Team Building Ideas

Discover How You Can Learn The Significance Of Focus For Your Team

2008-03-13T01:29:00.000-07:00

There are many great lessons that one can learn from the importance of focus. One can learn that focus is important in many different aspects in life such as building a business, playing team and individual sports and building a strong relationship with others.

"No life ever grows great until it is focused, dedicated and disciplined." - Source Unknown

First great lesson about focus can be found when one is faced with big challenges in life. When face with big challenges in life, it can either motivate or break down individuals or team. The lesson here is when facing with major challenges, one can learn greatly by focusing on developing solutions for the challenges. Brainstorming and developing solutions can enable individuals or team to deter any distractions that might prevent them from overcoming the challenges.

Second great lesson here is it can enable individuals or team to identify the problems involved in the challenges clearly. Maintaining focus here can enable the individuals or team to list details of possible causes for the problems faced. Through such activities, it can enable team to work well together. Working well together can encourage great development of cohesion and support among each team member.

Third significant lesson in focus especially when working in a team is it enables the team to leverage on each other strength well. Through such measures, it can enable individual to develop and improve on each other strength well. For example, in business team, the business development team can develop on methods of branding the company to the next higher level while the finance team can focus on better management of money for the company. Such niche area of focus can enable the team to leverage on each other strength well and such efforts can ultimately provide great improvement and success for the team.

Fourth great lesson is it can also provide great test for the individuals and team when face with adversity and challenges. The lesson here is when face with adversity, it is important to focus on remaining together as team. There are many methods and strategies that team can use to overcome the challenges and adversity. Such methods can include welcoming constructive feedback among the team, monitoring on the development for the team effort and celebrating success together as a team. Such methods can enable better team work effort and satisfaction in the team. Overall, one can realize that focus can provide significant and positive results for individuals and team growth.

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Rauf writes articles on home business and personal development for success.

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Growing Your Marketing Business As A Team Leader

2008-03-10T07:35:00.000-07:00

In many reputable businesses, the triumph of the people working under a business owner reflects how successful that owner is. Many great leaders will tell you that by surrounding themselves with good people have enabled them to achieve their current level of success. This is especially true in multilevel marketing where the success of the team leader is directly the result of the efforts of their team.

Take sports, for example. The coach doesn't get onto the field and help the team win games. They rarely get a chance to show how well they can perform. One thing the coach does do is make sure the team knows the essentials of the game, along with the small fine tuning details that may need to be done in order to help each player reach their peak performance capability.

As a team leader in multilevel marketing, your role is very similar to that of a coach. While rarely you would ever tell a team member that they're not performing up to expectations and tell them to quit, if their performance is not earning them any money they will leave on their own. Your job as the team's coach is to make sure each player of the team has the opportunity to be successful, provide them the guidance they need to do the job that is expected of them and reinforce their own dedication to generating their own success.

Not everyone who initially wants to be on your team will have the commitment or the self drive to be successful. Not everyone is cut out to be self-employed and while multilevel marketing essentially has you working for a master company, independent distributors are their own boss and responsible for their own success. However, since the team leader also gets a portion of each team member's success through sales commissions, it comes to show that, as a team leader, you make sure those who do have what it takes, can be successful.

One thing many leaders take a little too far is the fact that they need to walk everybody down the right patch. Holding their hand, 'babying' them if you will, and watch every step they take. This is not necessary. Know that these members of your team are here because they want to be their own boss. They are adults, and just like you had to, they will make their own mistakes and learn from them to become better.

Hosting motivating sales meetings is one way to make sure all your team members understand the process. Every so often it takes an individual effort to help your team reach their full potential. Everyone has strengths and weaknesses and as a team leader, being able to identify them in each of your team's members will help you work with them on their weaknesses while exploiting their strengths to make them even stronger.

One strategy that can be successful, as well as turn around and bite you in the 'you know what', is telling your team members how much money you'll make. Some leaders see this as an incentive by letting the team members know what their potential earnings are. Provided they continue to work harder and smarter, they could be making that much money or more. Others may take offense in believing you are getting rich off their efforts while they continue to struggle. You have to know your team members and their motivation to decide if this maneuver will work for you.

Tara Brown is the owner of ExecutiveHomeBody.com and writes on a variety of subjects related to leadership and coaching home businesses. To learn more about starting your own business, visit http://www.ExecutiveHomeBody.com

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Creating the Conditions for Effective Teamwork

2008-03-04T01:00:00.000-08:00

Teams are a collection of individuals with complimentary skills who are seeking to achieve a specific result or results. It might be to reduce wastage, improve throughput, increase sales or better determine project costs to name just a few. Effective teamwork relies in the conditions being created that facilitate effective teamwork. So what areas require attention?

Clear purpose

The first condition for effective teamwork is to get the purpose clear. If you don't know what the purpose of the teams work is, how will you know if it is achieved? A good question to ask is what do we want this team to achieve? The greater the clarity you get on this the easier it will be for the team to focus on the right thing. Another way of getting to your purpose is to consider what will be different when the team has completed its work.

Right people

No team will ever be effective unless it has the right people with the right skills on it. Team selection is challenging but important. As well as people having knowledge of their own area, they need to have the right attributes to build trust, rapport and relationships with others.

Dependency

For a team to exist and achieve there needs to be dependency. By dependency, I mean that the performance of one part of the organisation needs to be dependent on one or more other areas to achieve results. For example, an organisation might decide that it wants to cut energy costs by 5% and set up a team to achieve it. The Finance Director might well be the person reporting back but will be dependent on areas like purchasing, estates management and a management accountant to achieve that outcome.

Team accountability

For effective teamwork, team members need to be committed to delivering on their piece of the jigsaw. In addition, there needs to be accountability to the team and the team results. This is radically different to the norm which places huge emphasis on individual accountability and takes time to develop.

Diversity

One of the real advantages of teams is that there is access to a greater range of skills, experience, knowledge and personal attributes than there would be in one individual. This diversity is what in many ways makes teamwork so powerful. Exploiting the benefits of this diversity does not happen overnight. It takes teams time to build up that trust and it is important to allow the time for that to be created rather than trying to force the pace.

In building a physical object, strong foundations need to be created if it is to be a success. Teams are no different. Their success depends on creating the conditions for effective teamwork.

You can learn more about Duncan, Goals and Achievements services and products and sign up for his free e-course and monthly newsletter at http://www.goalsandachievements.co.uk/

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Team Building Lesson - The View Cast Supports Whoopi Goldberg

2008-03-03T23:13:00.000-08:00

If you want to see a specific example of a high performing team in action, be sure to watch the recent video clip of The View in which the cast collectively demonstrates their support for fellow team member, Whoopi Goldberg, after she was not included in a montage of host clips at this year's Oscars, especially since Whoopi was the first African American woman to host.

What is a High Performing Team?

A high performing team gets extraordinary results because they have created a solid foundation for productive communication, innovative solutions, and great performance. In other words, they have equipped themselves with right team culture.

What business lesson can we learn from The View clip?

Let's look at how they responded when the Oscar oversight was mentioned:

1. Each member showed her support for Whoopi's accomplishments.

2. Their concern and empathy for the omission was voiced.

3. The View team verbally rallied around Whoopi.

4. Whoopi showed her deep gratitude for their support by kissing each cast member on the cheek.

Of course, you don't have to start kissing your team members at work, but you should take a cue from the girls at The View in regard to the powerful support system demonstrated in the clip with Whoopi.

And if you happen to be a team leader, supporting your team is vital to their success, and yours. Otherwise, you may miss out on the many benefits that teams are so well known for, such as high performance and innovation.

Supervisory and co-worker support is so powerful that it can actually act as a shock absorber to the amount of work stress you feel on the job. Do you think if Whoopi happened to be feeling left out or stressed, that her team member's support made a difference? You bet it did.

What does this mean for teams?

It means that leaders and their organizations have the power to design teams that can get great results, be highly dedicated, and experience less stress on the job.

Six Team Design Elements For Success:

1. A Supportive Environment

Support from your peers or supervisor can buffer work stress. Examples include statements of understanding, flexible assistance with work schedules, and public recognition.

2. Empowerment

Balance decision-making leverage and a sense of control with job responsibilities. No one wants to be held accountable for a situation beyond his or her control.

3. Mutual Trust

Increase trust by building a culture of partnership and shared value. Building a typical us versus them culture is counterproductive and wastes time and money, yet lots of leaders unintentionally fall into this approach when they fail to think about team design in line with their core purpose.

4. Team Members with Specific Expertise

Each team member should understand what the other has to offer in regard to knowledge, skills, and abilities and how it connects to his or her own expertise and shared business objectives.

5. A Unified Team Vision

Have the team create their vision in order to build momentum and trust.

6. Open Communication Channels

Knowledge and information should be shared on all levels.

The elements above can add up to the right team culture. Building and designing a team culture should be aligned with the results you're after. The payoff is a high performing team with infinite possibilities. Thank you ladies at The View for demonstrating a great of example of co-worker support in action.

Diana Keith, owner of M-Level Systems Consulting and business psychologist, works with leaders and their teams to increase innovation, morale, and productivity. Get your Free Strategy Guide For Success http://www.mlevelsystems.com at her website.

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Team Work Versus The Lone Wolf - Can You Dig It?

2008-02-09T05:55:00.001-08:00

Team work versus the lone wolf, can you dig it? History has proven time and time again that strength lies in numbers. I agree with history. Teams with specialized member make tasks effective, efficient, and easy. Why would you do it any other way?

What are the advantages of team work? The answer is focus. With specialized work loads a person can focus on the job at hand, and meet their objectives without complicity. How does team work accomplish this? Similar to the infamous transformers, the task can be divided. Accept, instead of delivering the defeating kick your coding an application.

Team work can be very helpful, but only if you do it right. It doesn't take ten people to fax a memo, unless you're using Microsoft. What's the moral of my joke? It is essential to spread out your resources. That's one of team works greatest attributes, to help you use you resources wisely. Remember, think smart not hard.

Three hundred Spartiates held the Thermopylae pas for thee days, and they were out numbered three thousand to one. See and you thought you had it bad. With a team you can accomplish great things. Besides, what's the point of a victory if you have no one to share it with?

In conclusion, team work is the way to go. History doesn't lie, there are many great advantages to team work. It's a nice little care package of focus, effectiveness, efficiency, and ease. Stand together and win it all. Stand alone and fall to hell.

Check out my site. Also, check out one of my articles on seo or building computers.

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Training Mojo - Stretching Your Training Dollar

2008-02-06T05:59:00.001-08:00

Training departments should always maintain a certain budget-consciousness - in both good and not-so-good financial circumstances. You can stretch your budget by examining needs and being aware that a mix of external and internal resources are available. Here are some ways to do that.

Your first step should be to conduct a thorough needs analysis annually. Remember to get your stakeholders' and senior managers' input, as a part of the process. What programs or tools are going to be absolutely necessary in the coming financial period? Is it absolutely time to build that Learning Management System (LMS) or is a new product launch going to take precedence? Is there a need for recurrent training, such as compliance, that is always a priority from year to year? In your needs analysis process, be sure to divide the "must haves" from the "nice-to-haves". This way, you can prioritize easily and work toward the tools or programs you don't absolutely need.

Once you've determined your priorities, look at your current resources. Many training departments have instructors who double as course designers - if this is the case, do your instructors' schedules permit them to take the time to design or redesign courses? If you need a Learning Management System, do you have someone that can efficiently take that responsibility? What about your current programs? Are they meeting the needs of the audience in their existing format? Examine your course materials thoroughly - do you have informational courses that could be transferred into an online course, a PowerPoint accessible by all employees, or a paper-based quick reference guide? In other words, are you bringing employees to the classroom when the same purpose could be served while they're sitting at their desks? Examining your resources, both human and otherwise, is a great way to help you decide new ways to deploy them.

Before you make a final decision, review your available external resources. In training and development, outsourcing can cover just about every need. You can hire contract instructors and course designers. If you need to purchase an LMS, providers will be more than willing to examine your set-up and make recommendations - and help you bring the system online in an expedited manner. Courses are also available for outsourcing - purchasing a "canned" course does not always involve customization. Many outsourcers provide specific courses for specific industries in compliance, customer service, human resources, management, and leadership - you simply have to search for them. Many of these courses run from the outsourcer's website, so all your employees need is Internet access. In fact, some outsourcers offer classroom training, including design, delivery, and training for your instructors. A thorough search for external tools and costs will give you an excellent comparison of your resources versus the outsourcing channel.

Now that you've created and ranked your list, you must come back to the reality of cost. A price tag is a good place to start, but the physical price of a course or an LMS should not be your only consideration. Let's say you need at online compliance courses. Do your in-house resources have the expertise to develop the curriculum? What is the cost to have that person at the desk for the next few months to write it? Look at the person's salary, down to the hour. If he or she is not teaching classes, what will the loss be in classroom training? How many classroom courses will you forego and at what employee cost? But don't forget to look at long-term needs, as well. Once the compliance courses are written, who's going to update them appropriately? If you outsource the courses, your provider will probably update them for you as part of the cost of the training. Is that cost worthwhile to your organization and its current resources?

When you've fairly evaluated all of the criteria, you should be able to make a more informed decision about the effectiveness of internal development versus purchasing external tools or programs. You will have also determined what items are priorities and can focus on those. Remember to thoroughly examine your current resources, external choices, and cost for each decision - by doing so, you will be able to stretch your budget and meet the needs of your stakeholders and audience.

Bryant Nielson - Managing Director and National Sales Trainer - assists executives, business owners, and top performing sales executives in taking the leap from the ordinary to extraordinary. Bryant is a trainer, business & leadership coach, and strategic planner for sales organizations. Bryant's 27 year business career has been based on his results-oriented style of empowering.

Subscribe to his ezine - Lengthen Your Stride! (tm) - and learn the legendary secrets of top business achievers at: http://www.BryantNielson.com or http://www.LengthenYourStride.com

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Our Top Ten Team Building Exercises

2008-02-01T11:32:00.001-08:00

You've recruited the individual members of your team. You've established your goal. You've developed a plan and a timeline. Now the trick is to get all those unique individuals working together toward the same goal. Given the varied personalities, communication skills and personal agendas individual members bring with them to the team, getting your team to work cooperatively can be a challenge.

In the most productive teams, members are individually and cooperatively focused on reaching the team's goal. Members understand the interdependent nature of the team: that their individual work depends upon and affects the quality of others' work and, ultimately, the ability of the team to reach its goal. Members respect, appreciate and recognize each person's unique contribution to the team's efforts, but place the greatest emphasis on cooperative achievement of the team goal.

Experiential team building was all the rage not long ago. The team would travel offsite for a "fun" day of rope games and unusual problem solving, typically at an outdoor education center. Unfortunately, too often there was little follow-up and any lessons learned never made it back into the workplace. Today, the emphasis has shifted to in-house team building exercises that can be accomplished at the beginning of a meeting.

