PURPOSING PROCESS

Team Product 1

	THEORY INPUT

H
igh-performing Work Teams That Work are characterized by collaborative teamwork focused on their primary purpose.  Teamwork is the result of a number of factors—such as shared visions, common purposes, well defined boundaries, achievement, and support oriented work cultures.  Work Groups that want to become high-performing teams should focus their initial efforts on getting to know each other, agreeing on team principles, ground rules, norms, and reaching consensus as to why they should exist.  This helps build a shared mission, vision, and values for the team.

	TASK OBJECTIVE

The primary purpose of this task is to provide an opportunity for you to develop what your team’s basic purpose for being here is, why you exist, what you value, and want to accomplish.

	DESIRED OUTCOMES

!	An understanding of each individual member’s learning objectives, as well as personal hopes, fears, and concerns that may have an influence on your team’s ability to function effectively.

!	A name and logo for your team that captures the “essence” of the team and its individual members.

!	A shared and common vision for your team that includes the team’s purpose and objectives.  This should include team members’ beliefs about what will be required for the team to be high performing.

!	A set of operating principles, norms, ground rules, etc., to be utilized by your team.

!	A team mission statement that communicates: “This is what makes us unique in the way we accomplish our purpose.”

!	A strategy about how your team will operate to achieve its purpose and objectives while being faithful to your stated principles.

!	A review of what you learned as you completed this task and your team’s working theories for use in guiding future team formation and “Direction Setting” efforts.

!	A way for helping other members benefit from what your team has learned as a result of having performed this purposing activity.
(Each team will be allotted up to 10 minutes for sharing at the beginning of the next general session.)

	SUGGESTIONS

Before you begin working on the task, reach agreement as to its objective and the outcomes that are expected.  Once this is done, design a process for how your team will accomplish the objective and produce the desired outcomes.  The following are suggestions you may wish to consider:

!	Have each member complete the pre-assessments for Growth Values and Teaming Skills.

!	Have each member of your team get better acquainted.  Learn as much as you can about:
- their likes and dislikes, their hopes, and fears about the Workshop
- their talents, expertise, and experience they bring to the team
- their personal learning objectives

!	Develop a list of common learning objectives for your team.

!	Discuss the kind of culture you prefer to work in and why.  Use this information to help you define your team’s guiding principles, ground rules, mission, etc.

!	Identify and select a name for your team along with a distinguishing logo.  Discuss and understand how and why you made the particular selections.

!	Determine why your team exists (primary purpose) and what objectives are needed to drive your team towards its purpose and shared vision.

!	Determine your team’s norms.  Ask for and post suggested “ground rules” (or Do’s and Don’ts) that the group itself might adopt in order to help realize its own expectations and avoid its apprehensions.  These team norms or ground rules should guide your team’s decisions and actions during the week.  Pay particular attention to the development of norms for dealing with differences of opinion and controversy or conflict.

!	Discuss what you have learned from this experience. Transform what you learn into working theories about the purposing processes of forming teams and setting direction.

!	Prepare to share your team’s learning with high impact and unique content so that the other teams in the Workshop can learn from your experiences.

GROWTH VALUES

The Six Dimensions of Inner Development

PRE-ASSESSMENT

EMPATHY
Self Rating
1     2     3     4     5

Actively participating in the feelings and ideas of others.  Embracing differing views and opinions, knowing they are essential to understanding and synergy.  The acceptance of others as they are, unique and marvelous creations in their own right.

AUTHENTICITY
Self Rating
1     2     3     4     5

The capacity to be at peace with yourself, know who you are, what you feel—to simply be yourself.  You’ll only be as good as you are capable of being real.  Owning up to your own weaknesses, failures, and mistakes lets others know you’re human.  Playing a game or hanging on to old pre-assigned roles and responsibilities in a changing environment only inhibits growth and authenticity.

SPONTANEITY
Self Rating
1     2     3     4     5

The capacity to think out loud and act naturally without external constraints or being held within established lines.  It’s the ability to self-act or react in a real and natural way as events occur.

COURAGE
Self Rating
1     2     3     4     5

The ability to do what is right for the larger whole, knowing at times it is not a popular choice.  Confronting others when it’s needed and being able to withstand the backlash.  Having the moral strength to venture where angels fear to tread while resisting opposition, strain, or threat.

OPEN-MINDEDNESS
Self Rating
1     2     3     4     5

The ability to act and make decisions provisionally, recognizing there may be a better way introduced tomorrow.  This flexibility and open-mindedness allows us to deal with individuals and teams as they are, and at their own pace.  This increases our receptivity to others’ arguments, ideas, and thoughts.

INTUITION
Self Rating
1     2     3     4     5

The ability to react with confidence on limited data or information.  Willingness to trust your gut, knowing something is different but not being able to put a finger on it.  At times it can be those immediate insights gained that needed to be shared, regardless of how hard they could be to substantiate.

