MPL Partners, LLC uses The Stellar Team Development Program and Team Diagnostic Tool, an innovative approach to assessment and intervention for team performance. Unlike other assessments, the Team Diagnostic views teams not as a collection of individuals but as a self-organizing system of relationships and interacting influences, all of which affect the performance and satisfaction of individuals and of the system as a whole. It provides a deeper and more accurate view of the team as a system, and provides a powerful structure for coaching the team to optimal productivity and effectiveness. By focusing on creating a high-functioning system, every team member is empowered to perform at his or her individual best.

The Stellar Team Development Program and Team Diagnostic Tool is a unique model specific to team effectiveness, measuring 14 success factors related to both positivity and productivity. The focus is on the team as a whole, not the individual members of the team. The Team Diagnostic Tool is customizable to meet specific team requirements. It yields a powerful mapping process to identify team development next steps with strong accountability for team members. The Tool provides an accurate way to benchmark and measure success over time.

Team Learning Workshops provide the participants with the conceptual framework and foundational competencies for understanding the dynamics of a team as a system. The workshops include working with the Team Diagnostic Assessment and Profile, and Team Skills training as necessary for on-going team development. The workshop is interactive and experiential; participants leave with new awareness, tools and skills they can apply right away.

Outcomes

Using the Team Diagnostic Tool and Team Coaching, the Team Can:

• Measure results with a customized report for the team based on the team's assessment
• Create strong levels of trust, respect, and camaraderie by creating processes and practices in communications and feedback;
• Engage with conflict creatively;
• Foster innovation;
• Navigate change with agility;
• Develop strategies and structures that leverage team strengths; and
• Keep team members consciously engaged with and enthusiastic about the team goals.

The Process

Team members are identified and complete on-line assessment designed to effectively capture results while minimizing team members' time. All responses are completely anonymous. In order to present the results at the workshop all responses must be received no later than 14 days prior to the date of the workshop.

Once the results are published, the team meets with a certified professional coach to ensure deep learning. A 4-hour meeting to review results and set next steps in team development is scheduled. The workshop is experiential in nature and focuses on three main areas:

• Presentation and analysis of the Team Diagnostic assessment;
• Experiential learning to connect the results of the assessment with the real-time needs of the team; and
• Creation of Action Plan with clear steps for team development.

Ongoing work with the coach provides sustained success. The coach will meet with the team via 90-minute conference call six weeks after the workshop. The call is designed to follow up on accountabilities generated at the workshop as well as to provide further learning for the team. Additional follow up - which could include further workshops, group coaching, executive coaching, completion of a second assessment to benchmark results - will be decided according to the needs of the team.

The Bottom Line

Research shows that over the long term, the best performing teams show high scores in both productivity and positivity. It has been demonstrated that increased positivity means improved productivity. No team can sustain high productivity in the presence of low positivity.