Posts Tagged ‘team working’

Every  year you have in business makes you realise just how important it is to have people around you for support, encouragement and to inspire you.  I am a great believer of the impact of teams on the results you get.

In this post I wanted to acknowledge some of the people in my team who have helped me in my business during 2011.

John Dionysiou

John helps me with all the techinical web and blog stuff as well as running my social media.  The results over the last year have been astounding, especially in terms of social media and list building.

Bernadette Doyle

I was in my second year of being part of Bernadette’s community in 2011 and still get a ton of benefit from listening to her insights on marketing.

Vicky Townshend

Vicky is my local VA who makes sure my blog posts and articles go out like clockwork.  She also helped me with a number of presentations, transcriptions and a big mail shot in the summer.

Deborah Meredith

Deborah helps the team when we are delivering leadership and team working training for doctors in South Wales.

Clare Lee

Clare co-leads with me when training doctors.  She is a real expert in training and development and ensures we continue to strive for excellence in what we deliver.

Joanne Rowley and Tracey Hunter

Who supported us in delivering training in North Wales.

As well as those on the team there are many others who have helped indirectly in moving the business forward in 2011.  These include Amy Harrison,  Robert Middleton, Pete Bennett, Mike Morrison, Sharon Gaskin and Heather Townsend.

So who are you grateful to for helping you moving your business forward in 2011?

A team that is focussed, has the right skills and the right resources has the potential to deliver exceptional results.

At the same time, one of the biggest barriers to team success is silo thinking.

What do I mean by silo thinking?

Essentially it is when team members take decisions or give support based on the impact on:

• Them personally.
• The team or function to which they belong.

When you have a whole group of people thinking in their own interests, the interests of the whole organisation get lost and sub optimal performance arises.

So if you want to get more results from teams, get people thinking more in the bigger picture and less in silos.

Duncan Brodie of Goals and Achievements helps accountants and health professionals to achieve success and realize their professional potential through being highly effective leaders and managers. For more information and to sign up for his free audio e-course click here

1. People have lost sight of the outcome.
2. People are pursuing their own personal agendas.
3. The team is cruising rather than being proactive.
4. There is an unhealthy level of conflict and pessimism.
5. The task or result that it was established to deliver is done.

What else would you add?

Duncan Brodie of Goals and Achievements helps accountants and health professionals to achieve success and realize their professional potential through being highly effective leaders and managers. For more information and to sign up for his free audio e-course click here

Well The Apprentice week 2 was broadcast here in the UK last night.  While in previous groups there have been some strong personalities, the girl’s team demonstrated perfectly how not to operate as a team. 

So what were the real learning points?

People need to listen to each other rather than talk over each other all of the time.  Yet in truth I bet some of this is happening every day in organisations across the globe.

You need to speak up if you don’t agree with something and explain your reasons.  Many of the people said that they thought it would not work but they did not give specifics on why not.

Use the resources at your disposal.  Some team members were shipped off the Brighton to do research yet they did not appear to seek any feedback on the viability or otherwise of the book reader from what we saw on camera.

Don’t stand in the wings and criticise later.  The book stand seemed to become the product choice almost by default, perhaps in the absence of other unique ideas.  Team members were critical of the choice even when they had not offered any credible alternatives.

It takes courage to lead a team.  Did the project manager get everything right, well no.  At the same time she kept focus on the task despite the mayhem.

Decisions need to be taken.  Delaying taking decisions just shortens the time for implementation.  We always need to remember diminishing returns and the fact that the extra thinking time often makes little difference to the final solution.

I wondered what learning points you would add if you watched this episode?

Duncan Brodie of Goals and Achievements helps accountants and health professionals to realise their professional potential by helping them to become highly effective leaders and managers.  To sign up for his free audio e-course click here.

Tip 1:
• Get issues aired rather than trying to sweep them under the carpet.

Tip 2:

• Don’t make it personal.

Tip 3:

• Look for the common ground which will always exist.

Tip 4:

• Determine the major areas of difference.

Tip 5:

• Try to avoid the win-lose outcome.

Tip 6:

• Be clear about the way forward so that the issue does not resurface again at the first sign of challenge.

What tips would you add?

Duncan Brodie of Goals and Achievements helps accountants and health professionals to achieve success and realize their professional potential through being highly effective leaders and managers. For more information and to sign up for his free audio e-course click here

As a keen football fan I have been following a number of matches in the World Cup in South Africa.

What I have noticed is that there are some really useful learning points about team success for managers and leaders in business.

There Has To Be Commitment

It’s interesting to notice the difference between the teams who are doing well and those who are struggling.  Those who are thriving have players who are really proud to be representing their country. 

Great Individuals Don’t Make A Team

England have without doubt some talented individuals but they did not seem to gel as a team.  To get the best from a team you clearly have to bring out the best in each individual and get them all playing to their strengths.

Money Is Not The Motivator

If it was the high earners would be performing the best which has proven not to be the case.

The truth is that team success is largely down to a group of people who are committed to a common purpose and are willing to work collectively and support each other to get the result they desire.

Duncan Brodie of Goals and Achievements helps accountants and health professionals to break through the glass ceiling and realise their professional potential.  You can sign up here for his Weekly Leadership and Management Success Tips

Divides the effort

One of the great benefits of teams is that you can take what appears to be a mammoth task and divide those tasks between people. As a result, things get done faster.

Creates more ideas

One person operating on their own can generate ideas. At the same time, the breadth of the ideas of one individual will be limited by their experiences to date. With a team with a wide range of experiences, you can generate many more ideas.

You become the facilitator

In his book, Teamwork 101, John C Maxwell states that the true measure of a leader is getting people to work hard together. In many ways, I see this as the leader facilitating or enabling great team performance.

Camaraderie

On all the great teams that I have been part of, there was always a huge sense of camaraderie. This enabled us to get things done even when the odds seemed to be stacked against us.

You learn quickly

One of the fastest ways to get good at something is to see someone in action who is already excellent in an area. When team members all play to their strengths, you learn a lot quickly.

The bottom line

The truth is teams have the potential to deliver great benefits. So what’s the biggest benefit you have experienced from being part of a team?

Duncan Brodie of Goals and Achievements helps accountants and health professionals to become highly effective leaders and managers. For more information click here

Teams have the potential to deliver extraordinary results. At the same time, there is no such thing as the perfect team. So what are some real truths about teams?

Truth 1: There Will Be Conflict

Teams will from time to time have periods of conflict. This is just the way it is. The challenge is to make sure that the conflict remains productive rather than destructive.

Truth 2: It Is Hard To Get People to Pull In the Same Direction

After nearly 30 years of working in or with teams, I still see people struggling to pull in the same direction. Remember, it is natural to think about the personal impact on you or your people when team decisions are being made.

Truth 3: Building Trust Takes Time

A team does not just come together and instantly work together. There need to be high levels of trust, which take time to build.

Truth 4: There Is No Magic Formula

There are things that you can do; ways in which you act and structure you can put in place. At the end of the day however, there is no magic formula that works every time.

Truth 5: It Takes a Major Mindset Shift

For most of our life, we are judged on what we do individually. For example, most academic achievement is geared towards individual performance. Moving towards team working requires a mindset shift.

The Bottom Line

If you are willing to invest the time and effort in creating team success, you can achieve great results. Just remember that it is more like middle distance running than the 100 metre sprint.

Duncan Brodie of Goals and Achievements helps accountants and health professionals to become highly effective leaders and managers. 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

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.