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9 Ideas to Reduce Cliques at Work
My thesis is that cliques at work have some helpful components, but they often do more harm than good by being exclusive elements in the culture. Top performance in any organization requires the best effort of the entire team, and when parts of the group are fragmented into insular cells, all kinds or gremlins creep into the structure. In the extreme, cliques can be hurtful to the mission of an orgnaization. But cliques are as natural as pancakes for breakfast. They form spontaneously and have their own unwritten bylaws that serve the members very well. How can leaders reduce the negative impact of cliques? Here are 9 ideas that can help reduce the problem.
4 Common Denominators of High Performing Teams
There are four common denominators of high performing teams. When these elements are present, teams are almost guaranteed to be efficient and rewarding for the members. The elements are: Common goals, Trust, Good Leadership, and a Good Charter. If your team has these four elements, chances are you are enjoying the benefits of working on a high performance team.

9 Tips to Improve Trust in Virtual Teams
We work in virtual teams more now than ever before. Many people spend most of the career working with people in high pressure situations, yet they have not ever physically met. Here are 9 tips that can improve the effectiveness of virtual teams.

Teams and Kindergarten
When we were in Kindergarten we learned some rules to be successful in class and on the playground. It is astounding that people in work groups often forget these basic rules in their activities. Let's get back to basics.

Innovation, Learning and Motivation
Developing Leaders- the key driving force behind business success is people. Tap into the potential of your most important asset

Teamwork - It Really Does Make the Dream Work
Professional speaker and consultant, Gregg Gregory, uses the Blue Angels as an example of excellent teamwork and offers insight into the critical elements needed to make your team excel.
The Importance of Small Breakout Groups to Find Solutions and Create New Products and Services.
The benefits and use of breakout groups to brainstorm ideas and find solutions.
Overuse of the Pronoun I
Have you noticed that the over use of the pronoun "I" can lead to all kinds of difficulties. Many people who have this habit do not even realize they are doing it, nor do they comprehend the damage that is done to relationships. This article shines a spotlight on this fascinating area and offers some guidelines to prevent problems.

The Other Way… Beyond Technology to Leverage Your Investment in Your People
Proposes a comprehensive learning curriculum to enhance so-called soft skills and attitudes at three distinct leverage points in an organization: managers, teams, and individual contributors.
What to Do When Your Team Gets “Stuck”: 7 Ways to Get It Moving Again
When a team becomes "stuck" it saps energy, costs money, and hurts results. How do you know when your team is, in fact, stuck? And what can you do to turn it around? Here are seven most common pitfalls teams and working groups encounter and a practical strategy to overcome each one.

The Best Kept Secret In Business! Team Managed Meetings Save Time, Energy, and Build Relationships
Meeting Leader: "Welcome to our Team Meeting." I Accept 100% Responsibility For My Participation- MAYBE! The Job of A Facilitator Team Managed Meetings Are A Company's Great Asset
Exterminate Boring Meetings by Using Team Building Exercises and Meeting Icebreakers
How many meetings have you been to that are just the same old thing -- boring gatherings you cannot wait to leave. Most meetings are poorly managed and non-productive.
Organizations and Dunbar’s Number: Two is Company, 151 is a Crowd!
How many people do you know? By that I mean how many people do you recognize by sight, know their name, and a little about their background? 40? 60 ? 100? 150? How many people do you think you can possibly know before you start forgetting names and faces? (If you are like me you will probably recognize more faces than remember the names) These are interesting questions, and the answers have important implications for how we organize ourselves in groups, teams, and society in general. Robin Dunbar, a British anthropologist was one of the first researchers to look into this phenomenon and he theorized in an article in 1992 that the average person could meaningfully interact with about 150 others. More than 150, Dunbar said, and we are not be able to remember who is who!

A Dozen Ways Leaders Create Meaning
The reason that most workers are not engaged in the business is that they see no real meaning in their work. This article addresses how leaders can change all that.

The Business of Coaching Communication
Communication is often overlooked as something one can learn. Everyone thinks that they know 'how to communicate'but not everyone can. This article gives some tips for Coaches and Clients.
The Importance of Teamwork for a Business
A good team working on a business project is the result of having a guarantee that work well, with issues and objectives from the perspective of almost every conceivable test with be dealt with being seen are included.
Team Excellence First Ingredient - A Common Goal
Teams need a common goal to perform consistently at peak levels. This article gives some examples and technology for measuring whether there is a common goal on your team.
Team Excellence Second Ingredient - The Right People
Having the right people on a team is fundamental to top performance. Too often we take for granted the players we are given for a team regardless of whether they are right for it or not. That is a mistake. This article describes a process to remove the wrong players.

Team Excellence Third Ingredient - Trust
Teams need to develop high trust in order to be effective. This is a challenge for any group. There are all kinds of agendas going on with any group when it first gets started. This article takes you through the classic steps.

