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Effective Teamwork

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Effective Teamwork
By Louise Manning

Well how did the house decorating go in your house? It is a very difficult time of year - you are tired, preoccupied with all the things that you have got to do and the children keep nagging about when you are going to put the decorations up!

A few years ago I decided to make paper chains - very traditional and "green" decorations - we use them for two-three years and then they are totally recyclable and we recycle the fronts of this year's Christmas cards on the cards we make for next year too - but that is another story for another day.

Making the paper-chains made me think about team work. We divided the tasks - I was cutting the paper pieces on the guillotine and making piles of self-same colours and the children were designing their own paper-chains. They chose their own colours that they thought would work together and made their designs. There is a great self-satisfaction in watching the chains grow as you go on. The final work when they are all put up is beautiful as the different colours and designs intermingle on the ceiling. Something to stand back, gaze and be proud of.

Team work - too often we expect people to conform to the same standards and thought processes rather than allowing them to develop their own skills which in time will complement each other. In theory, a team is about developing a network of mutual support in order to reach a series of common goals. In practice that is not always the case.

I like the quote, reputedly by Henry Ford, the pioneering American industrialist, "Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success!" Thought -provoking words.

http://thehumanimprint.typepad.com/the_human_imprint/2007/12/paper-chains.html

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How to Tap Into Your Inherent Relationship-Building Skills For Business

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How to Tap Into Your Inherent Relationship-Building Skills For Business
By Jason Jacobsohn

Whether you know it or not, you were born with the natural ability to meet people and build relationships. Even if you don't spend much time proactively building relationships, you should be able to point to numerous examples of relationship building with friends and co-workers.

While we are all born with the ability to connect, some of us utilize this skill more than others. If you haven't utilized your inherent relationship-building skills yet, then it's time to unleash them onto the world.

Don't Be a Hermit

As long as you aren't a hermit, you interact with people every day such as with the bus driver, a person at the cleaners, a clerk at the local convenience store, clients and co-workers. However, you may not have a solid business network to draw upon.

This is OK because it's never too late to start. Chances are you probably have more people in your network than you think you do. Most of us naturally have built up a network that has been largely untapped.

Take a trip down memory lane and think about the relationships you have built with friends and co-workers. What did you do to develop these relationships?

Many of these relationships have been built because of commonalities such as living in the same neighborhood, going to the same school, working at the same company or playing the same sports. For many people, building relationships starts by identifying these common elements and building upon them.

Having something in common with another person provides a great foundation. Remember that relationships are built with people who make us feel comfortable. Spend time surrounding yourself with these types of people. This is a great way to begin to grow your network.

Focus on Commonalities

In addition to surrounding yourself with people who make you feel comfortable, you should also look for individuals sharing commonalities. Attend networking events that are focused in your industry, hang out with friends of friends and interact with fellow alumni.

Whatever you decide to do, keep an open mind and focus on converting some of these encounters into new relationships. Nurture these new relationships so they can become part of your network.

At the same time, you need to have the confidence that you can meet people and build some solid relationships. You have done it before and continue to do it with new friends and co-workers. The more you interact with people, the more confident you will become.

Consider every time you talk with someone as practice for the next conversation. If you aren't comfortable attending a large event, then practice at a small gathering in your community, at your company or at a family gathering.

Seek to be friends first with any new contacts and then talk business later. You want to build comfort and trust so when business does come up it is a smooth transition.

The reason you want to build relationships this way is because people tend to do business with others who they consider friends. It is important to always connect with people on a deeper level that goes well beyond just business.

Practice Talking to Strangers

If you still aren't comfortable carrying on a conversation with new people in a business environment, then practice talking to people when you go to the store, work out at the gym, take a taxi or stay at a hotel. This activity will get you more comfortable with talking to complete strangers in all situations.

As you are already naturally having these conversations every day, you need to now be aware that they are happening and strengthening your relationship-building skills. Take this as an opportunity to practice conversational skills.

Don't ever discount any of these discussions because they could develop into good relationships. Take these encounters seriously because relationships are built in every situation. Techniques to practice include reciting your elevator pitch, asking insightful questions and listening.

