Six Approaches to Scaling Teamwork: The Full Monty

You don’t find out who’s been swimming naked until the tide goes out.

Warren Buffett

This is the sixth of seven LinkedIn posts describing what organizations are doing to scale teamwork. This large multi-national corporation places a premium on bringing new products to market and believes better teamwork could accelerate this process. Systematically improving the performance of its Research & Development, Supply, Manufacturing, Distribution, Marketing, Sales, and Corporate teams is one of the company’s strategic imperatives.? ?

Wanting a team solution that was research-based; practical; easy to understand; focused on team efficiency and effectiveness; provided benchmarking information on team dynamics and performance; included a comprehensive suite of team improvement materials; and could scale were critical considerations for the company. Due diligence of team building approaches and research proved problematic, however, as there was a mountain of material to review, the findings were often inconsistent, and the literature did not cohere. This investigation concluded the Rocket Model was the best fit with the company’s needs.?

The next step in the company’s scaling journey was to get 15 Organizational Effectiveness, Leadership Development, and Talent Management staff certified on the Rocket Model methodology. These individuals then paired up with expert external consultants to co-facilitate team engagements. This helped internal consultants make the transition from training to application and evaluate the utility of the Rocket Model approach. Teams appreciated that the Rocket Model and Team Assessment Survey helped them to have the right conversations, act on the most important issues, and improve business results.

Two more certification workshops were conducted, the Rocket Model team facilitator materials were customized to have the company’s look and feel, service levels were defined, and some of the initial structure and processes for team consulting was formalized during year one. One of these certification workshops was co-facilitated with a Rocket Model expert, the second and subsequent certification workshops have been internally facilitated. The company also identified three service levels it would provide to teams. Teams led by Vice Presidents and above would get the “white glove” treatment, in that these teams could use internal or external facilitators to help improve team performance. Managers through Senior Directors would develop their team building skills by getting trained on the Rocket Model, reviewing Team Assessment Survey feedback for the teams they lead, and learning some of the common team improvement tools. ?All employees would have access to a comprehensive suite of team improvement materials and eLearning modules. A leader and three positions were identified to launch the company’s scaling teamwork efforts.

Year two of the company’s scaling journey focused on expansion. More than 50 teams at the Vice President and above level participated in facilitated team engagements. The company ran internally led certification workshops across the globe and started getting HR Business Partners up to speed by delivering a team effectiveness module at its HR Academy. eLearning modules were designed and uploaded onto the company’s LMS, processes and checklists for team engagements were created, and a community of practice was launched. Because of the increased volume of work, several more positions were allocated to the team effectiveness practice.

As the positive impact of the Rocket Model got out, more teams started asking for facilitated team engagements. Year three also saw the rollout of five building high performing teams leadership development and high-potential programs. HR Business Partners continued their training on the Rocket Model approach, and the company started doing research on how team dynamics and performance changed over time. Two other important additions included using the Team Assessment Survey in executive on-boarding and succession planning. The former involves having teams complete Team Assessment Surveys prior to the arrival of new leaders. This allows leaders to get a better idea what they are inheriting and what they can immediately do to improve team performance. Team Assessment Survey results were also used to determine the extent to which succession candidates were effective at building teams. With the addition of more staff, a Team Effectiveness Center of Excellence was formalized in year three.

Curphy Leadership Solutions offers workshops that train internal and external consultants on how to help organizations scale teamwork. Highly interactive, practical, and useful, Rocket Model Certification Workshops provide participants with all the tools they need to market, price, sell, design, and deliver team engagements, leadership development and high-potential programs, on-boarding plans, leadership assessments, and eLearning modules that enable organizations to scale teamwork. Contact Gordy Curphy ([email protected] ) for details about the public workshop taking place in November-December.

Gordon Curphy is an Industrial & Organizational psychologist specializing in C-suite succession planning, executive coaching, top team facilitation, scaling effective teamwork, and leadership development. He has developed several successful commercially published leadership and team assessments; coached 200 C-suite executives; worked with over 600 top teams; collected data on 3,500 teams, trained 20,000 leaders; and sold over 100,000 books, chapters, and articles on leadership and teams. You can find more about Gordon’s leadership books and consulting services at: www.curphyleadershipsolutions.com and www.rocketmodelforteams.com .

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