1. Positive Team Psychology: Developing Cohesive, Trusting Teams
Iain McCormick PhD
Executive Coaching Centre Ltd
Auckland

3. Positive psychology
Humans have the potential for ‘good’ and want to pursue a ‘good life’ (Linley & Joseph, 2006)
Growth mindset, (Carol Dweck, 2007)
Solutions focused, (David Cooperrider, 2005)
Strengths based (Tom Rath, 2007)

4. Positive Teams Stand up and find someone you do not know
Talk about the best team you have ever been in for 5 minutes each
Why was the team so good?
Identify your top two characteristics

5. Seamless relationships Open and clear communication
Accountability
Fun
POSITIVE ATMOSPHERE
Mutual trust
Clear Goals
Seamless relationships
Teamwork
Open and clear communication
Defined roles and responsibilities
Effective decision making
Commitment to action
Managed conflict
Reflection and learning
Listening
Diversity
Shared leadership

6. Positive Team Psychology
A strengths-based approach used to build the optimal functioning in a team on a broad range of human functioning - trust, purpose generation, goal setting, conflict management, accountability, cohesiveness and so on.
(Apologies to Linley & Joseph, 2004)

7. What is a High Performance Team?

8. High Performance Team
A team is a small number of people with complementary skills who are committed to a common purpose, performance goals, and approach for which they hold themselves mutually accountable
The Wisdom Of Teams, Katzenbach and Douglas, Harvard Business School Press, 1993.
Why bother?

9. The wisdom of teams: Jon R Katzenbach and Douglas K. Smith 1993
Team Performance
The wisdom of teams: Jon R Katzenbach and Douglas K. Smith 1993

10. Leading Teams: Setting the Stage for Great Performances by J Richard Hackman, HBR Press, 2002

11. Programme
Eight one-day team development sessions over two years (once every three months)
Eight one-hour executive coaching sessions over two years (once every three months) with an ‘open confidentially agreement’

12. Positive team psychology using Seligman’s PERMA
Positive emotion (P)
Appreciation sessions, optimism, kindness, gratitude
Engagement, interest (E)
Character strengths, directly address pressing team issues
Positive relationships (R)
Build understanding, trust and feedback, appreciative inquiry
Meaning, purpose (M)
Goals and values sessions
Accomplishment (A)
Demonstrate via the High Performance Team Inventory, review and feedback
Martin Seligman, Flourish: A Visionary New Understanding of Happiness and Well-being (Free Press 2011)

13. Focus for year one
Nature of high performance teams, trust, roles, appreciation
Character strengths, goals and values, HPT Inventory findings, decision making, team charter
Optimism, feedback skills, change management,
Appreciative inquiry, facilitation skills

14. Focus for year two
Personal productivity, effective conflict, gratitude, hot topics
Death by Meeting, engagement leadership and EQ, hot topics
Adaptive leadership, holding others accountable, maintaining team behaviours, hot topics
ACT to deal with pressure, mindfulness, maintaining team behaviours, hot topics

15. Examples

16. Trust Find someone you do not know Discuss ‘What is Trust?’
Discuss a high trust team you have been in?
What made it a high trust team?
Talk together for 5 minutes

17. Results

18. Your Teams
Work in pairs to discuss some of the teams that you belong to. How do they rate (Excellent, Good, Average, Poor, Terrible) in terms of:
Agreed purpose
Defined roles
Mutual trust
Open communications
Diversity
Reflection and learning

19. Positive Team Psychology: Developing Cohesive, Trusting Teams
Iain McCormick PhD
Executive Coaching Centre Ltd
Auckland