Team Excellence Fourth Ingredient - A Great Leader
Every team needs to have a good leader in order to be effective. Sometimes the true leader is an informal one rather than the formal leader. Having a leader that is too strong can lead to problems. This article deals with the function of a leader in creating great teamwork.
Team Excellence Fifth Ingredient - A Charter
A good team Charter is the best way to guarantee outstanding performance by all team members. The key to a good Charter is to identify the consequences for social loafing up front. This article explains why this is so powerful.

Seven Team Development Ideas for Team Leaders
Team development by team leaders is one of those responsibilities that fits into the category of continuous improvement. It therefore takes effort and planning to implement it effectively. This article is therefore written for team leaders to assist and encourage them in their ongoing planning and practice of developing their team. This practice is a marathon and not a sprint, so the seven developmental areas discussed here should give enough content to help team leaders plan up to a year's worth of strategy.
Tips and Techniques to Improve Sales
These seven tips will help you improve sales without hiring new sales people.
Tips to Working with Virtual Teams
Organizations are decentralizing. People are working off their smart phones and laptops and often tele-commuting. How can you effectively lead virtual teams?
Entrepreneurs as Coaches
I was at a client's company last week and heard a brief hallway conversation as I was waiting for my lunch appointment. The gist of what was said sounded like two people in a war torn country. "I bought lots of canned goods that were on sale just in case I lose my job" said person one. The response was "Yeah, I know what you mean; I just went to the thrift store to get my kids spring clothes because I am afraid to spend too much money." This went back and forth until they were out of earshot.
Teamwork Never Fails, Individuals Fail Teamwork
When is a team not a team? Regardless of your definition of what constitutes a team and teamwork, at the end of the day, it is all about the individual employee and the impact of their efforts on overall productivity.
Leadership: A Way of Thinking, Not a Position
Leadership is not a position but a way of thinking. When you recognize and embrace that it will change how you view yourself as well as others.
Leading Is Like Playing the Guitar
When you want your teams to play beautiful music, you need to teach and encourage them to fine tune themselves.
Why The Emphasis on Teams?
Everyone in an organization plays an important role in its overall performance. It’s no longer enough to be good-you must be exceptional. The challenge is getting everyone in the organization committed and focused on achieving organizational success.
Four Traits Of Effective Team Members
The most effective means to building an effective and productive team is open and honest communication. - Gregg Gregory

Team Work Makes it Happen – Part I
Many entrepreneurs and independent sales people have a great tendency to think they can and they have to do it all. The result is they drive themselves crazy. But understand that is not limited to entrepreneurs and sales people – it is happening all over the corporate world as well. Question for you: What if you could work less and get better results? - Would you be interested?
Traditional Budgeting vs. Beyond Budgeting: Three Core Differences
Reviewed are two fundamentally different approaches to the budgeting process, Traditional Budgeting and Beyond Budgeting. The article addresses the general approaches, challenges and benefits of each approach.
Six Conversations for Team Success - How Most Team Development Meetings Get It Wrong
Becoming and remaining a high performance team is not just about how team members work with each other. The sustained success of a team is not determined by the way they work but by whether or not customers, sponsors and stakeholders continue to see them as an attractive investment of money, time and effort. The intelligent conversations for teams to engage in are about six areas of focus.
Six Conversations for Team Success - Making Team Away Days More Valuable
Intelligent conversations create meaning and understanding for the people that take part. Conversations are an essential aspect of learning - with thoughts and ideas challenged, opinions exchanged and wisdom created. The most useful intelligent conversations for teams have two broad dimensions. The outside and inside worlds. The outside world is where stakeholders' expectations, opinions and decisions determine whether or not the team and its products and services are valued. The inside world is, in reality, of secondary importance. How the team works together is only relevant to delivering the business strategy.

Six Conversations for Team Success - Look Outside First
Just about every commercial team has experienced some kind of team building event or away day - unfortunately they often become just another project or progress review; what the team has been doing, with little or no attention to how the team is working. Of those that do take time to look at the "how" not just the "what", the focus is too often inwardly directed. "Team spirit", "good communications" and "shared purpose" are not wrong. However, they miss the fundamental truth of being a commercial team. Success is created outside not inside the team.
Six Conversations for Team Success - The Key Questions
Intelligent conversations for teams help them to focus on what really matters.  Team development events, away days and team meetings are all opportunities to review how the team works. There are fundamental questions that any successful team or organisation pays attention to on a regular basis.  These twelve questions cover six areas and together ensure a balance between an internal and external focus.  
Six Conversations for Team Success - What To Talk About
Having intelligent and productive conversations helps teams and individuals recognise their strengths and weaknesses, knowns and unknowns, facts and assumptions.  A structure or agenda for the conversations helps keep discussions focussed and purposeful. The really important conversations, those that are vital to survival and sustained success are about the outside world - where the customers, suppliers, investors, stakeholders, sponsors, partners and supporters live.
Six Conversations for Team Success - Ensuring Intelligent Conversations
Teams need to know how to work together and have conversations which help the process of understanding and optimising the knowledge, skills and attitudes available within the group. "Six Conversations for Team Success" is a framework to help teams structure their conversations so that the most important and relevant topics are addressed. Using a disciplined approach to talking with each other helps make for intelligent conversations where ideas occur, new thinking emerges and great things happen.
The Problem with Groupthink and Teams
The negative cost of groupthink is loss of individual creativity, uniqueness and independent thinking. Organizationally, these consequences lead to costly errors in product launches, service policies and competitive strategies.
Aligning Corporate Teams
How Individuals And Teams Get Aligned Fast With A Process Of Questioning, Energy Shifting, Self-Esteem Raising, And Confidence Building

