Herding CATs (Complex Adaptive Teams)

The Art of Influence in Team Coaching

Presenter: Ben Fuchs

Objective(s) of the session:

Participants will learn to:

  • Think about teams in terms of group dynamics and social complexity.
  • Change the performance of a team from within, by using simple and learnable techniques
  • Apply a basic toolset to use in your day-to-day work

Intended audience

Agile coaches, Scrum Masters, project managers or anyone who is interested in finding out how teams work and how to make them work better.

Contents:

Sometimes teams get into the flow and are productive, creative, fun places to work. Other times, team dynamics are more difficult. Getting teams to change their behavior is often like herding cats. People’s hearts and minds cannot be conscripted, only volunteered. This presentation will show how team leaders and coaches how can influence teams to be more productive, effective, creative and fun.

TOPICS:

Introducing teams as complex adaptive systems.

  • Social complexity and team dynamics
  • Power issues and leadership
  • Influence and Persuasion
  • Motivation of team members
  • Understanding the brain and cognitive bias
  • Intervention techniques
  • The Flow model
  • Case studies and real-world applications
Format and length:

This tutorial will be held as a talk interspersed with exercises and discussion, allowing us to address real needs of attendees. Due to the nature of the topic, and of the exercises, attendance will be limited to 50 people.