It's better to hone your conversational skills in a non-business environment. The old saying that "practice makes perfect" is so true for relationship building. Talking is a born ability. Leverage it to help you become more successful in business and life.

You have a voice and you need to exercise it. Professional athletes and musicians need to constantly practice before they can perform at the big game or a performance.

Keep in mind that people attend networking events to meet other people. Don't ever feel embarrassed to go up to someone and start a conversation. Chances are this person feels uncomfortable and he or she will be thankful that you started the dialogue.

Final Thought

Remember that we are all born with the skill to build relationships. Don't let this natural ability go to waste.

Jason Jacobsohn is a seasoned networker who believes in relationship building as a key component to business success. He enjoys helping others succeed by making introductions, planning events, and sharing resources. In addition, Jacobsohn enthusiastically shares resources with his network through his e-mail newsletter, "Network Your Way to Success," and http://www.jacobsohn.com, a comprehensive business and networking resources Web site. Further, he shares an additional perspective through his blog at http://www.networkinginsight.com

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Building Team Spirit

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Building Team Spirit
By Jennie Gandhi

Team spirit is one of the essential agents to performance and success. The basic fundamentals of any business are their marketing strategies, advertising plans, equipped technology and capital investment. But these fundamentals are worthless without the emotional commitment of the people working for the particular business. The expensive facilities, huge customer base and frontline staff can do no wonders if the working members are not bounded to dedicate themselves towards a common goal of elevating the business.

The most important aspect of sharing a common goal is building a team spirit. Team spirit is a feeling of working together as one. Team spirit is the only ladder that can take any business to pride, expansion and success. This emotional connection of the working group provides a deep sense of making a whole lot difference through meaningful work.

With the thought of 'unity is strength', every big and small company is promoting team spirit as a part of their culture to pave way to win the game. All the employees work together to buy comparable products at competitive prices through acquisition and potentially, producing the best outcome. The only company that makes tangible investment in making a good team is the company that climbs the ladder at a faster pace.

In this world of everyone-for-himself, it is difficult to develop team spirit but yet we have gathered some meaningful resources that can help you as a leader to bind your team members with one common goal.

Here are some of the team building activities:

1. Encourage universal cooperation among team members and divide them in small groups to help them work together by supporting each other.

2. Identify non-value-added work such as Bureaucracy, rework, and inefficiency that destroys the feeling of commitment. Involve team members into action plans and reduce useless work.

3. Build a strong and well established relationship between the organization and customers. Involve your customers in various events, training programs and celebrations. This will help you dictate the qualities and effectiveness of your products and services in presence of huge number of people.

4. Give autonomy to the team and keep everything as simple as possible. Don't unnecessarily complicate things. Keep the rules, regulations, systems and principles lenient.

5. Develop a healthy environment by promoting humor and entertainment sessions. This can help release tensions and improve the power of determination. Ensure that the humors don't disguise barb among the team members.

6. Share your cup of tea with all your team members. Tell them your real life experiences of how you crossed all obstacles and tough times to reach the place where you are. This will motivate them and help them build an even stronger organization.

7. Avoid any kind of disagreement and miscommunication as these can lead to negative emotions and hamper the feeling of oneness.

8. Place a visible board with applause for members and let the whole organization acknowledge the worth of team spirit.

9. Recognize and celebrate all the significant activities and milestones reached. Try to approach all towards a positive attitude with a feeling of "we will win".

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Teamwork Makes the Dream Work!

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Teamwork Makes the Dream Work!
By Minh Pham

If you want to make more money you must avoid, "The One Man Show" entrepreneur syndrome. You have to stop thinking that you can do everything by yourself. Most entrepreneurs have this mindset because this is why they are entrepreneurs to begin with. They simply think that they can do everything by themselves and they don't feel they need the help of others. Oftentimes, this is the wrong approach to achieve your major business goals. Sometimes when you even feel that you can do it better than anyone else resist the temptation and get help. The journey to ultimate success and big rewards should be done through seeking help from others or through a systematic 'TEAM' approach.

Take Henry Ford for example; he was scrutinized for being ignorant because he did not have a college degree. He was not a long time student of school. The press calls him 'a man that was uneducated.' Henry Ford only managed to finish an elementary education. They scrutinized him to go as far as to hold a press conference and prove to the world that he was "ignorant."

