Teamwork and collaboration are greatly facilitated by team building processes. The Human Dimension provides workshops, meeting designs, and facilitation that enable teams to accelerate growth. We believe that two heads are indeed better than one, but only when there is an atmosphere of trust and mutuality, with systems that allow people to say what they really think and feel, and processes for decision making that take those thoughts and feelings into account. Team building and team training are two of our core competencies; we have been successfully helping teams improve for many years.

Team building and team training are not the same, though they often occur simultaneously. Team building focuses on improving the team's internal alignment, as well as its relations with individuals and teams outside their boundary. Team training focuses on helping a team's members develop the skills they need to improve their effectiveness. Team building helps a team get over barriers in its path; team training prevents the team from running into the same barriers in the future.

Team building always begins with gathering data about the present state of the team. We then design a team building session that includes exercises and activities that will help the team members to process the information, become more aware of their needs, and address their issues. Team building includes things like helping a team to:

• clarify their team vision
• clarify their values, mission and goals
• make sure the right people are on the team
• clarify team members' roles, responsibilities, and accountabilities
• improve the team's work processes
• clarify the team's strategies
• make sure the team has a good support system in the organization
• strengthen relationships with customers, suppliers, and others outside the teamTeam training usually includes improving team members' competencies in some or all of the following skills:
• communications (effective listening, giving and receiving feedback, and the like)
• making presentations
• group problem solving
• interpersonal competencies
• handling conflict
• creativity
• decision making
• quality control
• planning
• measuring performance
• meeting management and facilitation
• team leadership skills