“Mike is a great person, ally, and educator! His easy-going and humorous way of running our class was a great example of exactly what we came to learn: how to lead a high-performing team.”
Below are some of the kind comments and feedback from the High Performance Team Building Certificate Program, I taught through the University at Buffalo School of Social Work. Even though the class is over, if you are interested let us know…we can do the same class or something similar for your company and team.
Plus there are two more professional development classes starting in September of 2012; Mastering Organizational Complexity; Solution-Focused Leadership
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I received a Masters in Public Administration (MPA) in 2008 where I learned the theories on much of what was talked about in class. What I didn’t receive with my degree was a how-to, a process, a model for getting it done. During the class, I learned not only what was happening with my teams, but also how to handle it and why I needed to behave in this new way. It works!
As of this writing, I used a team document today to organized a team that will be working together mostly online – a real challenge.
I feel more confident working with the team; so far, the team has a better understanding of what is required from them; and, I’ve been able to have the time to do the important communication that saves further problems later on.
Thank you so much for doing such an amazing job.
I no longer need to learn how to put my use my MPA through trial and error.
David Monroe, Director of Community and Technology Development
Community Connections of New York
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The High Performance Teambuilding Certificate class, improved and expanded my definition of team at work.
I never looked at various committees I’m on or parts of my job that are project oriented as teams. I was part of an intact team for years and one of the things I struggled with professionally when I transitioned into an area of administration that relied on assistance from many programs and departments with no managerial authority was how to communicate and bring these people and departments together. I’m not there yet, but this class helped me define parts of my job as being project oriented and then label the members of that project team and the responsibilities they have. From there I am now able to better determine how we are performing and identify solutions to problem areas.
I used the Team Performance Model to identify where a project team of mine is. This helped me identify some unresolved issues. I met with her, with this in mind, and that conversation allowed us to progress from the uncertainty to clear agreed upon decisions and commitment within a 15 minute conversation, which is pretty impressive considering where we were 2 months ago.
Niel Siefert, Performance and Quality Improvement Director
| New Directions for Youth and Family Services | |
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What new ideas and knowledge did you gain from the class?
The homework really made me work, I couldn’t fake my way through the projects. And having to read others work and comment on it make the training more useful, and I was able to learn alot more.
What effect did this class have on the team you work with and you, as a team-member?
Giving me parameters within which to work on my team was the most helpful. I follow the steps and models that we reviewed, and some of it has already become a habit.
Any tangible results?
Following the models I was given will be most helpful, because it is a consistent structure that we are going to be working from. There already has been less defensiveness because I’ve been using it.
Overall what value did you get from the class?
I always thought I was a fabulous team player, but always wondered why my team struggled so much. Since taking this program, I’ve learned there are so many things I could have been doing to help my team work better together. And since applying some of the concepts from this class, there has already been improvement.
Thanks Mike!
Missy Eloff, Training Coordinator
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The team model that was taught in this class allowed me to see how my team, although many were together for a long time was stuck in the orientation phase due to new additions and staff burnout.
This class allowed me to see multiple layers the team was stuck in and how to move that barrier to have a high efficiency team.
In a matter of two to three short weeks after this realization my team has already made progress in collaborating and efficiency.
Michelle Federowicz, Director of Foster Care and Permanency Services
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Other feedback about the class:
“I have seen constructive change occur in the projects I am working on in a team. I look forward to working with new teams effectively and constructively.”
“I think the best component of the class was group discussion and the group site. Being able to share our accomplishments and struggles with a group of like-minded individuals made the class worthwhile by itself. Sometimes it was nice to know I am not alone in my frustration, other times it was helpful to know things can be better elsewhere. I often brought the things I learned back to the team members who feel as I do, and hopefully it helped them also.”
“Mike is a great person, ally, and educator! His easy-going and humorous way of running our class was a great example of exactly what we came to learn: how to lead a high-performing team.”