NOVEMBER 27-28, 2009: TEAM BUILDING NG FOURTH YEAR. MASAYA.

FLIGHT ECHO: AKO, GIANNE, ROSEANN, ANGELOU, CHARIE, REYZZA, MARSHA, NIXON, ALAN, JOSH, ROYLAN, PAOLO, JAN VINCE, CALIS. Isasama ko na rin si MONIQUE kahit hindi siya nakasama dahil sa sakit. *get well soon.

3:30AM AKO GUMISING. Hilo, Antok, Ngarag. Ayos lang kahit mga 12:00 na ako natulog nun. Haha. Madami ng tao sa MPH1 nung dumating ako. Ayos lang. Hindi pa rin late. Hindi ko matandaan kung anong oras kami sumakay ng bus. Basta madilim pa. Katabi ko si Roseann at Jan Vince. Bus 2.

7:30AM ata kami dumating sa Bluroze eh. At ang unang creature na nakita namen doon ay isang OSTRICH, sangkaterbang OSTRICH.

First activity is ofcourse, tent formation. We started building our tent at around 8:15 AM. Grabe. Hindi ito ‘yung tent na itinuro sa amin kaya hindi namen alam ang gagawin. Apat kaming bumuo ng tent. Ako, Si Josh, si Alan at si Calis.

Next is formation. Sangkaterbang commands na dapat sundin. Lagot kapag hindi sumunod. Good thing, walang araw. ) Lead by Shiela Serrano, all flight leaders commanded each flights. Short formation lang ang ginawa namen just like what we had practiced before. Then, start na agad ng mga challenges.

First challenge ng Flight Echo is the Log Walk. Basta mabigat at mahaba ‘yung log. Bubuhatin ng buong flight sabay takbo paikot sa field. Every lap, may matatanggal na member hanggang sa maging dalawa na lang ang nagbubuhat. Kaso hanggang pito lang ang natira since kulang sa time. No picture available, BTW.

Next is the Atom Transfer. Mahirap idescribe ‘yung challeng. Basta kailangan ishoot ang bola sa ring without touching it via ropes. 38 seconds lang namen nagawa pero dahil may dalawang violation, +10 seconds kami.

Then came the Disc Relay. Hindi ko matandaan kung Relay ba ‘yung tamang title. Hahaha. All you have to do is to balance the disc so that the marble won’t fall. Maraming beses nalaglag ang marble namen. BTW, hindi ako sumali sa challenge na ‘to. Ako ay naging photographer. ) Nagawa din naman nameng mashoot ung marble sa next post. )

Tapos nito is the Island Hopping. Bawat member, kailangang makatawid sa ‘island’ using only two wood logs. Ako ang naka-assign sa paglipat ng logs. First try, nagkamali kami dahil umapak ako sa sahig habang nililipat ang kahoy. Bawal pala ‘yun. Ayos lang kahit second place lang kami. 3:33 minutes kami. 3:29 ‘yung dapat ibeat. Ngak. No picture available ulet. Sorry.

Lastly, Pipe Line ‘yung game. The objective is to shoot the marble using pipes to the last post. Ang challenge, half pipe tubes ang gagamiting pang transfer. Pang second lang kami ulet dito dahil sa kakapiranggot na oras. Arggh.

Pagkatapos ng mga challenges. Lunch mode naman. Loner ako ngayong lunch. Wala akong mahanap na kasama kaya naupo ako sa isang lilim. Walang pakealaman. Kakain ako. Hahahaha. Ang ulam is Mechado, I think. Pagkatapos nun, konting pahinga muna sa tent. Sa tent namen, pumasok ang iba’t ibang tao. Hindi nila tent ‘yun pero nandun sila. WTH?!

Kami ay ipinatawag muli. Hindi ko maalala kung 1 PM ba or 1:30PM ‘yun. Basta mainit. Hahaha. Pumunta kami dun sa open field kung saan kami nag Pipe Line. Ang game naman is tug-of-war. Four flights ang labanan tapos, championship kapag tatlo na lang. Sa round namen, nanalo kami sa una. Eh kaso kailangan two wins bago makapasok sa championship. Nasa unahan ako dahil malaki ako at nandun ang concentration ng force. Sa second, third at fourth round, hindi na kami nanalo so out na kami sa championship. Hahaha. Sumakit ang daliri ko. Wow.

