Course Highlights
This team-building program for combined teams will:
- Examine the challenges that arise when organizations, departments, or teams with different cultures come together.
- Guide groups toward shared understanding across the areas that matter most when cultures combine.
- Explore the value of understanding individual and team workstyles and what assessment tools can reveal.
- Address the different forms collaboration can take and when each serves the team best.
- Identify common reactions to conflict and discuss more productive approaches.
- Introduce the HEART model as a framework for navigating difficult conversations with honesty and care.
Course Overview
When two groups become one, the work of combining does not end with the announcement. It begins there. Different histories, habits, expectations, and ways of getting things done do not disappear because an org chart changes. The real work of integration happens in the day-to-day — in how people communicate, make decisions, handle disagreement, and build something shared out of what was separate.
“Better Together: Skills for Deciding What’s Important, Navigating Conflicts, and Bringing Cultures Together” gives combined teams a structure for that work. The program addresses what teams need to align on, how to understand the people they are now working alongside, when to collaborate and when not to, how conflict tends to surface in newly combined groups, and how to have the honest conversations that integration requires without damaging the relationships the new team needs.
The following outline highlights some of the program’s learning points. As part of your training program, we will modify content as needed to meet your business objectives. Upon request, we will provide you with a copy of the participant materials prior to the session(s).
Program Objectives
At this program’s conclusion, participants should be able to:
- Explain the challenges that arise when cultures come together and why alignment on key areas matters early.
- Identify where the combined team needs to develop shared understanding to function effectively.
- Describe the value of assessing individual workstyles and discuss what tools can help the group do that.
- Distinguish between different types of collaboration and identify which fits a given situation.
- Recognize common reactions to conflict and choose more productive responses.
- Apply the HEART model to difficult conversations that require both candor and compassion.
Workshop Modules
The Same Page: Agreeing on What’s Important
The program opens with the question every combined team eventually has to answer: what do we agree on? Participants will examine four areas where alignment is essential when cultures come together — purpose, values, standards, and priorities — and work through the questions that help a team get there. The conversation surfaces where the group already shares common ground and where it still needs to build it.
Learning People: Discovering How People Work Best
Understanding who is in the room matters as much as agreeing on what the room is trying to do. This section examines the dimensions of team diversity that affect how people communicate, make decisions, and approach their work. The group will discuss what assessment tools can reveal about individual and team preferences, including the Communication Jungle, and consider how that knowledge changes the way the team operates together.
Together or Apart: Knowing When to Collaborate
Not every task benefits from collaboration, and not all collaboration looks the same. This part of the program examines the different forms collaboration can take — hierarchical, peer-based, cooperative, competitive, and learning-focused — and helps participants decide which approach fits which situation. The group will also discuss what gets in the way of effective collaboration after entities combine and how to address it.
Bumps in the Road: Understanding Reactions to Conflict
Conflict in a newly combined team is not a sign that something has gone wrong. It is a predictable part of the process. This section addresses the most common unproductive reactions to conflict — the ones that make things worse rather than better — and introduces a range of approaches that give participants more choices when tension arises. Participants will examine their own tendencies and consider when a different response would serve the team better.
Compassionate Candor: Getting to the Heart of a Matter
The program closes with the skill that makes everything else sustainable: the ability to say something difficult in a way the other person can hear. The group will work with the HEART model as a framework for delivering honest feedback and navigating hard conversations with both directness and care. Participants will apply the model to realistic scenarios drawn from the experience of combined teams and practice the kind of conversation most people avoid until it is too late.
Target Audience
This program is designed for groups that want to:
- Build shared understanding and alignment after a merger, acquisition, reorganization, or team combination.
- Develop a clearer picture of individual workstyles and how to leverage them across a newly combined group.
- Strengthen collaboration and conflict-resolution skills in an environment where trust is still developing.
- Give team members a practical framework for honest, constructive conversation during a period of change.
Frequently Asked Questions About This Combined Teams Training Program
Who should attend this program?
This program suits any group navigating a merger, acquisition, reorganization, or significant team combination. It works well for mixed groups that include members from both sides of a combination, as well as for leadership teams responsible for managing the integration process.
How soon after a combination should this program run?
Earlier is generally better. The program is most effective when teams still have the opportunity to establish shared norms, rather than after habits and tensions have already calcified. That said, it also works well for teams that have been combined for some time and recognize that the cultural integration work was never fully done.
Can the program incorporate our organization’s own assessment tools?
Yes. The workstyle section of the program references several options and can incorporate tools your organization already uses. We can discuss which assessments make the most sense for your group as part of the planning conversation.
Is this program available in an onsite format?
Yes. As with all Business Training Works programs, we can modify content and format as needed to meet your group’s specific goals and objectives.
How long is this program?
The standard format is a two-hour virtual session. We can adjust the duration and delivery format based on your schedule and priorities.