Archive for the ‘Teams’ Category

We all know that when we are part of a successful team it feels like we have the ability to achieve just about anything.

 

In any team one of the most important components in being successful is having a clear purpose.  Think about it if a team does not have a clear purpose it is going to be difficult to:

 

• Assess what progress is being made

 

• Determine whether the team is on or off track

 

• Identify what needs to change when things are not working

 

While most people understand that it is important to have a clear purpose, achieving this in practice is often more difficult.  A good indicator that you have a clear purpose is when individual team members can easily articulate what the team is trying to achieve.

 

A good example of the complete opposite is when the team is vague and people talk in vague terms like improved efficiency, better engagement, customer satisfaction or better productivity to name just a few.

 

So how can you get a crystal clear purpose for your team?

 

Make the time to define the purpose

 

Seems obvious but how often is it done in practice.  Chances are the team is established to either address a problem or exploit an opportunity.  What is the problem or the opportunity?  Answering this question will get you off to a flying start in having a clear purpose.

 

Check out understanding

 

You might think you have a crystal clear purpose if you are the leader.  Yet the team members might have a different point of view.  Ask the team members to describe in their own words their understanding of the purpose so that you can get to a point of common understanding.

 

Keep it simple

 

It is really easy to become over elaborate and make things more complicated than necessary.  Generally simpler is better.  For example, 98% of employees paid correctly is simple and crystal clear as a purpose.

 

Bottom Line – Creating a clear purpose is core to team results.  So what steps do you need to take to define the team purpose and get better results?

 

 

 

Duncan Brodie of Goals and Achievements helps accountants and health professionals to become great leaders and managers and improve team working.  For more information click here

When we are part of a team that is delivering results we feel hugely motivated and when we are hugely motivated we tend to keep taking performance to a higher level.

Often small teams whose members are drawn from a group of people who tend to share common values and ways of thinking achieve a lot. The struggle sometimes arises when people are asked to work in a cross functional or cross discipline team.

In these situations, it is not uncommon for there to be:

• Power struggles where different groups are trying to take the lead and be in charge

• Silo thinking where people are only thinking about the impact on their little part of the pie

• Conflict and argument without there being any productive results orientated behaviours

When working in the team, especially one that is cross functional:

Recognise that different people view the same problem differently

The way that we look at and respond to a particular challenge will be influenced by factors such as our experience, training, skill set, knowledge and our personal stake to name just a few. Rather than trying to force through your way, try to focus on creating a new way of doing things that embraces the richness of the collective experience and expertise of the whole team.

Remember it all balances out in the long run

Sometimes you will be the person who provides the spark of inspiration or builds on the ideas of others. At other times you will have to take more of a back seat. In the long run however you will get plenty of opportunity to be the catalyst for the team.

Get all views heard

Some of us are more outgoing extrovert types while others are more introverted and quiet. If you are in the role of leading a team, it is vital that you create the opportunity for all views to be heard. Failing to do so could result in key opportunities being lost.

Keep the focus on the end game

Ultimately the team is tasked with delivering a result. It is all too easy to get dragged into personal agendas and pet topics. When you notice this happening, get teams re-connected to the overall purpose, goal or end game.

Bottom Line – Teams present their own challenges. The key is to understand an use these dynamics to create success.

Duncan Brodie of Goals and Achievements helps accountants and health professionals to become highly effective leaders and managers. Check out his free audio masterclass Leading and Managing Highly Productive and Highly Positive Teams – click here

In any organisation whether small or large, teams of people from different backgrounds with different experiences need to be able to work together to deliver results.  If you are a leader or even just a member of a team, what are 5 golden rules to keep in mind to encourage effective team working?

 

Golden Rule 1: Find things people can easily agree as the key focus

 

This is particularly important when in a large organisation where it can be all too easy to get narrowly focused on the activities of your department without considering the overall purpose of the organisation.  For example, professional accountancy firms exist to serve clients, schools to educate and hospitals to deliver healthcare.  People, no matter what their functional bias can generally get behind and support the overall purpose.

 

Golden Rule 2: Recognise good team working

 

It is all too easy to attribute team successes to a leader or particular individuals but in truth most of the results will have been achieved by people working together and bringing their own unique contribution to the challenge.  Make a point of recognising good team working, especially cross functional team working.

