TEAM BUILDING
SECRETS OF MASTER
PROJECT LEADERS
C h r i s t o p h e r A v e r y , P h D

Think about it
As a leader…
Knowing how to get more done with others may be
your most important skill.
Do you have a proven and repeatable process for
building any team any time?
Do you lead in such a way that people want to share
responsibility with you to get the project done?
© 2015 Partnerwerks Inc. All Rights Reserved

Every day I see
smart, ambitious
—responsible—
professionals stuck
in lives and jobs they
don’t want and think
they can’t change.

Team Orientation
Process

CHRISTOPHER AVERY, PHD
The Responsibility Process guy

You are responsible for the quality
of your relationships at work.
(Yet most don’t realize this.)

Step 0. Take 100% Responsibility
Only one person can ensure you have a
great team experience.
Take Responsibility for:
• being on a great team
• deserving to be on a great team
• knowing how teams get built (and how
they don’t)

JUSTIFY
LAY BLAME
SHAME
RESPONSIBILITY
OBLIGATION
QUIT
DENIAL
Problem!

JUSTIFY
LAY BLAME
SHAME
RESPONSIBILITY
OBLIGATION
FEELING / TONE
“I am free (so are you)”
“I have to”
“I deserve this”
“It’s the circumstances”
“It’s them”

No Results
DOWNLOAD YOUR
POSTER TODAY
UNDERSTAND THIS
www.ChristopherAvery.com/poster

No Results
Unsatisfying Results
Results that Matter

WHY PRACTICE RESPONSIBILITY?
Be a better leader
Take charge of your life
Overcome problems
Pursue a greater
purpose
Generate more impact
Be more fulfilled
Be more authentic
Enjoy better relationships
Freedom, Choice, & Power

1. The TASK is the reason
Facilitate shared clarity about the team’s task,
purpose, or assignment:
• Ask the team’s sponsor what is wanted and
expected of the team
• Dialog with team members until they reach
complete shared clarity about what group
output (not individual output) is expected.

What must we do together that is
•bigger than any of us
•requires all of us, and
•none of us can claim individual victory with out it?
How? Discuss to shared clarity

Dynamics shift when in the same boat together
Geez…
Their side
is sinking

2. Surface Member MOTIVATION
Align individual and team outcomes:
• Ask each team member to clarify what is in it for
them (beyond a paycheck)
• Acknowledge that unique personal outcomes are
held by each team member
• Explore potential competing loyalties or
commitments between the role on this team and
other responsibilities
• Invite the group to commit to support each
member in getting their individual outcomes.

CONCERN: My investment won’t be matched.
TRUTH: Teams perform to the level of the least
invested co-worker
WHY?

What’s in it for you — beyond a paycheck —
to be on this team this time?
Probe a bit deeper for real energy/inspiration.
How? Discuss to shared clarity

3. Promote Team AGREEMENTS
Make and keep agreements:
• With the team, develop 5 to 9 behavioral
(i.e., observable) agreements team
members vow to abide by in dealings
with each other
• Consider meeting frequency, procedures,
and roles; workload distribution;
communication policy; problem solving
policy; conflict resolution policy; etc.

Tag Team Tic Tac Tow
This slide intentionally removed as
we do not share the instructions to
this game.
Tag Team Tic Tac Tow is Copyrighted
1995-2018 by Christopher Avery and
Partnerwerks. All rights reserved.
Please honor our intellectual
property. Challenge yourself to invent
your own game. You can!
Search for other “Prisoner’s
Dilemma” games where the game is
neither win/win nor win/lose until
the players play.

4. Clear and Elevating Goal
To craft a clear and elevating goal:
• Understand the TASK is what must be done;
the GOAL is what makes it worth doing
• Listen for the emergence of a stretch goal
that energizes the team to complete the task
AND delivers on each of the individual
outcomes
• Such a goal will often emerge from the
storming phase

5. Discover what PEOPLE bring
Inventory team members:
• Ask each team member to discuss
what they can bring to this team
in terms of skill, experience,
contacts, expertise, etc.
• Reinforce how each member’s
gifts can bring value

P a g e
Free exec
report
ChristopherAvery.com/flawless

The.LeadershipGift.com