Team Building

By Denny Lancaster

Does this sound like a familiar story? A middle school student applied for a job and his prospective employer said, I am sorry but you cannot be employed because you are not yet 16. Then when reaching 16 years of age, the student applied again, only to be told he lacked the experience.

Website Award Programs listed within WebsAwards, UWSAG and AS!, to name just three award program rating services have much in common, all which would give young people a chance to gain experience doing research, writing and feed back, analysis and developing skills in communication, team work and reading.

A typical award program has a staff and training opportunities for young people.

Even early teens would be mentored by an experienced staff members who administer the stated objectives of the award program (mission statement), apply what the owner considers to be an excellent website (criteria), score a website after a thorough review and offer objective reasons for improvement, communicate with the website owner and other staff members (through out the whole process). Then finally inform an applicant of the review process results and make the necessary additions to the award program website.

As you can easily determine from the above a rated award program is professionally run by and experienced staff, not just one person and there are ample opportunities for involvement in the process. Below is a discussion of the process.

Communication: Conference calls using MSN or other software collaborative devices, correspondence by email with staff members and a complete understanding of what the award program owner expects requires an emphatic ear and a skill to communicate effectively concerns or questions.

Analysis: A website awards program has a criterion which is a list of what not to do and what to do. A reviewer would thoroughly go through the website to compare what is written or presented and make notes what has been found and if it meets the criteria. Writing comments about particular aspects of the website, rather than general judgments, a rating or score, by drawing attention to some of the factors which influenced a decisions, are part of the analysis.

Writing: Writing a laudation or website review is an art, which award program owners and their staff takes particular pride, because it is the culmination of the lengthy and professional process. Writing what has been found which does not meet the criterion is also an art which must be positive and encouraging in both tone and content.

Research: A website being reviewed by an award program is read in its entirety. Content is checked for accuracy, copyright and privacy. The ability to determine what is factual is checked by footnotes, citations and reliable sources which support the content being reviewed. Which will may require a dictionary, encyclopedia, going to the library, especially if the reviewer is not familiar with the content of the website.

Team Work: Professionalism is exhibited by website award owners and their staffs by checks and balances, a division or specialization of duties, input by the entire staff which results in a website review by a dedicated team which works together for the common good, which is to reward authors who take pride in what they publish on the Internet.

Website Design: Although website award programs are similar in some respects, they reflect the individuality of the owner. But all review a prospective award winner with respect to initial reactions, design and layout, reader usability and functionality. Because each website award program is different, a young person is exposed to different opinions which are expressed in a mission statement and a detailed criterion on which a website is evaluated.

In this process a greater understanding of website design which will benefit everyone is developed by a participant or staff member of an award program.

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By Stuart Crawford

Do you ever stop to think how successful a hockey team would be if they did not celebrate each and every goal they score? Or any sports team every time they put a point up on the board?  You would sit in the stands and wonder what was up if they didn`t.

Hockey teams celebrate all goals.  It doesn`t matter if they are losing– they still celebrate each and every time they put the puck in the back of the net.

So why do businesses seem to ignore the small goals?  In small business computer consulting, leaders seem to over look when staff achieves the smallest of victories and they even sometimes brush over the big achievements in their business.

These are the same businesses that I talk with when they are struggling, when morale in the workplace is low or when they are on a losing streak with clients leaving.

In hockey, when teams are having a difficult time winning games, they still celebrate every goal scored from every player on the team.  The same should happen in your business.  I worked with a company once who lost a few good clients from several reasons and most of them were not service-related, just a turn in the economy and few of their clients decided to merge with other businesses and their services were no longer retained.  They lost four clients however they also won three new ones in the same time period.

When discussing what was happening with the business, the executive was so focused on the business that they lost, that he failed to realize that they just scored three goals and if this was a hockey game they would have lost 4 – 3 that night.

Do you think all the Stanley Cup dynasties haven’t lost a few games 4 – 3 in the season?  When the focus on the negative is allowed to continue, one 4 – 3 loss will become 2 and then 3 and before you know it you have some major challenges.

Leaders in any organization need to celebrate all the goals they score and all the victories they win.  This includes when a member of your team achieves a new certification or skill and when you win a new client.  Celebrations need to be done as a team.