 

Golden Rule 3: Get people understanding each other better

 

We all tend to look at things through a particular lens which is usually influenced by things like our experiences, training or even professional discipline.  Encourage people to avoid stereotyping and help them to better understand the different ways different people look at the same problem or challenge.

 

Golden Rule 4: Focus on contribution from all

 

The fact that people look at things differently is not a drawback but a distinct benefit of team working.  Get people listening more to others contributions so that the best solutions can be arrived at from the range of possibilities.

 

Golden Rule 5: Don’t expect it to happen overnight

 

Teams take time to come together, gel, bed down and deliver results.  Don’t expect improving team working to be like a light switch where the time from flicking the switch to having more light is almost immediate.  View it more as a longer term project where small steps are made that eventually lead to big results.

 

Bottom Line – For just about any organisation, team working is important to success.  So what do you need to start doing to get teams working effectively?

 

Duncan Brodie of Goals and Achievements helps teams in large organisations to deliver better results.  For more information click here

For the exhaustive reference on working with, leading and managing teams, check out the special pre-release on my latest book. If you are serious about your team, don’t miss this special Click here for more details

When teams get to performing there is no doubting the value and benefit that they bring.  Sometimes however, teams just do not work effectively.  So what stops teams from working effectively?

 

Fuzzy goals or objectives

 

If a team does not know with absolute clarity what it is to deliver, chances are that at best it will deliver something of little value or at worst nothing at all.  Don’t compromise the ability of the team by leaving it to try and finger out what it is to deliver.  Make it crystal clear.

 

Roles are not defined

 

Just imagine a scenario.  Something has not gone as expected and everyone is saying that they thought that someone else was doing the task that was so critical.  When riles are not defined things fall down a track and when things fall down a crack no one wins.  Get clear on who is doing what.

 

Bad decision making

 

Taking decisions as a team is different to taking decisions individually.  It requires team members to rely on each other, a concept that might be alien.  One thing is certain you will get some decisions wrong.  The key is to aim to get a clear decision making process on the team that everyone understands.

 

Policies and procedures that are past their sell by date

 

Organisations, especially big organisations need to have some boundaries and protocols which are typically set out in policies and procedures.  Trouble is these policies and procedures can easily become onerous our out of touch with current practice.  Make sure that policies and procedures are still relevant.

 

People don’t interact with each other appropriately

 

We all based on our experiences, background, professional disciplines have different preferences.  Trouble is people often forget this and fail to adapt their style to move closer to the people they are interacting with.  Make a point of thinking about the other person’s preferences when interacting.

 

Bottom Line- Teams when working well together have the potential to deliver great results.  So what’s getting in the way of successful team working in your organisation?

 

Duncan Brodie of Goals and Achievements helps professionals improve their leadership and management skills and improve team working.  Click here for more information.

Creativity is an important aspect in any team that is aiming to deliver great results.  If you have two teams and one plays it safe within the boundaries of what they already know and another one that is always seeking to test the possibilities, chances are that the latter will have more success.

 

So how can you unlock the creativity in teams so that they contribute to great results?

 

Brainstorming

 

Brainstorming is a highly effective technique where team members initially put forward ideas freely without discussion and debate.  These ideas are then reviewed to establish which are likely to have the greatest impact and also to determine the challenges and obstacles to making the ideas reality.

 

Ask lots of questions

 

Questions are often the thing that can really help a team shift to a new level.  However, not any old question will do.  Questions that are likely to open up possibilities and unlock creativity are likely to be short, forward focussed and non threatening.  Examples include:

 

• What’s possible?
• What matters?
• What do we need to do?
• What’s the first step?
• What else?

 

Think big picture

 

Detail has its time and place but when in the creative space, you want to be keeping the focus on the big picture, the end game or vision.  Holding this as the focus will encourage people to push the boundaries.

 

Encourage real active listening

 

We all love to get our point across, be heard and be the person who comes up with the breakthrough.  At the same time if everyone is focusing on what they want to say, chances are no one is really listening and when no one is listening things get missed or lost in the noise.

 

Don’t stereotype

 

On a team, especially if it is cross functional, it is really easy to fall into the trap of stereotyping folks.  You know the scenario, only the marketing folk are creative, the accountants are only interested if it makes a payback quickly, the human resources folks are only worried about what it means for staff, the production folks are only interested in top specification, etc.  Remember, people are not so limited as job roles would have you believe, so embrace and use the diversity of views.