They were totally wrong. Many questions were trivial, which required memorization skills about nonsense facts such as dates of wars and names of past historical figures. Henry Ford told the press that he did not know the little trivial facts and figures, but he can in ten minutes summon a person who knows those things. He told them that he did not need to fill his mind with such useless data. All he needed to do was use his mind for thinking and creating. Trivial pursuits are a waste of time, money, and energy.

Henry Ford's rise to success without great schooling is attributed to his ability to 'team up' with the minds of other men. In essence, he borrowed knowledge from those who were smarter then himself to achieve his goals. Henry Ford did not know much about engineering but he had men who knew all about engineering. He did not know much about marketing but he had men who knew how to sell, and they focused on promoting his ideas for him. He did not know a great deal about money, bookkeeping, or investments but he was able to work with accountants, financial advisors, and lawyers who could get him funding.

Henry Ford was a great achiever because he realized the power of 'teamwork' where people working together for a common goal can achieve impossible goals. Looking at this lesson we know that it was impossible for him to achieve the level of success that he enjoyed without the aid of others. In order to get what we want in life, we must learn to team up with others to achieve our goals just as Henry Ford did to change history.

So remember, when you think that you can do everything by yourself, stop and think how much more help you can get. Whether it is to hire an assistant to help with the administration of your business or acquire services of professionals, just do it. If you cannot afford it, try to barter your services because it's a good way to do business and both parties can win. Last, if bartering is not possible, just 'ask.' Yes, there are countless successful professionals that have made it. They can help you if you just ask. Don't be shy because if you don't ask you may never receive.

In conclusion, when you are striving toward your goals, keep in mind that two or more heads are better than one.

Minh is formally trained as a financial planning strategist for small businesses and individuals within the Virginia, Maryland, and Washington DC areas; Minh is also recognized as a real estate investment lecturer on the topics of creative real estate investing. He is the author of a Best-Selling Course, "Turnkey Profits Using Lease Purchase and Other Creative Investing Techniques." Minh is also a co-author of a national best seller: "Mission Possible" along side Stephen Covey (author of 'Seven Habits of Highly Effective People") and Brian Tracey (international top ranked motivational speaker). He is also an active member of three real estate investing associations in the Greater Metro Washington DC areas.

www.guaranteeprofits.com

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How to Recruit Great Talent

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How to Recruit Great Talent
By Lawton Howell

"If you hire only those people you understand, the company will never get people better than you are. Always remember that you often find outstanding people among those you don't particularly like." -- Soichiro Honda

The single best thing you can do for your practice is to recruit great talent to "play" on your T.E.A.M.. Having smart, ambitious, and hardworking people under your leadership will make your work easier, more productive, and more profitable.

As time goes on, good people get better but great people become superstars. In a surprisingly short amount of time, two or three great Players on your T.E.A.M. can upgrade your entire practice enabling you to become the brand of choice in your marketplace..

It's not easy to recruit top talent, but it's well worth the time and effort that it takes. Here are the four most important things I've learned about how to do it:

1. Make the commitment. Anything worth doing is worth doing well. You can't expect to hire great people if you spend just a few hours working on it. I don't like interviewing, and I'm always impatient to hire the first decent person who comes along. That's a deadly combination.

2. Look for the right things. Intelligence is important, but I'd list it third on my list of things to look for. The two most important things to look for are attitude and aptitude. You can't train someone to have a delightful attitude and personality. Hire cheerleaders and fire sourpusses.

3. Flee flaws. Generally speaking, you'll see a T.E.A.M. candidate at his or her best when you interview him or her. If you notice something that seems "wrong," don't ignore it -- especially if it concerns qualities that are important for the position. When it comes to interviewing, I've found that personal quirks are like the tip of an iceberg -- what you see on the surface is a very small part of what you will have to deal with later.

4. Don't worry too much about specific experience. Of all the qualities that are important to look for in finding a great Player for your T.E.A.M., specific experience is not very high on my list. Yes, it's good to know that the person you hire can do the technical work from day one -- but on day seven or day fourteen, you'll wish you had opted for the better, though perhaps untried and unproven, Prospex.

