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Workshop 2: High-Performance Team Blueprint

Welcome to our Organisational Excellence Workshop Series. This series seeks to provide a launch pad for building professional skills and organisational success. Each workshop provides a jumping-off point for a different theme, exploring innovative strategies and practical exercises to enhance work and team dynamics. See more in the series here: https://blog.hptbydts.com/organisational-excellence-workshop-series
 
The objective of this workshop is to create a framework for building and maintaining high-performing teams.
 
Duration: Full-Day Workshop (8 hours)
 
Materials Needed:
    • Handouts on team roles, trust-building, and communication.
    • Scenarios for role-plays and conflict resolution.
    • Feedback forms.
Facilitator's Note:
    • Create a supportive environment for open discussion and sharing.
    • Tailor activities to suit the specific context and needs of the participants.
    • Be prepared to guide and mediate discussions, especially during conflict resolution exercises.

1. Team Success Stories Sharing

Participants share stories of high-performing teams they've been part of or observed.
 
Desired Outcome:
To identify common elements of high-performing teams. This activity offers real-world examples, enhancing comprehension of the attributes of high-performing teams.
 
Steps:
    1. Ask each participant to think of a high-performing team they know and the factors that made it successful.
    2. Participants share their stories in small groups or with the whole group.
    3. Facilitate a discussion to extract common themes and success factors.
Potential Challenges:
Limited experience or negative past experiences. To help overcome this, encourage learning from both positive and negative examples.
 

2. Role Identification Exercise

Identifying and understanding different roles within a team.
 
Desired Outcome:
To emphasise the importance of diverse roles and skills in team success. This activity helps recognise the value each team member brings, fostering appreciation of diversity.
 
Steps:
    1. Discuss different roles in teams and their contributions to success.
    2. Participants identify and discuss the roles they usually play in teams.
    3. Facilitate sharing of insights on how these roles contribute to team performance.
Potential Challenges:
Stereotyping of roles. To help overcome this, encourage an open-minded approach to understanding diverse roles.
 

3. Building Trust Workshop

Exercises to build and foster trust among team members.
 
Desired Outcome:
To develop a foundation of trust, crucial for high-performing teams. This activity focuses on building trust, a key element in effective teamwork and open communication.
 
Steps:
    1. Conduct trust-building exercises (e.g., trust falls, blindfolded guidance).
    2. Discuss how these activities relate to trust in the workplace.
    3. Reflect on ways to build and maintain trust in their teams.
Potential Challenges:
Discomfort with physical activities. To help overcome this, ensure all exercises are conducted safely and respect individual comfort levels.
 

4. Effective Communication Role-Play

Role-play scenarios to practice effective communication within teams.
 
Desired Outcome:
To enhance communication skills essential for team performance. This activity emphasises effective communication as critical for team coordination, conflict resolution, and motivation.
 
Steps:
    1. Create scenarios that require effective communication to solve team challenges.
    2. Participants role-play these scenarios in groups.
    3. Debrief to discuss communication strategies and their impact.
Potential Challenges:
Miscommunication or conflict during role-plays. To help overcome this, guide the discussions to focus on learning from these challenges.
 

5. Conflict Resolution Workshop

Learning and practising conflict resolution techniques.
 
Desired Outcome:
To manage and resolve conflicts constructively. This activity addresses effective conflict management techniques, essential for maintaining high team performance.
 
Steps:
    1. Teach basic conflict resolution techniques.
    2. Role-play conflict scenarios and apply learned techniques.
    3. Group discussion on the effectiveness of different approaches.
Potential Challenges:
Emotional responses to conflict. To help overcome this, encourage a rational and empathetic approach to conflict resolution.
 

6. Goal Alignment & Commitment

Aligning team members around common goals and commitments.
 
Desired Outcome:
To ensure everyone is working towards shared objectives. This activity emphasises alignment on goals as crucial for driving team performance and achieving results.
 
Steps:
    1. Discuss the importance of goal alignment in teams.
    2. In groups, participants identify and align on a set of common goals.
    3. Share these goals and discuss strategies for commitment.
Potential Challenges:
Differing personal or departmental objectives. To help overcome this, encourage participants to find common ground and shared objectives.
 

7. High-Performance Action Planning

Developing an action plan for applying workshop learnings to their teams.
 
Desired Outcome:
To create a practical plan for enhancing their team's performance. This activity encourages the immediate application of workshop concepts in real-world team settings, fostering effective teamwork and enhanced team performance.
 
Steps:
    1. Participants reflect on key learnings from the day.
    2. They develop an action plan for their team, focusing on specific strategies discussed.
    3. Share plans in small groups for feedback and refinement.
Potential Challenges:
Can be an overwhelming amount of information. To help overcome this, encourage participants to focus on a few achievable actions.
 

8. Workshop Debrief & Feedback Session

Gathering feedback and summarising key workshop learnings.
 
Desired Outcome:
To reinforce key concepts and gather insights for continuous improvement. This activity helps to ensure understanding of the workshop content and provides insights for enhancing future workshops.
 
Steps:
    1. Open forum for participants to share their thoughts on the workshop. What went well? What could be improved? What topics were of most and least interest? Why?
    2. The facilitator summarises key concepts and learnings.
    3. Collect written feedback for future improvements.
Potential Challenges:
Limited participant engagement. To help overcome this, encourage honest and open feedback, stressing its importance for future workshops.
 
 
Thank you for joining us in this edition of the 'Organisational Excellence Workshop Series'. We hope the insights and strategies from the High-Performance Team Blueprint workshop have inspired you and provided a valuable tool to kick-start and customise your own workshop. Remember, each workshop in this series is a step towards enhancing and enriching your organisational culture. Stay tuned for our next edition, where we will explore another vital aspect of professional development, continuing our journey of learning and growth. Until then, we encourage you to implement what you've learned and share your experiences with your peers.
Trevor O'Sullivan

Trevor O'Sullivan

General Manager. Since the early 2000s, Trevor has worked with thousands of Talent Management professionals to develop and apply assessment-based talent management solutions for selecting, developing and managing people. Trevor is an active member of the TTI Success Insights (TTISI) Global Advisory Council, contributes to TTISI product development and is a regular presenter at TTISI-R3. He is honoured to have received multiple Blue Diamond Awards and, more recently, the Bill Brooks Impact Award recognising his contributions to the TTISI global network.

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