Team Building: Top Picks

Teambuilding: Top Picks

The rarity of passion-driven teams

Dan Bobinski

Most teams in the workplace are nowhere near as effective as they could be. The reasons are many. But one reason overrides all the rest - a lack of passion.

Five simple keys to building solid teams

Dan Bobinski

When I ask teams what they would like from their supervisors, the same simple things keep coming up. You might think they're obvious - but if they are, teams wouldn't continually be mentioning them!

Putting the "we" into your team

Wayne Turmel

One of the hardest things about pulling a team together is getting the disparate pieces to think of themselves as a whole - to think of all of you as 'we'. This is more than soft and mushy sentiment, however - there's real science involved.

Is communication the problem, or teamwork?

James M. Kerr

Sometimes we can get fooled into thinking that poor communication is a problem when it’s really a symptom of something much more profound: poor organizational design that undermines the ability of people to work in teams.

Remote teams and common goals

Wayne Turmel

When your team isn’t physically co-located, how do you help everyone understand and stay focused on their common goals?

The importance of explicit expectations

Karl Hebenstreit

The mantra for human effectiveness is “communication, communication, communication”. But without setting explicit expectations, communication on its own isn't enough.

Communication is more than a transaction

Wayne Turmel

One of the biggest complaints about working remotely is that communication has become a series of transactions. But why is that a problem?

The critical factor for team collaboration

Wayne Turmel

It doesn’t matter if your team is co-located, fully remote, or hybrid. Work slows if people can’t get access to the critical information they need to do their jobs.

Diverse teams and psychological safety

David Livermore

There’s been a surge of interest recently about the importance of psychological safety, and rightfully so. But like many good things, it's better not to have too much of it.

Making cross-organizational teams work

Simon Thule Viggers

Cross-organizational teams are a growing trend. But they can have some costly side-effects for the people who are assigned to these temporary projects.

Inclusion is the key to engagement

Wayne Turmel

How do you keep employees engaged when they aren’t interacting with colleagues every day? The answer is to try to include them whenever the opportunity arises.

Culturally intelligent teams: different values, same norms

David Livermore

Understanding cultural differences on a diverse team does not automatically translate into better performance. Instead, leaders need to develop team norms that are both inclusive and unifying.

Great expectations?

Wayne Turmel

An issue many managers come up against on remote or hybrid teams is that there are fewer opportunities to inspect peoples' work in person, or on-demand. Dealing with this is all about expectations.

Leaders, teammates, and teams

Wayne Turmel

The trend for remote work was rising for years before the COVID tsunami hit. But now we've passed that first big wave of change, what will teamwork look like going forward?

Does it matter if you like the people you work with?

Amanda Nimon-Peters

Most of us need a sense of belonging with the people we spend time with. So working with people we like is good for us as well as the organisations that employ us.

How to build trust on a diverse team

David Livermore

Diverse teams have a harder time trusting each other than homogeneous teams do. Here are three evidence-based ways to go about building that trust.

Is there a place for gossip in the new normal?

Bob Selden

Social chit-chat is a vital part of being human. But how does that fit in with the the new normal of hybrid or home working where our physical contact with others is limited?

Proper vacations are all about teamwork

Wayne Turmel

Far too many of us (especially Americans), don't use all our vacation time. But taking time off to recharge our batteries helps the whole team, so making sure that happens is a team effort, too.

Onboarding on hybrid teams

Wayne Turmel

Bringing people onto a hybrid team presents all the challenges associated with an office-based team, as well as many of the challenges that come with a fully remote team.

Do you trust your new team member?

Wayne Turmel

Think about the way you interact with new members of your team. You might not actively distrust them, but do you act like you trust them?

The invisible killer of remote teams

Wayne Turmel

There is one factor that can be lethal for remote teams that usually isn't a problem when everyone is in the same place. That invisible killer is exclusion.

The culturally intelligent team

David Livermore

It's harder to get things done on a diverse team. But with moderate to high levels of cultural intelligence, diverse teams can outperform homogeneous teams in a number of important ways.

Building trust remotely

Wayne Turmel

Trusting the people you work with (and for) has never been easy. But when you work remotely it's even tougher.

Staying on track isn't easy

Wayne Turmel

It's surprising how often teams lose sight of their goals. There are plenty of reasons, and maybe understanding some of the most common will help you and your team reassess where you are headed.

