Corporate Team Building in Dubai

Team Building Activities

Browsing the options for Team Building activities in Dubai, there are numerous choices on the market from business games to desert safaris. If you want to experience something a little more challenging, however, you might consider a corporate sailing regatta, or simply a team building afternoon, sailing the beautiful waters of the Arabian Gulf.

The event can be run as part of a conference/regional meeting as an afternoon activity, or as a full day, with onshore sailing/navigation exercises built in to target particular areas of concern within the team - communication, team work or leadership skills.

The venue for this exciting day on the water is the 101 Marina, One & Only, The Palm, in Dubai, and the Emirates Palace Marina, in Abu Dhabi. Yachts vary from Beneteau First 45 racer/cruisers, to an Ocean Voyager 74 sailing catamaran. The event is suitable for non sailors as well as those with experience, as the yachts are skippered by qualified RYA Yachtmaster's who have considerable racing experience. There is also one regular crew member onboard, but the idea is that the corporate guests learn to crew the yacht themselves in preparation for the race in the second half of the afternoon.

Offshore photography and team colours add some excitement to the racing, whilst the debrief and prize giving ceremony, over sunset drinks and canapes, perfectly complement a high adrenaline and challenging afternoon.

The use of yacht racing as a platform for leadership development and team building began after the 2000/1 BT Global Challenge. The race became the basis of a study to provide an understanding of what makes a high performing leader and how to sustain competitive advantage. Over time, this has been translated into lessons on successful team development, and yacht racing is now used internationally as the basis for delivering cutting edge corporate training.

January 2012 saw the Volvo Ocean Race yachts stop in Abu Dhabi for an exhilarating weekend of close racing before they headed of to Sanya, China on Leg 3 of their round the world challenge. Local residents were able to get up close to the action and understand a bit more about how a racing team works. This introduction paved the way for increased interest in team building on the water and at Eden Yachting we are continually looking at new and creative ways to work with UAE companies so they can add a yacht racing or 'learn to sail' challenge to their global or regional conference.

Jane Daly is a Managing Partner for Eden Yachting, an international yacht charter agency based in Dubai. A keen sailor and an experienced travel writer, Jane worked for many years in the travel industry before setting up Eden Yachting with partner Philippe Saad. Chartering is a fantastic way to see the secret places of the world and Jane shares her passion through her writing and her business. http://www.edenyachting.com/

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Does Team Building Work?

Team Building Activities

A recent survey carried out in Britain by Vodafone UK and YouGov.com suggests team building doesn't work. Surveyed workers indicated they feel some team building activities can be a "waste of time, and at worst, are toe-curlingly embarrassing." The majority surveyed (66%) have participated in some form of team building and more than half (54%) don't feel the experience helped them in working with their peers.

Participants in the survey indicated they would like to learn to communicate more effectively at work rather than being "forced to build rapport with their co-workers by sharing adrenaline experiences or performing 'trust' exercises."

The catchall term team building seems to be the major flaw in this study. Categorizing all activities attempting to improve team functioning as "team building," would be like labeling all health services as "medicine." To carry this analogy to the extreme the term health providers would include everyone from untrained sales clerks in health food stores to brain surgeons.

Anyone can build a website and offer team building programs. Obviously it's a "buyer beware" situation, as there are no licensing requirements or regulation. Some of the "toe-curlingly embarrassing" events cited in the survey included enduring bikini-clad "bed baths," massages from colleagues, and lingerie parties. I can only imagine what Human Resource professionals in the United States would have to say about these absurd experiences.

If we drop the obviously risqué extremes mentioned in the study, there remains a continuum of events. At one side you have programs designed primarily for fun and entertainment. I call this team bonding. On the other side of the continuum are workshops / curriculum backed by research and conducted by experienced trainers with a goal to modify behavior in the workplace. For descriptive purposes I label these programs team development. Let's take a look at each extreme in more detail.

Team bonding has a valuable role to play at conferences and meetings. Charity Team Building and Outdoor Team Building can energize the participants and relieve some of the tedium of classroom meetings. These fun events promote the development of relationships, a sense of esprit de corps, and... well, the bonding of teammates. There can be some serious lessons learned about team functionality, but the primary purpose is a few hours of fun.

Team development tackles complicated, problematic team dynamics. There should always be a measurable goal in these efforts. A well-planned program will involve a detailed assessment phase where specific positive and negative behaviors are identified. The training company will then offer a clear agenda to maximize the strengths and eliminate some of the weaknesses. Once the plan is accepted the provider should supply experienced, qualified professionals to conduct the training. These types of programs usually require days instead of hours.

A previous article I wrote entitled, Selecting a Quality Team Building Company, can be found on Ezine. It provides a step-by-step guide to finding the best provider to meet your specific needs. With planning on your company's part a determination can be made as to what you want to accomplish. Finally by following the checklist you will locate the training company best qualified to help you achieve your goals.

Richard Highsmith, rick@qualityteambuilding.com, is President of Quality Team Building. He has twenty-five years experience training and coaching. He has built and sold two successful businesses. To learn more about becoming a team leader visit our website at http://www.qualityteambuilding.com/ or call Rick toll-free at 1-888-484-8326 X101.

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The Right Kind of Employee

Team Building Activities

True leadership courses through the kind of company that the right kind of employee wants to work for, as blood courses through the body. Indeed, leadership is the lifeblood of any successful company. Without leadership, the company is not and cannot be successful, regardless of how it may appear.

What does leadership mean to the right kind of employee?

It means he won't be treated like a piece of equipment that the boss expects to do the same things in the same ways, day after week after month after year to produce the same results.

It means he won't be micromanaged. Rather he will be valued for his creativity and abilities. He can use his creativity, his intelligence, his spirit, and his stamina to help create better products or services, improve customer service, improve sales, revenues, and profits, increase productivity and quality. And to improve himself, his job, his department, and the company. That is the culture in a company that the right kind of employee wants to work for. There is an insistence that he contribute his talents daily to making the company better.

It means he knows he will be held accountable for certain results, and for achieving those results within certain time frames. That kind of challenge will turn on the right kind of employee. This is not a company where employees do only bits and pieces of projects and don't really understand or experience how what they do contributes to the project as a whole.