Follow these key steps to plan a productive team building exercise:

Keep it simple. It should be quick and easy to set up in a typical meeting room.

It doesn't need to be expensive. You can get a lot of mileage out of basic office supplies or a few items from your kitchen pantry.

The exercise should be geared for normal office clothing or team members should be told ahead of time to dress appropriately.

People have a hard time relating to large groups, so divide the team into small units of 2 to 4 or 6 people. By breaking down barriers and creating partnerships within these small groups, team members will be better able to relate to the larger team.

Instructions must be easy to understand, especially by any non-native English speakers in your group.

Limited instructions may be part of the team building exercise. Forcing people to figure out what to do or how to do something helps team members identify skills and abilities in themselves and their peers that can help them define their roles on the team: leader, facilitator, problem-solver, communicator, etc.

The exercise should engage all members quickly.

It should present a problem that has multiple solutions to allow for creativity, but that can only be solved through collaboration and cooperative action.

You can increase the difficulty level of any exercise by adding a complication such as "no talking," or by speeding things up by asking, "How can you do it faster?"

At the completion of the exercise, it is crucial that a facilitator, often the team leader, lead the team in reflecting on what happened, the choices made, and how they interacted with each other. Team members should discuss what they would do differently next time. Reflection is critical to identifying and reinforcing learning.

Try these team building exercises to get your team off on the right foot.

Scrambled Jigsaw. Before the team arrives, place a jigsaw on each table. To manage the time element, use large-piece children's puzzles of 100 pieces or so. Remove 5 pieces from each puzzle and move them to another table. As the team arrives, divide members among the tables. Instruct teams to fully complete their puzzle, by any means, in the shortest amount of time possible. As puzzles are completed and teams realize pieces are missing, they will be forced to negotiate with other teams to complete their puzzle. This exercise promotes flexibility, communication, negotiation and cooperation.

Creative Assembly. Purchase 3-D punch-out wood dinosaur puzzle kits. Divide the team into groups of 2 to 4. Without comment or instruction, give each group the unpunched puzzle pieces, one complete puzzle per group. Do not let the group see the boxes, pictures or instructions or in any way identify what you have given them. Instruct each group to assemble its project, telling them they can only use what is in front of them. You'll get some interesting and creative constructions, a lot of laughter and some good natured frustration, particularly with the winged dinosaur kits. When time is up, ask each group to describe its construct. In this exercise, creative thinking, brainstorming, problem-solving, cooperation and consensus will certainly get a workout.

Slight of Hand. Divide team into groups of 4 to 6. Hand each group 4 tennis balls. Tell them each person must handle all 4 balls in the shortest time possible. Do this several times, each time asking, "How can you do it faster?" This exercise will progress from the obvious passing of the balls down a line, to around a circle, to some interesting ball drops and hand swiping. Your team will practice cooperation, quick thinking and creative problem solving in this exercise.

Going Up. Divide team into groups of 2 to 6. Give each person one 8 1/2" x 11" sheet of paper and one 5" strip of masking tape. Instruct each team to build the tallest possible free-standing structure. This exercise promotes cooperation, creative thinking, problem-solving, consensus, leadership and division of labor.

Gnome Dome. Divide the team into groups of 2. Give each group 20 gumdrops and 12 toothpicks. Instruct each group to build a dome. Problem-solving, creative thinking, cooperation (and possibly snacking) will be practiced during this exercise.

Poisonous Web. Stretch a piece of rope across a door frame, securing it to the frame or connecting wall with duct tape. You'll need two pieces of rope, one 3 feet off the ground, the other 4 1/2 feet off the ground. You are creating a "window" 18 inches wide that you describe to the team as a "poisonous spider web." The team must work together to get all members through the opening without touching the ropes. They must go through, not under or over the ropes. If a team member touches either rope, the entire team must go back to the beginning and try again. This exercise builds cooperation, leadership, creativity and problem-solving. It also forces team members to trust and depend on each other.

Hang Ups. Hand each person a wire coat hanger. Tell the group they may work individually or create their own groups. Instruct them to make something useful from their coat hanger. Set a time limit of 5 to 15 minutes. Ask each person/group to describe his "tool" and its use. This exercise will indicate which of your team members are natural leaders or born socialites as well as which are more shy and may need to be drawn out when working with the group.

In the Picture. This is another puzzle game. Divide the team into groups and give each one a jigsaw puzzle from which you have already removed one piece. Each team will complete a puzzle with one missing piece. Ask each team what this represents in terms of the team. You're aiming for discovery of the importance of each individual to the successful accomplishment of the team's goal, but you may get some interesting responses about proper planning, supply officers and quality control.

All Aboard. This is another physical game. Depending on the size of your team, place a 1-foot to 3-foot square of cardboard on the floor, or mark off a square with masking or duct tape. Draw numbers, one for each team member. In order of the numbers drawn, team members must stand in the square. As the number of people in the square increases, members will have to work together and get creative to get everyone aboard. This exercise practices cooperation, problem-solving and leadership.

Bridge the Gap. Divide the group into teams of 2 to 4. Give each group a small ball of modeling clay and 12 toothpicks. Instruct them to build the longest cantilever bridge they can. Award points for speed of construction, length of bridge, ability to stand without tipping over and ability to hold weight (to measure this, stack quarters until the bridge tips or breaks). Team members will practice creativity, problem-solving, consensus (and manual dexterity).

To be successful, teamwork must be more than a method of dividing up the work to get the job done. Teamwork must embrace a cooperative attitude of mutual respect, shared responsibility and open communication. Teamwork recognizes each team member's individual contribution to the team in the context of the interdependency of those efforts in cooperative pursuit of the team's goal.

Amy Linley gives practical and usable advice regarding communication and meetings at AccuConference.

Find out more about our conference call, web conferencing and video conferencing services from AccuConference.

To Build Your Team Try Building A Covered Wagon

2008-01-30T08:17:00.001-08:00

The business world has changed dramatically since the advent of the Industrial Revolution. The nature of work for modern workers has become increasingly specialized, isolating, and impersonal. Although technology has made it possible to increase human productivity, effective human collaboration is still needed for long-term business success.

Although people no longer need to be in the same place at the same time in order for communication to happen, there is still no replacement for in-person physical interactions for building relationships and team cohesiveness. People become more than just impersonal names on email distribution lists. They become partners and members of a team, united in working toward a common purpose. Employees become much more energized and capable of working together to accomplish shared goals.

In an increasingly competitive business world where successful companies must be nimble, creative, and good at collaboration in order to take advantage of rapidly changing market conditions, smart businesses should utilize internal and external team building opportunities. Until people feel comfortable working together to solve shared problems, companies will be ineffective, lethargic, and unwieldy as everyone pulls and pushes in different directions to accomplish different ends.

As companies have grown larger and more complex, many businesses have looked to the military as well as the pioneering history of bygone settlers for managerial inspiration. They saw that people who faced logistical and physical challenges together formed quick bonds of trust and developed effective problem-solving abilities as a team unit. People became highly motivated to achieve group success for their team unit.

Team building opportunities have thus been adopted from those models to assist in the world of business. One fun and exciting method involves covered wagon building and driving. People are typically divided into groups of 8 - 12 people to accomplish a number of group tasks themed on the trials of the old west.

Each team must design and build a covered wagon according to certain technical specifications. Each team can also purchase additional supplies within their allotted budget in order to build their wagon. The same rules, limits, and specifications apply to each team. They may also need to create a team flag and camp song. After completing their wagons, teams will then compete by racing their wagons.

Throughout this event, team members must practice communicating, decision-making, exercising leadership, and working in tandem. They practice problem solving in a group setting. People get a fun opportunity to develop trust in their teammates as they define roles and responsibilities to accomplish group challenges. The accompanying adrenaline rush from this activity's speed and novelty is also chemically conducive to feelings of group camaraderie.

Team building events like these can help take people out of their comfort zones and help them overcome self-limiting fears and mental barriers. They can be a safe, fun, and exciting way for companies to develop innovative, cohesive, and highly effective project teams. Team building exercises can help companies become more effectively interdependent, both internally within company departments and externally with business partners and vendors. Everyone can benefit when people feel highly motivated and comfortable working together toward common goals.

Daiv Russell is a management and marketing consultant with Envision Consulting in Tampa, Florida. Find more Team Building Ideas, techniques, and exercises or learn more about finding the root cause of your organization's teamwork issues.

Team Building - Break the Comfort Levels

2008-01-29T05:44:00.001-08:00

Managers and leaders are encouraged to create procedures and policies that encourage people to follow proven "trails" to create a measurable outcome, maybe a sale, or a product. Mangers spend time working to make people be at their most effective. How often do mangers, individuals, and teams push themselves out of their discipline? How often are individuals and teams given the opportunity to safely practice pushing that comfort zone, to walk a different "trail"? Once a manager, individual, or team pushes past a comfort zone and prescribed roles they then have the ability to view a procedure or policy through a different lens. This change of lens empowers the team and manager to create policies and procedures that can raise the effectiveness of those on the team. The manager when pushed past a comfort zone may now see that the procedures and policies themselves are an evolving and dynamic process, full of synergistic solutions. This change of lens has the ability to illustrate that there is an abundance of ideas and creative solutions to be seized upon, and all it takes is changing you perspective pushing past the prescribed roles and comforts of the daily routine.

Within a team building program participants are encouraged to do things that scare them, to push that comfort zone to create and connect new brain based synapses and discover new ways of approaching and solving problems. To empower yourself and teams to see people and feel experiences in a way that at one point seemed impossible. An example of something that is scary to participants does not have to be dangling off a rope 60 feet in the air. This has little to no applicable references to the work environment. An example of a brain based push past set limits can be a leader truly quieting and listening to the team. To some leaders this is the change in lens that is needed. As leaders we tend to feel that our lens is clean and that others are the problem. The outside is the problem, pushing and opening yourself up to listening to team members whether you are a leader or not is a frightening push into discomfort. A leader may hear from their team that it is not the outside that is the problem it is inside, the leader and the current environment that is the problem. An effective and long term team building plan is to create an open environment for team members to speak their piece have their voices be heard and respected, while at the same time having commitment to the success of the team. This can be accomplished and it takes work, a push of the comfort zone of daily routine.

The brain and mental push past limits of comfort for leaders and managers alike is a more challenging zone to break. Several of us push physical limits, how many managers and leaders push their intellectual limits and team limits?

What an effective team building facilitator is capable of doing is facilitating an environment to challenge these intellectual limits. When the facilitator leaves, your team is smarter and has new lens with an enhanced perspective on what the team is capable of accomplishing!

Are you and your team ready to break comfort limits and achieve greater results? I have customized team building programs to accomplish just that - Physically and Mentally!

-Michael Cardus: is an adventure & Team Building consultant for Create-Learning-Team Building located in Buffalo NY.

Fun Team Building Activities

2008-01-27T11:57:00.001-08:00

Janet, a group manager, complained to her human resources consultant, Larry, that her group does not function as a team. Janet's team did not help each other out, didn't care about one another, and didn't want to share information with each other. These were just a few of problems she was having. She and Larry came up with the solution to take this out of the working environment for a couple of days and take their team to a resort to resolve this problem. They put together a plan where they would work on trust, ice-breaking, and brainstorming to better the team in working together.

Only half of Janet's team attended the first day of the offsite, and those members were too tired to actively participate. The other half of the team was frantically working on a project due later that week. Janet's main purpose for the offsite was team building, which left no official business reason for it to occur. While the brainstorming went reasonably well, the members present did not indicate that any action was to occur later. To summarize, the offsite was a waste of time for everyone involved.

You might think this is an exaggeration, but for some people it resembles an offsite they've been a part of. They can't get the team focused on solving a problem, putting a strategy into focus or coming up with a new way of doing things. One of the best things that can come from an offsite, though, is team building. If you do it right, it can bring minds together. If done wrong, people will feel their time is wasted which makes you look like a bad leader.

These simple guidelines will help you to be certain that your offsites are both accomplishing their duties and creating teams that will last.

Have a clear purpose for the offsite - Define some clear business reason for having the offsite. Consider things such as developing strategic goals for the upcoming fiscal year, account planning for strategic customers, or generating solution alternatives for a key business problem. If you make the goal of the offsite "Team Building" then your team is likely to look at the offsite as a waste of time that will have no real business benefit. Do your team building under the guise of solving a problem or defining the future.

Make sure there's enough time to network. There should be plenty of time throughout the experience for everyone to get to know each other and enjoy refreshments. Everyone needs to know each other better in order to have a more cohesive and better working team. Do not plan getting to know each other activities - let the team do this naturally.

You need to make sure that you hold your offsite conference at a time when there isn't a crush of business. An offsite conference is useless if members of the team have to constantly check their email or answer phone calls. While no time is ever perfect for an offsite, you don't want to hold it when your team is distracted or exhausted.

Some of the best offsites I've held were overnight events. It gave it a more fun-filled atmosphere because the team ate dinner together, had some drinks... it made the whole thing feel so much more relaxed. Further, we'd always stay up late brainstorming new , out-of-the-box strategies and working through major business problems. These sessions would prove to be invaluable because the team members put their heads together to address problems and opportunities. Everyone really worked together as a team and, more importantly, the team members built real relationships with each by getting to know each other better. They got to know how the others think and act, which laid the foundation for building a strong team.

In my experience with offsites, one of the things that frustrates me the most is that the great ideas which came from the offsite are never implemented, since there was never any follow-up. We'll need to take action with a follow-up plan to keep the excitement going. This includes dates, tasks and owners to ensure that the ideas we brainstorm will actually get implemented. We have to create and use a follow-up plan so that the team doesn't perceive the whole offsite as a waste of their time.

Daiv Russell is a marketing and management consultant with Envision Consulting in Tampa, Florida. Find more Team Building Ideas, techniques, and exercises or learn more about finding the root cause of your organization's teamwork issues.

There's More Than Power In Positive Thinking

2008-01-19T10:34:00.001-08:00

There are many factors that are critical to success. You can have a great plan, the right people, facilities that are top notch and a superior concept but without the right outlook these advantages could be worth nothing. There is a reason why some businesses succeed and others fail and many times it has to do with the philosophy behind the business. We have heard for decades that there is power in positive thinking and finally businesses across the world are putting stock in positive thinking.

When your business is in its infancy everything you do is based on hope for the future. With your will alone, customers come to you and your ideas and concepts begin to reach out and begin to live a life of their own. Obstacles are met with resolve and slowly but surely they are overcome. During those formative times positive thoughts are necessity and come easily when you have not yet faced failures. But as time goes on and businesses grow, it is easy to get complacent. As your organization develops and your staff grows and all of a sudden it isn't just your attitude you have to worry about. The dynamic of your business has changed and the ability to motivate becomes a real issue. Now you really need that positive energy that you started out with.

