Recently, The Hodge Group had the opportunity to recruit an entire development team for an organization and observed how the team organized itself into a cohort. The goal of any cohort is to build an environment emphasizing collaboration to achieve a specific and common goal.
Recruiting an entire team at one time to form a cohort is not a common opportunity, but building a cohort model for team development is possible with any team size and structure.
The Hodge Group assists organizations with team development several times a year and we have found when onboarding a new team member, establishing a cohort model accomplishes the following:
- Leveling the hierarchy.
- Inviting full team input into every point of development and execution.
- Fostering an environment for mutual accountability.
We don’t prescribe a particular team structure, but ask yourself if you think resetting the resources you have into a cohort model is worth considering. We can help you assess your current goals, the resources you have to achieve those goals, and recommend building toward those goals by hiring, repurposing, recasting, or in any combination that makes the most sense. The goal will be to create a development team cohort that unites individuals with different skill sets and experiences and provides the opportunity for them to learn from one another, grow together and offer one another constructive feedback. This will not only improve their performance on an individual level but can serve as a strong foundation on which to build your organization’s success.