Photo by University of Exeter
Let me tell you a story about two teams I worked on. Both teams were made up of a few analysts from across the company. Both teams were given the same goal: improve a few templates that the analysts used in their work. Ultimately, one team was much more productive than the other. Read the rest of this entry »
Photo by Nufkin
If you haven’t already seen these six great articles on leadership and teams, I highly recommend them. Each one is a quick read.
From Super Successful Manager: “Valuing the individual strengths, skills and experiences of every one of those in a team, can generate exceptional results. Why? Because a skilled leader can realize where best to focus key activities in their team.”
From Three Star Leadership Blog: “Researchers surveyed the graduating seniors from the class of 1953 at Yale University. They asked if the class members had written goals for their future. Three percent did. The rest did not… The only problem with this powerful finding is that there was no such study. Researchers at Yale and members of the class of 1953 all swear they never conducted or participated in a study like that.”
From Teamwork and Leadership Bloggings: “Do you want to destroy the trust of those you lead, but still feel like a leader? Well, I have three suggestions to help you get there sooner than later. Most leaders do one or all of these so I thought it might be helpful to pass them on in case you weren’t aware of some of them and needed some help.”
From Coach Train Learn: “Having fun is a vital component of any successful team. Managers will do well to encourage their people to enjoy their work, joining in when there’s a laugh to be had, where appropriate.”
From 800 CEO Read: “You’ve got your own personality that helps or hinders others. And soon enough, it can be clear to see that work is not just about the tasks we do, but how we do them, how we internalize and understand our interactions with others, and how our reactions can change the path our work takes – for better or worse.”
From Leadership Buzz: “I’ve learned from clients the best team members share common characteristics in both the ‘skill’ and the ‘will’ areas. A common mistake leaders make when hiring is overemphasizing the need for skill and skill alone.”
Quick intro: this is one in a series about SMART goals.
In a favorite comic strip, Dilbert asks his boss for help. Dilbert says, “I have two top priority projects. I can work on only ONE at a time. Which one should I work on?” The pointy-haired boss replies, “Combine the two projects and work on that one.”
How many goals, or projects, or client requests is your team working on right now? One or two? A dozen? More?
You’ve already prioritized them into high, medium, or low. Or if where you work is anywhere like where I work, they’re prioritized as critical, mandatory, or high. Because every client request is high priority!
If your team has only one highest-priority request to work on, you’re lucky. (Please email me your secret.) More than likely you and your team have multiple top priority goals begging for your attention.
If you make all your goals timely, by giving them a deadline, you can use those deadlines to decide which goal your team should work on right now. Read the rest of this entry »
A group of people who work together to accomplish a shared goal.
A small number of people with complementary skills who are committed to a common purpose, performance goals, and approach for which they are mutually accountable. From The Wisdom of Teams: Creating the High-Performance Organization.
Any group of people organized to work together interdependently and cooperatively to meet the needs of their customers by accomplishing a purpose and goals. Read more of the definition of a team at About.com.
A number of persons associated in some joint action. From Dictionary.com. Team is also a verb that means to gather or join in a team, a band, or a cooperative effort.
Together Everyone Achieves More = TEAM. Or Together Everyone Accomplishes More. Or Together Everyone Achieves Miracles.
A group of people linked in a common purpose. Teams are especially appropriate for conducting tasks that are high in complexity and have many interdependent subtasks. From Wikipedia’s team definition.
A group of people coming together to collaborate. This collaboration is to reach a shared goal or task for which they hold themselves mutually accountable. Source: Growing a Team, by Don Clark.