Overview

Over the 35+ years that On The Edge has worked with leaders, teams, and organizations worldwide, we have built a reputation for leading highly impactful 'ropes' courses, also known as the Team Challenge Course. 

The Team Challenge Course consists of a series of Low and High Events (read on to see what we mean!). These events challenge participants with varying levels of difficulty, confronting many with challenging situations. As such, the Team Challenge Course offers participants the chance to step out of their comfort zones and "go for it" in an experiential, action-oriented way.

Team Building Events

Introductory Team Building Events safely and effectively impart key team and leadership concepts. On The Edge recommends these events for leaders, teams, and organizations curious about how guided activities can impact their cultural dynamics and overall teamwork.

We often use the following activities with new clients because they offer the right level of challenge while delivering key learnings. In other words, you could view these Team Building Events as simulated problem-solving activities. We can conduct these events anywhere with teams of all sizes and they will still communicate key points effectively.

Skyscraper

The Skyscraper activity emphasizes trust, strategy, planning, and playing to win as key learning opportunities. Teams must build the tallest possible "skyscraper" using provided materials within a limited timeframe. We plant an unknown saboteur in each team, and the group must effectively handle this challenge to succeed. 

Electric Wires

The Electric Wires is a fun event that demands innovation, communication, and collaboration among all team members. The team must collaborate to solve the challenge of helping each member navigate through two parallel ropes suspended four and six feet off the ground without touching the "electric wires".

Electric Maze

The Electric Maze highlights the importance of breaking out of old paradigms and fostering an environment that encourages innovation, strategic planning, and communication. In this event, the team must guide all members through the Electric Maze within a set time limit. 

The event occurs on a large battery-powered carpet covered with a grid of squares. Each square either beeps or remains silent based on a preset path unknown to the team. 

The team must quickly find a path across the Electric Maze that does not trigger beeps. Simultaneously, another team on the opposite side of the maze attempts to navigate their way across. This situation emphasizes the risks of adversarial approaches and the benefits of collaborating with other teams to achieve a shared goal. Ultimately, both teams need to cooperate to discover a path that connects both sides through the Electric Maze.

Group Juggle

The Group Juggle event demonstrates the importance of thinking outside the box when a new paradigm shifts the game for an organization or an industry. This event demands innovation and creativity in problem-solving. 

Teams form a circle and sequentially toss numbered tennis balls in a pattern across the circle. They face the challenge of completing the pattern more quickly within given parameters. As the activity progresses, the paradigm shifts multiple times, requiring the team to adapt and succeed in a constantly changing context.

Blindfolded Team Square

The Blindfolded Team Square activity emphasizes the importance of aligning on a clear vision, common strategy, or strategic plan for a team. It also highlights the necessity of clarity in communication during strategic planning. The team faces the challenge of forming a perfect square using a piece of rope while all team members wear blindfolds. Although it appears simple, completing the Blindfolded Team Square successfully demands leadership and innovation.

Low Events

Low Events simulate various team and business challenges, putting participants in the necessary headspace to tackle the more challenging High Events. These Low Events build the team's trust and confidence, creating a foundation of support.

Although these activities generally involve lower stakes, they still demand focus and communication to ensure a positive experience for everyone and to integrate support and trust into the team dynamic. On the other hand, as the perceived risk and challenge of the events increase, so does the potential impact.

The Trust Fall

We have discovered that a high level of trust and support is a critical element of any high-performing team. The Trust Fall, a simple but effective event, imparts the importance of trust, focus, and support within a team. In this event, participants climb the rungs of a ladder until they are about 6 feet off the ground. Then, with their backs turned to their team, they let go of the ladder and "freefall," only to be caught by the extended arms of their supportive teammates. The team then safely lowers them to the ground, where we celebrate their trust and commitment to the team.

Many teams will discuss trust hypothetically all day. However, the concept becomes very real when a participant stands at the top of the Trust Fall ladder, attempting to let go and fall back into their teammates' arms. For teams with existing trust issues, this event can lead to major breakthroughs in trust and support.

