The Four Things That Make a Team Work

Watch our latest 10 minute video on the four things that make a team work.

The four things are:

1. What is a team?
2. Who should be in a team?
3. What do teams need?
4. What do the best teams do?

Do comment below if you think there are other things that we should add to the list.

You’ve got to laugh – 9 reasons why laughing is good for our health

Doctors can achieve greater success by getting to know their patients; similarly leaders will find their teams are more creative, productive and committed when they are given the freedom to have some fun.

The movie Patch Adams tells the true story of how a medical student introduces levity into a clinical profession that alienates patients from their caregivers. In the same way that doctors can achieve greater success by getting to know their patients, leaders will find their teams are more creative, productive and committed when they are given the freedom to have some fun. Furthermore there’s a wealth of scientific evidence that laughter keeps us healthy.

So here are 9 reasons why laughing is good for our health:…

5 Powerful Questions Every Leader Should Ask Their Team

Below are 5 powerful questions that every leader should ask their team.

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Make sure you use your brake before you break

Many of us are becoming accustomed to the three or four day weekend with Easter, May Day, Whitsun and Jubilee holidays falling so close together.  These enforced Bank Holidays should result in a more rested and energised work force but it seems most of us are using these long weekends not so much to take a break but instead to press lightly on the brakes, keep working and catch up on the back log.

Hotels and holiday cottage owners are increasingly promoting ‘free wi-fi’ knowing that it’s a key attraction to potential guests.  Keeping in touch and being able to instantly research local restaurants or even suppliers for a forthcoming work project are high on our list of vacation priorities.  So much so that many holidaying executives report feeling anxiety when they find themselves ‘unplugged.’  And that anxiety only gets greater when they near the end of what should be a relaxing break, fearing the bulging inbox and a pile of unread papers….

Book Review: The Empty Raincoat – Making Sense of the Future

Charles Handy wrote ‘The Empty Raincoat’ in 1994, but the predictions are so precise that it could have been published last week.  Here, guest blogger Nick Robeson summarises a book perhaps more relevant today than when it was first published 18 years ago.

Back in 1994 the term ‘digital economy’ had not even been invented, but the changes in our society, our economy, work and our careers were already clear to Handy.  The book starts by describing 9 paradoxes – each of them is worthy of consideration in the society of 2012:…

Top 5 Leadership Faux Pas

There are many ways in which leaders get the best from their teams; likewise there are some common leadership “don’ts” that can stop your team from performing at their best, whatever your leadership style.

Here are our top 5 leadership don’ts:…

Get Out, Get Happy

The unexpected March sunshine seemed to lift the mood of the nation. At lunchtimes the parks are filled with usually cooped-up office workers, with some are even relocating their meetings from boardroom to the boardwalk.

Given both anecdotal and scientific evidence about the benefits of sunshine, this is an entirely sensible idea:…

We’ve done change, now what?

Your team’s been restructured, jobs are safe so why aren’t they happy? Here are some tips to help your team move from confusion to certainty:

Integrate New Blood
Very often when people leave and new team members join there’s a loss of momentum. It’s critical to mark the point where the new team begins and the old team is laid to rest. If the start of this new journey isn’t clearly marked then different team members will set out in different directions. The more memorable the occasion the greater the chance of success, so make an event of this ‘new beginning’ – get away from your place of work and spend time getting to know each other….

5 Steps Towards Better Meetings

Our forthcoming seminar on Improving Productivity on the 16th March will give you some tips on getting the most from meetings.

In the meantime, here are some quick pointers inspired by a Japanese car manufacturer that has meeting guidelines pinned to the wall of every conference room. Why not paste these meeting guidelines alongside agendas to keep your meetings on track:…

Olympic Tickets Available – at a price

I received an email recently inviting me to buy Prestige Olympic Tickets. It was from a LOCOG accredited source and the tickets were genuine and amongst the best available. But, they come at a price, £7500 for the Opening Ceremony!

It’s unlikely that many of us will be able to justify taking our teams to the games but we should certainly seize the opportunity to replicate the behaviours of world class sports teams in our own work groups….