Although you may never become a professional speaker or be the highlight of a national news article, you probably have at least one good story about someone who has been a positive influence in your life.We all can recall that one person who make a clear impression on us at a critical time in our life. Perhaps a teacher, an athletic coach, an employer, or just a really good friend or co-worker.
One of the best pieces of advice I ever received was from my first supervisor who told me, as a young trainee, to always manage myself, then others - then my business. Always in that specific order.
Her name was Sandy, and she was instrumental in guiding me as a young manager. She was quick to encourage me to always look inward first before seeking fault from outside resources. "Leaders take ownership.", she said often.
Nowadays, I often ask myself an important question, "What would Sandy do?" The answer is almost always that I should take personal ownership of the situation and go about the business of rallying my team to address any important issues that need resolved.
Unfortunately, far too many new managers are paired with another manager who may not yet possess the wisdom and life experience skills of someone like Sandy.
Leaders of organizations are well advised to ensure that every new manager is assigned to a mentor or business coach who possesses the skills of leadership and effective communication. This means providing clear instructions with quality resources for measuring the effectivenes of the coaching sessions.
Encouraging your new managers to ask quality questions versus making quick assumptions; actively listening to their team members before assigning key tasks and thoughtfully responding to crisis versus emotionally reacting. These are all key skills that can benefit your organziation as well as the individual lives of your managers.
This is what effectivel coaching is all about.
To assist your management team, make certain they each have someone like Sandy. Perhaps that certain someone is YOU?
TEAM BUILDING TOOL
40 Original Exercises & Activities
Effective teamwork is critical for any organization to ensure quality work and maximum production and profitability.
As a result of this basic need, we’ve created and compiled an effective tool that leaders can easily refer to help keep their meetings fresh and their topics of discussion in line to support improved team building at work.
So what exactly is this new free team building tool?
Answer: Our free tool provides multiple team building exercises and activities that you can quickly and easily implement at your next staff meeting. By referencing this free tool each time you have an important meeting, you will save valuable time as you work to ensure that your meeting is fun, engaging and more importantly, highly productive.
Although we have created an individual page for each Team Building Benefit that is gained through effective teamwork, (benefit/links listed below), you only need to download the tool once. ALL team building activities and exercises have been compiled into a single pdf file for download.
Each link below represents a benefit that is realized through effective teamwork. We have included at least two special team building activities for each benefit.
You can read about each benefit and print out the specific activities that interest you, or you can download the entire Team Building At work tool and have all 40 team building activities in one collective package.
Here is a quick list of all the many benefits you receive from effective Team Building At Work:
» Accountability
Leverage team building exercises to promote highly motivated employees who respond well to accountability.
» Commitment
Gaining commitment of your team is critical to your bottom-line results.
» Communication
Effective, honest and open communication is encouraged via team building activities.
» Creativity
Get your employee to respond to problems with creative solution, thinking outside the box for maximum results.
» Customer Service
Serve your employees well and they will in turn take care of your customers. Use team building to satisfy your workers.
» Enthusiasm
High energy, enthusiastic employees are extremely valuable to effective teamwork. Promote enthusiasm in your team.
» Expectations
Raising the bar - expect more from your team or run the risk of sending a message that you sanction lower performance.
» Fun
Work is so much work, if people are having FUN. Use our team building tools to promote and encourage fun in the workplace.
» Goal Setting
Working hard and experiencing the rewards of reaching a goal is a gift that every leader must steward for each team member.
» Leadership Development
Leadership is influence. Leaders who utilize team building tools regularly, positively influence the behavior of their team members.
» Networking
Grow your library of resource through effective team building and networking.
» Problem Solving
Solving problems as a team helps to show employees that there are many potential solutions to even the most common of problems.
» Professionalism
Team building activities help to increase awareness of professional hazards in the workplace. Use this tool to quickly identify and correct.
» Profitability
Bottom-line results are more certain to continue when a team is effectively collaborating and working together.
» Purpose and Pride
Teams need an ultimate purpose. Clearly identifying the team's purpose helps employees to know when they are succeeding.
» Results and Performance
Higher performance takes place in an environment where the importance of the team takes precedence. Teamwork drives performance.
» Retention
Team building activities go a long way to secure employee satisfaction and retention.
» Risk Taking
Minimize risk through team decision making. Taking risk is essential to running a business, but taking calculated risk is of paramount importance.
» Tact and Diplomacy
Everyone must get along with one another when working in a team environment. Team building activities provide ideas to ensure tact and diplomacy.
» Trust and Rapport
Team members must trust one another to do their part for the good of the team. Build rapport among team members through activities that promote strong interpersonal relationships.
