I have spoken to many clients about their teambuilding needs and realised that many companies want to have teambuilding programs without very clear objectives. Generic statements like the ones below are often uttered:

“We want them to be more cohesive and have a spirit of camaraderie.”

“Foster closer ties and have teamwork.”

“We have gone to __________ (insert your previous venue) before, can we go somewhere else different this time?”

I know that there are reasons behind those statements but what is it that they are really tackling? Whenever I talk to my clients, I try to help them gain clarity in their purpose to make it a fun and yet meaningful experience for them.

Most teambuilding programs have severe limitations and here are the things that it cannot do:

1.    Solve deep rooted resentment among specific individuals. If certain colleagues are already angry with each other, teambuilding programs might not be the best answer. It is better to trash it out openly between them then send them to a teambuilding program.

2.    Streamline processes in work, thus making things more efficient. You need a process consultant, not a teambuilding expert.

3.    Change corporate culture. Culture is already embedded into the company and it does not change overnight.

So, after knowing what teambuilding cannot do, the question is then “what can it do?”

1.    Inspire change in mindsets. My experience is that we can shift or break certain old patterns of thinking by introducing new ones through activities. Using activities are great because most people have better retention rates if they experience the lessons rather than just hear them through a lecture.

2.    Get people to start opening up and sharing with each other.

3.    Create a sense of belonging to the company. When people play together with each other and not against each other, there is a sense of unity.

4.    Give important principles about team concepts and winning with people. Principles are easily remembered and will not change with time.

5.    Help participants know that the company cares for them. Companies provide what I call “meaningful fun” rather than just play games and not learn anything serious.

So, before you start to choose a company for teambuilding, consider your objectives first and then get a company with a great track record. They must be consistent in providing an experience where your colleagues can feel inspired to make a change in their lives.

Here’s an interesting video on how everything goes wrong in a teambuilding exercise by American Airlines. Enjoy!

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Consider you have a hammer and with that you need to break a rock. You start hammering and after 50 blows you finally manage to break it. Now what if there were five of you hammering at the same time? With five hammers going at once, you probably won’t need more than 5 blows to crack the rock into pieces and that is the power of teamwork!

“The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.” It’s called synergy and what it means in simpler words is that teamwork helps you achieve more with less.

More on Synergy:

Synergy is when different entities work together harmoniously to create the final result. In a business, synergy would be when two or more people form a team and produce a result that is better than if each individual was to work independently. If you are still working alone without a team, you will realise that the amount of impact you can make will be extremely limited.

Synergy is indeed miraculous and can be seen in every sphere of life. For example, when technical staff and organizational staff work together in a company, the result is something that can never be achieved on an individual basis. A football team working closely together must have their players in all positions to provide a strong offence and defense.

Teamwork and the thought process:

If you and I have a dollar each and we exchange, we still have a dollar each. But if you and I have an idea each and we exchange, we have two ideas each! This is how teamwork helps achieve more with less. Teamwork helps in synergizing each other’s thoughts and ideas to give enormous results. By exchanging thoughts with team members, each one of the members achieves mental and intellectual development.

Teamwork and inspiration:

If you are on a weight loss plan and you need to exercise, what will work better – individual efforts or teamwork? You may start off with a lot of zeal but soon lose steam due to lack of inspiration. While if you pair up with a weight loss buddy, most definitely the both of you will lose a lot more weight and maintain your weight over a longer period of time. That’s inspiration from teamwork!

Conclusion:

Teamwork is the ultimate advantage that helps you achieve more with lesser efforts. If you want a better work life, greater productivity, more profit, and better results at work, then form a team!

Want to know ways to increase your team work and by helping your managers work on their team management abilities? Contact Kenneth now.

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Another one of my articles appeared in the Straits Times on 22 Mar 2010, Recruit Section.

Trust is one of the biggest issues that faces any team and everyone says that you need it but how many of them actually teach you how to establish trust step by step?

This article will teach you how you can consistently get people to trust your every word.

You can download this article.

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Let’s start with a little analogy of teamwork. Have you observed how a flock of geese fly? They usually fly in V formation and those at the back will usually honk at the one in front. This is to encourage the lead geese who puts in most of the work to overcome wind resistance. Once the leader tires, he moves to the back and another geese moves in to take his place. This form of support helps the entire flock of geese to fly about 71% further than if each geese were to fly on its own. In addition, if a geese were sick or got injured, two of them will slow down to help or protect him.