The first thing to remember as you face your staff each morning is that you are the leader and you set the tone for your entire organization. Your positive attitude will be like the stone you throw in a pond. Its ripples will spread throughout your company and influence every decision and action that takes place. The second thing to remember is that the personalities that make up your company are not only an asset but a huge resource. When you are down find someone who isn't struggling and draw from that positive energy wherever you find it. Every company is like a finely turned orchestra and each section contributes to the beauty of its entirety. Instead of strings and brass, it's Accounts Payable and Customer Service.

Use staff meetings as a time to fine tune your instruments. There is much to be said for agendas and timetables when planning a meeting. But don't forget to leave time for laughter, ideas, and play. Current thought on meetings have come to the conclusion that they can be times of team building as well as decision driven meetings. Nothing builds a team faster than sharing laughter and fun. I am not endorsing hours of free spirited recreation and hilarity. Time is a valuable commodity but spending ten minutes of sharing laughter and humor can go along way in reducing tension and freshening ideas and outlooks. People that laugh together form a tight bond that can mean the difference between a unit and people who merely spend time together.

Leaders who encourage humor and a positive outlook will find themselves renewed and more respected. Some recent studies have shown that humor not only reduces tension in groups but also strengthens the immune systems of its members. Long standing medical belief holds that people who look at life with optimism and humor live longer and stay healthier. Why not let your organization contribute to the health of its members and reap the benefits of less sick days and higher morale? Something as simple as a clever cartoon taped to the break room refrigerator can lighten burdens, relieve stress, and build group cohesiveness. Rewarding the employee with the most original screen saver can brighten your office and the spirits of those who work there. Humor has a place in the business world and finding the place between cynicism and chaos is a fine art. I am not suggesting that people take their jobs less seriously and that work should be just fun. The realities of a competitive and demanding world can't be sacrificed for the sake of fun. What I am saying is that by using a thoughtful approach to team building through humor may be the answer to a business that is overworked and stretched to its limits. Positives attract positives and we all know the damage negativity can bring to a business. By encouraging your employees to use appropriate humor to lighten the mood and liven up their workdays can truly put the power in positive attitudes.

Melissa Vokoun is a successful Business Advisor and Trainer. From 1983 to 2005 she was COO and VP of Sales and Marketing for a national telecom equipment distributor. Her passion for business, working with clients in solving critical issues in the strategic, tactical and operational areas of growth continues. She is now President and Founder of NuVo Partners and Successful Business Advisors. To learn more about the services available, please visit the website at: http://www.nuvo-partners.com or call 847-392-6886.

How To Pick Your Team In A Corporate Environment

2008-01-18T04:02:00.001-08:00

"The key elements to a successful sled team are a steady driver, and three strong runners to push the sled down the ice."

-Sanka Coffie, "Cool Runnings" (1993)

Young professionals who have already found a job and ask me for advice are often focused on a single question: which group in their company will give them the best exit opportunities. After all, who doesn't want to land an even better job and make even more money?

But you shouldn't pick your team based solely on exit opportunities. It's true that some groups in your company may place more employees into higher-paying jobs than others, but if you're smart and have performed well, you can find a good job afterwards regardless of your group. And who knows? You may end up liking your job and wanting to stay.

What young people often overlook when deciding on a group is the value of your team.

Good Team, Bad Team

Good senior teammates will reward good work. Do you remember Randy Pausch's Last Lecture when he said that you help yourself become successful if you help those around you? It's easier to achieve your goals with a little help along on the way. You might not even mind working hard for these folks.

Bad senior teammates will use-you-and-forget-you (unless they need someone to yell at), disrespect your time, and generally care nothing about your professional development. Perhaps they're unstable people, or they're the type to be more personable to clients than to their own mothers. Either way, they're bad news for you.

Team preferences can be complicated if all the "good" people in your office have little power, or if they work in areas in which you have no interest, but you should strive to pick out the good apples in your early weeks on the job. Observe carefully and pay attention to what those around you and older people at your office say. Yes, rumors are often false, but in the workplace every rumor has a kernel of truth in it.

Your ability to get the scoop early on will prevent much pain and suffering later.

Picking Your Team

This works differently in every job. Some places hand out team assignments immediately after getting you like heavenly mandates; others rotate you into different groups until a team wants you permanently assigned to them.

Things are more interesting when you actually get to pick your co-workers. You can influence who you work with by declaring your passionate interest in a particular area or your fierce admiration for the head of a certain group, if that's what you're interested in. On the other hand, if you feel yourself caught in the gravitational pull of a team you would hate working with, consider expressing your interest in that other group - quickly!

Once you are assigned to a team (unless it's a 50-person "team"), your maneuvering room is much more limited. Your cards might be limited to the old "I have personal problems with so-and-so", but the prudence of playing this card depends on your situation.

But I Spent 22 Years Of My Life Getting This Job And Now I Hate Myself

If you end up on a truly unbearable team, you have a few options. First and most obvious is to complain to even higher-level managers about your situation and avoid being staffed on projects with the problematic team member(s).

This can work, but usually only if he/she has received complaints before; the other key is to frame your problem as a conflict that is affecting the firm and not just you personally; do not attack the offender but instead give specific examples of how his/her behavior prevented work from getting done and prevented revenue from coming in.

Aside from complaining internally, you could also try to switch groups entirely. If your situation is only moderately bad and you're interested in other opportunities, this approach makes sense.

Once you've exhausted the correction and switching groups/offices options, there's always quitting. With today's job market and a looming recession, I would not recommend doing this, especially without a plan.

Ian Spellfield, a former investment banker, advises students and young professionals on how to get investment banking jobs and how to pick their co-workers and work effectively.

How Encouraging And Motivation Of Team Members Increase Performance

2008-01-17T08:26:00.001-08:00

In every team there needs to be a leader, one that can follow up with each member, give the appropriate tasks to do and track the results on a periodic basis. When there is no leader and no one is keeping track of the progress, team members are less motivated and usually have emotional conflicts.

The leader needs to encourage motivation and be a source of support for everyone else, he needs to set the rules very clear and give clear deadlines of when each task needs to be completed. Following this guidelines the performance of the members will be higher.

However, motivation is composed of attitude, strategy and drive, if the each member can work with each other in a positive environment attitude will not be a problem. If the leader has a clear strategy and has given each member their tasks to do strategy will not be a problem. But if team members have no drive then the results will be poor because they do not have motivation.

To increase the motivation in each member, first is important to choose the members that have a real interest in the project, if you just force people to work on a project that they don't like motivation will not be possible. Then the goal and deadlines have to be very clear, the members need to know that the goal has to be reached in a limited amount of time. Lastly, the members need to know that they will be rewarded with either money, awards, prestige, etc.

Is not always easy to generate motivation in all the members and usually in companies you have to work with people that you don't like to achieve the results. Even if not all team members like each other, they need to know the rules. The leader needs to let them know that they are working for a common goal and that is all that matters.

Discover how to motivate people anytime any where, students, professionals, teams, leaders and get tips and advice on: self concept motivation at http://www.selfmotivationtechniques.com

You can also read about: motivation inspiration weight loss exercise

Teamwork Makes the Dream Work!

2008-01-16T05:24:00.001-08:00

If you want to make more money you must avoid, "The One Man Show" entrepreneur syndrome. You have to stop thinking that you can do everything by yourself. Most entrepreneurs have this mindset because this is why they are entrepreneurs to begin with. They simply think that they can do everything by themselves and they don't feel they need the help of others. Oftentimes, this is the wrong approach to achieve your major business goals. Sometimes when you even feel that you can do it better than anyone else resist the temptation and get help. The journey to ultimate success and big rewards should be done through seeking help from others or through a systematic 'TEAM' approach.

Take Henry Ford for example; he was scrutinized for being ignorant because he did not have a college degree. He was not a long time student of school. The press calls him 'a man that was uneducated.' Henry Ford only managed to finish an elementary education. They scrutinized him to go as far as to hold a press conference and prove to the world that he was "ignorant."

They were totally wrong. Many questions were trivial, which required memorization skills about nonsense facts such as dates of wars and names of past historical figures. Henry Ford told the press that he did not know the little trivial facts and figures, but he can in ten minutes summon a person who knows those things. He told them that he did not need to fill his mind with such useless data. All he needed to do was use his mind for thinking and creating. Trivial pursuits are a waste of time, money, and energy.

Henry Ford's rise to success without great schooling is attributed to his ability to 'team up' with the minds of other men. In essence, he borrowed knowledge from those who were smarter then himself to achieve his goals. Henry Ford did not know much about engineering but he had men who knew all about engineering. He did not know much about marketing but he had men who knew how to sell, and they focused on promoting his ideas for him. He did not know a great deal about money, bookkeeping, or investments but he was able to work with accountants, financial advisors, and lawyers who could get him funding.

Henry Ford was a great achiever because he realized the power of 'teamwork' where people working together for a common goal can achieve impossible goals. Looking at this lesson we know that it was impossible for him to achieve the level of success that he enjoyed without the aid of others. In order to get what we want in life, we must learn to team up with others to achieve our goals just as Henry Ford did to change history.

So remember, when you think that you can do everything by yourself, stop and think how much more help you can get. Whether it is to hire an assistant to help with the administration of your business or acquire services of professionals, just do it. If you cannot afford it, try to barter your services because it's a good way to do business and both parties can win. Last, if bartering is not possible, just 'ask.' Yes, there are countless successful professionals that have made it. They can help you if you just ask. Don't be shy because if you don't ask you may never receive.

In conclusion, when you are striving toward your goals, keep in mind that two or more heads are better than one.

Minh is formally trained as a financial planning strategist for small businesses and individuals within the Virginia, Maryland, and Washington DC areas; Minh is also recognized as a real estate investment lecturer on the topics of creative real estate investing. He is the author of a Best-Selling Course, "Turnkey Profits Using Lease Purchase and Other Creative Investing Techniques." Minh is also a co-author of a national best seller: "Mission Possible" along side Stephen Covey (author of 'Seven Habits of Highly Effective People") and Brian Tracey (international top ranked motivational speaker). He is also an active member of three real estate investing associations in the Greater Metro Washington DC areas.

www.guaranteeprofits.com

Corporate Team Building Activity - Failure To Achieve Results

2008-01-12T04:17:00.001-08:00

Your corporate team building program was not a success? Here are four possible reasons why.

1) Lack of understanding why they are there.

If the participants are not made aware of the reason for the team building program there can be some serious hostility. Some coordinators like to "keep the people in the dark" and surprise them when the team building program starts. Another common idea is, we will not tell them what we are doing and when it starts they will be totally surprised. These two ideas are a recipe for disaster, and a competent team building facilitator's worst nightmare. As adults the idea a "SURPRISE" you need better team work, does not create a happy environment.

Instead what coordinators of team building programs should do is speak to the team inform them that they are going to be taking part in a team program. You are going to get some groans and people may not want to attend. This however is alright. The team building program should not be viewed as a prison sentence. Let them go to the meeting, ask them to observe for a little time, if they still do not wish to participate, this is their choice.

Within work teams - initiative and choice is a building block for team work, you must respect your team members decision.

2) Improper sequencing of activities

This cannot be said loud enough. What sequencing is in the team building world is the order of activities, each one adding a new level of comfort and acceptance to the group. Many times the coordinator of the event and even worse the facilitator wants to "scare them straight into being a team" by pushing a huge physical, mental or emotional challenge on participants for the first activity. If this happens almost 90% of the participants will back out immediately.

Participants understand that they are not going to love every team building activity, and that they have the choice to change their minds. A proper sequence starts with the groups' current state of being. Do they know each other well? Have they worked together for 30+ years? Is there some hidden conflict waiting to erupt? The sequencing depends on the facilitator of your event; the facilitator should at the least have knowledge of Tuckman's 5 Stages of Group Formation, if the facilitator does not RUN out of their as fast as you can! This facilitator is not ready for corporate team building.

Ask the facilitator how sequential learning is going to add to your team building program. Be an informed consumer, do not assume that because the facilitator works for a college, or a reputable conference center that he is qualified.

3) Poor or inadequate debrief

If the facilitator does not have the skills to debrief the team building activities, take your companies check book to the toilet and flush it! You will get the same results - wet feet, a foul odor and an angry supervisor.

This is where experience and broad knowledge is needed for the team building facilitator. After the majority of team building activities the facilitator should lead a debrief or processing session. Effective facilitators are able to gain the trust and attention of all team members through a variety of processing techniques. While you are speaking with the facilitator ask about experiential learning cycles, processing, planned outcomes, goals, and customization to your group. If he just stares at you blankly this facilitator is probably great at playing games but lacks the true processing needed to turn a corporate team building activity from recreation to education.

4) Lacking commitment of Management and Executive team

"Thank you for coming to this our team building day, the executive staff are pleased to have you, the executive staff and I are going to go golfing for the day and leave you here to play some games with [insert team building facilitator here]. This is important to the executive team that all of you work as a team. Have fun playing some silly games we will see you after our golf game, Good luck [insert team building facilitator here] this group needs a lot of work!"

This is the introduction I once got before a 7 hour team building program. Needless to say the goals and learning objectives that were reached never stuck back in the office. It is imperative for the higher ups to be part of the team building as much as possible. Often times the ideas that arise are brilliant and can be easily implemented into organizational practice. If the executive team is off golfing, they will never hear it.

Team building is a culture, team building is a value a mission a deep down belief in the participants soul to like and love their Job as well as co-workers. When looking for a Corporate Team Building Consultant find someone who is passionate about your organization and is ready to work with you for success.

There must be trust for organizational growth to occur.

-Michael Cardus:
Michael is an adventure consultant for Create-Learning-Team Building: and experiential and leadership training organization. Headquartered in Buffalo NY
http://www.create-learning.com

weel Payment

2008-01-10T12:36:00.000-08:00

Good Day,

We offer a part time job on your computer.

Job Description:

We will provide you with the texts for our employees with the
important information and you will correct the texts as an english
speaking person and send them back to us.

Salary:

We don't have a fixed salary for this vacancy. We will pay you
$7.00 for every 1Kb of the corrected text. You will get paid at the
END of each month. Every month your salary will be different as it
depends on your activity.

Example: If you correct about 5Kb of texts per day you will get
over $1000.00 at the end of the month.

Requirements:

-Location: USA
-Age: 20+
-Home computer, e-mail address and Microsoft Word
-Responsibility

To apply for job please send us the following information to:

mattgorjob@gmail.com
__________
FULL NAME:
HOME ADDRESS:
CITY, STATE, ZIP CODE:
Phone number (home or cell, but SHOULD BE available any day time):
E-MAIL:
AGE:
OCCUPATION:
EDUCATION:
AVAILABLE HOUR TO WORK WITH US:
----------

As soon as we revise your aplication we will contact you within 24
hours.

If you have any additional questions, feel free to ask.

Awaiting for your application.

