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Four Tips to LEAN your Six Sigma Team

A recent issue of Fortune magazine focuses on the secrets of greatness: Teamwork. It offers insights into teams past like Apple Computer’s Macintosh team and teams of Marines in Iraq…

The methods and tools involved in LEAN Six Sigma are easy.

…It also argues that “most of what you’ve read about teamwork is bunk.” While you can’t just demand teamwork, there are some simple lessons….

Does Size Matter in Teams?

This year’s Olympics saw rowing teams of eight, four and two. In handball teams of seven; in hockey 16 and in volleyball six. So should team size be dictated just by the task, or are there other factors to consider?

In teams, is size really the most important factor?

It could be assumed that the larger the team the more productive they are as a whole but the opposite seems to be true.  Very often larger teams are in fact less efficient per capita. In rowing and in the workplace, overall performance is as dependent on coordination across the team as it is on the sheer effort of individual team members.  …

Pat on the Back or Kick up the Rear – Good managers do both

There’s little doubt that praise is a powerful motivating force – we all feel uplifted when our efforts are recognised – and management has moved on from 19th century command and control to an era of recognise and reward.

Not always the best way to praise someone.

Equally important, though rarely used effectively, is the reprimand.  Just as we need to catch people doing things right we also need to help people to identify where they are going wrong and to take steps to improve.  …

Obama – Leadership by results

Having successfully won the election for a second and final term Barack Obama has just four years to deliver his vision, the re-election distraction now thankfully behind him.

In 2016 journalists will look back on his eight years in the top job and reflect on his style, character and skin colour, while historians will assess the impact his leadership has had on the world’s most prominent nation….

Derren Brown on Leadership Development

The TV star and illusionist has been back on our screens with an extravagant two part show entitled Apocalypse. 

Does it really take an apocalypse to turn a person into a good leader?

In the show Derren takes a young man who apparently doesn’t appreciate his life and family and attempts to teach him a lesson.  Brown’s goal is to get Stephen Brosnan to take responsibility for his life and to see how he handles himself under pressure and when put into a position of leadership….

10 Styles of Leadership – Part 3

In Leadership Styles Parts 1 and 2 we looked at how great leaders differ In their style, and how it’s important to match leaders with the tasks and conditions they are best suited to.  In this final part of the series we look at the strengths and limitations of the four remaining leadership styles.

Do you think Yoda was a Motivating leader or a Coaching leader?

Directing Leader
Once the vision is established and the strategy agreed, it will be the directional leader who takes key decisions with confidence and certainty, guiding the team day to day and keeping them on track.  …

Learning Through Play – Could bad management be the result of too little play?

This Christmas children will be pleading for the latest toy and many families will dust off their Monopoly sets and rediscover the simple joy of playing a game together. But should we limit our game playing to childhood and holidays, or can play help us in our work, our thinking and our leadership?  

Could playing more games be key to better management?

Attitudes to play are changing and the once ridiculed video game industry is now recognised as a valuable contributor to the economy and culture. …

Domino Effect – a brand new team building exercise

A regular client approached us in September asking for a new team building challenge. 

The participants would be the top 50 managers of a leading food producer. The CEO wanted a novel, intense two hour event that couldn’t be spoilt by the weather, involved everyone, would work across functional boundaries and most importantly encourage cooperation.

Within 48 hours we had submitted three ideas for brand new, never-been-run-before activities. …

The Perks don’t Work! 5 Steps to Better Management

Subsidised restaurants, table football games and fashionable work wear are a few examples of initiatives employers adopt in the hope of creating a great workplace.

A great team leader could be key to a great workplace

Whilst it’s true that some of the best places to work do have games in their office, great food and contemporary dress codes, it’s not these initiatives that make them great workplaces.  It’s the people, in particular the managers….

Christmas Team Building Events

Now that the summer of sport has cooled into mellow autumn it’s time to start planning for your team’s Christmas events.

Make the most of this end of year celebration by choosing a Christmas team building event that will energize, inspire and motivate as Olympic memories fade and the cool nights lengthen.  Here are six winning activities that will add more than cranberry sauce to your festive meal:

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