Team development (Organization development)
At UVic we all strive to make the organization a better place to work. Team development activities can help teams become aware of areas of their strengths, effective communication skills, goal setting, constructive decision making and conditions that keep them from functioning well together.
Through activities, dialogues and processes, leaders of teams can support their people in being part of an exemplary team that has enhanced efficiency, productivity, service quality and quality of work life.
Team development is a specialty supported by Human Resources as Organization Development (OD). As part of OD practice, we identify and uplift an organization’s culture so that people are better able to align with the organizational values to achieve a shared vision and mission.
Our organization development consultant, together with human resources consultants and other partners, leaders and teams, engages people in exploring:
- change and transformation
- strategic planning
- values-based goal setting
- interpersonal skills and team communication enhancement
- group facilitation for dialogue and decision making
- individual performance development coaching
- leadership development
- team development and engagement
- business process mapping
For team development, we use inclusive techniques to enable people to work through their organizational issues with the OD and HR consultant pair. Three fundamental principles of this work are:
- exploration to act on valid information,
- free and informed choice, and
- internal commitment to the full process.
Building effective workgroups or teams
Do you need support for building effective team work? The Highly Effective Teams Model by Beckhard and Burke provides a framework for guiding new and existing and/or changing teams to develop in five areas.
- Purpose: Exploring and declaring the teams’ shared values and reason for being.
- Goals: What the team aspires to achieve.
- Roles/responsibilities: The part each member plays in achieving the team goals.
- Procedures/processes: The methods that help the team conduct its work together.
- Relationships: How the team members create self-awareness and interpersonal awareness with each other.
Our OD consultant can help determine which areas would be most helpful to focus on, help you design the process and facilitate your workshop.
Resources
Change and transition tools
The following resources and workbooks can support you during times of change and transition:
When to seek organization development (OD) consultant services
Team development services can improve engagement, aid with retention and create a positive and healthy work environment. Our OD services include:
- proactive future planning sessions for co-creating vision, values and goals
- facilitating large system-oriented events/retreats
- leadership support through change
- integrating and developing new teams/team members
- fostering learning and development of new skills among employees
- leadership coaching
- facilitative leadership of team development sessions
Contacts
The Organization Development Consultant can be called in to help you deal with issues when there are "grey areas" on how to handle something—when it's about relationships, about working together or about building a better workplace.
Please note: your assigned human resources consultant can also help you determine if you would benefit from organization development (OD) services.