Start line
Kick-off
Participants look back to learn, rapidly agree where they are, where they want to be, the key action areas and creative solutions for how to get there – and leave with a clear, step-by-step action plan.
Take off your shoes.
From here to there. Never in a straight line.
TEAMWIN is a workshop-based method for mobilising teams, projects and strategic initiatives. Its unifying idea is the journey – from where you are to where you want to be – and its most memorable moment happens on the floor, in bare feet, without a word.
The terrain keeps changing. So does the team.
The TEAMWIN Mat
A floor exercise that shows a team exactly how it behaves.
Shoes off. No talking. In front of you is a floor of hexagonal cells, and somewhere across it is where you need to get to. Some cells are safe; some beep. The terrain changes as you go. Your job is to get everyone across – and you cannot say a word.
- Nobody can talk, so the team has to find another way to share what it has learned.
- The safe path is never straight, and it moves. What worked a moment ago may not work now.
- Under pressure and in competition, people do what they really do – lead, follow, hoard, help, freeze, rush. The room sees it, and so do they.
It takes less than an hour. Participants describe it as the most memorable part of any workshop they have attended, and many say it changed how they work with other people for good. The debrief that follows maps what happened on the Mat straight onto the real project, merger or crisis the team is facing.
The methodology
Five kinds of ground to cross.
TEAMWIN integrates a framework for action planning, a process to sustain the momentum, and a philosophy for high-performance leadership and teamwork. Simplicity is the watchword, so that people from very different backgrounds can interact – and act.
1
Thinking strategically
Position the project or problem within the bigger picture, capture the imagination, manage risk.
2
Engaging & aligning
Take the line of least resistance, build a dynamic organisation or alliance, reconcile trade-offs in decisions.
3
Measuring performance
Negotiate and own goals and ‘partnership’ deliverables at the key interfaces between parties.
4
Being creative
Brainstorm, synthesise and distil ideas into actionable solutions.
5
Optimising teams
Blend personalities and cultures to keep a healthy tension and avoid group-think.
Mid-journey
Pit-stops
The team learns, re-energises, refocuses and plans for the next major milestone. If the terrain has shifted badly, a remedial approach addresses the serious problems before they sink the project.
There
Close-out
Participants capture lessons for the future and celebrate success – so that the next journey starts further along than this one did.
Collaborative tools
Enhancing face-to-face interaction – and action.
The Collaborator
A portable kit of wirelessly connected devices for every participant. Contributions are anonymous, so views are open and constructive; everyone – whatever their language, level or function – gets equal airtime; and every input is captured directly, feeding transcripts and reports that are circulated while the debate is still live.
Brainstorm – synthesise – distil
A guided conversation with a planned logic flow: questions, comments and ideas are captured, themed and categorised in real time, then distilled into answers, priorities and actions. Simplicity is the watchword, so that a thousand delegates or a team of eight can use it.
The Decision-Navigator
A decision process for people who must balance ethical and practical considerations under pressure, built on the Red Cross Code of Conduct and the principle of Do No Harm. Used by humanitarian agencies and by military officers learning to see a crisis through humanitarian eyes.
Practitioners
Make more of your face-to-face time.
TEAMWIN practitioners are strategic facilitators and subject specialists in their own right. They ask the right questions of the right people at the right time in the right way – rather than telling people what they think they need to hear.
They conceive and deliver a meeting as a memorable experience, balancing content and commitment, discipline and creativity, control and freedom. On completion of every workshop, participants anonymously rate the quality of their thinking and their clarity and commitment to the bigger picture and their role – inputs that have been building a learning repository for more than twenty years.
- Accountable and transparent on three measures: quality, speed and cost
- Accredited only after rigorous training; experienced in their own field first
- Used to working alongside other specialists, interpreters and mixed-culture teams
TEAMWIN was created by the co-founders of Beechwood International, which licenses and facilitates its use.
Feedback
What people say when they put their shoes back on.
“Very original concept … very different … reminds me of nothing I’ve tried before. The best game in a long time – absolutely brilliant – made the points succinctly.”
Strategy consultants, Accenture“Setting goals beyond our present capabilities – as on the Mat – and reinventing the way we therefore need to do things.”
Workshop participant, corporate sector“It really has been a fantastic demonstration of teamwork in action … involvement … rolling up our sleeves … really giving over control … ownership.”
CEO, Walkers“We were able to put complex problems into perspective and allow everyone to think about their role in the business in a different way than they probably ever have before.”
Director Business Planning, General Motors Europe“The two things that made our senior managers’ conference an outstanding success were the detailed planning and TEAMWIN.”
Head of Product Change, Guinness UDV“Facilitation was great – feel like something tangible might happen. Interaction and frank discussions. Practical and action oriented.”
Participants, workshops in Islamabad
Contact
Ready to take the first step?
TEAMWIN is facilitated and licensed by Beechwood International. Tell us about the team, project or initiative you need to mobilise, and we will come back to you.
