solutions

Team Building and Group Dynamics

F
BY ELI BECKER orty exceptional employees, six short months, and the responsibility
to one reputable Fortune 100 company: That is what Darci Kleindl was
Creating and fostering a handed when she accepted a job as the general manager of sales excel-
culture of teamwork requires lence and sales enablement for the Microsoft Business Solutions (MBS) group.
She inherited a global team of customer support managers, all of whom work
trust, collaboration, and with diverse clientele, including engineers, marketing organizations, consul-
accountability. tants, and external customers. She also manages a team of leaders who drive
worldwide standards for sales basics, internal and external readiness, and the
business rhythm and communications to accelerate the MBS group.
To add to the chaos, this group, which had operated autonomously within
Microsoft, faced a large organizational shift when she started: “Our enterprise
and small business teams integrated our CRM solutions into the overall business
strategy and execution. It took our work from a priority state of 4 to 9 over-
night,” she says.
As daunting as her situation seemed, Kleindl wasn’t new to managing dynamic
groups or governing complex situations. Her career often has included strat-
egizing on the higher executive level. This time, however, would be different.
She planned to implement a comprehensive leadership and team development
THE COMPANY: Microsoft program that would transform her work culture and provide a foundational
www.microsoft.com/en-us/dynamics structure for her team.

Strategizing for success

Kleindl was resolute in making a lasting impact. “What happens so often is
people do a one-time hit when it comes to team and leadership development.
People are put in one class and we expect it to change their world overnight,”
THE SUPPLIER: Wiley she explains.
www.fivebehaviors.com Her vision involved stabilizing a culture of trust, collaboration, and account-
ability—one that would resonate beyond just her direct reports. To do this, she
sought the help of a trusted advisor—Bruce Leamon, an authorized partner of
The Five Behaviors of a Cohesive Team—who jumped at the opportunity.
“Darci understands that you can have great products, you can have phe-
nomenal software, you can have the smartest people, but if they’re not playing
together, it’s never going to get you ahead,” Leamon says. “I recommended that
she use The Five Behaviors; it’s the operating system for teamwork. Once that’s
established you have a framework to build from.”
The Five Behaviors of a Cohesive Team is a comprehensive team development
program based on the work of Patrick Lencioni. It helps both team members and
leaders understand how their unique group dynamic can work together to build
a more effective team and achieve sustainable results.

100 TD | April 2015 PHOTO: THINKSTOCK

 The facilitated sessions help teams their team’s core values and their vision
to comprehend where they fall within for themselves and the company.
five distinct pillars of teamwork: trust, “It allowed us to understand who
conflict, commitment, accountabil- people are. Combined with informa-
ity, and results. It uses the Everything tion from DiSC, we could establish a
DiSC behavioral assessment to es- common language and move swiftly
tablish a neutral language and help through the rest of the program,”
participants have productive conver- Leamon says.
sations to develop within these five
competency areas. The impact
With The Five Behaviors as the The Organizational Capital Program is
foundation, Kleindl and Leamon built on the lessons learned from that
quickly developed the Organizational initial The Five Behaviors session. The
Capital Program. The six-month impact seen within the MBS group has
program establishes a common lan- been multifaceted, explains Kleindl. “I
guage for the team to communicate, think this team has increased in vis-
standardize expectations to improve ibility substantially as far as what they
accountability, strengthen leadership do and the impact. Our relationship
abilities, and create an emotionally network has grown, systems have been
intelligent culture. put in place to help with productivity,
“I wanted to give my colleagues an our planning is more succinct, and the
end-to-end picture of who they are, team is connecting more one-on-one
from their own understanding as well with people to explain their roles.”
as from other people’s perspective—to In terms of accountability, there
learn that maybe you have a domi- was a notable shift. “They’ve come
nant personality style and be able to to understand that they don’t always
understand how that relates to your have to say ‘yes.’ ... They trust each
emotional intelligence or to your lead- other and understand how to have
ership skills,” Kleindl explains. healthy conflict when situations are
off-loaded to us that really should
The team training session not be our job in the first place. We’re
Thirty-six tentative colleagues par- clear on what we’re accountable for.”
ticipated in the two-day, off-site The Five Behaviors is a reliable tool
training session. Leamon started by that helped lay the foundation for fur-
establishing conversation based on ther development. But a large reason
vulnerability-based trust. why it was successful was because
Before they could get into discus- people felt heard.
sions on dealing with conflict, their “I got emails from people saying,
collective idea of commitment, or hold- ‘No one has ever invested in me in
ing one another accountable, the team this way. It’s fantastic!’” That sort of
needed to trust that what they were investment in individuals served well
saying would be respected and heard. for Kleindl, her team, and also the
They shared personal backgrounds to network beyond her team. The MBS
learn about one another’s perspectives group now has a reputation for sus-
and how they might relate to their col- taining an enviable culture of trust,
leagues in ways beyond work. They collaboration, and accountability.
spoke candidly on what makes them
comfortable and uncomfortable in a Eli Becker is a member of the Wiley brand
work environment. They discussed team; [email protected].

April 2015 | TD 101

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