Implementing
The Organization Culture Outreach

Peter Drucker, the legendary management consultant and author says this about teamwork:

·         “The leaders who work most effectively, it seems to me, never say "I."
… And that's not because they have trained themselves not to say "I."

·         They don't think "I." They think "we;" they think "team."

·         They understand their job to be to make the team function.

·         They accept responsibility and don't sidestep it, but "we" gets the credit...This is what creates trust, what enables you to get the task done.”

The bottom line is that it's easy for any organization to say..."we value teamwork." However, saying it versus committing to the principles to grow it can be two different things. And that's what Pulling Together is all about! Author John Murphy presents the ten rules for high performance teams in an engaging way that every person in your organization can understand. John is a highly recognized author (7 books), speaker and management consultant who has helped some of the world's leading organizations create environments that value and reward teamwork.

Today, I'd like to share an excerpt from John's Rule #1...Put the team first. Enjoy!

At the center of every high performance team is a common purpose - a mission that rises above and beyond each of the individual team members. To be successful, the team's interests and needs come first. This requires "we-opic" vision ("What's in it for we?"), a challenging step up from the common "me-opic" mind-set.

Effective team players understand that personal issues and personality differences are secondary to team demands. This does not mean abandoning who you are or giving up your individuality. On the contrary, it means sharing your unique strengths and differences to move the team forward. It is this "we-opic" focus and vision - this cooperation of collective capability - that empowers a team and generates synergy.

Cooperation means working together for mutual gain - sharing responsibility for success and failure and covering for one another on a moment's notice. It does not mean competing with one another at the team's expense, withholding important data or information to be "one up" on your peers, or submitting to "groupthink" by going along so as not to make waves. These are "rule breakers," that are direct contradictions to the "team first" mind-set.

High performance teams recognize that it takes a joint effort to synergize, generating power above
and beyond the collected individuals. It is with this spirit of cooperation that effective teams learn to capitalize on individual strengths and offset individual weaknesses, using diversity as an advantage.

  
Effective teams also understand the importance of establishing cooperative systems, structures, incentives and rewards. We get what we inspect, not what we expect. Think about it. Do you have team job descriptions, team performance reviews and team reward systems? Do you recognize people by pitting them against standards of excellence, or one another? What are you doing to cultivate a team-first, cooperative environment in this competitive, "me-opic" world?

To embrace the team-first rule, make sure your team purpose and priorities are clear. What is your overall mission? What is your game plan? What is expected of each team member? How can each member contribute most effectively? What constants will hold the team together? Then stop and ask yourself, are you putting the team first?

How Do We Implement These Ideas?

There are two approaches to implementing these ideas.  Purchase a canned program to implement within the team and experience the challenge of trying to sell a new idea to a resistant group.  The traditional battle of training begins.

OR

Build your “team first” culture with proven principles to create a custom training program-built of the team, for the team and by the team.  With the team creating it, members will be more willing and supportive in implementing it… because it is THEIR PROGRAM.

Designed By The Team, For The Team

Life Skills U offers an idea-driven “Wisdom Incubator” that provides a unique team-building template to enable the team to learn the components of team building, and then select the elements that most apply to the task at hand.

The team members attend a basic training in the online Wisdom Incubator to recognize team problems that exist today (and the cost to everybody).

This process functions like a soft intervention for each person involved, as it is based on the technique of: ‘I understand there is no problem, but if there was a problem, this is what it would look like.” As individuals take an inventory of the problems within their team culture that needs to be solved, they in turn will come to recognize their own problems.  This proven training system will offer individuals the tools for resolution in a non-confrontational, non–disclosing way. 

The organization can then select from believable and achievable solutions to include in the training program that will overcome the following challenges:

·      Fear
 

·      Control

·      Resistance

·      Structural Authority

·      Emotional Authority

·      Emotional Intelligence

·      Practical Interdependence

·      Hidden Blocks That Stop Us

·      Setting Personal Visions and Missions

·      Self-Directed Implementation Peer Reviews

·      Solving Problems We Bring From Home to Work

·      Integrate Existing Wisdom From Team Members into the Training Program

·      Integrate Life Skills U Family Assistance Program Resources into the Training Program

·      Implement early recognition and intervention of addiction thinking into the workplace

Individual Contribution and Recognition
Creates Personal Ownership

At this stage, each team member brings his or her own unique perspective of skill and wisdom to “add to” the program.  When complete, the program is then submitted for ePackaging.

A trained ePackaging staff member in the Wisdom Incubator then assembles the training content into a comprehensive, proven training system… True training for when retention and results count!

 This simple and profound training system:

·         Will be implemented and supported by ALL team members as a home study program;

·         Will teach to each learner’s individual learning style and ability level;

·         Will overcome learning challenges such as dyslexia, ADD and poor retention skills; and

·         Will offer motivation for training completion through Travel Incentives, to support team members and their families in an off-hour environment.

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