It means he knows he won't be manipulated by people who feel they have it all figured out and don't need his help in thinking about things. The executives of the company that the right kind of employee wants to work for understand that they are not perfect, and everything about the company can be improved. They understand that they and the company must be willing to change anything or even everything to make it work better.

It means she knows that she must not leave her brain at home. She must think all of the time about what she can do to contribute. She knows that trying to contribute will not be in vain. Her ideas and dreams are listened to and carefully considered.

Tom Peters said that virtually everything is invented by the wrong person, in the wrong group, in the wrong company, in the wrong industry, at the wrong time, for the wrong reason, with the wrong set of end users. The right kind of employee knows that that is not wrong at all. It is very much right. It is only wrong for non-leaders who don't want to have their tidy little dysfunctional lives and companies disturbed by someone who can really make a positive difference if the company will just let things be changed when necessary.

It means that the company doesn't hire people based only on resume fodder. The company looks at potential employees for their humanness. The company wants to know what makes them tick, what excites them, what brings out their best. The company doesn't try to reduce all jobs to the base level and then try to employ people for the least they can pay them. The company that the right kind of employee wants to work for understands that the more intelligent and able their employees are, the more they can use innovation to geometrically improve revenues, profits, and all other positive ratios and results.

A company gets and retains the right kind of employee by being the right kind of company. If the company is not the right kind of company-i.e. run with true leadership, the right kind of employee will not apply to work there, or if she does, and is hired, she will be miserable to a degree and will want to leave. She is a creative leader, and if she has to damp down those desirable characteristics to comply with a poor company culture, she will not thrive in that environment. People are meant to be free and don't operate well when suppressed.

Why should a company care about having the right kind of employee?

That is like asking why a person should want to drink clean water or eat disease-free food. The right kind of employee helps make and keep a company healthy. Circumstances act on companies. Companies not founded on and operated with true leadership get washed about and often suffer and flounder in adverse circumstances. The right company with the right kind of employees is willing and able to guard against circumstances and to change anything at any time to be able to survive and thrive regardless of what is going on outside the company.

Weldon Smith is the author of the book True Leadership and False Counterfeits, which explains what True Leadership is, and why any other idea of what Leadership is does not work. Furthermore, Leaders are not only those who have followers. Every success in every aspect of life is the result of practicing true Leadership.

Please visit my website at http://www.leadwithtruth.com/ to subscribe to my free newsletter or to read my book.

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Teamwork Characteristic 5: The Awareness Ability

Team Building Activities

A team of true team players consists of individuals that have many characteristics, four of which we have previously explored: Competency, Commitment, Adaptability, Communication, and the topic of today's article: Awareness.

Achieving a balance between objectivity and subjectivity can be a struggle, especially because who we are and the experiences we've had - are valuable. On the other hand, our background can make us biased in ways that interfere with our ability to remain open-minded, which is why a level of objectivity is also advantageous.

Think of it like this: let's say you were part of a basketball team, and you were asked to reflect on the interaction and communication of the players on the court. Now, if your information intake only included your experience in the heat of the game, on the court, you would be missing a whole other perspective. But, if you never got off the bench, again, you wouldn't have much personal experience of the players' interaction to assess the actual participation.

Only taking into account your experience isn't beneficial, but never considering it is also a problem. It's all about balance. An all-or-nothing approach isn't an appropriate way to achieve awareness.

There are two different degrees of awareness. The first level includes the ability to monitor your own behavior and modify it accordingly, so that you can maximize your performance. The second level involves your capacity to contribute to your group's performance process. This requires a mature perspective that it's not all about you, and a humble acknowledgement that you also influence the group's performance (positively, and in some cases, negatively).

Are you willing to recognize that you're part of the process, without being solely subjective or overly objective? Ask yourself a few questions to get an idea of how you form your impressions:

If your manager approached your entire team and disappointingly reported that a deadline had been missed, what would you do? Would you hope to find the guilty member to blame for the mishap, so that you get off the hook? Or would you encourage your team to take responsibility together?
If an approach that you suggested your team take suddenly went wrong, would you be willing to change the strategy or would you be determined to demonstrate that it wasn't your suggestion that was wrong, but rather it was the way your team executed it that was?

Awareness includes a willingness to acknowledge that which you would rather ignore.

Doug C. Watsabaugh, senior partner at WCW Partners, understands how to meet your unique performance challenges. With more than 20 years of experience, WCW Partners is a performance-improvement company that helps businesses revitalize their results and achieve record-breaking performance.

If you are looking to excel in sales, service or leadership, let Doug develop the capability in you! http://wcwpartners.com/.

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Developing a Project Code of Conduct

Team Building Activities

A code of conduct can come in many forms:

The Marines use "Semper Fi (delis)" ('Always Faithful') as a promise that they will not let each other down.The Golden Rule of "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you."Even Colonel Sanders', "We do chicken right!" was a type of value statement that helped KFC workers and customers share similar expectations of fried chicken.

A very effective way to do this is on a project is in a meeting with the project principles, project department heads, and some 'high-potential' project employees before the project starts bringing aboard the rest of the team.

Please let me clarify something before we go farther. This code of shared values is not intended to replace the compliance regulations required by government agencies; specifications and procedures required by insurance companies; or the policies from the Human Resources or Safety departments on the project.

It is intended to identify and publicize the unspoken expectations that we all have of each other on a project. Unfortunately, even though these are traditionally unspoken, we still expect coworkers to be aware of them and comply with them. Then we get upset when they do not.

Here is how you can present it to your audience:

You: "What value do you think a code of conduct has for an organization?" Keep asking until you get an answer similar to this, "It defines their expectations of each other. It gives them guidance for action where there are no specific rules and regulations."Then ask, "Do you think our project qualifies as an 'organization'?" (You should get agreement on this.)Next, "Do you think we could avoid some potential friction among team members if we could identify and publish a Code of Conduct for our project?" (Expect more agreement, here.)"If so, what kind of behaviors would we want in our Code?"

You may get many suggestions with this question but they will probably distill down into thoughts like these:

Be reliable. Get to work on time (or early); meet your promised deadlines (or earlier); and follow through on your promises to team members whether project related or personal.Share knowledge if possible and ask for help when needed.Smile and be as friendly as you can. We are all in this together.Consider your behavior as seen through the eyes of your peers. (If they were asked, "What is it like to work with you, what would you want them to say?" Then be sure your actions would make it easy for them to make those comments about you.)Trust is historic. Team members have to learn they can trust you.

