I believe very strongly, passionately even, that to be truly effective and successful requires us to work better together. The increasing complexity of business life means that it is impossible for one person to have all the knowledge and experience necessary to make informed decisions in every circumstance.
Teamwork is essential but it is not something that happens automatically. The best teams work incredibly hard at being great as a team.
One of the fundamental things that underpin great teams is trust. Team members trust one another to do what needs to be done and let go of the fear-driven need to control others in the team. Individual strengths are used to maximum effect so that the whole is truly much greater than the sum of the parts.
Two years ago I was looking to develop my ability to lead collaboratively and through this build trust in teams. I had just stepped into a role that meant I needed to be much more effective in getting results through people working better together.
I found a two-day training course. Actually the description ‘training course’ really does not do it justice. It brought together my natural interest in people and how they think and behave with practical tools and techniques that really work.
It was great to spend time with other people in similar circumstances as me so that we could compare and learn from each other. We were able to practice and learn in a supportive space and have a lot of fun doing so!
Return on investment
It was a really valuable two days. The return on the investment in terms of my time and the cost continues to be massive. It brought to life in a very practical way what I believed was a better way to work.
My top three outcomes from the two days were:
- A range of tools, techniques and models that can be used in lots of different situations to support great work.
- A deeper understanding of how people work in a group situation.
- Confidence to work in a way that felt very natural to me.
It really did provide significant, positive and practical impact in how I developed the role I was in and enabled me to deliver much better outcomes that I would have done without the training.
Looking back it really was a pivotal two days for me as the event was the Meeting Magic Advanced Facilitation Training (AFT). I didn’t know then that within two years I would be part of the Meeting Magic team. But that is really not my reason for writing about the training I received. It had significant practical impact on how I work both now and before I joined the team.
So I guess it would be easy to dismiss this as ‘she would say that wouldn’t she’ but if you are in a role where helping people work together better really matters then two days could make a big difference to you too.
If you’d like to speak with Fiona Stratford, or any of our facilitation team, give us a call at +44 (0)1628 471114 or complete the contact form and tell us what you need to learn in order to advance your facilitation skills.