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Advantage Consulting Team Effectiveness Services
Team Tools and Techniques
“Gettin' good players is easy. Gettin' 'em to play together is the hard part. ”
- Casey Stengel
Teams are a valuable tool for solving problems and for getting things done, but there is one "minor" difficulty with teams; they are made up of people. These people have personalities, and their personalities may clash. They may have different objectives. Sometimes teams become distracted from their main purpose, and their meetings turn into complaint sessions. Even worse, people may personalize the difficulties and start pointing fingers and feuding. When this happens, productive team efforts can slow or even grind to a halt. In order to prevent this, team efforts should be focused on both the process and the people. In order to minimize the possibility of your teams losing traction, they must be equipped with tools and techniques that help spot problems, solve them, improve working relationships, and keep the team firmly on track to achieving results.


All teams need special care and feeding at various times throughout their existence, whether they are searching for a mission and a set of ground rules, are becoming bogged down and demoralized midway through a project, or are completing a successful effort.


When team awareness is expanded:

  • Team “promise ” grows, as does the ability to turn potential into results
  • Meetings and communication improve
  • Conflict is reduced
  • Team 'blind spots' are recognized quicker, and the team can take actions to raise individual and group responsiveness
  • The team is better equipped to recognize and capitalize on its strengths - to understand and deal with its development needs
  • Teammates are more likely to appreciate one another for what each of them brings to the group

Keeping a team on course as it works to accomplish its mission and goals is the responsibility of all team members, not just the team leader.

There are plenty of tools & techniques available. Maybe you'd like to start with a broad brush review based on a simple 'Team Health Check'. Or you want to improve peer-development with a system of ‘360° Degree Feedback'. Perhaps you'd benefit from analysis of team players and motivations based on the Motivational Appraisal of Personal Potential (MAPP ™).

It might suit you best to opt for analysis using the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI ®) for a shared understanding of preferred ways of working and what lies behind them. Setting new goals and objectives might be what is needed or even re-launching the team to capitalize on emerging opportunities. What's right for you will depend on your culture, team needs, goals, and team development objectives.

AdVantage Consulting can help you find the answers. And, whatever your choice, our consultants and trainers have the skills and experiences needed to ensure team building interventions and team development programs that deliver real innovation and real results fast.