The Retrieval

The Retrieval is a problem-solving event that demands a high level of strategic thinking, communication, leadership, and teamwork. This inclusive event challenges a team to use all the strengths and talents of their members to complete an urgent mission. To retrieve an item from a pit of “toxic lava,” the team employs critical thinking and real-time collaboration to overcome unprecedented obstacles and unify to achieve their goal before time runs out.

The X-Rope

The X-Rope requires communication, collaboration, and true partnership between team members. Two team members must actively help each other to simultaneously cross from one side of the X-rope to the other. To accomplish this task, they need to listen actively and think collaboratively. In other words, the team members must partner together and assist each other in addressing the challenge at hand.

The Spider Web

The Spider Web is a problem-solving activity that demands high levels of communication, collaboration, leadership, and team support. The team must leverage the strengths and talents of every member to safely cross from one side of the Spider Web to the other without any team member touching the web structure. If a team member touches the web while crossing, they must return to the starting side, and the opening they used to cross becomes inactive.

Each time a team member successfully passes through an opening in the Spider Web, that opening can no longer be used by others to cross to the other side. Therefore, it becomes critical to strategize which team members will pass through each opening, knowing that the number of available openings will diminish. As the openings narrow down, employing strategy and smart utilization of resources becomes critical for the team to successfully achieve their goal. 

High Events

As the name suggests, On The Edge’s High Events generally occur high above the ground. A belay team and an On The Edge facilitator ensure participants' safety by holding their safety lines throughout the events. All High Events require full-body harnesses, helmets, double safety ropes, and multiple redundant safety systems to guarantee that participants remain 100% safe during the entire the event.

Even though participants are 100% safe and supported during the High Events, those with a fear of heights or a resistance to physical risk-taking may find these challenges fairly difficult and often need ample team support and encouragement to overcome their mental barriers. However, we find that the intense nature of the High Events offers substantial opportunities for breakthrough and transformation. 

Although these events might seem physically demanding, they occur in a safe, supportive environment where anyone, regardless of fitness level, can successfully complete the challenge. Often, participants surprise themselves by successfully completing these events, regardless of athletic ability or strength. Moreover, participants who embrace these challenges and push beyond their perceived limits gain newfound confidence and a sense of accomplishment.

Each event engages the entire team, focusing all attention on the participant(s) as they actively navigate the event. When participants are safely brought back to the ground, it is heartening to witness the team cheer and celebrate their success in the event. We have observed how High Events transform teams and create lasting breakthroughs for individuals. 

Zipline

In the Zipline event, participants walk to the edge of a cliff or platform and attach themselves to two pulleys located above their head. They then jump off the cliff or platform, sliding down two cables to the landing below. This event is very exhilarating and vividly illustrates the concept of really "going for it" in life.

The Pole

Participants climb a 30-foot pole (yikes, that’s three stories high!) and try to stand on top of a small platform the size of a dinner plate. With the team’s coaching and cheering encouraging them, they manage to take the final step and stand atop the pole. Once standing, the participant turns 180 degrees to face a suspended trapeze. The participant then leaps out and tries to grab the trapeze, symbolizing the commitment needed to overcome the challenges and barriers to success in their life. Regardless of whether they grab the bar, the belayer team instantly catches the participant with supported safety lines and slowly lowers them to the ground.

The High Vs

The High Vs event explores the challenges of commitment, trust, and effective communication in a relationship or partnership. Geared in full-body harnesses and secured to two safety lines, participants climb 30 feet up a tree with a partner. The pair then stands on two separate cables (forming a "V") and holds onto each other for balance. They move away from the tree, walking along the cables which increasingly diverge. This separation forces the partners to rely more on each other and commit to the partnership. Eventually, the participants get too far apart and fall, but their safety lines catch them and they are slowly lowered to the ground. Once on the ground, the whole team comes up to celebrate the success of their team members.

The Wall

The Wall event allows the team to experience the true power and potential of alignment, commitment, utilization of resources, and synergy. The team must collaborate to lift all their members up and over a 14-foot tall wall. This challenge requires teams to deploy all their resources, strategies, and strength to ensure everyone gets over the top and leaves no one behind. The inspiration and celebration that occur when the team successfully completes this event are magnificent.