 

Bottom Line – All breakthroughs come from an idea so what do you need to be doing differently to unlock the creativity in your teams?

 

Duncan Brodie of Goals and Achievements helps professionals improve leadership and management skilss and team working.  For information about services and programmes click here 

A team is a group of people doing something together to produce a specific result or outcome.  None of us, no matter how good we are can be great at everything.  So what are 6 key advantages of teams?

 

Advantage 1: Increases productivity

 

Organisations are continuously looking for efficiency or productivity gains as a source of competitive advantage.  Teams, especially those that are close to the point of delivery can identify what needs to change to boost productivity better than any group of senior managers could ever hope to.  Let the team focus on productivity and the organisation gains.

 

Advantage 2: Improves communication skills

 

For teams to succeed they need to be able to get their messages across, listen effectively to other points of view and build on ideas.  As a result of being on the team, people are getting the opportunity to develop and improve their communication skills.

 

Advantage 3: Diversity of skills

 

Some people in organisations thrive in dealing with the big picture stuff.  Others get their kick from getting immersed in the detail.  There will be others who thrive on idea generation and others who love to take something from concept to finished article.  This diverse range of people skills and working together have the potential to deliver a much better solution than any one individual could ever hope to do.

 

Advantage 4: Improved problem solving

 

Think about a time when you had a problem that you needed to solve.  You probably get so far and then end up getting stuck because of your own range of experience or knowledge. When you have access to the wider range of skills and knowledge you ultimately solve problems faster and better.

 

Advantage 5: Process improvement

 

Few business processes operate in isolation just within one area of the organisation.  They tend to cross functions and even geographical boundaries.  A team with insights of different parts of the process will clearly be better placed to make successful process improvements.

Advantage 6: Smarter use of resources

 

When a team has focus on getting a specific result, chances are they will find creative ways of using the resources at their disposal rather than focusing on the constraints.

 

Bottom Line – There are numerous advantages of teams.  What else would you add to the list of advantages.

 

 

Duncan Brodie of Goals and Achievements helps professional people to improve their leadership and management skills and getting better results through teams.  For information about services and programmes click here 

For the exhaustive reference on working with, leading and managing teams, check out the special pre-release on my latest book. If you are serious about your team, don’t miss this special Click here for more details

Many things contribute to team success and some things get in the way.  Team leadership is an important element in team success, so what are 5 common stumbling blocks when it comes to effective team leadership?

 

Stumbling block 1: The leader is closed minded

 

One of the great strengths of teams is their ability to generate a whole host of alternatives and ideas.  Used effectively these can contribute to great results and even take team performance to a higher level.  On the other hand if the team leader is closed minded and not open to new ideas then these ideas will never translate into results.

 

Stumbling block 2: Not using appropriate leadership style

 

Leadership styles can essentially be grouped into 5 main categories.  Telling, telling and selling, consultation, participation and empowerment.  The style that you adopt will depend on the situation, the expertise of those in the team and the context to name just a few.  For example, in times of urgency you might need to go for a very directive, telling style.  The key is to be able to adapt and use an appropriate leadership style when leading a team.

 

Stumbling block 3: Self interest before team results

 

Team members expect the team leader to be loyal to the team.  If the leader becomes more interested in themselves, they start making choices from a self interest rather than a team results perspective.

 

Stumbling block 4: Lack of consistency

 

We have all probably worked for people who seem to lack any sort of consistency when it comes to dealing and interacting with others.  For the team member this is a real challenge and can ultimately lead to disengagement.  As the team leader try and aim to be as consistent as you possible.

 

Stumbling block 5: Having your favourites

 

Like anyone else you will have a better connection with some people in the team than others.  At the same time you need to be alert to this connection leading to you having personal favourites which can alienate others.  Be alert to the fact that you might be showing favouritism.

 

Bottom Line – Team leadership is a vital component in team success.  So what stumbling blocks are getting in the way of your success as a team leader?

 

Duncan Brodie of Goals and Achievements helps professional people to improve management skills, leadership skills and team working.  For information on services and programmes click here

When we read about teams that are successful, it is all too easy to fall into the trap of believing that they are all in perfect harmony, heading in the same direction and effortlessly delivering results.  While this might be great in theory, the difficult stuff and conflict is just part and parcel of any successful team.

 

So what can you do to deal with the difficult stuff in teams?