Some limitations you should consider while developing this code is the temptation for some to be 'preachy', too lengthy, or too much like specific rules that already exist somewhere else on the project.

Try to discourage this as much as you can because short, concise, and easy-to-remember statements are more likely to be used by the workforce. But, if they insist that is what they want, then give it to them because it is their project and they are agreeing (by arguing their points) they are willing to live by them.

After all, this is all you were after, anyway!

Richard ("Dick") Grimes has used his 30+ years experience in training and operations management for private and public organizations as a foundation for his company, Outsource Training.biz LLC.

Human Resource professionals can earn pre-approved, re-certification training hours by visiting his website, http://www.outsourcetrainingonline.com/. If they send an email to him after taking a course with the word "Ezine" in the subject line, they'll get a $25 REBATE on the course.

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Teaching Our Players How To Handle Conflict

Team Building Activities

Our first inclination when we're around someone we don't get along well with is to run away. We avoid them, we discretely leave the room as soon as they enter it, we just stay away. And that works most times...except on teams.

When I saw the title of this Harvard Business Review, I just knew I needed to bring it on over here. Conflict in groups is normal and the emotion that goes along with it is how I'm sure the author came up with this title: How to Work with Someone You Hate. I know it sounds harsh, but conflict left to fester will definitely end up in this place.

Do's & don'ts helping your players work alongside someone who drives them crazy

DO NOT assume it's all about the other person. It's easy to put the fault on others, but most times each person has played a part in creating a bad relationship. It could be that these two people wouldn't be friendly outside of the team, so their relationship isn't going to be the greatest. The best way to advise our players in this situation is to believe the best about the other person. Perhaps they do drive each other crazy, but it's not malicious.

DO NOT gossip. Oh, it's so easy to "innocently" say to a teammate, "What's up with Susie? She's always such a jerk." And thus is starts...the drama! We've got to make sure our captains keep their eyes and ears peeled for this kind of talk, because they're our first line of defense. They should encourage both players to talk to each other rather than gossiping about one another to their teammates. Our captains also need to know at what point they need to involve the coaches in the conflict.

DO NOT confront with bad motives. Have you ever had someone tell you they're giving you a correction "for your own good" and then proceed to rip you to shreds? It's something we've got to warn our players about as we advise them to talk to the player who's driving them crazy. If part of their talk includes letting their teammate know that everyone on the team thinks they're awful and hates them, then maybe they can hold off on the confrontation until they're a little less emotional.

DO manage emotions. Sure, we want our players to learn how to manage conflict and gently confront their teammates when necessary. Before they get to that point though, we should challenge our players to do all they can to stay positive. If they're walking into practice with a chip on their shoulder about the player who's driving them crazy...conflict is inevitable. It goes back to believing the best about their teammates.

DO try to get to know them. It's too easy to make assumptions about folks...especially if we don't bother to get to know them. Players assume others don't like them because one player always looks grumpy or has a sassy attitude around them. What they may not know is that's the player's personality. They're not just sassy with one player, they're sassy with them all! Maybe knowing that it's a personality thing, and not a personal thing, will help everyone get along better.

Conflict is inherently emotional. Hopefully our players aren't at the "hate" stage, but even if they are, we've got some good tips to bring them back from the brink.

Dawn Redd is the Head Volleyball Coach at Beloit College. Come visit Coach Dawn's community of coaching nerds and team leaders over at her blog, http://www.coachdawnwrites.com/, where she teaches how to become an excellent coach, motivate individuals, and build successful teams.

Her book, Coach Dawn's Guide To Motivating Female Athletes, is available for purchase on her website.

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Free Team Building Exercises for the Workplace

Team Building Activities

Building a great team is the number one way to build team morale, and instill a sense of community at the workplace. Team building can be anything from a quick half day "get together" to a week-long company retreat. Each of these ways will bring your employees closer together and help you get to the bottom line much faster. Team building will also help each team player with self-improvement, giving you a more well-rounded staff, long-term.

Studies have shown that employees who are involved with these exercises are more likely to stick with the company long-term. They are also more likely to create bonds and friendships with others at the workplace. These are all things that will help a company thrive, and the good news is, it does not have to be expensive.

In order to create free team building exercises for the workplace, you are going to need to get creative. Some great ideas for free team building exercises at the work place are:

Outdoor activities: When you bring your team outside, there are many things that you can do, without breaking the bank. Outdoor games and activities will also bond your team, better than in-house activities. Adventure games such as capture the flag and a scavenger hunt are free, yet bonding. Team work is needed in order to be the wining team, in both of these events. Keep in mind, you should always put people who are not close together on a team, rather than let the teams decide. This will allow the staff to meet and understand new people.

Office gathering: There are some great ways to get to know one another in the board room. From mock procedures to learning about each other. Asking question about the way the company is run, and what changes can be made, is also a great way to find out what the team thinks, as well as create a closer bond. These activities can last from a few hours to a day.

Picnic: Although this may not be "free" it is very in expensive and can pay off big. When you plan a monthly or bi monthly activity, off work hours, you will notice a big difference in staff moral. This picnic or day at the park can be a "pot luck" meaning everyone brings something, making it cost-effective. There is no time off work or space to book when you use this method. Families of team members are also invited, making it more of a social gathering.

There are quite a few ways to make team building a free event. And since there are so many benefits to team building, there really is no excuse not to get involved. Free team building activities for the work place can be found on government sites as well as University information sheets. Working with a team who is eager to please and ready to get involved is the very best way to insure you are running a happy and copacetic work place environment.

To get more out of your team building check out my Team Building Activities website. It has tons of great content to ensure you're successful building great teams.

You can even find articles on awesome Team Building Exercises.

Just click either of the above links to take your team building to the next level.

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Team Building Activities for Adults in the Workplace

Team Building Activities

Just because you are in a work environment, you are not immune to the poor team players of the world. There are quite a few people who are in need of a lesson in team building and team commitment. It is also important to teach people how to work together, regardless of how they work independently. If you run a company or a corporation you know how important it is for your staff to work together well.