Climbing Tower

The Climbing Tower event highlights the crucial role of teamwork in action. Three climbers, connected by a three-foot tether, attempt to climb a wall using simulated rock climbing handholds. Their task is to carry an open cup of water (the product) up the wall and deliver it to the bucket at the top (the customer’s loading dock) without spilling any water (to avoid quality defects). 

To increase the challenge (and realism), one climber in the trio wears a blindfold. This obstacle represents employees in the workplace who lack information, are unaware of ongoing processes, or are metaphorically left in the dark. For success, the trio must support each other in climbing and transporting the “product,” while the rest of their team on the ground assists by coaching the participants, particularly the blindfolded teammate, to use the most efficient route to the top. This event underscores the importance of helping each other reach the top and achieve collective success.

The Edge

Participants embark on a brief "vision quest" walk in silence to the top of a cliff overlooking a scenic vista. After arriving, they strap into two safety lines and walk to the edge of the cliff, supported and coached by an On The Edge facilitator. The facilitator guides them as they lean out over the edge, up to 45 degrees. As participants challenge themselves to lean further out, they experience the barriers that keep them from being on their "edge" and confront the fears that hold them back in life and work. Afterwards, they sit alone and journal about the personal insights gained from this event.

Impact of the Team Challenge Course

Although these events – both high and low – may sound scary or challenging for many, On The Edge has discovered that learning by doing and proactively confronting fears can lead to significant breakthroughs and confidence building. In a classroom setting, we introduce many concepts around good leadership, supporting each other, and “going for it” in all areas of life. These learnings become significantly more tangible and impactful when participants experience these concepts through the powerful setting of the Team Challenge Course.

When facing significant obstacles in their lives, many past participants of the Team Challenge Course reflect on key experiences and successes from the high events (such as standing on top of the Pole, leaning out over the Edge, and trusting their partner on the High V’s). Reflecting on these experiences gives them the courage to “go for it” in their work life, leading to further breakthroughs, growth, and success long after the Team Challenge Course has concluded.

Introduction

In the rugged landscape of the Southwest United States there is a picturesque small town renowned for its vibrant arts scene, cultural heritage, and natural beauty. Even though this town is known for being an amazing place to visit for tourists and providing a great quality of life for all its community members, the community faced a key challenge: lack of cohesive direction due to frequent shifts in local leadership and conflicting visions (and values) for the town’s future.

Recognizing the need for change, this small town’s leadership engaged the expertise of Phil Bryson, founder and CEO of On The Edge, to guide their Leadership Team in developing a Strategic Plan. In this case the goal was clear: to unite the Mayor, Town Councilors, Town Manager, Leadership Team, and other stakeholders behind a shared vision that would propel the small town towards sustainable growth, prosperity, and creating a great place to visit, live and work.

Strategic Planning: Overview

Many organizations – including this town’s Leadership Team – never create a long-term Strategic Plan due to a sole focus on day-to-day tasks and a lack of opportunities for future-focused, strategic thinking. Consequently, the opportunity to craft a Strategic Plan for this town was abundant, offering the prospect of uniting stakeholders, aligning on values, and fostering sustainable growth.

Creating a Strategic Plan for the town offered a dual opportunity. Firstly, it would align the leadership team around shared values and a unified vision for the community's future. Secondly, it would provide a roadmap for prioritizing actions to achieve these goals, serving as a guiding "North Star" for the small town’s leadership.

However, this endeavor would not be without its hurdles. The town’s Leadership Team was divided by historical ideological differences and had experienced fluctuations in leadership priorities, which led to the polarization of local leadership and consequently ongoing changes of direction and focus. Overall, this back-and-forth impeded progress and perpetuated uncertainty with each electoral cycle.

The main challenge for the town officials was the lack of alignment among different factions within the leadership and overall community, resulting in conflicting visions for the town's future. This dynamic, common in politics at all levels, hindered progress and prevented sustained growth for the small town’s Leadership Team.

Recognizing the need for alignment and collaboration, On The Edge emphasized the importance of a Strategic Plan to bridge the divide and foster unity amongst town leadership. Engaging in the Strategic Planning process would naturally align the team around common goals and values, driving positive outcomes for the town and its citizens.

To address the challenge of differing visions, On The Edge facilitated a process with the town’s Leadership Team to establish a shared mission, vision, and values for the small town. This process aimed to unify stakeholders and provide a foundation for long-term Strategic Planning.