You can queue up all your little victories for one big monthly gathering; however, recognition also needs to happen right away.

It can be done by posting it on your internal website, an email to your team or a special entry in your company newsletter and then have a monthly celebration with your entire team.  Take an early Friday afternoon and have a company function where everyone is made aware of every achievement.

When clients are involved in your wins, it is very important that you invite them to celebrate in your win as a company.  Remember, they were reason for your win.  If you win an award in your industry it was because they allowed you to use their name for this victory.  Including them is a good move for your ongoing client relations.

The minimal dollar investment in having a celebration of your victories will turn into increased employee loyalty, especially in this world of hard to find skilled team members.  Increased loyalty from employees and clients will eventually turn into additional revenues for your company.

It is also OK to celebrate in private, if you are sales professional or a technician in an IT consulting company and do something that you are proud of accomplishing; it is perfectly acceptable to celebrate your wins with yourself.  This self-acknowledgement will lead to an increase in your personal confidence because you know that you have what it takes.

When you celebrate all the goals you score, every point your team achieves, you will be on your way to winning the Stanley Cup of your own world.

Stuart Crawford is a business leader in the Calgary, Alberta small business computer consulting marketplace.  Stuart works with small business consulting companies across North America to ensure that they become successful.  He can be reached at http://www.youfactor.ca  Stuart also manages the Canadian Small Business Show at http://www.canadiansmallbusinessshow.com

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By Doris Helge, Ph.D.

Can work be play? Scientists have discovered that joy on the job is our natural state.

We are like monkeys because we are hardwired to interact, cooperate, and play. Employees at some savvy companies play miniature golf in the hallways. Managers and team leaders appoint Humor Teams and Play Squads.

However, most of our organizations suffer from delight-deficiency syndrome. We think we must play OR work.

Why does play at work produce hefty financial rewards? When we are relaxed, we produce better quality. We function at a higher mental level. Our physical output is elevated. Play activates an alpha or theta brain state that stimulates joy and creativity.

Here’s an example of how a repetitive or boring task can become joy on the job. David Smith and Mark McCahill are computer scientists who were well aware of how tiresome the task of composing spreadsheets can be.

In the Croquet Project (www.opencroquet.org), Smith and McCahill and their colleagues created a virtual reality that merged play and joy with formulating spreadsheets. The scientists incorporated characters similar to video game icons into an open-source system with interactive three-dimensional virtual worlds.

Please don’t let this scientific language fool you. Human employees got to fulfill their need to be like primates at play… the staff clowned around while they shared resources. Employees manipulated their avatars to cooperatively edit text files and spreadsheets. The quality of their work was excellent.

Play is its own reward. It’s also contributes immensely to productivity.

Can you have fun at work if you don’t have two computer scientists to design an interactive system? Absolutely! When I interviewed entrepreneurs, employees, and managers in 21 diverse organizations, I discovered a multitude of no-cost and low-cost techniques that incorporate our need to act like monkeys… caring, sharing, and laughing. Here are just a few examples.

Allied Systems, Inc. employees set up game and puzzle areas and encouaged everyone to contribute to a group mural. They also designed seasonal contests. One of my favorites was a fun art project where staff and customers posted bumper stickers for Santa’s sleigh like “I brake for cocoa.” Evaluations indicated that productivity increased.

Royal Bounty International staff organized improvisational theatre sessions when times were tough. Answers to challenges appeared spontaneously when a targeted stream-of-consciousness thinking technique was added.

O’Brian Management staff took turns setting up treasure hunts for fun. Staff morale ratings increased and the elevation level continued far after the events.

There is an endless list of enchanting ways to dissipate stress through levity. The mere act of planning a fun break often keeps people chuckling for hours. Morale escalates and productivity soars.

Doris Helge, Ph.D., is author of “Joy on the Job,” an easy, fun to read 464-page book.  It is based on ten years of research that included interviews with entrepreneurs, employees, and managers in 21 diverse organizations.

Visit http://www.joyonthejob.info and discover proven strategies for boosting job satisfaction and employee retention.  To discover even more easy ways to escalate joy on the job and boost employee morale, sign up for the “Joy on the Job Ezine,” the only ezine regarding happiness at work.  (c) 2006

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By Linda Devis

Improving organizational culture has become a necessity in today’s ever-changing business environment. People want to work for a company where they can be happy and balance work and life. Organizations who treat their members well have experienced a better retention rate, an increased productivity and a happier overall culture.

