Bike Brigade Team Building Sydney with the Team from University of South Australia

December 13, 2016

Building on our Strengths: Accountability, Responsibility and Ownership

What a fabulous half day working with Uni SA IT team. We kicked off the team building session with a robust discuss and break down of personal accountability, mutual responsibility and shared ownership.

I think in all organisations reliant on a team environment gaining clarity on what areas team members are solely accountable for and visiting the domain of team responsibilities can be highly insightful.

We view personally accountability as those areas a team member has the control levers for and clarify which decisions they are responsible for. This is the things most central to their role and for which their leader will hold them to. We also look at ‘above the line and below the line’ behaviours and shared examples which represent the 4 phase model: See it, Own it, Solve it and Do It.

Areas of mutual responsibility within a team are those one can influence. The group discussed areas that are impacted by their behaviour or decisions. These often include environment and team cultural dimensions. In these areas team members are responsible to give input and ensure alignment with their area of accountability.

The shared ownership is the team’s connection to the broader strategic plan of the organisation. This brings perspective to their role in relation to the bigger picture of being a part of an enterprising University.

Each team member completed their VIA character strengths online profile – this is always a self-insightful process. It is always enlightening to review the core strengths of the whole team in relation to the team function. Fairness, Honesty, Judgement and Perseverance were the most endorsed strengths. Fairness is crucial to ensure all customers they support are given a high level of support in a timely manner. ‘Honesty’ is wonderful in building a trusted relationship and both ‘Judgement’ and ‘Perseverance’ are crucial in being able to work through IT support solutions. ‘Humour’ and ‘Creativity’ were also high in the group which added to the spark in the session.

We finished with some productivity strategies which are always a welcome addition to a high performing team environment. The difference between Urgent vs Important was valuable in sight.

Thanks to James and the team for 100% contribution. It was a really enjoyable workshop and I hope to work with you again. I think ‘6 Hats to Collaborate and Think Big’ would be a fabulous follow on session.

Photos