Team Building Articles & News
Teaming How to Build a Team
Team building takes work but the results are worth it. The essential ingredient is time and patience.
Manage Expectations to Reduce Everyday Frustrations
Just today my partner Russ and I sat down to hash out a nagging frustration. It took a little bantering back and forth [not without some rise in emotional tension I’ll have you know] until we got at the heart of the issue. Unmet expectations! Stop and look back at the last time you were frustrated with your life or business partner. Odds are it was because he/she did not meet your expectations. Expectations of… Leaving the toilet seat up or ...
Raising Issues In Your Group or Offline
In a recent group coaching session, a client mentioned that he thought his monthly meetings with his peers were dysfunctional. He felt they achieved "false closure" on key decisions - they'd discuss an issue, not make a clear decision, and move on, all acting as if they were clear. He felt one person took too much airtime on a regular basis, that the agendas weren't focused. On top of all this, people would come to him individually after these meetings to complain to him about them - ...
Downsizing Your Team
Team Building Question: Our office has recently learned that about 20 percent of our staff will be losing their jobs in the next couple of months due to a relocation set down from our corporate office. Some open positions in my area are being posted for those losing their jobs. The morale in the workplace is really down right now, plus we are dealing with some disciplinary issues. I would be very open to any suggestions as to how to make this a smooth transition and boost ...
Team Journaling
The very effective tool of keeping a journal can be used in your workplace as well as at home. It is a powerful tool that can enhance our lives and support our personal and work well-being. Whether you journal your personal work experiences and goals, or use team journaling, journaling can easily be applied to your work environment.
How To Help A Sick Team Become Healthy
Team Building Question: A team is full of animosity, pretended interpersonal relationship, fear of bosses, mistrust and endless infighting what can I do as a team building facilitator? The Team Doc Says: Well, you’ve got your work cut out for you. Plan on this being a long term intervention. You can bet the team didn’t get this way overnight and there is more than likely some deep seated history and company cultural issues that have helped them get into this ...
Team Building Survey Reveals Clues, Not Answers
Team Building Question: I’m a manager of a team of 20 people and here is my question. At this year’s survey, the results show that my team members don’t think their colleagues (from my section and from other sections) often act on their own initiative. I would like to know what are the best ways to encourage team members to take initiative. Also, are you aware of any road blocks that would prevent employees to take initiative ? The Team Doc Says… Definition of scope, ...
Story Telling With a Purpose
For a brief time, I tried to sell life insurance. And, the operative word was 'tried' I can assure you. Although I thought I did a good job on the presentations and scripts provided by trainers, I did not make a single sale.
Feedback Confirming the Good News
The feedback I'm talking about here isn't some sort of formalised appraisal that takes place with your team members every month, or every six months or once a year. This feedback happens continually and it happens when you see or hear something you want to give feedback on. The trick is - keep it simple.
Joy and Laughter in the Workplace: Lessons From the Land of OZ
Turbulent Twisters You’ve read about it in the headlines and experienced it first hand... rapid change and constant stress. We're talking about mergers, acquisitions, downsizing, lean and mean, working harder not better, work and personal life completely out of whack! These all too familiar realities reflect the turbulent nature of corporate life. Against this backdrop, motivation, satisfaction and fulfillment can seem like remote, faint recollections of how things were ...
Business Innovation – Group Creativity
Creativity can be defined as problem identification and idea generation whilst innovation can be defined as idea selection, development and commercialisation.
Effective Team Building Part 1 Another Brick in the Wall!
The first in a series of articles giving a slightly different viewpoint on effective team building, condensed from an original seminar presented by the author, John Roberts. John is a Freelance Training Consultant and director of JayrConsulting Ltd. Part 1 deals with selecting and building the initial team. The ideas expressed are personal opinions built up from many years of experience in the Electronics/Aerospace industry, the Armed Forces, the Telecoms industry and the Training industry. ...
Conflict Is Cool
Having experienced more than my fair share of conflict over the years, from street fighting to more sophisticated law cases, I have become an avid student of the subject of Conflict Resolution. My bookshelves are full of literature on the topic and the public library is thinking of charging me for overuse.
The Magic and Mystery of Teams
As the world of manufacturing has become increasingly competitive, managers have diligently searched out new and innovative ways to increase productivity, multiply the power of every employee, and better utilize every resource in order to positively impact the bottom line.
Team Building requires one great dynamic for true Success Mateship
A Successful Team is built around mateship, around respect for your team mates and for yourself. I am not saying that everyone will get on like best buddies, what I noticed is that in all our ‘differences’ everyone was accepted as they were, got on within the boundaries of the club and got the job done. I have seen teams that have been full of stars, as I am sure you have too, and those teams have not succeeded. They have not achieved their full potentials as individuals or as a team.