Pagkatapos ng Tug-of-War, same place, water game naman. Hindi ko na maalala ‘yung tawag sa game basta may ammunitions na water baloons tapos kailangan mong mabasa ‘yung kalaban. Hahaha. Parang THE PATRIOT style ‘yung labanan sabi ni Sir Arnel. Bawal umilag. Tandaan, BAWAL UMILAG. Nung tumira ako ng tubig, SUPPOSE TO BE MAY TATAMAAN AKO DAHIL OBVIOUS NA OBVIOUS. KASO, MADAYA SI.. Hindi ko kilala, basta Nat daw ang pangalan. UMILAG SIYA AT NAKITA DIN NI ROSEANN ‘YUN. Bwiset. May point sana kami. Kaso nung second round, bawal namang tamaan ‘yung officer, pag nadead siya, dead na buong flight. Sad to say, lumusot sa amin ni Alan ‘yung tubig kaya tinamaan si Gianne. Kami dapat ang bakod kaso nagkaroon ng space between us. Dead kami. Hahaha.

Konting lecture about abedience then came the moment of the Medics. Using the remaining ammunitions of water, walang kalaban-laban nilang binasa lahat ng cadets na nakatalikod at nakikinig kay Sir Arnel at Sir Sean at Sir Al. WOW. THAT’S CALLED ‘HAVING FUN’ ~ Hindi ako masyadong nabasa. Konti lang. As in one half ko. Hahaha.

Next game is teacher hunting. Bawat teacher ay merong corresponding points. Since nakita namen ni Reyzza si Ms. Ghnem na pumunta sa likuran, dun kami dumeretsyo. Hindi man namin nahanap si Ms Ghnem, Si sir Cris naman ang nahanap namen. Kasabay nun, si Sir Uly din kaso dahil ‘bawal daw ang sabay’, pinatakas namin si Sir Uly. Ang challenge ni Sir cris, sing happy birthday with your partner without laughing or smiling. Nakailang try kami pero pasado pa rin.

Next na nahuli namin is Sir Benjie and Ms. Irene ~ sabay sila. Sir Benjie’s challenge was to lie on the grass bare back. That’s it. We had him. Then Ms. Irene’s challenge was to roll on the grass from a certain distance. Grabe, pagkatayo na pagkatayo, nangati ako. Hahaha.

Nakita namin ni Roseann si Ms. Loudy so hinabol ko siya. Hindi ko siya mahabol dahil maliit at mabilis siya. Suko na ako dahil nahuli siya nung isang flight. Since mag-isa lang ako, anong laban ko sa kanila. Hahaha.

We tried to search for other teachers. Nahabol din naman namen si Ms. Loudy na may pinagawang ‘dancing/cheering’ challenge sa amin. Madali lang nang konti. Then Ms. April na pinacheer kami using five adjective and her namen. Pasado din.

Hindi ko na maalala ‘yung ibang teacher na nahuli namin pero kami ang pinakamalinis na flight. Hindi kami dumaan kay Sir Ricky at Sir Sean. Mas pinili nameng maging malinis kesa gumapang sa putik. Hahaha. LOLS.

Pagkatapos ng lahat is clean up. Ligo at iba’t ibang preparation. Then dinner time. Pork chop ang ulam. Konting practice for the bonfire presentation. Last minute nga ‘yung planning namin ee. Hindi maintindihan kung hep hep horray ba or whatever. We sticked to Hep Hep Horray. )

So bonfire na. Alpha ang una. Then Bravo and so on. PATAPON ‘yung amin. Basura ee. Haha. Pero tuloy pa rin presentation namen. Kaso inabutan kami ng time. Haha. Oh, well.

Nagalit ata ‘yung mga teachers and staff sa presentations. Pinatigil nila eh. Hindi daw maganda so si Sir Benjie muna ang nagpresent. Haha. Patawa ee. Tapos, lahat ng flights na pinayagang magperform, maganda na ‘yung pinresent. Pati nga ‘yung flight ni Camilo maganda ‘yung pinresent. Akalain mong nagbra si Camilo sa harap ng buong fourth year at teachers?? WTH!! Haha.

Uwian na pagkatapos nung bonfire. Toothbrush then tulog. Sa dulo ako ng tent. ‘Yung kasama naming isa, si Josh, wala pang five minutes naghihilik na ee. Weird. Hahahaha.

GOOODMORNING!! 4:55AM ako nagising. Buti nagalarm ako. Tanging si Josh lang ang gising nung nagising ako. ‘Yung iba tulog na tulog pa. Hindi ko maalala kung paano ako nakatulog kagabi. Nagstart ang last day namen sa isang exercise. ‘Yung paulit-ulit na kanta na medyo maganda naman ang tugtog. Si Sir Sean ang naglead sa amin. Nagenjoy naman ako dun sa Exercise. Nakakatuwa. Medyo hiningal. Tapos nun, jogging. Mahaba-habang jogging. So ayun lang. Breakfast na sunod tapos konting pack up at rest. Naglibot libot muna kami ni Christine at Gleison patungo sa mga Crocodile at Ostrich. Hahaha. Then the last activity na.

