Running a great business takes great PPT. And even though I have worked in IT my entire career I know the order of importance is People, then Process, then Technology. People working together as a high-performing team is what brings IT all together in an effective way. Good Processes are next important since using technology to automate a bad process just gets to failure quicker. Technology is the means to accelerate the success enabled by the combination of great people and good processes. Today I am focusing on the most important ingredient, people.
High-performing teams are a group of people that have the skills, habits, and beliefs best suited for their individual roles on the team. The group first needs to get through the forming, storming, and norming stages before they reach the final performing stage. (Reference to stages of group development: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuckman%27s_stages_of_group_development#Performing). I have found that even my most “techie” high-performing teams have truly enjoyed and benefitted from team-building exercises that help each person find and share their strengths, and yes weaknesses. A good example was when my diverse team of Asian Indian, American, and European nationals spent two days in Lake Placid, NY where we used a gondola ride to the top of Whiteface Mountain for our work sessions to exemplify the height of success we envisioned as a team. I am still reminded by former colleagues of this and other team-building offsites we did together.
Reading a newsletter today triggered my interest in sharing what can be a great venue for doing team-building with your team. Revolution Rail uses decommissioned rail lines for fun exercise and sightseeing in the beautiful Adirondack Mountains in NY. From personal experience, I can attest that it is a real hoot! And great exercise to boot. This venue provides just what you need to get your team’s juices flowing, giving them the challenge to think of ideas that will remove roadblocks (there are none on railways!) and envision new ways of maximizing everyone’s talent and skills in a collaborative way. You can use the break period (~ 30 minutes) while the people turn your rail cars around to collect the ideas from your team.
Booking one of many great meeting venues in the North Creek, NY region either indoors or outside you can spend the rest of the day working through the ideas to formulate a plan of action to make the vision reality. If needed you can even engage an expert facilitator to help with the day’s agenda and team workshops. Go ahead and check out Revolution Rail for part of a great team-building day! Link: https://www.revrail.com/new-york-railbiking-rides/
TIMIT has no affiliation of any kind with Revolution Rail. But if you need some help with facilitation or anything on the software side of IT get in touch with us at: https://timitsolutions.com/contact-us/