Positive Leadership: Great Teams Are a Mix of Old and New

The best teams, we tend to think, are like a band of brothers. They have been together for a long time. They know each other extremely well. And they are more successful as a result. It’s common sense, right?

Well, it turns out that great teams — the most creative, the most innovative — are more temporary in nature than you would think. 

Take Broadway. The best productions, researchers have found, are made up of rag-tag groups — a mix of old and new faces. The old faces bring knowledge of the best processes and the best working methods, and the new folks bring a fresh creative spirit to the table. 

The most innovative companies work in similar ways, too. Ad-hoc teams form around a given project, then disband. But it’s not so easy pull off — in order for this to work, the entire organisation has to be diverse enough in order to make temporary teams a reality.

http://blogs.hbr.org/2013/09/why-the-best-teams-might-be-temporary/

Positive Leadership: Great Teams Are a Mix of Old and New

Positive Leadership: Being a Great Team Member

Good teams have the skill to win games; the great teams have the skill and the will to win games! The will to get through difficult times!

Deep down inside we all know we can't do it alone. We know that Cup Finals are not won by individuals. They are won by a collection of individuals who make a great team. It's the same with work and life. We are better together when we are surrounded by great team members.  Here are none ways to be a great team member.

1. Set the Example - Instead of worrying about the lack of performance, productivity and commitment of others you simply decide to set the example and show your team members what hard work, passion and commitment looks like. Focus on being your best every day. When you do this you’ll raise the standards and performance of everyone around you.

2. Use Your Strengths to Help the Team - The most powerful way you can contribute to your team is to use your gifts and talents to contribute to the team's vision and goals. Without your effort, focus, talent and growth the team won't accomplish its mission. This means you have an obligation to improve so you can improve your team. You are meant to develop your strengths to make a stronger team. Be selfish by developing you and unselfish by making sure your strengths serve the team.

3. Share Positive Contagious Energy - Research shows emotions are contagious and each day you are infecting your team with either positive energy or negative energy. You can be a germ or a big dose of Vitamin C. When you share positive energy you infectiously enhance the mood, morale and performance of your team. Remember, negativity is toxic and will sabotage teams. Complaining is like vomiting. Afterwards you feel better but everyone around you feels sick.

4. Know and Live the Magic Ratio - High performing teams have more positive interactions than negative interactions. 3:1 is the ratio to remember. Teams that experience interactions at a ratio equal or greater than 3:1 are more productive and higher performing than those with a ratio of less than 3:1. Teams that have a ratio of 2:1, 1:1 or more negative interactions than positive interactions become stagnant and unproductive. This means you can be a great team member by being a 3 to 1’er. Create more positive interactions. Praise more. Encourage more. Appreciate more. Smile more. High-five more. Recognise more. Energise more.

5. Put the Team First - Great team players always put the team first. They work hard for the team. They develop themselves for the team. They serve the team. Their motto is whatever it takes to make the team better. They don’t take credit. They give credit to the team. To be a great team member your ego must be subservient to the mission and purpose of the team. It’s a challenge to keep our ego in check. It’s something most of us struggle with because we have our own goals and desires. But if we monitor our ego and put the team first we’ll make the team better and our servant approach will make us better.

6. Build Relationships - Relationships are the foundation upon which winning teams are built and great team members take the time to connect, communicate and care to build strong bonds and relationships with all their team members. You can be the smartest person in the room but if you don’t connect with others you will fail as a team member. It’s important to take the time to get to know your team members. Listen to them. Eat with them. Learn about them. Know what inspires them and show them you care about them.

7. Trust and Be Trusted - You can’t have a strong team without strong relationships. And you can’t have strong relationships without trust. Great team members trust their teammates and most of all their team members trust them. Trust is earned through integrity, consistency, honesty, transparency, vulnerability and dependability. If you can’t be trusted you can’t be a great team member. Trust is everything.

8. Hold Them Accountable - Sometimes our team members fall short of the team's expectations. Sometimes they make mistakes. Sometimes they need a little tough love. Great team members hold each other accountable. They push, challenge and stretch each other to be their best. Don’t be afraid to hold your team members accountable. But remember to be effective you must built trust and a relationship with your team members. If they know you care about them, they will allow you to challenge them and hold them accountable. Tough love works when love comes first. Love tough.