Boost morale with a virtual event

Craig Bulow

Even if summer away-days and team-building events are off the agenda for the moment, there are still ways you can boost your team’s wellbeing and morale with in-person events that you can do remotely.

Snip those email threads!

Wayne Turmel

if there’s one complaint everyone has about communicating with their teammates it's long email threads - you know, the ones that start as a simple request for information and grow like a virus.

Shut up first, talk later

Wayne Turmel

Sometimes it it can seem almost impossible to get people to contribute or share information effectively in a video conference. Here’s how you can change that.

How one bad apple can create a toxic team

Brian Amble

Look around any organisation and chances are you'll find at least one person whose negative behaviour affects the rest of the group. Now new research has found that it only takes one toxic individual to upset the whole apple cart.

How can teams demonstrate competence?

Wayne Turmel

The three components to building trust within a team are common goals, proof of motives and proof of competence. So thinking of competence, even if your team is filled with very talented people, do they all know that?

Faith, trust and teamwork

Wayne Turmel

Having faith is a wonderful thing. But today's project and functional teams need to run on trust. Why? Because unlike faith, trust is evidence-based, built on measurable results and can be restored through hard work.

Teambuilding on a budget

Dan Bobinski

Want your people to act more like a team? Don’t want to drop a lot of money on the effort? the good news is that much of what is needed to build teams can be done in-house with minimal budget impact.

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Don't use technology as an excuse for bad management

Wayne Turmel

When it comes to managing a remote team, technology is not a communication problem. So stop blaming the tools if you chose the wrong one for the wrong reason.

Open questions, open communication

Wayne Turmel

Working remotely, we miss the non-verbal signals we see when working face-to-face. That's why asking open questions is one of the most critical skills the manager of a remote team can possess.

Do you run meetings or lead them?

Wayne Turmel

Why do some online meetings get the job done, while others don't? The difference is that successful meetings need to be led - and there is a huge difference between running a meeting and leading one.

Five reasons remote teams fail

Wayne Turmel

Many managers are now discovering that leading a remote team isn’t that different to leading a co-located one. But they do have to re-think how they do certain things. Here are five ways you can get that wrong.

Key skills for virtual leaders

Wayne Turmel

Suddenly finding yourself sitting at home leading a virtual team is a tough call, particularly with everything else that's going on in the world. So here are seven key behaviors that will make the task of virtual working much easier.

How different is leading remotely?

Wayne Turmel

If you've never led a remote team and you're worried about how you might cope if the Coronavirus puts you in that position, fear not. For a competent team leader, the differences aren't as great as you might think.

Mapping the power in your organization

Wayne Turmel

Forget job titles, do you know who has the real power in your organization and who has real influence where it matters most?

Opening the Johari Window

James M. Kerr

The Johari Window is a technique that can be used to expose an individual’s blind spots and increase self-discovery. It’s also a useful way to improve team performance and encourage breakthrough thinking.

The 'golden suggestion' for managers

Wayne Turmel

The old saying “do unto others as you’d like them to do unto you” Is fine advice. But when it comes to management, it's not so simple. Let me explain why it doesn’t stack up.

Great advice from a sketchy source

Wayne Turmel

Ian Fleming’s James Bond books don’t normally spring to mind as sources of useful management advice. But there’s a line in ‘Goldfinger’ that is actually quite brilliant if you run a remote team.

Are your teammates competent?

Wayne Turmel

One of the biggest factors in building trust is believing in the competence of the people you work with. If you work in the same place, that isn’t so hard to do. But if you work remotely, gathering evidence of competence takes more effort.

The cost of bad meetings

Wayne Turmel

Bad meetings cost companies billions of dollars every year. But this waste is easily avoidable if only we'd all ask ourselves a couple of basic questions and think a little more about how and why we have meetings.

Are you hiding behind technology?

Wayne Turmel

We all get tired, rushed and overworked. And when we do, it's tempting to use technology as an excuse to take the easy way out by avoiding confrontation or uncomfortable conversations.

Take your team from 'me' to 'we'

Doug Upchurch

Understanding why other people operate the way they do is fundamental to any effective team. That's why one of the keys for teams wanting to unlock their success and come together in pursuit of a shared goal is individual self-awareness.

Are you managing your boss?

Myra White

Your relationship with your boss requires careful management. You need to building a cooperative working relationship and understand their needs and working style if you're going to make it work.

