Pharmaceutical Company Focuses on National Accounts Team Relationships

The Need

Twenty sales directors and account managers planned to meet on the West Coast for their annual retreat. In addition to solving some of their day to day challenges, this very hard working and successful group wanted to build better relationships with each other, come together as a team, and develop strategies for working more effectively with internal and external customers. The Human Resources Director contacted Adventure Associates to develop and facilitate a workshop specifically designed to meet these stated needs.

The Adventure Associates Process

Three senior members of the group were interviewed to determine issues that would be appropriate for the team development workshop. The HR Director helped refine the issues and collaborated with AAI to select activities that addressed these specific needs. The AAI lead facilitator sequenced the activities so the outcomes of one activity would lay the foundation for the next activity, thus systematically building toward the stated goals. Two AAI facilitators led a series of Team Performance Challenges, keeping the group together for the first half and dividing into two teams for the second half of the workshop. A final large group activity cemented relationships, and provided a framework for sharing best practices.

Results

The workshop was very effective in meeting the goals of the training as evidenced by two sources of data. First, the group leader developed two scenarios for the team members to apply their newfound knowledge and experience. One-by-one, the workshop participants connected their team building experience of the day to the specific challenges that face the group on a regular basis. A number of new ideas were presented and discussed by team members.

The second source of data that supported the success of the workshops was a written record of observations and opportunities for application by their internal training director. The group also plans to use the digital photographs and notes for follow up reminders of the lessons learned.

Two participants of the workshop requested similar workshops for the teams they supervise. And, discussions are in the beginning stage to integrate the AAI Leadership and Coaching workshop into the leadership curriculum for the company. In summary, the fun, interactive workshops helped the group get to know each other much better, developed a common vision and identified ways they could interact more effectively with both internal and external clients.