Teaming How To Build A Team

Writen by Philip Lye

Team building takes work but the results are worth it. The essential ingredient is time and patience.

If you really want to build a team that will achieve outstanding results you can.

The Hype

Over the years team work has been the flavor of the day with many businesses spending considerable money in trying to achieve a positive and harmonious team structure.

Some have found the results they looked for but many have not.

Why is this so?

Team building has a number of foundation building blocks that are essential for a team to function.

Commitment of the Manager or Owner

Some managers and owners get excited about team possibilities only to weary over time where the pressures of business and day to day life grind them down.

Your commitment by way of your action and time are critical to your team's success.

Time

It takes time to build teams. Trust and respect need to be earnt and there are no short cuts. Make a decision to pay the cost and demonstrate your commitment.

Patience

Life sometimes throws us a curve ball and not all of our plans go according to the script.

Make a commitment to be patient and as long as you see incremental progress realize progress is progress.

Celebrate Success and do not condemn failures

Learn to celebrate your successes as a team as you go along and learn from failure. Failure is a fantastic teacher if you look at it that way. If you own the business or are a manager realize that you are particularly under scrutiny of your team more so when failure occurs.

Your reaction to change and failure will ultimately determine the amount of buy in you achieve from your team.

Learn to Delegate

As business owners we are sometimes afraid to delegate. Start with small things and as your team gets confidence and does the right thing increase the responsibility.

Be quick to learn

Be quick to learn from each other. The most unlikely team member may be sitting on the very edge you have been looking for in your business.

Listen

Many managers and employees are terrible listeners. Learn to hear what people are really saying and don't devalue their contributions.

Encouragement

It has been reported that children need 7 compliments to counteract 1 negative statement.

How much more important then is it to encourage your team. Anyone can condemn however a good manager and team member knows how to give genuine encouragement. Show genuine interest.

An Example

Before starting Biz Momentum I once took over an organisation that was almost beyond repair. By applying these principals by listening and resourcing employees I took the company from a damaging loss to a substantial profit within 1 year. This was a complex business with complex people and serious mistrust issues.

The cost to me was emotional commitment to change and to listen - it worked.

I was subsequently summoned overseas to report to the main shareholder who wanted to know how this was done so quickly. The answer is easy, the application harder the question is will you pay the price.

Visit www.biz-momentum.com for more information. You can do it - apply some of these principles and you will achieve results

Philip Lye is the founder of Biz Momentum providing strategic human resource management advice to help your business grow. Philip is a author and educator who trains management and employees to work together to achieve tangible results. Philip has had considerable international experience.

Visit http://www.biz-momentum.com for other helpful articles.

Teamwork In The Workplace A Definition

Writen by Chris Stowell

A tight knit team is a group of competent individuals who care deeply about each other. They are fiercely committed to their mission, and are highly motivated to combing their energy and expertise to achieve a common objective. From our observation and studies on teamwork in the workplace, we have found three primary conditions that have to be met in order to attain higher levels of team performance and member satisfaction.

1. Resources and Commitment
2. Ownership and Heart
3. Learning

These three conditions are the heart and soul of teamwork. These conditions are not a blueprint. Each group is unique, and the specifics and details of teamwork have to be worked out separately. Let's look closer at number one - Resources and Commitment. RESOURCES AND COMMITMENT

A strong personal commitment and leap of faith are needed to start up and sustain tight knit teams. Genuine energy and resources are required during the early stages. For example, important non-task time is needed for teams to meet and establish identity, expectations, spirit, bonds, and patience is required for learning, coaching and behavior change that is consistent with team principles. Investment in teamwork is very intangible. You can't measure it like most corporate assets that can be sold off for a profit if you have a couple of bad quarters. Teamwork in the workplace requires a lot of care, sensitivity, and patience for it to pay off in the long run. This is not exactly the formula that most organizations run on these days. Typically we see organizations pre occupied with putting out fires and handling crises. Most organizations have a very short-term focus and many leaders are not enlightened enough to invest in fire prevention and not get caught by the excitement of the task or by the activity trap that is so common today. It doesn't take much to bring a group of individuals together to do a job especially if you are depending on just a compensation package to get them to produce. On the other hand, teamwork in the workplace does take a deep personal commitment and belief in team synergy and collaboration. Some managers harbor the belief that work only gets done when there is a singular powerful, expert, authoritative figure running the work group.