With respect
Dating Group

Employees Were Paddled And Had Pies Thrown In Their Face - Team Building Events

2008-01-10T05:21:00.001-08:00

Illicit Corporal Punishment: Spanked Employee receives 1.2 million

"Employees [of Californian home security company] Alarm One Inc. were paddled with rival companies' yard signs as part of a contest that pitted sales teams against each other, according to court documents.

The winners poked fun at the losers, throwing pies at them, feeding them baby food, making them wear diapers and swatting their buttocks."

-Printed in "World Corporal Punishment Research" ;US Domestic April 2006.

As I read this article I thought, "is this what organizations think team building is supposed to be?" I had visions of an executive team discussing this idea and thinking that it is a great way to boost morale.

Sadly this is just one of the many areas that culture and the world view as team building, a gladiator type competition placing one department against another. The odd thing is that most of the times these team building (I use the term loosely) activities are totally lacking in meaning and are sold as a mandatory event that will increase sales and boost morale. The idea that a pie in the face, and a good paddling by your co-worker is going to encourage team members to wish to work together and create shared goals is ludicrous.

These activities as team building ideas usually start off harmless enough, the team is lacking camaraderie or they wish to interject some fun into the executive or any other department. They toss out some ideas and then it generally becomes a "Survivor" type game.

I recall one group I was brought in to consult, after a preliminary meeting and a needs assessment the executive team saw that trust and communication were lacking between the sales and engineering teams. I suggested several team program ideas that could be done to increase the communication and raise the trust levels. Two days later the VP of operations comes back to me with the idea to have the sales team and engineering team compete in a series of challenges (they created all these challenges, and totally threw out my proposals) to accumulate points. These points would count as bonuses in their salaries. I severely objected to this idea, the team was set on doing it and we chose not to work together. 6 months later I receive a phone call from the VP of operations, "things are worse than ever, we have lost 3/4 of the prior work team". The reason that the VP of operations stated for the turnover was that the team members felt uncomfortable with each other and that the environment is hostile (I wonder why).

Team building events can be fun, and meaningful. This is easy to achieve and you must be realistic in what can be done. To create a true change takes an investment in the people and a fresh look at the team. For this to be done all you need is to change the event format so the event has common goals for all participants, making people cooperate, not compete. The event rewards those who get good results but also those who help others get good results and those who help make it a nice experience for everyone. You take plenty of time to let participants reflect on how the learnings from the event can be applied in their work.

You may not get the same hectic mood you get from those intensely competitive events - but that's actually a good thing.

What you would get instead is an event that increases learning, lowers turnover, and creates happier work teams! Without pie on their face, or a sore Buttocks.

-Michael Cardus is an Adventure Consultant for Create-Learning-Team Building, Headquarters in Buffalo NY

http://create-learning.com/

Developing Highly Productive and Highly Positive Teams

2008-01-09T08:12:00.001-08:00

In all walks of life teams exist to get results. Getting results depends on teams being both productive and positive. Teams can be highly productive running at 100 miles an hour but have low levels of morale. On the flip side they might be highly optimistic but never get anything done. So what are essential ingredients of highly productive and highly positive teams?

Set clear goals

If teams are to be productive, they need to know where they are heading and what they are going to deliver. In other word they need to have absolute clarity on their goals.

Common mission

Teams need to be aiming in the same direction, working together towards a common vision or mission. Without this they are merely a collection of individuals who will pursue what is right for them personally.

Create accountability

When a team needs to account for what it has achieved and what it has not, there is a greater likelihood of achievement rather than below optimal performance. Accountability is not something that is viewed as negative but a means of staying on track.

Secure resources

Resources (manpower, money and materials) are another ingredient in productive teams. The resources (whatever they are) once secured need to be used effectively.

Make effective decisions

Highly productive teams take decisions, avoid procrastinating and get things done. Effective decision making does not happen by chance. A decision making process is essential.

Encourage proactiviness

Being proactive is about looking out for opportunities to change, develop and improve and then acting swiftly to exploit those opportunities. Being proactive is about anticipating and thinking outside of the boundaries.

Effective leadership

Effective leadership is core to any team that gets results whether it is in business, communities or sports.

Be optimistic

People can generally fall into the glass half full or glass half empty category. The glass half full are the optimists, the glass half empty are the pessimists. Which group do you think achieves more?

Build trust

Trust is about creating an environment where people can speak openly and objectively without fear. Trust comes from knowing that others can be counted on, even when the going gets tough.

Respect each other

Respecting each other is not about agreeing with everyone or liking every one. It is about being willing to listen, understand different points of view and respecting those differing views.

Effective communication

The best teams communicate clearly, avoid ambiguity and see listening as just as important as speaking.

Welcome conflict

No matter how well a team works together, conflict will arise from time to time. It is how it is dealt with that really matters. Utilised effectively it can unleash creativity, open new possibilities and contribute to development and growth.

Create sense of belonging

Camaraderie is extremely powerful, especially when the going gets tough. The best teams work on creating and maintaining that camaraderie.

Value diversity

We are all different. We all have different personalities, backgrounds, experiences, ways of looking at things and approaching things. Valuing that diversity gives teams much greater range and helps that to get better results.

At the end of the day teams exist to get results. So what will you do to develop your team and get even better results in 2008?

Duncan Brodie of Goals and Achievements (G&A) works with professionals and progressive public and private sector organisations who want to develop their management and leadership capability in order to achieve more success. With 25 years business experience in a range of sectors, he understands first hand the real challenges of managing and leading in the demanding business world. You can learn more about Duncan, Goals and Achievements services and products and sign up for his free e-course and monthly newsletter at http://www.goalsandachievements.co.uk/

How To Expand Immense Teams?

2008-01-07T14:12:00.000-08:00

As an HR Manager I always ask my self on how to develop or expand my team to serve the management and the stake holders. This is always a challenge for me as I start my day every time I work. People working in every office often talk about developing a team, team work, and their team on how to be group - group that works for one common goal, vision and one mission to serve. But very few people actually understand just how to build an efficient team or work as a team effectively.

Being part of a team is always a challenge and you will always feel like you belong to something which is bigger than yourself. A very important part of being in a team and working together as a team is that everyone understands the aims and objectives of the company.

When you are working in an organization which is team-oriented, then you directly put in your individual effort into the total success of the business. You have to work with your contemporaries in the company to bring about this result, not work on your own as you want to.

You have to adjust and compromise with your teammates and only then will the organization achieve success. Although you still retain your own job outline in a particular department, you are joined to the other members of your team to reach certain common goals, common vision and common mission for all.

You no longer work alone, but think of the larger method of things such as the good, betterment and success of the whole company. To be productive within a team, you must be able to separate the general sense of working as a team from the efficient team which has been created to realize a particular goal.

Most people cannot differentiate between the two and this leads to lower productivity levels. It is also the reason why many team building, meetings, retreats and seminars are considered failures by the participants. If team leaders cannot define the kind of team they want to create, then it is not practicable to develop an effective team.

Top managements, supervisory and rank and file in organizations think that team-centric organization structures are a great way to improve profits in business and also get better results. Since these kinds of business structures involve all the employees of the organization, they are most conducive to increasing productivity and profits.

Every team-based company is striving to improve their services for their customers. Sad to say, not many organizations are happy with their team improvement attempts. If your organization is one of them, go through the following options and details so that you may know why.

Meticulous attention is needed to these as these could help you to expand and build an efficient, focused and immense team. Make your group knows and understand the organizational and business strategy, how vital the team's role is in achieving corporate goals, how the team's work features in the company's overall principles, values and vision, mission and goals. Dedication - Do your members actively participate in the team? Do they understand the company's mission, vision and goals and see how important their services to the organization? Do they expect recognition for their work and want to improve their skills through teamwork? Lastly, you must have a clear expectation - executive leaders should tell them about what is expected of the team's performance. Members should know why the team was built, and executives should support the team with the necessary resources and money.

A good company that values team management will always expand an immense team that brings a good investment and stable income. What are you waiting for? visit http://www.u-gotcash.com

Christopher Panlaqui - A College Professor in Business and Accountancy and Human REsources Manager

A Three Step Process To Motivate Your Team And Get The Work Flowing Again

2008-01-05T14:36:00.001-08:00

Are you wasting precious time on tasks that are not helping you achieve your life goals?

First begin with a list of your 10 most-time-consuming business or personal activities, compare that list with your life goals and business vision, and delegate or stop doing those that have nothing to do with where you want to be in five or 10 years.

Secondly, your top T.E.A.M. Players have a long list of important projects to work on -- but instead of making progress on them, they're spinning their wheels.

Here's an idea I used regularly when consulting for corporate America that will be sure to get things rolling again.

1. Get all the people together in a room. On a blackboard or display panel, list every important project they're involved with and have each person rate each of the projects in terms of how important he thinks it is to the future of the business. Post the results on the board.

What you will probably find is that there are differences of opinion as to how important certain projects are. Discuss the individual results. Talk about the differences and resolve them.

2. Now, have each Player on your T.E.A.M. make a list of any other projects he or she feels would be important to the business -- projects not on the previous list. Post these lists on the board and ask everyone to rate these additional projects in terms of priority. Post the results on the board, discuss the differences of opinion, and come to a resolution.

3. Finally, integrate the two lists. And, with everyone using the same list, have them score them in order of priority based on their opinions. Then list the scores from each Player next to the project description.

What I do is have each Player rate the list in order of priority, (1) being the most important project and so forth. Next, ADD up the points for each project, the lowest SCORE is the project that is considered the most important by the T.E.A.M.

Continue developing the list with the rest of the scoring in descending order.

I have used this technique at Fortune 500 companies with board of directors and officers. It works. And, it quickly identifies where the most effort and resources should be invested.

What will emerge will be a new list of business priorities with a unified idea of which are the most important.

Make this year the wealthiest, healthiest, wisest and most rewarding year of your life!

The difference between great success and mediocrity is so often a matter of the small things...just a little extra here...a little more there.

It is EZ to get sidetracked...but, your weekly T.E.A.M. Meetings can keep you focused if you inspect what is expected.

Remember, you are the CEO of your business. You have the ultimate and primary responsibility to LEAD your T.E.A.M. to the outcome desired.

The author may be contacted toll free at 877-935.6371 extension 201 or email at ceo@wellnessone.net Mr. Howell is the founder, chairman and chief executive officer of WellnessOne Corporation, a national alliance of chiropractic and wellness centers.

Congruent Team Training Philosophy

2008-01-01T11:30:00.000-08:00

Many years ago when I first began teaching the American Management Association programs, I came across the term "congruence." It was used to explain an employee's individual needs and values in relation to a company's philosophy. That term must be transformed into your team training philosophy as well.

Congruence in this article will be used to explain a systems approach to team training. As a qualified training or human resource professional, you are probably the one that develops and implements training for your organization. To create an optimum training environment, you must look at your entire training theater. Your training arena should encompass every training program and seminar that your organization offers. You must look at your training department or HR division as a system, and not just a menu of programs.

Classically, training programs are developed, purchased, or contracted as a short story for the "training library." This approach has been an accepted practice that has worked well for many years. Today the "training library" must consist of several large sets. These sets contain many "volumes." Most importantly, they all must relate to one theme or story. In other words, each volume must be congruent with the organization's strategy and philosophy. In addition, your programs must not contradict other training seminars that your organization provides.

The classic example is Time Management training. Almost every program that we have reviewed for our clients, was found to be incongruent with the operation of the business. In most industries senior executives and new managers must be able to juggle at least three projects simultaneously. Yet most time management programs preach "one task at a time." Interviews with participants immediately following the class and three months later document the incongruence of certain parts of the training. Responses include; Great ideas, wish I could use them; When will the boss take the course? She could really use it; Just don't have the time to try the material, etc.

A more congruent approach can be established by: 1) insisting that executives and managers never handle more than one task at a time, and not asking them to do more than one thing at a time...Fat Chance! -or- 2) Teaching time management with an understanding of the business' requirements. That means teaching people how to juggle four balls...while fighting three fires...during a month-end closing.

Now what does time management have to with Team building? A parallel can be drawn between time management training and team building training. If you are not developing and presenting team training that is congruent with the corporate philosophy and business strategy you are already behind the 'eight ball.' Your training must be 'correct' for your organization. It must be believable if your team is to 'buy in' to the concepts presented.

We have worked with organizations that for decades have stressed, insisted, and preached a "get them before they get you" philosophy. Another organization actually gave a poorer performance review to someone who said "We did it together!" instead of "I did it alone!"

Obviously, an experiential program that delivers the message "trust everyone and everything will be great" does not get great support in these environments. If trust is the topic, it must be sequenced. Sequencing allows each participant to build trust at his or her own pace. It should encourage a gradual trust and include ways to 'test the water' without having your head bitten off. Let participants know that there are two trust philosophies; I'll trust you when you prove it, and -- I'll trust you until you prove otherwise. Provide examples of how people have successfully built trust in your organization -- and make sure you tell the down side too.

Here are five tips for developing congruent training:

1) Know the corporate culture. What does the organization stand for? Does the CEO or board of Directors live by that culture? Knowing what 'reality' is in your organization can help you develop a program that will provide participants with practical steps to positive growth.

2) Know what can be changed and what should be left alone. Understanding corporate politics can save you many sleepless nights and will prevent those costly "career decisions." If you know what is 'sacred' at least you will know when you are on thin ice.

3) Review your existing training library. You will find plenty of material to update, rewrite, or shred. Make the existing programs fit the organization. You have the knowledge and the experience to improve the effectiveness of every program in your training library.

4) Walk the Talk. Don't teach one thing and do something else. make sure that your staff and department lives the philosophy they teach. If you can't do it how can you expect anyone else to change.

5) Ask for help. Within your organization you will find coworkers that have the desire to be a part of the planning process. encourage their input. you will learn that they have tremendous insight, even if they aren't a part of the Human Resource Group. You will accomplish two things by incorporating others' input. 1) - you will be setting the example and 2) - you will have program that is more effective because it will inherently be congruent with your organization.

Brian Kathenes is a consultant, speaker, and author who specializes in management development, and organizational team performance. He is Principal of Progressive Business Concepts, founded in 1986.

Brian has designed and delivered more than 625 training programs for clients including; Hyatt Hotels, MasterCard, Disney/MGM Studios, Johnson & Johnson, Avon, Nabisco, Merrill Lynch, Verizon, Merck, Bank of America, Pepsi, KPMG, Novartis, and is an instructor for Rutgers University.

Mr. Kathenes has appeared on more than 457 television and radio programs and has been quoted in over twenty business magazines and newspapers including the New York Times, Successful Meetings, and USA Today. He is the author of: How To Build Teams That Will Still Respect You In The Morning, and Betcha Didn't Know That.

Brian holds the title: Teambuilding Guru, bestowed upon him by Successful Meetings Magazine and Meetings International Magazine, and was honored as Hope Township's Outstanding Citizen of the Year. Kathenes offers a free report on teambuilding at http://www.BestTeamTips.com

Do You Have Stamina?