MI ADVENTURE. Parang Amazing Race daw sabi ni Sir Arnel. Totoo naman since we must be the first flight na makatapos. [ panglima lang kami.] At eto ‘yung mga challenges na nagawa namin for each MI.

NOT BY ORDER.
~pick one object that will represent you. [intrapersonal] *nasa picture
~take pictures of the following objects. [naturalist]
~create notes using bottles and water. [musical]
~spot the difference. [spatial]
~shoot the ball twice, first with the bounce then with the lay-up. [bodily]
~interview someone. [interpersonal]
~memorize a poem with a twist. [linguistic]
~follow the voice of the leader and avoid the bottles, blindfolded. [logical]

So nasabi ko na ngang pang 5th kami sa nakatapos. Pero sabi naman nila, hindi ‘yun sa paunahan lang. Nasa points ‘yun. So lunch mode na kami. Chicken at Pancit ang lunch. Hahaha. Masarap. )

TAMBAY MODE NA KAMI. Puntang souvenir shop para bumili ng Gatorade at CHICHA. Tapos pinakain namin ni Angelou ‘yung mga doves na lumalapit. Haha. Feeling close na kami. ) Tapos pumunta kami [ako, zyra, anna, alec, crizelda at iba, hindi ko maalala.] sa Maze. Akala namin madali lang. Maliligaw ata kami. Lumabas kami sa hanging bridge with the view of a lake kung saan nagsiswim swim ang mga ducks. Tapos pasok ulet kami sa isa pang hanging bridge na papuntang exit na. Wala, dere-deretsyo lang kami hangang makalabas. tapos nakakita ako ng tunnel. Lumusot kami dun. Grabe, hindi ako kasya. Pero nakalabas pa rin kami. Laro naman ang inatupag namin. Pati picturan inatupag namin. Hahaha.

MAY NANGYARI. Habang nagduduyan kami, etong si Leo, masyadong nagenjoy sa pagtulak kay Anna sa duyan so hulaan ang nangyari. Sumubsob si kawawang Anna sa lupa, FACE DOWN. Dumugo ‘yung labi ee. So takbo agad kami sa Medics or whatever for help. Haha. So ayun lang.

Wala na masyadong thrill. Uwian na. Mabilis ang mga pangyayari. Isang tawag lang at nasa bus na kami by 1:15PM. Katabi ko ulet si Roseann. Pagod lahat. Masakit katawan. Kalagitnaan pa lang ay groge na lahat. So, goodluck sa next batch. )

DARKCHEDDAR || CARLOS

Network our way through the recession?

There is a funny video about Linkedin going the rounds that I found from @jackiecameron1.

Unemployed people sign up to Linkedin in a desert of jobs. Everyone is networked, but to each other, to no one has a job.

What use is networking if there are no employers in the group?

Networking is not hitching a ride!

What is very apparent in the rather delightful (and accurate) spoof  is that no one is doing anything.  Everyone is trying to hitch ride on everyone else!

Who in that network is trying to make anything happen? Who is inviting other people to help, even for free?

Networking out of a desert of jobs

To take the metaphor of the desert further, if anyone got the group organized to look for water, they might find some!

Why doesn’t anyone start some useful activity?

The simple answer is that no one there trusts anyone else. If they did, they would invite them to do something!

How do we begin to organize that group?

Here are 7 steps for organizing a group who seem to be out of ideas, out of resources and who don’t know each other well.

A  Show Confidence in Your People

#1 Begin!

#2 Be active.

Do something! Sit down and make a sandcastle! See who helps.

B Help Your People Gain Confidence in Each Other

#3 Change the sandcastle so that people are helping each other.

Move your position so that you are handing sand to the person building. When another person joins in, move to the the end of the line.

#4 Move the line slowly in the direction that seems most promising.

At the same time, get people to sing so that they become more aware that they are a group.

Keep your attention on the sandcastle by-the-way!  People are only going to be bothered with the sand castle if you are!

C Work with People Who Trust the Group

#5 Position a reliable person at the end of the line while you start a new line.

Make sure the person at the end of a line knows to sing out if they see anything unusual on the horizon.

D Bring Information About Opportunities Into the Group

#6 When someone sees something unusual on the horizon, don’t create a stampede.

Move the whole bicycle wheel, by changing the direction that the sand moves. Move the sandcastle builder to the other end and reverse the direction of sand. In an orderly way, move the other spokes. Keep it playful!

E We Are All In This Together

#7 Continue and continue!

You might decide to abandon your group and go it alone.  Yes, it might be slow moving the group along and it might feel as if the group is slowing you up.  But aren’t your chances of finding water higher in an organized group looking out for each other?

It is easier to think straight when things are really bad

It sometimes feel that deserts are too much to cope with.  I am also going to tell you that deserts are better than abandoned farm land. You are lucky. Yes, you are!

