Team Building Resources

I work with corporate teams allowing them to have some fun but also learn what makes teams successful, which all begins with awareness; individuals being self aware and then being aware of others skills and traits and utilizing that to make the connections possible to achieve superior results as a team versus individuals. There are many dimensions and view points to discuss this, however utilizing the powerful medium of TV and the popular to many “Reality TV”.

I’d like to reflect on the team learning that is clearly demonstrated on each episode of Survivor.  Now the concept of survivor is ultimately to “outwit, outplay, outlast”, however the road to the million dollar prize is paved with many aspects of effective team dynamics.

As a first instalment, I have to begin with “Coach” – Benjamin Wade. I know that individuals are selected often because they have the ability to trigger emotions in people good or bad and coach is definitely one of the stronger personalities on the show. Coach clearly believes that manipulation is a key dimension of being an effective team leader. However, for teams not pulled together simply to compete and outlast each other, manipulation would be one of the worst traits we could have in a team member let alone a team leader.

Trust is a foundation element of successful teams and nothing undermines it more than attempted manipulation. Although we have seen some winners on the show of survival that have been master manipulators, if we see traits of those individuals on any team members we need to work with, odds are it will be a less than effective team. So does it mean we just bounce them off the team? No we can’t always choose who we need to work with on a team, however if you find yourself working or managing a team that has a “master manipulator” on board take these steps:

1. Have a one on one conversation with the individual immediately or as soon after you have witnessed the negative behaviour (constructive feedback is best received and delivered without an audience)
2. Discuss the situation and give the individual your perspective and the resulting tone that it leaves with the group
3. Give the individual an opportunity to explain an alternate perspective

Although this won’t change an individuals behaviour overnight, the fact that it has been brought to light in a non threatening way will often allow the individual to be more self aware and hopefully recognize that putting energy into being an effective team member instead of being a team manipulator will bring greater rewards in the end.

Lynn Ferguson
Team Enthusiast