Finally, you must be continuously recruiting for new T.E.A.M. Players, even when you do not have a position available. Create a "job bank" folder for each position on your T.E.A.M. and collect resume from potential candidates. If you need to replace someone on the T.E.A.M. or need to expand your T.E.A.M., you can retrieve your "job bank" folder and call in the Prospex for a group interview!

And, naturally, along the way, you may just find someone that is better for the T.E.A.M. than a current Player. Yes, it always a good policy to field the best talent possible, whenever possible, even when you need to make a change on your T.E.A.M.

The author may be contacted toll free at 877-935.6371 extension 201 or email at ceo@wellnessone.net. Mr. Howell is the founder, chairman and chief executive officer of WellnessOne Corporation, a national alliance of chiropractic and wellness centers.

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Corporate Team Building Activity - Failure To Achieve Results

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Corporate Team Building Activity - Failure To Achieve Results
By Michael Cardus

Your corporate team building program was not a success? Here are four possible reasons why.

1) Lack of understanding why they are there.

If the participants are not made aware of the reason for the team building program there can be some serious hostility. Some coordinators like to "keep the people in the dark" and surprise them when the team building program starts. Another common idea is, we will not tell them what we are doing and when it starts they will be totally surprised. These two ideas are a recipe for disaster, and a competent team building facilitator's worst nightmare. As adults the idea a "SURPRISE" you need better team work, does not create a happy environment.

Instead what coordinators of team building programs should do is speak to the team inform them that they are going to be taking part in a team program. You are going to get some groans and people may not want to attend. This however is alright. The team building program should not be viewed as a prison sentence. Let them go to the meeting, ask them to observe for a little time, if they still do not wish to participate, this is their choice.

Within work teams - initiative and choice is a building block for team work, you must respect your team members decision.

2) Improper sequencing of activities

This cannot be said loud enough. What sequencing is in the team building world is the order of activities, each one adding a new level of comfort and acceptance to the group. Many times the coordinator of the event and even worse the facilitator wants to "scare them straight into being a team" by pushing a huge physical, mental or emotional challenge on participants for the first activity. If this happens almost 90% of the participants will back out immediately.

Participants understand that they are not going to love every team building activity, and that they have the choice to change their minds. A proper sequence starts with the groups' current state of being. Do they know each other well? Have they worked together for 30+ years? Is there some hidden conflict waiting to erupt? The sequencing depends on the facilitator of your event; the facilitator should at the least have knowledge of Tuckman's 5 Stages of Group Formation, if the facilitator does not RUN out of their as fast as you can! This facilitator is not ready for corporate team building.

Ask the facilitator how sequential learning is going to add to your team building program. Be an informed consumer, do not assume that because the facilitator works for a college, or a reputable conference center that he is qualified.

3) Poor or inadequate debrief

If the facilitator does not have the skills to debrief the team building activities, take your companies check book to the toilet and flush it! You will get the same results - wet feet, a foul odor and an angry supervisor.

This is where experience and broad knowledge is needed for the team building facilitator. After the majority of team building activities the facilitator should lead a debrief or processing session. Effective facilitators are able to gain the trust and attention of all team members through a variety of processing techniques. While you are speaking with the facilitator ask about experiential learning cycles, processing, planned outcomes, goals, and customization to your group. If he just stares at you blankly this facilitator is probably great at playing games but lacks the true processing needed to turn a corporate team building activity from recreation to education.

4) Lacking commitment of Management and Executive team

"Thank you for coming to this our team building day, the executive staff are pleased to have you, the executive staff and I are going to go golfing for the day and leave you here to play some games with [insert team building facilitator here]. This is important to the executive team that all of you work as a team. Have fun playing some silly games we will see you after our golf game, Good luck [insert team building facilitator here] this group needs a lot of work!"

This is the introduction I once got before a 7 hour team building program. Needless to say the goals and learning objectives that were reached never stuck back in the office. It is imperative for the higher ups to be part of the team building as much as possible. Often times the ideas that arise are brilliant and can be easily implemented into organizational practice. If the executive team is off golfing, they will never hear it.

Team building is a culture, team building is a value a mission a deep down belief in the participants soul to like and love their Job as well as co-workers. When looking for a Corporate Team Building Consultant find someone who is passionate about your organization and is ready to work with you for success.

