I would like to know if there is any documentation that shows the key things to do when desgining a workshop for team conflict and team consensus under time constraints.
I am not after outdoor team stuff, this would have to be done in a classroom, and would be a audience of sales people, or marketing, or finance.
Any pointers appreciated.
Pete King
4 Responses
Survival Exercises or Similar
Peter
I don’t have specific documentation on how to design for team conflict/ consensus ……
I have used exercises along the lines of what items will you take in a survival (ship wrecked, or desert wrecked) situation, where members work individually and then have to meet a group consensus… (see wilderdom.com for exercise sheets)…
I have also used ones where the team has to decide what order to rescue stranded people who are trapped in a cave – based soley on ages/ personality/ family etc. This tends to highlight the relative values that individuals place on women/ men or people with/without children etc – can really bring out some strong beliefs and values within the team.
these are suitable for use with all teams, it is all about the way that you debrief and bring the learning to relevance in the workplace that makes the difference between the way people value the exercises in the long run.
Managing Conflict documentation
Pete
We have various handouts on Managing Conflict & Conflict Resolution which we will happily email to you.
Email me on peter@mabon.co.uk & I will email these back to you.
Peter Mabon
Mabon Consultants
drawing out the rules
Not documentation but an idea. I find it has been very illuminating to everyone to uncover what are the written and unwritten rules/expectations/code of conduct that the team is operating as this is often where conflict arises. I divide the group into teams (either pre-planned or random), give them some sort of competitive exercise (short) and the only brief is to tell them what the end result needs to be and that the team completing first is the winner. This then brings out competitiveness, co-operation etc, and you can then draw out from the feedback how people work together , eg is the norm to compete or co-operate, or are different people working to different rules and assuming everyone is working to the same ones. How do new people coming in get to know these rules? Do they want to change any of them? etc – the possibilities are endless, but allow lots of time for discussion and action planning as a result and be prepared for fireworks!
Thanks
Just to say thnaks for the input, apologies for not replying sooner, but I have been working through an integrated model for pulling Business functions together. The issue of conflict and resolution put under a slightly different spotlight since I put up my original question, but once I start to beta test my own model, I may well contact directly as some of you have offered some ideas in your replies.
regards, Pete King
pdk.iako@btinternet.com