Staffs that have used activities to build a team have been reported to have a higher quality of work, trust mangers and other employees more, work well as a team and create an over all sense of pride. These are all things that create a great staff member. These team building activities do not have to be expensive or elaborate, they can be simple and to the point. Adults in the work place can thrive from the following team building activities.

Getting to know the team. When a team does not know one another they can be hard to understand, and work with. Once the barriers are down, and they all feel comfortable with one another, they can grow to trust one another. These games can include: 2 truths 1 lie, flag making, empty your purse/wallet and 3 things you don't know about me. All of these games are considered to be ice breakers, as well as the best way to understand the people you work with.

These are very much like the ice breakers, but more in depth. These can include the solving of mock issues, creating a human chain or playing adventure games outdoors. Each of these activities where created with team building in mind. Some are played in small groups of 3 or 4 while others are played in larger groups.

Placing people who do not spend time together in smaller groups together is a great idea. This way the team can form bonds with people they would not normally. If team members have conflict with one another they should be able to talk about it reasonably, and come to some sort of mutual agreement. This can be done one on one or with the help of a team mediator.

Team building activities for adults can take place in three areas: In the office area, outdoors or on public property. Larger and more intense weekends and information weekends are usually done outside of office areas. When the team building is only a few hours long, and is fairly basic, the office will usually suffice.

Knowing why people and work places need to build a team is important. This will give the leaders a better understanding of how to teach, and why. building an adult team differs from that of children's because it is more complex, and can last longer. If you are current having issues in your work place, you may want to think about implementing a team bonding time, as it has been shown to drastically reduce work place issues.

To get more out of your team building check out my Team Building Activities website. It has tons of great content to ensure you're successful building great teams.

You can even find articles on awesome Team Building Exercises.

Just click either of the above links to take your team building to the next level.

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OPIE: A Simple Process for Project Management by Teams

Team Building Activities

Sometimes teams will start an assigned project and not be able to manage it due to insufficient knowledge of how to plan and implement it. Other times, the team may have a successful project in the works and are unwilling to bring the project to conclusion or do not know when to tell the primary project is complete. Having a process that shows how to plan and implement as well as start and stop procedures will enable a team to manage projects better. A simple process teams can use is O.P.I.E. The O.P.I.E. process consists of 4 main stages necessary to complete a quality project by a desired date. The stages of O.P.I.E. are Open and Plan, then Implement, and finally End. Pronouncing the O.P.I.E. acronym can be either O-P or O-Pi. Not all projects will require all the steps and outputs of each process stage, however all projects will require each major stage is done.

Key Steps in the Open Stage

Determine Objective - to communicate the project is worth doingDo Analysis - to make sure the project is worth doingGet Preliminary Approval - to make sure the project is feasibleAssign Project Manager - - to make sure the project goes forward

Key Steps in the Plan Stage

Document Specification - to make sure everyone knows the extent and outcome of projectDevelop Schedule - to make sure the timeline is feasibleDetermine Resources - to make sure enough people, equipment, and supplies are givenEstimate Budget - to make sure the project is cost effectiveGet Plan Approval - to make sure the project is finances

Key Steps in the Implement Stage

Hold Meetings - to make sure the project problems are discussed and solvedExecute Plan - to stay on track to scheduleMonitor Plan - to track resources and budgetDevelop Communications - to let everyone know what is happening with projectHandle Problems - to make sure team is working together on same goalPrepare Progress Reviews - to let team and management know what is happening with projectGet Performance Approval - to let management approve/disapprove changes

Key Steps in the End Stage

Close Administration - to share lesson learned as well as close schedule and release resourcesHold Celebration - to thank team for contributions and motivate future performancePlan Compensation - to motivate team members in future performanceDo Evaluation - to measure project using specific success indicators

Not all team projects will require all the steps and outputs of each process stage, however all projects will require each major stage is included. Utilizing the O.P.I.E: stages of Open, Plan, Implement, and End; should help teams to know what to do on each project assignment as well as insuring the project has a stopping point so the team can return to normal jobs on a full-time basis or begin work on an important new project.

Note: The process steps above are from the book "OPIE Project Planning and Implementation for Teams" by Shirley Fine Lee, copyright 2012. All rights reserved.

Shirley Fine Lee, author of "R.A!R.A! A Meeting Wizard's Approach" and "T.A.P.P. Steps in Time Management", has worked as a training and development specialist since 1986, and an independent consultant since 2000. She has extensive experience, helping organizations with their team building, training development, meeting facilitation, presentation delivery, and other communication needs. This work involves developing productivity tools, presenting workshops, and writing. For instance, she has authored numerous training manuals and guides, on a wide variety of topics. Her programs include time management, getting organized, problem solving, and team building. Sign up for Shirley's free productivity newsletter on her website or visit her leadership blog. Find out more about her and options she provides on her website at http://www.shirleyfinelee.com/.

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Caution: 3 Players Who Can Ruin Your Team Chemistry

Team Building Activities

Who is on the team matters more than what the team does.

- "One bad apple DOES spoil the whole barrel", Leadership Freak

I've coached her, and I'm sure you have too.

The player who instantaneously sucks the fun/joy/life out of your team by her mere presence.

Sometimes it's hard to figure out what she's doing, you just know that something isn't right. So when I saw Leadership Freak's article (from the quotation above), I knew I'd talk about it with you. I've been pretty lucky in my coaching career to have lots of hard-working young ladies on my teams... but I've coached a few bad apples in my day.

The power one person can hold on a team is never more apparent than when they are a negative influence on everyone around them.

Watch out! These three players can destroy your team's chemistry

Dominant. I'm not talking about the dominant person who everyone is drawn to on your team...the person that rallies the troops at water breaks. I'm talking about the dominant player who thinks she's the boss of the team. She doesn't ask their opinion and when they do give it, she shoots them down with the precision of a mercenary. The unfortunate outcome of having this type of dominant person on your team is that the rest of the team will stop trying to communicate with the dominant teammate (what's the use?) and with you (they think you condone the behavior)...leaving you to wonder why your team is in a tailspin.

