teamwork and team building - corporate training materials

Teamwork and Team Building

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TABLE OF CONTENTS Preface .............................................................................................................................................. 3

What is Courseware? ................................................................................................................................ 3

How Do I Customize My Course? .............................................................................................................. 3

Materials Required ................................................................................................................................... 4

Maximizing Your Training Power .............................................................................................................. 5

Icebreakers ........................................................................................................................................ 6

Icebreaker: Friends Indeed ........................................................................................................................ 7

Training Manual Sample ..................................................................................................................... 8

Sample Module: Solving Problems as a Team .......................................................................................... 9

Instructor Guide Sample ................................................................................................................... 14

Sample Module: Solving Problems as a Team ........................................................................................ 15

Activities ......................................................................................................................................... 24

Quick Reference Sheets .................................................................................................................... 29

Certificate of Completion ................................................................................................................. 31

PowerPoint Sample .......................................................................................................................... 32

Full Course Table of Contents ........................................................................................................... 38

Preface

What is Courseware? Welcome to Corporate Training Materials, a completely new training experience!

Our courseware packages offer you top-quality training materials that are customizable, user-friendly, educational, and fun. We provide your materials, materials for the student, PowerPoint slides, and a take-home reference sheet for the student. You simply need to prepare and train!

Best of all, our courseware packages are created in Microsoft Office and can be opened using any version of Word and PowerPoint. (Most other word processing and presentation programs support these formats, too.) This means that you can customize the content, add your logo, change the color scheme, and easily print and e-mail training materials.

How Do I Customize My Course? Customizing your course is easy. To edit text, just click and type as you would with any document. This is particularly convenient if you want to add customized statistics for your region, special examples for your participants’ industry, or additional information. You can, of course, also use all of your word processor’s other features, including text formatting and editing tools (such as cutting and pasting).

To remove modules, simply select the text and press Delete on your keyboard. Then, navigate to the Table of Contents, right-click, and click Update Field. You may see a dialog box; if so, click “Update entire table” and press OK.

(You will also want to perform this step if you add modules or move them around.)

If you want to change the way text looks, you can format any piece of text any way you want. However, to make it easy, we have used styles so that you can update all the text at once.

If you are using Word 97 to 2003, start by clicking the Format menu followed by Styles and Formatting. In Word 2007 and 2010 under the Home tab, right-click on your chosen style and click Modify. That will then produce the Modify Style options window where you can set your preferred style options.

For example, if we wanted to change our Heading 1 style, used for Module Titles, this is what we would do:

Now, we can change our formatting and it will apply to all the headings in the document.

For more information on making Word work for you, please refer to Word 2007 or 2010 Essentials by Corporate Training Materials.

Materials Required All of our courses use flip chart paper and markers extensively. (If you prefer, you can use a whiteboard or chalkboard instead.)

We recommend that each participant have a copy of the Training Manual, and that you review each module before training to ensure you have any special materials required. Worksheets and handouts are included within a separate activities folder and can be reproduced and used where indicated. If you would like to save paper, these worksheets are easily transferrable to a flip chart paper format, instead of having individual worksheets.

We recommend these additional materials for all workshops:

• Laptop with projector, for PowerPoint slides

• Quick Reference Sheets for students to take home

• Timer or watch (separate from your laptop)

• Masking tape

• Blank paper

Maximizing Your Training Power We have just one more thing for you before you get started. Our company is built for trainers, by trainers, so we thought we would share some of our tips with you, to help you create an engaging, unforgettable experience for your participants.

• Make it customized. By tailoring each course to your participants, you will find that your results will increase a thousand-fold.

o Use examples, case studies, and stories that are relevant to the group.

o Identify whether your participants are strangers or whether they work together. Tailor your approach appropriately.

o Different people learn in different ways, so use different types of activities to balance it all out. (For example, some people learn by reading, while others learn by talking about it, while still others need a hands-on approach. For more information, we suggest Experiential Learning by David Kolb.)

