team

Jul 20 2015

Work Less – 3 Ways Smart Leaders Do to Get Better Results

The Work Less – 3 Ways Smart Leaders Do to Get Better Results is a guest post by Victor Prince. Victor is co-author of a new book, Lead Inside the Box: How Smart Leaders Guide their Teams to Exceptional Results. He is a consultant and speaker who teaches strategy and leadership skills to clients around the world. You can find him online at victorprince.com.

At the core of leadership is change that leads to better results. Some leaders try to get more out of their teams and organizations by simply working harder and longer. Smart leaders, however, have figured out that they can get better results by reducing efforts in a few key areas.

In their new book, Lead Inside the Box, Victor Prince and Mike Figliuolo offer 3 Ways that Smart Leaders Work Less to Get Better Results…

Jun 22 2015

Job Description – 5 Reasons Your Team Needs It

The Job Description – 5 Reasons Your Team Needs It is a guest post by Dr. Ryan Hartwig. Ryan is co-author of Teams That Thrive and associate professor of communication at Azusa Pacific University. Find him online at ryanhartwig.com and on Twitter.

What if every team in your organization had a job description? What if every team had clarity about the team’s purpose, and how that purpose was different from other teams and individuals in the organization?

In today’s world, it’s common for most positions in organizations to have a written job description. The job description provides focus, clarifies expectations, delineates qualifications for job candidates, and outlines the criteria for performance evaluation.

But what about teams?

Jan 05 2015

Team Culture – 3 Essential Practices of Every Great Team

Great team culture is less about a list of characteristics and more about understanding your team, discerning their uniqueness, and working together to achieve remarkable results.

Team members bring their own ideas, experiences, education, and skills to the group to work toward common goals. So when a new member joins the team, the team and its culture changes.

Every addition (or deletion) of a team member changes the team and its culture – some slightly, others significantly.

To complicate matters, it takes one to three years for a new team member to fully integrate with their team and effectively contribute to the team’s shared goals.

If that’s true, how can teams be effective in the interim? And what if team members are added frequently? How does a team continue to make progress, remain productive, and produce results with a continuously evolving team culture?

As I’ve led teams over the years, I’ve asked these same questions. And I must admit that, more than once, I’ve experienced the frustration of not having answers.

As we’ve coached teams and leaders across the country, we’ve learned that there are 3 things every leader must understand about team culture to effectively lead the team.

Here they are…

Dec 22 2014

Need More Margin? 4 Ways to Get it Fast

How do we get more margin? Every leader wants the team to maximize efficiency. And in this quest for efficiency and productivity some team members can become so overwhelmed that there’s no possible way to get everything done.

The resulting frustration can be devastating to morale and retention.

Dec 08 2014

4 Reasons Your Team Thinks You’re Not Listening

If you’re going to lead a team, you must listen. No excuses. No exceptions.

Some managers naturally focus on tasks and projects. Yet, the best leaders focus on the needs of the people they serve. Always.

Although some team members may be subordinates, they are also partners. And they need to know – without a doubt – that they have absolute freedom to contribute their unique perspective to the organization. Even when it differs from yours.

And their perspective will be different than yours – regularly. So if you are going to influence people, you must slow down and listen – long enough to understand and consider their perspective.

[Tweet “If you are going to lead, you must listen.”]

Most employees think their boss is deaf to their recommendations, their observations, and their pleas for more resources. And few managers realize that their team feels this way.

Here are 4 reasons team members think their manager isn’t listening…