Disagreeable. This is the toughest one for me, because it's the epitome of selfishness. The disagreeable player comes into practice all mopey and won't talk to anyone. When someone asks them what's wrong, they mumble "nothing" and continue to grump around the gym. Eventually, the disagreeable player's teammates stop asking her what's wrong and start to tip toe around her for fear of getting sucked into the abyss of her grumpiness. Sometimes she's not just grumpy, but downright mean. Regardless of its expression, the disagreeable player upsets any opportunity of comfort and cohesiveness your team has until it's addressed.

Irresponsible. This player is never prepared. You gave your team a summer workout with the promise of testing when everyone returns...the irresponsible player didn't have time for the workout. You're working on installing a new offense and you want everyone to study what you've been working on...the irresponsible player didn't look over your new offensive scheme. Unfortunately she's a key player for you, so the next practice is a bust because she didn't take the time to learn her responsibilities. Your athletic director needs to meet with all of the fall sport athletes...I'm sure you can guess who doesn't make the meeting with the AD.

How to handle these team chemistry killers

Talk to them and let them know what our issue is with their behavior.If it continues, talk to our captains and have them talk to her.If it still continues, talk to her again and ask her if she understands the behaviors we find distasteful.If she continues with the poor behavior, we've got a few options: bench her, keep doing the talking routine, if she's a captain...take that title away.Whatever we choose to do, it's imperative that she know what behaviors we would like her to display. We can't just say, "don't do this"...we've got to say, "instead, do this."

Good luck! I know it's no fun to have one of these players on our teams. We have to believe that we're doing our jobs as their coach by trying to teach them the lessons of proper behavior in a group. No matter how painful it is to teach that lesson!

Dawn Redd is the Head Volleyball Coach at Beloit College. Come visit Coach Dawn's community of coaching nerds and team leaders over at her blog, http://www.coachdawnwrites.com/, where she teaches how to become an excellent coach, motivate individuals, and build successful teams.

Her book, Coach Dawn's Guide To Motivating Female Athletes, is available for purchase on her website.

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Teamwork Characteristic 2: A Committed Concern

Team Building Activities

We started off this series, The Tricks of Teamwork, suggesting that teams are important assets to most business environments. But, a team is only as good as its team members. So, what characteristics contribute to a team member's ability to contribute? The first one mentioned was competency; the second is COMMITMENT.

Are you committed to achieving success? If so, how do you know? What about your actions convinces you that you're committed? Is it your drive, your attitude, your patience, the opinions of others, or your willingness to sacrifice whatever it takes? What does it look like to you to be committed to a team?

Some people believe they're committed because they care about the end result, others know they are committed because they will spend any sum of money to get where they want to go, and a rare few might think they are committed because they refuse to consider shortcuts. But, however you choose to define commitment, there are a few common traits among those that are committed to achieving success:

• Results-orientated. The end result matters. It is not the only important part of the process, but if it is not part of your equation, how can you really claim to care about all of the in-between that takes place?

• Focused. The going will get tough; in fact, most of the time, challenges are inevitable. So, will you waste time whining or put your energy toward productive efforts?

• Appropriately aggressive. Passive participation gets you nowhere with a team. A team is made up of active participants that challenge when appropriate, confront ambiguity directly, and hurdle the hiccups.

Do you have the stamina to stay committed to achieving the results you want? Start by asking yourself these three questions. Invite your teammates to ask themselves the same, and then create a dialogue around the different answers and attitudes.

When you hit a bump in the road, how do you typically handle the hardship?When you notice your teammates' motivation dwindling, what do you do?When your energy is gone and your time is spent, how do you respond?

Making a commitment to your team amidst failure and tension can be hard, but it is this devotion to the greater purpose that brings a team together when nothing else will suffice. By combining competence and commitment, you are making a substantial contribution to your other team members, your project, and your success!

Doug C. Watsabaugh, senior partner at WCW Partners, understands how to meet your unique performance challenges. With more than 20 years of experience, WCW Partners is a performance-improvement company that helps businesses revitalize their results and achieve record-breaking performance.

If you are looking to excel in sales, service or leadership, let Doug develop the capability in you! http://wcwpartners.com/.

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Can Power Meetings Increase Your Team's Productivity?

Team Building Activities

One of my favorite sayings is "None of us is as good as all of us". I am a true believer of teamwork in the office. It is always so exciting when we sit down at a meeting trying to come up with a way to increase the bottom line, or improve on our service quality and everyone participates in sharing ideas. It is amazing to see what comes out of a good power meeting. You start with one thought and in the end have come up with ideas that you never would have thought of by yourself. But it is not always like this, sometimes things just do not gel and nothing worthwhile comes out of the meeting. Knowing how to run an effective power meeting is very helpful, there are many factors to consider, like location, comfort, ground rules and purpose to name a few.

Making sure that you have a good meeting facilitator is important to keep people focused and ground rules kept. Criticism is a creativity killer and should never be allowed when brainstorming ideas together. Power meetings are not necessary to come up with good ideas, but the synergy and sense of bonding that takes place when team members all have input into the ideas is priceless. Just the other day our team sat down just for 30 minutes (setting a time limit is necessary) as we are putting together a new strategic plan to implement in the office for productivity and efficiency. The first item we needed to accomplish was to come up with our office purpose or mission statement. We all know what we do and why we do it, but putting it into words wasn't as easy as we thought. So we just started throwing our thoughts out there and writing them down and with the input of all of us we were able to come up with a statement that said exactly what we all felt was true for us and it only took about 15 minutes. We were so excited that we were able to accomplish our goal for the meeting and in less time than we set aside. Power meetings are great and motivating to accomplish tasks without burnout.

In Verne Harnish's book "Mastering the Rockefeller Habits" he states that successful businesses have daily meetings for 5-15 minutes, which he calls huddles. He states that by having these huddles you can actually save time because you are focusing on what is happening for that day. There are only three questions that are covered at this meeting and they are the same each day, (1) what's up for the day. (2). Daily measures and (3). Where are you stuck? In our case working in a medical office the questions might translate into; what does the schedule look like? How can we best prepare for the patients coming in? Is anyone having any particular work problem they need help resolving? By just asking these three questions daily we can prepare and resolve many problems we face during the day that take more time away from being productive. It is also a good practice to have a short huddle at the end of the day to measure how the day went and gather ideas for better outcomes if there were any issues while they are still fresh in our minds.

