5 Top Ways To Introduce The Culture of ‘Fun’ To The Workplace

The Great Importance Of Teamwork In Organisations

Welcome to the first article in a teamwork series at Leadership-Expert.co.uk. Within this series, we aim to bring you up-to-date theory on the fundementals and advanced techniques relating to teamwork in the modern organisation.

1. Why Is Teamwork Important?

We do not operate independently in the workplace. We need to socialize and work as a combined entity in the workplace. We require inputs and feedbacks from co-workers. We depend on each other’s expertise to complete tasks. We form teams to get assignments going. Teamwork is essential and everywhere. Teamwork allows us to synergise. That is to create output far greater than the sum of all. There is a common saying about synergy, 1 + 1 = 3 (instead of the mathematical 2). Teamwork is beneficial for everyone as it compliments each other’s weaknesses or leverage on each other’s strengths. You may argue that you can do it on your own. But wait, if you can focus on doing something else that you are more familiar and capable of, and allow another person take charge of what you are doing that is of a common objective, don’t you think you can achieve your objective at a faster pace?

Teamwork compliments our individual weakness. All good leaders know the limits of our abilities and we want to expand our abilities. The simple solution: we tap on other’s expertise. Tap meaning leveraging if were to put it in a more decent tone. And leveraging each other’s expertise is teamwork. Given a task that you find you are unable to deliver, you gather co-workers to complement your weakness with their strengths. But before you can even gather the right co-workers, you must know who complements you. And this knowledge is within your awareness of teamwork. With a person that complements your weakness with his strength, you achieve productivity by creating a well-balanced team.

Teamwork requires respect and compromise of the team members. Let’s admit it, neither you and I are perfect. Nobody is. And because we are imperfect, we depend on each other. To have teamwork, the team members must be willing to accept the differences. Differences like working style, habits and mental model. For example, your team member may be meticulous in handling a report and takes a long time to proof read it before the managers review. On the other hand, you may feel that the report is sufficient and ready for sending on right now. This is a misalignment of working styles. You want it to be delivered swiftly to management while they want to be thorough and ensure that no errors are made. These types of differences cannot be totally reconciled and a compromise must be made. You simply need to respect their working habits. Looking at the big picture; the time pressure you bring into the equation will aid in swift task completion, and will speed up their work, but having your collegues diligence in the mix also means that the report produced will be of higher quality. By having contrasting approaches, as a team you have created work with superior speed and quality than either of you would have produced on your own.  In this way, diverse team members will always leave their own positive mark on an element of the group work.

There are two types of teamwork: power-packed team and balanced team. The power-packed team may consist of team members that possess abilities of the same skill set. It can be described like doubled loaded cannon with enhanced rapid fire. Scientists and engineers are good examples of power-packed teams. The disadvantage of this team is that they are a grouping of the same type of people which may suffer from groupthink, and will not reduce the risk of fundemental mistakes being produced by the team. The balanced team as the name suggest is a combination of team members that complement each other. The benefit of balanced teams is that they can leverage  one another’s abilities.

Teamwork is everywhere and essential in productivity. An individual may achieve a distance, but with a team effort, the individual can achieve even further distance. Teamwork is about leveraging on each other’s best. Before you can leverage another person, you need to respect and compromise the differences that you and he may have. With understanding of your team members, we are certain that you can deliver higher productivity than what you can expect of yourself.

Article by guest author Lostincubes.

Learning Lessons In Resilience From The Newly Unemployed

I still learn about leadership every day. In this challenging economic climate I’m learning faster than ever and often from people who might not be considered traditional leaders. I’m learning from people who have lost their job. Their job represented the ability to feed their families, raise their kids the way they want, and achieve their own version of success. And now it’s gone.

Unfortunately, most of us have recently had discussions with friends or family who have recently lost their job. Right after we hear the part about how they lost their job we will hear one of two things. Either they will describe all of the obstacles that keep them from moving forward or they will talk about the opportunity they have to find a great new career and how they are working to make that happen. In these conversations I learn whether or not these people are demonstrating one of the critical leadership qualities that sets those who merely have the potential to lead, apart from those who actually do. Resilience. Every time I walk away from a conversation that sets an example for how I can deal with my own challenges more effectively, I know I just learned from a leader.

Every successful leader gets knocked off their feet occasionally and when they do, they get back up, brush themselves off, and take the next step forward. When I think back to the people that I’ve worked with who were able to take entire organizations in a new direction, what often stands out is that they dealt with the setbacks better than others. Leaders use tough situations as kindling to rebuild their own internal fire and understand how to help others do the same. They understand what it really means to lead.

There are many contrasting situations as well, people who have achieved positions of leadership but haven’t yet encountered real challenges along the way. Often, when the crisis does come, these people fall far and fast. They haven’t created the habit of resilience on their climb to the top and when they need to rely on it, it simply isn’t there to fall back on. I was having a conversation with someone in a large family run business recently who was explaining to me how, as the leadership of the company had been passed down through the family, the culture of the business had shifted significantly. The family members who built the company led it very differently, with more clarity and a stronger sense of values than those who came after them. The current leaders were handed the reigns more because of who they were than what they had accomplished or the leadership they had demonstrated. These new leaders will be tested. How they respond will have everything to do with whether or not they have earned the right to continue to lead.

There’s that old adage that anyone can steer a ship when the seas are calm. Real leadership is required at those rarer but inevitable times when the storm comes. During the recession, many people are facing their own personal storm; a storm that has the potential to shake their confidence, dent their self-esteem and even alter their dreams. It also has to potential to increase their determination, rekindle their fire and create a better future than they ever imagined. During challenging times there are always leaders who emerge stronger and more capable because of how they choose to deal with those times. We need to make sure that we take the time to learn from them. They will teach us how to weather our own storms when they come. And maybe even understand why we need them.

This is a guest post authored by Randy Hall from http://4thgearconsulting.com

What are your thoughts on what we can learn from others in adversity?

Leadership Mentoring – Developing Your Own Style

When you were working yourself up the ladder undoubtedly there were days when you had to drag yourself to work. It wasn’t because of the job or your team mates; it was because the managers said the same thing day in and day out. Motivation was low and the word fun was non-existent

The shoe is on the other foot now and you can make a difference if you think about those rough days in the past. Typically there was one manager with charisma and motivation that gave you energy and motivation causing you to look forward to the day ahead. If you were smart, you realized this and stored it in your memory bank for the future. I am not suggesting that you emulate them totally but remember the experiences gained to develop your own leadership style.

Let me share an experience, when I was a young man I worked with a leader that was incredibly demanding. He daily challenged me, I would learn something new and the next day was proud and wanting to show him I knew my stuff. He without fail would ask me something entirely new and different. It took me quiet a while to fully respect and understand what he was doing for me, developing me into a leader. I thought I hated him but in time I realized he was the greatest mentor of my life. That was his leadership style and it worked, on me anyway.

Several years later I was fortunate to have another mentor that was a walking motivational machine. He was the most inspirational person I had ever met and fortunately for me I was the one he selected to groom. He made work a thrill teaching and sharing his wealth of knowledge.

I soon realized that one leader can make the difference in countless ways. I took a lot from both of these men as both had the same goal but different styles of accomplishing it. The first leader made me excited about coming to work to exhibit my talents while the second one honed my skills motivating me how to expand my knowledge and experiences. I didn’t emulate either one totally but admired and respected each equally and learned how to make a job enjoyable.

This is an article from a guest author – Ron Kirby. You can learn more about him on his profile page at http://www.egsebastian.com/RonK.