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  • 1.  Team Building - Shared Accountability

    Posted 02-27-2008 16:39
    Dear Colleagues,
     
    I am helping a cross function team made up of a group of scientists, engineers and MBA's.  I am looking
    for an exercise that may help them understand the idea of shared accountability.  They have struggled
    with the idea of getting all of their oars moving in the same direction.  While I am sure this issues is hindered by the
    reporting structure in the organization, I am only helping them with some team building exercises at an off site and unable to
    have other impact.  Understanding that it may be a band-aid solution for a deeper issue, I would really appreciate it if
    you would share activities that have been useful in helping teams understand the importance of working together.

    Kind regards,
    Heather Reid   





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  • 2.  Team Building - Shared Accountability

    Posted 02-27-2008 18:21
    I found this just yesterday in a search regarding collaboration -- it
    may be of some assistance --
    http://www.infopeople.org/training/past/2006/collaboration/

    RA Harris

    On Wed, Feb 27, 2008 at 4:38 PM, Heather Reid <heatherreid1022@aol.com> wrote:
    >
    > Dear Colleagues,
    >
    > I am helping a cross function team made up of a group of scientists,
    > engineers and MBA's. I am looking
    > for an exercise that may help them understand the idea of shared
    > accountability. They have struggled
    > with the idea of getting all of their oars moving in the same direction.
    > While I am sure this issues is hindered by the
    > reporting structure in the organization, I am only helping them with some
    > team building exercises at an off site and unable to
    > have other impact. Understanding that it may be a band-aid solution for a
    > deeper issue, I would really appreciate it if
    > you would share activities that have been useful in helping teams
    > understand the importance of working together.
    >
    > Kind regards,
    > Heather Reid
    >
    >
    >
    >
    >
    >
    > ________________________________
    > Supercharge your AIM. Get the AIM toolbar for your browser.



    --
    Robert Alan Harris
    robert.a.harris@gmail.com


  • 3.  Team Building - Shared Accountability

    Posted 02-28-2008 10:40
    Hi Heather: Tom Isgar wrote a book titled the Ten Minute Team. It is old, but the lessons are timeless. It provides a great foundation from which teams can thrive. Good luck.

    ***************
    JoDee Salisbury, Ph.D., SPHR
    System Director of Business Administration Programs
    Baker College
    34950 Little Mack
    Clinton Twp., MI 48035
    586.790.9458
    jodee.salisbury@baker.edu


    Many attempts to communicate are nullified by saying too much.
    --Robert Greenleaf, ATT



    ---- Original message ----
    >Date: Wed, 27 Feb 2008 16:38:59 -0500
    >From: Heather Reid <heatherreid1022@AOL.COM>
    >Subject: Re: Team Building - Shared Accountability
    >To: OB@AOMLISTS.pace.edu
    >
    > Dear Colleagues,
    >
    > I am helping a cross function team made up of a
    > group of scientists, engineers and MBA's. I am
    > looking
    > for an exercise that may help them understand the
    > idea of shared accountability. They have struggled
    > with the idea of getting all of their oars moving in
    > the same direction. While I am sure this issues is
    > hindered by the
    > reporting structure in the organization, I am only
    > helping them with some team building exercises at an
    > off site and unable to
    > have other impact. Understanding that it may be a
    > band-aid solution for a deeper issue, I would really
    > appreciate it if
    > you would share activities that have been useful in
    > helping teams understand the importance of working
    > together.
    >
    > Kind regards,
    > Heather Reid
    >
    > ------------------------------------------------
    >
    > Supercharge your AIM. Get the AIM toolbar for your
    > browser.


  • 4.  Team Building - Shared Accountability

    Posted 03-05-2008 14:10

    Heather,

     

    I assume that these individuals all work for the same organization.  If it is so, then I have used the "Look Out of the Window" exercise with groups such as this one.   I borrowed questions from Hamel and Prahalad's "Competing for the Future" (Harvard Business School Press, 1994).  These questions may need some adaptation depending on the business and the level of the individuals involved. Chapter One of this book offers a set of questions to "rate your company" (pages 2 & 3), which would allow them to look out of their own units and to concentrate their attention more on the whole organization.  Allow some time to discuss the company itself.  Then I would go to the second set of questions also borrowed from the same book (pages 16 & 17), to help them concentrate on the market the company serves today and tomorrow.  Again, allow some time for them to discuss, etc.  Then the final stage of my exercise is about the contribution they make today and what they would do tomorrow to help their own organization succeed.  How could these contributions be combined and in what way to help the company and themselves.  Benefits coming from this combined effort?  Each participant would address the question, Can you see the level and the extend of your responsibility for the outcome?  And then go from here.  Closing the deal might be to reach an agreement of some sort, check points along the way, etc., so that they see the importance of moving all in a harmonious way and in the same direction.  Of course, every time I have the opportunity to remind them about the relationship between company performance and their own professional careers –if the company does well, they more likely to do well too (or, at least, they will seen as associated with a successful org.)

     

    I don't know how much time you have to do what you need to do.  But this intervention requires a few sessions, and I think it is better to run them one right after the  other.

     

    Thanks,

     

    Ivan

     

     

     

     

    From: Organizational Behavior Division Listserv [mailto:OB@AOMLISTS.pace.edu] On Behalf Of Heather Reid
    Sent: Wednesday, February 27, 2008 3:39 PM
    To: OB@AOMLISTS.pace.edu
    Subject: Re: Team Building - Shared Accountability

     

    Dear Colleagues,

     

    I am helping a cross function team made up of a group of scientists, engineers and MBA's.  I am looking
    for an exercise that may help them understand the idea of shared accountability.  They have struggled
    with the idea of getting all of their oars moving in the same direction.  While I am sure this issues is hindered by the
    reporting structure in the organization, I am only helping them with some team building exercises at an off site and unable to
    have other impact.  Understanding that it may be a band-aid solution for a deeper issue, I would really appreciate it if
    you would share activities that have been useful in helping teams understand the importance of working together.

    Kind regards,
    Heather Reid   




    Supercharge your AIM. Get the AIM toolbar for your browser.