Client scenario: A major pharmaceutical manufacturer came to us having undergone significant re-structuring . Specifically, thirty marketing and market research staff previously attached to specific product teams had been consolidated into a centralized marketing department. The company was interested in helping these people get to know one and other, and in building momentum around a cooperative approach to problem-solving. (People had previously operated in relative isolation; they would now have an opportunity to network and to leverage the diverse skills and experience of the group.)

Because the client had only one day of a three day conference to commit, we developed an eight hour program that could be delivered on-site at the hotel hosting the meeting.

Dividing participants into three breakout groups, we facilitated a series of team problem-solving initiatives which mirrored the company’s situation – each person in the group was given slightly different knowledge or resources to apply to a shared problem. In one exercise, for instance, each person was directed to an “education station” which demonstrated a technique for lifting a tin can. One person learned to cinch a rubber band around it and pull, while another was shown how to wedge a soda straw into the middle and lift. A third practiced “camming” a rubber ball against a funnel tied to a string. After five minutes of individual skill-building, participants came together to face their puzzle: stacking a set of five cylinders ranging in size from 55 gallons to one quart….without directly touching any of the cylinders, and without using the same technique twice.

After each exercise, participants were asked to review their approach to the problem. In particular, each group identified things they had done well, and things they desired to change. With this list in hand, each group had an opportunity to apply their learning to a second, more complex challenge. Afterwards? A second opportunity for “after action analysis,” and a revised list…followed by a third challenge, and a further revised list.

After four such exercises, each breakout group had what it was confident was a list of “best practices” for applying diverse strengths on a new team. At this point we brought the three breakout groups back together to compare and consolidate their lists….and to develop a concrete action plan for applying these same best practices to the new “real world” team they were in the process of forming.

Checking back after two months, the department reported that while some disagreements around the group’s direction had emerged, team members had nevertheless managed to close out three major projects in half the time allotted by applying the action plan from this day.