A team development process should be aimed at simultaneously 1) strengthening the team’s individual and collective skillset in relation to the requirements of their specific mission and 2) boosting the team members’ adhesion to the values of their activity unit and/or project.
TOOLS
Although “team building sessions” tend nowadays to be limited to board games-like group animations, the evolution of personal skills testing and HR surveys allows for the implementation of well-targeted employee selection and development processes.
Personal skills assessment tests indeed allow for an assessment of the behavioral skills (or “soft skills”) required in order to fulfil a specific mission in an efficient and quality-oriented manner. When supported by well-targeted employee surveys, such tools allow for the identifiaction of precise development priorities relating to key areas of corporate management, such as:
- the management of internal and external relationships (customers and suppliers)
- the team’s results-orientation
- the organization of key processes and activity areas
- the level of autonomy granted to each team member
- the expected management style and level of delegation
- the expected communication style
- attention to employee health and well-being
- …
PRACTICE
The Management by Coaching (MPC™) approach provides an assessment-based approach to designing a well-structured competency development project:
1. Conduct of an assessment of each team member’s strengths and weaknesses in relation to their activity sector / project:
- Assessment of the team members’ technical and behavioral (i.e. soft) skills (sample) in relation to the demands of their respective missions.
- Assessment of the team members’ positioning towards the mission / project: adhesion to the mission / activity sector / project’s values, quality of relationships among team members as well as between the team and the management, satisfaction with the organization of the workplace, availability of required resources, etc.
2. Outline a development plan for both individual and collective competencies (sample) in order to fill in the gaps observed within a realistic timeframe.
3. Design of a mutual coaching system among team members, in order to foster group cohesion and consensus with regards to how the common mission will be achieved.
4. Design of a management scoreboard (sample) in order to monitor the progress made with respect to the project’s goals.
SAMPLE
Here is a competency development project (sample) designed for the team in charge of the implementation of a Finance Department’s IT projects.
