3 Ways to Develop Your Team Through Shared Experiences
As a company that specializes in helping companies better engage and educate their employees, one question we continually hear from line managers is, ‘How can you help me to develop my employees?
We feel that the question to ask is not “How can I further develop my employees?” but rather “How can I further develop my team?” Unfortunately, too much emphasis has been placed on developing the individual alone as opposed to developing the individual within the context of the team.
We live in a social environment. Our ability to succeed in this social environment is in large part dependent on how well we interact with our peers. The same holds true in the workplace. Our ability to understand our team members and their points of view is incredibly valuable and may often lead to insights that would have otherwise been overlooked.
How do we encourage our employees to reach out and attempt to understand their colleague’s points of view?
Leveraging shared experiences is the best way to foster this type of team collaboration and discussion.
Here are 3 unique ways to foster shared experiences:
1) Host a Leadership Development Retreat - Gather all your team members and host an off-site retreat. An off-site retreat fosters not only a more relaxed environment but better communication. In addition, your team members will be more likely to be dedicated to the event and more focused on the activities at hand as their every day work distractions should be reduced. Look to create activities that will highlight the skills necessary to succeed in the workplace that do not resemble the day-to-day activities your team may already experience in the office. Off-site retreats are a great place for team members to see each other in an entirely different light as well as offer opportunities to develop new respect for each other.
2) Initiate a Team Dialogue on a Specific Issue - One of the easiest, but often overlooked ways to encourage shared experiences is by simply initiating a team dialogue on a specific issue facilitated by a book, video lesson, questionnaire, or a business case. Because the discussion is focused on the book/video lesson/business case as opposed to each others’ work, the dialogue can be concise, honest, and eye opening.
3) Leverage Technology to Capture Team Members’ Perspectives - Using a company Wiki, blog, intranet, or online community is an incredibly effective and efficient way to capture your team members’ perspectives and reflections on shared experiences. Many firms have already started using such methods. Some have even encouraged the creation of avatars, an online representation of him/herself, to further simulate a sense of community. This method is especially ideal for firms doing business in multiple locations as the collaboration is able to transcend physical location.
Newly Released Lessons Learned
Below is a list of the this month’s newly released Executive Lessons.
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Liam McGee
President, Global Consumer and Small Business Bank Bank of America Corporation |
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Jeffrey Hayzlett
Chief Business Development Officer & VP Eastman Kodak Company |
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Christina Page
Director of Climate and Energy Strategy Yahoo Inc. |
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Peninah Thomson
Executive Coach Praesta |
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Colleen Honan
Senior Vice President of Global Sales and Service OneSource Information Services, Inc. |