Team Building Resources » Other Team Stuff

The Impact of Email on Team Dynamics

Lynn — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 21:17:05 +0000

I recently read an article about a “30 Day E-mail Detox” and found it quite insightful on a personal level. I’m very much addicted to my blackberry and check email continuously through-out the day and evening. The challenge was to give it up for 30 days and then return to a more normal level or at least make a conscious choice to utilize email instead of a robotic connection. I must admit it didn’t convince me to take the challenge but it did get me thinking about the impact of email on team dynamics.

With Trust being on of the fundamental elements of successful teams, when teams rely on email as the number one source of communication it can leave lots of room to impact trust development. Some things to keep in mind as it relates to email and your team:

The written word, even electronic is much more permanent than the spoken word so if in doubt about if you should have a conversation face to face or via email, err on the side of face to face.
You lose the benefit of non verbal cues when communicating through email so if the subject is sensitive at all, again err on the side of face to face or at a minimum on the phone at least you do get to gauge response right away and clarify if needed based on a verbal response.
Quantity can detract from quality – its so easy to fire off quick emails, quick responses, ensure that you don’t rely on it as the sole source of communication with team members, “social” bonds are critical to team development so make sure you take time to foster them directly.

Lynn

Team Enthusiast

Ottawa Team Building

Lynn — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 18:36:47 +0000

We have just launched our team building services in Ottawa Ontario at the Canadian Museum of Civilization. The museum is a fantastic venue for teams to explore and our new adventure allows them to see it in a unique and fun way.

Lynn

Team Enthusiast

Happiness at work – Happiness in general

Lynn — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 21:49:26 +0000

One of my favourite blogs is one called “Chief Happiness Officer“, the author Alexander Kjerulf provides great reading on a regular basis. A recent post is a video, an 18 minute video which seems like an eternity in terms of web videos but its worth every minute. I’m sure I don’t need to draw the lines for you on how important happiness at work can be to achieve successful team dynamics. This video has some really key insights, which although not rocket science, its presented in a way that make it very engaging and useful to reset our thinking and improve our “happiness factor”.

http://positivesharing.com/2010/01/srikumar-s-rao-at-our-2009-conference/

The video is a speech delivered by Dr. Rao at the 2009 conference on happiness at work. Dr. Rao is the man behind the pioneering course Creativity and Personal Mastery. This is the only business school course that has its own alumni association and it has been extensively covered in the media including the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the London Times, the Independent, Time, the Financial Times, Fortune, the Guardian, Business Week and dozens of other publications.

Here are his key points distilled but its worth the 18 minute time investment to hear it directly.

We are born happy, we learn to be unhappy.
What makes us unhappy is the mental models we are taught
- If we do “something” we will get “something” that will then make us happy.
  - The problem is once we have the “something” we were seeking the mental models we have learned is to want ”something” else. In addition often the “something” we want, the OUTCOME is completely out of our control.
To truly increase our happiness we need to become less focused on the OUTCOME and the mental, if, then model and focus more on the process, which is really the only thing under our control.
Its OK to think about a specific outcome that we would like, to ensure we are committed to the right process, but once we have determined the right process we commit fully to the process, invest in the process not the outcome. This improves our likely hood of happiness as it is under our control and if we pick the right process the outcome we hoped for will likely come to fruition.

You can apply this new mode of thinking to many things, including how to improve team dynamics. Think of the outcome you would like to achieve and then decide on the right process to be followed to achieve that outcome and then commit fully to the process alone.

Lynn

Team Enthusiast

It Takes All Kinds and a Team can be just the answer to improve performance.

Lynn — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 16:06:14 +0000

As you embark on a new year, make this the year you optimize your performance, either at work or in your personal life. Either way the best way to do it is with the help of a team. If there is something you would like to improve on, first take time to think why it is something that “needs improving” and especially if it is something that has “needed improvement” for a long time, think about why you have been unable to improve it in the past.

Likely the answer is you have either developed a bad habit that is very much ingrained in your normal routine or you just don’t have the natural skills to improve it yourself. That’s where the team comes in. Odds are someone else, either a co-worker or a friend is struggling to improve something in their lives that you have mastered.

Determine what it is you would like to change and seek out other individuals who you believe are operating at a level you aspire to, really effective if you can find a few individuals that have achieved the results you seek by different means. Create a team objective and share with each other strategies of how you have mastered a particular skill and coach each through the rough spots. Each gaining something out of the relationship by sharing your differences to improve performance overall.

Lynn

Team Enthusiast

Corporate and Team Culture

Lynn — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 21:00:57 +0000

The culture of your team is first and foremost driven by the culture of the company overall. Although some teams within a company can have a distinct personality, if there is a real misfit between cultures the team members will ultimately be influenced by the company culture overall. Understanding that culture prior to joining a company is key, often we have no real way of determining that prior to joining. However it is something that should not be taken lightly. Have a look at a video produced by Perrio a pharmaceutical manufacturing company, they were very aware of the fact that you need to speak to the issue of culture when trying to recruit. We don’t often have the luxury of this type of insight into a corporate culture but nun the less ensure you take time to figure it out prior to joining a new team.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Lynn

Team Enthusiast

Meetings and Team Performance, how can you make the most of both?

Lynn — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 15:59:34 +0000

Having spent many years where I spent almost 90% of my day in meetings and struggling to find time to actually do any of the tasks I managed to pick up while at the meetings, I found Seth Godin’s posting “Getting serious about your meeting problem” a great list of ideas to try to make meetings more productive. Seth has 3 key messages:

Make sure the meeting is necessary
Make the meeting as short as possible
Make sure there is tangible follow through on items discussed in the meeting

Communication is a key part of effectively working together as a team and so spending time meeting to discuss ideas or report back progress are necessary but treat meeting time as a scarce resource and make every minute count. I particularly liked his recommendation to allow participants to evaluate meetings. I recommend a “meeting audit”:

Give all team members a 1 page sheet that shows the Monday to Friday work week in 30 minute increments
Ask all team members to document the standard meetings they attend on a regular basis
Ask them to rate each meeting from their perspectives – is the meeting useful, is their attendance necessary
Ask them to identify how they would change things to cut their meeting time down by 50%

Take the feedback and be ruthless, from my experience companies just get into a meeting culture and feel just because you’ve always had a meeting it deserves to stay resulting in at least 50% of meeting time being unnecessary or not useful, task yourself with cutting that down. Keeping only the key meetings and giving people the gift of time will go a long way to improving overall team performance.

Lynn

Team Enthusiast