Isn’t it a wonder how birds know the essentials of teamwork? We humans can do far better with the brain that we’ve got. Explained below are the 10 ways how leaders can inspire team members to consistently give their best for the entire team.

1. Develop trust

Trust is the principle by which the team functions. If the leaders and members have the trust of every person in a team, everyone will be motivated to give their best without inhibitions or fear of being exploited.

2. Involve everybody

When the leaders share information with team members and ask for opinions, a feeling of camaraderie is created and members feel motivated to perform better. Important note: People want their opinions to be heard and know that it considered and acted upon if reasonable.

3. Be a good leader

As a leader, you must be 100 percent clear and confident of what you are doing and what you are getting done from the team. Faith in the leader boosts motivation among the team members. I have been consulted many times by leaders on how to improve their teams and the first place I always look at is the leader. Great Leadership = Great Teams.

4. Give feedback

Everybody needs a feedback on his or her work. Everyone needs to know how they have performed and what they need to do better. Nothing can be more motivating than a constructive feedback. Be sure to start with the positives though.

5. Active Listening

Actively listen to the team members. Listen to their ideas, complaints, grudges, suggestions… anything they may want to share. Just listening to them will give them will help them know that you care and support them.

6. Perform periodic assessments

Periodically assess the progress of the team as a whole and each individual in particular. If any team member is complacent, he or she will wake up and start performing to the best of his or her abilities.

7. Allow team members to give feedback to you

Let the team members give feedback to the leader at regular intervals. This builds mutual respect, mutual trust and confidence. Give them an avenue to tell you what needs to be changed.

8. Hold a weekly interactive session

Let each member of the team have his or her chance to address the team from the front. As a leader, it is always good to show how well the team has performed. If you consistently concentrate on the positives, you will tend to see a more positive behavior in the group.

9. Hold one-on-one meetings

With one-on-one meetings the leaders get a chance to know about personal difficulties of each member. Those who need extra help or extra training should be given so most gladly. Think of the goodwill it will generate.

10. Celebrate success of the team

If you constantly celebrate the successes of your team, both great and small wins, you will find that people will constantly want to share their successes and win even more! Success always breeds more success, and you need to keep the momentum up and running.

Conclusion:
If you want to multiply your efforts and receive exponential results, you definitely need a great team. For every successful person, there is always a successful team behind him/her.

PS: If you have other ideas that you want to share, please leave it down. Click on the “Leave your comment” on the top right hand of this post.

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I’m curious. Have you ever heard of people who call themselves “self-made”? For example, I’m a self-made millionaire….

Honestly, I don’t believe that statement is true at all. I mean, is there such thing as that you alone made yourself famous/rich/successful/___________ (fill in the blank)? For every person that ‘made it’ there are actually tons of people around this person supporting him/her.

Let me prove to you:

People who are successful in business, usually have a team of people who are working with or for them. They don’t do everything themselves.

If you are very rich, its because someone has probably mentored you before, or shared successful principles to your very soul.

Before you ever think you are ‘self made’, I hope you consider 3 these 3 groups of people who are rooting for your success…

1. People who are infront of you (your mentors or people who have imparted wisdom to you)

2. People beside you (your spouse, partners or colleagues)

3. People who are behind you (your staff)

There’s a saying:

If you want to go fast, go alone
If you want to go far, go together

Hope you remember that self-made people don’t exist, only successful people with strong teams do. Therefore, build great teams and you will be great too!

If you like this article, please subscribe to our blog by getting the Free Report on “7 Transformational Secrets to creating a Dynamic and Cohesive Team”. If you have comments, I would love to hear them. Please write your comments on the top right of this post.

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I watched this video and felt that the amount of effort in ensuring that everyone dances to the same rhythm and pattern is simply astonishing.This only happens when people keep rehearsing and striving for perfection in their art.

If you like this video, please subscribe to our blog by getting the Free Report on “7 Transformational Secrets to creating a Dynamic and Cohesive Team”. If you have comments, I would love to hear them. Please post them below.

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In most organisations, we usually catch people making mistakes and reprimanding them for it. However, my question is “Do you catch your staff doing good?”

I recall a conversation that I had with a primary school teacher three years ago that he lamented that most schools usually punish bad behaviour in front of the entire school. However, he has yet to see students being constantly commended for their excellent behaviour. This is very important because it sets the tone to the rest of the students (and teachers as well) that this is a good example of what good behaviour is, rather than constantly focusing on bad ones. It usually seems that bad behaviours always get attention while people doing good or right are not widely acknowledged.