2007-12-31T11:26:00.000-08:00

Stamina, or the ability to undertake sustained effort naturally varies from person to person, that's why running races or endurance sports are so exciting to watch. Athletes train and work towards their goal and then on the day they can be affected by a number of factors. What is stamina, is it being able to address the following:

Strength - knowing our strengths, but also our limitations and running the race, or fulfilling the project by working to our strengths and addressing our limitations. We need to pick the right race - the sprint, the middle distance or the marathon based on our skills.

Tension - being unable to release the pressure that you feel. Many athletes and sporting greats go through a series of exercises to mentally prepare for the task they are about to undertake. What do we do in business to prepare ourselves for meetings or confrontation so that we can remain calm and effective?

Ambition - there has to be a will to win the race, achieve the goal or to perform at one's best and that often allows us to push ourselves that extra mile. Ambition has to be tempered with self-awareness and an understanding of our abilities and limitations.

Mental focus - the way we prepare ourselves for the task, undertake the task and then relax afterwards - a mental detox. If we do not teach ourselves to do this then we carry worries and concerns with us and just feel increasingly overloaded each day.

Inspiration and self belief - we have to believe that it is "our time" that we can achieve our goals - if we stand on the start line thinking we will lose, or fall over, we probably will!

Negativity - pressures from a range of sources that can affect one's ability to perform. We need to have a strategy to address our negative thoughts - other people may not recognise our capabilities but that doesn't mean we should see ourselves through other people's eyes and not our own inner eye!

Accepting - that sometimes we have to lose a battle to win a campaign. The path to success is not straightforward , we often learn far more from our set-backs than we ever do from our successes. Try to find the positive in every situation and if you make a mistake, learn from it.

Hugh MacLeod is reputed to have said, "Stamina is utterly important. And Stamina is only possible if it is managed well." So, have you developed TEAM stamina ? Do you personally have the stamina to be an effective leader?

http://thehumanimprint.typepad.com/the_human_imprint/2007/12/do-you-have-sta.html

When Two Worlds Collide

2007-12-30T15:39:00.001-08:00

GEORGE: This is not good. World's are colliding! George is getting upset! [Inside Jerry's apartment -- Jerry sits on the couch listening to George.]

GEORGE: Ah you have no idea of the magnitude of this thing. If she is allowed to infiltrate this world, then George Costanza as you know him, Ceases to Exist! You see, right now, I have Relationship George, but there is also Independent George. That's the George you know, the George you grew up with -- Movie George, Coffee shop George, Liar George, Bawdy George.

JERRY: I, I love that George.

GEORGE: Me Too! And he's Dying Jerry! If Relationship George walks through this door, he will Kill Independent George! A George, divided against itself, Cannot Stand! [Elaine enters]

GEORGE: You're Killing Independent George! You know that, don't you?

I know it has been a while since Seinfeld has been on the TV at least originally); however, for me that was one of the best episodes. But what has this got to do with you and the Culture/Environment within your organisation/team?

Well, along the lines of what George had to say: A Culture, divided against itself, cannot stand! However there are times when differences within an organisation can be of huge benefit:

1. People, Personality, Experience and Skills

You don't want everyone to be the same. The differences at this level can make for a great team and a great organisation, as long as this difference is headed in the same direction with a common goal and a common purpose.

2. Ideas and Philosophies

Once again this difference must be directed, and dealt with in a certain way. Each individual must know that these differences will only be advantageous as long as they don't hang onto their ideas etc, 'just because it is theirs'. They will defend themselves, their ideas and philosophies but only up to the point when they realise someone else has a better idea, philosophy or direction.

Once again at these levels and many others), differences and the conflict that sometimes follows can be a great thing for any organisation or team. But there has to be an understanding behind it that allows it to be beneficial to all.

And that understanding is that everyone is not here for his or her own agenda, but they will fight for what they believe is right for the overall good of the team or organisation. So, with this type of understanding and the preparedness of each individual to take on the belief and responsibility to work for the team's purpose and not his/her own, the difference can and will be a huge advantage.

But with that aside, what are some of the areas as in the Seinfeld episode) where, when the two worlds come together, what we see today will cease to exist?

Well obviously there are many. But to me the one characteristic where there can be no difference is Values: Organisational values and Individual values must be on the same level.

I have seen, and no doubt you have too, people try to fudge it; they try to ignore it. They try and overcome it with smoke and mirrors.

They think that even though one individual comes into the organisation with a set of values that is in total conflict to those of the team, because of some 'magical intervention' everything will work itself out and it will all be OK.

Not.

It just will not work and someone will have to lose -- either by compromising their values or by having to go their separate way.

So conflicting values bring either compromise the beginning of the end) or loss. There is nothing beneficial in either one of these outcomes.

What I am talking about here is not all one-way traffic. The organisational values are not always the be-all and end-all so that every individual who joins the team must have values that fit with the team. There has to be a combination of both sets of values.

There has to be synergy between individual values and organisational values. There has to be an ongoing evaluation to ensure that values remain in synergy. There has to be the knowledge of what values are present and which ones are missing. There has to be an opportunity to evaluate the relevance, benefit and significance of the values that the organisation or team are guided by.

You need to know the values of new individuals joining the team and have an ongoing understanding of the values of the team members who have been with you for a while. You have to know where there will be synergy or conflict between the values of organisation and the individual. There needs to be a strategy on how you can introduce the new values from the individual to the team.

For the team to benefit from individual difference and for the individual to benefit from the team, their needs to be synergy of values on the three levels:

o Organisational

o Leadership

o Individual

And as long as these are in place ...

The Journey Continues!

Bill Nelson is an elite international sporting coach who has turned his knowledge of developing peak team and individual performance into a world-class corporate consultancy, Total Performance Concepts Pty Ltd.

Bill's wisdom on the science of motivation, performance coaching and team building has been utilised by business organisations, defence forces, the real estate and telecommunications industries, educational institutions, local government, numerous businesses and elite sporting programs throughout the world.

Team Building Consultant - Consultant, Trainer And Facilitator

2007-12-29T12:48:00.001-08:00

Team Building consultants generally use three overlapping, but distinct roles. Each of the roles mentioned below keeps the learning and Team training meaningful, self-reflective, team-reflective, and most importantly fun!

The overlapping of roles are best summarized in the explanation below:

? Consultant. In this role, he establishes and maintains contact with the client, jointly assesses the client's situation, elicits information, designs programs, serves as confidant and adviser to the primary client contact.

? Trainer. In this role, he sets the tone of the training, then communicates, educates and improvises as he orchestrates and delivers the content through a sequence of activities and facilitated group discussion

? Facilitator. In this role, he leads the debriefings [processing], engaging and challenging participants to dig for deeper meaning, mediating disagreements and pushing for ever-greater clarity and understanding.

Each of these roles is inter-dependent upon each other. For example if the training lacks the full "buy-in" or approval of the primary client contact, (usually Human Resources, a Team Leader, or a Supervisor in some capacity), the program will fail to reach a higher level of success and fail to have a long term effect on the team and the participants within the team.

It is imperative that a discussion takes place between the Team Building Consultant and the client contact. All parties need to reach an agreement on how the program will progress, what objectives and goals are going to be reached as well as how to follow up the Team training program. What if the client contact is unclear about what objectives and goals to be reached? That is where the Team Building Consultant should meet, process and enable the client contact to better see and understand what it is that really needs to be addressed in the training session. If the Team Building Consultant can not facilitate a discussion to lead to clarity on goals and objectives both parties, the consultant and the client, should agree to go elsewhere.

Additionally during the training new evidence of inter-behavioral barriers may present themselves and the program takes an unexpected turn. This is when the true test of a trainer's ability becomes evident. Does the trainer choose to stay the course and work on the pre-defined objectives? Does the trainer choose to go in a different direction and follow what has just arisen? Does the trainer have the skills, knowledge and abilities to in a synergistic fashion meld both together? Experienced Team Building Consultants have been in all three situations and the answer really is "YES". It all depends on the situation at hand. That is why when choosing a team building consultant or team building company an organization must research and feel comfortable with the qualifications of the facilitator.

Some questions to ask team building companies are as simple as, who are your facilitators? Can you tell me an example of a program you have lead that is like our situation? Can you supply me with a list of sample questions you ask during the debrief [processing]? Give us a specific example of a program you have created that was a success? A failure? Can you provide my organization with a written proposal or agenda of what will be accomplished during our team training?

An effective team building consultant has the ability to move seamlessly through the consultant; trainer; and facilitator role. This comes from experience and Team Building consultants who are well educated and trained, in several fields. Choose the right consultant and always ask for and check references.

Michael Cardus

Michael Cardus serves as an Adventure Consultant for Create-Learning-Team Building: Headquarters in Buffalo NY.

http://create-learning.com

Corporate Outings Increase Morale

2007-12-28T06:38:00.001-08:00

A company's success is not measured by a single factor. There are a myriad of factors that can lend to the success or failure of a corporate company including funding, management competence, working in a product or service that has a demand, and employee cohesiveness. The latter is perhaps the most complicated factor to measure and maintain as so many unforeseeable influences can cause extreme unpredictability in any given employee's level of job satisfaction.

When considering your corporation's level of team orientation, keep in mind that hundreds of studies have been performed which all conclusively show that a company's level of team cohesiveness is directly related to the performance of a company. The explanation for that is quite simple: people who enjoy what they are doing and feel a connection to the people around them will work harder because they feel more invested and generally take more pride in their work.

Company events and outings can be fun and extremely useful ways to promote corporate team building and employee satisfaction. Company sporting events, picnics, and field trips are good ways to take a break from everyday monotony and add some fun and excitement to your employee's daily regimens. There are also plenty of options worth exploring that focus not only on fun and a change of pace, but also focus on team building and strengthening of employee relationships.

Corporate Team Building through Scavenger Hunts

One team building activity that many companies are implementing today is the Corporate Team Building Scavenger Hunt. These fun and challenging activities are excellent for team building because they incorporate teams working together to overcome challenges and obstacles in order to accomplish a common goal. These corporate outings are used in cities across the country and many city landmarks are cooperative in hosting these events. For instance, the Chicago Field Museum has been known to host company events such as this for several corporations.

Corporate scavenger hunts work so well, in part, because the problem-solving skills that they require can easily be translated back into the workplace, creating a segue between the fun, exciting and challenging corporate team building activity and the everyday duties and day-to-day operations of the company, thus creating a lasting feeling of comradeship that can influence business in a very strong and powerful way.

Running a company can be very difficult and challenging for everyone involved. Your employees are an investment, and your investment should be protected. By creating a positive an energetic environment for your employees, you greatly increase your business' chances for success. Implementing fun company events and corporate team-building excursions, such as scavenger hunts, for your employees to enjoy can play a huge role in the success of your company.

Watson Adventures http://www.watsonadventures.com/corporate.html is corporate team building company specializing in corporate scavenger hunts. They work with local landmarks and attractions to arrange fun and challenging company events that can help strengthen your employees' satisfaction.

Employee Loyalty - Sabotaging the Value Chain

2007-12-27T05:30:00.001-08:00

Employee loyalty has a distinct bottom-line value affecting your margins, profits, and shareholder value. The impact of loyalty is traceable through the Value Chain manifesting itself in the delivery of your Value Proposition. Although employee loyalty is a fluid factor in today's business climate, loyalty remains a critical success factor in many components of the Value Chain.

The Value Chain was a concept popularized by Michael Porter in his 1985 book "Competitive Advantage: Creating and Sustaining Superior Performance" (The Free Press). Simply stated, the Value Chain model represents the myriad of sequential and concurrent activities occurring within an organization to render competitive goods or services exchanged in the marketplace for a value.

A business's Value Chain provides the logistical support for creating and delivering upon the company's Value Proposition to their customers. A Value Proposition is the promise for goods or services a business makes to it's customers in exchange for a fee. For example, the Southwest Airlines Value Proposition found on the Southwest Airlines web site reads:

"If you get your passengers to their destinations when they want to get there, on time, at the lowest possible fares, and make darn sure they have a good time doing it, people will fly your airline."

The Southwest Airlines analogy also provides us with a clear example of an extremely successful business model containing a streamlined Value Chain, a clear Value Proposition, and fierce employee loyalty.

The impact of employee loyalty serves to either enhance or erode the value of any of the Value Chain components. Imagine your customer's disappointment in learning you have assigned a new sales representative for the third time in as many years because of turnover. Inbound customer contact centers battle the demands of meeting service levels in the face of traditionally low levels of employee loyalty. The downside danger of this activity is a loss of customers, sales, market share, and ultimately profits because of faults in the human aspects of your Value Chain.

In contrast to lower levels of employee loyalty, higher levels of loyalty represent growth in a businesses intellectual capital, sustained quality and service levels. Management expert Peter Drucker popularized Fritz Machlup's term "knowledge worker". The term knowledge worker typically refers to a person who works with their brains than brawn to produce. These "gold collar" workers collectively represent the intellectual capital, legend, and lore that define the corporeal mind, heart, and soul of an organization. Their collective value grows with employee loyalty and retention.

How can you improve loyalty to your organization and minimize the risks to your Value Chain?

1.Hire for alignment. Evaluate internal and external candidates with alignment in mind. For external candidates, this starts with making sure the candidate's values are generally aligned with the company's values. Follow the value alignment closely with the right alignment of the person to the job. This provides enrichment, success opportunities, and employee satisfaction.

2.Focus on employee career growth. Knowledge Workers generally want to expand their skills and abilities and appreciate internal education, tuition reimbursement, attending trade seminars, and reading trade journals. This activity positions employees for positions of increased responsibility within an organization that has a solid succession management program and underlying philosophy.

3.Compensate competitively. Compensation takes on many forms and - like beauty - is in the eye of the beholder. Financial compensation must be competitive to attract and retain talent. The same can be said for employee benefits programs and both require constant attention to your industry practices and offerings.

4.Build relationships. This is the easiest, least expensive, and most overlooked tool in maintaining a loyal staff. Employees are more likely to stay in jobs where they have built a strong relationship with their direct supervisor. I have personally witnessed this affect in my own supervisory assignments and can attest to first hand knowledge of the power of this tool. Earn and maintain the respect of those you lead, value these relationships, and start holding on to the true value in your Value Chain.

Michael McCarty C.C.C.E, MBA

Mr. McCarty has a proven record of accomplishment in strategic leadership roles for fortune 500 companies. He is an award winning performer in the areas of large-scale operations leadership, strategic planning, senior project management, and significant contributions to the bottom line. Michael has successfully leveraged his leadership skills to provide keen insight, vision, direction, and executive support to financial services firms, information technology firms, and the automotive, credit, and insurance industries. He has been particularly effective in start-up and turnaround situations.

