Do you think your boss is demanding?

Being asked to work late and working to ever tighter deadlines is tough, but not as tough as the tasks the Tour de France support teams are being put through this week.

It’s 40 degrees C in the mountains, with a dry headwind evaporating the riders’ sweat before it can cool their surging blood.  Consequently the riders are dehydrating faster than expected.  The support teams must get more water to them more quickly and in the midst of the race….

The surprising truth about what motivates us

Ever wondered what motivates people.

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.

Which A-Team member are you?

In just a few days thirty and forty somethings all across the land will be covertly buying popcorn and taking their seats in darkened auditoriums to relive their youth with Hannibal, Faceman, Murdock and B.A. Baracus.

Teams being our thing at Fresh Tracks we are also getting more than a little nostalgic, much to the bemusement of the younger staff who claim they have never heard of these men. It’s hard to believe that there are people in our teams who can’t call upon those inspirational opening lines:…

When Two Tribes Go to War – Team Building in Downing Street

The Frankie Goes To Hollywood anthem was a rousing classic in the midst of the cold war. A time when US and Soviet leaders would stand side by side seemed impossible but it happened. And last week’s coming together of Liberal and Conservative politicians seems like an equally unlikely breakthrough.

Unlike Glasnost, Clegg and Cameron don’t just have to shake hands and smile to the cameras, they must govern, together, as one unit. Can they be a team?…

Three steps to forming cohesive teams

Group. Project. These are possibly two of the most dreaded words to an Massachusetts Institute of Technology  Student, inducing fears of getting stuck with the slacker partner or pulling an all-nighter to throw together a half-effort project.

The biggest of these projects is a semester long research project in a lab class, for which I have so far invested upwards of 20 hours a week, one all-nighter and countless late nights with my two partners. The class has a required team building component, one that we were all contemptuous of at first. Team building? Setting ground rules? Why should we waste our time learning things like that when there was real work to be done?…

The Five Dysfunctions of a Team

Based on five dysfunctions of a team Patrick Lencioni pinpoints the issue of building a great team and group behavior.

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

Teams that play together work together

What would you put at the top of a list of characteristics that make a good team? Perhaps; trust, flexibility, empathy, communication, shared responsibility or effectiveness?

Trust and communication are very important in team work

What becomes clear if you look at these characteristics is that most of them are not the hard skills of industry or management expertise: most are attitudes rather than skills. Successful team players are defined by the way they relate to their colleagues, and the way in which they interact across a broad range of skills bases. In fact 80% of what makes a good team member is determined by these positive attitudes, and only 20% by the specific job skills they possess.

So why does industry spend around 80% of its training budget on developing often short-lived skills which need updating on a regular basis? …

Developing the talent within our organisations

Despite rising unemployment recruiters of senior managers are claiming it is still far from easy to attract talent.  People in secure employment are far less willing to switch jobs than they were two years ago.

It is therefore imperative to develop the talent within our organisations, a fact supported by a Deloitte survey that found 60% of business leaders intend to increase investment in management development in the months ahead.  Another survey carried out by PwC reports that 85% of CEOs expect to overhaul the way their organisations manage people during change….

How to work like a team of superheroes

What separates the greatest teams from the rest is their mix of talents and, crucially their understanding of one anothers’ strengths.

When team building there are a number of questionnaires (or psychometrics) that can be used to help teams identify their strengths and preferences.  When this information is used to assign roles and tasks true teams are formed.

All teams need a blend of the following:…

Do some team building by asking the right questions

Wouldn’t it be good to know that every decision you take over the next 12 months will be the right one. This may sound impossible but there is a way to significantly increase the likelihood of your decisions being correct.

The secret is understanding. Without understanding we are very likely to make bad or the wrong decisions, with greater understanding we should have, not just the facts but also the instinct to make the right choices.

The key to gaining understanding is to ask the right people the right questions, whether they be staff, colleagues, customers or even our bosses. Here are some pointers towards asking the right questions:…