Let’s imagine, you simply find yourself in a abandoned but essentially sound farm.  You don’t start building a useless sandcastle. You do something useful.  You start to plough the land and plant seeds.  The difficulty is that you have now fixed your group to that field.  You will be unable to move slowly across the horizon to a better place.  In modern parlance, your solution is not scalable!

That’s why I like the idea of deserts.  We are willing to abandon sandcastles and rebuild them elsewhere.

When you chose your seed project, build something, anything, where we can see results and where we can all help! Keep the projects short and sweet so that people can see results and move them as we spot other things on the horizon.

Experiments in extreme living

What I want you to do is to build something with the resources under your feet.  And invite someone else to join in.

When the person joins in, give them a prime spot and support them.  Invite another person.  Keep building.

That’s is the challenge. That is the task!

Years ago, during my rookie years at one of my previous jobs, I was invited to go on my very first corporate retreat. Several of my co-workers came along to the 5-day trip to a beautiful villa in Northern Connecticut. I couldn’t wait. What a great opportunity to network, have some fun, and experience gorgeous scenery. Top and middle managers, some of our most aggressive salespeople, and a couple of board members came along. I hardly knew them, but by the time the retreat ended we bonded a great deal. The common objective of the retreat was to promote team building. Therefore, throughout the activity we engaged in multiple activities to foster team work. One of my favorite activities at the outing was scavenger hunts. We actually had to think on our feet; while solving puzzles and codes, and reflect what it all meant — both to our work and to our personal life. We all walked away with insights, intellectual stimulation, and an in-depth knowledge of the gorgeous hunt area. Who would have thought that thinking, talking and exploring couldn’t be fun. Many of my co-workers and I kept in touch, even after some of us left the company. This outing showed me the importance of networking. In addition, It left we a much better understanding of the importance of corporate teambuilding.

Masakiです。前回はチームワークと日本社会というテーマに絞ってみました。今回は、Team Buildingとグローバル社会について考えてみたいと思います。

私が日本で仕事をしていた時、就職というより就社という意味合いで働いていたのかもしれないとう話しをしました。グローバル社会を考えてみますと、やはり就職という感覚の方が強く感じられます。

以前、中国人の同僚や友人と”会社への忠誠心”が話題になりました。彼等からは、就社意識とか会社への忠誠心は余り感じられませんでした。しかもキャリアスパンも３〜５年と短く、「アメリカに似ているな〜。」何て思いました。

日本の会社を引き合いに出して、「どうして会社自体に魅力がないの？」などと聞いてみました。彼等からの言い分をまとめてみると、「改革開放以降、沢山の会社ができ、それと同時に沢山の会社も倒産した。」「会社に人生を掛けるなんてギャンブルは、とてもできない。」「自分の職、プロフェッショナリティに力を付け、自分の市場価値を高める事で生き残りを掛ける。」「会社は、仕事や成果で報酬を払ってくれるところ。」などがありました。

アメリカ、中国でのビジネスでは、プロの仕事に対して報酬が払われる傾向があるようです。現在のビジネス環境を考えてみると、以前のように何十年、何百年とトップで走り続けられる企業も少なくなって来ているように思えます。また、急激に、そして永続的に続く経済成長も考えられません。このような環境では、特にグローバルな視点からみて、”会社依存型” の労働力よりは ”プロフェッショナル型” の労働力の方が自然な形なのではないでしょうか。

グローバル環境で、プロ意識が高い人達が集って共同作業をするとなると、やはりTeam Buildingという形になるのではないでしょうか。イメージ的には、野球のチームですね。ピッチャー、キャッチャー、ショート、４番バッターなど、それぞれプロとしてやるべき仕事があり、全員の力を合わせて勝利に向って突き進む。そんなTeam Building を軸にしたTeam Workがグローバル社会で意味するところのTeam Workだと思います。

この場合、仕事のスキル、個人のバックグランドなど、多様性に満ちた人間の能力を最大限に引き出し、牽引して行く力が必要です。つまり、リーダー的存在が重要になってくるのではないでしょうか。野球でいうと監督でしょうか。

日本の会社での ”まとめ役” とはちょっと違う役割をグローバル社会は求めているのかもしれません。いかがでしょう？

Es verdad. La palabra “equipo” cuando se habla de las gentes que forman una empresa, no me gusta. Sonará políticamente incorrecto, pero es verdad.

No creo en los equipos, ni en los ejercicios de team building, ni en las teorías sobre equipos de trabajo, equipos llevando proyectos, equipos para todo. No creo en frases como “somos una piña”, “somos como una familia”, “estamos en el mismo barco”. Una piña es una cosa cerrada, que cuando se abre para dar sus frutos, se cae definitivamente del pino, y sirve para hacer buenos fuegos. Una familia está unida por lazos inmutables, que vienen de la sangre, con comunidad de pasado, presente, futuro y ADNs igualitarios. Los barcos están en el mar, y la gente no se sube y se baja de ellos con naturalidad, hasta llegar a puerto, o hasta que llega la hora del naufragio.

