(Raleigh, N.C.) Team Coach Jim Morgan has opened operations in the Triangle, timed with the publication of his “do-it-yourself” book titled The SuddenTeams® Program, a step-by-step guide for managers and team members to achieve higher group performance with lower costs and less stress.

Morgan’s practice, TeamTrainers™ Consulting, offers a cost-effective alternative to “team building” activities or events by ensuring that the infrastructure of a high-performing team is put in place first, Morgan said. He opened his practice in 2000 in New Mexico before moving to Seattle in 2001.

“Team building has its place, but most managers put the cart before the horse by paying for those events before they have created what science says are the key elements of high-performance teams,” he said. Those elements include a mission, goals, group rules, written internal procedures and formal meeting facilitation practices. Unlike team building retreats, the TeamTrainers program is usually performed as part of the team’s regular meetings, using its real-world problems.

“The research literature provides no evidence that team building games provide any lasting financial benefit,” he said, whereas TeamTrainers guarantees its financial results will more than cover its costs.

Managers sometimes resist investing time in the key elements, and team members are skeptical because “they consider it too ‘touchy-feely,’” Morgan said. “But the evidence is overwhelming that the investment pays for itself many times over, and in my experience, even the most technical-minded members eventually admit they are happier on the job.” He noted that his program is designed to minimize or eliminate what researchers call the “storming” phase of team development from the cycle of “Forming, Storming, Norming, and Performing.”

TeamTrainers offers team training and coaching services, on-site teamwork classes, and meeting facilitation in addition to the team-training book. The company Web site, www.suddenteams.com, has been cited on the Internet and in print as a source of scientific facts about teamwork and includes a collection of free study summaries plus a teamwork blog. The book is available through the site and Amazon.com.

Morgan began training self-directed work teams at Los Alamos National Laboratory in 1994, and since then, he has worked with teams in various capacities at organizations such as Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard, and the City of Seattle. He holds a master’s degree in journalism from the University of Missouri and is a certified Project Management Professional (PMP®).