There must be trust for organizational growth to occur.

-Michael Cardus:
Michael is an adventure consultant for Create-Learning-Team Building: and experiential and leadership training organization. Headquartered in Buffalo NY
http://www.create-learning.com

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How Encouraging And Motivation Of Team Members Increase Performance

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How Encouraging And Motivation Of Team Members Increase Performance
By Ray Andrew

In every team there needs to be a leader, one that can follow up with each member, give the appropriate tasks to do and track the results on a periodic basis. When there is no leader and no one is keeping track of the progress, team members are less motivated and usually have emotional conflicts.

The leader needs to encourage motivation and be a source of support for everyone else, he needs to set the rules very clear and give clear deadlines of when each task needs to be completed. Following this guidelines the performance of the members will be higher.

However, motivation is composed of attitude, strategy and drive, if the each member can work with each other in a positive environment attitude will not be a problem. If the leader has a clear strategy and has given each member their tasks to do strategy will not be a problem. But if team members have no drive then the results will be poor because they do not have motivation.

To increase the motivation in each member, first is important to choose the members that have a real interest in the project, if you just force people to work on a project that they don't like motivation will not be possible. Then the goal and deadlines have to be very clear, the members need to know that the goal has to be reached in a limited amount of time. Lastly, the members need to know that they will be rewarded with either money, awards, prestige, etc.

Is not always easy to generate motivation in all the members and usually in companies you have to work with people that you don't like to achieve the results. Even if not all team members like each other, they need to know the rules. The leader needs to let them know that they are working for a common goal and that is all that matters.

Discover how to motivate people anytime any where, students, professionals, teams, leaders and get tips and advice on: self concept motivation at http://www.selfmotivationtechniques.com

You can also read about: motivation inspiration weight loss exercise

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How To Build Your Business with T-E-A-M Meetings

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How To Build Your Business with T-E-A-M Meetings
By Lawton Howell

If you don't share your goals with your T.E.A.M., how do you expect them to help you achieve them? You should schedule a weekly T.E.A.M. meeting and include your goals on the agenda.

Set monthly goals at your weekly T.E.A.M. Meetings for the best results.

Why are goals important? Without them you don't go anywhere!

Whenever you see anything worthwhile being done anywhere, it is because someone is behind it with a passion, a belief and a goal! And, the more that have the same objective the more powerful the results.

When it comes to your personal life and your business, goal setting makes the difference between mediocrity and excellence and accomplishment.

A great way to monitor goals is by tracking and measuring your performance. What gets measured, get done. Use spreadsheets, a thermometer posters and financial reports from your practice management software to capture, analyze and report results.

Start by setting goals for the month. Ideally this should be done at the last T.E.A.M. Meeting of the month. This will enable your T.E.A.M. to prepare and get behind the goals with passion and purpose, for the following month. Create a new affirmation that supports the goals for the morning T.E.A.M. Huddles.

Have the goals in writing and posted where the T.E.A.M. can review them daily and during the T.E.A.M. Huddle.

Is there a reward for meeting the goals? In order for the T.E.A.M. to get excited about reaching goals they need to see how it will benefit them. There are a lot of ways to celebrate success and it doesn't always have to be a financial reward.

Player of the Month recognition award can be effective; reserve parking space with Player of the Month reserved sign; letter to the spouse is outstanding; lunch with the "boss.;" lead the weekly T.E.A.M. Meetings for the month...it is all about recognition for doing an outstanding job.

Set specific goals for:

• New Patient Production
• PVA (Patient Visit Average)
• Office Visits
• Services Billed
• AVI (Average Visit Income Collected)
• Collections

Percentage of kept appointments and collection/production ratio should already be set at 90% and above each month.

Then reverse engineer. What do you need to accomplish each week/each day? Breaking it down into "chunks" makes it easier to correct along the way and with a DAILY and WEEKLY goal, the T.E.A.M., can inspect what is expected quickly.

Review your performance at each weekly T.E.A.M. Meeting, the morning T.E.A.M. Huddle and during the daily T.E.A.M. Debrief.

What was the statistic for new patients/office visits/services/collections?

