Gwen Moran: Companies devote an enormous amount of time and effort to building the best teams. But if a team can’t overcome setbacks and challenges, those resources might be wasted.

You can make your team better able to deal with setbacks.

Here are a number things you can do:

Build an atmosphere of security. If the team members feel safe to share their opinions and make mistakes they will be more honest about solutions that may not be popular.

Build an atmosphere of clear goal setting – if everybody knows where they are going and are able to communicate their goals, the team will be more confident.

Build an atmosphere of team engagement – it reduces staff turnover.

Build an atmosphere of no-panic/no stress – the team will follow your lead and you need to consider what you are communicating. If you panic, they will panic. 

Build an atmosphere of respect not popularity. – raise the issues and assertively but considerately deal with them.

Build an atmosphere of learning – what lessons have been learnt.

Build an atmosphere of strategic thinking – developing forward, critical thinkers, who are self aware.

Build an atmosphere of forgiveness – where relationships have been hurt or damaged, there needs to be a settling of the issues and a spirit of leaving the past in the past, let’s move forward.

Failure and setbacks are ingredients for a great success story. Alone you can do so little; together you can do so much. Helen Keller.

Thanks for listening.

Episode 48: Leaders Build Team Chemistry

David Albert DeBusschere was an American professional National Basketball Association player and coach and Major League baseball player. In 1996, DeBusschere was named as one of the 50 greatest players in NBA history. DeBusschere was inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame. He Said:

“The best teams have chemistry. They communicate with each other and sacrifice personal glory for a common goal.”

Although David DeBusschere was referring to his NBA sports team, the principle applies to any team.

Scott Williams, executive director of the Center for Innovative Management at Wright State University, defines the concept this way: “Team chemistry is the composition of a team and the relationships among team members.”

Team chemistry is when the team members know, understand, accept, connect, and collaborate with each other at a quality level. This is the magic of team.

As a leader you have responsibility of building that chemistry, that magic, into your team.

Teams with great chemistry tend to be higher performing teams, due to the commitment level, and the team focus.

Just having a bunch of highly skilled individuals working together on a project or in a department, does not necessarily mean you will get the results you are aiming for.

To build chemistry the team needs to know, trust, and care for each other; you need to have them bond and be on the same page; you need to build in times of team members getting to know each other; they need ‘time away’ from the office for a different setting for bonding to take place which breaks down the stereo type superficial bonding which is typical in office politics; you need frequent fellowship over a meal where life discussion takes place and team members get to know each other better.

These are all possible ways to build the magic into your team.

I am a firm believer in away team days that get teams talking to one another, interacting with each other, communicating one on one and in a group by having a facilitated discussion based on modalities that prompt contemplation, consideration, and conversation. Message me for more information about the team days I facilitate.

Blending the talents of your team members is crucial to success.

So …

Emphasize the team over the individual, even though the individual is important.

Recruit team players to fit your team or organizational culture.

And Celebrate your wins as a team.

Team chemistry is a really valuable element to your team success, and your leadership. The better your team chemistry the more likely your team has the potential to succeed.

As the leader, you must lead the way in this, because building the magic of team chemistry into your team and to continue building it, must be one of your top priorities.

Senior quarterback Collin Klein said: We are a team that cares about each other – that’s on the field, but more importantly, it’s off the field. We understand that we are just a bunch of guys here trying to be the best we can be.

Thanks for listening.

Episode 47: Leaders Manage Team Expectations

Charles Kettering: High achievement always takes place in the framework of high expectation.

Being on the same page ito expectations for the team is crucial. Setting and clarifying these expectations from the onset is your best start.

First manage them on an individual basis. I-I meetings with each team member ensures that they are clear on the what is expected of them, and what they expect from you.

Then, for the team to clearly communicate what they expect from each other. But this communication needs to be 2 way so the team members can clarify whether the expectations are feasible or not. And then there needs to be agreement on what is expected and in return what is mutually agreed upon.

Most often, there are unwritten expectations about the level of work, and the depth of expertise displayed, what contribution the team member will make to the team, and what defines the successful outcome. These need to be clearly communicated. It’s important that every team member knows how their work affects their colleagues, and how to work in collaboration so the team and organizational goals are met.

David Livermore [David Livermore, one of the foremost experts on cultural intelligence, is a frequent adviser and speaker to government agencies, Fortune 500’s, and charitable organizations around the world.]: 

Clashing expectations are what most consistently derail any team, and especially a culturally diverse team. So, if you take the time to “define” the goal carefully upfront, you’ve addressed one of the most difficult and important parts of innovative process.

Clarifying expectations is such a vital part of team building, that I have it built into my team building days as a team building exercise to clarify explicit and implicit expectations.

Team building days need to be so much more then just hanging on some monkey ropes together. They have to build relationships through trust and communications, through clarity and understanding.

