This lively RSA Animate, adapted from Dan Pink’s talk at the Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA), illustrates the hidden truths behind what really motivates us at home and in the workplace.

Team building is not complicated, declares Lencioni, president of his own management consulting firm and author of The Five Dysfunctions of a Team.

Wikipedia explains that Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) assessment is a psychometric questionnaire designed to measure psychological preferences in how people perceive the world and make decisions.  These preferences were extrapolated from the typological theories originated by Carl Gustav Jung, as published in his 1921 book Psychological Types (English edition, 1923). 

The original developers of the personality inventory were Katharine Cook Briggs and her daughter, Isabel Briggs Myers. They began creating the indicator during World War II, believing that a knowledge of personality preferences would help women who were entering the industrial workforce for the first time identify the sort of war-time jobs where they would be “most comfortable and effective.  The initial questionnaire grew into the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, which was first published in 1962. The MBTI focuses on normal populations and emphasizes the value of naturally occurring differences.

Do let us know which explanation you prefer. 

If you want to use MBTI with your team do contact us on 01920 822 220 or email us at mail@freshtracks.co.uk.

A Belbin team role as defined by Dr Meredith Belbin is: “a tendency to behave, contribute and interrelate with others in a particular way.”

A recent research study on collaboration, conducted by BNET and Harris Interactive, revealed some illuminating facts about interpersonal team dynamics. Watch Stephen Howard-Sarin, Vice President of CNET’s business sites, on the video above as he shares the findings.

Please let us know what you think of this video by comments link below.

A recent research study on collaboration, conducted by BNET and Harris Interactive, shows why some teams are more successful than others. Watch Stephen Howard-Sarin, Vice President of CNET’s business sites, on the video above as he shares the findings.

Please let us know what you think of this video by comments link below.

It’s easier to put a mission statement on the wall than it is to put it into action. We know of organisations who have spent months of meetings carefully crafting and re-wording their corporate mission statements, only to find the life sapped from them soon after they’re finished. Or sometimes mission statements work for a while, but then turnover takes a toll and the new people never seem to really get on board.

It’s great to see the video, above, of David, a Southwest Airlines flight attendant, keeping some of their mission statement alive.  He and his colleagues make a great team because they’re committed to the same vision and they support each other.  There is no doubt that team work benefits everybody – customers and colleagues alike.  But sometimes people within an organisation forget they’re part of a team.  One department regards another as a thorn in its side and sometimes colleagues just don’t like each other.

A key factor to success during these hard economic times was summed up by Gary Kelly, CEO of Southwest Airlines, when he said “Our people are our single greatest strength and our most enduring longterm competitive advantage.” Long may it last.