Other Teams Related Articles

The Leader As Coach
With the changing demographics of the workforce - retirement of the Boomers and entry of Gen Y - as well as the prevalence of distributed work teams, there is a growing trend for managers to take more of a coach-like approach to leading their teams, especially when those teams are made up of knowledge workers. This article looks at how coaching is different from traditional management and identifies three crucial skills for effective coaching in the workplace.
Master Your Game: High Performance Teams
Many organizations talk about teams and teamwork but few really know how nor take the time to build teams. This article is the first in a series about teamwork. It explains the difference between a group and a team and outlines how dynamic teams lead to future success and growth.

Master Your Game: High Performance Teams Self-Assessment
Last month, I talked about the difference between groups and teams. (See September newsletter.) I also discussed the many benefits of teams. For another important reason for improving your teams, look no further than the bottom line. When a team does not perform its task, the opportunity costs are great. Poor team results, missed deadlines, members not committed to the outcome, stress and frustration, unproductive hours - these are some consequences of poor-performing teams. How much are these worth to you? The good news is, with professional coaching, it is possible to convert your groups into teams. Furthermore, you can boost your team's level of performance from good to great. High performance teams mean mutual commitment that leads to innovative outcomes and measurable positive results.
Tips to Improve Team Culture
The culture of a team governs its effectiveness. Most teams have a culture that allows adequate performance despite many unfortunate outbreaks of tension and sometimes childish behavior. It is unfortunate that more teams do not experience the exhilaration of working in a supportive culture that produces excellent results. The methods of building teams into high performing units are well documented, but most teams do not go through the rigor required to get to that level. This paper blends well known processes with horse sense born of experience that will allow any team to perform better.

SIX LESSONS FOR EFFECTIVE VIRTUAL TEAMS: A RECIPE FOR SUCCESS
Virtual teams are more prevalent than ever. But the fact that virtual teams continue to grow in popularity doesn’t mean they’re always being used and managed properly. Quite the contrary. To help organizations maximize their investment in virtual collaboration, we conducted a study of 48 virtual teams to understand the success factors of top performing virtual teams. We identified six lessons for effective virtual teamwork.

Train Trainers on Team Building to Manage Three Responses to Conflicts
In recent years there has been a significant increase in team collaboration and team work. Many of the projects in companies are now carried out with small teams and running teams smoothly has become a critical part of corporate life. Unfortunately, because teams are more collaborative, teams can create conflicts. This article explores the nature of these conflicts.

Five Ingredients For Virtual Success
Rising travel costs, coupled with the global dispersion of talent, are just some of the reasons that organizations have migrated toward telecommuting and virtual work. While numerous organizations have made significant investments in virtual teams and the technology to support them, a surprising number of virtual teams are not reaching their full potential. OnPoint Consulting surveyed 48 virtual teams across industries and found that there are specific practices associated with successful virtual teams.

The Profile of Success: Building High Performing Virtual Teams
Although many companies have made significant investments in virtual teams and the technology to support them, a surprising number of these teams do not reach their full potential. A recent study conducted by OnPoint Consulting, and described in more detail in Virtual Team Success: A Practical Guide to Working and Leading From a Distance, surveyed 48 virtual teams across industries to identify specific practices associated with the most successful teams.

Presentation Skills Training For Highly Effective Mobile Teams
More and more teams are working remotely. With new tools and technology, this is now easier than ever before. Yet one thing can derail highly effective teams. Find out how to guarantee success of your remote teams.
Matching Team Types and Focus
Managers' growing understanding of the power of a team-based organization has created an explosion of teams. We're now seeing a profusion of high-involvement teams, high-performance teams, corrective action teams, service and quality improvement teams, project teams, task forces, steering councils, process management and improvement teams, problem solving teams, cross-functional teams, departmental teams, work teams, regional or branch teams, self-directed and self-managed teams, semi-autonomous teams...to name just a few.

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