The Problem: A manufacturing and sales company with five U.S. plants and 1,000 employees had one big problem – a major communication barrier between plant management and production-line teams. Productivity was low, defects were high, and both sides were in denial.

The Solution: This company needed a riveting, mindset-changing, do-or-die example of great teamwork in action. No tepid teamwork training video would do. CRM Learning’s dramatic, true story, Teamwork in Crisis: The Miracle of Flight 232 was right on the money.

The Success Story: Plant managers and front-line teams together attended training events at each location, which began with the Teamwork in Crisis video and progressed to open, honest and sometimes difficult dialog about the obstacles that stood in the way of success.

But the preparation for these events actually took place several weeks before, when management met with production line supervisors for frank dialog on what was needed to improve efficiency and quality. Both sides felt this advance work was absolutely critical to build the trust necessary to make the company-wide training events meaningful.

On the day of training, after participants watched the Teamwork in Crisis video, the discussion turned to the unique situations at each plant. Facilitators wrote their own training plan around real-world facts. Plant management and production leaders recognized and admitted that a problem existed, showing that management had bought in to breaking down walls.

And most important: In order to facilitate open discussion, managers were asked to leave the room so front-line employees could be honest about their assessments of product quality and productivity, including their own.

Facilitators took notes, brought the problems, ideas and solutions back to plant managers, who in turn went to the shop floor to begin implementing ideas they were able to. The physical results from training were fast and obvious. Improvements, cooperation and communication flourished, and team members felt that their ideas were heard and acted upon.

Most important, team morale improved immeasurably and pride of workmanship became standard operating procedure. From a defective material rate averaging around 6 percent a day, defects shrank to under 2 percent – a number that has been sustained for the past six years!

The company reports that Teamwork in Crisis was partly responsible for the company’s own miracle turnaround. A company spokesman says: “Training videos provide a dimension to our learning events that we would otherwise have not had. The many films we have purchased over the years have provided inspiration, laughter (and some tears), and improvement to our everyday work lives.”

Watch a free full length preview of Teamwork in Crisis:
http://www.crmlearning.com/teamwork-in-crisis-the-miracle-of-flight-232

The Problem:
A financial services company with 260 employees needed leaders who knew how to get the most from their teams, especially when so many were asked to do more with fewer people.

The Solution:
Managers, supervisors and the company’s process improvement committee took to heart the mindset-shifting message in CRM’s compelling video, 5 Questions Every Leader Must Ask. The core concept? Managers don’t have all the answers, but they do need to ask the right questions to draw out peak performance from every member on their teams.

The Success Story:
Anyone who has ever managed a diverse team knows that it takes hard work to get every member to contribute, even when the chemistry is good. Many leaders at this company found 5 Questions Every Leader Must Ask to be a valuable new way to approach the philosophy of leadership, especially when so many were feeling the heavy weight of added responsibility resting on their shoulders.

Beginning with the premise that no one person is going to have all the answers – even the leader of the company – was definitely a mindset change for many of these managers and supervisors. Once that idea was established, they were able to shift their thinking to see that one of a leader’s most important responsibilities is to make others on the team think like leaders too.

On the high-performing teams that every company wants, no one is allowed to sit passively and wait for instruction or inspiration from the team leader. Instead, each member is free to take initiative himself or herself to share ideas, build consensus, and shape strategy.

The training was offered twice, once for all managers and again for the process improvement committee, which helped to impress the message upon the company’s culture.

The trainer gathered each group in a conference room to first show the video and then work through the exercises in the accompanying training manual. She took extra care to customize exercises so they reflected real-work situations that could happen, or did happen, at the company. She also passed out quick tips and cards that participants could keep to reinforce the message after the class was over.

The trainer noted that she began each session by letting participants know how much she valued their time, and acknowledging that managers have more responsibilities than ever before.

She reported that many managers thought the class was particularly valuable because it was so timely, given what was going on at the company. One supervisor, who had to take on a second team due to the retirement of another long-time manager, said she conducted her very first meeting with her now doubled team by asking “The Five Questions”. Things started out on the right foot and set a positive tone for all future meetings.