• Make it fun and interactive. Most people do not enjoy sitting and listening to someone else talk for hours at a time. Make use of the tips in this book and your own experience to keep your participants engaged. Mix up the activities to include individual work, small group work, large group discussions, and mini-lectures.

• Make it relevant. Participants are much more receptive to learning if they understand why they are learning it and how they can apply it in their daily lives. Most importantly, they want to know how it will benefit them and make their lives easier. Take every opportunity to tie what you are teaching back to real life.

• Keep an open mind. Many trainers find that they learn something each time they teach a workshop. If you go into a training session with that attitude, you will find that there can be an amazing two-way flow of information between the trainer and trainees. Enjoy it, learn from it, and make the most of it in your workshops.

And now, time for the training!

Icebreakers

Each course is provided with a wide range of interactive Icebreakers. The trainer can utilize an Icebreaker to help facilitate the beginning of the course, as it helps “break the ice” with the participants. If the participants are new to each other, an icebreaker is a great way to introduce everyone to each other. If the participants all know each other it can still help loosen up the room and begin the training session on positive note. Below you will see one of the icebreakers that can be utilized from the Icebreakers folder.

Icebreaker: Friends Indeed

Purpose

Have the participants moving around and help to make introductions to each other.

Materials Required

• Name card for each person • Markers

Preparation

Have participants fill out their name card. Then, ask participants to stand in a circle, shoulder to shoulder. They should place their name card at their feet. Then they can take a step back. You as the facilitator should take the place in the center of the circle.

Activity

Explain that there is one less place than people in the group, as you are in the middle and will be participating. You will call out a statement that applies to you, and anyone to whom that statement applies must find another place in the circle.

Examples:

• Friends who have cats at home • Friends who are wearing blue • Friends who don’t like ice cream

The odd person out must stand in the center and make a statement.

The rules:

• You cannot move immediately to your left or right, or back to your place. • Let’s be adults: no kicking, punching, body-checking, etc.

Play a few rounds until everyone has had a chance to move around.

Training Manual Sample

On the following pages is a sample module from our Training Manual. Each of our courses contains twelve modules with three to five lessons per module. It is in the same format and contains the same material as the Instructor Guide, which is then shown after the Training Manual sample, but does not contain the Lesson Plans box which assists the trainer during facilitation.

The Training Manual can be easily updated, edited, or customized to add your business name and company logo or that of your clients. It provides each participant with a copy of the material where they can follow along with the instructor.

Sample Module: Solving Problems as a Team One of the most common objectives of a team is to solve a certain problem. It is usually why a team is created. Team members bring a diverse set of skills to the team and this provides a great scenario and the best chance in finding a solution. Because the team is comprised of individuals that bring a unique skill set, it provides the team with a “the whole is greater than its parts” setup which is a valuable tool.

Any time you think the problem is out there, that very thought is the problem.

Stephen R. Covey

The Six Thinking Hats

In 1999, Dr. Edward de Bono published a book entitled Six Thinking Hats. He theorizes that the human brain thinks in a number of distinct ways -- or states -- which can be identified, deliberately accessed, and therefore planned for use in a structured way, allowing team members to develop strategies for thinking about particular issues.

Six Thinking Hats is a powerful technique that helps teams look at important decisions from a number of different perspectives. It helps them make better decisions by pushing members to move outside their habitual ways of thinking. It helps them understand the full complexity of a decision, and identify issues and opportunities which they might not otherwise notice.

In order to make it easier to clearly identify and work with these states, colored hats are used as metaphors for them. The act of putting on a colored hat allows individuals to symbolically think in terms of the state, either actually or imaginatively.

