Team Dynamics: The Art Of Bringing Out The Best In Others

An interactive two-day workshop for building stronger teams

People can be the modern organization's greatest asset or its greatest weakness, depending on how effectively they work together.

Can you think of any area of life in which it wouldn't be a tremendous advantage to know yourself and understand others better? Consider the possibilities:

• Team leaders who know themselves and know how to inspire and lead others.

• Team members who understand what makes each other tick and how each person works best!

• Peers who know how to challenge and bring out the individual best in each other.

The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) is founded on the work of Swiss psychiatrist, Carl Jung. Jung suggested that differences in behavior are the result of the way each of us prefers to gather information, make decisions, reenergize, and order our lifestyle. In 1942, Katherine Briggs, and her daughter Isabel Briggs Myers, began to design a scientifically rigorous instrument that would reliably explain and classify personality types based on Jung's theories of differences. Their interest in Jung's theories was spurred by World War II and their belief that the war was caused in part by a general misunderstanding of differences. Their hope was that the MBTI would be one way to promote the constructive understanding of differences between people.

Experts have long suggested that the beginning of leadership, management and team development is to "know oneself." Unfortunately, this is easier said than done. It is often hard to take an objective look at oneself. That's where the MBTI can help. By filling out a simple questionnaire, the MBTI reliably sorts people into categories to which they already belong. Participants often comment that hearing the feedback is "like looking in a mirror." The MBTI puts words to what people have often suspected about themselves but lacked the language to describe.

During the training, participants will gain insight into how to bring the best out in themselves and in others. They will build their interpersonal skills and discover answers to many important questions that will help them greatly enhance the success of the team.

Questions such as:

• Why do some people think out loud? What is the best way to work with these people?

• Why are some people reflective and quiet in meetings? How do you access their best ideas?

• Why do some people ask for very detailed, specific information while others are more interested in the big picture?

• Why do some people tend to see things as they really are while other people tend to focus on things as they could be?

• Why do some people seem to engage in lively debates just for the fun and mental challenge of it?

• Why do some people prefer total consensus within a group before moving forward with a decision?

• Why do some people leave things like decisions and plans open-ended while others feel more comfortable with a firm decision, a plan and a schedule?

Participants learn to apply their knowledge of personality preferences to the issues that affect teams the most:

• Communicating

• Working through conflict

• Going through change

• Presenting new ideas

• Managing project timelines

Participants also explore what to do before, during and after team meetings to make them more valuable.

Topics covered include:

• Meeting Purpose

• Logistics

• Preparation

• Agenda

• Facilitation Strategy

• Meeting Environment

• Managing Group Dynamics

• Handling Conflict

• Decision-Making