I have recently worked with BHP Billiton to develop high performance teams in their copper mines in Chile and the results obtained exceeded everybody´s expectations (see http://positivepsychologynews.com/news/guest-author/200812091298 ). The very first thing, and the most critical, is to diagnose the team´s interaction process according to the ML model. This would give me the coordinates on how to develop a training program suited for that team. Depending on the results of the diagnosis, the training program would take anywhere from a minimum of 2 days (which is rarely if ever the case) to a maximum of 9 months (which is not the most common situation). So, on average, we are talking about a 3 to 6 months training program. During these 3 to 6 months executives and their teams will have a few 2-days direct training with me and my associates and most of the time they will be implementing the ML model in their daily tasks (supervised and guided by us via e-mail ).

I don´t have the space here to go through the details of the training program, but I can state the main points:

1) the training, to honor the model, has to be nonlinear. This means I will use the principle that small but precise changes (based on the diagnosis) can bring significant and lasting changes in the team´s interaction process–and they always do.

2) executives and their teams have to “in-corporate” the ML model;i.e., they have to literally put into their bodies, not just their minds. That´s why I always work with a top expert on nonverbal behavior. Cognitive training is not enough, we must work extensively expanding their emotional fields and their coordination of actions as prescribed by the ML model.

3) executives need to reframe their management practices into the critical variables and parameters of the ML model:

a) balance inquiry and advocay,
b) balance outward with inward orientation (other vs. self focus)
c) keep their feedback processes within the Losada Zone (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Losada_Zone ); that is, positive feedback must outweigh negative feedback by about 3 to 1 but not more than 11 to 1.
d) increase their connectivity to the Losada line level (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Losada_line ). This means that for every disconnected person in the team you have to have at least three that are connected (in an 8-person team you need to have at least 6 that are connected). We measure the level of disconnection during the diagnosis phase and this allows us to target the required connectivity level using nonlinear techniques that are quick and effective.

More about the ML model and how it works can be found in http://positivepsychologynews.com/news/guest-author/200812081289 and http://blog.enablersnetwork.com/2009/11/01/marcial-losada-explains-his-research-for-our-blog-readers/