Course Highlights
This one-day team-building workshop will:
- Introduce the Team Trust Pyramid as a framework for assessing where a team is strong and where it needs work.
- Give participants a structured way to evaluate their team’s performance at each level of the pyramid.
- Examine how teams set goals, create accountability, and build the commitment that keeps people moving in the same direction.
- Address the rhythm of effective team communication through daily, weekly, and monthly sync practices.
- Build the skills in listening, respect, and empathy that hold a team together when pressure rises.
- Give participants the RESOLVE model as a practical tool for addressing disagreements before they become entrenched.
Course Overview
Functional teams do not happen by accident. They are built deliberately, one behavior at a time, by people who understand what trust actually requires and are willing to do the work of building it. Most teams know something is off before they can name what it is. This workshop gives them the language and the tools to name it, assess it, and address it.
“The Functional Team: What Successful Groups Do Differently” is a one-day onsite workshop built around two proprietary BTW frameworks: the Team Trust Pyramid and the RESOLVE model. The Team Trust Pyramid gives teams a structured way to assess where they are functioning well and where the foundation is weaker than it looks. The RESOLVE model gives them a practical process for working through conflict constructively rather than around it. Between those two anchors, the workshop addresses everything that fills a team’s day: goal-setting, accountability, meeting rhythms, communication, and the habits of respect and empathy that determine whether trust grows or quietly erodes.
The following outline highlights some of the workshop’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:
- Describe the Team Trust Pyramid and assess their team’s performance at each level.
- Define team goals, milestones, and objectives in a way that creates clarity rather than confusion.
- Identify practices that build commitment to shared goals and accountability for following through.
- Describe what effective daily, weekly, and monthly team communication looks like in practice.
- Demonstrate the listening, respect, and empathy habits that functional teams share.
- Apply the RESOLVE model to address a real or realistic team conflict and check for genuine agreement before moving on.
Workshop Modules
One Brick at a Time: Understanding the Trust Pyramid
The workshop opens with the Team Trust Pyramid, a proprietary BTW framework that maps the elements teams need to function at their best. Participants will learn the pyramid and then use a structured assessment to evaluate their own team’s performance at each level. The assessment surfaces specific strengths and gaps rather than general impressions, and it gives the group a shared picture of where they are before the day’s work begins. The conversation this section generates tends to be more candid than teams expect.
A Solid Foundation: Exploring Systems and Structures
Trust does not survive without structure. This section examines the systems that allow a team to operate consistently even when motivation fluctuates and circumstances shift. Participants will explore how to define goals that actually guide behavior, set milestones that create accountability, and establish the meeting rhythms that keep a team aligned from day to day, week to week, and month to month. The group will also discuss what happens when a team takes on too many priorities at once and what to do about it.
Critical Elements: Essential Skills
Functional teams share a set of skills that are not technical and not visible on any job description but show up in every interaction. This part of the day examines what those skills are, how to recognize them, and how to develop them. Participants will explore what it looks like to communicate in ways that give context rather than just information, surface challenges rather than just status, and contribute to decisions even when they lack authority. The section is practical and applied rather than conceptual.
Respect and Empathy: Practical How-To Guidance
Most teams agree that respect and empathy matter. Fewer teams have a clear idea of what either looks like in practice on a difficult Tuesday. This section moves from principle to behavior. Participants will examine specific listening habits, concrete ways to demonstrate that a colleague’s time matters, and practical approaches to finding common ground with people whose experiences and perspectives are different from their own. Recognition also gets its moment here, with attention to what makes acknowledgment feel genuine rather than performative.
RESOLVE: Addressing Disagreements
The day closes with conflict. Not as a problem to be avoided but as a normal feature of any team that is doing real work together. Participants will learn and practice the RESOLVE model, a BTW framework for moving through disagreement in a way that addresses the real issue, keeps relationships intact, and produces agreements people actually intend to keep. The group will also work with a set of questions designed to check for genuine buy-in rather than surface compliance before a conflict conversation ends.
Target Audience
This workshop is designed for groups that want to:
- Build a shared understanding of what trust actually requires and where their team stands.
- Develop the habits of goal-setting, accountability, and communication that distinguish functional teams from groups that simply coexist.
- Give team members practical tools for the moments when respect breaks down or conflict surfaces.
- Leave with a common framework and common language for talking about how the team works together.
Frequently Asked Questions About This Functional Team Workshop
What is the Team Trust Pyramid?
The Team Trust Pyramid is a proprietary Business Training Works framework that organizes the elements teams need to function effectively at their best. Participants learn the pyramid and assess their own team against it during the workshop. No advance preparation is required.
What is the RESOLVE model?
RESOLVE is a proprietary Business Training Works model for navigating team conflict constructively. The facilitator introduces and teaches it during the workshop. Teams that have used it consistently tell us it gives them a shared language for difficult conversations that makes it easier to get to real resolution rather than temporary truce.
Is this workshop appropriate for teams that are already functioning well?
Yes. In our experience, teams that are performing well often get the most out of this workshop because they have the safety and the candor to engage with the Trust Pyramid assessment honestly. High-functioning teams frequently discover one or two levels of the pyramid that are thinner than they realized, and having a framework to address those gaps before they become problems is genuinely useful.
What if our team has real conflict that is not resolved?
This workshop does not avoid that situation. The RESOLVE module is designed to address genuine conflict, and skilled BTW facilitators are experienced at creating conditions where difficult conversations can happen productively. If you know your team has specific dynamics that need attention, let us know in advance and we can tailor the focus accordingly.
How long is this program?
The standard format is a full-day onsite session. We can adjust the duration and emphasis based on your schedule and priorities.