You may think you do not have time for more meetings, but remember this is a huddle it is grouping those who work together to review what will be taking place that day. When everyone is on the same page and is identifying how they can resolve any issues before they arise to make for a more productive, less stressful day how can you not take the few minutes?

Welcome to Practical Practice Management where not only you will find a full spectrum of resources for physicians, office managers and medical personnel to meet the needs of the operational challenges we face in today's medical arena. You will also find that our resources address the challenges of working in any office or anywhere that you work with other people.
http://www.gotoppm.com/

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Indoor Team Building Activities for Adults

Team Building Activities

In many cases team building outside is a great idea; the open space and the fresh air is great for building confidence and self-esteem, although other times working inside can be the best bet. If you have a group who does not do well outdoors, or if you have no outdoor space, indoor team building can be just as fun. Working with a team does not only mean that everyone "must" get along; it means that others should better understand the people they work with, and the whole team should work for a common goal.

Indoor team building activities for adults are not only a great way to ensure your staff are communicating properly, but it is also the best way to increase productivity in the work place. Studies have shown that team building increases the productivity of a workplace quite substantially. If you are looking for some great indoor team building activities, you can find a few listed below.

Team building activates for the indoors:

GOSSIP: This game will start with the leader. The leader will whisper in someone ear and that will travel all over the group. Sitting in a circle, the whisper will go on all the way back to the leader. Once the gossip meets the leader once more, the leader will tell the group what they really said. This is a great way to show the group that just because you hear something, does not make it true.

IMPORTANT ITEM: Every person in the group should bring something special to the group. Each person will set the item down, and the group will guess whose item is whose. In the end the owner can claim it and tell the group why it is special.

PAT ON THE BACK: The group should cut out hand for everyone in the group. And put a positive word about each group member on the hand. The positive word and the hand will be placed on the back of the group member, so they can not see it. This will help the group bond and become closer.

LIFELINES: Each person will be given a marker, and will be asked to draw their own time line. This will all be on one sheet of long paper, where all the life lines will be connected. This shows that all the teams lines have crossed at one point.

BLIND POLYGON: The whole group will be blind folded and asked to hold on to a rope. The leader will direct each person, and try to create a square. Since the group can not see this will be hard to do, it is also important that the group work as one, to create the square. Once this is done the group can go on to make other shapes and designs.

PERSONAL COAT OF ARMS: Give each person a marker and paper, allow them to create a coat of arms. This will show different aspects of life in every corner. Ask each team member to share what is inside their coat of arms when it is done. This is a great way to show the group what you hold dear.

To get more out of your team building check out my Team Building Activities website. It has tons of great content to ensure you're successful building great teams.

You can even find articles on awesome Team Building Exercises.

Just click either of the above links to take your team building to the next level.

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Teamwork Characteristic 3: An Attitude of Adjustment

Team Building Activities

So far this series, we've established that two of the characteristics of an effective team player are competency and commitment. Next up on the list is adaptability.

There's a brilliant quote that states, "Blessed are the flexible, for they shall not get bent out of shape." In every area of life, professional or personal, we encounter things on a daily basis that require an adjustment. Typically, the more willing we are to work with whatever it is, the better our chances of making the best out of it become. As a team, the same invitation is presented to us. We can embrace it or avoid it.

Think of it like this. A team of 8 arrives at an obstacle course. The course consists of 8 varied activities. To increase your odds at success, I'm assuming your team of 8 would collaboratively review the tasks, in order to match team member to the task she is most likely to master. Without question, it would be strategic and smart to assess how each team member's strengths might align with a particular challenge; otherwise, your team would enter the obstacle course unprepared.

The same is true of a work scenario. If individual team members aren't willing to adjust accordingly, it will be very difficult for the team as a whole to do well. Anyone that has an attitude of "that's just not my sort of job," is stifling the team's success.

Are you willing to develop new skills, pursue new knowledge, and adapt your approach to benefit your team? Only you know the answer to that, but ask yourself a few questions to start determining your answer.

If a team member had a sudden emergency that required another member to work a few extra hours that evening, would you volunteer your time or opt out of assisting?
Let's say you are highly uncomfortable presenting information in large-group settings, yet your team rotates the responsibility of sharing project updates at all-staff meetings. Would you find a replacement when your turn turned up, or would you bite the bullet and present professionally?
If you noticed that a team member had more on his plate than others, would you willingly offer to help or wait for him to ask?

Let's face it - if every team member were willing to adjust when needed, the inevitable problem that's bound to pop up wouldn't cause as much chaos. Typically, teams experience stress and tension when everyone refuses to adjust. So, are you willing to work around whatever comes your team's way, or do you plan on putting it on someone else?

Doug C. Watsabaugh, senior partner at WCW Partners, understands how to meet your unique performance challenges. With more than 20 years of experience, WCW Partners is a performance-improvement company that helps businesses revitalize their results and achieve record-breaking performance.

If you are looking to excel in sales, service or leadership, let Doug develop the capability in you! http://wcwpartners.com/.

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Team Building Activities Need Not Be Boring!

Team Building Activities

Hear the phrase "team building" and immediately your mind conjures up an image of a conference room where executives are gathering employees to conduct a boring meeting or telling them about the importance of building coordination within team.

As a manager, you have a tough job of balancing roles between a captain, part psychologist, cheerleader, friend, coach and visionary. You may need to go for team building activities to rekindle their inspiration and get them going.

But do you see your employees groaning when you say the word team building? That is because it has been boring till now! Don't limit your activities to just the bored, oops, the board room! Venture out with your employees with these fun activities to see the wonders they can do for your team!

Helium stick

This is a simple looking game but it really isn't so. Line up your employees in two rows facing each other. Tell them to extend their arms and point out their index fingers. Place a long, lightweight rod on their index fingers. Ask the group to keep the stick horizontally balanced.

The team has the challenge of lowering the stick. At all times, all the group member's fingers should be touching it. However, mysteriously, the stick will instead go up because of the upward pressure of the index fingers! The team has to communicate to gradually bring the stick down.

Mine field

Objects are put in random places in an outdoor or indoor setting. Objects such as bowling pins, balls, bags and even furniture in an indoor setting, act as mines. The person has to guide his/her blindfolded partner so they can avoid mines and reach the other end of the 'field' safely.

