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The 3 P’s of High Performing Teams

October 28th, 2011

At Team Training Unlimited, we have been fortunate to assist with building and developing hundreds of teams, from a wide variety of industries.This exposure to so many great people has led us to discover a few key observations. To begin converting a group of individuals into a high performance team, it is important for you to help them to understand why they are a team, and what the purpose and priorities of the team are. Powerful ”first steps” for anyone leading a team:

1. Know the core purpose and top priorities of your team, and how these relate to the organization’s core purpose and top priorities.

2. Develop a crystal-clear understanding of how your team is aligned with other “internal” teams that your team interacts with.

3. Understand the path from your team to the end-user, customer and purpose of your organization.

4. Communicate the teams’ core purpose, top priorities, alignments and customer needs to your team members clearly and often!

There are few mysteries to building and maintaining a high performing team. By paying careful attention to the 3 P’s of High Performance teams, and continuously checking to ensure that everyone is “up to speed” in these 3 areas, you are there!

1.People: Being aware of the skills that team members possess and having the relationships in place to leverage those abilities.

2.Priorities: Helping the team, customers and the rest of the organization to be crystal clear on what the team is all about. Clearly monitoring and communicating priorities on a daily basis if necessary, is how the magic happens!

3. Processes: Having systems in place in order to reproduce high quality results.Ensuring that team members are clear on their part in the overall process.

 

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Mobile eLearning with iTeam Technology

June 3rd, 2011

Mobile platforms such as iPhones, iPads, and Android – powered smart phones all belong to a category that holds a lot of exciting potential for increasing participant activity levels during training and team building experiences. We have recently begun featuring  an e-learning and team building platform that we call  iTeam Technology. iTeam Technology is a unique and flexible mobile gaming platform that allows small teams or individuals to use Android powered smart phones or tablets for playing interactive learning games, engaging in team building activities, enjoying photo scavenger hunts, or even as an mobile electronic on-boarding guide for new employees. We use  this particular tool for a variety of reasons:

-It is highly customizable and configurable – timers, multiple choice questions, SMS, write in questions, photos, video, etc.

-It is stable and not dependent on wifi or cell signal! Content is pre-developed and loaded,usable at anytime, then interactive when in wifi or cell coverage zones.

-It is fun and easy to use

-As activity leaders, it allows us to monitor individual or team progress and to selectively interact with teams.

We have just begun to scratch the surface of where, when and how we can apply eLearning and mobile platforms in corporate and adult education – stay tuned, and feel free to ask us about working with you to create custom implementations of this technology with your students, clients or work teams!

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From ASTD 2011: Death By Powerpoint is Alive and Well

May 27th, 2011

We just spent the week at the  ASTD 2011 conference, in Orlando, Florida, as both volunteers and attendees. It was an amazing experience, and at times, a disappointing experience.

For those of you who may not know, ASTD stands for “American Society of Training and Development” it is, arguably, the premiere professional organization for trainers, facilitators, team building providers and many other corporate learning professionals.We will likely post a couple  more articles reviewing and describing our observations from the conference, but where I would like to start is with a brief discussion (or possibly diatribe) on keeping learners engaged throughout seminars, workshops, webinars, and the like.

I served as a workshop session monitor as part of my volunteer duties and attended quite a few learning sessions as a participant. Based on those experiences, let me assure you, in case you were worried, “death by PowerPoint” as a “learning tool” is alive and well! I was amazed to see so many industry luminaries still lecturing and droning over PowerPoint slide – shows as their primary method of imparting knowledge. Mega bullet points, tiny fonts, boring graphs, and even long paragraphs were projected on screens and read to workshop attendees over those 5 days – some with great gusto and animation, some in a tired monotone, and many somewhere in between.

There were plenty of presenters who did some interactive exercises and activities, such as using “poll everywhere” (which, in my opinion, is a brilliant app), leading partnered discussions and exercises, insightful Q & A sessions, and so on, but in my personal experience these activities were the exception rather than the norm.

There is so much research out there on how people learn, the best ways to engage learners and how to increase retention, that I have a hard time believing how much “sit and spew” style training is still going on out there.

