The Importance Of Relationships In Team Building - Four Groups

4G Team Building Application

Linking Behaviour to Bottom Line Performance

The Importance of Relationships in Team Building After having the best talent, relationships play the most important part in creating a high performing team.

Team Building Benefits

Team building today

Ultimately, this method serves to opti-

> Increase team performance

mise a team’s relationships and

> Reduce tension and friction

The word ‘team’ was first recorded in

becomes a catalyst to the team’s suc-

> Identify and maximise team strengths

1552, its original meaning was ‘to har-

cess and achievements.

> Anticipate problems and prevent them

ness’ or ‘to come together’. The idea

> Optimise understanding

behind the word is to create a group

In creating a high performing team,

that is greater than the sum of its parts.

many approaches offer a combination

Please note, this document is intended to

In order to create such a group, the

of boosting morale, increasing self

accompany the team building demonstra-

constituent relationships in the team

understanding and resolving problems.

tion of the Visual Team Builder. This can be

must strengthen and enhance the abil-

While each of these methods offers

found at the link below.

ities of the people within it.

solutions, none of them are perfect all of the time. Activities which boost

http://www.fourgroups.com/teams

Further to the idea above, people often

morale tend to bring short term bene-

approach team building from the per-

fits but struggle to make any sustained

spective of attracting the best talent.

long term impact on a team. Increasing

Whilst An Example 4G Situation

valid, Degree of Psychological Comfort

No effort Minimal effort Some effort Significant effort

1Si 2Ti

2Fe

is

self understanding raises people’s

Four

awareness but translating this into how

believe

people relate to one another and the

that when com-

means to improve this is often compli-

bined, a second

cated and abstract. Resolving problems

view based on

usually attempts to improve the means

relationships

by which people relate to one another

offers

greater

(as above, far from easy) and where

Our

practical, changes in workflow and

Groups

benefits.

view proposes a method

1Ne

this

enhances individ3Te

processes can be made.

that Our solution

ual abilities, providing 2Ti 3Fi

greater

Each of the three ideas above offers its

performance and

own advantages and in the right cir-

a

sustainable

cumstances they generate genuine and

advantage.

tangible improvements to teams. What

The Importance of Relationships in Team Building

is lacking however is a repeatable

mation is then supported by a suite of

Who are we?

methodology to improve and optimise

coaching modules looking at topics

Four Groups work with a new approach to behav-

the relationships within a team.

ranging from leadership through to

iours, relationships and culture. This document pro-

problem solving and dealing with

vides some background to our work around team

change.

building, optimising relationships and creating high

To solve this problem, Four Groups pro-

performing teams.

vides a system (4G) to predict and more importantly, improve relation-

Where practical, the third step looks at

ships or ‘people compatibility’. There

making recommendations and changes

are many ways 4G can be applied,

to team structure, workflow and

team building being an obvious exam-

processes. 4G often highlights hidden

ple.

strengths and unknown weaknesses in a team’s structure or workflow. As a

What is the team building applica-

result, it is possible to make the most

tion for 4G?

of these strengths and to minimise the impact of any identified weaknesses.

The team building application for 4G

Finally, these ideas can improve exist-

splits into three distinct steps. The first

ing processes and highlight superior

looks at understanding the current

alternatives to achieving your goals.

4G is a proprietary approach to predicting relationships, behaviour and group cultures. Based in part on the work of Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung, 4G incorporates measures of people’s strengths, creativity, motivation and weaknesses. The model contains 16 definitions of individual’s behavior, 14 different relationship types and 4 examples of group culture.

strengths, weaknesses and context of the team. 4G provides an in-depth

What is 4G based on?

How does 4G work?

understanding of individual team members, the relationships within the

Using 4G is a very quick and simple

team and the team values or culture.

process. People generally need an

When combined with the context of the

hour, split between a short briefing, an

team, this information offers an accu-

online personality questionnaire and a

rate and insightful ‘snapshot’ of the

feedback session. Optionally, further

team in its current state.

time may be spent on more feedback, either for individuals or for the whole

The second step builds on the first. By

group. At the end of the process, indi-

turning the initial analysis into practical

viduals receive their own reports, while

steps, it is possible to raise individual

a group report is made available for the

effectiveness, optimise existing rela-

decision maker and/or the group,

tionships and to improve overall team

depending on what is required.

performance. 4G contains comprehensive information on how to improve and optimise both individuals and relationships within the team. This infor-

Four Groups Ltd 5 St. Johns Lane London EC1M 4BH, United Kingdom Tel: +44 (0) 20 7250 4779 Email: [email protected] http://fourgroups.com © 2007 Four Groups Ltd, 5 St. Johns Lane London EC1M 4BH, United Kingdom. All rights reserved. No part of this document may be reproduced without express written permission from Four Groups Ltd. Image by http://sxc.hu

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