White Hat: Neutrality: Participants make statements of fact, including identifying information that is absent -- and presenting the views of people who are not present -- in a factual manner. Examples of this the results of this thinking are:

Red Hat: Feeling: Participants state their feelings, exercising their gut instincts. In many cases this is a method for harvesting ideas; it is not a question of recording statements, but rather getting everyone to identify their top two or three choices from a list of ideas or items identified under another hat. This is done to help reducing lists of many options into a few to focus on by allowing each participant to vote for the ones they prefer. It is applied more quickly than the other hats to ensure it is a gut reaction feeling that is recorded. This method can use post-it notes to allow a quick system of voting, and creates a clear visual cue that creates rapid if incomplete agreement around an issue.

Alternatively it may be used to state ones gut reaction or feelings on an issue under discussion - this is more common when using the hats to review personal progress or deal with issues where there is high emotional content that is relevant to discussion. Finally, this hat can be used to request an aesthetic response to a particular design or object.

Black Hat: Negative Judgment: Participants identify barriers, hazards, risks, and other negative connotations. This is critical thinking, looking for problems and mismatches. This hat is usually natural for people to use, the issues with it are that people will tend to use it when it is not requested and when it is not appropriate, thus stopping the flow of others. Preventing inappropriate use of the black hat is a common obstacle and vital step to effective group thinking. Another difficulty faced is that some people will naturally start to look for the solutions to raised problems - they start practicing green on black thinking before it is requested.

Yellow hat – Positive Judgment: Participants identify benefits associated with an idea or issue. This is the opposite of black hat thinking and looks for the reasons in favor of something. This is still a matter of

judgment; it is an analytical process, not just blind optimism. One is looking to create justified statements in favor. It is encapsulated in the idea of "undecided positive" (whereas the black hat would be skeptical - undecided negative). The outputs may be statements of the benefits that could be created with a given idea, or positive statements about the likelihood of achieving it or identifying the key supports available that will benefit this course of action

Green Hat: Creative Thinking: This is the hat of thinking new thoughts. It is based around the idea of provocation and thinking for the sake of identifying new possibilities. Things are said for the sake of seeing what they might mean, rather than to form a judgment. This is often carried out on black hat statements in order to identify how to get past the barriers or failings identified there (green on black thinking). Because green hat thinking covers the full spectrum of creativity, it can take many forms.

Blue Hat: The Big Picture: This is the hat under which all participants discuss the thinking process. The facilitator will generally wear it throughout and each member of the team will put it on from time to time to think about directing their work together. This hat should be used at the start and end of each thinking session, to set objectives, to define the route to take to get to them, to evaluate where the group has got to, and where the thinking process is going. Having a facilitator maintain this role throughout helps ensure that the group remains focused on task and improves their chances of achieving their objectives.

Encouraging Brainstorming

Brainstorms are a simple and effective method for generating ideas and suggestions. They allow group members to use each other as creative resources and are effective when a subject is being introduced. The goal is to rapidly generate a large quantity of ideas. Subsequent sorting and prioritizing of the ideas is usually needed to refine the results.

Building Consensus

Consensus is a point of maximum agreement so action can follow. It is a win-win situation in which everyone feels that he or she has one solution that does not compromise any strong convictions or needs. To reach consensus, group members share ideas, discuss, evaluate, organize, and prioritize ideas, and struggle to reach the best conclusions together.

A good test for consensus is to ask the question "can you support this decision?" If everyone can support it, the group has achieved 100% consensus.

Consensus is not always the best strategy. In some cases, reaching consensus does not result in a better decision or outcome. For example, group members are capable of unanimously agreeing on a completely incorrect solution to a problem. But generally, reaching consensus remains a highly desirable goal.

To make consensus work, the leader must become skilled at separating the content of the team's work (the task) from the process (how the team goes about doing the task). But the process should get the most attention. A facilitative leader helps a team to solve its own problem. The problem-solving process is as follows:

1. Identify the problem or goal.

2. Generate alternative solutions.

3. Establish objective criteria.

4. Decide on a solution that best fits the criteria.

5. Proceed with the solution.

6. Evaluate the solution.

Everyone involved in the process should understand exactly which step is being worked on at any given point. When team members sense a problem, they are usually reacting to symptoms of the problem. But they are side effects of the real problem which usually lies below the surface.

