DEVELOPING TEAMS WITH 360 FACILITATED^®

Some of the information here is also presented in relation to upward feedback (between team and manager) elsewhere on the website but is included here to provide complete information for those whose main interest is team development.

Leader/Manager Model for Teams

Leader/Manager questionnaires ask for feedback on a full range of behaviours in the areas of Leadership and Management, both People and Task. This makes leadership as important as management and promotes a language common to all. When used with teams, this framework will allow almost any issue to emerge. For each item, it asks the team members what they require more or less of in order to be more successful. The team gives its perceptions about its own operation. Anonymity ensures honesty and accuracy. The result is a profile of the whole team's perceptions of their needs for improvement.

The Team questionnaires do not pass judgment on the team or its members but ask only for feedback on requirements, the process is therefore non-threatening, does not cause resistance, and leads directly to mutual problem solving.

When required, the views of the manager of the team can be included in the profile and considered in the process.

Return to Map - Top of Page

Developing Teams

Why does the Leader/Manager model work so well with teams? Because a high-performing team is the synergy resulting from the actions of its members, each of whom may at times take on the role of leading or managing.

The Team & Self-Management questionnaire brings out the same level of surprise that managers often find with primary Upward Feedback^®. In other words, there is as much to learn and improve within the team as there is between team and manager.

The questionnaire is ideally suited to Self-Managed Teams or any cross-functional group. If Self-management is not appropriate, then use the Managed Teams profile.

If your interest is in the startup of Self-Managed Teams, then more is required. We can also assist in this area. Please contact us for details.

On-the-Job Learning

Processing the results with the team is not time spent away from the job. It is time the team spends together on ways to improve how they work - time that should be regularly available to the them if improvement is to take place. In situations where it is difficult to find time for off-the-job learning, this process has the advantage of using the team's meeting time to optimise its operation.

Critical to success is the teaching and use of a focus group methodology and accelerative learning approach. This quickly brings out the team's concerns, reaches the central and underlying issues, moves them into problem solving and leads on to fully agreed action plans. The plans are then monitored to completion.

This approach can become the organization's model for problem solving and action planning.

Teams & Self-Management - the Benefits

Using the Team & Self-Management process in an organization has a significant number of benefits. It:

• provides the organization with an exceptionally low threat approach that is easily accepted, welcomed and respected at all levels
• opens up communication within the team, bringing out the contribution to improvement of each of its members
• provides development for the whole team, including training in group problem solving, mapping of ideas, and ways to give and receive feedback
• accurately identifies learning requirements by analysing the data with the team
• ensures discussion of the full range of behaviours in areas of leadership as well as management, and develops a language common to all
• helps to align values and direction across the organization through broad discussion of issues
• monitors action plans to ensure completion to the satisfaction of the team (and the team's manager)
• is time and cost effective because Team Sessions are on-the-job learning and improvement
• helps to achieve the organization's aims for direction and culture change
• provides statistics on requirements for change and alignment. Creates a benchmark for the team and for the organization.

Preparing the Culture for Feedback

Another use for the team process is as a starting point for the organization where it is thought that managers would not be ready to receive feedback from below (see Preparing the Culture).

Facilitation

This is the key ingredient in working through the results, it is the part of the process that brings about real change in the team's direction, its openness and its overall dynamic. A skilled Facilitator and a structured process are required in order to gain the confidence of team members, help them bring out the underlying issues that concern them, and lead on to fully agreed action plans. These plans often include how they will operate more effectively together.

Using the Internet

Processing on the Internet makes the Team process fast and easy to repeat. Team members can respond, no matter where they are located. We use distance facilitation for distributed/virtual teams.

Explore Options & Assess Readiness

There are various options for the Team program which we will be glad to discuss with you. There is also an instrument you can use to assess your organization's readiness for 360 feedback.