Archive for the ‘Teamwork’ Category
Building a mansion or a row of terraces?
Filed under: Management support, Teamwork, communication, problem-solving | Tags: business growth, change, communication, Leadership, resilience
Leave a Comment I was reminded again this week how most businesses grow organically, lopsided and unplanned. It stands to reason that someone with a potential business idea starts small and adds people and premises as their success allows, but ask any business owner today …
My blog has now moved to the Reflection Consulting – East Midlands Teamwork & Management Services – main website and this article can now be read, in full, at Building a mansion or a row of terraces
A new horizon for middle managers
Filed under: HR, Individual Performance, Management support, Management training and development, Team Performance, Teamwork, problem-solving | Tags: performance, team work, motivation, management training, management development, Delegation, change, decision making, Leadership, collaboration, resilience, bullying at work, difficult times, management pressure, behaviour management, communication, team building
Leave a Comment Our middle managers take such a bashing, at work, in the media and in business research (see my CIPD article for more). It’s a wonder anyone aspires to be a manager, and amazing that we have accepted this sorry state of affairs for so long.
No matter how good the technical training…
My blog has now moved to the Reflection Consulting – East Midlands Teamwork & Management Services – main website and this article can now be read, in full, at new horizon for middle managers
Get the people right from the start
Filed under: Management training and development, Team Performance, Teamwork | Tags: team work, management development, Leadership, productivity, communication, new business, team building
Leave a Comment Talking to the business manager at HSBC the other day made me realise the lengths new business owners go to secure capital, premises, stock, logos, stationery and all the trappings of a shiny new business, but spend hardly any time thinking about the people they’ll be employing.
A friendly word of advice to business owners…
My blog has now moved to the East Midlands Management & Teamwork – Reflection Consulting – main website and this article can now be read, in full, at Get the people right from the start
Most teams are anything but
Filed under: HR, Management support, Management training and development, Team Performance, Teamwork, communication, problem-solving | Tags: teams, performance, team work, motivation, understanding, management training, management development, Delegation, change, Leadership, collaboration, managing under pressure, behaviour, behaviour management
Leave a Comment How long does it take for a group of strangers to form into an effective, productive team?
Speak to the head of any organisation, and you’d…
My blog has now moved to the East Midlands Management & Teamwork – Reflection Consulting – main website and this article can now be read, in full, at Most teams are anything but
Difficult People
Filed under: Teamwork, difficult people, problem-solving | Tags: anger, behaviour, conflict, difficult people, problem-solving, team work, understanding
Leave a Comment My most popular workshop “Difficult People Made Easy” demonstrates time and again how hard we find dealing with each other, particularly when the pressure is on.
There’s tons of advice and everyone’s an expert when it comes to solving other people’s problems, but when that red mist has fallen and your teeth are grinding, it’s a lot harder to be logical and detached about that IDIOT and their outrageous behaviour.
I’m one of the lucky ones; I don’t work in an open plan office, listening to the same old gripes and whinges every day, I don’t have to sit through endless meetings with the same people, hearing the same thing and knowing nothing will change. But I do hear a lot of complaints about colleagues and bosses and I know that each one of those is having a serious impact on happiness and productivity at work.
The truth is, a really strong team with multiple strengths, breadth of experience and diverse views is essential for most organisations. But that brings with it all the challenges of different “right” ways of doing things.
Since when did we all become so judgemental of each other, and so convinced that our feelings our everyone else’s top priority? Maybe our acquisitive society has made us more self-obsessed and less open to differences of opinion, because it’s these differences that are most often the cause of “difficult people” type problems.
I prescribe a collective, communal deep breath. We don’t have to like everyone we work with, but we do need to work with them, so it’s probably best to find that happy place where we accept difference and discard our preconceptions and prejudice.
Years ago I heard a great saying: “Anger is a poison that you swallow, hoping it will kill someone else”.
It’s not unusual
Filed under: Management support, Teamwork, problem-solving | Tags: conflict, managing under pressure, problem-solving
Leave a Comment Funny how so many team managers believe that their problems with difficult team members are unique and unsolvable. The number of times people will say “this one will be beyond even you”, when all it really means is that they have given up or are actually quite comfortable with the status quo, no matter how damaging it is to the performance of the team as a whole.
The truth is that most problems are duplicated in different places the world over. Some have found solutions and others have not. The nice thing about being impartial and visiting lots of teams is that you can see the issue with fresh eyes and the all-important level of detachment.
So, if you’re stuck with a teamwork problem, don’t give up. There is a solution and it could be easier than you think.
Team spirit
Filed under: Team Performance, Teamwork | Tags: competition, sport, team work
Leave a Comment Thinking about the importance of teamwork in sport is a good starting point for any discussion about teams and performance. Whether you’re a spectator or participant, most people get the idea that team members have a specific role, everyone’s good at something, but no-one’s good at everything, and that the team success is the over-riding driver for everyone.
The most profound demonstration of this for me was when I became the member of a rowing team. Prior to this, I had been a competitive swimmer and never really worked as part of a team – swimming is an essentially solitary sport, even for the relays you’re just in the pool and swimming as fast as you can.
But rowing was different: 4 oarsmen (women in our case), and a cox, each position in the boat having a very distinct and specific role, and the drive to do your best for the team was a mind-blowing experience. We developed some pre-race routines to get us in the right frame of mind, we practised every night, encouraged and supported each other constantly, laughed and celebrated together.
If I could capture that spirit and bottle it, I’d be a very wealthy woman. But just knowing it exists is a good start.
Worried for my friend
Filed under: Team Performance, Teamwork | Tags: collaboration, motivation, resilience, teams, understanding
Comments (1) Met up with an old friend yesterday, and she told me about her plans to do a sponsored walk next weekend – 100km in 30 hours! She’s fit and strong, so should have no problem with the physical challenge, but they have to work in teams of 4 and the team is in bad shape.
On a challenge like this, non-stop walking day and night, it’s the team strength that’s going to dictate success or failure. They need to know that they can rely on each other’s support when things get tough, that they know what to say (and what not to say!) when someone needs a boost, and that the problems that the team is already experiencing aren’t going to drag them down.
Given that they have no group time together before the start of the walk, my friend has already had to prepare her own survival techniques, things to keep her going in the knowledge that she really only has herself to rely on. What a shame – just imagine the difference if her team was strong, resilient and based on trust and collaboration.
Finding and keeping the right person for your business
Filed under: Management training and development, Team Performance, Teamwork | Tags: Delegation, management development, management training, recruitment
Leave a Comment This was the title of my seminar last night to the Loughborough Enterprise Club. Definitely one that falls under the heading of “easier said than done”.
Rather than cover the whole subject in endless detail (we only had 30 minutes!), I illustrated three of the most common and costly mistakes that employers make, in the hope that others could avoid making the same mistakes in the future.
In essence, these holy 3 are: take extra care in the recruitment and selection process, be absolutely clear about how you expect your team to behave and finally, learn to delegate.
We had a fantastic turnout and some great questions at the end. I have a feeling I’ll be delivering that topic again some time soon!
Feeling the heat in the office
Never mind the heatwave, the temperature has been steadily rising in offices all over the country and now many seem to have reached boiling point.
Tougher targets, higher workloads, slashed budgets and increasing tension in the workforce mean that conflict is now much closer to the surface than this time last year.
Before you bite, or say something you may regret: take a breath, remind yourself that people don’t deliberately make the wrong decision (so they think they are doing the right thing), and ask yourself how your reaction is going to look to your colleagues.
Keep a cool head, find something to laugh about and give your jaw a little wiggle – that’s where we store up most of our immediate tension.