Ni somos una piña, ni somos una familia, ni somos marineros. Somos una empresa.

Y en la empresa, me gusta más dejar espacio para cada individuo, para las diferencias, para las especificidades. Y “los equipos”, tal y como se entienden en la mayoría de las empresas, tienden más al café para todos, a la cadena que encadena, a la secta que recita el mismo mantra adormecedor.

Creo que en la redes, en las comunidades. Creo en individuos adultos, independientes, serios, razonables, que saben que su trabajo es eso: sólo un trabajo. Ni más ni menos: un trabajo.

Una forma de vida que no es toda su vida; algo que les aporta dignidad pero que no les condiciona; algo que les permite crecer pero no les estigmatiza.

CLICK EN LEER MAS Y SEGUIR LEYENDO
Quiero compartir con vosotros una anécdota personal, de donde me he nutrido desde hace más de 30 años para saber cómo quiero que sea la relación con gente con quien trabajo en una empresa.

Siendo muy joven, y no siendo de origen judío, decidí que había una experiencia comunitaria que valía la pena de ser vivida, y estuve 6 meses como voluntaria en un kibutz

Yo salía de la adolescencia, en una familia donde la vida era cómoda, y llegué cargada de teoría. Cuando me presenté a los organizadores, se limitaron a decirme donde estaban mis habitaciones – con un baño comunitario- y a indicarme donde estaban los comedores colectivos.

Después de eso, me fui a dormir, y a la mañana siguiente me levanté pasadas las 10am. El kibutz estaba a orillas del mar, por lo cual, y como no había nada organizado, que yo supiera, me fui a la playa. Baño, sol, descanso, y cuando me cansé, volví al kibutz, y pasé por el comedor comunitario, donde había unos enormes frigoríficos, abiertos las 24 horas, con leche, pan, yogures, y comida muy ligera. Por lo cual, comí, me fui a dormir la siesta y volví a la playa.

Pasé así 3 días, sin que nadie me dijera ni una sola palabra. Al mediodía del día 4, y al volver de la playa, fui al comedor colectivo, esta vez en las horas en que todo el mundo estaba comiendo. Estaba organizado como un self service: bandeja, y pasarela frente a la comida. Por supuesto, todo sin pagar nada. Era comunitario.

Y de repente, a mis 19 años, me ví frente a una bandeja llena de huevos fritos. Enormes ojos amarillos me miraban desde la bandeja. Muchísimos huevos fritos. ¡Y ahí fue cuando lo entendí!

Solo pensé: si cada uno de los miembros de la comunida hubiera hecho lo que yo, es decir, saltarse las normas de la convivencia participativa, ¿quién habría ido a recoger los huevos?, ¿quién habría alimentado a las gallinas? ¿quién habría preparado el comedor?¿quién habría puesto a mi disposición todo eso que yo usaba, irresponsablemente, desde hacía 3 días?

¿Querési saber la verdad? no fui capaz de comer. Me llené de vergüenza, y me marché. A la mañana siguiente, me presenté a las 5 de la mañana a los organizadores de los trabajos colectivos, y pedí que se me asignara un puesto allí donde pudiera ser útil. Sin mencionar siquiera mi absentismo de los días anteriores, me asignaron una tarea, y pasé a formar parte de la comunidad.

Nunca más tuve dudas de qué son en realidad los equipos. La convicción me dura hasta hoy.

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“Jauhi Orang Yang Mencoba Mengecilkan Ambisimu. Orang Kerdil Selalu Melakukannya, Tapi Orang Yang Benar-Benar Hebat Membuatmu Merasa Bahwa Kau Juga Bisa Menjadi Hebat.” – Mark Twain

Jose Bertanya?

Kepada yang terhormat bapak Djajendra, perkenalkan nama saya Jose, saya bekerja di sebuah perusahaan asuransi terbesar. Tugas dan tanggung jawab saya adalah sebagai team leader yang membawahi sekitar 20 orang. Saya harus menjaga team saya selalu produktif dan tetap bersemangat, apakah bapak memiliki tips-tips tertentu? Terima kasih.

Djajendra Menjawab!

Pak Jose, agar tim Anda selalu produktif dan tetap bersemangat, Anda harus memimpin melalui pikiran dan perasaan positif. Artinya, Anda harus selalu melihat setiap anggota tim Anda sebagai pribadi-pribadi luar biasa yang siap bekerja hebat untuk kualitas dan kuantitas yang hebat.  Jadi, awali semua tugas dan tanggung jawab Anda melalui prasangka baik terhadap semua kekuatan dan keunggulan yang ada di sekitar Anda.