How does this compare with last week?

How does it compare with where you need to be to reach the goal?

If there needs to be improvement, what is the plan? Ask the T.E.A.M. for suggestions. If they need help, remind them.

Some Specific Suggestions:

New Patient Production: ask for more referrals. Increase the number of EXTERNAL screenings, workshops, lectures, or ergonomic evaluations. Hand out more business cards when away from the office. Enhance patient compliance for education and home care; create more marketing alliance; encourage patients to request workshops at their place of employment..

Office Visits: schedule a stack-a-day, review patient treatment schedules, work on recalls and reactivations. At the daily huddle review how many patients are scheduled, highlight areas for growth, call and reschedule patients.

Services: If NPP and OVs increase, Services will automatically increase. Remember to audit charges and make sure you are charging for all the services you provide. And,, use a Prescription Pad Protocol for Ancillary Services that are often overlooked during normal patient visits.

Collections: Bill DAILY. Review the A/R and call on past due accounts. Make sure that all co-payments are collected at the time of service.

If you are on track with your goals, commend your T.E.A.M. and ask what they will keep doing more of to assure that you will all reach your goals! Remember, the acronym, T.E.A.M., is Together Everyone Achieves More!

How long will you need to follow this goal setting protocol...FOREVER! Keep raising the bar and be sure to have goals for each of your offices.

What you focus on increases....in life and in business. Get everyone on your T.E.A.M. to focus on your targets and goals and you can't miss!

The author may be contacted toll free at 877-935.6371 extension 201 or email at ceo@wellnessone.net. Mr. Howell is the founder, chairman and chief executive officer of WellnessOne Corporation, a national alliance of chiropractic and wellness centers.

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How to Design a Great Leadership Team Off-site Meeting

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How to Design a Great Leadership Team Off-site Meeting
By Dan Mccarthy

1. What's the overall purpose of the meeting? To develop a 3 year strategy? Improve teamwork? Solve a big hairy problem? Sometimes it's a combination of a few things, but try to keep it to just a few. A great off-site agenda should not look like an extended staff meeting. This is an opportunity to take the time needed to strategize, brainstorm, debate, reflect, and learn.

2. What's the "desired outcomes"? Desired outcomes are a tangible set of deliverables that describe what a successful meeting would look like at the conclusion. Examples: "A list of 3-5 three year goals", "A shared vision", "a shared understanding of each other's concerns". Desired outcomes give you a target to shoot for and a way to evaluate the success of the meeting. It also helps drive the creation of the agenda - a way to screen out the clutter that everyone always seems to want to bolt on.

3. Determine participants and roles. Usually there's one meeting leader, participants, maybe a facilitator, and sometimes guests.

4. Do a "stakeholder assessment". Who are all the key stakeholders for this meeting and what would a "win" look like for them. Stakeholders may be attending the meeting or they may not. For example, the manager of the meeting leader is a key stakeholder. You won't be able to pleased all stakeholders but it helps to least be aware of their needs.

5. Consider the context. What's going on in the environment that may influence the participant's behavior, mindset, or participation? For example, is their a pending downsizing? A new team member? A restructuring?

6. Establish the dates. Three days is often ideal, two is OK, and anything more than four can turn into a death march.

7. Notify the participants - just have them hold the dates for now.

8. Select an overall "theme" for the meeting. The theme will emerge based on the purpose, desired outcomes, and context. The theme could be "Leading change", or "A winning team", or "playing to win". Having a central theme allows you to creatively tie all of the meeting elements together: agenda, venue, activities, gift, etc...

9. Find the right venue. Work with your corporate meeting planners, your meeting facilitator, or do your own search. Most resorts and hotels cater to corporate meetings and can help you select the best room, meals, and activities. You'll probably work with a conference planner. Make sure you specify AV needs, room set-up, meals and breaks, and any other details.

10. Begin to work on the key design elements. This is a creative process, where you begin to come up with ways to accomplish the desired outcomes. There could be teambuilding activities, strategy or problem solving sessions, training, and/or presentations.

11. Design the high level agenda. The pieces begin to fit together like a puzzle. I often write the key agenda pieces on post-its, and move them around until they begin to form a nice flow.

