A six-part seminar series that will help bolster effectiveness of teamwork in organizations will begin in October, sponsored by New River Community College’s Office of Workforce Development.
NRCC’s Team Commitment series will provide opportunities to identify specific tools that can help team members and team managers create a culture that avoids common pitfalls and builds on the strengths inside their teams.
The seminars, led by Dr. Robert Kenney, will be held at NRCC’s New River Valley Mall site in Christiansburg from 8 a.m. to noon. Registration is currently in progress for the sessions at www.nr.edu/workforce. Each session is $125, or the entire series is $630.
The series schedule is:
Establishing Purpose and Values-Driven Performance Inside a Team, Tuesday, Oct. 3, 8 a.m. to noon, Room 148 (Class #8675)
An organization’s values help determine what employees do and why. All employees must understand their organizations’ values, recognize their purpose and consistently demonstrate these values in the way they think and behave. Participants will communicate their organization’s values and how these values should link to team member performance, identify team member values and define team member purpose through personal mission statements.
Building Trust Within a Team, Tuesday, Oct. 17, 8 a.m. to noon, Room 148 (Class #8676)
Trust provides a sense of safety. When team members feel safe with each other, they are more likely to open up and share more ideas with each other, take appropriate risks, innovate, collaborate, produce and serve. Participants will define what they require in order to trust others, assess their trust accounts with other team members, practice 13 trust-building behaviors and rebuild trust where it has been lost.
Dealing with Team Negativity and Pessimism, Friday, Oct. 27, 8 a.m. to noon, Room 148 (Class #8677)
Workplace success begins with a state of mind. Considering what people are thinking or feeling about work can play a significant role in the accomplishments of your team. Negativity can spread quickly through a team or organization, resulting in higher staff turnover, absenteeism, low morale, distrust, decreased productivity and resistance to new ideas or change. Participants will look at their own attitudes, as well as the attitudes of their teams. Participants learn how to constructively discuss a team member’s negativity, reshape the way they perceive situations using cognitive restructuring, work with someone they do not like, harness pessimism and stay positive in a negative environment.
Getting Work Done: Dealing With Different Work Styles, Tuesday, Oct. 31, 8 a.m. to noon, Room 148 (Class #8678)
No two people think, act or work in exactly the same way. For this reason, when you bring any group of people together and ask them to work collaboratively, you have the potential for misunderstanding and conflict. Participants will assess the different ways that people tend to think and work, identify the strengths and weaknesses of each style, learn how to manage mutual acceptance within their teams and learn how to work more cooperatively as a team.
Making Decisions as a Team: Getting Team Ideas, Wednesday, Nov. 29, 8 a.m. to noon, Room 148 (Class #8679)
Exceptional teams include unique individuals whose different perspectives can create a multitude of ideas which, when generated to meet a common goal, can help businesses solve problems, resolve conflicts and make great decisions. Participants will work within teams to get more ideas and creative thinking from team members. Participants learn how to encourage teams to appreciate diverse opinions and generate ideas that represent the full spectrum of perspectives using “six thinking hats;” create ideas using traditional brainstorming, reverse brainstorming and “rolestorming;” organize ideas to see how they are connected through mind mapping and increase team member participation.
Making Decisions as a Team: Getting a Decision, Wednesday, Dec. 13, 8 a.m. to noon, Room 148 (Class #8680)
Deciding who to include in the decision-making process and how much influence to give them over the final outcome can be difficult. If you get the balance wrong, negative consequences can result for both the quality of the decision and your team’s morale and motivation. Participants will learn to decide how much to involve others when making a decision involving equal participation within the team using the “stepladder technique;” and how to avoid “groupthink” or false consensus.