Message me for more information about your team building day.

 Hiring the best is your most important task. Steve Jobs

As part of building a high-performance team, its important to not just hire employees, but to recruit team members.

Team members need to be closely aligned with team culture, team values, and team mission.

Knowing your team culture, will give you clarity on what is the right fit for your team and organization.

A recent article in Forbes magazine stated:

“The research found that almost two-thirds of business leaders (62%) still regard experience and technical skills as the most important considerations for new hires. This is despite the fact that almost nine in 10 leaders (87%) had found that in practice the most successful hires happened when they evaluated cultural fit – including congruent values, beliefs and outlook – as well as potential, during the hiring process.”

Close alignment with the mission, vision, values and edge of your team and organization, will ensure you are all on the same page. You cannot afford when building a high-performance team, to have a team member not fit align with the team or organizational direction.

Don’t just recruit for talent, although their talent must be complimentary to the rest of the team to ensure synergy, decide on character traits you require for the role and the team fit.

Team members need to have clarity of their roles and job description – decide before the interview process that what it is you are looking for.

Stephen Covey: I am convinced that although training and development are important, recruitment and selection are much more important.

Once you recruit the right person, who fits the culture, who has the right soft skills, and who has the right characteristics, who has the potential for growth, then you can invest in the training and development necessary to upskill them for the role and advancement.

Decide how you recruit the right people, and how you will establish and confirm you have the right person.

Richard Branson said: If you get the right mix of people for your company (and I’ll add for your team), it will have a far greater chance of success.

Thanks for listening.

Teamwork is the ability to work together toward a common goal. Andrew Carnegie.

A successful team needs a clear goal, and as a leader, you will give them a clear goal up front. From this the team members are able to clarify what are meaningful outcomes.

The clearer the goal or objective of the team, the clearer their direction will be, and the clearer their focus for their efforts and for working together.

The earlier you do this as the leader, the more focused the team will be over the long run.

And the more involved they are in agreeing on the team goals, the more ownership there will be. The more ownership, the more commitment to the goals.

It’s important to recognize the fact that if a team is to be successful, each team member must be willing to make the team goals 1st priority and their personal goals 2nd, and this includes you, the leader.

A team is a small group of people with complimentary skills, committed to a common mission, and common goals, and a strategy to which they hold each other accountable.

So, to lead a successful team, have a clear mission, goal and strategy up front.

The mission gives each team member something that is bigger than themselves, bigger than the present, and bigger than their world. This is the mission/the purpose/the cause you give them. They want to believe in and be a part of something that has meaning.

The goals are the performance measures, the milestones, on the road to fulfilling the mission and the vision.

The strategy is the implementable plan you have decided to get from here to there.

Teamwork is the ability to work together toward a common vision. The ability to direct individual accomplishments toward organizational objectives. It is the fuel that allows common people to attain uncommon results. Andrew Carnegie - industrialist, business magnate, and philanthropist. Carnegie led the expansion of the American steel industry in the late 19th century and is often identified as one of the richest people (and richest Americans) in history.

 Men become great when they allow values to take root within their souls and live by them. – Lincoln Patz

Excellent team values could for example be 

1. Listen to each other 

2. Sharing - knowledge, information and experience 

5. A responsibility culture not a blame culture 

6. Our work is ‘customer’ -focused

7. Striving for continuous improvement 

8. Behaving with integrity 

9. Positively challenging destructive behavior 

10. No ego

Why values?

John C Maxwell: Values hold the team together, provide stability for the team to grow upon, measure the team’s performance, give direction and guidance, and attract like-minded people.

Values defined, agreed upon, and behaved consistently create the team culture. The culture is the way we do things around here. Values the create a collective sense of responsibility that each team member can buy into.

Each team member knows what is expected of them

Team members can measure themselves against the collectively held how do we want to do what we do and with what kind of conditions.

Because values are so intrinsic to what the team believes and why, and how it guides what you do and why you do it, it gives everyone guidance and direction.

In one study nearly 60 percent of candidates revealed they would refuse a job offer from a company that did not share their values, and more than 90 percent of recruiters believed communicating on their values is an essential part of the recruitment process.” It is easier for a new employee to contribute to the company when they understand the values of the company, and far easier to plan for promotion and advancement in a company where the shared values are clearly outlined. It also means that a new employee can engage their motivation and enthusiasm from day one safe in the knowledge that they are culturally aligned with the company as a whole. As quoted by CosmoTech

“Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success.”

Henry Ford, American Industrialist, founder of the Ford Motor Company

Steve Jobs: Great things in business are never done by one person. They’re done by a team of people.

Nothing reveals the heart of a leader like building a team. A leader who doesn’t value a team or the team members will never build an effective high performing team. They are too focused on themselves. 

