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Advantage Consulting Team Effectiveness Services

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Cross-Functional, Remote, and Virtual Team Launch / Effectiveness
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AdVantage Consulting, in conjunction with the team leadership, can determine the type of intervention most appropriate for a given team. While each intervention needs to be customized to specific team and team leader needs, it shares certain common elements:

Initial Meeting: The purpose of this meeting includes, but is not limited to: gaining an initial understanding of the short and long-term project / business challenges faced by the team; clarifying the team leader’s expectations and goals for the launch process; orienting the team leader to the process, and clarifying what the launch process can and cannot achieve.

A “Fast-Cycle ” Diagnostic:Each launch process begins with a diagnostic period, in which the consultant quickly collects pertinent data and makes recommendations to the team leader about the best way to launch the team.

A Contract:An agreed-upon approach for launching the team will be designed.

Team Launch Sessions:Often these sessions will be conducted at an off-site location to minimize potential distractions.The exact flow and content of the session will vary based on the diagnostic and contract. Each working session could assist the team to do some or all of the following:

  • Develop or clarify its vision, purpose, strategy, goals, and measurements
  • Define and articulate challenges faced in achieving its mission and goals
  • Create short and long-term action plans and assign responsibility
  • Create team ‘groundrules’ and team ‘operating agreements’
  • Define team member roles and responsibilities
  • Identify and understand stakeholder priorities, and create involvement plans
  • Create communication plans

In a new team launch, the process itself is as important as the agreements around purpose, goals, roles, etc. As a result of working together in the launch process, the team has its first successful collective experience of what it feels like to work together as a team, successfully creating their future. They actively practice their groundrules and operating agreements and other successful ways of working together. The experience is shared and retained, in both individual and team memory, and it can be easily recalled in the future as a model for interacting together effectively.

At AdVantage Consulting, we believe that it is critically important to get your team off to a solid start.

As noted earlier, this start will, at a minimum, include defining and understanding the team’s purpose, goals, roles, stakeholder analysis, and measures of success. It is essential that all members fully understand the vision, purpose, and goals, and that they are committed to them. This set of fundamental statements will enable the team to make difficult decisions and keep them motivated during the time they are together.

The launch process can be customized for “virtual teams ”, for existing teams whose mission has changed, and / or who have changed membership substantially or for teams that have for some reason lost traction and need to be ‘reenergized’.


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