TEAMING SKILLS

Personal Skill Promoting Group Effectiveness

PRE-ASSESSMENT

MEETING
EFFECTIVENESS
Self Rating
1     2     3     4     5

My ability to help a group come together, focus on the issues or purpose, establish meaningful roles and ground rules, use time effectively, involve and engage each member, measure their results, and meet their objectives.

BRAINSTORMING
Self Rating
1     2     3     4     5

My ability to help the group listen to all ideas openly, seek unusual possibilities, be creative, refrain from judging the merits of the ideas, build onto previous ideas, and think beyond previous boundaries and constraints.

PROBLEM SOLVING
Self Rating
1     2     3     4     5

My ability to work within the group to identify and clarify the problem, investigate root causes, analyze possible alternatives, weigh benefits and costs, compare against the stated objectives, collect meaningful data, and agree on solutions.

PLANNING/
ORGANIZING
Self Rating
1     2     3     4     5

My ability to help identify what needs to be done, establish priorities, set a timetable for accomplishing the tasks, make assignments, review progress, and follow through to meet the objectives.

DECISION MAKING
Self Rating
1     2     3     4     5

My ability to work with the group to review all pertinent information, listen to clearly understand each point of view, openly share biases and concerns, value personal and group needs, decide together and fully support that decision.

ASSESSING RESULTS
Self Rating
1     2     3     4     5

My ability to help get clear on what has to be accomplished, set goals that are both objective and subjective, establish a scale for measurement, benchmark their current state, regularly review results and progress.

CONFLICT
RESOLUTION
Self Rating
1     2     3     4     5

My ability to help sort through differences that are getting in the way of the group’s ability to accomplish tasks synergistically and collaboratively.

GIVING FEEDBACK
Self Rating
1     2     3     4     5

My ability to provide straightforward, honest, and helpful feedback to other members of the group in a respectful and developmental manner and to confront difficult issues with integrity and share responsibility for results.

RECEIVING
FEEDBACK
Self Rating
1     2     3     4     5

My ability to hear and receive feedback from members of the group openly and non-defensively, seek to understand the key elements of the feedback, and respond to the feedback through responsible actions and commitments.

DECISIVENESS
Self Rating
1     2     3     4     5

My ability to take action and help the group move forward by listening to itself, agreeing on key elements, selecting a path, deciding and moving on.  Helping to avoid waffling, false starts, and gridlock while allowing for constant field adjustments.

CREATING A
PURPOSEFUL SYSTEM

T
he central factor in team design is the system’s primary purpose or core mission.  Common purpose unifies.  It unites the people inside the system with each other, as colleagues in pursuit of the same larger vision.  It can unite the inside system with the larger outside system too.

The system then is united around a central value that is shared by all of the participants in the enterprise.  But united action is required as well.  It’s not enough to simply have in mind a common vision.

The system must also be designed to produce results, to create outputs that are clearly in line with the system’s mission.  And to do so in a way that is responsive to continuing changes in technology, economics, social pressures, and other environmental factors.  It must, in other words, be fully integrated and adaptive.  It’s a tall order, but it can be done.  Here’s some help in defining your team’s purpose:

	CRITERIA FOR MISSION/VISION

!	Simple, easy to remember
!	Describes “distinctive competence”
!	Singular:  One aspect emphasized
!	“Unattainable,” but can be pursued!	Specific enough to see it being pursued

!	Relevant, realistic
!	One sentence reflecting learning products, distinction, customer

	CRITERIA FOR PHILOSOPHY/VALUES

!	Limited number of tight 	statements
!	Can be tested against behavior
!	Reflects actual beliefs

!	Describes “how” mission will be accomplished
!	No unrealistic expectations

CRITERIA FOR GOALS/OBJECTIVES

!	Clearly relates to mission
!	Reflect expectations
!	Realistic and achievable

!	Describes results desired
!	Consistent with philosophy/values

LEARNING JOURNAL
PURPOSING PROCESS

Teaming Skill and Learning Checklist

(Check the areas in which you excelled)
(Circle the areas you wish to improve in next session)

Growth Values

Empathy

Authenticity

Spontaneity

Courage

Open-Mindedness

Intuition

Teaming Skills

Meeting Effectiveness

Brainstorming

Problem Solving

Planning/Organizing

Decision Making

Assessing Results

Conflict Resolution

Giving Feedback

Receiving Feedback

Decisiveness

1.	What did I learn most around Growth Values and Teaming Skills:

2.	My personal contribution to our team mission was:

3.	What I learned most about my ability to work within a team was:

4.	What made this meeting more effective?  Less effective?

5.	The things I learned that I most want to be able to use back home are: