TEAMWORK - CREATING TEAMS THAT WORK: Getting (and Staying) on the Same Page

Teamwork - Creating Teams That Work with Douglas Castle

Dear Readers:

Teamwork requires many skills, a great deal of focus, and a clear, unconflicted vision of a common goal of great importance to all participants. If I am a basketball hot-shot who loves to have the ball all of the time, my team will suffer the effects of my personal agenda and my ego's actions. Further (and the analogies only get worse), if we are on the same side in a tug-of-war, or a rafting race, we had better all be pulling or paddling in the same direction...otherwise we will either go flying forward or spinning in circles.

Conflicting agendas and differing priorities are the bane of effective teamwork, and are the ultimate destroyer of any team effort. Some simple guidelines follow that will help you keep your team members "on the same page" all of the time:

1. The Team must have an assigned leader. The types of decisions made by consensus must be few, and they should be the exception rather than the rule. A leader who cannot maintain focus, order and the respective of his/her teammates will see his/her team disintegrate into a committee or an informal group.

2. Individual decisionmaking capacity ("judgment calls") by the teammates must be limited, by the leader, to certain types of tactical issues which will not affect the focus of the team's mission. If there is any doubt about the appropriateness of an individual tactical decision, then the leader should be consulted.

3. The leader should generally have the ability (and also must bear the responsibility and accountability) to override individual decisions after due consideration. It is the leader's responsibility to explain, in brief, what his/her reasons are to that individual, or to the team, if appropriate.

4. The team's mission must be unequivocally and simply restated by the leader in every meeting with team members, and in every business-related conversation with the individual team members. As Adam J. Kovitz, CEO, Founder and Publisher of THE NATIONAL NETWORKER has said, on many occasions: "We learn through repetition and reminders."

5. The team leader, or his/her appointee must make frequent evaluations and issue statements (with the use of as much supporting quantitative data as possible) to the team about the progress that they are making toward the accomplishment of the mission. If these reports indicate progress, the team will be inspired, more firmly bonded, and work with increased energy and enthusiasm.



Exceptions:

There are exceptions to the foregoing five rules (aside from "executive privilege," "national security," "I invested the most money!" and "I'm bigger/older/more experienced/much smarter than you."), but these are quite limited:

• Teams formed for the purpose of developing an initial plan or strategy;
• Teams formed for the purposes of "brainstorming" ideas;
• Collaborative efforts involving only two partners;
• Committee meetings, board meetings and stakeholder meetings where resolutions are put to a vote;
• Teams formed for the purpose of critiquing an idea, an action or a work -- a panel of judges is the classic example.

Generally speaking, if a leader fails to truly lead (rather like an orchestra conductor), the team will disintegrate (rather like the difference between performing a symphonic piece and an ethanol-powered and spontaneous chorus of "Waltzing Matilda" by a rugby team after a rough game).

If the directives above seem harsh, you must bear in mind that the team is not formed for the purpose of either stifling individuality or encouraging innovation, per se...it is formed for the sole purpose of accomplishing a mission for the benefit and common good of all of the teammates.

One analogy, which I particularly enjoy, if that a team is like a multicellular organism, and that each team player is a cell in a biological (life-giving or life-preserving) process. If any one cell should fail to cooperate, sabotage the efforts of other teammates, or misuse resources, it becomes cancerous. Overstated? Perhaps. But my mission in writing this article was to get a point across. An extreme analogy tends to be most memorable.

Get on the same page. Stay on the same page. Tight teams accomplish great things.

-DC http://aboutDouglasCastle.blogspot.com

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TEAMWORK - CREATING TEAMS THAT WORK: Getting (and Staying) on the Same Page

TEAMWORK - CREATING TEAMS THAT WORK: Lasers or Losers?

TEAMWORK - Creating Teams that Work with Douglas Castle

Dear readers:

There are numerous dynamics associated with creating and operating a successful team, e.g., a team that achieves its specified mission. The one variable that invariably proves the most difficult, but should (at least intuitively) be the simplest, is FOCUS.

Part of a team leader's responsibility is to maintain the team's focus on the mission objective, and to avoid forays into any places or projects that could potentially diffuse the unified focus. Sadly, when we, as Human Beings become weary, needful or disenchanted, we tend to abandon focus and seek diversions...we fly off on tangents. This propensity for a diffusion of focus is the default state of most people's personalities. And, even more dangerously, the longer or more complicated the path to a mission objective, or the more "distant" the perceived benefit to each of the team members involved, the more likely the deterioration of focus.

Teams are either comprised of lasers or losers. Even a team that is brought together hastily to accomplish a mission which doesn't have any immediate gratification associated with it can be astoundingly successful if leadership is able to unify the team's focus. This requires several steps:

1. Defining the objective clearly;

2. Describing the benefit to all of the members if the objective is successfully addressed;

3. Persistently "herding" the membership back onto the direct trail to the objective;

4. Repetition - reminding every individual member of the team of the objective, and monitoring progress.

5. Capturing commitment - leadership must obtain the promise, from each individual member that he or she will proceed as promised. Commitment leads to cooperation.

6. Monitoring results and providing feedback ("progress reports" are excellent) to members - giving them a solid feel that their efforts (the cause) are yielding results (the effect).

7. Setting an example - leadership must maintain laser focus on achievement of the mission objective. Members are reliant upon leadership to play a bit of a parental role in this regard. A leader who is perceived as a hypocrite, or as an uncommitted individual is tacitly sanctioning his or her team members to wander off into the woods.

As a leader, you must be every bit as good as you require your members to be. Be the exemplar. Be the laser. Be the best, most consistent example.

A team can accomplish tremendous things if it is fashioned into a laser. Everything, from the American Revolution, to the launch of a space shuttle, to the collective bargaining process, to the takeover of a company, to the making of a media celebrity has been laser-powered.

There is no object that resists the power of a laser-focused team. There is no goal too grandiose or impediment insurmountable. The concentration of the laser focus can stop a comet, or it can bring a song to the top of the charts.

The team, when properly focused, has the potential to be the most powerful of all entities. No matter what the mission objective -- the right team and the right leadership can accomplish it.

Faithfully,

Douglas Castle

BRAINTENANCE - sharpen your mind

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www.LinkedIn.com/in/douglascastle

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TEAMWORK - CREATING TEAMS THAT WORK: Lasers or Losers?

NETWORK MARKETING SECRETS: Beyond Goal Setting for 2009

Network Marketing Secrets with Candy Webb

At this time of the year, it is characteristic of all of those of us with an entrepreneurial spirit and a success oriented approach to life to review, reframe and rewrite our goals. We look at the last year under the microscope (something we should have been doing throughout the year) to ask if the plans we laid at the beginning of the year reached fruition. Or, did we make progress on our goals and objectives during the year. We assess what worked and what didn’t work – all with a view to finding some magic combination of purpose and actions that will bring in the new year those things we did not attain in the old year. Not a bad thing to do, in fact a most necessary activity to achieve forward progress. But, we have probably gone through this exercise many years in the past without perhaps the desired result. What can we do differently as we review our goals and set a plan of action for 2009? A few thoughts:

First, don’t set about these plans in a vacuum. The most potent ingredient to making sure that what you set about to do get done is certainly your own commitment. Nothing can supplant your own effort and without your absolute belief level, little can be achieved. However, don’t assume that you have perfect vision, even when it is your own life you are planning. Find a mentor. Find someone who has achieved what it is you are setting as an objective. The old, “been there, done that” touch is invaluable to test validity, do-ability, difficulty of the task and the time frames you have set. It is key that the person you select is not too close to your effort. This coach must be objective, and sometimes that means family, very close friends, etc. are not perfect mentors. The person must be willing to give their opinion without any strings attached. In fact, it is best if they have absolutely nothing to gain from either your success or your failure – it maintains their objectivity!

And guess what, you don’t have to just seek out one of these individuals. Don’t be hesitant to ask for a multiplicity of input. Yes, that could be a little confusing if the opinions are conflicting, but I find more than likely if these people are true experts in their field; if they have truly succeeded at the task, their opinions will have some commonality. In fact, a pattern will begin to emerge that even if there are a few rough edges will show a clear path – a vector of purpose and success that you can borrow from to help establish your own plan. And of course, always remember that this input is no more than an opinion, and you can take from it what you will and what seems most to fit your purpose.

When I work with the leaders in my own organization to help them establish their goals and their plan of action, I like to talk about two types of goals. Whatever the task in front of you, make sure your goal set includes PERFORMANCE GOALS and ACTIVITY GOALS.