Here are a few examples of research that supports getting participants actively involved in learning:

These are just a few current and popular resources that are eloquently making the case for increased learner involvement, activity and participation in learning experiences, there are many, many more (a future blog entry, perhaps?). Please, trainers,  facilitators and experts – get us involved! We want to learn, we are interested in you and what you have to say – we just need to engage more than our butts and note – taking synapses in your sessions!

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Do You Have a Charlie Sheen on Your Team?

March 9th, 2011

 

A team, not just Charlie Sheen (photo: Reuters/ Mike Blake)

CBS lawyers recently sent an 11- page letter to Charlie Sheen’s lawyers outlining their reasoning for terminating his role on the “Two and a Half Men” team. They cite various reasons and justifications, but I would like to focus on the passage that discusses Warner Bros.’ claim that Sheen is unable to “perform the essential duties of his position,” defined by his “physical appearance, inability to deliver lines, inability to collaborate creatively with staff and crew” and “inflammatory comments poisoning key working relationships.” Warner Bros.  letter also discusses having evidence in outtakes from the show that Mr. Sheen “had difficulty remembering his lines and hitting his marks, missed rehearsals and admits that he sometimes showed up to work after not having slept and needed furniture rearranged so he’d have something to lean on for balance.

In “Good to Great”, Jim Collins discusses, in detail, the importance of  “having the right people on the bus.” A television show is, at the heart of it all, a business. As a business made up of teams who are mutually responsible for creating a quality product, keeping customers (advertisers and viewers) happy, performing the basic business functions of keeping a weekly television productive are key. If Charlie Sheen was unable to perform his role in those functions, forgetting lines, not being collaborative, showing up unprepared, or worse, impaired, then I believe that CBS was right in terminating his involvement with the Two and a Half Men Team.

Currently, the fate of the show is uncertain, and the reality is that the future of the show has likely been uncertain for a while. This is not a new situation, Charlie Sheen’s performance (or lack thereof) as an effectively engaged member of the team has been widely reported, and has been jeopardizing the employment future of a large team of professionals who did not share his “rock star” behaviors. I am not suggesting that firing someone for an addiction and/or mental illness condition should be the “go-to” solution on all teams, but apparently Mr. Sheen’s recent behavior has been particularly damaging to the business of  the team, and he has been given multiple opportunities to pursue treatment and help.

There are rumors in the media that mention John Stamos as a potential replacement for Mr. Sheen. If that is the case, or if there is someone else “waiting in the wings”, then it appears that CBS is pursuing a rational solution in “getting the right people on the bus” rather than just allowing Mr. Sheen to drive the entire bus off of a cliff.

On many teams, the behavior and retention of an inconsistent or disruptive “star performer” can be detrimental to the success, ongoing effectiveness and full engagement of other team members. Do you currently have a star performer who shouldn’t be on your team’s bus?

 

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Minute to Win It – Team Building Style

July 7th, 2010

Team building programs. We’ve all participated in them….some are focused on specific results, others are aimed at team alignment, sometimes for relationship building, and finally, the program might just be plain fun and energy for the team. Getting creative with new activities is a challenge we love at TTU – and we have found a keeper.

“Minute to Win It”, a popular TV game show, returns tonight with contestants battling  to win the coveted million dollars while playing games that, let’s be honest, you might see at a bar or a frat party. When it first aired this spring, our team got together and knew there was a team building program in there somewhere. It didn’t take long before “In It to Win It” was born, loosely based on the actual hit game show with participants competing in games, some we created and a few from our days in college!

We recently conducted our first live team building session of “In It to Win It”…..and was it a hit! We were able to integrate strategy, planning, communication, time management and teamwork (wow….sounds like team building!!) into the activity plus plenty of fun. Participants raved that it was creative and two hours of non-stop energy, which fit perfectly for the end of their 3-day corporate meeting. Hey, you never know where you’ll find a new team building session!

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TeamWork+Challenge=Success

June 28th, 2010

The Wonderpets

What's gonna work? Team Work!

High Performance Team Challenge-Day 21

“Big thinking precedes great achievement.”-Wilferd Peterson

If you have been following this challenge, you have likely had some deep thoughts about your team as a whole,your team-mates, and yourself as a member of that team. If not-why not? Having the questions, the conversations and the conflict when necessary, sets the stage for having the big thoughts that so often precede achievement.