You cannot be championing your own cause and hope to build an effective team. Yet, the team is what gets projects done, objectives reached, and culture reproduced.

A leader that cannot work with, and cannot build, an effective team, is a failure!

Leaders who build effective teams, are secure, confident, and selfless, and they have clarity about the strategic direction of their project, department or organization, and they can clearly communicate this direction.

In the knowledge era we find ourselves in, less emphasis is placed on work related relationships, and yet teams are the new necessary for projects, and teams demand relationships between members, and there is demand for a leader who can facilitate these relationships.

Steve Jobs came up with the innovation that has changed the world as we know it, and yet he could not have accomplished this without the diverse skills, professionalism, and ability of his teams.

Team work is essential in reaching the leaders objectives and goals. Leaders therefore must be the facilitator of great team work, collaboration, synergy, and team culture.

You may feel that working alone has less hassles, less demand for relationship =- but really it may only help your ego, but not make you a high performance leader.

Thank you for listening.

 Did you know that over $60 billion is wasted every year on ineffective training and development activities that don’t make a difference. It’s not working!

  Why? Your traditional training methods offer …

1. Managers are being force-fed formulaic, one size fits all, put-in-a-box, copy-cat methods of leadership development in the name of best practice.

2. There is mostly an emphasis on checking off learning points. Copying someone else’s ‘three-step formula’ for leadership success is an act of followership, not leadership. Because it worked for someone else does not necessarily mean it can and will work for you in your setting or environment.

3. This formal approach to leadership training has no follow up built in. implementation requires follow up.

4. High-performing managers are bored to death with the monologue force-feed method that has no relevant engagement.

5. It’s only a one approach: training

You need:

1. A customized dynamic learning environment where you can grapple with leadership principles from several different angles.

2. An approach where the emphasis is on results and value.

3. Where there is follow up over time for sustained results.

4. Where the customized approach is designed for you, the high performer, to be engaged on many levels.

5. An approach that is hybrid, offering best practices of coaching, peer coaching, facilitation, accountability, results tracking to measure ROI, check-ins, manager involvement, among a few.

6. It needs to be practical, measurable, flexible and powerful.

Marshall Goldsmith says: Great leaders encourage leadership development. By openly developing themselves.

Message me if you’re interested in leadership development that is based on the best practices of applied leadership development, focused on getting practical results, and on engaging high-potential managers and leaders the way they learn best.

 Honesty is the fastest way to prevent a mistake from turning into a failure. James Altucher American entrepreneur.

This week we have been looking at the most prevalent expectations of employees as research has shown. 

We’ve seen they want their managers to be leaders who acknowledge and praise, who are culture builders, who are strong leaders, who are accountable, who spread the power i.e. who delegate, and who put people first.

One more today, they want their manager to be honest.

Never lie to someone who trusts you. You must build trust into your team. You need to trust them to run with the strategy, to walk in the values, to perform at their best. 

But they need to be able to trust you too. You build trust by keeping your word. This is called Integrity.

integrity is a principle that will increase your honor and respect with others. Integrity is that characteristic where you honestly match words and feelings with thoughts and actions.

Someone said: Trust is earned when actions meet words.

When we keep our word consistently, then our life is integrated. We can have confidence in ourselves because we are true to ourselves.

All relationships are built on trust, and integrity is built on trust. When your employees can trust you, you are building a culture of integrity. Without trust you have nothing.

They must trust you to do what you say, to own up to your mistakes, and to keep their best interests at heart. If they trust you, they will follow you and commit to what you are committed to. But if you lie to them, they will not trust you, not respect you, and they will leave either literally or phycologically. An honest man is respected by all.

Thomas Jefferson said: Honesty is the first chapter in the book of wisdom.

Thanks for listening.

 Herb Kelleher: Your people come first, and if you treat them right, they’ll treat your customers right.

When you have a people first mindset/ a strategic engagement mindset, you know it’s people first; projects second (Bruno Zheng Wu), you also know it’s not about the efficiencies of the organizational structure or systems in place. You know it is based on the effectiveness of your employees.

Your employees want to know that they are your highest value.

And they are, because they produce everything at all levels.

Always remember, you build people first, you value people first, and then they build your business or organization.

Employees will give you their best, when they know that you value them as individuals who are individuals with a life – at home, socially, and at work, - who have dreams, aspirations, values of their own, preferences, and a unique approach of their own. They want to know you value their work/life balance as well.

Fujio Cho, honorary chairman of Toyota Motor Corporation said: We build people first, then we build cars.

Most management styles are about making people into efficient assets, and so make people expendable. You can efficient with things, but you must be effective with people. (Stephen Covey). Being people-centered makes leadership way more effective. 

Engage your team as individuals who are valued, and have a valuable contribution to make and they will be more productive.