Many methods exist for helping the team reach consensus. Below, we present the nominal group technique.

Instructor Guide Sample

On the following pages is a sample module from our Instructor Guide. It provides the instructor with a copy of the material and a Lesson Plans box. Each Instructor Guide and Training Manual mirrors each other in terms of the content. They differ in that the Instructor Guide is customized towards the trainer, and Training Manual is customized for the participant.

The key benefit for the trainer is the Lesson Plan box. It provides a standardized set of tools to assist the instructor train that particular lesson. The Lesson Plan box gives an estimated time to complete the lesson, any materials that are needed for the lesson, recommended activities, and additional points to assist in delivering the lessons such as Stories to Share and Delivery Tips.

Sample Module: Solving Problems as a Team One of the most common objectives of a team is to solve a certain problem. It is usually why a team is created. Team members bring a diverse set of skills to the team and this provides a great scenario and the best chance in finding a solution. Because the team is comprised of individuals that bring a unique skill set, it provides the team with a “the whole is greater than its parts” setup which is a valuable tool.

Any time you think the problem is out there, that very thought is the problem.

Stephen R. Covey


Estimated Time 30 minutes

Topic Objective To understand and practice the principles of each hat as filters for solving a problem

Topic Summary


This model provides a simple method for generating ideas from six different perspectives in order to solve a problem.

Materials Required

Handout: Six Thinking Hats

Colored and white heavy duty paper stock to represent the hat colors, or six hats in the proscribed colors.

Six 3x5 index cards with a hat color written on each plus one that says “recorder”.

Planning Checklist

1. Summarize the Hats, their purposes, and several examples of questions on the flip chart, or project them on a PowerPoint slide.

2. Write the “Summer Hours” assignment on the flip chart for use during the Six Thinking Hats fishbowl exercise.

Recommended Activity

Use a fishbowl technique to expose participants to the method as follows:

Ask for seven volunteers from the class; six are participants and the seventh will record responses on the flip chart. (The rest of the group will serve as observers.)

Have the volunteer group choose a 3x5 index card indicating their role in the exercise.

Go over the hats, roles, and colors.

Give the assignment:

The Vice President has proposed that the Feel Good Pharmaceutical company allow a “summer hours” program as an option for employees. On a rotating schedule, employees could choose to work 9 hours Monday through Thursday, and 4 hours on Friday, leaving at noon. Your team has been asked to analyze this and make recommendations.

Encourage the facilitator [blue hat] to keep things moving – one minute or

less per response.

When the group has finished, thank all the volunteers and asked them to rejoin the large group.

Review the responses on the flip chart, and debrief the exercise with the large group.

Questions to ask:

What did you observe that was of value about the Six Hats process?

Can you think of examples in your own workplace where this technique would be a benefit?

Stories to Share

From every side there are reports of how much quicker meetings become when the six hats are used. Meetings take half the time. Meetings take a third or a quarter of the time. Sometimes, as in the case of ABB, meetings take one tenth of the time. Dr. Edward De Bono, Six Thinking Hats

Delivery Tips

If time is short or you feel that it would be affective, you can choose a simple assignment such as: Should we buy a new car?

Remind participants to consider adding an item to their action plan.

Review Questions What is the purpose of each of the hat colors?

In 1999, Dr. Edward de Bono published a book entitled Six Thinking Hats. He theorizes that the human brain thinks in a number of distinct ways -- or states -- which can be identified, deliberately accessed, and therefore planned for use in a structured way, allowing team members to develop strategies for thinking about particular issues.

Six Thinking Hats is a powerful technique that helps teams look at important decisions from a number of different perspectives. It helps them make better decisions by pushing members to move outside their habitual ways of thinking. It helps them understand the full complexity of a decision, and identify issues and opportunities which they might not otherwise notice.

