In a team (where it comprise of more than 1 person), there will most probably be some form of conflict. Sometimes this is due to blindspots, at other times it could be a mis-representation of our thoughs and views and at other times is a result of counter productive work habits.
Perception is reality. If one person think that I behave in a particular manner (which I disagree), he may be mistaken. If a few people in my team think that I behave in that manner, there might be some miscommunication, however, if the majority of my colleagues think that I have a particular tendancy when in fact I do not, that becomes the truth, or at least a generally accepted one.
Team talk is not meant for every team. It is specifically designed for small teams to do a simplified oral peer assessment to help improve performance or correct any unwanted behaviour in the team. It is not teams who just want to be nice and not talk about sensitive issues during the team building session.
We had the opportunity to conduct this exercise with different groups of people, one of them was a group of senior managers from a large MNC bank. The department head came to us when all of the managers in the team complained to him about a new manger who had recently came on board. We were able to help him get the message accross to the new manager and this helped him to settle into the team without further problems.
Within teams, it is sometimes difficult to give feed back to one another's behaviour espeically when everyone is so bogged down with work and do not have much time to face to face discussions.
Team talk, though it is a very informal peer assessment, it's effect can be powerful to people with positive mindset. Our facliitators will sit the participants down after a worm up session to build some rapport.
They then take turns to give recongnition or comment other team mates for their good work in the past. After which the indiviual members will take turn to highlight one area of imporovement that they will like to see (this can be writtne or verbal) to one of the participants.
This process is then repeated untill all participants in the group has given and received feedback from everyone else in the group. Each team member then takes some time to review the comments that are being made by their team mates and write down an area or a few areas of improvement that they will like to make an effort to improve.
This letter will be mailed back to their office in 6 months' time as a reminder for their written commitment to improve.
Learning Values:
Perception is reality. Participants will learn that getting others to understand how we think and feel sometimes require conscious effort. The will also receive feedback from colleagues whom they work with and will be able to take concrete steps to improve their shortcomings or better communicate thier views and thoughts in future.
Required Logistics
Cluster seating for teams of up to 10 per team.
All required logistics for the exercise will be provided by Anergy team.
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