Extraordinary Team Tips

High-stakes meeting facilitator Kristin Arnold shares how to avoid tedious Board presentations using a Board presentation packet.

I often work with clients to facilitate an "after-action review" at the end of a project to discover pitfalls and opportunities for improvement for the next project. So I was thinking....why not do this with your team at the start of this new year? Discover key learnings about the year so you can prepare for the year ahead!

I am often asked to facilitate an after-action review (AAR) upon the completion of a project. It's a bit more formal than a standard debriefing and allows the participants to truly understand what happened and create some preventive and mitigating strategies for the next project.

AAR typically occurs when the project went south...but can also be applied to glorious projects that we wish we could clone and replicate!

Want your teams to stay focused? Capture and post key information for all to see – on a whiteboard, on flipchart paper, or on the screen. By writing down what has been said, team members will stay focused and on track as well as remember and act on the information well after the meeting.

If your team is like most, it relies on two or three strategies to make decisions: consensus, team input with the team leader making the final decision, or the loudest voice wins. Effective teams use MANY different decision-making strategies, such as these.

If you are serious about moving your organization from a traditional, hierarchical organization into flexible, nimble teams, think through the benefits and costs—as well as the many cultural changes that you, your employees, and your customers will have to face. For some, the changes are just too great, and teams may not be the best solution. For many, the benefits far outweigh the disadvantages.

Any organization interested in moving toward a team-based environment should have the following things in place.

A client of mine was frustrated that nothing was happening after a team meeting. He said, "It's a great conversation, but then everyone goes back to 'work,' and nothing happens!"

It's a common complaint as most teams identify potential tasks throughout the course of their meetings and then walk away thinking that everyone knows what they need to do.

Au contraire! Unless you have a process to ensure all know what needs to be done, who is responsible for doing it, and by when, it's no surprise nothing happens.

Most North American companies and organizations reward individual performance. We celebrate our individuality and want to be compensated and rewarded for our efforts. However, if you want your people to perform as a team, you must reward them as a team.

People choose their seats for all kinds of reasons. Some sit wherever there is an empty seat. Others want to sit where they always do. Some want to sit next to a particular person. Others want to be close to the coffee pot. But how do you choose where to sit to help you achieve your objective? Try these tips.

This type of teamwork doesn't happen overnight. It starts with a few people who set the standard and ground rules for team cooperation.