OBJECTIVE:
The course focuses on the value of intentionally designing a culture that improves interpersonal communication, and the importance of collaborative project planning as a vehicle for building teams and delivering value in organizations. Participants will engage in hands-on interactive activity to fully experience the principles of this philosophy.

Everyone can identify the difference between their best and worst collaborative experiences, but most are surprised that this difference has little to do with traditional project management instruction. Here, we bring the human element back into what is critical for collaboration and project success.

Small teams work together throughout the session to enhance their learning from each other, to experience the development of a strong team, and to develop a model of the culture that they will want to create and execute so they can generate better collaborative results.

We provide an experiential session, designed to accommodate different learning styles to increase engagement and retention. This enables participants to integrate the principles of project management, team building, group dynamics and leadership into their future careers and lives.

This is a one day, highly interactive workshop. Participants should have the ability to access a microphone and camera.

WHO WILL BENEFIT:
Anyone involved in collaborative work and the delivery of projects, regardless of their role in the organization

LEARNING OUTCOMES:
By the end of this course, participants will be able to:

• differentiate, through reflection and discussion, the key distinctions between their best and their most challenging project experiences,
• combine concepts of the Relationship Awareness Theory with personal needs to create an intentional set of norms of behaviour that supports an effective team culture,
• collaborate with others to develop a comprehensive project schedule that supports early reconciliation of diverse perspectives, and
• extend concepts of diversity from the Relationship Awareness Theory to apply to appreciation of diversity in all forms that exist in teams.

CONTENT:

•  Introduction: today’s team challenges, opportunities to harness creativity and innovation
• Intentional team development: Taking charge of creating a mature team culture
• Changing diversity from a team challenge to a team advantage
• Collaboration to Deliver Value: Leveraging the structure of projects to align teams 
• Collaborative Planning Exercise: Working together as a team to develop project schedules
• Building positive feedback into daily team workflow

PREREQUISITES:
Knowledge of the concepts behind the SDI (Strength Deployment Inventory) and the Relationship Awareness Theory are useful but not required.

COURSE LEADER: JIM BROSSEAU