Team Building

Leading Concepts offers Team Building exercises that work. The training is intense. Managers and their teams gain results not just another team training book on their shelf.

Empirical Evidence in support of the fact that team building exercises in Ranger Teamwork, Leadership and Communication really work.

A University study, including 96 students over 13 Leading Concepts courses the Results chart for Total programs studied showed significant improvement in every behavior. People’s behaviors were changed! What matters is that the course graduates had greater:

Trust in Peers
Group Awareness
Group Effectiveness (cohesion)
Group Bonding
Interpersonal Communications

Leading Concepts team building exercises produce leaders who practice effective behaviors. This is without a doubt at a competitive advantage. Management’s major goal was for the skills learned in the program to effectively transfer to the work setting. Group effectiveness is seen as the key behavioral link in producing this transfer of training skills to the work setting.

More Empirical Evidence in support of the effectiveness of Leading Concepts training.

Study conducted by University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, College of Business and Economics. Richard J. Wagner, Ph.D. Assistant Professor of Management.^*

The students were surveyed both before and after participating in Leading Concepts team building exercises. The Results chart for Total programs studied showed significant improvement in every behavior. The primary behaviors measured were:

1. Attitude Towards Program. Measure of a person’s reaction to the training program.

2. Trust in Peers. In an organization is defined as the extent to which one is willing to ascribe good intentions to and to have confidence in the words and actions of others. (Cook & Wall, 1980). Zand (1972) found that groups with higher levels of trust were better able to solve problems and could deal with conflict in a more open and constructive manner.

3. Group Awareness. Is the feeling among group members that each member of the group is aware of the common goal of the group (clarity), and is committed to achieving that goal (cohesive).

4. Group Effectiveness. Is a measure of the overall functioning of the work group, and includes such critical areas as the level of co-operation within the group, group competence and the task motivation of the group. As with any training program, Management’s major goal was for the skills learned in the program to effectively transfer to the work setting. Group effectiveness is seen as the key behavioral link in producing this transfer of training skills to the work setting.

5. Group Bonding. Measures the cohesiveness of the work group.

6. Interpersonal Communications. This included issues such as feeling free to speak about any topic, being friendly with group members, and feeling free to propose new ideas to the group. The results of earlier studies indicated that more positive outcomes had resulted from these programs than had been identified by the empirical research.

In addition to the above evidence, a doctoral thesis is being produced based on the Ranger TLC Experience. The author is a graduate of the program as are the following endorsers:

Michael Boyle, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Leadership, Foundations and Human Resource Education University of Louisville. "Leading Concepts has something I have never seen before. They have successfully transcended that leadership barrier where you cannot only walk away understanding it theoretically, but you have very practical hands-on experience of how to do it. It is the best training program I've ever seen period."

Peter Pearson, Ph.D., Consulting Associate Professor, Stanford University "The truly effective team of the future will have 2 critical qualities: character and competencies. Training's that include both must be experiential. Classroom instruction can only target a few competencies. Leading Concepts may offer the only civilian training in the free world that can deliver on both counts. Miss it and you squander your precious team building opportunities. Take it and you harvest personal and work rewards for years to come."

Questions for a team building exercise

When you assume a leadership position, talk to your leader, your peers and other key people. Seek clear answers to the following questions:

What is the Team’s mission?
How does this mission fit in with the mission of the next higher Team?
What functions am I responsible for, such as training, maintenance and administration?
What are the standards the Team must meet?
What resources are available to help the Team accomplish the mission?
What is the current state of morale?
Who reports directly to me?
What are the strengths and weaknesses of my Team members and the group/department?
Who are the key people outside of the Team who support mission accomplishment and how can they add value?

Be sure you ask these questions at the right time, of the right person, and in the right manner. Answers to these questions, and others that flow from them, should give you the information you need to correctly assess the situation and select the right leadership strategy. You must also remain flexible enough to adapt your leadership style as you continually assess the competence, motivation and commitment of your Team members and the organization.