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Harvey Mackay
Column
For the week
of July 26, 2010
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ABCs of Team
Building
A reader recently wrote to me
about a column I penned several years ago, the ABCs of selling.
She told me how often she used it and shared it with her colleagues.
Then she challenged me to come
up with the ABCs of team-building, a topic that seems particularly
popular in this era of reorganizations, layoffs and downsizing.
The following concepts are what I consider the fundamentals
of team-building:
A is for action. No team can
function without a plan of action, even when the final outcome
is to take no action at all.
B is for brainpower. If two
heads are better than one, I would submit that a cohesive, well-assembled
team should have enough brainpower to attack any project.
C is for cooperation and communication.
Team members need to cooperate, even if they don't necessarily
agree. Clear communication is the roadmap to cooperation. |
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D is for dedication. As members
of a team, you must be dedicated to the goals of the team, or
you are on the wrong team.
E is for ears. Use your ears
more than your mouth because listening skills are critical for
team success.
F is for fun. Work should be
fun, and working together is usually a lot more fun than working
alone.
G is for the group effort.
The motto needs to be "all for one and one for all"
in order to be a real team.
H is for help. Ask for it if
you need it, and offer it if someone else needs yours.
I is for the ideas that come
from brainstorming and picking each others' brains. Let the
ideas flow and then choose those which hold the most potential.
J is for juggling. Combining
all the company's needs and desired results will often require
a juggling act, but a competent team will be able to achieve
that balance.
K is for kinetic -- energetic,
dynamic team members keep things moving.
L is for leadership. Every
team needs a leader, and every leader needs to be able to depend
on the team.
M is for motivation. Nothing
motivates a team like trust placed in them by management to solve
a problem.
N is for negotiate. Give and
take is as important within a team as it is with outside clients.
O is for open mind. Team members
need to be open to options they may not have considered, and
willing to expand their perspectives to find the best answers.
P is for planning. A plan doesn't
need to be rigid to be effective, but it must provide enough
direction to keep the team on course.
Q is for questions. Asking
questions is the best path to finding solutions. Don't be afraid
of asking any question. If you don't understand something, chances
are others don't either.
R is for results. The whole
point of forming a team is to achieve results. The only variation
on that theme is that the results may not be what had been originally
anticipated.
S is for solutions, which differ
from results in that there may be more than one solution to any
given problem. Then the team can implement the best choice.
T is for time management. A
well-managed team uses their meeting and planning time efficiently,
and understands when it is time to finish the project.
U is for unity. Once a decision
is made, the team needs to be unified to implement the plans.
If the team can't act as a unit, then it may be necessary to
reconfigure the team.
V is for voice. Every team
member has to have a voice in the proceedings, and it is up to
the team leader to insure that all voices are heard.
W is for work ethic. Each member
needs to complete the given assignments and should have confidence
that others will demonstrate the same commitment.
X is the X factor -- the chemistry
that makes a team productive because all members are committed
to the same goal.
Y is for yes -- say it as often
as you can. "Yes, I can help. Yes, that's a good idea.
Yes, let's move ahead. Yes, we did it!"
Z is for zeal. Passion, eagerness
and enthusiasm are contagious; share your zeal with the rest
of your team.
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Mackay's Moral: |
The team you build will determine
the business you build. |
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The Author  |
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Harvey Mackay is a nationally
syndicated columnist for United Feature Syndicate. His weekly
articles appear in 52 newspapers around the country, including
the Chicago Sun Times, Rocky Mountain News, Orange County Register,
Minneapolis Star Tribune and Arizona Republic.
http://www.mackay.com/
Copyright, Harvey Mackay. All rights reserved. |
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