Anyway, it’s time to have a go! Where on the spectrum are you?

Life Cycle - Continued

Secondly, we need to ask where in the lifecycle we are?

Are we forming a new team, is the team some time into its lifecycle and in need of motivation, subtle adjustment or radical overhaul or is it close to the end of its lifecycle and, perhaps, in need of commitment building to finish the job...?

Design Profile Recruitment Selection and Development Needs Audit Team Formation Develop Empathy Leadership and Followership . . . Team Maintenance Adjustment and Skills Building Motivation & Commitment Maintenance Closure and Moving On © M Bostock SMF Consultants 2004

Together we can then go on to (2) on the scale where the task is to accelerate team development with an appropriately designed event to take much of the risk out of settling the team down, building trust and confidence and getting to work ...

Where teams need occasional maintenance, around (3) on this scale, we can assist in developing the 'process skills' necessary for the smooth running of teams, hone leadership and followership or work on decision making, time management, conflict management etc.

At (4) on the scale we can help 'refresh' the team to motivate it and to renew commitment to its tasks, another useful role here is to quantify and investigate success - this not only motivates the team but provides information about how to develop new teams to best attain objectives . . .

Lastly, teams at (5) may require careful unpicking so as to retain ideas, skills and motivation and to avoid the collapse in morale that often accompanies the 'ends of eras' in work organisations.

The table below lists the lifecycle stages and some of the possible priorities typical of each. You might want to note down on a peice of paper what your own priorities are!

Life Cycle Stage:	Possible Priorities
Selection	Profiling enabling skills Assessing ‘fit’ Profiling leadership / followership Etc.
Formation & Consolidation	Formal induction and contracting Accelerated trust building Building ‘role’ awareness Development of mutual respect Development of tolerance Etc.
Maintenance: Fine Tuning	Surfacing and managing conflict Developing decision making Developing consensus building Dealing with ethical issues Adjusting direction / objectives Induction of new members Managing failure Etc.
Maintenance: Reward / Incentive	Recognition of interim achievement Re-energising long cycle teams – and Demonstrating employer appreciation Motivational preparation for next cycle Etc.
Closure: Letting-Go and Moving On..	Summary and recognition of achievement Reward Opportunity for farewell rituals

Thirdly, when we have considered the ‘lifecycle’ factors we need to ask some questions about the required and desired attributes of the team which depends on their role and future expectations.

For instance, a team involved in detailed, highly structured work producing foods or beverages must have a very different way of dealing with innovation and creativity to that of, say, a customer facing sales team in financial products!

What is the urgency and criticality of the team’s work to the overall mission?

The reason we ask these questions is that if you have a week to prepare and the future of the organisation depends on early success that is a very different situation to, say, setting up a new branch management team for one new branch amongst many with a six month lead time!

What are the important cultural values of the organisation and does the team share them?

We highlight this because sometimes it is necessary and acceptable that a team has a different ‘culture’ or value set to the rest of the organisation. For instance, innovative project teams in otherwise long cycle, ‘traditionalist’ organisations may need to have members who would elsewhere be ‘misfits’!

Are there any important changes taking place that your team development programme can support?

TQM initiatives, customer care programmes, SAP implementations, equal opportunities programmes are all examples of structured initiatives that can have mutually supportive elements designed into your team development event...but it is important that we know about them!

...And, lastly, team development events offer an opportunity for ‘significant communication’!

Something different taking place at somewhere different creates an opportunity for something special to take place.

This may be an opportunity for a presentation to someone who has done something remarkable or significant to receive recognition. A presentation perhaps or a visit at the end of the day from the Chief Executive.

It may be an opportunity for a ‘pep talk’ for a team that has not had all the recognition it requires for motivation for its next phase of activity or to make announcements about new challenges or changes that are to take place in the immediate future.

The ‘floor’ is very much yours, it is your event and we will help you obtain best value from your investment in time and expenditure.

We hope that you will be able to use the ideas and suggestions above to make your event special and to achieve the changes that a few minutes analysis and thought may bring to mind!

Our events are always ‘special’ but they are more ‘special’ with a detailed brief from you!