What? So what? Now what of corporate team building Mike Cardus

Corporate team building works when the team learns and changes how the work gets done.

What?

You had a beautiful day team building!

So what?

Through the corporate team-building activities and discussions, each person connected the learning to applications within their team and leadership.

Now what?

We are back at the office; how can we make a difference in how our teams work?

Moving through the what, so what, now what process occurs with every team building day, the connections and learning from the day lose focus when people return to work and day-to-day tasks.


The ‘Now what?’ of Corporate team building

Below are the suggestions that I shared with a recent client.

At the end of our day, during the processing and implementation period, we asked each person to respond on flipchart paper to:

  1. What did you find useful about today?
  2. What is 1 small change you will make in your work tomorrow morning?
  3. How will others notice this change?

I typed and sent the responses. The client and I had a conference call with the management team. In that conversation, they created 3 committee teams to take continued voluntary action.

From the notes and our conversation three committees were established:
  1. Communication – within and between offices
  2. Innovation – and sharing what works
  3. Teamwork – within and between offices

From those areas, people will volunteer to be involved with the committee of their choosing:

  1. The committee members took some time and worked through the ‘Distinctive, Working Well, 100 Days Better‘ document
  2. From the 100 days better column the committee identified 2 to 5 areas of focus
  3. They completed the ‘Short-term action planning document.’
  4. They created an agreement to do something within the next 100 days within each area of Communication, Innovation, Teamwork

Everyone meets again in about 100 days.

  1. Each committee shares what was accomplished and what feedback was received
  2. They determine what they want to continue or stop doing.

Repeat the above as necessary.


The above team building process accomplishes:
  1. Recognition and how to increase what’s working
  2. Recognition and how to decrease what’s not working
  3. A person-centered team building and change process. Using the team members as experts to improve their work
  4. Short feedback on what is working and not working, in 100 days, people can determine what to increase and decrease
  5. A team learning together while doing real work is the best type of team building