In our work we often use a Best Team exercise to kick off a teambuilding event. In that exercise we ask participants to think about the best team experience they have ever had and to record the key characteristics of that group of people. The responses are almost always the same:
- Sense of accomplishment
- Common goal
- Good, open communication
- Trust
- Mutual respect
- Humor, fun
- Commitment
- Desire to excel
- Enthusiasm
- Role clarity
- Creativity
- High achievement
What we have learned from this exercise is that it's the focus on relationships, in combination with mutual high performance expectations, that turns any group of people (e.g. workgroup) into a team.
By the way, we also asked these people how often they have had a "best team" experience in their lives. The answer? - once or twice.
Try this exercise with your team and let us know the results.
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