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Friday 18 July 2014

Team Building etc.

This is a regular program conducted by many training institutes which cover:

-What is a team?
-Who constitutes a team?
-How many different types of team members?
-Belbin's Theory
-How do you build a team?
-What are the different stages of team development?
-What are the roles and responsibilities of different team members?
-What are the advantages of having a team?
-What is in for you, if you are part of a team?

A couple of role plays, a few activities, one video or an audio and the workshop is concluded.

As an attendee, you receive new insights sitting in one of those cozy chairs in an air conditioned training room, without as much as lifting a finger to type 'Team Building' in Google search. You are happy to be spoon fed or ladle fed whatever. Great! Like you were a dinosaur before the training and did not know how to pick up a book and read about it. The facilitator must have researched and collated those inputs for the program. You do not need a doctorate or be a ranker in school to be able to do that. It is within the capacity of every sane person who knows to identify his eyes and his ears, can differentiate his arms from his legs and can read.

BECKON's approach to the same theme is different. The participants, who attend the workshop work as a team, define their roles and responsibilities; allocate tasks for research,  content designing to facilitate this session to the consultant. BECKON consultant trusts their intelligence and brings them back on track in case they deviate from the subject. After all teaching is two times learning.

A practical demonstration is the surest learning experience. The workshop is just the beginning, post that at regular intervals for a stipulated time, aligned assessors would keep track of each participant's team building abilities - in different situations.

Team Building holds a completely different meaning for entry level resources and senior professionals. The need for building a team varies depending on the purpose, direction and expected end result.

Cross Functional Teams
Multiple stakeholders working as a team for a specific project
Resolution of team conflicts
The leader and player
Depending on the complexity of the project,  there is a responsibility matrix chalked out for risk mitigation and audit compliance
Leveraged Team who have defined primary and secondary functions.

While practically team building is in progress in a training environment,  it is interesting to observe how they do it, without knowing other team members and their strengths, just based on limited notion and assumptions. The little flaws that occur in the final presentation are because of that approach - to build a team for a particular task by being clueless of each other's abilities.

As BECKON model drives outcomes, if Team Building has to be coupled with an understanding of each member, that becomes the primary learning and key takeaway of the workshop.

Just incase the participants wonder after the workshop - Why exactly do we charge them a fee, if they are the ones who research, design content, format and finally present the module to the facilitator? Here is the clarity on that - The  fee is not for 'Team Building' but to teach you how to rely on yourself to learn.

For more details contact advocating.outcomes@gmail.com

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