Improving organizational culture can be a big challenge for the organization and its members. Focusing on a few important steps will help you get started in improving organizational culture Getting the right training for your employees is the first step toward improving organizational culture. The other important steps for enhancing organizational culture include:

Analyze your organization’s existing culture and compare it with customers’ expectations and perceptions.
Form a diverse team of interested and enthusiastic people in an organization to enhance the organizational culture.

Get your team to discuss the current culture and explain the parts of the culture that are already great and need to be supported. Then create a vision of the culture you want to create, taking into account the entire current picture of the organization.

Provide the appropriate training to the team members regarding the vision of the culture.

Communicate to everyone to bring awareness about the team and organizational leadership, that this isn’t a band-aid, quick fix; but an ongoing, strategic intention to build a more attractive culture that fits the needs of the organization and that can improve its culture.

Get the cultural team excited. Help the team recognize that not everyone else in the organization is going to think that these efforts are worthwhile immediately. Remember that enthusiasm is contagious. Do what you can to keep the enthusiasm of your team high. If their excitement falters, remind them of the vision theycreated to re-invigorate them.

Culture improvement is like any other change, as it requires champions. The champion needs to be someone who is passionate about creating the new culture.

Any change will have a greater chance of success with momentum. Thus, get started but be committed to building momentum and staying with it. It will be one of the most rewarding efforts you and your team will ever engage in and with this you can bring great improvement in your organizational culture.

The above-mentioned lists are the specific tips that have enhanced and improved the organizational culture of various organizations. Obviously, these are not the only things you can do to enhance your culture , but these will provide you with a good starting point.

Linda Devis, expert in building high performance cultures and organizational development, is the author of this article on behalf of organizational culture center and if you want to know more about organizational culture then visit: [http://www.organizationalculturecenter.com/]http://www.organizationalculturecenter.com.

To receive special reports on organizational culture that includes resources, ideas and advice you can log on to [http://www.organizationalculturecenter.com/]Organizational Culture Center. Organizational Culture Center is a leader in implementing or changing the organizational culture of organizations, whether a profit or nonprofit entity.

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By Brian Shoff

As with many ideas I have, I later find that they have already been thought of. This idea is no exception.

Sovereign Bank handles employee evaluations in a, in my opinion, remarkable way. Not only do supervisors and managers evaluation the performance of their respective departments, but their departments evaluate them!

Here are some of the benefits I see in this type of 2-way evaluation:

Constructive Criticism

In any type of department, no matter how happy they seem, team members will bad mouth not only management, but each other. It’s unavoidable. Joe isn’t pulling his weight, Max is a jerk most of the time, or whatever else someone can think of to complain about… will be complained about.

Opening performance evaluations to the team allows you to uncover these underlying issues in a professional, maybe even friendly, environment where areas for growth can be identified and presented positively.

Proper Credit

In a team environment, many people share in the glory of success and the sting of failure. Typically, however, there are a few individuals who really shine in a given project whose contributions may be overshadowed by the team. It’s the responsibility of management to stop this from happening, but no matter how vigilant, details will be missed and accomplishments will go overlooked.

When the entire team can evaluate each other these accomplishments reach are identified to make sure the team member responsible receives the credit they deserve.

Team Spirit

In many organizations, they “say” they foster spirit of team where everyone is of equal importance in reaching company goals. Yet, how many organizations put their management on a pedestal where they aren’t evaluated by their department members? Is this really the behavior of a team… or a dictatorship?

Allowing team members to evaluate their leaders is essential to growing a sense of team where everyone is equal and no one is of more valuable than the other.

There are other benefits to this type of evaluation, but I believe these are the strongest.  By breaking down the walls that surround our team, we can build stronger ones.

Brian Shoff [http://www.shoffy.com/]http://www.shoffy.com

Brian is an [http://www.shoffy.com/]Internet marketing and technology consultant based in the York, Lancaster, and Harrisburg area of Pennsylvania.  He specializes in helping small business unlock new opportunities for their business to gain new clients and improve overall business efficiency.