9. Be Humble - Great team members are humble. They are willing to learn, improve and get better. They are open to their team member's feedback and suggestions and don’t let their ego get in the way of their growth or the team’s growth. If we're not humble we won’t allow ourselves to be held accountable. We won’t grow. We won’t build strong relationships and we won’t put the team first. There’s tremendous power in humility that makes us and our team better.

Positive Leadership: Being a Great Team Member

Positive Leadership: You Don't Get to Choose the Role You Play

Sami Jo Small’s motto in life is you don’t get to choose the role you play, but you get to choose how you play it, and it’s a motto she says will serve people well in the business world.

Small, is an Olympic athlete and co-founder of the Canadian Women’s Hockey League.

Positive Leadership: You Don't Get to Choose the Role You Play

Positive Leadership: Motivating Your Team

Research shows us that there is a proven set of basic intrinsic needs employees have, which must be met in order for them to become highly motivated and passionate. These needs, much in the same way as Maslow's hierarchy of needs, are represented in a pyramid, where each level builds on the one before:

Level 1: To Be Respected – It’s almost as basic a human need as oxygen – all of us need to be respected by others, yet so many leaders unintentionally treat their team members with disrespect.

Level 2: To Learn and Grow – We are born with an innate curiosity that drives us to want to learn. It stays with us throughout our lives unless it has been extinguished by experiences or the influences of others.

Level 3: To Be An Insider – Insiders have a strong emotional connection to the organisation. They know they are part of the team and they feel valued and involved.

Level 4: To Do Meaningful Work – When employees understand the purpose of their work and how it makes a difference to others, they tend to be more motivated to do a great job.

Level 5: To Be on a Winning Team – When a team works together so well that they outperform even their own expectations of themselves, their motivation levels grow and grow.

For the vast majority of organisations, motivation is a process, not an event. It begins with leaders in the organisation developing an awareness of these needs that drive employees’ behaviour and motivation.

Positive Leadership: Motivating Your Team

Positive Leadership: Building Team Spirit Together

Societe Generale recently launched a new communications campaign, with a new signature, around a message that is strong and engaging for its customers and its employees: "Building team spirit together".

Positive Leadership: Building Team Spirit Together

Positive Leadership: A Healthy Team

A healthy team:

• Encourages other team members regularly…
• Cares for each team member's personal life outside the team…
• Assists other team members during crunch periods…
• Cross trains one another for different roles on the team…
• Challenges each other when needed, working towards the best solution for the team…
• Ensures everyone on the team gets credit for a win…
• Applauds another team member’s success…
• Values input from everyone on the team…
• Defends one another from outside attacks…
• Protects the integrity and vision of the team, even over personal interests.

The word “team” comes with a certain expectation that is more than people simply performing a function together. If you want people to feel and play as a team, then they must perform as a team.

Positive Leadership: A Healthy Team

How To Be A Ruthless Winning Machine

Is the answer talent? Up to a point. But, as a gripping new documentary about the great West Indies cricket team makes clear, that is only the beginning. 'Fire In Babylon' reveals how the most powerful force in team sport is not physical ability, but a burning, almost religious faith in a common cause. In team sport, as in the church, nothing great can be achieved without conviction.

For more, see: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/cricket/international/westindies/8081621/West-Indies-showed-how-to-become-a-ruthless-winning-machine-in-Fire-in-Babylon.html

How To Be A Ruthless Winning Machine

Passion (v 2)

Ian Poulter, who secured Europe's first point in yesterday's Ryder Cup singles by defeating Matt Kuchar 5&4, was delighted to talk about "the best tournament in the world":

"I'm pretty passionate about this format. I love the Ryder Cup, I always have. I've watched so many matches over the years, Sevé [Ballesteros], Ollie [José María Olazábal], Colin [Montgomerie], Nick [Faldo], all the guys – they just pour out passion upon passion in this event," the 34-year-old said. "I love it. I love it from the first tee. I love it for the songs. And I love it with 11 team-mates. It truly is the best tournament in the world, and will always be. I said I was going to win today and I won a point. But more importantly, the team, as a team, managed to win the trophy back. This is a special day, for European golf to put on a display in Wales, with this many fans, is just truly unbelievable."