Your team members aren’t pawns in a chess game

Wayne Turmel

Project management and team leadership are often viewed as chess games. But there’s one important difference. Those pieces on the chess board aren’t human. Your team members are - and they need to be treated accordingly.

The bad influence of aggressive bosses

Manfred Kets De Vries

Identifying with an aggressor is a basic strategy for human survival. But in the workplace, such behaviour is destructive and needs to be called out.

Employing outsiders: a survival guide

Robert Kelsey

Outsiders can be a manager's worst nightmare. But misfits don't have to be disruptive workplace mavericks. Most are creative, crafty and brave. So rather than try to get rid of them, here’s how to understand what makes them tick and harness their talents.

Why empathy makes for stronger organisations

Manfred Kets De Vries

The ability of executives to see themselves from the outside and others from the inside, plays an important role in effective team formation.

Why empathy makes for stronger organisations

Manfred Kets De Vries

The ability of executives to see themselves from the outside and others from the inside, plays an important role in effective team formation.

Quantum physics and quarky behavior

Kieran Hearty

If you want to understand some of the less acceptable aspects of human nature the answer may lie in quantum physics. And the same ‘quarkiness’ that explains bad behavior can also be used to energize and motivate those around us.

So you're a manager. Now what?

Dan Bobinski

As managers, we can either choose to value and develop our team members or we can look for ways to elevate our own stature. Do you know which category you fall into?

Workplace excellence can be contagious

Serguei Netessine

Team performance can often be more, or less, than the sum of the parts. So it’s significant that research has demonstrated that collective outcomes soar when top performers mingle with less adept colleagues.

Emotional capital and remote teams

Wayne Turmel

Why do some teams seem to form great working relationships and use technology seamlessly to make work a pleasure and create great relationships? The secret is something called “emotional capital.”

More Good Stuff

Emotional capital and remote teams

Wayne Turmel

The price of poor listening

Dan Bobinski

Hearing and understanding someone else's point of view is a learned skill that requires effort. But it's one we all need to make. Because poor listening leads to misunderstandings, errors, bad decisions, loss of team cohesion and costly mistakes.

Techniques for working with ADD team members

Wayne Turmel

Working with people with Attention Deficit Disorder can sometimes be tricky. But there are specific steps you can take to make meetings less painful and the day-to-day job of supervising less of a chore.

Managing the pyramids project

Wayne Turmel

Peter Drucker once said, “The greatest management job of all time was building the pyramids.” But then, the Egyptians didn't have to deal with conference calls, a barrage of email or managing remote teams.

When you're not 'their boss'

Wayne Turmel

Many of us today are tasked with getting work done when we don't have direct reporting responsibility over the people on the team. This can lead to confusion, frustration and miscommunication. But it doesn’t have to.

Reducing tensions in partly-virtual teams

Wayne Turmel

Hybrid teams - some people working in the office, some at home or elsewhere - are increasingly common. But they pose unique challenges, so a wise leader needs to be aware of the dynamics that can make them work.

A field guide to underappreciated workplace geniuses

Wayne Turmel

There are some employees out there who are downright geniuses in a strange kind of way - and whose extraordinary abilities are mirrored only by complete inability to work and play with others. Here's a quick field study of some of these types.

Examining your assumptions

Wayne Turmel

Assumptions aren’t bad things. They are the model under which we do our work, particularly in remote teams. But assumptions need testing now and again, because without some kind of feedback along the way, things can go can go very wrong.

Zen and the art of remote teams

Wayne Turmel

Without visual cues and context, it’s all too easy to make assumptions about your team's effectiveness. But being mindful of your behavior and communication style can yield both short- and long-term dividends and help you to see what’s really going on.

Five ways you're hurting your remote working relationships

Wayne Turmel

Very few people intentionally try to undermine their working relationships with other team members. But most of us manage to do things inadvertently that can have a disproportionately negative impact on teamwork and productivity.

Focusing despite technology

Wayne Turmel

In a remote team, technology is the way you communicate. So it should be a conduit to better information flow, not a bottleneck that constricts it. And that means limiting the distractions technology can create.

The power of constructive disagreement

Tim Lambert

Disagreement and challenge are healthy activities. But we have become so used to adversarial conversations through our political and legal systems that we have forgotten how to have real dialogue. What we need is a better way to disagree.