Anda harus selalu berpikir dan berperasaan bahwa tim Anda kuat dan perkembangannya memuaskan. Dan, Anda tidak boleh terlalu panik ketika terjadi penurunan pencapaian target, tapi menjadi leader yang hebat yang mampu mendorong semangat untuk berprestasi dan memberikan keteladanan yang baik kepada anggota tim.

Sebagai team leader, Anda memiliki kewajiban untuk mengkoordinir, mengkomunikasikan, dan memberi perasaan yakin dan percaya diri kepada setiap anggota tim, untuk menjadi energi sukses yang selalu bekerja lebih baik dari hari kemarin.

Anda harus selalu melihat dari pikiran positif bahwa tim Anda adalah tim hebat yang memulai sebuah perjuangan untuk meraih kemenangan. Miliki mind set seperti itu! Jangan pernah ragu pada tim Anda yang hebat itu!

Tim pemenang harus selalu mempertahankan sikap yang hebat setelah beberapa kemenangan dan kekalahan. Jadi, saat melampaui target janganlah sombong dan berlebihan, dan demikian juga saat tim tidak mampu memenuhi target, janganlah panik dan meragukan kekuatan tim Anda. Sekian dulu ya, Jose. Have a great day!

Untuk seminar/training hubungi www.ninecorporatetrainer.com

Every time, I log into the course webpage, I curiously study the thumbnail-sized photos to try to unlock the mystery and wonder behind the smiling faces. It looked a lot like Adventure Pursuits from Cornerstone, but much bigger. If I questioned carefully, I might hear an exciting anecdote from a second or third-year student. Yes, I had waited patiently since September for this day, left unknowing of when it would exactly come. But as promised, I knew it would and all my curiousities would cease to exist. I am referring to Community Day, when all students are exempt from classes to participate in activities as a whole student body and give feedback on our experiences. So, not only do the day’s events allow you to become a closer community, but also help make Quest a better place. After all, we are building the university!

Although the tradition is strong, no community day is the same, especially as the student body expands exponentially each year. For starters, we were let out of class a half hour early, rather than completely exempt. Also, for logistical reasons, it is less of a surprise and some of us knew about a day or two in advance. Read about one tutor’s reflections on a past community day here. But despite the rain that caused us to move indoors and the fact that for the first time, over 200 students were present, we started by forming a huge tight circle, then simultaneously sitting down. The person in front of you is supported by you and you are supported by the person behind, so, as Toran  says, “we are all supporting each other.” We do a series of other team-building activities, such some making impressive human towers, which forces first, second and third years as well as staff and faculty to fully integrate by working together. With free pizza and snacks as a blatant incentive, we stick around and discuss our favourite features about Quest and suggest improvements. We are told that our suggestions really matter, and I am convinced because I know of a few from previous days that have already been implemented. Then, there are a serious of optional breakout discussions and students can choose to participate in those that interest them…health and wellness, volunteerism in Squamish, scholarships and financial aid, residence, classes and so on.

Why just attend a university when you can help build one?

If you have read my Join Our Team page, then you know the general benefits of being a Norwex Consultant, but how does that translate in reality? This is how it works for Canadian consultants. (For details on how to join my team if you are in the US, please feel free to contact me as it is slightly different.)

Until the end of 2009 it is still just $39.95 to get started. That price is going up in 2010 to $59.95 because Norwex has developed a training DVD that will be added to the existing kit along with a product handbook. Once you have paid for your kit and signed up as a consultant, we set a date for you to have your kick off show as soon as possible. I will come and do your show with you just as I would for any other host. You then get to receive all the product benefits of hosting the show to help build your kit, plus you get the commission amount from that show to add even more product. After your kick off show, your demonstration kit will be stocked with everything you need to have a successful show. In addition to all the products, we will also invite your friends and family to help you get your business going by hosting shows with you. I want you to start getting money in your pocket right away and the best way to do that is 6 shows in your first month.

If 2010 is the year for you to get started with Norwex, the best plan is to set your kick off show for early January which will give you the opportunity to talk to your friends and family over Christmas about your new business. Whether you want to join in December before the price of the kit goes up or you want to wait until January and buy the kit with the DVD in it is totally up to you. Either way, I will be sure that you have the opportunity to view the training DVD and to use my knowledge as your leader to access whatever information you need.

We have the most exciting and dynamic Norwex team, filled with many of the top leaders within Norwex. In the Fraser Valley, our team is incredibly generous and inspiring. You will get all of the support and encouragement you need to build a successful business and an endless amount of professional resources. Our team really is amazing.

If you have questions please feel free to ask without concern of being pressured. I want anyone who joins my team to do so in full awareness of what is involved. If now is the time for you, welcome.

