WHAT TO ASK A TEAM BUILDING CONSULTANT! PART TWO
When putting your team in a consultant’s hands, make sure the consultant knows the Rubin’s famous goals, relationships, roles, and procedures model.
Rubin states that a team needs a shared understanding of GOALS. That is, what is it that the team should accomplish? How do we measure that? How do we communicate our accomplishments and challenges?
Second, team members need a clear statement of individual ROLES. The team needs to come to a shared agreement on who will do what part of the work so the sum of the individual efforts is the successful achievement of the stated goals.
There should also be a shared agreement on the PROCESSES AND PROCEDURES the team will use to coordinate and integrate the work, make decisions, and resolve issues. Through the resolution of these issues, the team members begin to establish a way to work with each other.
Finally, the team must develop mutual the respect and trust on which effective collaboration is built. This is the value of RELATIONSHIPS. As my colleague, Jeanne Hartley says: Many conflicts that surface in teams are not “personality” conflicts; they are the result of disagreements over team goals, member roles or operating procedures. Taking time as a team to clarify goals, roles and procedures goes a long way toward preventing or reducing interpersonal conflict.