In order to make it easier to clearly identify and work with these states, colored hats are used as metaphors for them. The act of putting on a colored hat allows individuals to symbolically think in terms of the state, either actually or imaginatively.

White Hat: Neutrality: Participants make statements of fact, including identifying information that is absent -- and presenting the views of people who are not present -- in a factual manner. Examples of this the results of this thinking are:

Red Hat: Feeling: Participants state their feelings, exercising their gut instincts. In many cases this is a method for harvesting ideas; it is not a question of recording statements, but rather getting everyone to identify their top two or three choices from a list of ideas or items identified under another hat. This is done to help reducing lists of many options into a few to focus on by allowing each participant to vote for the ones they prefer. It is applied more quickly than the other hats to ensure it is a gut reaction feeling that is recorded. This method can use post-it notes to allow a quick system of voting, and creates a clear visual cue that creates rapid if incomplete agreement around an issue.

Alternatively it may be used to state ones gut reaction or feelings on an issue under discussion - this is more common when using the hats to review personal progress or deal with issues where there is high emotional content that is relevant to discussion. Finally, this hat can be used to request an aesthetic response to a particular design or object.

Black Hat: Negative Judgment: Participants identify barriers, hazards, risks, and other negative connotations. This is critical thinking, looking for problems and mismatches. This hat is usually natural for people to use, the issues with it are that people will tend to use it when it is not requested and when it is not appropriate, thus stopping the flow of others. Preventing inappropriate use of the black hat is a common obstacle and vital step to effective group thinking. Another difficulty faced is that some people will naturally start to look for the solutions to raised problems - they start practicing green on black thinking before it is requested.

Yellow hat – Positive Judgment: Participants identify benefits associated with an idea or issue. This is the opposite of black hat thinking and looks for the reasons in favor of something. This is still a matter of judgment; it is an analytical process, not just blind optimism. One is looking to create justified statements in favor. It is encapsulated in the idea of "undecided positive" (whereas the black hat would be skeptical - undecided negative). The outputs may be statements of the benefits that could be

created with a given idea, or positive statements about the likelihood of achieving it or identifying the key supports available that will benefit this course of action

Green Hat: Creative Thinking: This is the hat of thinking new thoughts. It is based around the idea of provocation and thinking for the sake of identifying new possibilities. Things are said for the sake of seeing what they might mean, rather than to form a judgment. This is often carried out on black hat statements in order to identify how to get past the barriers or failings identified there (green on black thinking). Because green hat thinking covers the full spectrum of creativity, it can take many forms.

Blue Hat: The Big Picture: This is the hat under which all participants discuss the thinking process. The facilitator will generally wear it throughout and each member of the team will put it on from time to time to think about directing their work together. This hat should be used at the start and end of each thinking session, to set objectives, to define the route to take to get to them, to evaluate where the group has got to, and where the thinking process is going. Having a facilitator maintain this role throughout helps ensure that the group remains focused on task and improves their chances of achieving their objectives.

Encouraging Brainstorming


Topic Objective To utilize the ground rules of brainstorming while generating ideas to support the solution to a challenge or problem

Topic Summary

Brainstorming

The group will generate ideas and suggestions without regard to their quality.

Planning Checklist

Write the ground rules on the flip chart:

• Ideas and responses are accepted and recorded without comment.

• Evaluation and judgment of the responses is deferred until after the brainstorms finished.

• Quantity is more important than quality of ideas.

• All responses are of equal merit during the exercise.

• One response can be used legitimately as a trigger for other responses.

Write the problem on a separate page of the flip chart.

Let's have a little fun! Plan the annual employee celebration for the Forward Thinking Company. Assume that budget is no object.

Recommended Activity

Enlist a volunteer from the group to serve as recorder.

Go over the ground rules.

Allow the brainstorming to continue for 10 minutes.

When time is up, allow the group to reflect on all the creative ideas.

Ask participants to share their observations about the process.

Delivery Tips

Back at work, participants can invite smaller groups to work on the same brainstorm topic and compare results, possibly leading to more diverse suggestions.