When you look closely at it, you are likely to find that a disturbingly large number of organizations are built around rugged individualism and that people want to build their own empires and work independently. So many of us have been taught in life to commit to win-lose competition for academic grades and sports scores. We learn to "go for the jugular" very early on in life, and we put our faith and commitment into this mode of thinking. Competition can be fun and rewarding if we can get this powerful drive aimed and the right target. The problem we see in a lot of situations is that teamwork in the workplace is being killed by "friendly fire." In other words, we are directing our competitive energies at looking better than another person or looking better than another team in the organization.

All too often we compete for personal rewards at the expense of others. We act as though our department is in a race with other departments, and we take our eye off the real competition. The fact of the matter is that we have found few organizations that are committed enough to base some of the reward system on teamwork and make it a priority. It seems that in earlier generations it wasn't a big problem and teamwork was naturally rewarding. People on the farms and ranches had to cooperate to survive. Successful crops and survival of the livestock depended on joining the efforts of many. Barns and homes were constructed as a result of teamwork, only we called it being neighborly.

Amazing things could be accomplished today if we could get members and leaders to trust and commit to the teamwork process of joint problem solving, consensus decision making and shared leadership and win/win conflict resolution.

If you would like to learn more about teamwork in the workplace or to discover how CMOE has assisted teams around the world please contact a Regional Manager at (801)569-3444.

Dont Waste Your Money On Team Building

Writen by Doug Staneart

Thousands of companies wasted hundreds of thousands of dollars in revenue last year on "Team Building" programs that didn't develop more of a team atmosphere within their organizations. The term "Team Building" has come to have so many definitions that it can mean just about anything to anybody.

The definition I like is the following:

Team Building – Any exercise or program that helps a group of INTERDEPENDANT people create LONG-TERM behavior change resulting in a more efficient or productive culture.

If a company or organization is considering investing in a team building program, the first question that needs to be asked is, "Is my group interdependent?" – meaning does the success of each member of the group depend primarily on the success of the other members of the group? For instance, the success of the operations department might depend heavily on the success of the sales department which might depend heavily on the success of the marketing department. Conducting a team building program among the managers or employees of these departments at the same time might be beneficial. However, the success of each individual sales person will probably not depend primarily on the success of the other sales people. So, a sales manager spending money on a team building program for his/her sales people would probably be wasting time and money.

If your group is interdependent, then the next question to ask is "What kind of things are happening within this group that lets me know they are not acting efficiently as a team?" or "What areas can we improve in?" You might ask more specific questions to determine individual areas for improvement such as the following: Are there areas of miscommunication that slow down processes or cause rework? Are there conflicts which bring down morale? Do departments focus on their own success at the expense of other departments? Is it tough for new employees to fit in with the experienced team members? Are changes in policy resisted by team members? Do team members feel as though they have no say in policy?

The answers to any of these questions can help a team leader determine what types of team building programs might be most effective for a group. If you find it difficult to determine the individual areas that would have the most dramatic impact on the performance of your group, realize that most professional trainers have low-cost or free assessments that can be conducted to determine these areas for a group.

The next step in determining the right program for your group is to determine which programs on the market will give your team improvement in the most areas that you have identified, and which will give your team long-term improvement so that you will not have to continually repeat the training process over time.

Once you have done the previous steps, this last step is pretty simple. You can do a standard internet search for training in the areas you've identified, and then check a number of references for each proposal you receive.

One quick thing you can do to save time is to look only at organizations and trainers who specialize in training or team building. People and companies who can make a living specializing in this type of work will probably do pretty well, but a company specializing in the fitness industry (outdoor adventures, ropes courses,) selling beach chairs (Beach Olympics,) or driving race cars or flying airplanes probably won't create a long-term behavior change in your team.

Comradery may be built and lost in an afternoon, but a team atmosphere can last for generations.

Doug Staneart, doug@buildingyourteam.com is CEO of The Leader's Institute, http://www.buildingyourteam.com, specializing in leadership, public speaking, and team building training for individuals and groups. He can be reached toll-free at 1-800-872-7830.