Personal Blog: [http://www.brianshoff.com/]http://www.brianshoff.com

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By Britt Phillips

Remember back in school that one class that was your favorite. You know the one you didn’t mind going to. The one you actually sort of looked forward to. The one you lost track of time in and it seemed like you had just sat down and already the bell rang the end of the class? Well chances are you most likely did your best in that class as well.

The reason is simple and yet must networkers trying to build a team miss it. It’s called FUN!!! You’ve got to make the lessons fun and interesting or you will lose people at an alarming rate.

Let’s face it. Most things in life are rarely as difficult as we make them out to be. And yet so many fail each day and offer up excuses like… “It was simply to hard.” or… “I just couldn’t understand it.” or… “There was no training.” or… “This business only works for some people.”

The fact is most would learn if only they were gotten to a place where they forgot they were trying to learn and were given permission to discover the knowledge instead.

People do not like to learn. They see it as being a tough task. They dont’ really mind discovering and here’s why. When people discover it is because they have their guard down and this allows them to be more open minded. And when a person is more relaxed and more open to suggestion, then the suggestion can easily take place.

Building a team is even in a lot of ways than working with just one person in a one-on-one scenario. The reason it’s often easier is because a group environment creates a buzz and an energy that people feed in to and get intoxicated by. They are sitting there excited to be part of the group.

Now sometimes you will have people who just sit there without much interaction. You have to watch those types of people because they tend to be shy and afraid to speak up. They often feel like anything they say will come across as dumb and they don’t want to feel the embarrassment. So they sit there without really understanding anything being shared with the group and as a result they learn nothing and will never perform.

The way to ensure everyone grows in your group and they multiply is simple.

1) Make it fun to learn.

2) Create energy.

3) Create a buzz of excitement.

4) Encourage the shy ones to participate.

5) Build team members up.

6) Offer constant encouragement.

7) Never allow anyone to give up.

Communicate with your team frequently.

9) Offer real solutions to common issues every newbie faces.

10) Genuinely care about your team members success.

If you will practice these things, you group will grow rather quickly. And if your having trouble having personal success or building a team it is a safe bet you are missing these important elements.

About The Author [http://computermillions.com]Britt Phillips is a self-made millionaire and one of the all time top income earners in the history of the Coastal Vacations business opportunity. Britt has been teaching students on his success team for eleven years. Britt devotes the time, energy, and effort into his team and works with them to ensure their success. To contact Britt Phillips call him direct at 804-897-2274 or visit [http://computermillions.com]ComputerMillions.com  

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By James Gehrke

While managing a multicultural workforce while working overseas, I have seen the advantages multiculturalism brings to an organization.  However, these advantages do not always happen naturally.

Our department was able to find ways to benefit from a multicultural group in order to maximize our performance.  I believe that a manager must create a strong sense of team, while respecting the differences of the individual cultures represented in the team.

A multicultural work unit has the potential of bringing people together with a wide range of experiences and ideas.  This provides a team with the potential of discovering new ideas and approaches to address business issues.  The potential is for the team to find new approaches and ideas, combining the different backgrounds in ways that generate better outcomes than more homogenous groups may be able to find.

However, a manager must take time to develop the environment where these groups can work cohesively together.  First the leader (and team) must establish the values of the group.  If there is not a value for difference or a reluctance to listen and try new ideas, those from a minority viewpoint or cultural reference may be reluctant to participate.

Energy must also be taken to establish a sense of team.  Since the group is not homogenous it may be more difficult for a leader to establish a commonality among the members.  I remember a team building activity where we went to a baseball game our international team.  While the Americans and Latins loved the opportunity, our French Morrocan partner participated but did not enjoy the event.

However, at other times we went to soccer games, French cooking lessons, bowling, and a great variety of other activities to give some members of the team time to share interests with other members.  This helps to strengthen the team.

Once the values, ground rules and sharing begins I believe that a multicultural team can generate much improved solutions for a group or a company.

References:

Alder, N.J.  (1983).  Cross cultural management:  Issues to be faced.  International Journal of Management and Organization.  13 (1-2), pp. 7-45

James Gehrke is the President of Magnify Leadership and Development.