Zoom

Participants are handed out random pictures. They have to arrange them in a sequence to create a story. However, the game involves a twist. They have to do it without looking at others' pictures. Participants must talk to each other and sort out the sequence of pictures. It requires people to develop perspective talking and communication skills.

Survival scenarios

Ever saw shows like "Lost" and wondered how you would behave in such a situation? Well, this game lets you do that to an extent. Two situations can be created. In the first 'pen and pencil' situation participants have to make a list of survival equipment needed if they are lost at sea or in a desert.

In the second situation, participants have to decide who has to be saved in case a plane crash, nuclear war or oxygen dwindling takes place. These situations allow members to consider all options and make rational decisions.

Team Building is an art. If you want to build a successful team or you want to make your team more productive then you should go for the professional team building providers to build a successful team.

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The Power of Positive Praise

Team Building Activities

You will have stronger, more enduring relationships with your clients and team members if you praise them 5-10 times as often as you say something negative. The same holds true for your marriage and probably your parenting.

The sweet spot for healthy relationships is to offer 5 times as much positive feedback as negative feedback. In a given day, you might point out one negative thing that bugs you and offer 5 compliments about what you like. Giving more negative feedback than positive feedback is a characteristic of teams with low performance and of divorced couples.

Many of us were taught that it's important to correct people when they're doing something wrong. At one extreme, we only comment on someone's performance when it's wrong, at which point we say something critical. That one-sided style doesn't really inspire anyone to do their best in the future!

On the opposite end of the spectrum, if you give a LOT of positive feedback, more than 11 times as much positive as negative, that's being overly optimistic to the point of being unrealistic. And people don't value praise that seems so disconnected from their level of commitment or expertise.

What can be a bit tricky about supplying effective feedback is that we each have a different idea of 1) what we want to be praised for and 2) how we want to be praised.

What we want to be praised for:

One of the most powerful exercises I participated in during my training was about praise. The room of participants was split into 4 groups, based on our personality types, and each group was asked to write down answers to the following questions: "What do you want to be recognized for? How do you want to be appreciated?".

One group wanted to be praised for doing something nice for someone else, doing excellent work, and doing something without supervision. Getting praised for those accomplishments was more important than being rewarded. The praise could be verbal or written.

In another group, they wanted to be appreciated for everything, from the quality of their work to their very existence. Desired appreciation ranged from time off, receiving reciprocal thoughtfulness, public affirmation (applause was welcome), personal gifts, notes, money, even diamond tiaras!

These examples point out HOW VERY DIFFERENT one person's vision of praise, and what actions deserve praise, can be from another's.

How we want to be praised:

Ask to find out.

Keep in mind that your idea of worthwhile activity and your idea of positive feedback may not be the same as the people with whom you're working (or living). So ask them: "How do you know you are appreciated? How do you like to be recognized and rewarded?"

Provide positive attention:

This includes using an upbeat tone of voice and bestowing your FULL attention on the person you're praising.

Make it specific, not generic.

Go beyond "you did a good job". People who are oriented toward logic want to know WHY they're getting praise. People who are more oriented toward relationships or inner values are more willing to receive general praise. They will fill in the blanks by themselves about WHY they're getting it! People want to feel valued for who they are as a person, not just for their actions. Actions can be part of your feedback, but don't stop there.

Remember that your team members (spouse, kids) are working towards their OWN vision of success, to feed their WHY. (And their vision of success is probably NOT your vision of success.) When possible, connect the praise to what you know about their WHY.

CALL TO ACTION

I'm confident you're already using the power of positive praise with your team or clients. Amp it up even more by using the format described above. And don't forget your spouse and family! Listen to your speech with them and see where you can bring your positive/negative ratio up to 5 or higher.

Marcy Stahl's passion is helping women direct sellers and solopreneurs achieve the successful lifestyle they want. Are you ready to move from information into action? Let's set up a complimentary 30-minute strategy session to discuss your leadership goals and how to attain them. You can reach Marcy at info@marcystahl.com

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Are People in Your Team Playing One of These Roles?

Team Building Activities

You have been developing an offer for months. Now as you are preparing to launch, one person on your team continues to disrupt meetings with negative comments about the product. What do you do? Well, eventually you fire him of course. And in so doing you rid the team of the annoyance. You also rid your team of the unconsciously chosen voice of important undercurrents and sobering perspectives. When he has left, the team will most likely unconsciously single out someone else to play this vital role.

There is often one person in a team who plays out the least attractive emotions or voices the most annoying point of view. When teams are given opportunity to reflect on the voice, often they find that the annoying emotions, ideas and challenges reflect their own misgivings about proposals being discussed. Wilfred Bion showed that this person has been unconsciously positioned by the rest of the team to play this role. When people work as a group they display roles and actions resulting from deeper, unconscious frameworks. Bion highlighted this effect in his work with teams when he described the two different groups acting within any group of people working together:
The work group operates in a rational way to complete the task the group has formed to accomplish.The basic assumption group plays out the underlying assumptions to present a particular group behaviour.

It is very useful to be aware of what is happening in a group. There are a number of models we can use to make these hidden structures explicit. One such structure, from David Kantor, presented in The Fifth Discipline Field Book identifies four roles people assume in any conversation.
Mover: who posits a point of view or suggests an action.Opposer: who challenges the suggestion of the Mover.Supporter: the mover and opposer will each have a small group of supporters to their view.Bystander: who silently observe the interchange and develop perceptions that may be shared in the breaks.

Each of these roles is essential. Not everyone can contribute vocally to each topic. Bystanders often feel the name is accusatory. But the silent people in a conversation, if they are fully present and giving attention, provide the fabric on which conversation and insights are embroidered.

Once you have identified the roles people play keep the information with you and confirm your perceptions. Then reflect on the roles you have identified and how effective they are and how flexible the team is in these roles.

The following questions can help a team begin to genuinely examine its roles, without much chance of treading into areas too deep or painful:
Is everyone in the discussion empowered to contribute?
Who is the person chosen by the team to face-off on uncomfortable or unresolved issues?
Who is playing what role?
Are the stances flexible - do movers move and opposers accept?
Can players change stance?
What would happen if the chief opposer left the field and no one filled the void?
What would happen if bystanders were formally given an opportunity to initiate a proposal (this is the way to bring in quiet members - acknowledge that they may be good bystanders and are filling an important role (they may be reflectors) but they may have something to offer the group if contracted with up front)?
Have existing structures shut down certain stances or movement between stances (e.g. dominating leadership shuts down opposers or bystanders)?
Do supporters support based on the issues under discussion or on personal relationship or political expedience?
What negative patterns continue to be played out?

