Tag Archives: Teams
An Item Not to Forget About Concerning Teamwork
Many of you will enjoy the new insights and data about teamwork that I will present on Friday at the First Friday Book Synopsis in Dallas from The Orange Revolution: How One Great Team Can Transform an Entire Organization by Adrian Gostick and Chester Elton (Free Press, 2010). If you miss the synopsis or live outside of our area, you can find it soon on our companion site, 15MinuteBusinessBooks.com.
As always, I am impressed by the research methodology employed in books like this. The findings and recommendations from this book come from a 350,000 person survey conducted by the Best Companies Group (BCG), which has been instrumental in establishing “Best Places to Work” programs.
One item that is missing from this book, as is true of most that I have read on teamwork, is the fundamental question of how teams “work” when they “work as teams.” I am asked all the time what a group needs to do in order to work as a team. And my answer is they must do their work as a team!
What I mean is that the work that everyone does must be interdependent, not independent. You cannot have teams if the work that participants do is not designed so that they work together. Therefore, teamwork depends upon the fact that at minimum, there is an extra set of eyes, or an extra set of input to everything the participants do and contribute.
Throwing independent contributions together into a package is not teamwork. Assembling interdependent contributions together into a package is teamwork. This is because the result comes from the blended aggregation of each person’s input. And, when you have teamwork, you have great difficulty identifying “who did what,” because the product belongs to the team, not any individual. That is why MVP (most valuable player) of a team has never made any sense to me – you can have one for a league, but you should not have one for a team!
So, if you want teamwork, you must design the work where you accomplish it in teams. The work must be interdependent, not independent. If you fail to do this, you will only have a group, and not a team
How do you see this issue? Let’s talk about it soon!
Learn to Influence: Sell, Don’t Tell
On Saturday, I presented a program entitled “Influencing Skills for Effective Leadership.” As usual, it was packed. There is no program that I do that gets more attendees.
We know that influence is a key and identifiable behavior for leaders to exhibit. And, based upon the success of the second edition of Cohen and Bradford’s Influence Without Authority (Wiley, 2005), we know that more people use influence, even when they could pull rank on someone and use power or authority.
Why is that? Why “sell” when you could “tell?’ I teach that with influence you get commitment, not compliance. And, when a follower is committed, you see drive, enthusiasm, quality, and even defending a particular action when someone asks why he or she is doing something. Covey said it years ago – “without involvement, there is no commitment.” For my money, I want people committed, not complying. I don’t want people “getting it done,” crossing it off the list, and working to finish something without caring, desiring, and enthusiastically doing a task a right. With influence comes commitment.
In my workshop, I teach a five-step process for selling ideas and desired actions for someone to take. We also include a four-step process for overcoming objections. We focus on “managing up” – how to influence a boss, or a bosses’ boss. We also talk about how to influence support departments and members of teams who you have to count on to get a job done. And, we work on how to influence peers and co-workers whom you need cooperation from, but who do not report to you, and who do not HAVE to do anything you want them to, no matter how good of an idea you may have.
Remember these premises: when you do not have power and authority, all you have available is influencing. But, even if you do have power and authority, the better choice to use is influencing.
Everyone sells – you do not have to be a salesperson to use influence. We all sell others our ideas, desired actions to take, and direction.
You can change your work culture around you by replacing “telling” with “selling.” And, if you are a manager, why not have your employees engaged in “selling” instead of “asking” you. When someone asks you, “can I,” “may I,” or “what do you think if I…,” try responding with “sell me – come back and sell me.” Two things will happen. First, the people who come to see you will be more prepared and use your time better. Second, you will see fewer people!
I am happy to talk with you about this workshop, and how you can book it for your organization. I have taught thousands of people these skills for 24 years. You can reach me by telephone at (972) 980-0383 or by e-mail at .
Let’s talk really soon about this!
