Archive for the ‘Team Brand Building’ Category

According to Patrick Lencioni, author of “The 5 Dysfunctions of a Team”, team dynamics play a critical role in the success of every organization.   If you as a leader or department manager could imagine a world where all of your people are moving in the same direction, communicating flawlessly and executing with exact precision, what your world would look like.  You could dominate an industry, revolutionize a market or demolish your competition.  You could bring efficiencies or cost savings to your organization’s bottom line or increase revenue or earnings per share.

To begin improving your team’s performance, you must first understand where you and your team are dysfunctional and work on changing behavior and culture that will drive your team’s performance.

Dysfunction # 1:  Absence of Trust

This occurs when team members are unwilling to admit their mistakes and allow themselves to be vulnerable with one another.  To be successful, a leader must create a foundation for trust and be vulnerable him or herself to the team.  Know that you probably have people who are smarter than you on the team and be confident to admit when you are wrong.  Others will soon follow suit.

Dysfunction #2:  Fear of Conflict

When teams are lacking in trust, they are unable to engage in conflict or a passionate exchange of ideas and debates over issues and challenges.  Conflict in teams is critical to gain an exchange of ideas to move the team’s objectives forward.  Create an environment where the team can openly air their opinions without being attacked.

Dysfunction #3:  Lack of Commitment

Without conflict, it is difficult for a team to commit to decisions.  This will create a loose environment without solid direction and focus and all too often, employees will become disgruntled and unhappy.   A leader’s job is to be the tie breaker.  By allowing each team member to engage in conflict, or an exchange of ideas, the leader is the one who evaluates the options, recognizing the individual for their contribution and makes the decision.  By doing this, you will get buy in even if they don’t agree with your decision.

Dysfunction # 4:  Avoidance of Accountability

When the team doesn’t commit to a clear plan of action, you will find that the individuals of the team will hesitate to call the other members out on their behaviors.  Simply because without complete commitment, doing so may seem counterproductive to the health of the overall team.   As a leader your job is to make a decision based upon the input your team members’ have provided and to leave your meetings with buy in from each individual.  You now have created an understanding and a safe place for individuals to commit to the idea and commit to the deliverables assigned.  A strong functional team will hold its members accountable to the intended results so the leader doesn’t have too.

Dysfunction #5:  Inattention to Results

It is human nature for individuals to put their own needs (ego, development, recognition, etc) ahead of the collective goals of the team.  This usually happens when individuals aren’t held accountable from the other team members.  As leaders, we need to ensure that we are clear on not only the results we expect from the team, but the individuals working within the team.  The team has to function as a unit and held to a joint standard for achieving results, versus recognition to individuals within the team only.

So, as leaders ask yourself “is my team functional?”.  Cohesive teams is a sign of a good leader and remains one of the most competitive advantage available to any organization.   Function teams avoid wasting time talking about wrong issues and revisiting same topics over and over again, but rather focus on making high quality decisions with healthy conflict and commitment.  They accomplish more in less time and are often less distracted and frustrated.

Wow. What a fantastic break. I missed all of you so much. You may have noticed I have been off the grid for awhile working on so many wonderful projects and now I am back! I have had the privilege of working with so many strong business owners supporting their business growth.

I am excited to be back with more tips, tricks and strategies to help you accelerate your business. Remember my secret formula: Strong brand promise, strong leadership team and strong message = Growth & Profits.

After all my research and interviews over the last few weeks. I am evolving the concept: BLAST is now Branding, Leadership, Accountability, Sales & Technology so look for more ideas on incorporating all of this into your business.

I am amazed at how technology plays such an important role in small business growth and with that, the need to hold your teams accountable is even more important.

Last weekend I attended the INC 500/5000 conference in Washington DC and what a thrill it was to be around all of these thriving companies and the high performance individuals who make it happen!  Speakers included: Patrick Lencioni, Barbara Corcoran (of hit show Shark Tank); Russell Simmons (of Global Grind); Ted Leonsis, Chairman of Monumental Sports and owner of Washington Capitals, Wizards and Mystics); and much more.

What was clear listening to all of these “power” speakers are two things:
1) Success can happen to any one of us if we just follow the simple formula: Stay focused, surround yourself with smart people, cut the dead weight and learn from others.

2) You need to be in the top percentile of performers if you want to succeed.

Every company that had tremendous growth talked about eliminating the lowest performers and resetting the bar of excellence. So if you look at the bar you have set for your people, where would they stand? Do you know who is in the top 10%, 20% or 50%? Or the bottom?

The team dynamic plays a critical role in a company’s success. Leaders must be able to motivate, direct and drive performance to achieve the desired results.

Tell me about your team and the success you have had and the challenges you are faced with…

What gets measured, gets done – or so the saying goes. By measuring certain specific outcomes, an organization communicates and reinforces its performance objectives and business priorities.

However, sometimes there is a disconnect between what gets measured and managed and the organization’s overall strategic goals. This occurs when employees’ performance goals are not aligned with the company’s strategy.

How can business owners make sure employees are doing the right things to contribute to the organization’s success? Key performance indicators (KPIs) establish yardsticks for measuring performance at both the organizational and individual levels. KPIs are specific, quantifiable targets that are measurably aligned with the company’s stated goals and objectives.

Effective performance management involves setting individual KPIs for every team member. Whether done as part of a formal appraisal process or in a more informal manner, the goals must be clear, measurable and demonstrably aligned with the department’s goals, which in turn are aligned with the company’s overall strategy.

By setting relevant and effective goals for staff, ensuring that employees know what they need to accomplish in the present and in the future, and measuring their progress and performance, you ensure that employees are contributing directly to business goals.

Moreover, when employees’ KPIs are linked to strategic objectives with effective goal setting, their motivation, productivity and performance increase dramatically.

When an employee’s goals are defined in terms of an organizational KPI, it ensures what the employee is doing is aligned with the goals of the organization. This is the critical link between employee performance and organizational success.

Picture credit.

Successful team management can be the catalyst that propels your business to the next level and create a culture that is energetic, fun and productive. As leaders, we must be able to build a culture that unites our teams around the overall business objectives and the goals established for the team. Achievement of each team’s goals is what will push the business to reach its ultimate goals and profit levels. To build a dynamic team, you need to do one thing – tell your employees to get a GRIP. Read the rest of this entry »

The power of a shared company vision is the key to achieving results.  However, many business owners don’t successfully communicate the vision and get the team’s buy in so the vision is never translated into actions resulting in poor customer experience, disconnected brand and low morale with the employees.  Here are 5 tips for getting the team to buy-into your vision.

1.       Identify team members that are critical for making the vision happen

There are key individuals on your team that are critical for the success of your vision.  They are usually major influencers and leaders that others follow in your organization.

2.      Create messages about the vision and allow the team to be part of the decisions.

Open communication is the key to a successful plan.  Create messages with your key stakeholders and allow them to be part of decisions so they feel as though they are part of something bigger than themselves.

3.      Walk the walk and live the vision

Make sure you are consistent in your messages and in your actions so you do not send out conflicting signals.  This consistency will create trust and support among the team.

4.      Update the team on your progress

When you get buy in based upon the team feeling they are part of something great, you need to continue to communicate and update the team on the progress including the pitfalls and the action plan to propel the business further.

5.      Monitor the team’s verbal and non verbal feedback and actions and adjust your communication accordingly

A good sign of success is that the team begins to talk about the vision in everyday conversation.  You can pick up their actions and behaviors and tell if they are still believers.  When people don’t act in a ways that supports the vision, they don’t have buy in and you will need to rethink your process