Reflections  on  Team  Building  at  Land  &  Properties  

July  31,  2013  

 

Land & Properties is the City of Medicine Hat department that manages, identifies, plans, designs, builds and markets residential, commercial and industrial subdivisions of City-owned lands to generate income and leverage Council objectives. The department delivers superior public service by maximizing value creation: the sum total of economic return, social benefits and environmental protection to support Council’s vision as a community of choice. The Land & Properties Team is comprised of five multi-disciplinary professionals, whose shared vision is to be a learning team that adds value by combining and sharing its values and strengths to build sustainable communities.

Since January 2009, the Land & Properties team has had three one-day off-sites:

1. Building on our strengths and developing a shared vision (2009). 2. Personal and shared values and moving forward (2010). 3. Identify individual and team Work Style Pattern (2010).

The first two were very successful. The second was successful at identifying individual Work Style Patterns, but team members were not able to agree on a team profile.

In addition, the entire team participated in a three-day project management workshop and a two-day conflict resolution and negotiation workshop in 2009. These sessions were facilitated by the team leader. Through a partnership with Human Resources, other City employees also participated in the workshops.

The team later engaged in co-creating:

• Organizational Leadership Project (OLP) as an Action Learning Team (ALT) (2010-2011).

• Land & Properties Business Plan and Budget (2012-2014). • Land & Properties Business Model (2012-2013).

In addition to weekly meetings, specific initiatives where the whole team has been engaged include:

• Ranchlands/Riverwalk visioning. • Cancarb/Eco Lands visioning. • Sourthlands 6 Park visioning. • Airport Land Development visioning.

Team members completed, and shared with each other, the results of the following instruments:

• Clifton StrengthsFinder (top five strengths). • Thomas Killman Instrument (conflict style). • Parker Team Profile. • Work Style Pattern. • DISC: Dominance/Directness, Influencing, Steadiness, Compliance.

In 2013, the team decided to move to the next level (L&P Team 2.0 so to speak) by incorporating PACE into its Team Charter:

• Progress (i.e., execution of meaningful work) • Alignment (i.e., personal goals aligned with department goals aligned with organizational

goals) • Capability (i.e., technical AND behavioural skills and knowledge to excel at executing

the team’s work) • Engagement (i.e., a motivated team that co-creates its outcomes)

Each team member participated in The Team Performance Online Survey by The Grove Consultants International, which aligns with the PACE principles. On June 27, the team participated in an Onsite Offsite (also known as a periodic planning conference) to evaluate the results of this survey and co-create a team learning plan for the next six months.

The Online Survey proved to be an effective tool to facilitate dialogue for a mature team. This is all about understanding each other at a deeper level, so team members can appreciate and trust each other’s abilities.

The Online Survey comprises seven categories in addition to an interdependence evaluation. The seven categories are:

1. Orientation 2. Trust Building 3. Goal Clarification 4. Commitment 5. Implementation 6. High Performance 7. Renewal

Dialogue was captured on flipcharts oriented to successes and opportunities across the seven categories. The agenda for the conference included 1) overview of the team performance model 2) review of team report cover page 3) discuss interdependencies 4) identify strengths and opportunities for improvement 5) prioritize opportunities 6) identify best practices and 7) next steps. The conference lasted five hours and included a catered lunch.

Flipchart summarizing strengths and opportunities

The outcome of the conference was a list of changes prioritized to harvest quick wins in the short-term and optimize results in the mid-to-long-term:

1. Add Where to From Here updates to weekly team meeting agenda (5 Implementation) 2. Add team learning to quarterly Where to From Here meeting agenda (6 High

Performance) 3. Align department activities and Achievement Planners with Key Performance Indicators

(KPIs) in Business Model (3 Goals Clarification) 4. Document actions, decisions, issues, risks, DIs and IIs in weekly meeting notes (4

Commitment) 5. Put highlights of Business Model and Team Charter on the wall (2 Trust Building) 6. Revise Emergency Response Plan (ERP) for Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) with

the L&P Team (1 Orientation) 7. Develop website and annual report for L&P (7 Renewal) 8. Update L&P Team Charter to reflect decisions made at this meeting

Team members want the team leader to clearly articulate what the organization expects from them and gain more organizational support for the team through the Business Model, Policies, participation in the EOC, scaling out and scaling up.

Successes the team wishes to celebrate publicly through its website and annual report include:

• Kinsmen Home • Compressed Natural Gas Station • Baby’s breath in Ranchlands Phase F&G • Affordable Housing projects • Environmental Reserve dedication • The team’s role in the Emergency Operations Centre • The team’s contribution to Corporate Training and Development • Saratoga Park • Business Model • Ranchlands Phase 3 Playground • Southlands 6 Landscaping • Viterra restrictive covenant