To overcome the polarization and unproductive group dynamics within the town’s Leadership Team, On The Edge facilitated a multi-step process. Phil's expertise in guiding collaborative efforts and mediating difficult dynamics made him the ideal choice for this engagement. Equally important, his approach aimed to ensure equal participation from all leadership members, fostering ownership and bipartisan buy-in for the Strategic Plan.

Approach: Overview

Phil proposed a holistic approach to this effort, recommending a two-day team building process to precede Strategic Planning. This approach aimed to establish cohesion and understanding amongst the Leadership Team, fostering the teamwork and energy needed to design a powerful Strategic Plan. Recognizing the importance of collaboration and trust-building, On The Edge implemented a multi-step process to overcome polarization within the group.

This approach began with a Social Styles Workshop, where team members gained insights into their unique work and leadership styles. This foundational understanding paved the way for the Team Challenge Course, a transformative experience that reinforced the importance of creating a high-performance team culture of strong support and trust, leading to individual and collective success.

On Day One, On The Edge staff introduced the Social Styles methodology to the town’s leadership, fostering understanding and collaboration among diverse work styles. This workshop allowed leaders to identify both their and others’ Social Styles along with the different ways each team member related to the rest of the group. These learnings allowed the team to leverage each other's strengths, laying the foundation for a more supportive and understanding culture within the group.

On Day Two, the team participated in a Team Challenge Course, emphasizing mutual support, trust-building, and resilience. This immersive experience aimed to put the newly learned values into practice, fostering deeper relationships among team members. Through challenging activities, they experienced the power of teamwork and broke down barriers, leading to a stronger sense of unity and pride among team members.

In addition, while being on this “mountain climb” together, everyone discovered the amazing character, talents, and strengths each member of the team possessed. This unlocked a whole new level of respect and appreciation for each individual’s contribution to the team.

On Day Three, the town’s Leadership Team, more unified than ever and leveraging the trust and mutual understanding established, crafted a Strategic Plan grounded in a shared mission, vision, and values. This approach emphasized building each other up, resulting in a more effective and streamlined planning process as the leadership rallied around a unified vision for the future of their small town.

The Social Styles Workshop and Team Challenge Course were transformative experiences for this town. These sessions facilitated a paradigm shift, revealing that differences  on the Leadership Team were sources of strength when focused on bringing out everyone’s best. 

Despite initial ideological differences, the team rallied around a common vision for a vibrant and sustainable community, paving the way for collaboration and alignment. Armed with this newfound understanding, they approached the task of crafting a Strategic Plan with renewed vigor and unity.

Initially skeptical, the town’s leadership wanted to devote all three days solely to crafting the Strategic Plan. However, they achieved alignment quicker than anticipated, completing the plan in a single day. This demonstrated the power of collaboration and shared purpose established during the two days of developing the team.

In addition to the Strategic Plan, the town’s Leadership Team adopted new practices and also a Team Covenant to support implementation of the new plan. On The Edge's holistic approach ensured that lessons learned were integrated into day-to-day operations, fostering long-term success.

The Team Covenant: Overview

Inspired by their breakthroughs, the small town’s leadership co-authored a Team Covenant, outlining shared values and expectations for positive team dynamics. Overall this document served as a benchmark for creating a more effective and collaborative team culture, empowering individuals to bring out their best selves.

The Team Covenant provided a framework for intentional positive change of behaviors and ways of relating, challenging the status quo of dysfunctional team dynamics. Rather than resigning to existing challenges, the town’s leadership embraced a new vision for their team and committed to building it together, guided by shared values and aspirations.

Working with On The Edge, the Leadership Team discovered that their differences were not insurmountable. They found common ground, aligning around a shared vision for the lifestyle and economic vitality of their community. This unity laid the foundation for drafting a Strategic Plan and creating a Team Covenant for ongoing guidance towards product, positive team dynamics.

After the off-site retreat, the town’s leadership implemented elements of the Social Styles Methodology and the Team Covenant into their workflows. This led to immediate improvements in collaboration and a renewed focus on achieving the goals outlined in the Strategic Plan.