I would like to point out something I don’t think we stressed during the workshop. On the video, did you notice that there was a significant issue regarding the Sensing/Intuiting preference? The attorneys were totally surprised at the reaction they got from the tenants when they announced their plans to convert the building. While they did give is some consideration (intuitive) they completely missed what the reaction turned out to be. Much more important though was the position of the tenants. They never considered or perhaps even saw the possibility that they would lose everything. To a certain extent, I can appreciate that the value they were fighting for was bigger than themselves – they could honestly take the perspective that they were fighting for all people in like and similar circumstances. However, a solution that provided protection for existing tenants during transition would have had far-ranging implications and applications. Instead, they lost it all – not is a way any of them anticipated, I am sure. But they lost not only their self interests but also any hope of establishing a precedent for other transitional property use issues. I see a very significant sensor/intuitive issue that I am not sure could have been overcome. But if someone could overcome it, it had to be approached earlier than it was.

Your comments on this issue would be welcomed.

I hope each of you had a wonderful Thanksgiving. And I wanted to thank you for attending the workshop – you were a great group and I enjoyed it!

I’ve had one email so far on the presentation. Remember the Christmas Basket hypothetical. One attendee who played the role of the person who worked on the project insisted that it was “her” basket. I then started asking her if she realized what she was doing to the relationships in the office. Someone commented that she thought that line of argument was having an effect. I hope you noticed what I was doing. I did not get into a logical argument about who it was intended for. I went right to the feeling/value argument based on relationships. I ignored the logic/reasoning aspect. This is what I meant when I said you should be prepared to have a feeling/value argument in every conflict mediation or negotiation. Please feel free to post a comment on your own reaction to the argument.

For those of you who would like to have a copy of the last Power Point presentation I made Friday morning, “Approaching Conflict”, please send me an email to robert@kubacki.com and I’d be happy to forward a copy.

Thanks once again for taking the workshop and have a great Thanksgiving weekend!

What Gives

“In the old days, it was not called the Holiday Season; the Christians called it ‘Christmas’ and went to church; the Jews called it ‘Hanukka’ and went to synagogue; the atheists went to parties and drank. People passing each other on the street would say ‘Merry Christmas!’ or ‘Happy Hanukka!’ or (to the atheists) ‘Look out for the wall!’”
–Dave Berry

“Yule” spread good cheer if you use these unique ideas for exchanging holiday cards with…

…Your Customers

 As customers check out, ask them to pick a card – any card – from the many hanging sealed in envelopes near your register. If you do not have a storefront, visit your customers with a mail sack of holiday cards in envelopes and invite each customer to pick a card. Inside each card is a holiday message and a gift – a discount off their next purchase. But, inside a few there are instant win slips for a special holiday prize.

…Your Employees

Looking for an entertaining way to give presents out at your office holiday party? From the stage, call out a common article that people may be wearing, or have in their purse or wallet, such as a red sock or a receipt for a holiday purchase. The first person to get the article in your hand gets to choose a holiday card in a sealed envelope. Make sure you move around the room a lot as you call out each article to give everyone a fair chance to get the article in your hands, no matter where they are sitting. Inside some cards there may be a slip of paper stating they’ve instantly won a special gift. Inside others are challenges the person must complete, such as naming all of Santa’s reindeer or singing the next line of a holiday song. Upon the successful completion of the challenge, the person gets to choose a wrapped present from the stage. If they are not successful, they get a consolation prize.

…Your Friends & Family

Once all of your guests are gathered at your party, hand each a holiday card. Every card should be different because the object of the activity is to have guests mix and mingle to sign next to an item on a list, placed inside the card’s envelope, stating how their holiday card is similar to other guest’s cards. They must find a different person for each match. For instance – find someone who has:

Award a prize to the first person to find all of the matches. Or, give everyone a set amount of time to complete the activity and place everyone who completed it in a drawing for a holiday-themed prize.

Looking for a way to break up the cliques at your office party, but don’t think you’ll have a snowball’s chance? This holiday mixer activity will thaw out your colleagues -http://www.wildlydifferent.com/wildly-different-diy-activity.php. Or, if you’re hunting for a way to inject even more holiday cheer to your party, consider purchasing one of the holiday treasure and scavenger hunts from our sister company, Masters of the Hunt, at this link – http://mastersofthehunt.com/holiday-scavenger-hunts.php.

The downing of an enemy aircraft is a special moment of triumph for the solitary warrior who travels at supersonic speeds and engages in split second battles. “Life in the fast lane” takes on a very literal meaning.

Much like the super salesman or the President of a business, the success of the pilot’s mission is dependent on years of training that is focused into split second decision making. Life truly is “lonely at the top” in this profession.

While our eyes are riveted on news reports from the battlefields of the Middle East, we are provided with constant reminders about teamwork and leadership.

