CATeams™ Training

CATeams™ training is dedicated to one aim – unleashing group brilliance! We support people, teams and organizations to draw out the best in themselves and each other and to collaborate effectively to create outstanding performance.

In today’s business environment, it is not enough for leaders to have expertise in technical areas only. Creating outstanding performance requires skills in leadership, in understanding situations, groups and individuals, and in influencing. These skills, along with the techniques and tools to create and sustain outstanding teams, are not something people are born with – they can be learned, developed and improved through practice. As these new skills are mastered, managers, project or team leaders find that leading people to successful results is one of the most fun and satisfying achievements they can have at work. These skills also open many career opportunities.

All of our courses have their roots in neuroscience, evidence-based social sciences, such as developmental psychology, social psychology, systems thinking and social complexity, as well as proven methods in project management, such as Lean and Agile.

Who can benefit?

While anyone can benefit from these courses, our experience shows that the greatest value is to people who:

• Are in positions of leading others - project managers, team leaders and executives - or are filling the role of coach, Scrum Master or equivalent in an agile software team
• Have already developed a set of people and project management skills and are ready to take a quantum leap in their ability to lead, influence and understand complex dynamics

Where do we train?

CATeams™ training is delivered in a series of public courses in the UK and elsewhere - check the training dates for more details.

The courses can also be delivered in-house, either stand-alone or as part of a customised program of team coaching. Please contact us for further information.

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CATeams™ Core

Complex Adaptive Teams: Social Complexity at Work
Coaching Self-Organising Teams
Getting Into the Flow: Moving Teams into the Peak Performance Zone
Dealing with Challenge: Power and Conflict in Teams and Organizations

CATeams™ Continuing

Special Needs in Teams and Organisations: Dealing with Asperger Syndrome in IT
Innovation and Creativity: Unleashing Group Brilliance
The Situation Room: a Clinic for Leadership Development

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Complex Adaptive Teams: Social Complexity at Work

(1 day)

This one-day introduction to CATeams™ practices will help you take the first steps in unleashing group brilliance. It teaches basic principles in understanding teams, groups and organisations as complex adaptive systems, and explains why it's important to take this perspective. These insights and associated techniques are valuable in many different scenarios, and will improve your personal effectiveness as well as helping transform your team and organisation.

This course is for you if...

• You're working as a team coach, team leader or manager, and want to take the next step in unleashing group brilliance
• You're enthusiastic about improving your skills and understanding in group and organisational dynamics
• You’ve completed Certified Scrum Master or other team leadership training, and want to enhance and expand your range of skills and tools

What you will learn

• You'll understand the value of thinking about teams in terms of group dynamics and social complexity
• You'll know that it's possible to change the performance of a team from within, by using simple and learnable techniques
• You'll take away a basic toolset to use in your day-to-day work
• You'll have a new perspective on your work in your team and organisation

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Coaching Self-Organizing Teams

(1 day)

Self-organization of human beings is a tricky thing. Agile coaches, especially ScrumMasters, are constantly challenged with how to motivate/persuade/trick their teams into self-organizing and doing things, without telling them what to do, but there is very little information or training on this topic. Allowing a team to self- organize along the lines of “oh well, they’re all adults, they’ll figure it out” is just as irresponsible as reverting to the command-and control school of management. So, how should one go about it?

This day-long course expands on material presented throughout Europe in Joseph Pelrine's popular and highly-rated conference sessions (XP 2008, Agile 2008, OOP 2009, QCon 2009, SPA 2009), presenting an approach utilizing leading- edge research and techniques from social complexity science and team dynamics to change the dynamics of a team with the aim of optimizing their work together.

This course is for you if...

• You're working as a team coach, team leader or manager, and want to get your team to take responsibility for their work
• You're interested in learning how to change group behaviour without telling people what to do
• You want to become the best agile coach you can

What you will learn

• You'll receive an understanding of the dynamics involved in social self-organization
• You'll learn how to change the behaviour and performance of a team from outside
• You'll discover how to analyze and stimulate social networks to make both co-located and distributed teams work better
• You'll get a set of cognitive models and tools which you can put into use right away

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Getting Into the Flow: Moving Teams into the Peak Performance Zone

(2 days)


This course will help you understand why some teams and projects get into the flow and are fulfilling, while many others do not. It also provides a toolkit for getting your team more into the flow. It offers basic principles how peak team performance is created and provides concrete tools for helping teams to move towards this.
You’ll discover how teams, groups and organizations are complex adaptive systems, and learn tools for leading from this perspective, along with models for understanding different core motives that influence both leaders and team members.

These insights and associated techniques are valuable in many different scenarios, and will improve your personal effectiveness as well as helping transform your team and organization.

This course is for you if...

