DBR Team Building Classes

We can provide the following Team Building training classes at your location or ours for groups of 10 or more. For more information or to schedule a class, email us or call us at 515-964-6346 or 1-800-362-2127, x 6346.

Click on a class below for details.

• The Team Advantage
• The Basic Principles of Teamwork
• The Basic Principles for a Collaborative Workplace
• Keeping Your Team on Course: Tools and Techniques
• Playing a Vital Role in Team Decisions
• Developing Team Plans
• Raising Difficult Issues With Your Team
• Contributing to Meeting Success
• Working as a Team
• Training Others
• Supporting Others
• Reaching Agreement
• Myers-Briggs Type Indicator

The Team Advantage

Overview:

This unit examines the reasons why organizations are moving to teams and discusses the challenges and rewards of this change for team members. The unit provides useful information about teams, but its primary emphasis is on what the transition means to team members.

To gain an overview of the new team-oriented workplace, participants review different kinds of teams and consider how teams can help the organization meet its competitive challenges. Participants also analyze the critical elements in the team member's new role and the need for new skills to carry out this role.

To conclude the unit, participants apply what they have learned about making teams more effective and plan how they will assist their own teams in becoming more effective as well.

Objectives:

• Explain the reasons why organizations are becoming more team oriented.
• Describe the different kinds of teams that organizations use to become more effective.
• Describe the benefits of being a member of a shared-ownership team.
• Describe the role of a team member.
• Assess common challenges to a team's success and identify which team skills to emphasize.

Class Length:

3.5 hours
By AG

The Basic Principles of Teamwork

Overview:

In today’s rapidly changing work environment, teams are constantly faced with new situations that require quick and decisive action. The degree of success with which a team can respond depends largely upon the values its members share. The Basic Principles are a set of shared values that can help guide the actions of team members as they work together to face the challenges of a rapidly changing work environment.

In this session, participants will explore how The Basic Principles can help them learn from their mistakes, share information, deal with change, and build a spirit of teamwork.

Objectives:

• Describe the characteristics of an effective team.
• Explain how using The Basic Principles with a team can increase the effectiveness of the team.
• Identify specific behaviors that are related to each Basic Principle and that can be used with a team.
• Explain the effects of not using The Basic Principles with a team.
• Use The Basic Principles to increase the effectiveness of a team.

Class Length:

4 hours
By AG

The Basic Principles for a Collaborative Workplace

Overview:

Organizations today require a workplace where everyone is willing and able to work together in new and collaborative ways. Collaboration positively impacts productivity, quality, customer expectations, and overall organizational performance. This unit shows how The Basic Principles create a climate where everyone is able to cooperate, share ideas, and work together for a common purpose. The Basic Principles provide a set of behaviors for putting an organization’s shared values into practice to develop a strong network of relationships at every level of the organization.

Objectives:

• Explain the importance of collaboration and shared values in creating a high-performance organization.
• Identify the values that are important to them and to their organization.
• Explain how The Basic Principles help put shared values into practice.
• Apply The Basic Principles in a variety of situations.
• Describe specific ways they can use The Basic Principles in their work situations.
  

Class Length:

3 hours
By AG

Keeping Your Team on Course: Tools and Techniques

Overview:

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.

This unit provides 12 tools and techniques that help team members direct the course of the team through a variety of challenges. Examples include the Team Formation Checklist, Balancing the Team’s Workload, Listening for a “Win-Win,” Avoiding Groupthink, and Celebrating Milestones and Mini-Successes.

Objectives:

• Explain the “Four Phases of Team Development.”
• Describe what teams go through during each phase of development.
• Select appropriate tools and techniques to deal with a variety of team situations.
• Develop a plan for effectively using a specific tool or technique with a team.

Class Length:

4 hours
By AG

Playing a Vital Role in Team Decisions

Overview:

While most people have considerable experience in making individual decisions, few people have the experience needed to make team decisions. Nevertheless, employees in today’s organizations can expect to spend more and more time making decisions in groups—decisions that may affect many people inside and outside the organization.

This unit demonstrates how participants can take an active role in making team decisions. It encourages team members to take a “win-win” approach and helps them to define the best course of action. Using the Key Actions will help to ensure that all team members are clear about the expected outcome, the method used to reach the decision, and the needs of others, thus enabling all team members to support the decision.

Objectives:

• Explain how using the Key Actions can increase the team’s decision-making ability.
• Demonstrate how to apply the Key Actions in team decision making to do the following:
  • Clarify the kind of participation expected;
  • Choose the right decision method;
  • Keep the discussion moving;
  • Carry out and explain the decision to others;
• Plan how to apply the Key Actions in future team decision making.

Class Length:

4 hours
By AG

Developing Team Plans

Overview:

Successful completion of team projects depends on a sound, flexible planning process. This unit introduces steps that ensure a team will coordinate tasks smoothly and efficiently. Participants learn to analyze assignments and projects, develop well-thought-out plans, anticipate obstacles, and seek alternatives for handling contingencies.