Over the course of these posts we have discussed:

1.Vision

2.Mission

3.Interpersonal Team Dynamics

4.Priorities (and prioritization)

5.Individual performance

6.Training

7.Alignment

8.Team building activities

9.Storytelling/Communication/Presentations

10.Meetings

11.Feedback

12.Engagement

13.Recognition

14.Individual leadership

15.Even playing together as a team.

All of these topics are key components of being an effective team rather than just being a collection of individuals.Now that you have had an opportunity to explore all of these team qualities-it is very likely that you found some areas of great strength and some areas that contain the opportunity for great improvement. How are you going to implement what you have observed and learned? How are you going to build on those strengths? Minimize those weaknesses?

Working on teams can be extremely difficult and immensely rewarding.Challenge yourself to meet the difficulties, and reap those rewards!

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Are You a “Force For Good” on Your Team?

June 25th, 2010

“Anybody desirous of success should spend some time in introspection and contemplation.”-Sam Veda

High Performance Team Challenge Day 20

If you have been following this series of posts, you know that there has been an emphasis on the leader providing guidance,initiating training, asking questions and,-wait for it- displaying leadership,as catalysts for more effective team performance. Today, we are going to ask team members to provide some team leadership, in the form of self awareness.

This is a very simple exercise:

Ask yourself (and answer honestly):

As a member of this team, am I…

1.fully committed to the vision and mission?

2.consistently willing to do everything it takes to fulfill my role on the team?

3.a positive, supportive and flexible “force for good”?

4. a valuable resource to other team members?

5.open to new ideas and other ways of thinking (even if I didn’t suggest them?)

6.an active contributor to completing the tasks of the team?

7.a public advocate of what is successful about the team?

8.actively involved in furthering the team’s priorities?

What other questions should team members be adding to this list? Leave a comment.

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Inspire Your Team With Quotes

June 12th, 2010

High Performance Team Challenge-Day 12-Weekend Edition

I always find it surprising that no matter how much or how often I read them,whenever I find a new quote on a topic that interests me-I feel that little spark of inspiration.

So in the interests of providing you with some new inspirational material for your team- we will share some quotes that you may not have heard before. A well placed quote is a great way to “stealth inspire” your colleagues-stick them in emails, on meeting agendas, into proposals or reports, etc.

On Teams and Teamwork:

“Sooner or later, those who win are those who think they can.”-Richard Bach

“Spectacular achievements are always preceded by unspectacular preparation.”-Roger Staubach

“Problems are only opportunities in work clothes.”-Henry J. Kaiser

“Plan your work for today and every day, then work your plan.”-Norman Vincent Peale

“Never tell people how to do things. Tell them what to do and they will surprise you with their ingenuity.”-General George S. Patton

“No person will make a great business who wants to do it all himself or get all the credit.”-Andrew Carnegie

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”-Margaret Mead

“You get the best out of others when you give the best of yourself.”-Harry Firestone

“You need to be aware of what others are doing, applaud their efforts, acknowledge their successes, and encourage them in their pursuits. When we all help one another, everybody wins.”-Jim Stovall

“When building a team, I always search first for people who love to win. If I can’t find any of those, I look for people who hate to lose.”-Ross Perot

“A successful team is a group of many hands but of one mind.”-Bill Bethel

On Change:

“Become a student of change. It is the only thing that will remain constant.”- Anthony D’Angelo’

“That’s the risk you take if you change: that people you’ve been involved with won’t like the new you. But other people who do will come along.”-Lisa Alther

“We must learn to view change as a natural phenomenon – to anticipate it and to plan for it. The future is ours to channel in the direction we want to go… we must continually ask ourselves, ‘What will happen if…?’ or better still, ‘How can we make it happen?’ “~ Lisa Taylor

“In every crisis there is a message. Crises are nature’s way of forcing change, breaking down old structures, shaking loose negative habits so that something new and better can take their place.”— Susan Taylor

“If we can recognize that change and uncertainty are basic principles, we can greet the future and the transformation we are undergoing with the understanding that we do not know enough to be pessimistic.”- Hazel Henderson

“When patterns are broken, new worlds emerge.”- Tuli Kupferberg

“When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves.”— Victor Frankl

On Leadership:

