Teamwork is hard because there is no magic formula or step-by-step procedure to ensure results. Think of a programmer asked to develop new features for a cell phone: they write new code, test the code, troubleshoot problems encountered, revise the code, and repeat the testing process until the new features work without problems. Similarly, a team leader asked to deliver specified outcomes develops a plan, runs team meetings, troubleshoots problems encountered, revises the plan, and repeats until the team outcomes are achieved. The difference is that a programmer has tools to help streamline troubleshooting, while team leaders do not—until now. 

 Dr. Valerie Patrick, President of Fulcrum Connection LLC, is a facilitator, leadership trainer, and professional speaker. Dr. Patrick is a PhD chemical engineer with 25 years of corporate experience leading technical and strategic initiatives to identify and deliver new sources of organizational value at Bayer and Monsanto. Dr. Patrick has over 10,000 hours of corporate experience as a team leader and is a Certified Creative Problem Solving Facilitator through the Creative Problem Solving Group.