Objectives:

• Analyze performance requirements for the team.
• Plan effectively to use all available resources in order to prevent bottlenecks and delays.
• Prepare to present a case for what the team needs.
• Define team roles clearly and maximize everyone’s performance.
• Keep the project on track and on time.

Class Length:

4 hours
By AG

Raising Difficult Issues With Your Team

Overview:

A crucial team skill is knowing how to manage issues that impede the team's ability to accomplish its mission and goals. Some of these issues are difficult to manage, especially those that arise out of another team member's actions, but they still have to be addressed sensitively and honestly in order for the team to move forward.

This unit helps participants deal with these difficult situations in a way that will build trust and strengthen the ability to work together as a team.

Objectives:

• Identify sources of tension that can affect the team's performance.
• Explain how the trust level among team members affects their willingness to bring up difficult issues with the team.
• Describe specific actions team members can take to help build trust among team members.
• Demonstrate how to use the Key Actions to manage difficult issues with the team.

Class Length:

4 hours
By AG

Contributing to Meeting Success

Overview:

Although meetings are a fact of workplace life, too often employees are stuck in meetings that run late, waste time, accomplish little, and keep them from their "real" work.

This interactive course gives employees the skills to save meeting time, keep meetings moving forward efficiently, and commit to and follow through on post-meeting actions.

Objectives:

• Share responsibility for achieving meeting outcomes with members as well as the leader.
• Save meeting time by preparing to make productive contributions.
• Suggest effective ways to keep meetings moving forward efficiently.
• Commit to and follow through on post-meeting actions.

Class Length:

2 hours, or 1 hour, Fast Track.
By DDI

Working as a Team

Overview:

For a team to achieve its goals, its members must do more than just carry their own weight. They must involve, support, and share information with their teammates. And they must commit to the success of the entire team, not simply their own success.

Working as a Team clearly teaches employees the personal, interpersonal, and organizational
advantages of working together, whether in teams or work groups.

Objectives:

• Apply the team success factors to improve the performance of the team they lead or on which they serve.
• Reduce the time it takes their team to overcome growing pains.
• Be aware of and address the challenges their team faces in the four stages of team development.

Class Length:

3 hours, 10 minutes, using the Drip-n-Pipes simulation; 3 hours, 40 minutes, using the Genius of Bioengineering simulation; or 2 hours, 10 minutes, Fast Track.
By DDI

Training Others

Overview:

Cross-training can evoke fear and even anger. People fear they will have to do another job they don?t like. They worry about how they will juggle their present job with training others. And they might feel their own job is in jeopardy.

Training Others gives employees the skills they need to effectively help others prepare for new tasks and responsibilities. The course also will help build employee commitment to and understanding of the importance of training to your organization.

Objectives:

• Know more about the importance of training others in the workplace.
• Be prepared to plan and conduct on-the-job training with one or more people.
• Feel a sense of accomplishment and satisfaction in helping others grow and develop their skills.

Class Length:

3 hours, 10 minutes, or 1 hour, 41 minutes, Fast Track.
By DDI

Supporting Others

Overview:

When coworkers support one another, things get done. And as they help one another succeed, they create an environment in which people feel comfortable trying new things-be it how to improve customer loyalty or increase productivity. They create a learning environment in which experience is transformed into support.

In this course, participants learn why supporting one another at work is important and how it can be done to ensure the success of everyone involved-the employees, their coworkers, and the organization.

Objectives:

• Recognize opportunities to coach, guide, and encourage others.
• Help others accomplish new tasks and meet challenges at work.
• Ask others for support when they face a challenging task or assignment.

Class Length:

2 hours, 50 minutes, or 1 hour, 40 minutes, Fast Track.
By DDI

Reaching Agreement

Overview:

Productivity obviously suffers when group members cannot come to agreement or have different interpretations of decisions. And without strong commitment from each member, decisions will always fall short of their goal.

This course focuses on the dynamics of group agreement and the importance of having everyone's
commitment. It teaches seven techniques for making clear, high-quality decisions that have the
buy-in and commitment of every group member.

Objectives:

• Make more effective decisions as a group-more efficiently and quickly.
• Ensure all group members contribute to the decision-making process.
• Increase their work group's commitment to group agreements.
• Overcome roadblocks to reaching group agreement.

Class Length:

3 hours, 30 minutes, or 2 hours, Fast Track.
By DDI

MBTI® (Myers-Briggs Type Indicator®)

Overview:

One of the single biggest issues any organization faces when trying to implement a team environment is dealing with differences in personality. By understanding differences we can overcome them.

Objectives:

The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator® is a popular tool used to help individuals identify and understand normal personality differences. Understanding personality differences can help reduce unproductive interpersonal and internal organizational conflict. Teams and departmental units have found the MBTI® helpful in assessing strengths, motivations, and blind spots of their group in a non-judgmental way. In this training we look at personality preferences on four scales: extroversion vs. introversion; sensing vs. intuition; thinking vs. feeling; and judging vs. perceiving. We identify basic personality patterns explaining how we get our energy, gather information, make decisions, and structure our lifestyles. By becoming more aware of our own preferences we identify ways to improve our relationships and interactions with others.

Class Length:

3 hours.
By DMACC