Magnify Leadership and Development

6232 South Vinecrest Drive • Murray, Utah 84121 • Phone: 801-266-0849

Email:  [mailto:info@magnifyleadership.com]info@magnifyleadership.com

Website: http://www.magnifyleadership.com

After various promotions in Sales, Sales Operations, Training & Development, and Sales Management and Training, he headed Pfizer’s Learning & Development for all of Europe, Canada, Africa, & the Middle East where he was instrumental in the development of a global management curriculum and other training initiatives to enhance organizational effectiveness for over 30,000 employees.

He has worked on many high levels, cross functional teams addressing issues such as Field Force Effectiveness, Change Leadership, Leader Behavior Development, Executive Coaching and many others.

Since starting his own training company, James has developed and trained both public and private leadership, coaching, targeting and territory management sessions for hundreds of participants in various industries.  James is bilingual and can teach in both English and Spanish. Contact Magnify Leadership and Development at http://www.magnifyleadership.com

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By H Mingail

Do you and your boss really know how valuable you are or could be with proper training? Help your boss to help you to get the training you desire.

After all, training is one of the primary actions that your company enlists to improve performance, profitability and growth. Any way you slice it, more education increases the potential for higher earnings for all concerned.

1. Know Yourself:

You can’t rely on your company to discover the talents and value of every employee. Don’t wait for your boss to solve the training quandary alone. Help your boss to help you and the company. Take charge.

You bring your own unique blend of expertise, experience and personality to your job. Your education has gone beyond puberty, pimples and public education. Begin by understanding yourself. Realistically appraise yourself on a regular basis in order to continuously learn and grow over time.

Analyze what are you doing today to ensure that you have a job tomorrow. Don’t live day-by-day, hoping your job is still available tomorrow and wondering what you will do if it isn’t? Predict your potential for earnings as well as corporate contributions with the skills you now possess. As Will Durant said, “Education is the progressive discovery of our own ignorance.” …

Consider your strengths as well as weaknesses. Many people, bosses included, assume that personal development is about addressing weaknesses. Not so. It’s also about leveraging strengths. If you have acknowledged strengths, show your boss how you can take it to the next level.

To add to your arsenal, you can even go outside the organization for objective appraisals. Perhaps your boss is willing to pay for one or more evaluations.

Invest in the renown Myers-Briggs test which is part of several [http://www.cmctraining.org/]CMC seminars. In addition to helping you to determine how you behave as one of sixteen classic personality types, it will help you to answer fundamental questions about yourself including: Where is your source of energy? How do you perceive information? How do you make decisions? Do you prefer your lifestyle to be organized or flexible?

Or you can gain insights from Canadian Management Centre’s DISC Survey test. It will help you to understand the degrees to which you are directive, contemplative, influencing and supportive.

2. Know Your Boss and the Company.

Once this has been accomplished, you are ready to focus on the needs of your boss and corporation. Doing so will demonstrate how your training will be in their best interests.

Step into the shoes of your boss. Show the connection between the training experience, acquiring new skills and job success.

Correlate your training aspirations to company objectives productivity targets, quality aspirations, anticipated changes, regulatory demands and contribution to the company’s bottom line. Press the right executive button by using Return on Investment (ROI) to justify your training investment.

3. Know Your Training Options.

Now your are ready to consider the advantages of the training options available to you. Choose CMC’s face-to-face classroom training when:

-You need instructor and peer interaction in order to properly learn the material

-You can be afford uninterrupted time away from the office or home

-Your performance needs to be measured, observed or evaluated by an instructor

-Travel costs will be low and possibly non-existent.

Can’t afford to travel or to be dragged away for an extended period of time? Don’t need a lot of interaction with instructors and other learners? CMC’s online e-learning may be for you. Choosing this option can also reward you with:

- Personalized educational content;
Easy connections to relevant and enriching Web sites;

The flexibility to train yourself at your pace, at your favorite times of the day.

Sometimes the best solution will be a hybrid combination. Search for what is known in Japanese as dantotsu or “the best of the best”. With CMC’s blended learning you can mix a dab of one of more options into your training solution.

4. Put It All Together.

Make the training you crave happen for you.

-You can’t get what you want from your boss if you don’t know what you want for yourself. Define your training needs.