Performance goals are what you want to achieve in terms of a level of success identified by your company, sometimes identified as a “pin level”. But right along with that, my belief is you must also have a financial goal in our industry of network marketing. Together, the pin and the amount of income you desire to earn stated with a clear cut time frame is a super way to set a goal. That is the performance goal – what it is you want to achieve.

Now, just as important is the activity goal, which is really the “how-to” – it is the means to the performance goal. In fact, without the activity goal, just stating the performance goal as a desired outcome is probably moot. This is where the rubber meets the road, and when you are on the right path, these activity goals guide your progress. They are easily monitored and the results are easily quantified.

For instance, set what I call my MWC – That’s my Minimum Weekly Contacts. I define the MWC as the number of NEW contacts I am going to make to introduce people to my product and business venture. My MWC is set in stone, I hold myself accountable to that count every week. I keep a log of calls, appointments, etc. with my calendar that permits easy monitoring, and I know at any time if my efforts are “on purpose” or off track. It is this kind of weekly monitoring that allows you to be the most productive during the year. By keeping on track with this one simple count – the MWC – you can’t help but produce results.

This is goal setting in its simplest expression. Another hot tip? Work in 90 day increments. There is something magical about the power of a 90 day period of time where you are focused with laser beam intensity on a particular goal. I divide the year into four 90 day increments, and I have a very clear goal and purpose for those periods of time, and then I work on the identified target goals within those 90 day windows like my life depends on it! No loss of focus, no veering from the path of those goals in the 90 day window. If something else pops up, and it’s worthwhile doing – well, then it can get written into the next 90 days.

What has this methodology allowed me to achieve? Well, my primary focus (which is network marketing) has produced a consistent million dollar/year income for twenty years. Three times within that period I have had to change companies because that company could no longer support my financial goal levels. I think that is a particularly important statement to understand. Nothing is forever and within our industry as in any business endeavor there are times that CHANGE is the only way to achieve your goals. I treat my business as a business. I am loyal, yes, but my loyalties are primarily to my own goals and the financial requirements I set to enable my family and my charitable endeavors. That type of loyalty and objective allows me to be realistic and not to linger too long when situations beyond my control have diminished the opportunity. This is a hard lesson for many to learn, but essential to continued prosperity. So, in that regard, here at the end of the year as you assess your own efforts during 2008 and what will change in 2009, consider the future validity of your present endeavor. Don’t just enjoin yourself to “work harder”, that might not be the answer. Running faster and faster around the decks of the Titanic did not change the ultimate outcome.

In this very uncertain economic climate, I think it is also a very good idea to have a “Plan B” for 2009. A well thought out alternative income strategy can save you tremendous anxiety and fear. In fact, any good financial planner would tell you the same thing – diversify! Only, I’m saying don’t just diversify investments, diversify your wage-earning efforts now for stability in the future.

I look forward in 2009 to bringing you more tips for success in the network marketing industry. Interestingly, in these “bad times”, the direct selling/networking industry has outgrown any industry segment. I frequently read other economists like Paul Zane Pilzer, whose forecasts for this industry show growth to a trillion dollar segment over the next few years. Another financial guru in our industry – Rod Cook, MBA, said recently in an article about the Direct Sales industry: “In 2007, the DSA estimated that nearly 61 million people in more than 170 countries around the world were active in direct selling. Last year, this sales force accounted for more than $111 billion in revenue. In the United States alone, these self-motivated entrepreneurs sold nearly $31 billion worth of goods”.

My own piece of that action was about $20 million worth of goods last year. So, here at the end of the year as you assess your personal and family financial goals, I would urge you to look at “recession-proofing” your life with a network marketing income strategy. It could be a secondary (Plan B) focus, or a primary focus, and if you would like a seasoned opinion, please contact me. I will try to be completely objective – that means that if you have made a choice of company and it’s not mine – I commit to analyze your goals and give an honest assessment. And as you pursue your goals in 2009, I hope some of the tips and insights I provide about this industry will be of value to you. HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Candy Webb, Your Network Marketing Coach

webb@quiknet.com, 916 408-3637, http://www.jimandcandy.com

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NETWORK MARKETING SECRETS: Beyond Goal Setting for 2009