“A leader leads by example, whether he intends to or not.”-Unknown

“It is the nature of man to rise to greatness if greatness is expected of him.”-John Stienbeck

“The very essence of leadership is that you have to have vision. You can’t blow an uncertain trumpet.”-Theodore M Hesburgh

“One of the tests of leadership is the ability to recognize a problem before it becomes an emergency.”-Arnold Glasgow

On Creativity and Innovation:

“We know where most of the creativity, the innovation, the stuff that drives productivity lies – in the minds of those closest to the work.”- Jack Welch

“Every great advance in science has issued from a new audacity of imagination.”- John Dewey

“An idea not coupled with action will never get any bigger than the brain cell it occupied.”- Arnold Glasgow

“Making the simple complicated is commonplace; making the complicated simple, awesomely simple, that’s creative.”-Charles Mingus

“Creative minds have always been known to survive any kind of bad training.” – Anna Freud

“Creativity is thinking up new things. Innovation is doing new things.”-Theodore Levitt

What are your favorite team related quotes? Leave us a comment-we’d love to add your quotes to our collection.


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Team Building Activities You Can Do

June 10th, 2010

Team Building Activity AreaHigh performance Team Challenge-Day 10

Team Building activities are sometimes seen as “hokey” or silly, and some are. I’ve got to ask, though, isn’t having cocktails with co-workers at the local Chili’s and complaining about the new format of the TPS reports a little hokey too?  Both types of activities do have their place and serve their purpose in building teams that get results.

Any shared team experience creates a set of memories and adds new dynamics to team relationships.In team building activities, the “hokey factor” often actually serves a few value-added purposes:

1.Creates “memorability”-Who can forget that time that we all wore dinosaur claw gloves and built a marshmallow tower?

2.Allows the introduction of workplace dynamics-tight resources, unclear directives, communication challenges, etc. while easing the tension of those dynamics by not feeling or looking too much like the real workplace.

3.By not being too much like “real work” it allows team members to “let their hair down” while debriefing similarities and differences between team behaviors during the activity and in the “real world”.

This post is not actually intended to be an argument for hokey team activities, -it is an encouragement to you to consider either researching a few simple team building exercises you can do yourself during team meetings, or hiring a professional team building firm occasionally for team meetings or off-sites.

Team building activities don’t have to be hokey, silly, time consuming or expensive, and your team will often gain remarkably interesting and positive results.

Here are some ideas and resources:

On the web:

Business Balls-Experiential Learning Article

Business Balls #2- Extensive guide to team building activities, games, quizzes and puzzles.

Books:

Quick Team-Building Activities for Busy Managers: 50 Exercises That Get Results in Just 15 Minutes- Simple and Clear activity ideas

Managing to Have Fun-Plenty of employee engagement, morale building and team building ideas

The Big book of Humorous Training Activities-Games-Humor always helps!

Downloadable Activity Template:

Team Cents Team Activity -Try it with your team-it’s fun,easy and powerful!

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Team Building Movies That Don’t Revolve Around Sports

June 5th, 2010

Team Building without sports

There's other things you can do...Maybe watch a movie?

21 day High Performance Team Challenge-Weekend Edition

That feeling of energy, amusement, inspiration, or connection that a great movie can create is always amazing to me. Movies are a great way to connect people on an emotional, and (somewhat vicariously) an experiential level. So, for the weekend edition of the HPTC here are a few somewhat off-beat cinematic looks at different aspects of team building, leadership and workplace dynamics.

(BTW-we’re not at all against sports or sports movies-that’s been just a little over-done.) Enjoy.

(Click on the movie titles to explore them further)

Office Space Hilarious and slightly twisted look at (exaggerated) office dynamics. If you’ve ever worked in a cubicle-you’ll relate.

Stomp Out Loud An amazing example of team alignment, synergy and practice.

Apollo 13 Decision making, innovation, pressure, lack of resources,deadlines, leadership, risk taking, this one has it all!

Shackleton A riveting study in leadership styles and so much more.

Master and Commander Ship based team building.

Groundhog Day Think about it- unless you make some changes, you’ll probably keep getting the same results.

Here’s another link we thought you might enjoy:

7 Tips to throwing an outdoor movie night



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