Recognizing potential challenges, On The Edge engaged in follow-up sessions to assess the team's progress and identify any emerging unproductive behaviors. By refocusing on the Team Covenant, the Leadership Team realigned with their shared values and practices, ensuring they stayed on track with the Strategic Plan.

Presentation

In February 2024, Phil presented the finalized Strategic Plan to the Mayor and Town Council, who unanimously adopted it. The plan resonated strongly as it blended everyone's ideas and priorities, ensuring each voice was heard. This case study illustrates the power of collaborative and courageous leadership in creating a brighter future for a small town with big potential.

Introduction

In the realm of organizational dynamics, the success of a team often hinges on its culture, particularly the way individuals relate to one another, the norms they follow, and the values they uphold. However, many teams find themselves navigating these waters without a clear compass, leading to confusion, inconsistency, and even some level of conflict and discord within a group. This is the challenge facing numerous organizations, including many clients that On The Edge has worked with in the past.

Overview

The concept of a Team Covenant emerged as a beacon of hope for teams seeking to chart a new course towards more positive and productive team cultures. Generally, a Team Covenant serves as a guiding document that codifies the key values and practices essential to fostering an uplifting and cohesive team environment. 

Specifically, the Team Covenant outlines the expectations for how leaders and team members will interact and work together in a positive manner on a daily basis, providing a source of truth and accountability within the organization.

The main objective of a Team Covenant is to articulate a shared vision of how a team will operate and the actions individual team members will take. Moreover, grounded in insights gleaned from experiences such as On The Edge’s Social Styles Workshop and Team Challenge Course, the Team Covenant establishes a set of expectations that clarify how team members will collaborate, relate to one another, and contribute to a powerful, positive, productive team culture.

Challenges

In our extensive work with various organizations, we've observed a common pattern: team culture is often left to chance or occurs by default. In due time, without intentional design and clarity around values and practices, teams can drift aimlessly, with individuals receiving mixed messages about expected behaviors. 

This lack of clarity can enable actions and team dynamics that are inconsistent with or don’t model the values and spirit of the team. Overall, lack of alignment and clarity can create team or group dysfunction, hindering an organization's overall success.

The absence of a Team Covenant exacerbates these challenges, leaving employees to navigate the murky waters of team dynamics on their own. Without a shared framework for behavior and accountability, negative patterns can take root, leading to toxic, unproductive work environments and diminished team effectiveness.

Challenges

The issue of unclear expectations can be particularly pronounced during employee onboarding, especially when new hires encounter discrepancies between an organization’s stated values and actual workplace behaviors. This disconnect can leave employees feeling adrift, unsure of how to navigate the complexities of team dynamics without clear guidance.

The consequences of this ambiguity are far-reaching, as conflicting behaviors and norms can sow discord and erode trust within a team. In the absence of a Team Covenant, individuals are left to fend for themselves, resulting in a fragmented team culture and diminished performance.

If the symptoms above are left unchecked for too long, a team can become dysfunctional. Dysfunctional teams often exhibit a strong lack of alignment on shared values and practices, rewarding unproductive behaviors and diminishing opportunities for growth. Dysfunctional dynamics enable toxic behaviors to thrive, undermining a team's cohesion and effectiveness.

Imagine a sports team brimming with talent expected to clinch the championship, yet falling short of their potential due to selfish attitudes and dysfunctional team dynamics. Despite their individual capabilities, these toxic group behaviors, left unchecked, infected the team’s culture, undermining team cohesion and thwarting each team member’s potential contribution. Consequently, this jeopardizes the team’s overall success, resulting in disengagement and underperformance, posing a significant threat to collective success. Even though each member is individually talented, their lack of team cohesion and camaraderie prevents them from winning the championship.

Opportunities

Amidst the challenges of dysfunctional team dynamics lies an opportunity for transformation. Rather than resigning themselves to the status quo, teams can seize the opportunity to enact intentional change through volitional actions and behaviors that are articulated in the Team Covenant.

Creating a Team Covenant offers teams the chance to align around a shared purpose and vision, laying the foundation for a more cohesive and collaborative culture. By identifying key values and practices that embody their ideal team culture, teams can bridge the gap between aspiration and reality, fostering greater alignment and synergy.

