Understanding Team Dynamics
High performance teams have established a rapport with each other that helps them to communicate and collaborate more effectively to achieve their goals and objectives. Understanding Group Dynamics will accelerate this process. It begins with participants completing an assessment and profiling tool. When experiential learning activities, content and theory are added, participants gain a better insight into their behavioral strengths and weaknesses; likes and dislikes; and favored style for learning, communicating, managing conflicts and decision making. They develop an appreciation for individual differences and how to use the differences in a constructive and productive manner.
Assessment and Profiling Tools
Fusion Associates utilizes a variety of tools including Myers-Briggs® Type Indicator, DiSC® Behavior Styles, Belbin Self-Perception Inventory®, TKI and FiroB®.
What do the assessment and profiling tools consider?
Personality Type
Personality corresponds to the inner self. It helps define people's motivations and determines how we interact with our environment. Each of us has a preferred, consistent, distinct way of perceiving, organizing, and retaining information. This is due to the way we were brought up (environment or nurture) and the genes (DNA or nature) within us. Personality-type analysis is based on the theory that seemingly random variations in human behavior are not really random at all. Rather, variations in behavior arise because different people perceive the world around them differently and come to a conclusion about how to behave in a given situation based on what they perceive. According to this theory, people's learning and decision making styles, values, attitudes, reactions, motivations and behavior will be different if they perceive and judge things differently. Understanding your own personality type is a first step towards personal and professional growth and development. Understanding the personality types of other team members helps one to more effectively communicate, manage conflict, motivate and interact with one's teammates.
Behavior Styles
Behavior corresponds to the external and observable expression of a person's life. It manifests itself in what people say and do. A person's behavior style tells us how a person tends to behave and perform in their work environment. It tells us how a person responds to problems or challenges, how they deal with other people and how they respond to rules and procedures. Certain behavior styles complement each other while others conflict. Understanding and learning about yourself and the people you work with will help facilitate constructive communication, build strong working relationships and high performance teams and increase productivity.
Team Roles
Team role is a term used to describe an individual's pattern of behavior as it relates to his or her contribution to the progress of a team. It tells us a person's most, middle and least preferred natural roles when on a team. A high performance team typically includes a certain complement of people performing one or more of the roles typically required for high performance. Knowing individual team role strengths and weaknesses is useful for putting together a new team or trying to determine why an intact team is not performing as expected.
Learning Styles
A learning style is a person's consistent way of responding to and using stimuli in the context of learning. According to a range of theories, learning styles can consist of from three to six different styles including auditory, verbal, kinesthetic, logical, social and solitary. Learning styles appear to be distinct from intelligence, ability and personality. They guide the way people learn, internalize experiences and recall information. An astute learner will develop a repertoire of strategies that favor his or her preferred learning style but allow for flexibility to deal with situations where the preferred learning style is not effective. Equally important to consider is what style we use to present information to individuals based on their own preferred learning style. It is important to address auditory, verbal and kinesthetic learning styles together in a business situation.
Conflict Styles
Conflict is sometimes unavoidable. In the worst situations, conflict can be damaging and harmful. However, in other situations it can produce some very positive outcomes and results. There are many styles of conflict. Whether conflict is helpful or harmful depends on how aware we are of our own preferred style of conflict and our openness to learning about the other styles. Each style is more appropriate in certain situations and more effective at certain times. It is important to understand the other person's preferred style of conflict in a team situation. All too often emotion gets in the way of effective problem resolution. Knowing when to use each conflict style will make you a more effective team member or team leader.
Leadership Styles
Leadership is about setting a direction towards a goal and motivating people in that direction. However, it is important to distinguish what kind of leadership we are talking about. There are several types of leadership, including leading oneself, leading others, leading groups, leading teams, leading organizations, etc. There are also many types of leadership roles including visionary leader, total leader, situational leader, etc. And finally, it is also important to distinguish between leadership traits and leadership styles. As such, it can be simplistic to generalize about leadership. Leaders carry out their roles in a wide variety of styles including autocratic, democratic, participatory and laissez-faire. Often, the leadership style depends on the situation. Deciding on the right one is critical for the performance of the team.
Workshop Objectives
- Understand the assessment and profiling tool
- Gain insight into team behavior
- Develop strategies to maximize team members' profiles and preferences
- Improve the quality of communication by understanding and accommodating differences in communication styles
- Provide a framework to manage conflict and make it more productive
- Experience the different ways individuals prefer to give and receive information
- Experience the different ways individuals solve problems and make decisions
- Provide a framework to match people to specific team roles and assignments
Workshop Duration
