Archive: Why Does Designing the Team Alliance Matter?

I hope by now, we realise that we rarely ever work alone to achieve our goals. It’s more common that we need to work with each other in a team set up to co-deliver a collectively agreed outcome. Thus, setting a “space” for the team to work together can be quite powerful. So, what is this “space”? Is it a physical office space, or a virtual collaboration space? It’s neither of these.

Here, I am going to introduce to you a tool called DTA (Designing the Team Alliance) which originated from ORSC (Organization and Relationship System Coaching). The tool intends to achieve the following outcomes:

• Co-create a culture, or atmosphere – creating an environment for the team to operate within
• Co-create a sense of shared responsibility – each team member is equally responsible and accountable for the experience or culture they want to experience in the team

If you have not realised it by now, the outcomes above are not driven by a top-down approach, whereby your managers or team leads dictate the “space” for you, but through collaborative discussion and agreement across every single member of the team.

So why is this important? It defines how the team will work together so that each member can be at their very best. A Design Alliance creates an enormous amount of safety and trust for the team to operate. Considering the importance trust plays in relationships, why would we not want to spend time together to increase the trust we have in each other?

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I believe that the first step in any new team working together is to co-create a Design Alliance, in which we build a sustainable agreement or blueprint for how our team will behave and interact together.

How do we Design a Team Alliance?

Step 1 (Optional): Set the stage with an Ice Breaker (10 to 15 mins)

This step, though not crucial, is one I always find as a powerful way to lead the team into the right frame of mind before the creation of the Design Alliance. In this exercise, ask the team to visualise the best teams they have worked with. What are some of the attributes that characterise this team to greatness? The intent is to gather some information and insights, which will be used as a basis and foundation for the DTA exercise.