Communication Teambuilding activities

This is an excellent process to gather information from employees who are leaving the organization. This information needs to be kept confidential and shared with only top management so corrective action can be taken in the organization. The best pratices is to conduct one and one structured interview with the employee leaving the organization. Another approach is to recruit a Human Resource management-consulting firm and have them conduct telephone exit interviews, or using e-mails. It is important to keep your exit interview information for future use or legal issues that may arise.

Focus groups have been used for many years in the marketing department and for consumer research. Focus groups can be used for teambuilding to solve problems and improve productivity in companies. These groups should have staff from different departments and different stakeholders. The best size for discussion is between 5-7 members. Limit the focus groups to tackle three different issues or concerns and limit to one-hour discussion. Identify a leader for each table and scribe to record the key comments. The group facilitator needs to roam the room and listen to the discussions. After each small group discuses the issues, bring the large group with a summation of the three issues.

Introduce a mini-one hour workshop to introduce the techniques for active listening skills. Identify key trainers in your company to introduce the importance to active listening. Make this mini-workshop a fast paced workshop and fun event.

Explain the differences of assertiveness and aggressive behavior. Develop a role-play to demonstrate these three different styles to handle conflict: passive, aggressive and assertive. Emphasize the need to be assertive during a situation that involves conflict.

Using a specific discussion or meeting to evaluate, respondents rate themselves on the use of 7 Task Roles and 7 Maintenance Roles. Individuals then gain additional insight into their behavior. Finally, action plans help teams make specific plans for improvement - as individuals and as a group.

The Participant Booklet includes pressure-sensitive scoring and perforated response cards to facilitate the feedback process. In addition to administrative guidelines and theoretical background, the Facilitator Guide includes tips on strengthening task and maintenance roles, a sample training design, and transparency masters.

TeamCommunication Inventory is a great follow-up tool for team building. Go to HRDQ and then click on teams:

TeamShare Assessment TeamShare provides an opportunity for teams to explore how open they are in their communication patterns. It provides a structured experience in which teams can gradually gain experience in opening up, and giving and receiving feedback. TeamShare was designed to help team members who are having difficulty in being open within the team. The instrument begins with a self-analysis, moves to a partner analysis, and then finally to a full team discussion. The exercise is structured in this manner to allow participants to gain experience in the feedback process in a non threatening manner. The exercise includes discussion questions and action planning so that team members can continue to increase the openness of their team communication. TeamShare introduces team members to effective feedback processes and gives them the tools they need to continue improving the process. A Model of Team Communication TeamShare applies the Johari Window theory of interpersonal communication to team communication patterns. This theory, developed by Joseph Luft and Harry Ingham (Luft, 1969), describes how individuals give and receive information about themselves and others. In an ideal communication situation, the words, ideas, and feelings of the sender of the communication would have the same meaning to every receiver of that communication. Unfortunately, as Luft and Ingham realized, in any interaction there is information that is known to some individuals and unknown to others. The Johari Window examines the interchange of information by presenting four modes of information sharing based on what information is known or unknown to the self and to the other parties to that communication.

When to use TeamShare TeamShare is beneficial for teams that are having difficulty sharing information. In the TeamShare experience, teams are provided with a vehicle for helping team members gain an increased feeling of trust and begin to engage in fruitful dialogue about the team's patterns of communication. Teams that tend to be closed and hold back in team discussions can use TeamShare to engage in a non threatening examination of the openness of the team's communication. Team members will also gain experience in giving and receiving feedback HRDQ can help you with this team building toll. Click now: Go to the team section .