In work itself, we should always highlight people’s good work ethics, performance and even kindness in front of the rest of the staff. This comes in the form of verbal encouragement that is immediately dished out when you see a good behaviour. By doing it immediately, you are giving a signal that you are waiting to catch them doing good and you are quick to praise.

How To Give An Effective 90 Seconds Praise:

• Immediately give praise when a work is done well, behaviour is right or even when effort is put in. Praise need not be reserved for the best performance, anything that is good will do.
• Put your hand on the person’s back or upper arm to help them feel emotionally connected with you. You can even shake their hands to get this effect.
• Be specific on what he/she has done well.
• Tell them how you feel about it or how it has helped people around them or the organisation.
• Pause for a short while to let the words sink into their hearts.
• Thank them for their efforts and encourage them to do more of the same.

All these should take 90 seconds and I believe it will definitely brighten up their day. I used this step by step process with a group of leaders that I was training and asked them to apply it on each other. The responses I got from them were astonishing. Everyone single leader felt encouraged and some of them even commented that they never knew that the other person was paying attention to some of their good works. This process is a form of team building; use praise and encouragement to build your team.

Give your 90 seconds of praise everyday and I will guarantee that you will see a change in the attitudes of your staff.

You can also engage me to speak on this topic for your staff.

If you like this article, please subscribe to our blog by getting the Free Report on “7 Transformational Secrets to creating a Dynamic and Cohesive Team”. If you have comments, I would love to hear them. Please post them below.

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I know that this statement sounds like a mouthful. Before we answer that statement, we must first define the terms:

Efficient- Being able to perform a task quickly without consuming too much resource (Eg, time, money and etc).

Effective- Being able to do what is important.

In your everyday work, just look around and ask, “Am I concentrating on doing things Efficiently or Effectively?”

I dare say that most people are concerned with being efficient, but rarely ask the bigger question, whether what they do first of all, is what really matters. We are usually concerned with how to do things faster, or even creating Standard Operating Procedures (SOP)s to rinse and repeat the whole process. While this is good, it fails to answer what really manners at the end of the day?

In my training with managers and executives, I often ask them what are the top 3 important areas of their work they need to focus on and how much time of the week actually gets devoted to it. The answer is usually astonishing! They end up doing so many things that demand their attention that they fail to do what really matters in their job (Efficient, but not Effective). It is important to know what really matters and start from there, rather than rush in and do things fast.

It is only when we realise what being effective means to us and our boss (yes, bosses usually seem to have different standards of what effectiveness mean), then can we proceed to be efficient in what we are doing. The worst thing to do is to be efficient in what we do, only to find out that it does not really matter in the work environment.

Let me give you an example.

Lisa was hired as a personal assistant to Tom. What Tom wanted Lisa to do was to make him more effective by helping him with the admin work. Lisa was happy at first, but gradually she was slowly drawn into helping him do more than admin work. Daily tasks included, helping him to cold call, gather leads, following up with his clients, chasing payments and preparing his power point presentations and etc. She covered almost every aspect of his work. This made Lisa more tired, stressed and over-worked, because she was not working from her strengths. She hated sales and did not like making cold calls.

In the end, she quitted her job and was frustrated in doing everything. The interesting thing was that Tom was also unhappy with Lisa’s performance. He mentioned that “She could not perform.”

A better approach for Tom is to give her a specific Job Description (JD) in HALF A PAGE. Once she is clear, Tom can approach her to do other things that are not within the JD. Only if she can finish the main tasks listed out in the JD, she can proceed to do the other things. Tom mentions that at any point of time Lisa can refuse to do the additional things, simply because it affects her focus in fulfilling her JD. This creates a better WIN-WIN situation, because Lisa is not overwhelmed and able to work effectively, while Tom manages his expectations better. Being Effective sometimes also means refusing to do something if it diverts our attention.

Conclusion

What we do is always more important than How we do things.

Being Efficient does not make us effective. Efficiency is only useful if it is applied to the right things. Perhaps after all this, we can be Efficiently Effective?

You can also engage me to speak on this topic for your staff.

If you like this article, please subscribe to our blog by getting the Free Report on “7 Deadly Secrets to creating a Dynamic and Cohesive Team”. If you have comments, I would love to hear them. Please post them below.

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