Year after year the work would flow through the departments as a baton hand-off in a relay race. Quality products would be produced to satisfy the external world of customers and other stakeholders. Internally, however, the "community" of employees had created a series of independent organizations that functioned separately with the authority and accountability resting solely within that specific department. Information was conveyed as needed and no collaboration of comprehensive and joint strategies was ever required.

As a result, people were isolated by barriers that were not only structural but interpersonal. (Emphasis was placed on control issues; who is in charge, political issues, personalities, power and individual agendas.) The inability to deal with conflict was nullified due to the lack of effective communication skills.

The need to transform this group of individuals into a team became a vital issue. The CEO had made numerous attempts at providing forums for honest communication and collaboration through third party facilitation. The results were always the same; cliques, hidden agendas, caution and constant maneuvering for position. The group was not willing to change. (Perhaps the group had never been taught how to manage change.) They needed to understand that change is not an event. It is a process!

Associates of the Knightsbridge Group were asked to become involved with this team. A focus was placed on the group's ability to understand each individual's point of view in the change process. It soon became an accepted principle that individuals have differences; both in strengths, weaknesses and underlying needs. It was acknowledged that in the absence of unmet needs, people reacted with a variety of stressful behaviors.

The objective of this group became clear; people COULD engage in change if they learned how to modify their behaviors. Change WOULD occur if the positive aspects of their personalities were emphasized and it became a highly personalized experience.

Through the use of a sophisticated interest-generated assessment tool, individuals developed an understanding of their most productive styles, based on their strength behavior. By focusing on the underlying dimension of motivational needs, participants developed an awareness of a much wider view of behavioral responses. They realized their perspective was positioned somewhere within this great spectrum of behavior possibilities.

Individuals soon accepted the concept, "I'm OK-You're OK, people are just different". As team members began to appreciate individual differences they also began to understand that group diversity became a strength to satisfy team needs.

Team members began to focus on the "What" (the issue) and not the "Who" (the person). Trust and interpersonal skills became critical assets in building the team. Open, honest, communication in a collaborative, trustful environment became the cornerstone of creating a culture of "civility".

This underpinning of trust fostered teamwork. Teams focused on the issues, on the best solutions problems, the actions most effective to attain goals and the success of the collective endeavor.

The team continues to be challenged by the complexities of human dynamics. The significant difference now, is the ability to communicate effectively and resolve conflict through the use of new self-management and teaming skills.

As a team member said, "I feel as though a huge burden has been taken off my shoulders".