Passion (v 2)

Passion (v 1)

 (v 10

Passion (v 1)

Team Spirit

After the loss of the 2010 Ryder Cup to the Europeans, Hunter Mahan of the U.S. team was overcome with emotion. He was taking the brunt of the blame for his team's loss, as any athlete would, but his teammates would have none of it. 

In particular, Stewart Cink in the video below shows great leadership, reminiscent of Theodore Roosevelt’s famous 1910 speech at the Sorbonne in Paris:

"It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat."

Team Spirit

Building The Team That Could Save Your Life

Mountaineer Chris Warner on teambuilding, the dangers of K2 and why in climbing the ties that bind make the difference between life and death: 

Building The Team That Could Save Your Life

Building A Team That Loves What They Do

Global Business School Network president Guy Pfeffermann talks about the importance of building a team that loves what they do. 

Building A Team That Loves What They Do

The Red Arrows Set The Standard Each Day At Every Level

The Red Arrows build every show around a focus or centre point, and build their team around shared values. Without shared values, peak performance is not possible. Team values must align with an organisation’s purpose, mission, and actions.

At what level does your team operate? It’s time to raise the bar.

Practice #1: Put the Team First

Teamwork isn’t a part time activity. Each member represents the team at all times. Putting teams first is a 24/7 commitment. Their ideas, their voice, their well-being, their efforts; these are most important. Significant and sustainable results follow empowered and cohesive teams.

“Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success.” ~ Henry Ford

Practice #2: Walk the Talk

Effective leaders are honest and transparent, and they lead by positive example. This, along with practice #1, forms the foundation of a successful team.

Successful leaders embrace the power of teamwork by tapping into the innate strengths each person brings to the table.

A leader is best when people barely know he exists, not so good when people obey and acclaim him, worse when they despise him….But of a good leader who talks little when his work is done, his aim fulfilled, they will say, ‘We did it ourselves‘. ~ Lao Tzu

What’s your level of trust in others? Are you aligned with your values? Do you walk the talk?

Practice #3: Maintain Peak Performance

Peak performance requires we take time to rest, reflect, and recharge our batteries.

“Besides the noble art of getting things done, there is the noble art of leaving things undone. The wisdom of life consists of eliminating the non-essentials.” ~ Chinese Proverb

Practice #4: Communicate Vertically and Horizontally

Every member of the team requires clear and effective communication to accomplish their job. At this level of performance, there can be no questions or doubt concerning communication. Does your team communicate openly and honestly?

“All of us perform better and more willingly when we know why we’re doing what we have been told or asked to do.” ~ Zig Ziglar

Practice #5: Prepare to Win

Visualise yourself accomplishing the task at hand. Then do it together with your team.

“Don’t fear failure so much that you refuse to try new things. The saddest summary of a life contains three descriptions: could have, might have, and should have.” ~ Louis E.Boone

Practice #6: Capitalise on Synergy

Synergy happens when common people align around common goals. Making the team means doing what it takes to fulfill the mission. Each member has a role in the team’s success

“Synergy is the highest activity of life; it creates new untapped alternatives; it values and exploits the mental, emotional, and psychological differences between people.” ~ Stephen Covey

Does your team prepare to win? Do you?

Practice #7: Clarify procedures

Each team member must know procedures. Every situation requires a proper response. Success comes when preparation meets opportunity.

Practice #8: Foster Positive Attitudes

A can-do attitude make the impossible possible.

“I’m so optimistic I’d go after Moby Dick in a row-boat and take the tartar sauce with me.” ~ Zig Ziglar

Practice #9: Strive for Excellence

By confronting our failures we come closer to reaching perfection. Every team member must earn the right to wear the crest. When each team member accepts full responsibility and strives for excellence, both trust and performance increase exponentially and the team is ready to take off!

“If you did not care at all what anyone else thought about you, what would you do differently or change in your life?” ~ Brian Tracy

Practice #10: Attitude Leads to Altitude

Just in case you didn’t pick up on the importance of #8. You can do all the right things to make your team go, but without the fuel of an unwavering positive attitude, your team and your performance will never soar above the clouds.

“I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how I react to it. And so it is with you… we are in charge of our attitudes.” ~ Charles Swindoll

Is your team ready to take off and reach new levels of success? Are you?

