Combining the relationship intelligence of the Strength Deployment Inventory® with the framework of Crucial Learning courses seemed like a natural fit to Kate Abshier, a seasoned trainer of both the SDI and Crucial Conversations® for Mastering Dialogue who helped test the new Crucial Teams® course last fall.

“Every time I facilitate the SDI, I mention Crucial Conversations because you’re talking about relationships, which is what the SDI is,” Abshier said. “It’s all about the conversations you have and how you approach those difficult conversations or meaningful conversations in your relationships. To have both in one class was great to experience because they’re naturally interconnected.”

Abshier was among a handful of certified trainers invited to train Crucial Teams last year when it was being developed. Crucial Learning’s product team selected Abshier because she was already certified in both the SDI and a Crucial Learning course, providing a much-needed perspective for feedback.

“I can see where we will implement it in my organization because we’re getting that request already,” Abshier said. “We receive various customized training requests from teams that either are experiencing communication challenges or are trying to understand each other’s differences, so they can work better together. People want to take their SDI results and determine how to use them to strengthen their teams, and that’s what Crucial Teams does.”

The SDI looks at an individual’s motives, conflict response, strengths, and how those strengths can be overdone. In Crucial Teams, each participant takes the assessment as prework, and those results play into the course design. The trainer helps teammates understand what makes one another tick—and why some may struggle to work together effectively.

“‘You don’t have to change who you are to change what you do,’ is a powerful statement used in the training,” she said. “We may need to adjust our approach to relationships and how we communicate with our team; however, we are not compromising who we are to become more effective in what we do.”

Abshier said she appreciates the enhanced and directed use of the SDI Platform during the training to prepare the participants to use it as an ongoing resource. 

She shared examples in the course of learners who paired up with teammates with whom they experience conflict and used the course as an opportunity to work through it.

“Crucial Teams definitely creates that unique awareness of, ‘If she’s this way, and I’m going to work with her, then I’ve got to be mindful and maybe change the way I approach things,’” Abshier said. “After completing the course, participants realize, ‘We now understand each other, and we’ll approach things differently after this training.’”

Unlike other Crucial Learning courses, Crucial Teams is designed specifically for existing teams. For the best experience, we strongly recommend that learners attend with teammates—people they work with on a regular basis.

Abshier said she could see how important it was to have direct collaborators and teammates with existing dynamics together in the course.

“They get so much more out of it because they can take their results and actually use the specific team report, for example,” she said.

Abshier taught the course in a virtual setting across three days, and she said she appreciated the time allotted for the training. She could see the value of each of the selected videos and activities.

“The New View Interview is invaluable as a cumulative approach to applying the skills taught in this training,” she said. “The example where two colleagues who have an underlying conflict and work on the same team choosing to be partners for this training activity and resolve their conflict is very effective.” 

Although the course launched recently, Abshier said she’s eager to roll it out in her organization soon.

“The audience seemed to love and value the content, and they were enthusiastic about applying what they were learning, which is the case in all of my Crucial Learning classes,” she said. “This course is high quality and well planned. The fact that Crucial Teams is designed to take your individual results and apply them with your team is so smart. It’s a refreshing, new approach to facilitate for a team. It flows well and just works.”