Case Study #2

Situation: The Director of a Construction Management team in charge of managing a multi-million dollar Senior Residential Community was frustrated with her team’s overall performance.  The team communicated only on an “as needed” basis, and there was mounting tension between high-performers and other team members.  Relationships with the General Contractor and its subs were compromised by team members’ consistent shirking of responsibility and tendency to blame each other for schedule delays. The company hired The People Skills Group to get to the root of the problem and put the team back on track.

Action: The People Skills Group developed a strategic plan to change the team culture. The first step was to gather data from one-one one interviews and a comprehensive Team Assessment. We introduced tools and techniques for Conflict Resolution and Management, which we implemented in real-time during a facilitated Team Intervention.  A customized Team Development program to help the team develop trust, communicate more effectively and hold each other accountable.  The team training was followed by reinforcement sessions over a three-month period and the Director was provided with Individual Coaching to learn to manage diverse work styles.

Results: After the initial three-month period, the team reported better team performance and overall communication,  an open-door policy and willing exchange of information, a natural attrition of the teams’ two poor performers, and in increase in team members holding each other accountable for poor performance.  With improved team dynamics came less stress for the Director and less need for intervention, better relationships with sub-contractors and a decrease in missed project deadlines.