The Red Arrows Set The Standard Each Day At Every Level

Leadership Lessons from the U.S. World Cup Campaign

The U.S. soccer team's run in the World Cup came to an agonising conclusion against Ghana on Saturday, but unlike many of the major European nations competing, the team can at least head home with their heads held high. And none more so than coach Bob Bradley, who has offered myriad leadership lessons over the course of the two weeks the U.S. team was involved at the world's most-watched sporting event. Among the key lessons are:

1 Team Spirit trumps individual talent.
2 'It's never too late'
3 Admit your mistakes ....... then fix them.

For more, see - http://www.cnbc.com/id/37978436

Leadership Lessons from the U.S. World Cup Campaign

Teamwork Matters in Business as well as in Sport

At the heart of recent financial service firm failures was a 'me' not 'we' culture and leaders who were not driven by a larger purpose. Take a look at this youth sports initiative from the USA which emphasises that there is no 'I' in 'Team':

Teamwork Matters in Business as well as in Sport

Team Spirit

Team Spirit is one of the values of Positive Leadership.

This means:

• CREATING A CLIMATE THAT FOSTERS PERSONAL INVESTMENT AND EXCELLENCE
• NURTURING A COMMITMENT TO A COMMON VISION AND SHARED VALUES
• GIVING PEOPLE OPPORTUNITY AND LATITUDE TO GROW AND ACHIEVE
• PROMOTING COLLABORATION AND TEAMWORK.

To illustrate the point, see this story of a team that went from 'worst to first'  - http://www.avp.com/News/2010/05/Stanford.aspx#

Team Spirit

Keeping a 'LeBron James' on your team

Even if you're not watching the NBA playoffs, you are probably familiar with the name LeBron James.

Considered to be one of the best professional basketball players in the world, his team, the Cleveland Cavaliers, are one of the favourites to win the playoffs, in large part because of him. Recently, he earned his second consecutive NBA most valuable player award. No wonder Cleveland fans live in almost constant fear that he'll leave for another team.

Whether or not it's apparent, business leaders have something in common with the Cavaliers: You have a LeBron, a go-to employee without whom your team's performance would suffer -- and you may be in danger of having that person walk out the door someday soon.

If your high-performer has already left, you have three big worries. Will your team's performance immediately decline? Will your short-term gap become a long-term gap because the recruiting process takes so long? And even if you're recruiting promising new talent, can you be sure you've really found another superstar? None of those questions have easy answers.

Your best strategy is to retain your superstars in the first place.

While the Cavaliers can throw a lot of money at LeBron, business leaders don't have endless amounts of cash to keep their best employees. In truth, however, high-performers like LeBron are not always looking for the big payday. They're looking for an opportunity to win. And most key employees, in particular, are looking for an opportunity to make a difference.

Here are some real-world techniques for retaining your high-performers without NBA-level salaries:

Shine the limelight: Use the annual performance-review process -- and every other opportunity you can find -- to reinforce and celebrate your high-performers' best behaviours. Make sure they know they are appreciated, that their success means success for the whole team. Of course even the best players still need a coach, and that means providing honest, specific actionable feedback.

Define that goal: Don't make assumptions about what motivates your best-performing employees. Instead, ask them directly. One employee might be longing for a pay increase, while another has their eye on a key promotion. Another may simply want to feel more tangibly the impact of the programmes they are working on. You won't know until you ask -- and make sure you ask before it's too late.

Use what you have: Give bonuses. Give more responsibility. Give opportunities for travel or training. Whatever tools for professional growth you have at your disposal, offer them to your high performer. Even something as simple as a rotational assignment can help challenge and motivate.

Keep it real: Yes, you're asking your superstar to share their highest career aspirations, and you're doing your best to fulfil those, but never make promises you can't keep. LeBron may want to take the championships, but no coach can guarantee a win. Be honest about what you can and can't offer; they will respect the candour.

Keeping a 'LeBron James' on your team

Leadership on the Rugby Pitch

Andrew Cosslett, CEO of InterContinental Hotels Group, has learned more on the rugby pitch about the value of everyone on the team than in any other part of his life:

Leadership on the Rugby Pitch

Team Spirit

Team Spirit is a value of Positive Leadership.

‘An eagerness to sacrifice personal interests or glory for the welfare of all. The team comes first.’ John Wooden

' Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence wins championships.' Michael Jordan

Here are some reference materials which speak to this value:

Team Spirit