Team Conflict Resolution Strategies and Team Development that Build Productivity

Scroll down or use these links to see examples of Business-Aligned® team development, action planning, and conflict resolution strategies for senior executive teams, corporate diversity councils, or sales teams.

Senior Executive Teams

A prominent consumer service provider is headquartered in a major U.S. metropolitan area. The CEO was interested in team building and development to better position for continued growth of the business and to improve internal productivity and operating efficiency.

The firm has a very diverse customer base. Potential growth areas include new segments of the local population and global partners.

The CEO wanted to improve the executive leadership team’s operating efficiency by reducing the “silo” effect and increasing teamwork within and across functions. The management team also needs to further improve its ability to understand and meet the needs of its increasingly-diverse customers and business partners.

Solution:
A custom team building and development session was designed. The Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI) was used to assess the team’s current effectiveness in working with people of different cultural backgrounds. This assessment addressed both internal operations and external-facing work with customers and business partners.

The learning design and action planning was customized to “meet the team” at their current developmental stage. The program built communication skills for working with people of different backgrounds having varying perspectives about a business issue.

Group and individual IDI feedback and developmental coaching helped participants understand how they currently experienced cultural difference, the business relevance of this, and how they could develop their own effectiveness.

Action planning helped define new ways to work together to build teamwork and enhance the team’s operating processes. It also provided internal support mechanisms to help keep the learning alive in the workplace.

Outcome:
Incorporating IDI assessment, development, and coaching helped ensured a receptive audience and a positive outcome. Participants said that they could use the learning to become more effective as a leadership team. Additional positive results are ongoing.

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Situation:

Members of a senior leadership team were not communicating with each other effectively. Important business issues were politely ignored or actively deferred. Operating results were suffering.

The team members were from very different backgrounds in many ways including industry experience, academic training, communications style, race, gender, age, and the importance they attached to interpersonal relationships. An effective conflict resolution strategy was needed for the team.

Solution:
The Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI) was used to determine each person’s and the overall team’s level of intercultural sensitivity and competence. The team was shown the relationship among business results, inclusion, effective communications, and intercultural sensitivity and competence. The team received a custom analysis of its group-based operating style and developmental feedback and coaching. Separately each team member received a similar individual analysis and feedback. Group-based action planning was performed.

Outcome:
Team effectiveness improved. Members became more aware and accepting of differences. Decision making became more inclusive. Previously unaddressed problems were now resolved effectively. This is leading to improved business operating results.

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Corporate Diversity Councils

The diversity council of a business unit of one of the largest global diversified energy companies was comprised of scientists, engineers, administrators, and managers from across the unit. The council had three high-level objectives for a 1.0 to 1.5 day development program:

• Learn leading-edge organizational diversity and inclusion concepts
• Develop the team’s effectiveness
• Determine how best to support their business unit’s business objectives

Solution:
A custom program was designed to provide the council with leading-edge diversity knowledge, team development, and tools to implement Business-Aligned® diversity and inclusion planning.

The Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI) was used to assess the council’s current effectiveness in working with people of different cultural backgrounds. These results guided program design to maximize learning and minimize backlash. IDI group-based feedback and related experiential exercises provided deep learning and team development.

The program included practical background and perspective about diversity and inclusion, highlighted the connection between business results and intercultural communications effectiveness, and provided learning, tools, and practice in communications and developing Business-Aligned® diversity action plans.

Outcome:
The council achieved a dramatic shift in its thinking about the business potential of diversity and inclusion. They practiced developing action plans that achieve meaningful business results, and linked this to the council’s business planning process. The council also learned new skills to build their operating effectiveness both as a diversity council and individually in their technical work outside the council.

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Sales Teams

The VP of Canadian Sales for a Fortune 100 manufacturer had a Canada-based Sales Director team of formerly independent business people and a US-based marketing support team. He needed to improve the effectiveness of this leadership team so they could leverage each others’ strengths.

Solution:
This involved executive coaching and facilitation. Coaching of the leadership team helped them identify their underlying leadership style strengths and issues. A custom intervention refocused the leadership team on their overarching business objectives, their strengths, and their working relationships. Operating principles were developed to help support each other and sustain the learning.

Outcome:
The leadership team successfully developed a new effective working relationship and a common focus on serving the customers’ needs.

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See more about how MDB Group can design and deliver team building and team development that will help improve your business’ profitability and related key business objectives.