WORK TEAMS
THAT WORK

An Experience-Based Workshop in Building and Sustaining 
High Performance Teams

WELCOME

T
hanks for choosing to attend this STS sponsored workshop on developing and sustaining high performance teams.  Building effective teams is a tough job.  To really appreciate the power of teams this week, a lot will be required of you.

You, and the other workshop attendees, are going to be encouraged to push yourselves and try new and different things.  In order to be effective, this workshop requires hard work, tenacity, and willingness to have fun.  If you put forth the effort, this will be one of the most rewarding educational experiences of your life.

The workshop facilitators have been selected and developed to assist and support you as you discover how high performance teams are built and sustained.  The path will at times be difficult, but by Friday well worth it!

PARTICIPANTS & STAFF

TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION
Workshop Purpose
Agenda

WORKSHOP PRINCIPLES
A Socio-Technical Systems Approach
Learning Approach
System Accountability

LEARNING
The Quest
Learning Cycle
Leaders and The Learning Process
Growth Values
Teaming Skills
Personal Learning Journals

PURPOSING PROCESSES
Team Formation
Creating a Purposeful System 

PRODUCING PROCESS  
Design
Producing Processes

SYSTEM THEORY
Systems Thinking
Glossary

INDIVIDUAL NEEDS PROCESSES
Identifying and Satisfying Individual Needs
Grow Up!—The Eight Stages

SOCIAL PROCESSES
Problem Solving/Decision Making Process
Team Growth Stages

ENVIRONMENTAL FIT
Guidelines for Insuring Fit 
Environmental Systems

CONTROL PROCESSES
Understanding Managerial Leadership Function
Control Models

FEEDBACK PROCESSES
Developmental Grip 
Constructive Feedback

AGENDA

MONDAY

!	Introduction
	-	Open Systems
	-	Accountability
	-	Learning

!	Search for Purpose	-Team Task 1
	-	(Mission, Vision, Values, Logo)

!	Technical Producing 
Process	-Team Task 2

!	Final Team Product Definition

TUESDAY

!	Systems Theory		-Team Task 3
-	(Understanding & Usefulness)

!	Individual Needs	-Team Task 4

!	Introduction to Social Systems

!	Final Team Product Planning

WEDNESDAY

!	Social System Processes
	-	Team Growth	-Team Task 5
	-	Problem Solving	-Team Task 6

!	Environmental Process
	-	External Needs & 
		Internal Fit	 	-Team Task 7

!	Final Team Product Planning

THURSDAY

!	Control Process
	-	Team Leadership 
		Analysis	-Team Task 8

!	Feedback Process	-Team Task 9

!	Final Team Product Planning

FRIDAY

!	Final Team Products

!	Individual & Team Learning

!	Open Discussion—Q’s & A’s

!	Workshop Critique & Closure
WORKSHOP PURPOSE

T
he biggest challenge facing American industry today is successfully coping in a world wide competitive climate.  Although the textbooks promote teamwork recipes, sustained higher levels of team performance are rarely achieved in practice.  A major cause of failing to “put words to action” is a lack of opportunity for many to be able to experience practical application of the concepts in a learning and developing environment.

This intensive five day workshop has been designed to provide that experience.  It is called WORK TEAMS THAT WORK and focuses on participants “living” the principles and concepts used in developing and sustaining high performance in a changing and competitive environment.

	PURPOSE

The purpose of this workshop is to share proven concepts utilized by companies known for sustaining high levels of performance through an intensive personal learning experience.

	OBJECTIVES

!	Understand the key characteristics that will contribute to increasing levels of performance.
!	Experience being part of a successful team and contributing to that team’s success.
!	Understand the impact of your own actions and behaviors on others.
!	Develop knowledge of Socio-Technical Systems (STS) in developing high performance.
!	Learn to appreciate and value feedback through giving and receiving it.
!	Discover the roles leadership and control play in reaching higher levels of performance.
!	Experience the transfer of head knowledge to heart understanding by sharing a deep sense of commitment to a team and to individual team members.
!	Experiment, apply new learnings, and build new skills for developing high performance back home.

	WORKSHOP PRINCIPLES

This workshop is designed to explore three key principles of high performance:

	Open System		High performance organizations exist in a “open system” and build effective processes to respond to all demands of that system.
	Learning		High performance organizations understand how individuals learn and create an environment which encourages learning through exploration, experience, and continual improvement.
	Accountability	High performance organizations account for their results to the larger system.
A SOCIO-TECHNICAL SYSTEMS APPROACH

	WORKSHOP CONCEPTS

T
he workshop is designed around an Open Systems—Socio-Technical model, which demonstrates  that, over the long haul, effective organizations are those that adapt well to changing internal and external environmental demands and expectations. This open systems model has seven key processes or elements that need to be understood, developed, and designed for high performance and organizational effectiveness.
OPEN SYSTEMS MODEL

These adaptations take place within the STS model and its seven interdependent processes.  In the workshop, they will be referred to as:

PURPOSING PROCESSES

The team’s sense of identity and purpose:
-	Who we serve
-	What they expect
-	Why our team exists

TECHNICAL PRODUCING PROCESSES

The team’s primary tasks and objectives for producing the work required to fulfill its purpose.

