FOR EVERY TEAM AND EVERY SITUATION
15 February 2019
For every team and every situation
Nothing is as diverse as humans.Except for a group of people.
Each team is more than just unique. The composition. The mission. Where it comes from. What it aims to achieve. And with all that variation, the approach to a team session is also unique. From a management team that, after years of fruitful collaboration, notices that interpersonal communication has become less smooth, to a new team looking for a flying start. From new colleagues joining the team to a reorganization. Interpersonal communication. Collaboration. For positive reasons or to address a problem.
And the topics are just as diverse. Respect. Being able to be vulnerable. Not being able to get to the core. Silos. Not hearing each other. Allowing room for differences. Inability to truly harness diversity.
The most valuable thing you can do with your team
A team session is always different, from the trigger to the goal, theme, process, and outcome. There's no fixed formula. It's a combination of our years of knowledge and experience and a series of developed methods and techniques as building blocks. This makes a team session one of the most valuable developments you can engage in with your team.
A team session is not just about going on a retreat. It's never casual, as it has a significant impact on team members. To make the session's course come to fruition, we aim for at least one full day with the entire team. Sometimes one intensive day is sufficient. Other times, multiple sessions are needed. Sometimes we continue at the individual level.
The unconscious and the unsaid
The starting point of most team sessions is to make the unconscious visible and the unsaid discussable. For each team, we determine whether individual intake conversations beforehand are necessary. To support this, we use questionnaires that participants fill out online as preparation. The results provide insight into your preferences in interacting with others and your "motives for actions." It gives you a personal mirror and, by sharing the results with each other, a "user manual" for all team members. From there, we deepen the insights and connections, individually and collectively.
Using the moment
A team session is special. It's a unique circumstance in which we give intensive attention to everything that matters, even what has not been spoken of until now. Sensitivities. Very much so. Vulnerabilities. Clashing personalities. Giving each other feedback. But also giving compliments and genuinely laughing with and about each other. We guide and make the most of that moment; we see what's at play, sense what the team needs and what needs to be done to get there. This can happen through dialogue, constellations, assignments, or by working with an experiential guide who interprets behavior and helps team members consciously experience behavior.
Working together, experiencing together, and being together in this way requires a special atmosphere. We actively work on themes of safety, trust, and vulnerability. Team members are challenged to step out of their comfort zones. We use humor, confront, inquire, and stimulate to achieve insight and thereby growth.
Through each other's eyes
It's very difficult to truly understand how something feels for someone else. It doesn't matter how empathetic you are. Or why someone does something in a way that not only seems strange to you but that you genuinely don't understand. Through each other's eyes, the team gradually sees the internal diversity and all potential. Through each other's eyes, they see where there's still room for improvement. Where to delve deeper. And where the vulnerable spots are. Through each other's eyes, they see the team for what it is and can be. And that forms a beautiful foundation for the further development of the team and its members.
The effects are tangible. The atmosphere in the team improves. There's much more mutual understanding. Team members can easily find each other. Interpersonal communication improves; more constructive discussions, honest feedback. Team members address what's not pleasant. In short, interpersonal communication and collaboration improve significantly, creating more space for enjoyment in collaboration and focus on results and impact.
- Sofie Stoffels, Senior Work and Organizational Psychologist, Location manager