Another alternative is written brainstorming; write several different but related issues on separate flip charts and place them around the walls of the room. Ask everyone to write suggestions. Participants may work on the

sheets in any order and return to them as necessary.

Extension:

A next step after brainstorming is to lasso or cluster ideas. That is, disciplines will group together or circle similar ideas for further analysis.


Review Question How is brainstorming valuable to the work of the team?

Brainstorms are a simple and effective method for generating ideas and suggestions. They allow group members to use each other as creative resources and are effective when a subject is being introduced. The goal is to rapidly generate a large quantity of ideas. Subsequent sorting and prioritizing of the ideas is usually needed to refine the results.

Building Consensus


Topic Objective To use the nominal group technique to help team members come to consensus to solve a problem

Topic Summary

Nominal Group Technique

This technique brings 5 to 9 team members together for problem solving. It limits their interaction so that idea generation will not suffer because of early evaluation, social pressures, or other factors. The term nominal is used because true or full verbal group communication is not used.

Materials Required Handout: Nominal Group Technique, Paper

Planning Checklist

Write a question for evaluation on a sheet of paper for each participant.

“What should we plan for the annual employee celebration for the Forward Thinking Company? Assume that budget is no object.”

Recommended Activity Please see the process and instructions in Handout Seven.

When team members have completed the process, ask for their reactions.

Delivery Tips

Facilitating the nominal group technique requires a skilled facilitator.

Encourage your participants to practice with smaller groups back at their offices prior to using the technique in a major team consensus effort.


Consensus is a point of maximum agreement so action can follow. It is a win-win situation in which everyone feels that he or she has one solution that does not compromise any strong convictions or needs. To reach consensus, group members share ideas, discuss, evaluate, organize, and prioritize ideas, and struggle to reach the best conclusions together.

A good test for consensus is to ask the question "can you support this decision?" If everyone can support it, the group has achieved 100% consensus.

Consensus is not always the best strategy. In some cases, reaching consensus does not result in a better decision or outcome. For example, group members are capable of unanimously agreeing on a completely incorrect solution to a problem. But generally, reaching consensus remains a highly desirable goal.

To make consensus work, the leader must become skilled at separating the content of the team's work (the task) from the process (how the team goes about doing the task). But the process should get the most attention. A facilitative leader helps a team to solve its own problem. The problem-solving process is as follows:

7. Identify the problem or goal.

8. Generate alternative solutions.

9. Establish objective criteria.

10. Decide on a solution that best fits the criteria.

11. Proceed with the solution.

12. Evaluate the solution.

Everyone involved in the process should understand exactly which step is being worked on at any given point. When team members sense a problem, they are usually reacting to symptoms of the problem. But they are side effects of the real problem which usually lies below the surface.

Many methods exist for helping the team reach consensus. Below, we present the nominal group technique.

Activities

During the facilitation of a lesson Worksheet or Handout may be utilized to help present the material. If a lesson calls for a Worksheet or Handout it will be listed in the Lesson Plan box under Materials Required. The trainer can then utilize the Activities folder for the corresponding material and then provide it to the participants. They are all on separate Word documents, and are easily edited and customized.

Below you will see the Worksheets or Handouts that are utilized during the training of the above lesson. They are located in the Activities folder and can be easily printed and edited for the participants.

Sample Handout: Six Thinking Hats

The Six Thinking Hats is a method that allows a team to break down complex situations for analysis. It offers structure, while permitting flexibility.

There are a few “ground rules” about the method:

1. The hats are typically used one after another in sequence, although all hats do not have to be used.

2. Hat names cannot be used for what you want to say; rather, they indicate the direction in which to think.

3. Members must stay with the hat indicated at the moment.

4. Team members should expect about one minute per hat when making contributions. (The exception is the Red Hat).

5. A session with the hats should be opened with a blue hat, the role of the facilitator.

The hats function as directions, not as descriptions of what has happened. Dr. De Bono used colored hats to make the imagining easier. For example, “Let's have some white hat thinking here” means a deliberate focus on information.

