The GRPI Model

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DaveLongMedia

Take your team to new heights, and achieve peak performance.

Team conflict and ineffectiveness often have the same root causes: unclear goals, misunderstood roles, undefined processes, and poor relationships. 

By taking time to clarify and address each of these areas, you can help a new team get off to a strong start, and you can quickly address problems that crop up along the way. In this article, we look at the GRPI Model*, a simple framework that helps you do this.

About the Model 

Richard Beckhard, one of the founders of organizational development, introduced the GRPI Model in the early 1970s. The acronym stands for:

• Goals.
• Roles.
• Processes.
• Interactions/Interpersonal Relationships.

When you address each of these elements, you can clarify your team's purpose, set priorities, increase efficiency, and identify and prevent potential problems. You can also use GRPI as a diagnostic checklist to help people who aren't operating at their best, as well as to "fine tune" your team, so that people work together more effectively. 

Each of the GRPI Model's four letters are listed in the order of their importance in the team. So, for example, when people are unclear about their goals, they will be confused about the role that they play within the group. This, in turn, means that they can't follow processes effectively to accomplish their tasks, which has a negative impact on their interactions and relationships, because they can't work with others effectively. ...