12. Confirm any outside speakers or other guests.

13. Develop the detailed agenda. For each major agenda segment, determine the what, who, how, when, and how long.

14. Select activities. Activities are a great way to informally build the team and keep the energy high. Pick activities that support your meeting purpose and theme.

15. Send a high level agenda to the participants and any invited guests, including all of the logistical information, including maps, dress code, pre-work, and any activities.

16. Select a parting gift - some kind of special memento that supports the theme and creates a lasting anchor for the experience.

17. Fine-tune the agenda, trouble-shooting potential snafus and making the inevitable last minute adjustments.

Once the meeting starts, be prepared to make adjustments. Things never go as planned, but if you follow these steps, you'll improve you chances of having a great leadership team off-site. Good luck!

For advice and information on leadership and leadership development, please visit my blog at http://greatleadershipbydan.blogspot.com

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Five Keys To Motivating Your Team Members - Motivation Is Everything And Translates To Profit!

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Five Keys To Motivating Your Team Members - Motivation Is Everything And Translates To Profit!
By Paul Stevens

Motivation is described by psychologist Shay McConnon as 'the inner desire to take action'. Tap into people's motivation and you will strike gold!

Motivation can be reduced to a simple form of self-interest more commonly known as what's in it for me? Individuals need to see and feel the reward or benefit to themselves by taking action. The greater the perceived valued to self, the greater the level of motivation.

There is no universal source of motivation - it cannot be bought in a one size fits all form. Being thanked personally may motivate some people whilst others may want to be given challenges as a thank you. Money may motivate some people, but not others, and more often is not the big motivator people think it is.

What motivates us - is it respect, the chance to be creative, the opportunity for success, the time to think things through and develop and plan? What ever the answer, it is important to note that different people have different needs and different motivators. So the key question is, what motivates your people, employees and team - why will they do, what they do, even better?

As a manager or team leader, there are more people out there that are not like you, than like you, so be aware of using your criteria for being motivated to motivate others. Ian Botham, as captain of the England Cricket team, rarely gave motivating talks to his players as he felt that putting on the England cricket strip should be motivation enough. General Norman Schwarzkopf went to great lengths to take care of his troops, personally, engaging with them. Who is right?

The best managers and team leaders know their staff or team, and know the individuals' motivations and can tap into these strong sources of energy, with integrity, to create an even more successful outcome, more easily, that will benefit the people and the business.

It is considered that some 75% of a team or companies success will come from soft skills such as motivation and attitude - not from hard skills or knowledge. If people are not motivated it is highly unlikely they will use their skills and talents and this will negatively impact on the bottom line whether you are a premier football team, an events company of a private business.

Motivated teams of people far out perform other teams, no matter how qualified they are. Keys to motivating your people include;

1. Find out people's criteria for being motivated and set goals in accordance.
2. Create a rewarding environment where people can feel good about themselves.
3. Invest in people - and they will invest in you.
4. Understand how to thank people, so they feel thanked.
5. Maintain integrity and honesty.

There are many ways to find out about what motivates and drives people, how to engage with your staff or team members, to build better working relationships, increase motivation, trust, respect and rapport, whilst reducing costly personality clashes, mis-trust, stress, sickness and disputes. By increasing staff motivation and engagement, you can directly increase the energy levels, interest, desire and productivity, which can lead to increased productivity and profit.

Tools such as the SDI (Strength Deployment Inventory), DISC, Myers Briggs Type Indicator and even Belbin, are all good foundations from which to run People Development programmes to develop communication, understanding and engagement. PJ Stevens of LEAP favours the SDI model, as it is easy to use, accurate and highly effective in developing communication skills, leadership, understanding, teamwork, conflict resolution and performance. The SDI model is also part of the Rewarding Relationships programme developed by Shay McConnon and delivered by companies such as People First and LEAP. If you want to understand how to motivate your people, the Rewarding Relationships programme is a crown jewel in anyones teambuilding plans.

Increase staff motivation and engagement, and you can tap into a Gold Mine!

PJ Stevens, is a motivational speaker, presenter and facilitator working across the UK, Europe and Middle East, specialising in soft skills, teambuilding and management development. pj@leapplc.com

www.leapplc.com

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