INDIVIDUAL NEEDS PROCESSES

The team’s process for satisfying their team members’ individual interests and needs.

SOCIAL INTERACTION PROCESSES

Determining how members need to interact and relate to one another in pursuit of productive and individual purposes and objectives.

ENVIRONMENTAL PROCESSES

How the team is going to interact with the other teams or departments for which there is internal interdependence and external demands.

CONTROL PROCESSES

How the team members provide for leadership, organization, and control to insure the team’s purposes and objectives are met.

FEEDBACK PROCESSES

How the team and its members make assessments and corrective adaptations or adjustments:
-	with each other
-	with other groups and departments
-	with external stakeholders, i.e., customers

These seven STS processes are highly interdependent, dynamic, and have to be maintained in a reasonable balance if the team or organization is to be effective.  The workshop focuses on each process and its dynamics, on the interactions between the seven processes, and ways of managing them to maximize overall systems performance.

Incorporated in the learning design are multiple opportunities for the participants to learn more about themselves, their impact on others, and the seven key STS processes, and to develop interpersonal skills in communications, feedback, team membership, and leadership.

MODEL:  BASIC INTERDEPENDENT ELEMENTS OF STS

	

LEARNING APPROACH

	“I Hear and I Forget  
I See and I Remember 
I Do and I Understand.”
—Old Chinese Proverb

		“Training Won’t Work,
	A Tool Approach Can’t Work,
	Copying Doesn’t Work Either.”
	—John J. Sherwood

		“Adults learn best when they
		take charge of their own learning.”
—Warren Bennis

A
t the beginning of the workshop, participants “join” a team whose primary purpose is to “market” learning products about how organizations achieve and sustain higher performance.  They play an active role in carrying out a series of “learning tasks” designed to enhance their personal growth and development.

These personal learnings are integrated into team products and “sold” through group presentations in the “market place” where other learning teams are also competing.  This process builds throughout the workshop until the last day, when each team “markets” a “final product” or compilation of their week’s learnings.

SYSTEM ACCOUNTABILITY

A
ll organizations live in an environmentally competitive reality.  In order for organizations to be “High Performing,” they must continually measure themselves against their own expectations, the expectations of their customers, and the requirements of their environment and use these measurements to continually improve their results.

For your learning organization to become High Performing and gain the most from this workshop experience, we have designed a process to continually assess and measure the results of your learning.  Each learning organization will develop a “learning product” from each learning session and sell this product to yourself and the other teams.  Your organization will also purchase products from the other organizations based on what you find meaningful and helpful.

At the conclusion of each marketing period, your team will have 20 units in which to purchase products (including your own).  Product purchases must conform to the following guidelines:

!	Most preferred product needs to be at least twice the value of your least preferred product.

!	No organization can receive the same point value.

	!	Maximum value distributed to any one organization is 10.

Your team will be allowed ten minutes at the end of the presentations to discuss, evaluate, and spend your 20 units.  You may wish to ask yourself questions like the following in evaluating the learning products:

		What was new or insightful from their product?
		How did the product impact me?
		Did the product meet my expectations?
		Do I know what I want from the Product?
		Will I take something back with me from their experience?
		Did the product tell me, show me, or involve me?
		Did the product help me gain new understanding?
		Was it the right size (quantity), the right material (quality) and the right feeling (impact)?

IN-HOUSE WORKSHOPS

W
e, at STS International, Inc., wish to assist you in your efforts to develop high performing teams within your organization.  Work Teams That Work™ can play a key role in these efforts.

Companies sponsoring participants and desiring to include this workshop as part of their internal development strategy can do so by:

‘	Identifying internal company resources who have attended a WTTW workshop and who can be certified as co-trainers.
‘	Providing the opportunity for these internal resources to “staff” a WTTW and gain experience and certification.
‘	Develop a plan with STS International, Inc., to use the materials, workshop design, internal resources, and STS resources in an in-house setting.

The written materials in this manual were designed and developed by D. F. Felten with significant contributions made by K. Simmons  and J. Romans.  Any reproduction of the workshop design or materials contained in this workbook is prohibited.  Although we desire and encourage you to use these materials, ANY use of the materials or workshop design requires prior written permission from STS International, Inc.  In this way, we can maintain the integrity of the materials and insure the responsible application of the design.

Please direct requests to use these materials, develop in-house workshops, explore the other workshops available through STS International, Inc., or any other questions to:

STS INTERNATIONAL, INC.
2823 South Church Street
Burlington, NC  27215

Phone:  (336) 584-7220
Fax:  (336) 584-7050 
email: stsnc@aol.com

Copyright 1990 by
STS INTERNATIONAL
All rights reserved