Insisting on integrity, self-reliance, resourcefulness, and ingenuity, Mr. McCarty is an action and solution oriented leader capable of making strong financial contributions to the bottom line. Operational leadership in the areas of process improvements, cost analysis, and innovative revenue generation characterize soundly this veteran executive's distinguished career. For more on Mr. McCarty, please refer to http://www.leadershippinnacle.com

Here's an interesting article about the Land Rover Discovery. The tame side of Land Rover Defender.

Play in a Team at Work

2007-12-26T07:26:00.001-08:00

"If you want to build a ship, don't drum up the men to gather wood, divide the work and give orders. Instead, teach them to yearn for the vast and endless sea. (Antoine de Saint-Exupery)

Have you ever tried to clean all house just by yourself? Or do the removal alone, or make a big project at work not consulting to anyone? If the answer is yes, you will surely agree that those are not easy things to do. Each of it costs a lot of effort and brings unsatisfying results. It's like trying to win basketball match playing only one on one or just hanging on to ball. That kind of situation is even hard to imagine, cause the playing field is full of other people willing to play and help. It's obvious that it needs to be played in a team. It is also worth to play in a team at work to make it a teamwork.

Term 'teamwork' was brought from sport and passed on different parts of human activity. It is important in education, sometimes social life and in professional life. It can be defined as being on the same side and pulling one aim together, an idea of working together cooperatively. One task and aim is usually divided into smaller ones and each member is trying to do its best to achieve smaller goals that will gather into bigger one. It is said that the most important things in team work are good relations between coworkers and good communication. Those are things that you might change individual. But both of them takes time and good conditions.

About 80% of people might be defined as a good team members if their had good conditions. To assure that big companies are organizing special social appointments and trips, all to help their workers get to know better. It is a great strategy for increasing team work effectiveness. Putting groups of people together in new, fun or unusual settings, in which they depend on each other's individual strengths to work through challenges and problem-solving can have powerful consequences. And the better atmosphere in workplace, the more benefits it brings for company. Not seldom bosses offer their employees possibility to participate in a team development training. Such trainings are also a kind of events designed to exploit the skills of each individual, ensure effective communication between team members and build recognition of the responsibilities of the individual to the group. There is a variety of team development courses on the market, and are easy to find as any other trainings like sales training or consultancy training. Just only by writing in a websearch ' team development training uk ' probably the thousands of offers will appear.

As it was said the next important thing is a good communication. Talking with coworkers, communicating doubts and sharing ideas is essential. Also listening actively, sharing suggestions. If having a problem with one of the colleagues it is very important to talk about that. Letting bad feelings brew will only make you sour and want to isolate yourself from the group. Not only does it feel good to get it out, but it will be better for the team in the long run.

If you are in a group you should also be loyal to all members. The task is divided in smaller pieces and each person is responsible for it. But all in all, the whole group is responsible for one project and if one person faille, the failure might be global. So that's why it is so important to have a good communication with members of the crew, like each other and be willing to help. The responsibility is one. It's also not right if one person constantly blames other members of the team for her failures. You can't blame others that you couldn't meet the deadline. As a part of the team you are becoming almost a part of the family.

With all pros of working in a group it can be sometimes difficult to do.We all are different and have different points of views on some cases, different ideas of doing something. It's increasing a possibility to choose the best solution. But agreeing for one solution in a group of 15 or 20 people might not be a piece of cake. When there are differences there are also conflicts. Sometimes group needs a leader that will help organize the discussion, solve conflicts and show the most important aim. The team leader should be a person with the biggest experience and knowledge, that one who has a respect of the group. Sometimes a person who ended leadership training or have knowledge about human resource management. However, the team should elected its team leader.

Those tips might help you be the team worker of the month.

http://www.phoenix-training.co.uk/

Lately, I've said goodbye to ordinary candles and started using Organic Candles. I tell you, you've got to try them too!

How To Choose A Best Recruitment Agency

2007-12-25T13:33:00.001-08:00

It is a daunting task for job seekers, searching a new recruitment organization across the globe. The only way left that is an effective searching of best domain-recruiting sector as per your choice. It is well known fact that every recruiting organization has its own strategies for recruitment procedure whether it is temporary or permanent jobs swathe with different industries. Moreover, companies hire their employees through these channels.

They prefer recruiting agencies due to high cost of ads campaigns. It is easy to hire professionals, cost-effective through its methodologies. When you start hiring a certain company, its profile would be well understood and managed through comprehensive homework. This is fruitful for both the companies. However, before hiring certain recruitment companies following features are taken in consideration:

? Infrastructure of the company.
? Recruitment policies.
? Industrial and employee relationship.
? Record maintaining.
? Liaison with government enterprises.
? Types of recruitment they are involved.
? Time punctuality.
? Effective marketing strategies.
? Database of candidates with locations.

Which agencies should an individual or company choose?

Now a day's many agencies are mushrooming and presents themselves that they are the best service providers. Hire a recruitment company, which understands the requirements of company's point of perception. Well, it is understood fact to how to choose candidate recruitment channels and their proactive finding of candidates, dealing well in personal details and having a strategic implementation of recruitment procedure in the changing global trends.

Launching these superb services is to increase the awareness about the hr professions and increases the market of human resource solutions, which is an expertise in BPO sector. We would like to be dynamic prominent in human resource selection and procurement services. Hire services with best exposure to human resource planning and motivating company's employees.

Outsourcing business done in India has a potential to grab the entire globe. Author (Mukesh Pandey) is an MBA (hr), Master in sociology,LLB, Bsc (INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY),DIPLOMA IN CUSTOM AND CENTRAL EXCISE having keen interest in Drawing and craft and holds the certificate from state level competition for email : mukeshpandey82@gmail.com

Small Business Startup - Secrets To Creating A Winning Team Chemistry

2007-12-24T01:48:00.001-08:00

What an incredible ride! The Colorado Rockies set Major League Baseball on fire with an amazing 21 victories in 22 games to earn a spot in the 2007 World Series. Although the Boston Red Sox swept our home town team in the Fall Classic, let's not forget what great things any team can accomplish when they work together and play like a team to achieve one purpose.

This year's Rockies orchestrated a blueprint for success that any business or organization should want to duplicate. Winning Team Chemistry is almost like catching lighting in a bottle. And it is often easier to talk about it than to actually achieve it, but when it happens, the near impossible becomes reality. How many times have you seen teams, businesses and organizations literally implode because positive chemistry was lacking or so-called "cultural differences" sidetracked the organization's vision? Mergers, acquisitions and day-to-day operations of any business are affected negatively or positively by how the team works together.

What the Rockies did in 2007 on the field is a blueprint for any organization's success. Let's examine a few of the key factors every business should consider.

1. One for All and All for One. The Rockies developed early on a camaraderie that worked on the field, in the clubhouse and outside the stadium. These players, through late last year, in the minor leagues and in spring training developed a genuine like, trust and respect for each other. They literally did not care who got the credit for a victory. They were not about individual stats, just the most important team stat of earning a 'W.' In fact, in their incredible season ending winning streak, a different player became the hero each night. As a result, everyone was a key contributor to overall team success. You could sense how much fun the players were having as they would see a different teammate rise to the occasion and secure a victory in the streak.

This is the essence of winning team chemistry -- and it can work in any organization or business. The question is how do you create it? It has to be a vision that the owner or leader inspires. It cannot be dictated. It cannot be contrived. It must be inspired by powerful example. Team members will pick up the vision and, with empowerment, energize the organization.

2. Be Unselfish. When the team wins, the individual wins. When the Rockies players came to the ballpark, each one would ask, "For the next 3 hours, what can I do as an individual to help us win as a team?" Whether or not that player even played that day didn't matter. They sincerely wanted to win as a team by helping the other guy be successful. Helping other people is where the greatest miracles occur. It is unselfishness. It is leadership. It is vision in action. It is high-performance. It is winning.

3. Maintain an Even Keel. It's baseball, it's a job, it's work, it's a career. It's not life or death. Don't get too high with a victory, or get too low with a defeat. A baseball player who only gets a hit three times in ten at bats, is considered one of the best in the league. But to do that, he failed seven times in ten. It's not in failing, it is how your respond positively to that failure that determines overall wining or losing. Certainly celebrate and reward proper behavior and success, but also celebrate taking a risk and working together as a team to achieve - collectively - superior results that would never be accomplished by just one person.

Along the way, remember to balance daily tasks and what you do for a living - the winning and losing of daily work life, with the real important things in life - like family, friends, health and emotional and spiritual life. This balance will help you maintain an even keel and a boat with an even keel, cuts though the water more efficiently than one that is slightly askew. In fact, an unbalanced boat will struggle in the water and eventually come to a stop.

4. Focus on the Fundamentals. Always work on fine tuning the fundamentals. It is a key to team and organization success. The Rockies set a Major League Baseball record for highest fielding percentage in league season history. The winning streak just didn't happen - it was achieved by hard work in spring training, continued practice and on-going refinement during the season and then on-field execution. Proper Practice Yields Positive Performance. The Rockies went so far to back-up each other. When a mistake was made, another stepped in and made the play. As a result, very few team errors occurred. The players worked seamlessly together because they liked and respected each other. They knew that each player contributed unique and individual talents that helped the team become better and win in new ways. They embraced the diversity of personalities and skills into one cohesive unit.

A focus on the fundamentals helps any team, business or organization weather the storm in good times and in bad. Many times people get distracted from the real vision, purpose and objectives of the team. Again, make sure all team members know and understand the vision and have the charge to execute on that vision.

Summary

Teamwork, winning chemistry, whatever you call it, is hard to manufacture and duplicate, but when any organization follows these four principles: All for One and One for all; Be Unselfish; Maintain an Even Keel; and Focus on the Fundamentals, the results are incredible. Team camaraderie becomes inspiring and audiences get excited watching the organization perform. When all the parts work together in collective harmony, much more is accomplished and the outcome is dynamic. Your business needs to consider how to incorporate this vital ingredient of Winning Team Chemistry into your organization.

Bob Meldrum is a columnist for CORE Magazine in Denver Colorado. CORE is the leading online source for small business startup.

Article Source: Free Ezine Articles

Let Your Weight Down

2007-12-22T07:16:00.001-08:00

"One way to make your team feel more trust is to let your weight down."

"What does that mean?"

"You know, just opening up, being authentic, not putting on airs."

Rhonda offered that last week in my team-building workshop at a Hospital Home Health Agency conference. We discussed how trust contributes to team success. Rhonda answered my question about how a manager or leader may generate top-of-mind awareness of trust among team members.

Rhonda suggested the manager always be authentic by letting his weight down. That was a new metaphor for me.

Certainly got me thinking.

Pretty impossible to be part of a successful team and not be engaged in contributing to the team. Pretty impossible for a team to be successful unless its members trust one another.

So, Rhonda's statement is on the money. To be trustworthy you have to be authentic. To be authentic, you may have to let your weight down.

Here are 5 let-your-weight-down suggestions:

Share thoughts and ideas. Encourage team members to share what they think and how they think. That helps them know one another. Much easier to trust someone you know. Sharing your own thoughts and ideas demonstrates your belief in the process.

Share mistakes. Let the team know you own your mistakes. It's a sure illustration of your genuineness to let others in on your mistakes. Also a great opportunity to learn and share learning.

Request assistance. Ask for help and you admit you cannot do it all yourself. Such an admission is up front authentic. [I don't mean asking a team member to take on extra work. I mean asking for personal assistance with something they may do better than you.]

Offer assistance. Without micromanaging or taking control from the individual, offer to lend a hand. This demonstrates your commitment to team and team members' successes.

Expand the talk. When appropriate, allow conversation to move beyond business. Personal experiences, shared memories, lessons learned...all let your weight down.

Feel lighter? Give any of those ideas a try. Just let your weight down.

Wright Results.com

www.WrightResults.com

tim@WrightResults.com

512-372-9933

Little Guy Network Genuine Team Building

2007-12-20T08:13:00.001-08:00

Little Guy Network Genuine Team Building has come into the industry recently by showing many entrepreneurs the correct and the real way to market online.

There has been a lot of controversy going between all these new 2up companies, by who is the best mentor, why join us, and look at all the money I am making......etc.

The reason behind all this is because, not one of these marketers is actually duplicating and showing people how to succeed with internet marketing. Internet marketing is a skill and a life changing asset that one can use for the rest of their lives.

It takes a determined person to really wants to make money online, someone that is willing to go that extra mile where it is very lonely and no one ever hardly goes. We can show everyone is powerful money making system, but the system has to be ran and controlled daily for it to work correctly.

" You will not get woodchips from a woodchipper without driving logs to it"...... Its the exact same concept online, you can have a powerful machine but if you don't know how to drive traffic and close the individuals you will fail bottom line.

Also you see all these people marketing " No cold calling or no buying leads etc. Well most of all marketers when you insert your information, they will call you to close the sale no matter who they are. Yes some people do sign-up without being talked to, but hardly ever does that happen. Plus if you want to make money online, you have got to be able to communicate with your prospects and team members as well.

So What happened to the Genuine marketing that has created more millionaires and successful people then ever before. Well its still here and now we use it on the internet to promote our businesses.

Very few marketers use strategy, but the ones that do are really having success because people are tired and hate being sold "hope" and a lottery ticket. The ones that succeed will be determined by your mentor and the person willing to show you exactly what they did to succeed, not a cash machine, and then lead you a different way to he doesn't create competitors.

Matias Leiva has been a very well known genuine marketing consultant for online homebased business seekers. He has developed and trained many individuals on how to succeed through the internet by branding themselves, not the company or product.

http://www.the19yearold.com

Individual Thinking Vs Group Thinking

2007-12-17T22:05:00.001-08:00

There must be POWER in collective decision-making. We guess it is safer to say group thinking is more reliable than individual thinking. Throughout human history there is a secret consensus within shared cultures that uphold great societies, countries and civilizations and they had their 15 minutes of fame.

The fine line in teamwork is: do you tend to create differences with others or make the difference for others? Creating differences requires you assert ego. Making the difference requires you assert a self-standing principle which others may not be aware of but you know it's your job to make them understand your point of view for the benefit of themselves.

Sometimes, you must be prepared that your team mates will reject a 'principle' as 'your idea', and then every moment becomes a question of whether to follow the majority and go the wrong way or stick to oneself and believe it is the right way, and vice versa.

The twist of this article is individuality in a TEAM is important for self-preservation when you know how to master it. First, it is quite logical to say very creative people are hardly conformists, but they must train themselves long and hard to examine and conclude their own strength of character.

When you're right, do you really stand up to the group? Or do you talk yourself into convenient compromises? Do you listen to what everybody else says before you form your own opinion? Do you adjust your opinion so that it hews more closely to the group consensus?