To begin with, team members must reflect on their past experiences of being on good and not-so-good teams to identify the dynamics that enabled the dysfunctional, poor performing teams and what dynamics supported the great, high performing teams. Drawing on these insights, they identify the core practices and behaviors that will guide their team culture, setting the stage for meaningful transformation.

Team Covenant

Once core values and practices are identified, teams engage in open dialogue to further refine their Team Covenant. Drawing upon their collective experiences, they pinpoint the fundamental behaviors that will shape their culture, ensuring buy-in and alignment across the team.

With core shared values and practices established, teams embark on the process of drafting their Team Covenant. Focused on distilling these principles into actionable guidelines, the team outlines specific behaviors and norms that will govern their interactions and give clarity to expected behaviors which team members would hold each other accountable for.

Upon finalizing the Team Covenant, teams celebrate this milestone and the collective effort invested in shaping their culture. Each team member commits to upholding the covenant, fostering a culture of accountability and continuous improvement. Additionally, many teams choose to sign their Team Covenant as a further demonstration of their commitment to creating a positive team culture. 

Monthly team check-ins provide valuable feedback and insights, guiding the team's journey towards a more positive and productive future. Further, many teams conduct regular assessments that rate how they and their fellow team members are doing in upholding the Team Covenant through their behavior and interactions, then identify areas that they are all committed to improving.

Conclusion

In the journey to building a high-performing team, the creation of a Team Covenant serves as a catalyst for meaningful change. By articulating shared values and practices, teams can overcome challenges, foster alignment, and unlock their full potential. The power of a Team Covenant lies in its ability to unite individuals around a common purpose and propel teams towards success.

Overview


On The Edge worked with a newly assembled team of regional brokers from Goldman Sachs experiencing common challenges and difficulties in relating to and working with different individuals within the group. 

 

Our staff facilitated a Social Styles workshop to help the team better understand and address the challenges and difficulties they were facing in working cohesively together towards a common mission, goal, and purpose. Further, On The Edge guided this group in integrating the Social Styles methodology into their overall team dynamic and culture, enabling more effective and cohesive collaboration long-term.

 

Context

 

Goldman Sachs executives pulled together a high-level regional broker team to launch and sell a new product in a previously untapped area of investing. This pilot program was highly scrutinized at the company. As a result, the group documented each and every thing they did to help the launch be more successful than any other product launch in the past.

 

Even though the people on this team were some of the highest performers in the entire company, within a week the productivity of this newly assembled group of regional brokers came to a functional standstill. This was largely due to conflicting egos and competing factions within the team.

 

At best the members of this group weren’t working well together. At worst they were self-destructing the very product launch they had been tasked with carrying out. The root of this problem was a clash of personalities and agendas going head to head, causing division over differences in behaviors and leadership styles.

 

Everyone on this team believed they were the smartest person in the room, or the most productive, or the highest performing. To make matters worse, certain personalities formed “factions”, making it much more difficult to collaborate or understand different points of view. In the case of this team, a common refrain was “my way or the highway.”

 

What was this team of regional brokers' biggest challenge? What about their main opportunity?

 

Challenge

 

The key challenge facing this team of corporate sales all-stars was a conflict between different ego-based factions. These factions formed because they shared similar work and leadership styles or ways of working. Consequently, the clash between egos and factions within this team dynamic presented an obstacle to high-performance teamwork and effective collaboration.

 

This internal conflict also distracted people from focusing on the real task at hand, which was successfully launching and selling the new product. Because everyone was fully preoccupied with proving that they were the superior salesperson, they lost sight of the bigger picture as it related to pulling off a successful product launch which was their clearly stated mission and goal.

 

Put another way, they were so busy trying to prove themselves that they got in their own way. As a result, the first two weeks of sales for this new product launch were the worst in the history of the company. Because this team wasn’t working together, it torpedoed the desired objectives and undermined the optimal ways of performing.

 

Opportunity

 

The members of this team had a blind spot around how to best work with and support others who were different from them, which presented an opportunity for growth and breakthrough. Most of them found it quite effortless to collaborate with people who were “just like them”, but were at a complete loss when it came to putting ego aside and attempting to understand someone else’s point of view.

