Historically, efforts to improve team performance were focused on the individual team members: change the individual and change the team, or simply replace the leader and the team will improve. Although this approach can work, it has its limitations. Moreover, replacing people, if that is even an option, can cause a loss of organizational knowledge (which may go to a competitor) or have other negative consequences.

The Cornerstone approach to team development offers a fundamentally different way of working with teams. We take the attention off the one-on-one team member relationships and focus instead on the team as a whole.

Because the culture inside a team infects and influences individual members, it plays a significant role in how the team works together and what the team produces. We help the team learn how its own spoken and unspoken rules, vision, ideas, blind spots, expectations, and even moods impact its culture. Then we coach the team to make conscious and intentional choices about how to work together to produce the best results.

Our work with teams is built on the following principles:

• Teams exist to produce results.
• Everyone on the team is accountable.
• All team members have a voice which must be heard.
• The most successful teams emphasize and develop their strengths.
• All teams have the ability to excel.

Our approach is adapted from research by experts such as Daniel Goleman and Adele Lynn (Emotional Intelligence), Gary Smalley and John Gottman (Relationships) Peter Senge (Learning Organizations), David Cooperrider (Appreciative Inquiry), Jon Katzenbach and Douglas Smith (High-Performing Teams), Arnold Mindell (Process Psychology), Patrick Lencioni (Team Effectiveness), Blake and Mouton (Managerial Grid).