At StrategyWorks we assist leaders and their teams, with those crucial conversations for clarity, decisions, action and outcomes. These conversations can be frustrating when people are not heard, the team cannot make decisions or the way forward remains vague. Leaders contact us at StrategyWorks when they are ready to do something different. In the process those involved in the conversations feel understood and challenged. At the end of the intervention, the leaders and their teams feel focused and released around a clear plan of action.

Come and visit us on our website at: http://www.strategyworks.co.za/

If you enjoyed this article you can also sign up for our monthly newsletter that carries one guarantee - to be just a little out of the ordinary.

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Leadership Development: Training Capable Managers

Team Building Activities

With millions of baby boomers expected to retire in the next decade, the American labor force will soon see a shortage of capable managers. For this reason, companies will need to consider taking steps to educate their employees, so that they will soon be capable of assuming a supervising role. Yet many current and future managers might not be interested leadership training, and some businesses might not be interested in providing it. In this article, we will first consider some of the challenges involved with implementing this process, and then explain why it is worth working through these problems by detailing all of the benefits that such a program offers to a company.

What objections might executives raise?

In all likelihood, the biggest obstacle businesses will face is an unwillingness to be trained. Most employees, especially those who have been with the company for a long time and/or possess an advanced educational degree, will not be receptive to feedback, as they will prefer to stick with what has always worked. However, the higher up the corporate ladder that an employee gets, the more important feedback becomes, as each mistake will have major ramifications. Meanwhile, those who are already in upper-level roles might resist coaching because of greed, and a need for power. Essentially, they believe that this help will undermine their own authority in the office, as it is an acknowledgement that they are not perfect.

What benefits will executive consulting provide?

Though personnel might raise some of the objections described previously, it is important for companies to recognize the many benefits that this service will provide. The biggest benefit will be an increase in productivity, as competent managers will address problems promptly while following a planned path to reach the organization's goals. Executives who are better able to handle employee issues mean that the manager can devote more time to strategic decisions. This also allows them to evaluate the vision and mission of the organization. Even company turnover is affected, as coached employees feel that the company is making an investment in them, and thus feel more loyal to the organization and less likely to leave when other companies show an interest in them. This also affects morale, since managers feel that their work is noticed and that they really do have an impact on the company's success, they are more interested in coming in to work each day. Finally, while employees may initially feel uneasy about receiving suggestions for improvement, they will find the advice they receive to be tremendously beneficial in their professional careers.

Conclusion

Once employees have spent a lot of time at a specific company, they will usually be less receptive to feedback since what they have been doing seemed to work so well for them in the past. However, company decision makers must recognize that providing leadership development to current and future managers will offer many benefits to a company. Even initially skeptical employees will find that they have a lot to gain by receiving this crucial support.

Through leadership development and executive consulting, both the company and its leaders will receive tools that will lead them to long-term success.

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Build Your Team With a Book Club

Team Building Activities

Looking for a new way to improve your team's skills?

Want a deeper understanding and deeper relationships with other women in your company?

Want to improve your business skills or your attitudes about success and money?

Start a business book club.

The benefits to you and your team for starting a book club include:

Great training- Pick the right book, and everyone will learn new ways to grow their business.

Deeper understanding of its contents- You've read it more carefully (in your preparation) and you've discussed with others. You improve your understanding by "teaching" it to others and by learning a different perspective back from them. You've internalized it!

Learn more about each other- The conversations you have will help you understand your colleagues in more depth: their concerns, their interests, their commitment.

How to Make It Happen

Choose who to invite. Take a moment to think strategically about this. You'll be spending time regularly with your fellow members, so make sure that time is well spent. The choices depend on your situation and your goals.

If you're a team leader who wants to improve your team's skills, how about inviting a mix of highly motivated consultants and consultants who haven't quite lived up to their potential? Being around high-performers often helps everyone raise the level of their game.

If you want to network with other women in your company, run through the list of women you've met whom you'd like to know better. They may be other team leaders or in your up line.

If you want to learn from experiences beyond direct sales, you can also start a book club with women from a variety of backgrounds. In my second book club, I followed this route. I announced the formation of the club at a networking event and anyone who was interested could join.

Once you've determined your initial invitees, send out an invitation email, describing WHAT this is, WHY you're doing it, HOW they'll benefit, and WHEN it happens.

In that initial email, you'll also want to provide guidelines about the conversations. One important guideline is the expectation of confidentiality. Some conversations will bring up sensitive information, particularly around money, and people need to be certain that none of their personal information will be shared outside the book club.

One chapter at a time is critical to success. If you read and then discuss an entire book at one sitting, you'll end up with a more superficial reading and a more superficial conversation about it.

Schedule a regular call at the same day and time to discuss. Once a week is great. Once every other week can also work well. Any longer than that and people won't stay on track with the reading and they'll tend to forget what they read.

If you're looking to promote team cohesion, increase skills, and help YOURSELF to deeply understand the great material in a book, try a business club. It's a fun, easy and rewarding way to build your business!

Call To Action

Select a book. I find the books with practical application and exercises are the easiest to discuss.

Pick a facilitator and an organizer. These are the two main roles - both are simple. The most important is the facilitator, who leads off the discussion and helps keep it on track. It's critical to start and end each meeting on time and the facilitator makes this happen. The facilitation also ensures that everyone has an opportunity to speak.

The second important role is the organizer, who schedules meetings, reminds people of the meetings, and keeps track of the group's membership.

Software makes it easier to organize. The organizer can automate reminders with tools like Yahoo or Google Groups, or Google calendar, or even schedule messages in advance through your email software.

Marcy Stahl's passion is helping women direct sellers and solopreneurs achieve the successful lifestyle they want. She knows that the top entrepreneurs have the top mindsets. If you need help starting your business book club, see an example of the initial invitation and the guidelines at: http://www.marcystahl.com/bookclubguidelines.html.

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