Productive Teams for IT and Testing

Course Objectives

Business, IT and testing are all best carried out as team endeavors. Although individual talent counts a lot, it is productive collaboration amongst team members that really produces great increases in team productivity, success and morale. 

By attending this course, candidates will learn their individual natural strengths and learn how to support the rest of their team members by using these strengths to best advantage.

Peers and managers will benefit from knowing how to bring the out the best in each other by understanding how the others typically think based on their strengths profile and what they like or dislike with respect to interactions. Everyone on the team will now better understand the others and acting positively on this understanding, will improve team interactions, morale and productivity.

Many individuals react in ways consistent with what they have learned through life which is good, except where what they have learned is incomplete or untrue! Many team exercises will be held to help team members to suspend judgement until they have all the information, and only then to draw conclusions. This will bolster innovation from the team and a greater acceptance of different viewpoints although not necessarily agreement. Hearing each other and raising the level of interaction and critical thinking is what makes the best teams.

Candidates will receive a book (Now Discover Your Strengths), an individual associated strengths assessment as well as their Belbin® assessment based on observable team behaviours.

Who Will Benefit

Business or IT team members (business representatives, product users, business analysts, developers, designers and testers. Those who come with their team members will benefit especially – Agile teams, development teams, testing teams, user teams and teams of business analysts and other teams generally    involved in businesses supported by IT.

Skills Gained

After completing this course candidates will:

  1. Know their own top five strengths or talents and those of their colleagues.
  2. Know their characteristic team behaviours and those of their colleagues.
  3. Put this self-knowledge to work at increasing team engagement, productivity and morale.

Course Assessment

This course does not have pass or fail criteria. Each candidate will however receive reports on their top five strengths and their Belbin® team behaviour profiles.

Course Details

  1. Prerequisites
    Candidates must book early in order to complete a pre-class web-based strength assessment as well as to submit self and peer assessments of their observed team behaviours.
  1. Course presentation and duration
    The course is presented by experienced, qualified instructors. The course duration is two days and runs from 08:30 to 16:00. It includes lunch and two tea breaks daily.
  1. Training style
    The course is conducted in a friendly ‘round table’ style where on request (and on our recommendation), teams of up to 8 from each company will be kept together for the activities.
  1. Training Venues
    Test and Data Services presents courses at several well-established training facilities in Midrand (near Johannesburg and Pretoria), Cape Town and Durban. Training can be arranged at the client’s premises subject to adequate facilities and candidate numbers. Training courses can also be provided internationally.

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