Gelinas James, Inc. Training Programs

Collaborative Team Series

Context. Work today is more complex and requires increasingly more collaboration across organizational boundaries, functions, and areas of expertise. Work teams, cross-functional project teams, and cross-organizational leadership teams are the way organizations get their work done. Teams form to get a particular piece of work done and disband to reconfigure themselves into other teams. Any individual in any organization may participate on a number of teams or be expected to collaborate across a number of organizational boundaries and levels. We know of no organizations which do not depend on a significant amount of teamwork to survive. It is the cornerstone of the world's most outstanding organizations.

Since we all have participated in a variety of teams in our work and personal lives, it is easy to assume that everyone already knows how to do this. To a certain extent this is true. However, the rewards of team work are great and can be even greater when conscious attention is paid to developing each leader's and member's ability to lead, follow, and facilitate. You can leverage the benefits of team work even more in your organization by providing people with an opportunity to develop a common understanding of what teamwork is and how to achieve it.

Audience. This course series addresses three different aspects of teams: leadership, membership, and facilitation. Thus, the audience for the courses are (1) those who lead teams or are expected to engender team work among players who may or may not be a team, (2) those who are members of teams or are expected to collaborate within or across organizational boundaries, and (3) anyone who is expected to facilitate meetings in which participation and collaborative decision-making are essential to accomplishing the group's goals.

Purpose: To give organization members the ability to lead, participate in, or facilitate outstanding team work.

What You Will Learn in SKILLS FOR MEMBERS

The characteristics of and requirements for creating and maintaining high performance teams
How to develop and use a team performance assessment instrument
The sources and uses of power
How to strategically choose and use six different decision-making options
How to develop and use a team charter
Actions which disempower or empower you and others
How to more effectively participate in team meetings
How to provide feedback and manage differences

What You Will Learn in SKILLS FOR LEADERS

What "collaborative leadership" means and how to achieve it
How to engender increased trust and cooperation, especially across organizational boundaries
Criteria for determining which decision-making process to use when
How to plan collaborative projects
Consensus-building strategies
How to present ideas in a way which builds support
Advanced skills for accomplishing tasks collaboratively outside of team meetings
A proven approach to negotiating and building agreements on roles
Skills to manage conflicts

What You Will Learn in FACILITATION SKILLS

How to create and maintain focus before, during, and after a meeting
How to maintain balance between accomplishing tasks and maintaining the relationships of team members
How to generate forward movement and action
How to inspire learning and integration

Method. Skills for Members is a one- to two-day workshop in which intact work teams or groups define what kind of team they want to be, assess themselves using their agreed-upon criteria and interactively work, through discussion and practice, to build the required skills to be what they want to be. Skills for Leaders is a three-day workshop in which leaders challenge themselves to try on new ideas about leadership and practice the skills and tools needed to function in a more collaborative manner. Facilitation Skills is a two- to three-day workshop in which participants practice their skills with groups working on real issues.

Is The Collaborative Team Series Right For You? If you are ready to translate your beliefs about the importance of teamwork into the everyday leadership and work of your organization, these courses are on target for you.

Our Commitment To You. We use these skills every day of our working lives. They are what makes us effective consultants and effective partners with our clients. These are the skills which set us apart from our competitors. We teach them from experience and can describe situations in which we and our clients excelled because of their use and in which misusing or not using these skills created serious problems.