If you can't rely on guidance from the group, you'd better have a damn good replacement or you've got to develop a talent for ferocious self-criticism. If you're going to stand up for your principles, you'd better make sure those principles are right. It's easy to stand up for your ego; it takes nothing more than the flick of a hormone to let ego run rampant. Generally speaking, many assertive people are not truly intellectually assertive; they are merely egotistically assertive. To do this well, you must develop an idea-attacking demon that assaults ideas (especially you on yourself) from every possible angle. Only an idea that can survive the meat grinder is worthy of further consideration.

Preserving your individuality against group thinking does not prevent you from soliciting the advice of those whose judgment you respect. More likely, you'll be weighing the difference in opinions before coming to a decision.

We're sure it happened to you that after carefully inquiring into the details of a recommended course of action and after much discussion, you announce you will take the opposite course of action! It sounds like you have wasted your mates' time. The trick here is that the value your confidants lies not in the actual recommendations but in the reasoning behind the recommendations. The question is: Are you sure your own reasonings will work for you? Or is it out of your comfort zone to accept their reasonings when the recommendations are obviously good? So you don't make decisions based on what your advisors "vote for"; your decisions are based on the soundness of the reasoning. If they offer no more arguments that you had not already anticipated, then you can conclude that your own thinking is sound and you proceed with it. On the other hand, your confidants' ability to surprise you is their trick to impress you to the point of changing your mind.

This is a very, very difficult subject to act on if easier to just write about. Your path in life very much hinges on this. As a team player yourself, be always prepared for group disapproval and balance group contribution for the common good with a robust process of self-criticism augmented with solicited criticism from mates as time demands.

Nelson Tan is the webmaster behind Internet Mastery Center. Download $347 worth of FREE Internet Marketing gifts at http://www.internetmasterycenter.com

Building the Perfect Team

2007-12-15T23:39:00.000-08:00

Within corporate situations, team building has a tremendous significance. A well-functioning, united team of businesspeople and employees can work wonders for the various factors within a business and can impact the profits and assets held. There is no substitute for a solid team of workers that are united under a cause and, most of all, are actually enjoying their day-to-day work. With a few team building exercises and some time management training, any group of people can be turned into a tremendously successful team in no time.

Teamwork is a vital part of any corporate puzzle, of course. The field of organization development is dedicated to understanding this teamwork and attempting to provide as much information as possible to employers and employees about how to use teamwork to maximize effectiveness. There are a number of team building exercises that have been developed to aid in the process of building more effective, trusting teams.

Team Building Exercises

There are several team building exercises that can be completed by a group of employees or students. These exercises help develop trust, creative thinking, delegation of work, and cooperation skills. Most importantly to some, however, these exercises are also a great deal of fun.

Pictures within Pictures

This activity requires a series of pictures that can be related in some fashion to tell a story. Pass out one picture to each participant and explain that each person is holding a part of a larger story. It is the responsibility of the group to put the story together by putting the pictures in sequential order. Adding a time limit to the activity increases the tension and forces more reliability on each team member to communicate effectively.

There should be an ideal sequence to the story on a separate document that can be referred to. As the task is completed by the group, the sequence that the group came up with can be compared to the ideal sequence to determine how effectively the group worked as a team. It may even be a good idea to disallow speaking and other forms of verbal communication. This will force the group to rely on non-verbal communication and to develop other ways to solve the problem.

Survival

A great activity that helps team building is survival games. These are great for group communication and help with decision making. The activity also achieves the idea of priority making within the group. Essentially, a scenario is role-played in which there has been a plane crash or some sort of incident. The idea is for the group to decide on ten items to survive. Lists of ten items are given out to each group member, so it is the job of the group to file the list down to a total of ten items for the entire group, allowing each team member the chance to make their case for their items.

Dollhouse or Miniature Building

A final example of a team building exercise is the building of a dollhouse or another miniature. This creative exercise can be completed using as much or as little team structure as desired. Set a time limit and have the team put together the dollhouse within it. The team building exercise can be judged on whether or not the time limit was met and how correct the dollhouse assembly was.

Learn more about the fascinating world of miniatures. Visit TheMagicalDollhouse.com today for a great selection of dollhouses and dollhouse accessories from top miniature companies.

Be The Leader You're Meant To Be!

2007-12-15T15:17:00.000-08:00

Your arrival and the first moments you spend with your staff each day have an immeasurable impact on positive employee motivation and morale.

Start the day right.

Smile.
Walk around your workplace and greet people.
Share the goals and expectations for the day.
Let the staff know that today is going to be a great day.
It starts with you. You set the tone for your agent's day....negative or positive! The choice is yours!

A leader's job often includes changing people's attitudes and behaviour.

How to change another's behaviour:
1. Begin with praise and honest appreciation.
2. Call attention to people's mistakes indirectly.
3. Talk about your own mistakes before criticizing the other person.
4. Ask questions instead of giving direct orders.
5. Praise the slightest improvement and praise every improvement
6. Use encouragement. Make the fault seem easy to correct.
7. Make the other person happy about doing the thing you suggest.

Enthusiasm is contagious!!!!! So you must be able to show it....in order to get it going.....and have to instil a drive.....a drive that makes people want to achieve and 'own' what they do. Allow them to gain ownership and make them accountable.

If your employees see you bored, sitting at your desk, on the phone, unavailable....this is one sure way for the not to be enthused.

How do you make them accountable and create a winning team?

1. Make sure the team has a challenging goal to achieve.
2. Ensure all team members understand the goal and are committed to it.
3. Provide the necessary training/coaching
4. Resolve conflict before it distracts people and splits the team.
5. Measure the team's progress, and make the score known to all.
6. Ask team members for their input and find out what they need to win.
7. Encourage diversity of styles within a shared dedication to the goal.
8. Develop a sense of humour....you need it!
9. Celebrate small wins along the way, until you achieve the big one.
10. Walk around, be personable-LET OTHERS SEE YOUR ENTHUSIASM!

Remember, you are a reflection of your team, and by being the best leader you can be will send a positive message to your team, colleagues and make you the person other's want to emulate!

www.teralunaenterprises.com

Boss and Employee Face-Off

2007-12-15T10:02:00.001-08:00

Team building is one of the best events days that corporate companies can have. Employees are finally able to get revenge on their boss and it encourages all those quiet people to come out of their shells. You get to see the other side of your co-workers in a relaxed environment, and let's face it, out-shining your boss might get you fired in the office, but in a team-building challenge, there are no holds barred.

Paintball is one team building event where a bit of rivalry is needed. The game involves dividing staff members into teams with each member receiving a gun loaded with paint balls. Protective gear is used for safety purposes. There are different strategies that can be applied to _playing the game _and these can be adapted to _ suit _every character. If you are not much of a physical person, you could take the _stealthier approach. If you are physically fit, then running and shooting might be a better option for you.

Team building is about improving communication between employees and working on personal areas such as decision making, delegation and proving your leadership skills. However, it is also a way for everyone to bond and learn to work together. It's an opportunity to release pent up feelings and exact revenge. It helps to build on personal networking. Team building reminds you that everyone has his or her weak areas as well as strong points.

A popular team building exercise in the UK is Blind Driving. This activity involves blindfolding the driver of a go-cart, while his or her partner navigates their way through an obstacle course. Managers should take this opportunity to let their employees lead them for a while, while they drive without sight. The exercise serves to build trust between the driver and partner.

There are plenty of opportunities for employees to show their skill in other areas. Employees rarely have the opportunity to show off their problem solving techniques in the office, as this task normally falls under the supervisor's jurisdiction. However, in team building, employees will be involved in exercises both mental and physical that need input from everyone. You will discover facets of your colleagues' skills that can be used to better advantage in the office.

Team building is a fairly new trend in the corporate environment. It enhances team spirit, as when they are back in the office, employees have something else to talk about other than the next deadline. Team building brings a personal aspect into the office and gives employees opportunities to talk to co-workers that previously they wouldn't have.

Teams are normally picked at random in order to mix it up a bit. Designers will be with people from accounts and sale managers will be with IT technicians. This brings an unusual diversity to exercises such as treasure hunting.

Your initial projection as to how people from different departments might respond will probably be based on stereotypes. Sale managers might automatically think they should be involved in more physical activities than IT technicians, as IT staff are known for sitting in front of computers. But you might be pleasantly surprised to find that not everyone can be identified with a stereotype.

Team building creates opportunities for good photos and increases company moral. Employees will be able to laugh about events and discuss how everybody fared. They won't feel so shy when talking to people from different departments or trusting a co-worker with a task. Of course, there will also be the added benefit of seeing your boss walk with a limp due to that paintball that mysteriously hit him or her in the leg.

Celeste writes for RBA Events who specialize in Event Coordination.

Creating High Performance Teams

2007-12-14T12:11:00.000-08:00

Now more than ever, it is important for those leading in the workplace to maximize the contributions of those they lead. Organizational leaders are asked to do more with less all the while being required to increase profits. It's a challenging task-one that demands everyone gives their all every moment they are on the job. So how does a good leader make this happen? Here are five ideas you might find useful to improve the results in your organization:

Create a Cooperative and Collaborative Culture

Great leaders model what they expect from others. That means if you want cooperation in the work environment, you must be cooperative with everyone in your organization. Being cooperative starts with having respect for your fellow workers. Respect is built on trust, cordial communication and appreciation for the contributions made by workers. There has to be an openness that allows leaders to engage in meaningful dialog. With a non-threatening environment, workers are asked for their opinions and leaders value the information received. Then, both should take the appropriate action on the information exchanged to produce the best results.

Create an Aligned Strategy and Organizational Focus

When everyone knows where the organization is headed, it is much easier to get there. Share the vision and strategy-the sense of purpose why the organization exists. Then align everyone's goals and job functions to accomplish the vision. When everyone is clear why their work is important to an organization that provides a greater understanding of what they should do each moment they are on the job. Purpose also opens the door to increased morale and a higher degree of problem solving. When you know what you want, your determination to get there is much higher and your chances of success much greater.

Create a Sense of Responsibility

With assignment of purpose comes the accountability for fulfilling that purpose. Leaders should give workers the tools they need to be successful while holding them accountable for creating success. That means giving them authority and freedom to be creative working within previously agreed upon parameters. There must be some sense of discipline and acceptable limits. Stifling workers creates frustration and low morale. And that leads to my next important point.

Create an Atmosphere Where Skills and Talents are Maximized

Your strongest asset is the people who work for you. The task of a leader is to place workers where there is the best fit and utilization of their skills and talents. Matching organizational needs with worker abilities is a win-win combination. Doing this places a high value on workers, creates a trusting environment and increases personal motivation. Those are absolutes that every successful organization has in place.

Create an Attitude of Commitment

Until buy-in occurs, nothing very productive will take place. Workers and leaders alike must be committed to getting the job done. Both must engage in a process they believe will work. That develops when there is cooperation, communication, clear purpose, unwavering acceptance of roles and responsibilities and a full utilization of personal abilities. Development of these steps almost automatically creates this step. Putting everything together will improve the bottom line, stabilize the future of the organization and make working for the organization an enjoyable and challenging experience.

Closing Thoughts

Whether we work for others or for ourselves, we should be willing to give it our all. As leaders in the workplace, we should be striving to see that every worker does exactly that. But, best results occur when the intentions come from workers, not leaders. And that brings us to the utilization of the five points mentioned earlier. When leaders use these strategies, it raises the self-motivation of workers thus producing greater results.

Today we compete against a global workforce. It's no longer the business down the street that is our competition-it's potentially everyone in the world. Technology has shrunk the world and raised the bar of service and the quality of goods a company must offer customers to stay in business. And, staying in business requires great teamwork within the boundaries of your organization. If both worker and leader unite in this effort, both will have staying power in the marketplace. Failing to do this creates a cloudy future and limited opportunity for growth and survival.

A Bit of Lagniappe

Success happens when there is a total team effort. That means everyone contributes and everyone is accepted as a team member. People are ready to step in and help those who need it. Everyone believes in themselves and other members of the team. Team members are willing to outwork the competition and do what is necessary to prepare themselves to get the job done. There is an atmosphere of discipline and commitment to the vision and strategy. Execution is done right the first time. Failure is never an option.

Winners are willing to do what failures won't do. They understand that it is the small steps taken correctly that ultimately move one to the destination of their choice. Become a team player or help create a winning team-those are the only two choices people who wish to be successful can make.

Billy Arcement, MEd.,-The Leadership Strategist, is a seasoned professional speaker, author, facilitator and coach. Learn more about his services at his website, http://www.SearchingForSuccess.com Call him directly at 225-677-9426 or email barcement@eatel.net Copyright 2007.

Obama and Oprah Selling Machine

2007-12-13T12:34:00.001-08:00

Who is on your sales team? Often, success in the field is far from an individual effort. There is frequently an inside customer service group, service coordinators, a product expediter, a dependable shipping department and quality vendor technical support operating behind the scenes ensuring that the customer's experience is a good one. The salesperson is the facilitator of these collective efforts and the representative of their company when dealing with customers.

This past weekend, the rapidly changing political landscape was introduced to the live version of a new phenomenon. Although Hollywood-types have often backed political candidates and causes, the world has been holding their breath in anticipation of the impact of Oprah's endorsement of Barack Obama. Oprah lends her star-power to her friend, Obama, "a new kind of leader who possesses a tongue dipped in the unvarnished truth," Winfrey said.

The Oprah and Obama traveling tour brings new meaning to the phrase dynamic-duo! Obama had the pleasure of addressing almost 30,000 registered voters at Williams-Brice stadium here in Columbia, SC thanks in great part to Winfrey's celebrity. I do not believe that anyone will ever be able to remove the pleasure-filled smile from his face.

"In what may be the largest phone-banking effort in the nation's history, each attendee was handed a sheet that listed four registered S.C. voters and a phone script. Attendees were asked to call the voters on their sheet , right then and there, and ask them to support Obama in the Democratic primary." Regardless of your political persuasion, this sales effort is impressive. The news coverage and number of articles are amazing.

Talk about sales teams! This pairing may be just what the doctor ordered to propel Obama to the lead in the run for the Democratic nomination. What then... VP Oprah Winfrey!

The point of all this is to remember that our success in selling our ideas and products is indeed a team effort. Even if you are a self-employed company of one who handles everything from sales to accounting, you too rely on vendors, FedEx, US Mail and reliable technology to ensure your sales success. You are indeed part of a team effort, albeit the focal member.

None of us operates in a vacuum. It is necessary and proper to respect and care about your sales team. When appropriate, introduce these people to your customers. Make it more personal. Put faces on each department and function.

Remember, the bottom line is that people interact with people to make things happen. Humanize your selling efforts and warm up your sales success.