-Convert the top priorities into training objectives.

-Action each objective, otherwise they will gather dust and go nowhere.

-Success comes from action. Do something today.

-Together with your boss, monitor and measure your success.

Avoid waking up one day wondering what’s happened. Overdrafts are available for money from your bank. They aren’t available when you are no longer valued by employers.

Learning is a continuous process, never to be neglected. Invest in yourself today.

With plenty of illustrations and examples, Harry Mingail delivers   Project Management Training sessions that are practical, provide immediate value and have a positive and rewarding impact on the job. http://www.cmctraining.org/toolkit_pm.asp

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By Katheryn Hoban

Many times who you work with is just as important as what you are marketing. At first we may have to join forces with people whom we may not otherwise choose in order to get the job done. You have to focus on the goal of completion.

Therefore it is necessary to work with reliable people that will do what they say they will. Deadlines and schedules are important and you will be stuck waiting on an unreliable or incompetent team member.

Sometimes when we are new to business and trying to save money we work with an uncompensated person who is doing us a favor. But how long do you wait for him or her? Usually the worst case scenario is that we have to put our work on hold while waiting long periods of time for him or her to fulfill the favor.

You get to a point where the project stalls waiting for the updates. It could take a full year or longer and still you wait.

Once that happens and you are so far along in the project your only recourse may be to patiently wait and press on and gently apply some pressure to your slow helper. Another more drastic solution is to search for someone else whom you can pay to continue and complete what your friend started.

The problem with that is that it is hard to see what is done and to follow the flow of the first friend or acquaintance’s job. The fix by a trained professional could be more money
than if you had started with a professional from the beginning.

If you continue working with your friend for future updates he or she has already proven how the work will continue or not. It is obvious that you are not a priority on her list. Consider even if this person is your partner or spouse you may not want him or her to continue as a team member.

Firing a close friend or loved one is very difficult. But it is very important for you to maintain your vision and to work with a reliable person who is in line with that thinking and what you have planned.

Working with a professional is valuable if he or she will keep you moving forward. You need someone who will listen to your input and make the necessary changes in a timely manner, who works steadily on the task and that can interact easily with you. If something is critical you need back and forth dialog.

Right now I’m working with a person who will be paid at the end of the project from our sales. He has delayed the launch by about 8 weeks now. I don’t hear from him for four days at a time and he tells me that everything is under control and there are only minor changes to be made now.

When I’m able to get a look fifty major things still need revision and he didn’t make the last changes that I indicated in four or five previous e-mails. But whose fault is that? Mine.

So whenever possible choose your team wisely. If that person is the only answer work with them but prepare yourself for many delays. When you are able to pay for professional services make the investment and ask questions. Have you done this type of work before? On the average how long does it take to complete this type of project? Have you worked with this type of software?

Can we communicate on the phone or by e-mail frequently? It is also important to have a clear idea of how you see the project and how you like to work. Remember that is not necessarily how other people like to do his or her work.

If you have previously worked with someone whose work you liked and with whom you get along well consider inviting him or her on your team. If you found a decent helper through a referral of a professional or close friend that is reliable bring him or her on board too.

When you build your team you want people with vision who can stay the course. Another important quality is that he or she also gives good input on a project and is a person of integrity and confidence. No BS artist please.

Gut feelings about new team members can be very significant. Trust that. If your gut feeling says he or she is going to work out well or not trust that. When you finally do have a good team in place the work environment will be a place of joy and your team will be super productive.

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By Cheryl Mann

There is a 5-step process that we have found to be very effective in building effective teams.

Before we start, it’s important to remember that teams exist for one reason:  to achieve results!  However, it’s also important to remember that teams must be sustainable in order to continue producing those results, so that’s why we look at the inter-relationships among the team members — to ensure that those relationships are working at the level needed for the team to continue producing results without getting burned out.

Let’s look at this process of building a successful team so that your team can get to the next level and be not only effective, but sustainable, in achieving its desired results.

