Extraordinary Team Tips

Some people create New Year's resolutions that rarely stick. Instead, I create an "annual theme" to rally around. It's a mantra to use throughout the year to continually test whether I am moving in the right direction. It's the one thing that is most important to you. It can be a goal, but I typically find one or two words that encapsulate all areas of your life.

There are many ways to influence others — and most team members try to convince others of what they want and then sell the benefits. If this works, great! If not, you may want to try these techniques to gain influence.

A client recently asked me, "What do you do when you're facilitating strategic planning and there are people that aren't engaged? They don't believe in the process and think things can just continue the way they've been."

Indeed, facilitating a strategic planning session can be a challenging task, especially when some participants aren't fully engaged and skeptical about the process. However, with a well-thought-out approach, you can overcome this obstacle and ensure that everyone's voices are heard and that the planning session is productive.

One of my fellow Board members has a wonderful saying that resonates with me and most (if not all!) of my clients:

"No Agenda; No Attenda!"

But what does that really mean? Does EVERY meeting need to have an agenda?

If you're bringing together multinational teams, there are several measures you can take to ensure teamwork as they come to gather.

High-stakes meeting facilitator Kristin Arnold shares a guest blog on leaving a lasting leadership legacy of kindness from Michael Kerr.

What would you do if you knew that communication with your teammates was going to fail? After all, you inherently know that there will be a communication mishit, but we just don't know when or where it is going to be! Whether it is during a face-to-face meeting, a virtual meeting, email, text message or shared document, here are some ideas to improve team communication.

Volunteer organizations usually have a plethora of boards, committees, task forces, and other types of teams to help achieve the organization's mission.

Many of these team members are busy professionals, inspired by the organization's good work. However, when push comes to shove, higher priorities prevail.

I had an interesting conversation with one of my clients about her people working with teams vs. leading teams. This might appear to be a subtle nuance at first blush, but let's dig a little further to discern the difference.

High-stakes meeting facilitator Kristin Arnold shares how team leaders can set up their teams for success with "the team launch."