 

Make facts the primary focus

 

In challenging times it is easy to fall into the trap of getting personal, starting to criticise individuals and saying or doing something that you regret later.  Facts on the other hand are verifiable, objective and not personal.  For example, if there is a report that is showing that the level of sales is falling week after week, this is factual and verifiable.  A discussion around the facts is likely to be more productive and beneficial than getting personal and seeking a scapegoat.

 

Expand the options

 

Whilst logic might make you think that the fewer options the better, research suggests that it might well be worthwhile expanding the options.  Part of the reason for this is that people don’t feel pressurised to back one or the other and be seen to take seconds.  It also means that the energies of the team are on solutions not what has gone wrong.

 

Create a goal everyone can connect to

 

In most organisations there is one common goal that a team can connect to.  Sometimes it might be the client or customer.  At other times it might be an innovation or improvement.  Once you have people looking at the difficulty through a common agreed lens, conflict can reduce and result focus increased.

 

Make the decision making process fair

 

A decision will have to be taken by someone at some point and people accept this as long as they feel that there has been a fair process for reaching decisions.  What this means at a practical level is that people feel like they have had their opportunity to put forward their ideas, views and opinions and that there has been open and transparent debate.

 

Bottom Line – There will always be difficult stuff to deal with when it comes to team working.  The key to successful resolution is to avoid it becoming personal.

When teams are in flow and upbeat they are able to deliver results with ease.  I know during my career in large organisations that there were times when it felt easy.  At the same time I know that these instances are few and far between.  So why is this?

 

Reason 1: Personal egos get in the way

 

I am sure the majority of people have come across this one.  It is those times when people on the team are more interested in how they look or are viewed by others than the team objective.  It becomes a competition that has little benefit to the team.  Surprising as it might seem, the more senior the people on the team are, the more likely that this type of power struggle arises.

                 

Reason 2: Turf protection

 

We all know our own area of the business or organisation really well.  When we go into a team our experiences to date or the norms of our function significantly influence the way we look at things.  As a result people tend to be resistant to anything that might result in more work or change in their area.  When this turf protection mindset is replicated across a team stalemate can easily arise.

 

Reason 3: Negative attitudes

 

Teams are often established in order to respond to a particular difficulty or challenge that the organisation is facing.  Sometimes the members are so focussed on the obstacles and the difficulties of the challenges just about everyone starts to become negative.  When this happens it is difficult to make any significant progress.

 

Reason 4: No one wants to take a decision

 

The leader should take the decisions- right?  As this often happens most of the time, people when asked to work together find it to take decisions collectively.  This can easily result in a situation where there is a lot of talking, little decision and as a result little action.

 

Reason 5: The wrong people are on the team

 

Another challenge is when people are put on a team not because they are the best person to be part of it but because they have some spare capacity.  A variation on this is where senior people are asked to be on a team but don’t participate and always send a deputy.  While there is nothing wrong with someone deputising, the deputy might be reluctant to make major decisions which can hold up progress.

 

Bottom Line –  Getting teams to work together and deliver results is a real challenge.  What steps do you need to take to improve team working in your organisation?

Teams and organisations exist to deliver a specific result.  If a team lacks clarity about what it is to deliver, then it may deliver something but chances are it will not be optimal performance.

 

So how can you create clear goals for your team?

 

Ask yourself what the problem or need is

 

Chances are the team has been established to address a specific need, for example, to recommend new markets, products or services or to respond to some sort of problem that the organisation is facing.  Sit down and make a list of those needs or problems.  At this stage, focus on volume rather than evaluation.

 

Define how you would like it to be

                                                                                                                                 

In my experience people do a great job at defining what the issues are but struggle more when it comes to defining how they would like it to be.  The big trap that people fall into is trying to get it to how they would like it to be word perfect.

 

Don’t worry at this stage if your description goes to a quarter or half a page as you can scale it back later.

 

Scale down your description

 

Once you have your detailed description of how you would like it to be, you can take this and scale it down into a series of short specific key goals.

 

Communicate goals and refine

 

Share the goals with the team and seek their contributions on how they could be made better, more specific and easier to measure.  Keep refining and adapting until you get to the point where the team is crystal clear about what is expected and can sign up to deliver from an informed place.

 

Bottom Line – Creating clarity about the goal or outcomes for the team is a vital part in team effectiveness.  So what steps do you need to take to set better goals?