Making High Performance Teams High Performing Teams

1. How to Begin to get your Team
Members to Develop Genuine
Trust in each other and
Demonstrate TRUE teamwork!
The Power of Storytelling and how to use this concept to Tap into
your Team’s Full Potential
CHERISH CONFLICT
Everybody runs from conflict. It makes us feel bad, so we avoid it.
Hope it will somehow resolve itself. It never does. Instead it just
festers like a bad wound (what we resist really does persist).
Here’s my take on conflict: Conflict is nothing more than an
opportunity for greater growth and a deeper personal connection.
“Businesses Every conflict carries within it a chance for you to learn a powerful
lesson to grow as a human being (in your understanding and
spend too much awareness and perspective).; and every conflict, whether with a loved
one, a customer, or amongst team members is a gorgeous opportunity
time speaking to forge an even closer bond with them by turning their dissatisfaction
at the into a wow for all of you.
boundaries of So don’t run from conflict.
truth, when
Don’t send the email when you know you need to speak some truth
they should face to face.
aspire to stay Leadership is about balancing compassion with courage. And though it
at the heart of can feel so messy, in truth it’s a gift.
authenticity” – Embrace it.
Storytelling expert
– Stephen Denning Relish the potential it carries.
Celebrate it.
It can serve you so well
Adapted from Robin Sharma’s Your Greatness Guide – Book 2

2. Great Stories Work in all Storytelling in Action…
Shapes & Sizes… As told by Jane Fulton Suri – IDEO’s thought
leader in human factors discipline
Storytelling just happens to be a
“A few years ago, we worked on a
7 Reasons to Tell fundamentally human way of
project for a hospital. We kicked
conveying information.
Stories things off with a meeting of about
There’s good reason why folklore twenty nurses, administrators and
and religious stories endure. doctors. That first session of a
1. Builds Credibility Transformation program is typically
Storytelling is part of the fabric of filled with a healthy mix of
2. Unleashes powerful humanity. scepticism and anticipation among
emotions and helps teams the assembled participants. Start
bond When you begin to truly respect out on the wrong foot and the
3. Gives “permission” to storytelling you will acknowledge whole project can suffer. But this
explore controversial or that you’re engaged in a human particular day, the power of
uncomfortable topics enterprise. You will elevate your storytelling helped the team bond
4. Sways a group’s point of work and begin to create a common and reinforced the significance of
language and a more closely knit, our goal.”
view
effective team.
5. Creates heroes [In preparation for that kickoff meeting,
6. Gives you a vocabulary of Jane had asked each member of the
Think Fortune Cookie…
change group to do a little personal homework:
7. Helps make order out of The power of storytelling is what recalling a really bad or good health
chaos drives the sales of millions of care experience they had witnessed first
fortune cookies each year. hand. Something PERSONAL.]
Otherwise it would be hard to
understand the runaway success of “Within minutes of going around the
fortune cookies. room, people were laughing AND
crying. One nurse recounted an
intense day when a dying man asked
her to call his wife, but in spite of all
her efforts, the nurse couldn’t
locate her. She was frantic. The
patient was slipping away. She had
to find his wife. The man grabbed
her arm. “It’s OK,” he told her. “Now
we’ve got something to do together.
You’re going to teach me about
Let’s face it – they are not on any dying,” he said, “and I’m going to
food critic’s list of “top ten taste teach you about living.” The wife
treats!" never arrived, and the nurse realize
that some part of her role that day

3. wasn’t just about trying to save this Sways a group’s point of view…
man Instead, she could offer a
priceless gift, letting him share his A compelling story can serve as a
last moments on earth with another parable that helps shape a group’s
perspective. Most great leaders have
human being.
used storytelling as a part of their
As the nurse finished her story, strategy for success.
There’s there wasn’t a dry eye in the room.
Creates Heroes…
nothing like Many of these people hadn’t known
one another before that morning. Sometimes you can combine elements
stories to But the stories brought them of real people and as in the movies,
together and infused the project create a composite embodying most of
connect you with passion and insight.” the group’s ideals into one fictional
character. This character gives us a
with a THE STEPS hero…someone to emulate.
subject, to Builds Credibility…
Gives You a Vocabulary for
Change…
pull a team Passion and fresh perspective demand
respect. You may know a bit about a lot Malcolm Gladwell popularized the
together to of things but the Storyteller with an phrase “tipping point” in the late 1990s,
intriguing first person narrative is the
work on human world expert on their own experiences.
and Geoffrey Moore got businesspeople
talking about “crossing the chasm.”
issues in a Unleashes powerful emotions…
Some of a business’s language is self-
explanatory, while other expressions
human way Captivating stories trigger emotional
are a bit obscure, but the words in our
stories reinforce the concepts and
responses that frequently spark accelerate the diffusion of innovation.
valuable insights. Even executives fond Language is crystallization of thought,
of a left-brain, analytical approach can so the stories matter as do the words.
get pretty fired up about a story that
cuts to the essential human questions. Helps make order out of chaos…
Gives ‘permission’ to explore We have too many items on our to-do
controversial topics… list, too many voice-mail messages, and
too many unread emails. Good
Storytelling can act as a kind of Trojan storytelling cuts through the clutter.
horse, getting past our initially
defensive reactions of doubt or Think back a few years: Most likely you
skepticism, enabling us to have an open will have trouble remembering a
discussion about a relevant idea specific email or phone conversation. I
bet you can remember a good story told
to you by your parents or by your first
boss or your best friend.

4. Telling stories is one of the ways people sometimes forget that they
you begin building relationships have this inner source of wisdom
and insight.
– whether it’s in life or business.
In a perfect world it would be A process that allows you to tap
great if we had the luxury of into your team’s intuition and
time always on our side to work self awareness…
Almost any through problems and come up
with solutions, regardless of The Frameworks® Coaching Process
successful how long it took. provides a creative forum for teams
to take a closer look at current
athlete will However…we live in a time of challenges, generate solutions for
unprecendented change. In order implementing constructive change,
tell you that to navigate rapid change and explore new ways of moving
successfully, we need to shift forward.
the mental focus from the difficulties
generated by change to the The power of the Frameworks for
side of their solutions we are able to quickly Change® approach lies in having
competitive create, and implement which
may sometimes lead us in an
individuals and teams through
introspection surface knowledge of
spirit looms entirely new direction and if not
managed effectively – can
self pinpoint factors that are
undermining organization efforts
large, CREATE CHAOS! and draining resources and
empower themselves through the
especially management of newly acquired self
knowledge
when fatigue Question: The process rapidly identifies
and What do you do when change
needs to be effected quickly
cognitive, behavioural, or attitudinal
factors that are promoting or
frustration and team collaboration (from
an uncooperative team) is
impeding team progress. The
method encourages individuals to
set in. required to brainstorm
solutions urgently?
communicate clearly and directly,
practice active listening skills, and
What negative Short Answer:
develop tolerance, respect, and
empathy for one another. It
behaviour You harness the power of your reinforces important personal
team’s intuition. values and encourages teams to
patterns or model them in their workplace.
views hold you What’s in it for you?
Intuition is everyone's natural
back? gift … Immediately gain insight, and be
encouraged to make decisions in
In a culture that stresses the harmony with your values and
importance of analytical thinking, integrity.

5. Then develop an action plan to What you can expect…
improve your team’s effectiveness, Expect and be prepared for this process
productivity, and satisfaction. to completely take over your life. You
will be given, and learn to work with,
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Process the solution for your And you will find your life will alter
Judy Joseph McSween team? beyond measure.
CEO/Principal Consultant Have you ever been part of a team Next Steps…
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Do not request more
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