The hats can be used singly to request the type of thinking, or they can be used in a sequence to explore a subject--or solve a problem.

A Six Hat session typically progresses as shown below.

Color Purpose Questions

Blue Control (Facilitator) [States objective]

Why are we here? What are we thinking about? Where do we want to end up?

White Fact-finding What information do we have? What information do we need? What information is missing? What questions do we need to ask? How are we going to get the information we need?

Red Feelings and emotions

How do you feel about this?

Black Caution What would happen if we take this action? Will it be acceptable? Do we have the resources to do it? How will people react? What can go wrong? What are the potential problems?

Yellow Optimism What are the positive aspects? is it feasible? What suggestions do you have? How can we get some value out of this?

Green Creativity What are some new ideas about this? Suppose we do this; what will happen? What are the alternatives? How can we use the idea?

Blue Control (Facilitator) [Summarizes and Questions]

What have we achieved so far? What alternative should we be looking for at this point? What sort of outcome should we regard as successful? What are our next steps?

Sample Handout: Nominal Group Technique

Provide the question and ask team members to generate ideas individually and silently for about five to ten minutes.

Use a round robin, asking each participant to present one idea at a time from his or her list. Record the ideas on a flip chart

Ask the group to discuss the ideas, providing clarification, support, or nonsupport for the posted ideas . Hitchhiking (coming up with a new idea based on when you heard) is encouraged.

Instruct each group member to vote, using ranking or rating.

When rating the ideas, each participant distributes a set number of points (e.g., 100) across the ideas.

For ranking, each participant is asked to choose roughly half of the total number of ideas generated, and to rank these from most important to least important. This process will place emphasis on fewer ideas.

In preparation for recording the vote, the leader should list the number of each idea on a separate piece of paper. When the actual votes are recorded, he or she will record the rank assigned by each participant to the idea, as seen in the example below.

In this final step, individual judgments on the ideas are combined into a group decision. Final tallying can be either by the rating or ranking method.

If there are any inconsistent voting patterns or items with too few or too many votes, the group discusses them in may opt to discard them.

The final vote helps to: which one

Records the final group judgment in relation the initial question

Advantages of the nominal group technique:

• It generates a greater number of ideas than traditional group discussions.

• Balances the influence of individuals by limiting the power of opinion makers

• Diminishes competition and pressure to conform, based on status within the group.

• Encourages participants to confront issues through constructive problem solving.

• You keep them on your desktop Allows the group to prioritize ideas democratically.

• Typically provides a greater sense of closure than can be obtained through group discussion.

Disadvantages of the nominal group technique

•It requires preparation.

• It is regimented and lends itself only to a single purpose, single-topic meeting.

• Discussion is minimized, and thus does not allow for the full development of ideas, and therefore can be a less stimulating group process than other techniques.

Quick Reference Sheets

Below is an example of our Quick reference Sheets. They are used to provide the participants with a quick way to reference the material after the course has been completed. They can be customized by the trainer to provide the material deemed the most important. They are a way the participants can look back and reference the material at a later date.

They are also very useful as a take-away from the workshop when branded. When a participant leaves with a Quick Reference Sheet it provides a great way to promote future business.

The Traditional Team

There are several characteristics common to traditional teams.

• A team gains a shared understanding and purpose among team members, as distinguished from a group.

• Teams require mutually agreed-upon operating principles such as agendas, procedures, and decision-making processes.

• A team is interdependent; everyone works for the good of the team, not for oneself.

• Effective teams distinguish task from process. How they do things (the process) is just as important, if not more important, than what they do (the task).

Setting the Time and the Place

Giving thought to time and place considerations for a team meeting can go a long way toward producing a more effective meeting outcome. Below are some elements to think about.

• Is the location convenient for participants?

• Quiet. Is the meeting going to be held in an open environment? Near the plant?