Team Success with Innies: Why You Want Them on Your Team and How to Help Them Excel
Everyone knows, works or lives with “innies.” Who are they and what can they do for your team? Let’s find out!
Motivation The Benefits of Spending Time with Your Team
Benefit 1 - You get to understand them better Almost everyone wants to know that their manager is genuinely and positively interested in them. They may not always give that impression by their demeanour but trust me - they want to know you care; they want acceptance from you. If they know you care about them, then your relationship will be much more productive. Benefit 2 - You find out how they're handling the job As well as getting to know your team from a ...
Business Innovation – Effective Team Structures
Creativity can be defined as problem identification and idea generation whilst innovation can be defined as idea selection, development and commercialisation.
Leadership – Do The Simple But Important Things
Why do we human beings complicate things? Is it that we don’t believe that simple things work. From years of working with leaders at all levels and many different sectors here are the simple yet powerful steps you must take if you want to be a brilliant leader.
How to Align Your Team through Change
Eight Principles for Purposeful Alignment Effective teamwork requires individual members of the team to be connected by, and aligned to a common purpose, values and sense of identity. Sometimes individuals can drift away from the team as a result of the mental limitations they create about their work and role. The following eight principles can be considered as a guide to the type of thinking and action that will serve you well in your interactions with your ...
How Leaders Unlock Potential in Teams
Leaders are faced with unlocking the potential in the people that they lead and motivating the individual is a key part of this process. Motivation is not something that is done to an individual as they already posses it. What a leader does, to benefit the whole team, is to release, or unlock, it. Here are seven ways leaders unlock potential in people.
Presenteeism present in body absent in productivity
Presenteeism is alive and 'not well' in many businesses today. It will visit your business or may even be present as you read this article.
High Performing Teams: 10 Things You Want To Know About Building A High Performing Team
“Conflict becomes politics, commitment becomes ‘Only if it’s in my best interest’, accountability becomes ‘Only when it serves me,’ and results just fall by the wayside.” - Patrick Lencioni, author of “The Five Dysfunctions of a Team”, speaking about dysfunctional teams
Safety First Five Reasons to Hold a Routine Safety Meeting
Workplace safety is important to all businesses for ethical, legal and financial reasons. Keeping employees safe from injury is the right thing to do, it also keeps a business away from civil litigation and can lower costly compensation claims.
Team Building Part 2: Honesty is the Key!
The second in a series of 2 articles giving a slightly different viewpoint on effective team building, condensed from an original seminar presented by the author, John Roberts. John is a Freelance Training Consultant and director of JayrConsulting Ltd. Part 1 ( Another Brick in the Wall ) dealt with selecting and building the initial team. Part 2 deals with the culture that need to be in place to run the team really effectively. The ideas expressed are personal opinions built up from many ...
Feedback How to Make it Effective
Let's look at the detail of giving feedback. Whether you want to reinforce behaviour - Confirming feedback or change unacceptable behaviour - Productive feedback, there are certain steps you need to follow to make it work.
Franchisor Award Programs; Ideas and Innovation
Franchisors should also be heavy on the award side of motivational material. Award certificates and plaques should be given out to franchisees who perform above expectations. Each franchisor needs to take a look at their business model and find ways to best motivate the team. In our franchise company we came up with several ideas and continually innovated to find new ways to use awards to strengthen or franchise family. Awards will be given out for:
Motivating Teams
Introduction: Working with teams, whether as leader of a single team or manager of several, is an essential part of a manager's remit. Teamwork is rapidly becoming the preferred practice in many organizations as traditional corporate hierarchies give way to flat, multi-skilled working methods. This section is an indispensable and practical guide to leading teams with expertise, covering subjects such as defining the skills required to complete a project, establishing trust ...
Motivation Don't Make Your Team Uncomfortable
The people in your team may feel a bit uncomfortable when you sit down and spend time with them, particularly if they're not used to it. They might not be used to you doing it or perhaps a previous manager didn't do it. It's often the case that people are uncomfortable because they associate their manager sitting down with them as a prelude to a reprimand.
Team and Organizational Survival Strategies for Turbulent Economic Times
Survival: The Name of the New Economic Game People rarely have a neutral reaction to Survivor, the reality based TV show. Love it or hate it, with 51.7 million viewers for the final episode of its first season, it's impossible to ignore it. Given our turbulent economic climate, Survivor is a powerful metaphor for what's going on in the marketplace. We'll look at some of the parallels between Survivor and the real world. Then, we'll focus on survival ...