 

It’s not that the team members didn’t want to work together. They were just so caught up in their own ego-centric worlds that they had no idea how to work together.

 

Because the group didn’t know each other well, they didn’t understand the ways other people worked. What the regional broker team from Goldman Sachs needed was a forum to come together and address these differences in a constructive and transformative way. They needed a space to get to know each other better, which would help take down the barriers of working together effectively.

 

In this space they could drop the strong focus they had on being better, being “right”, or being the smartest person on the team. When coming together in this way, they could simply focus on being themselves and seeking to better understand others.

 

What was the process for introducing and facilitating a Social Styles workshop for this team from Goldman Sachs?

 

Outreach

 

On The Edge became aware of the challenges and opportunities that this regional broker team was facing when an Executive VP of Sales at Goldman Sachs reached out to us amidst these struggles. This executive was not only a superstar sales VP, but he was also the one who put this group together in the first place. As the executive of sales to the whole organization, this VP had a lot riding on this pilot project that the whole organization was closely watching and scrutinizing.

 

When the EVP checked in on the team’s progress, he couldn’t believe how poorly this group was performing. People were either fighting each other or in complete silence. In his words, it was a “mad house.” Despite these being some of the highest performers in the company, they were extremely dysfunctional as a team. This EVP would need the help of someone who could come in and shift that dynamic. This is where On The Edge came in.

 

Discovery

 

On The Edge began the work of facilitating a Social Styles workshop for this regional broker team by engaging in a discovery conversation with leaders and key members of the team to gain an understanding of current challenges. Almost immediately, our staff confirmed the negative and dysfunctional group dynamics occurring on the team as explained by the EVP.

 

This helped us understand what specific process, agenda, and facilitation would be most impactful in shifting the dynamic on the team and inspiring cohesiveness and synergy by building more trusting, deeper relationships through the Social Styles framework.

 

Design

 

Following discovery, On The Edge designed a program to accomplish the objectives laid out in collaboration with leaders and key members to address the relational challenges and opportunities present.

 

This program design took into account any information gathered from qualitative interviews as well as any quantitative data from anonymous surveys to ensure a clear understanding before the workshop was underway.

 

Upon completion of the discovery and design phases, the next step was to bring the team together off-site and in person to participate in the Social Styles workshop led by On The Edge.

 

Delivery: Introducing the Social Styles

 

This regional broker team from Goldman Sachs was brought together in a remote, off-site conference center for a one-day, high-intensity Social Styles workshop. Meeting at this location was strategic because it would allow the group to get away from all of the distractions of day-to-day business so they could really focus on creating the breakthroughs and transformations that would be needed to refocus and align the team.

 

To initiate the Social Styles workshop, our facilitators introduced the Social Styles methodology and the descriptions of the four core styles, as well as some key team and leadership models. Upon introduction to this methodology and these models, team members immediately began to see how the challenges they were experiencing were driven by differences in Social Styles rather than by conflicting personality traits or simply “not wanting to work together”.

 

Creating this distinction also made clear that there were “factions'' of certain styles within the team. Through this new framework, team members could now see how during the initial formation of the team many people had unconsciously ordered up with others who were similar styles to them.

 

For example, when the group gathered in the conference room, the first thing we noticed was a group of 10 “Type-A” personalities who were really aggressive and wanted to “get on with it” (Drivers). Alternatively, we noticed another group that focused on everything being perfect before they did anything (Analytical).


Delivery: Workshop Facilitation

 

Even though this was a tense situation, our playful but impactful facilitation of the Social Styles methodology was disarming and allowed people to see in a new light how blatant some of the differences can be between styles. This dissolved a lot of the defensiveness and blame that was prevalent in the group.

 

In response, many people laughed and lightened when given real-life examples of how certain styles can show up. This created a more open condition and environment to approach the challenges that they were facing. As a result, this workshop put people in a much better place to deal with these challenges productively.

 

In this newfound condition and willingness to learn and grow as a team, as well as being familiar with the Social Styles methodology and how it influenced their group dynamics, each member of the team was given an assessment to identify their own unique style combination.