• Is this an e-team meeting? Or a meeting with members in remote locations or different time zones?

• What time of day is best?

• Are there time zone considerations for e-teams or remote participants?

• For what other interruptions and distractions can you anticipate and plan?

Trying the 50-Minute Meeting

In some companies, meetings are stacked up on the hour like planes in the landing pattern at O'Hare Airport. The 50-minute meeting concept is simple; instead of a full 60-minute meeting, why not give people time for a bio break, a fresh cup of coffee, and "commuting time" to the next meeting?

50-minute meetings also help manage:

• Overload of information that the mind can absorb at one time

• Wandering attention spans

• Potential health problems from sitting too long

Teamwork and Team Building

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Certificate of Completion

Every course comes with a Certificate of Completion where the participants can be recognized for completing the course. It provides a record of their attendance and to be recognized for their participation in the workshop.

PowerPoint Sample

Below you will find the PowerPoint sample. The slides are based on and created from the Training Manual. PowerPoint slides are a great tool to use during the facilitation of the material; they help to focus on the important points of information presented during the training.

Full Course Table of Contents

Preface ..............................................................................................................................................4

What is Courseware? ................................................................................................................................ 4

How Do I Customize My Course? .............................................................................................................. 4

Materials Required ................................................................................................................................... 6

Maximizing Your Training Power .............................................................................................................. 6

Module One: Getting Started .............................................................................................................8

Housekeeping Items.................................................................................................................................. 8

The Parking Lot ......................................................................................................................................... 9

Workshop Objectives ................................................................................................................................ 9

Pre-Assignment Review .......................................................................................................................... 10

Action Plans and Evaluation Forms ........................................................................................................ 10

Module Two: Defining Success ......................................................................................................... 11

What is a Team? ..................................................................................................................................... 11

An Overview of Tuckman and Jensen’s Four-Phase Model .................................................................... 12

Module Three: Types of Teams ......................................................................................................... 14

The Traditional Team .............................................................................................................................. 15

Self-Directed Teams ................................................................................................................................ 16

E-Teams .................................................................................................................................................. 17

Module Four: The First Stage of Team Development – Forming ......................................................... 19

Hallmarks of This Stage .......................................................................................................................... 19

What to Do As a Leader .......................................................................................................................... 20

What to Do As a Follower ....................................................................................................................... 23

Module Five: The Second Stage of Team Development – Storming ................................................... 25

The Hallmarks of This Stage ................................................................................................................... 25



Module Six: The Third Stage of Team Development – Norming .......................................................... 29

The Hallmarks of This Stage ................................................................................................................... 29



Module Seven: The Fourth Stage of Team Development – Performing ............................................... 32

Hallmarks of this Stage ........................................................................................................................... 32



Module Eight: Team Building Activities ............................................................................................. 35

The Benefits and Disadvantages............................................................................................................. 35

Team-Building Activities That Won’t Make People Cringe ..................................................................... 36

Choosing a Location for Team-Building .................................................................................................. 38

Module Nine: Making the Most of Team Meetings ........................................................................... 39

Setting the Time and the Place ............................................................................................................... 39

Trying the 50-Minute Meeting................................................................................................................ 40

Using Celebrations of All Sizes ................................................................................................................ 41

Module Ten: Solving Problems as a Team ......................................................................................... 43

The Six Thinking Hats .............................................................................................................................. 43

Encouraging Brainstorming .................................................................................................................... 47

Building Consensus ................................................................................................................................. 48

Module Eleven: Encouraging Teamwork ........................................................................................... 50

Some Things to Do .................................................................................................................................. 50

Some Things to Avoid ............................................................................................................................. 50

Some Things to Consider ......................................................................................................................... 51

Module Twelve: Wrapping Up .......................................................................................................... 52

Words from the Wise .............................................................................................................................. 52

Parking Lot .............................................................................................................................................. 52

Action Plans and Evaluations .................................................................................................................. 53

teamwork and team building - corporate training materials

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