Teambuilding Interventions

On a complex, multi-year ERP implementation, one or more of the ERP project teams could experience problems with working relationships, lack of alignment, poor communication among members, or poor levels of trust among team members with competing agendas. In some instances, these team problems can continue to the point of threatening key project milestones and thus risk the success of the ERP project.

Purpose of Teambuilding
The purpose of teambuilding interventions is to improve the effectiveness of a project team by building better working relationships, better understanding and alignment among members, improved communications, and improved trust. If these goals are achieved, project risk is substantially diminished.

Types of Interventions We Can Employ to Help your ERP Teams
Collegiate Project Services’ facilitators are highly experienced in helping to improve the effectiveness of project teams in Higher Education ERP projects. We use four fundamentally different types of teambuilding interventions, depending on the particular problems faced by a project team. These are:

1. Problem solving-based teambuilding.
   In problem solving-based teambuilding, team members jointly work together (usually in a retreat setting and led by an outside facilitator) to identify and solve the group's barriers to effectiveness. The underlying rationale with this approach is that camaraderie and teamwork can occur if the outside facilitator helps the group successfully surface and then address (rather than avoid) the various barriers to team effectiveness. This intervention is our most often used and most successful teambuilding exercise on an ERP project.
   
   
2. Skills-based teambuilding.
   In skills-based teambuilding, team members participate in workshop sessions that require them to learn and practice specific teamwork skills (e.g., dealing with conflict, reaching group consensus, learning how to give criticism, or running effective team meetings). These workshops include skills that can be applied immediately in the workplace. The underlying philosophy with the skill-building approach is that the most likely reason groups don’t work together well as a team is because they do not have the necessary skills. Thus, an obvious first step in building better teams is to have teams practice using teamwork skills in facilitated workshop settings, increasing the likelihood they will use these skills when working on the ERP project. This intervention is our second most often used method for improving teamwork on a project team.
   
   
3. Personality-based teambuilding.
   In personality-based teambuilding, members of the team fill out a personality questionnaire and then learn about their own personalities and the personalities of their fellow team members. The team then uses the results as a basis for discussion, developing action steps, and participating in various development experiences. The underlying rationale for this approach is that if team members better understand each other (such as differences in how team members perceive, make decisions, and react to events), they can then learn how to better communicate and deal with each other, thus enhancing team effectiveness. This intervention, which can be highly effective, is used primarily when there are personality-based conflicts on a project team that are leading to poor teamwork.
   
   
4. Activity-based teambuilding.
   In activity-based teambuilding, teams carry out challenging tasks, usually in outdoor settings (e.g., an experiential “ropes” course, or an outdoor adventure, such as white water rafting, mountain climbing, a survival course, or boot camp). These activities require groups to work together to achieve success. The exercises are built around specific needs of teams and include group problem solving, risk-taking, trust, or paradigm breaking. The underlying philosophy of this approach is that if team members experience success working together in a challenging outdoor experience, they will then be able to transfer these teamwork lessons to the ERP project setting and thus become a more effective project team. We only occasionally will use this type of teambuilding intervention on an ERP project. However, in those occasions that this intervention is employed it can be highly effective in pulling a group together.

For More Information
For more information about Teambuilding Interventions please call us at 877.454.1290 or contact us by email.