Team Building

- How well does your team connect?

Teamwork is obviously critical to an organization's success and where the team work are highly dependent upon each other our team development intensive is often the best fit. 

Often though, a team's interactions are less frequent and this situation presents it's own challenges. Clients will notice if staff are isolated and unconnected from their team mates. The receptionists don't know the people in billing, the billing staff don't know the practitioners, and the customer walks away or hangs up feeling confused.

This isn't about professional knowledge of the processes and policies of the organization, or the ability to read an organizational structure chart. This is about knowing that Debi is the detail orientated, take-no-prisoners-till-I-find-out-the-answer person in billing. This is about knowing that Bill in accounts has the most calm, velvet voice and experience that'll charm the irate client on the phone right now. And this is about knowing that even if the issue you're trying to resolve is not part of their job description, they will do their best to help.

In a matter of a few hours we can get your team to connect with each other and form bonds that go beyond the organizational chart. And we can do this without an escape room, a treasure hunt, or even leaving the office.

To be clear, the aim is not for everyone to be friends. Respect, friendship and love are different words for a reason. You can respect the your co-worker's knowledge, experience, skills and dedication and yet still dislike almost everything else about them! You might never consider spending a moment of your personal time with a particular colleague and yet they might be the best person to help you deliver great work. Similarly, the team mate that you easily chat to every day about sports, your families or hobbies is probably not the best person to to help you deliver great work. 

A Cigna study found that nearly half of Americans (46%) report sometimes or always feeling alone or left out. Social media doesn't seem to be helping either, as Generation Z was the loneliest generation in that same study. Loneliness affects your health, your performance, and your likeliness to change employers. When people feel they belong, they stay.

Poor staff retention has well documented high costs and opportunities are lost, however there is also a morale effect too. If new recruits generally don't stay long, then why invest time in developing those relationships? And if little time is being invested in these new relationships, why would a new recruit feel welcome or wanted?

Imagine how everything would start to change if everyone in your team was truly heard. 

How can we do this in only a few hours?

We have developed a method to use storytelling exercises to get any group of people to start engaging and connecting, quickly and with unprecedented ease. We created these exercises and our method through experimentation with groups over the last 2 years, building on the knowledge we gained through teaching small groups to tell their stories to large audiences. In the past we offered this experience to the general public every month.

We have a 3 exercise formula to get everyone connected through storytelling. The first exercise opens everyone in the room to speaking out loud. The second exercise requires active listening and ensuring that the space to talk is freely given without any need to prompt, reply or encourage the speaker.  The final exercise shares the diverse perspectives of every one in the room on a common theme, whilst putting into practice the experience gained from the first tow exercises. 

This is not grade-school-style, cute storytelling. Everyone is asked to speak their truth and the truth sounds different. It is extremely engaging to listen to another human speak openly and truthfully. Everyone is unique and you hear that truth at our events.

There's no need to share anything that would make anyone feel uncomfortable, a person's unique perspective of a mundane subject will still be illuminating and interesting, if they tell their honest truth clearly. 

Are you ready to have your team connect?