1.  Measure the current effectiveness of your team

In order to help your team be more successful, it’s important to first look at how successful the team is currently.  Measuring your team can serve as a benchmark for team development, as it gives you a current evaluation of your team as it exists today.  The best way to do this is to measure your team’s effectiveness, which can be done in several different ways:

- Personal interviews:

Asking each team member a specific set of questions designed to measure their effectiveness is a great way to learn about what’s really going on within your team.  The disadvantage of this method is that some team members will not be forthcoming with information during face-to-face interviews because they are not anonymous.  Results are best yielded when the interviews are done by an external facilitator who will maintain individual confidentiality.

- Simple measurement:

A very simple method to use is to ask your team members “on a scale of 1 to 10, how effective is this team”?  And see what their responses are so that you can ask some follow up questions to learn more about their perceptions.

- Assessment tool:

In our opinion, this is the best method to measure the current state of your team because it is anonymous, unbiased and team members are generally very candid and open in their responses.  The assessment results are then shared with your team in a specially-designed team development process that includes exercises to help the team improve in areas needed.

2.  Create your vision of a highly successful team

This is where you can use the “begin with the end in mind” concept that Stephen Covey and others have used for years.  This step is about using your imagination to create the most successful, productive, cohesive team that you desire!  The vision of your team can include the following components:

- Team’s values, priorities and desired results

- Organization’s values, priorities and desired results for this team

- Your own values, priorities and desired results for this team

- Productivity factors:

these are factors defined by Team Diagnostic International as the factors that support the team in achieving results, accomplishing tasks, staying on course to reach goals and objectives.  They include strengths such as accountability, decision making, goal setting, etc.

- Positivity factors:

these are factors defined by Team Diagnostic International as the factors that focus on the inter-relationships between team members and the spirit or tone of the team as a system.  They include strengths such as trust, respect, clear communication, handling conflict, camaraderie, etc.

I encourage you to create your “desired team” vision with your team.  Schedule a time to meet with them to allow for everyone to participate in this creative process!  And, remember to think out of the box — what would it look like to have a team that was achieving results beyond what you think is possible today?

3.  Communicate effectively

This is a huge topic that I will only be able to scratch the surface in this article!  However, here are the most important tips to remember in my experience of working with teams:

- Everyone receives information differently.

Some people have to see it, others have to hear it, etc.  How do you like to receive information?  Remember that just because one way works for you, that same way doesn’t work for all of your team members.

- Find out how each person needs to receive information in order to process it.

Ask your team members “how do you like to receive information?”  so that they can tell you whether they are visual learners, auditory learners, etc.

- Remember to communicate important information using several different methods so that all of your team members will receive the information you are trying to convey.

- Check in with your team regarding your communications and ask them how you can improve.

4.  Develop a plan to turn your team vision into reality

Now that you’ve measure your team’s current effectiveness, you’ve created a vision of your desired team and you’ve determined how to best communicate with them, it’s time to create an action plan!

This step is about creating goals that support you in growing your team to the next level.  We do complete workshops on effective goal setting and don’t have space here to go into all of the details, but here are the basics:

Remember to set goals that are

- Specific

- Measurable

- Attainable

- Realistic

- Time oriented (make sure each goal has a deadline!)

5.  Take a stand for your team!

Whether you see yourself as “the leader” of your team or “a leader” of your team or “a member” of your team, you are in a position to influence your team.  Take a stand for the improvement of your team!  Here are a couple of ways that you can do that:

- Remind your team members of the vision you see for your team and what you see as being possible for your team.  Remind them that it IS possible to grow to the next level!  And, ask them what they need to grow to the next possible.

- Look for ways to build and develop your team.

When was the last time your team had a meeting that was dedicated to enhancing your team’s relationships?   When was the last time that your team went out to lunch together, or did another fun activity?  If you aren’t familiar with the types of team development that be effective for your team, or if you don’t have the time or expertise to develop a program, call in an expert to help you create a program for your team.

Investing time, energy and financial resources in your team can be simple — it doesn’t have to be complicated or time consuming.  The important thing is that you do something on a regular basis to keep your team motivated, engaged and productive so that they can produce the results that you and your organization desire!

Are you a business leader struggling to get the results you need from your team?  Despite the many challenges facing organizations today, it IS possible to take your team to the next level and get the results that you and your organization desire!  Want to learn how? Visit us:  <a target=”_new” href=”http://www.goalsinsight.com/”>http://www.goalsinsight.com</A>

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