• You're working in or with a team in an organization that's under pressure to achieve more
• You're working in a team or organization which doesn't live up to its promise, want to understand why, and would like to change things for the better
• You want access to a set of thinking tools and interventions that will help you raise your team's performance and your own profile
• You're working as a team coach, team leader or manager, and you want an in-depth appreciation of team dynamics.

What you will learn

• You'll understand why some teams take off, and why some teams fail to become brilliant
• You'll understand the complex nature of team dynamics and social interactions
• You'll be able to make a dispassionate assessment of your team's current state and its potential for change
• You'll be able to influence individuals and teams to achieve positive outcomes
• You'll take away a comprehensive set of interventions that you can apply in your day-to-day work

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Special Needs in Teams and Organisations: Dealing with Asperger Syndrome in IT

(1 day)

This enlightening and informative workshop will provide a new understanding of individuals in your team or organisation who display characteristics associated with Asperger Syndrome and high-functioning autism. It explains why social interaction, team work, flexibility and communication - all increasingly demanded by the ways in which we'd like teams to work -  can be difficult and stressful for some team members. Using experiential exercises, assessment tests and input from a software engineer who has Asperger Syndrome, this course will improve your ability to effectively support these individuals and maximise their potential.

The course is led by Sarah Hendrickx, a leading UK expert on autism, Asperger Syndrome, and their effect on individuals, organisations and communities. The author of four books on the condition, Sarah has provided training, coaching and advisory support to many organisations including government departments, universities, schools and colleges, software companies and individuals. She has also worked for a successful adult Asperger Syndrome mentoring programme since its inception and played a major role in its initial development and organisation.

This course is for you if:

• You manage or coach individuals who have find social communication, flexibility and communication problematic
• You want to learn strategies to support these team members to be able to contribute effectively
• You want to gain relevant knowledge in this area and confidence in how to manage people with different abilities

What you’ll learn:

• An in-depth understanding of the processing differences of those with an autistic profile
• Characteristics and implications for the individual – occupationally, socially and in other areas of functioning
• First-hand perspective from Software Engineer with Asperger Syndrome
• Communication strategies and workplace adjustments to take away
• A new perspective and understanding of your team

Please note that this course does not qualify or encourage you to diagnose or identify individuals who may have Asperger Syndrome, which is a medical condition, and is for team and organisational management purposes only.

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Dealing with Challenge: Power and Conflict in Teams and Organizations

 (2 Days)

We're often faced with conflicts in our work lives - from simple disagreements to complex and seemingly intractable clashes of character and interest. What would it be like if - instead of avoiding or being worried about conflict - we were able to embrace it, to steer it towards resolution, and - if necessary - to provoke it in order to promote change and new thinking?
This course focuses on the more challenging aspects of working with teams - handling difficult situations and difficult people, and working productively with conflict in individuals, teams and organizations

This course is for you if...

• You have a team with - maybe - more than its share of egos and difficult individuals
• You work in a team or organization where the act of making decisions is associated with pain and conflict
• You have a team or organization that needs to change, but doesn't have the energy or urgency to do it
• You find that fear of conflict prevents you and others from sharing perceptions

What you will learn

• You’ll understand the hidden dynamics of power, and how it shapes conflict
• You'll be able to escalate and de-escalate conflict in the service of improving team performance
• You'll have a deep understanding of the sources of conflict in teams and individuals
• You'll be able to transform differences into opportunities
• You'll increase your confidence in dealing with confrontation
• You'll increase your ability to influence up and across as well as down

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Innovation and Creativity: Unleashing Group Brilliance

(1 Day)

Organizations which foster innovation are increasingly at the forefront of their markets, and this trend is increasing. Innovation and creativity are not mysterious gifts, which only a rare few are endowed with. They are the product of ways of thinking, learning and behaving that can be learned. What's more, fostering innovation in our teams creates a multiplying effect and leads to new levels of group cohesion.

This course will show you the internal conditions (our mindsets) and external conditions (our cultural climates) for groups to become more creative and innovative.

This course is for you if...

• Your team can function together but needs to be able to find more creative solutions
• You want to understand how to think outside the box to come up with novel ideas

What you will learn

• You'll know how to use the psychology of innovation to access the brain’s right hemisphere, creating fresh thinking and new ideas
• You'll have access to a set of proven techniques used in the world's most innovative environments to stimulate group creativity
• You'll learn tools and skills to make a good team great, and a great team outstanding

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The Situation Room: a Clinic for Leadership Development

(1 Day)

This is a small group (limited to 6) that acts as an action learning set to deal with the real-life challenges and situations brought by the participants. There is little formal curriculum. Rather, the group acts as a reflective learning community, directed by Ben Fuchs, an experienced psychologist, supervisor and CATeams™ partner.

This course is for you if…..

• You a have complex or challenging situation where you would like gain clarity or explore your options
• You would like to deepen the practical application of your strategic thinking, knowledge and people skills in specific situations