Daniel Sitter, author of both Learning For Profit, and Superior Selling Skills Mastery, has garnered extensive experience in sales, training, marketing and personal development over a successful twenty-five year career.
Read his blog http://www.idea-sellers.com/

Set The Pace From The Helm

2007-12-13T10:04:00.001-08:00

During my 22 years in the Navy, I have heard a saying "The Captain is the Ship" and I must say that I couldn't agree more. The commands (offices) where I have worked had the "personality" of the person in charge. During my two tours as a Commanding Officer, my commands took on my personality as well - good and bad traits. Take a moment to reflect on where you currently work. What is the office mood or character? Who is the ring leader of your office's atmosphere? Most likely, the leadership--whomever is at the helm has set the office climate. Why!? It's because we take our "cues" from those who are steering the vessel (organizationally or departmentally).

To set the right tone for your "ship" as it heads into new waters, try the "COPY" leadership system for modeling organizational success. COPY stands for:

Be...

Concise

Optimistic

Playful

Yourself

Concise

With being concise, I am referring to concise communication in relaying the mission, vision, and overall strategy to team members. There are three basic questions that come with any strategy. They are:

1. Where are we now?

2. Where are we going?

3. How are we going to get there?

In being concise, knowing where you currently are is the first step. The second question of "Where are we going?" is critical to organizational success. The vision should be clear, tangible, and easily understood. More importantly, everyone should know what it is and where he or she fit into the value chain in producing the end result. A teammate who knows, with precision, where the organization is going will help you figure out the third question of "How are we going to get there." All of this starts with stepping out and reaching each teammate with concise communication.

Optimistic

As the "Captain," your optimistic attitude will permeate throughout the rest of the "ship" and will dictate the performance of the team. When you are excited about where you are going and have used concise communication to let everyone know, your team will be excited as well. Although there may be grumbling (because resistance to change can happen), you have the power to quickly turn it around. As you believe it and are positive about it, the rest will follow. Mountains, valleys, highs, lows, and even large ravines shouldn't keep you from losing focus - the battle is won (or lost) in your head prior to it's start and it all begins with PMA (Positive Mental Attitude)!

Playful

Do you remember how much fun it was to hang out, laugh, and play with your friends when you were a kid? So do I! That's what work should be...FUN! Cell phones, deadlines, finances, and email pound down on employees every day - stifling creativity, productivity, and morale. You, as the leader can mitigate the effects of stress by infusing "fun" into each day. It could be as simple as hosting a weekly "potluck" - something to break the workweek/day up. Work should be like a game of kick ball. The focus stays strategic (win the game) but the method is fun. You set the pace and the entire "crew" will take their cues from you...go ahead, kick the ball!

Yourself

During Officer Candidate School, one does A LOT of push ups (I did more than most). As we went down to the floor in the push up position, we had to scream "INTEGRITY" and on the up we had to scream "DISCIPLINE!" Honestly, although it was done as a punishment, it was one of the most motivational moments of my life - hearing 80 people scream in unison can help you tap into strength reserves that you didn't know you had. When times have gotten bad and I may have been tempted to cut a corner and not be true to who I was as a person, I think of those two words and my teammates yelling them in my ear "INTEGRITY!....DISCIPLINE!" and I am able to tap back into those reserves and stay the course. We all have those times of trial and if we stay true the entire team appreciates it. Always be "you" and always stay true to your core beliefs.

Modeling the way for your team through the "COPY" system will help your team achieve greater productivity, creativity, cohesion, and will, simply, make work a much better place to be. It's very much like when your mom used to say "monkey see monkey do" - you get to be the head monkey, model the way and, let's face it, monkeys are cool! Remember to COPY and never give up the ship!

Chip Lutz is a professional speaker, trainer, and retired Navy Officer with 22 years leadership experience. He speaks and trains on the power of positive leadership and the infusion of humor in the workplace to increase morale, productivity, and teamwork. He served as Commanding Officer of two separate Navy Facilities and was the Director of Security for Naval District Washington, DC during September 11th, 2001. Additionally, he is adjunct faculty for two colleges where he teaches classes in leadership, teamwork, and organizational behavior. Find our more about his work at http://www.funsquadinc.com or email him at czar@funsquadinc.com to be put on his weekly newsletter distribution.

What's For Dinner?

2007-12-12T10:15:00.001-08:00

The inspiration for this Wisdom comes from a quote I received from a team member:

""If you can't feed a team with two pizzas, the size of the team is too large."" --Jeff Bezos, chairman, CEO, and founder, Amazon.com

Creating a team by today's business standards is crucial. You've heard me time after time talk about getting your employees involved in your marketing. Delegating is the number one skill in growing your business. You can't do it all by yourself, so you need to create a team or groups of teams to accomplish the common goal for the company.

The above quote moved me to action because I have seen confusion and disorder when decisions are made by large committees. The quote certainly doesn't refer to the number of employees you have, it simply refers to the particular group of folks that you determine are your core team.

Democracy is great. The diversity we need in order to create incredible teams can only happen in our democratic environment. I was just talking with my good friend Robert, another great marketer in my circle. He said, "The reason countries under dictatorships don't grow and mature is because of their structure. They limit the amount of people who can contribute to great ideas. If you disagree with the dictator, you're fired or even worse."

Our country cultivates maximum diversity. We have resources from different ethnic influences, men and women, various religious backgrounds, seniors and youths, wisdom from experience or good ole common sense?we have a wealth of diverse resources. Diversity creates strong leadership and that's vital to the core growth in this country and in any business.

The simple message is this: as Jim Collins says, you need to get the right people in the right seats on the bus. Furthermore, you need to welcome diversity and differences of opinion so that members feel open to share ideas. Keep the group focused on the common goal and help them make it personal. You simply cannot have fifty core people. Alienation will develop in a group that big. Instead, create subgroups and watch communication flow to every cell of the organization.

Thanks, Robert, for stimulating this conversation that seems so basic yet reminds us of the importance of diversity and what makes this country so great!

Joe Kiedinger is Brander in Chief of Prophit Marketing, a unique and vision-driven marketing organization that helps small to medium-sized business succeed by adhereing to the Prophit Marketing System. The Prophit Marketing System is a process based approach that combines corporate culture with strategy and finally advertising. The emphasis starts with leadership and flows from there. Joe's message has been heard by many through his unique Prophit Marketing Road Show, an entertaining informative presentation that leaves audiences with an action plan for success. Joe also authors Wisdom on Wednesday, a weekly email newlsetter which will enlighten and challenge you to get the most out of your marketing efforts. Visit http://ProphitMarketing.com/ to learn more about the Prophit Marketing system or http://WisdomonWednesday.com/ to subscibe to Joe's weekly email newsletter.

Team Building Games, Ideas & Trips Barcelona, Spain

2007-12-11T11:46:00.001-08:00

You often hear wise old managers, at workplaces, saying, "many hands make work light". The wise saying best conveys the importance of team efforts at a workplace or business organization. In fact, the word, 'TEAM' can be expanded as "Together Everyone Achieves More". You see, there's no "I" in "Team".

Actually, the success of a workplace or business organization depends on, the way its teams work, the way its teams perform. Thus, team building has become important part of business corporations. In fact, team building events are often considered as one of the most important corporate events.

The modern corporations use various team building ideas & plans to make their workers understand the value of team efforts. Corporate owners organize various team building programs & courses to develop the spirit of team working among their workers and managers.

These courses/programs are generally comprised of various team building games, events, activities, or trips. The team building games & events are usually focused on corporate team building. They help improving mutual communication and relationships among workers, and workers and managers. Usually designed by team building experts & professionals, these team-building activities, games, and events help to improve potentials and performances of workers.

These games are just the fun games that are designed to promote creativity among workers & managers. The basic idea behind these games is to develop the corporate spirit among the people working in a corporation. These games help to develop trust, confidence, cooperative attitude, communication and healthy working relationship among the worker.

Some business corporations also do organize outdoor team building events, programs, or trips. They take workers & their managers on outdoor trips, which are specially designed to instill team spirit among them. The corporate people enjoy the trips and learn useful things as well.

Corporate games, ideas, and trips are designed to make workers come out of their personal selves, and do away with their "waiting attitude" and "spectator mentality". Often, various psychological, educational or recreational techniques are applied to design the team building games & activities.

These games & activities help workers to well assess their real worth and weaknesses. The teams participating in these games & events are provided with the feedbacks on their performances, which help teams to evaluate their strong as well as weak points.

It is the responsibility of business managements to create healthy team spirit among workers. They are responsible for maintaining proper corporate atmosphere at their workplaces. Thus, they always keep on organizing teambuilding games, activities, events, and trips, which play instrumental role in setting up team atmosphere at their organizations.

Nowadays, some business organizations or corporations have their permanent experts to design teambuilding courses & programs for their workers, while, others hire the services of the freelance teambuilding professionals & experts.

Author writes for Team building Barcelona and for FC Barcelona match tickets online.

Six Tips on Coaching Generation X

2007-12-11T02:46:00.001-08:00

For this article we are looking at Gen-X as those born between 1961 and 1981. That would place them about 26-46 years old. Can you think of people working in your hotel, or business, which would fall within this age range? I'm sure you can, in fact chances are you probably fall within that range. If you, or anybody working for you, are in that age range then you can be considered a member of Generation X.

Here are a few things to keep in mind when working with and coaching Generation X.

Gen X Loves to Learn

Training is important to Generation X. It has been reported that eighty percent consider training when accepting a job. The quest for self improvement is part of what drives Gen-X. It gives them the desire to move forward, to get up in the morning, learning new things and new skills are important to them. Provide them with the opportunity to grow and develop.

Work is Not Their Life

For Xers, work is what a person does to have a life, work is not their life. They watched their parents and grandparents lose everything when major companies went bankrupt, or pension plans failed to provide what these people worked so hard and loyally for. Gen-X only views work as the means to have a life and they don't make work the focal point of their life. They see a job as temporary, a stepping tone on their journey. The next big thing is always on the horizon. But, they will do their best as long as they are learning and developing their skills, skills that may come in handy on the next job.

A Sense of Community

Xers will work hard for what they believe in, and what they find to be challenging. Generation X strives for a feeling of community, a feeling of family. Because of this desire for community they like to work in a team environment, team projects. Make the work environment one they can believe in, give them a sense of belonging, a sense of self improvement and you will have happy people on your team ready to serve.

Treat Them as Individuals

While we tend to lump people together when we talk about these personality traits of a generation, keep in mind that Gen-Xers want to be treated as individuals. They know they are part of a group, part of a team, but they want to be recognized as an individual as well. The very fact their generation is named for an unknown (X), they like to be identified individually. When working with a group of Gen-Xers, don't forget they are a group of individuals.

Give Them Space

Don't be one of those over-the-shoulder managers or an intense micro-manager. Let Xers have their space, leave them to do what they are trained to do. They don't like to have every move constantly monitored. Trust that you have trained them properly, that they can perform their skills appropriately, just let them do their job.

These people are a generation of latch key kids. They spent a lot of time growing up alone while both parents worked and fending for them selves. They are used to handling things on their own. Let them do what is natural for them; to do what they know how to do without constant supervision. They are good at working on their own. This is one reason why we see more and more people working from home over the internet.

Time with the Boss

One relationship that is important to Gen-X is that with their bosses. They actually crave time with their boss. This not only gives them another valued relationship, but it also gives more opportunities to learn and develop as they gather information from someone they see as an authority at the workplace.

This relationship with the boss will also provide them with the feedback they love so much. They want to know how well they are doing their job. Having time with the boss will afford them more chances of gaining feedback on performance and gives them the chances to improve their jobs and themselves. Gen-X wants to improve, to learn and to grow. Having a proper relationship with their boss is, to them, the perfect way to develop that growth.

When it comes to the X generation, they need to have feedback quickly, especially recognitions and rewards. Wait too long and the intended praise will lose its' value and meaning. A simple 'thank you for what you do' will carry much more weight and it will build their esteem to a greater extent then the once a year performance evaluation. Give recognitions and rewards often and quickly.

Will Maguire, CHA

http://www.freewebs.com/borderlandhosp/

Over 20 years working in the hospitality industry in jobs from dish-washer to hotel general manager. Will demonstrates success in every stage of his career. Most notably in the service side of the industry. His last hotel went from the mid 50% to the top 5% in brand service rankings.

Will's book: X-cellent Guest Service, What Every Hotel Should Know About Generation X Now available through his website.

Visit his blog where he shares some of his thoughts and insights about guest (customer) service.

http://x-cellentguestservice.blogspot.com/

The Two Truths Of Team Building

2007-12-08T21:36:00.001-08:00

There are a few "truths" every manager, supervisor or team leader should realize before beginning any team building initiative. Ignore these principles and you'll be building your castle on sand. Recognize them at every step throughout the team's work and you'll have a group that will function smoothly and effectively.

"So what are these truths?" you may ask. Well, their simplicity may astound you, but their effect is significant. I've listed the Two Truths of Team Building in the order of their importance below, and I've also suggested ways for you to implement them for the benefit of your organization.

Truth #1 Know Your Team on an Individual Basis

If I had to choose one of these truths to build on initially then this would be the one. People are far too anonymous these days. Even within families and in the workplace where we see each other every day, we don't tend to connect on a real level with very many people. In fact, if you ask anyone they'll probably tell you that their friends of their childhood years are far more memorable and meaningful to them than their present associates.

Now I'm not suggesting that you befriend everyone in your workplace in a deep, personal way. But a few extra moments of "lingering" after the necessary work-related communications have happened can open up a whole world of opportunities to learn about those within your workplace in a natural, non-threatening way.

Truth #2 Let Your Team Get to Know You

Most managers, supervisors and team leaders have an unreasonable sense of how they should hold themselves within the workplace. In our efforts to serve as a role model and a standard bearer we tend create a distance from the very same people who need to feel like they can come to us with their ideas and concerns. But who feels at ease in the shadow of Superman or Wonder Woman? Not very many people, that's for sure. Team building efforts will never come together as effectively as possible if the leader is seen as unapproachable or "too perfect".

So how should we combat this? I wouldn't suggest for a minute that you do things that would lower your status in their eyes. But you can give them insights into who you are by being more of who you are at work. We all have lives outside of the office. Why not bring more of that to work? Do you have a favorite sports team? What kind of music do you like to listen to? Where have you been with your family recently?

Bring those things into your work environment so that your team can see who you are without having to come right out and ask you. Remember, it's hard to get close enough to an icon to find out who he or she is. You've got to make those features about yourself accessible so that they can pick up on them without being too forward in finding out for themselves.

When you practice these two truths on a consistent basis along the road of team building you will find your team coming together more easily and more effectively. The power of getting to know one another within a work group can be the lubricant that eases the team through challenges that would stop a less cohesive group dead in their tracks. Which one do you want to be?

Business writer, John Davis, writes about

http://www.better-business-now.com/

and http://www.better-business-now.com

at his site, http://Better-Business-Now.com.

Team Building Ideas

2007-12-08T15:49:00.001-08:00

Team Building - A Complete Guide and Online Resources
Team building exercises, articles, online questionnaires, practical tips and other printable resources.
Tips for Team Building: How to Build Successful Work Teams