How Oneonone Executive Coaching Can Work For You

Writen by Carol Coulter

Does your company need a jumpstart? Is revenue low, morale declining, and your leadership tactics no longer making an impact? This may be the perfect time to look into leadership coaching.

A good executive coaching program should do more than just set you up with a speaker reading over a PowerPoint presentation. Team up your senior leaders with a good corporate coaching program, and you could be discussing fostering relationships, building strategy, and improving revenue and communications all while hitting the slopes, climbing a mountain or rafting some white water. It's easy to connect in an environment where you can be creative, and think outside the box.

A good leadership system can make all the difference in your organization. It effects; communication, human performance, accountability, delivery and measurement. A one-on-one approach, and a program that is tailored to suit your organization's specific needs, is the best choice in executive coaching.

There are a few important things to consider if you want to engage in an executive coaching program. Look for a company that will provide you with someone who is more than just a speaker. You want to be paired up with someone who will be a trusted advisor to you as your organization grows and changes. Also, a good coaching program will include industry consultants to provide expert advice in some technical areas. Talk to your consultant about the specific goals you want your leadership program to meet. Every business or organization needs direction in a different area or department. This is what makes a one-on-one coaching program so unique; you work on meeting goals where your company needs it the most.

To learn more about your possible executive coaching program, please visit www.maxcomminc.com today.

Carol Coulter has been the director of marketing communications at Maxcomm Inc. for five years. She has been in the management consulting business since 1979.

Teamwork Rowing Amp Paddles

Writen by Leanne Hoagland-Smith

Effective and sustainable teambuilding is necessary in today's marketplace where fewer people are being required to do more work. More often than not, the adage "Getting everyone rowing in the same direction" is associated with building effective teams. However, is this really true? If everyone is rowing in the same direction, will the organization or the individual project realize a dramatic return for everyone's results?

For example, a recent trip to a large international law firm allowed me the opportunity to read an electronic sign with a picture of a boat and 8 oarsmen all rowing together. I reflected upon this picture as I talked with the HR director who was sharing with me management's philosophy. After he finished, I asked him this question: "If I were to survey 10 of your employees or 10% of the approximately 100 employees at this location and ask them to name the top 3 goals of the organization for the current year, would I walk away with 3 goals, 30 goals or 100 goals or more?" He responded that he would like to say 3 because of all the ongoing work that has been done and is being done to communicate the goals, but he believed that I would receive more than 30. His answer demonstrates that effective team building goes beyond communicating the message, but must be internalized by each team member. My next question was simply what is all of these "missed strokes" costing the organization?

Returning to the visualization of the boat being rowed by everyone towards the same point on the horizon, we presume that everyone is using the same oar where the paddle is hidden just below the water line. Yet, if all rowers would lift their oars, we might see that some of the paddles have different lengths, shapes and sizes. Some paddles may even have holes in them. These paddles have changed because the rowers have internalized communications differently and their subsequent actions or behaviors are based upon this internalization.

Effective teamwork goes beyond knowing the overall team's direction. Constant monitoring of the "paddles" is necessary to ensure that during the "rowing process" the paddles have not changed and are still delivering the most efficient and effective results.

Leanne Hoagland-Smith, M.S. President of ADVANCED SYSTEMS, is the Process Specialist. With over 25 years of business and education experience, she builds peace and abundance by connecting the 3P's of Passion, Purpose and Performance through process improvement. Her ROI driven process solutions affect sustainable change in 4 key areas: financials, leadership, relationships and growth & innovation with a variety of industries. She aligns the strategies, systems and people to develop loyal internal customers that lead to external customers. As co-author of M.A.G.I.C.A.L. Potential:Living an Amazing Life Beyond Purpose to Achievement due for June 2005 release, Leanne speaks nationally to a variety of audiences. Please call Leanne a call at 219.759.5601 or leanne@processspecialist.com if you are seeking amazing results.

Copyright 2005(c) Leanne Hoagland-Smith, http://www.processspecialist.com

Permission to publish this article, electronically or in print, as long as the bylines are included, with a live link, and the article is not changed in any way (grammatical corrections accepted).