Maximize Your
Team
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Maximize Your Team Copyright 2012 About this FREE version You are authorized one copy of this ebook and I hope you enjoy this FREE copy for your own personal use.By downloading this free copy, you agree not to distribute any copies of this ebook to your team members but let them download their own FREE copy at
www.ndstrupler.com The team that made this ebook Lydia Danzer Traci Everett Marianne Frey Joanne Appleton Steve Richardson Philippe Singer ND Strupler
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Introduction This book is a collection of selected posts I have written on my blog (www.ndstrupler.com) over the past 2 years. I am very thankful to be able to educate, assist, and entertain readers through my blog in the areas of Leadership and TEAMBUILDING. But as a leader I am well aware that this has keept me from reaching many of the people who really need this information. Some of the leaders I work with have asked me to gather my posts and put them in a book so they can download it and have it in their hands. There are many who prefer to turn pages than click and scroll. Ironically, I am one of them, especially when it comes to business books. I like to mark, underline and take notes on the side margin. The post collection in this book is primarily based on my own preferences. I have categorized them into 4 major topics: Casting Culture Communication Leadership If you are looking to find a silver bullet from these pages, you may be disappointed. Much of what you’re about to read is not necessarily groundbreaking, new, or original. Nonetheless the power of the concepts and techniques I’ll share in this book are still valuable to your teambuilding process. I have built teams in one form or another for the last 20+ years and I have realized that it’s always about leading people. Every leader has his own style of leading his team. My wish is to give you assistance and maybe a new way of maximizing your team and your ability to lead. My biggest hope for you reading this is that my particular style will reinforce the things you’ve already heard in such a way that it embeds it even further into your leadership approach and inspires you to pursue them with renewed energy. I don’t want to tell you how to read this book. It’s yours now. You’ve got it, so you decide how you want to go through it. However, I will suggest that you do something to get the biggest kickback from your invested time: Leadership in action
Put what you have read into practice before you continue reading further in the book. Talk with your team members about how to maximize your team Make notes and find your own leadership and teambuilding style
Thank you for downloading this ebook from www.ndstrupler.com. My wish for you is that you may maximize your team to the next level. ND Strupler
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Teamw makes the d 04 | Maximiz your Team
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CASTING
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– Vision – Start with a vision – Teambuilding – How to build a strong team? – The Team – The right people – Focus – 8 things effective team leaders must do
09 11 13 17
CULTURE
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– Motivation – 6 steps to empower your team – Esprit de Corps - 6 qualities a team needs to become a great team – Appreciation – Your employee, your asset – Feedback – Giving feedback – Feedback – Receiving feedback – Tensions – Manage the tension – Team death – How to kill a team
Communication
21 23 27 31 35 38 41
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– Words – The 6 most powerful words of a leader – Trust – How to gain trust? – Communication – 5 keys to effective communication
45 45 45
Leadership
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– Reflection – Leaders reflect themselves – Invitational – Leaders are invitational – Challenging – Leaders are challenging – Leadership – Future Leader
49 51 55 57
RESOURCES 64
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POWER
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CASTING 08 | Maximiz your Team
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Start with a Vision Vision ~ a preferred future Good Vision ~ Hope
What can a vision do for you? • It gives you a clear picture of what you want. • The clearer the vision, the easier it is to say yes or no.
What can a vision do for your team? • It gives purpose • It gives belonging • It gives meaning • It gives direction
Keep it simple • A vision statement needs to be memorable ~ portable • A vision statement can’t be complete If you want to create a complete vision statement, it will be too long. If you say everything you say nothing. Here are two good examples of memorable vision statements:
Bono: Make poverty history! Barak Obama: Yes we can!
Not true I often hear leaders say: “My people are not motivated, not committed.” It’s only because the vision is not communicated clearly and often enough. A vision needs to be emotional • What is the problem? • What could the preferred future look like?
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•CASTING•
Leadership in action • Write down your vision statement in just a few sentences.
• Make a claim out of your vision statement with a few words. For example mine is: “I love to inspire & maximize leaders”. • Produce a 60 sec. video with your vision statement and your emotions.
“ I love to inspire & maximize leaders ”.
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How to Build a Strong Team Great leaders seek to thrive with a strong team around them. Great leaders know that having the right person in the right place is a big step toward success. How do you develop a strong team? What do you need to look for?
4 steps to building a strong team 1. What is the vision? A great leader clearly communicates „why-we-do-what-we-do.“ Everyone joining the team must see what the leader sees. The common vision is central for the success of any team. Question: Is the vision clear, simple, and well-known? What does success look like?
2. What is needed? In order to achieve the given goal, a list of needs must be discussed and defined. Question: Does everyone know what is needed to succeed?
3. What can each team member contribute? If the vision is clear and the need is clear, everyone explains how he or she can best contribute to helping achieve the common goal. Question: Do the responsibilities suit the skills of the team members?
4. What is missing? During the building of a team there will always be things missing. Great leaders will make it an issue for the whole team. The leader’s problem is always the team’s problem, too! All are in it together. All want to achieve the goal - that‘s why all must also work together to find the missing part of the team. Question: Does everyone know what is missing and are they seeking a solution?
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•CASTING•
Leadership in action •
Make the vision statement visible at the office or meeting place.
•
Make a list of strengths and talents that each team member contributes.
•
Make a list of needs that the team is striving to meet.
•
Set goals and make sure you celebrate if the goal is reached.
“Celebrate if the goal is reached ”
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The right People What do you need to look for if you want the right people in key positions? Here is a list of things you need to look for in a person.
1. People need to have your DNA DNA is the way you think, live, and understand the world around you. You need to make sure that the people you work with have a very similar DNA in order to make fast forward progress. Worldview and values are very important in order to evaluate the common DNA. The right people have the DNA before you put them in position. Don’t hope for them to get it later! DNA is innate and is hard to change.
2. They don’t need to be tightly managed If you need to manage someone tightly you have placed them in the wrong position. The right person does not need to be motivated to do the job. They are self-motivated and self-disciplined to be the best they can because it’s a part of their DNA. Effective leadership is putting first things first. Effective management is discipline, carrying it out. Stephen Covey
3. The right people have responsibility & commitment The right people don’t have “jobs”; they have responsibilities. They feel it’s their life. It’s not a question of hours and to do lists. It’s an attitude. No matter what they promise, they will do everything to be able to deliver it. They are also very conscious about what they promise because they want to deliver with quality. A total commitment is paramount to reaching the ultimate in performance. Tom Flores
4. The right people are passionate The right people will be passionate about the vision, mission and the organization they work for. They are not in it for themselves. Nothing great happens without passion, and the right people display remarkable intensity.
5. The right people display maturity When things go well, they give credit to factors other than themselves; they shine a light on other people who contribute to the success and take little credit themselves. Yet when things go wrong, they do not blame circumstances or other people for setbacks and failures; they point in the mirror and say, “I’m responsible”.
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