We believe that most people show up to work wanting to be a productive and contributing member of their team. But sometimes, all the things that make us uniquely ourselves — how we think, communicate, and act on our decisions — get in the way of our personal productivity and the effectiveness of our team. We help team members understand their individual cognitive preferences
— the basic elements of identity that impact how they show up as individuals and shape how they interact with the rest of the team.Every individual on the team has a distinct set of cognitive preferences
that influence how they communicate, frame business issues, gather information, make decisions, act on the decisions they make, and interact with their working environment.The differences in preferences between team members can sometimes be a tremendous source of synergy and inspiration. We have all been on teams that are truly “firing on all cylinders”. When a team works well, getting things done seems effortless.
Sometimes though, individual preferences can hinder the formation of an effective team, and create unproductive conflict and irritation. The team flounders. Interactions are difficult, and productivity lags. Team leaders wonder “why can’t people just get along? Why do I always seem to be intervening to settle things down and get the team to focus on its work?”.
We believe that the best teams (we call them highly effective teams) do some things and behave in ways that are teachable and learnable. These activities and behaviours can be put into practice by everyone. Forming an effective team can be accelerated — if people on the team are aware of their own preferences, and how they interact with those of their team mates.
We have developed a Team Effectiveness ModelTM that identifies these activities and behaviours in a way that can benefit any group of people that aspire to become a highly effective team.
Acceptance and understanding of each team member’s individual preferences, strengths and opportunities for growth is critical to team effectiveness. Every effective team member can then go beyond personal awareness to add an appreciation for how teammates with different preferences direct their energies, gather information, process decisions and act on them.
Finally, effective teams master accommodation – the art of leveraging the diversity of each individual’s preferences and approaches to produce superior outcomes.