool Kits" that they could use with their own work groups. Enthusiasm for the concepts and their anticipated benefits was widespread.

THE RESULTS

The Department's Code of Conduct became the subject of a humorous booklet and series of posters and "Post-Its" throughout the department. Habits changed, and many department managers used the "Tool Kit". Morale and cooperation improved, tensions reduced, and members turned their attention to developing ground-breaking creative programs that have since been hailed by the regions as the most innovative and successful in their region's history.

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