 

Social Styles Assessment

 

The 15-minute Social Styles assessment guided individual team members through a series of behavioral questions that resulted in discovery of their primary social style and a secondary social style combination.

 

With their primary and secondary social style combinations now in hand, members of the team were able to confirm at last that the factions within the team were indeed aligned by primary social style. These factions not only influenced how they people showed up in day-to-day work, but were a key challenge preventing effective and collaborative teamwork across styles.

 

Because the team lacked awareness of these gaps or “blind spots” between different styles and the inherent types of conflicting behaviors they presented, everyone on the team started to realize they had been fighting an uphill battle all along. Much of the early dysfunction on this team could be explained by a lack of awareness regarding the negative dynamics that were created as a result of the unconscious division between the different Social Styles.

 

Consequently, this division between factions and styles had been the key obstacle to effectively launching and selling the new product, which was this team’s primary goal.

 

To cement these distinctions and imbed the benefits of integrating this methodology, our staff led this team through a series of real-life business simulations to put these ideas into practice.

 

Putting the Social Styles into Practice

 

Once everyone in the workshop better understood the needs, values, and ways of being that influenced their working together effectively, On The Edge guided them through a series of challenging problem solving activities.

 

These activities illuminated key aspects of the Social Styles as they related to this specific team's challenges and opportunities. In this case, the simulations drew from real-life obstacles presented by the new product launch the team had been tasked with carrying out.

 

These problem solving activities clearly demonstrated that when the team focused maximizing the talents and abilities (strengths) in everybody, they were much more successful. Conversely, these activities showed that when the team chose to focus on differences and weaknesses (liabilities), things quickly fell apart.

 

Key Takeaways from the Social Styles Workshop

 

Talents and abilities diminish when a team focuses all of their energy in the wrong direction. Because the team had been struggling with negative team dynamics, these simulated activities were all the more illuminating, impactful, and poignant.

 

Note: One of the key areas of expertise that On The Edge brings to any of our programs is how to take a team with great talents, abilities, and strengths, and help them create a culture where they focus on bringing out each other’s best. This is contrasted with a culture in which fighting each other and focusing on who is right and who is wrong is the norm. See: What’s the difference between a Team of Champions vs. a Championship Team?

 

In seeing the negative impacts that focusing on liabilities and weaknesses can have, the team realized that they would never be successful in working together if they went on like this. This lack of teamwork would not only reflect poorly on them, but would sabotage the new product launch.

 

What the team needed was to come together around a common goal. In other words, a shared vision of team and leadership success. This would be an endeavor the team would be successful in because they would be embarking on it together with a newfound appreciation, understanding, and utilization of the unique talents and abilities of each style.

 

What was the outcome of the Social Styles workshop?

 

The primary outcome of this Social Styles workshop was that members of the regional broker team discovered that they had more in common than previously thought. Because they had lacked the awareness and understanding to address differences in Social Styles, factions and ego-based dynamics had taken precedence. Now, they could see that each member of the group had their own ways of contributing to the success of the team. This enabled the team to maximize the unique strengths of every team member.

 

Another outcome was a shift away from stress-induced negative behaviors in favor of healthy group dynamics that were much more supportive and enabled everyone to be their best. In doing so they created a more positive and collaborative culture where uplifting energy inspired everyone to come together to accomplish the task at hand. In essence, they transformed from a culture in conflict to one where everybody was working cohesively and harmoniously together.

 

How did On The Edge ensure lasting success with this team of regional brokers from Goldman Sachs?

 

Given the impacts outlined above, Goldman Sachs wanted to continue the momentum created during this workshop. For this reason, they requested On The Edge to provide follow-up processes as well as ongoing coaching and support. This follow-up, coaching, and support would further develop the team in general and continue to build everyone’s efficacy with the specific team and leadership skills highlighted in the program. The intent of of doing this was to fully integrate the Social Styles methodology on a long-term, ongoing basis.

 

As a signal of the impact the Social Styles methodology had on this team and on the greater organization, Goldman Sachs adopted the Social Styles on a wider scale to improve team and leadership dynamics as well as their organizational culture.

 

On The Edge created and designed a rollout that would ensure that all teams in the division would learn and benefit from the positive impacts of the Social Styles methodology to support this organizational initiative.

 

Epilogue