A reporter was interviewing a pilot who had just returned from a mission during which he had shot down two enemy aircraft.
The reporter asked, “How do you feel about your victory?”

Without as much as a brief hesitation the young pilot responded, “This was a team victory and I’m only one member of the team. That the mission was successful is a credit to the people that build the planes, design the weapons, and the crews that maintain the equipment and control the missions.”

Team work – the key to success! Not the super star, but the team.

Shift your eyes from the turmoil of the battlefield to the tranquil waters of a placid lake as an eight oared racing shell skims across the water’s surface. Crew is the ultimate team sport. Eight oarsmen pulling together in perfect synchronization at the direction of the coxswain.

Some members of the crew may be stronger than others, but their energies will be wasted if their efforts are not in synchronization with the team. Pull the oars together or the boat will falter in face of competition. Pull together or fall apart. Team success is dependent on the coordinated effort of the weakest and the strongest, all pulling together.

The message is clear for all human endeavors. Pull together or fall apart! The public might well see the pilot’s victory as an individual success, but the wise aviator recognizes he is the final instrument of a team effort. The beauty of the racing shell skimming across the surface of the lake is the unity of crew.

What are some keys to building a good team, being a good team member, and being an effective team leader? Begin by trusting your team members and assuming (until proven otherwise) that they are as committed as you are to the team’s success.

Maintain open communications within the team. Put an emphasis on sharing information, not just evaluation. Build respect, trust, and confidence with one another.

Recognize your responsibility to the team and put forth your best effort. Look for opportunities to give credit to others. What goes around comes around, as they say.

What are some of the things that undermine the building of a cohesive team? Criticism in all its forms is the single largest cause of unraveling team unity. Second guessing, talking behind people’s backs, and taking cheap shots at team members are all guaranteed to cause problems.

Pull together or fall apart. When you criticize part of the team, you’re hurting the whole team.

The message for all managers is clear. Your first responsibility is to be a good team builder. That means getting the right players, developing your people, giving them the ball and letting them play.

Determine where you want your team, your department, or your business to be in the future. Assess what skills, qualities, and attitudes your team will need to be successful. Then start to put the team together that will get you where you want to be.

The major reason people don’t succeed in a job isn’t lack of ability. Skills and ability are fairly easy to quantify and measure. We seldom hire someone who doesn’t have the capability to do the job. Create a climate in which people can get on board the team and perform to the best of their ability.

If you have chosen wisely, your team will develop if they understand their responsibilities and have the authority to meet them. People need freedom to grow, to make decisions, to take responsibility and they deserve the credit for contributing to the team’s success.

We and they. I and you. Them and us. When and how you use these pronouns can have a major impact on your effectiveness as a manager.

Former Alabama football coach, the late Paul “Bear” Bryant understood the significance of choosing the right pronoun to motivate his team. The “Bear” established himself as a legend while building winning football teams that spanned four decades. He claimed to have but three secrets to forging a group of young men into a winning team.

“There’s three things I always remembered to say”, commented coach Bryant.

“If anything goes bad, I did it.”

“If anything goes semi-good, then we did it.”

“If anything goes real good, then you did it.”

I imagine the “Bear” was over simplifying a bit. He probably knew a couple of more things that accounted for his 700+ collegiate victories, but he understood the importance of “pronouns” when it came to getting the most out of his people.

Managers, like coaches, want their employees to “take” responsibility for their shortcomings while “giving” to the success of the group. There’s a natural reluctance to resist “taking” what is being forced on you and its difficult to “give” what you don’t have.

We know a few things about improving individual performance and accomplishing group objectives. If people aren’t first willing to hold themselves accountable for their shortcomings, “I did it”, they will have a difficult time improving. On the other side of the ledger, we know that ego and selfishness can tear apart any successful organization. When things start to go well, “I did it”, can be the beginning of the end.

What’s the answer? How can managers use “I”, “you”, and “we” to encourage the “taking” of individual responsibility while at the same time “giving” to the group’s success.

When things go bad and a manager says, “you did it”, the manager is trying to “give” responsibility. It doesn’t work. The natural reaction to criticism is defense. “You did it” is an attempt to transfer responsibility, it does nothing to help people “take” responsibility.

Good people natural feel badly when something they were associated with is not going well. They’re willing to “take” responsibility if it is not forced upon them. When things went bad, coach Bryant discovered that if he said, “I did it”, those around him would “take” responsibility. If he said, “you did it”, there was resistance.

When things go well, you can’t expect someone to share the credit unless they have some credit to share. If the manager says “we did it”, the individual will think, “how about me, don’t they appreciate what I did?”

When a manager “gives” credit, “you did it”, the individual has something to share. If a manager personally gives credit to each member of a group, their collective response will be “we did it.”

Another famous coach, John Wooden of UCLA, the most successful college basketball coach in the history of the game, understood the intricacies of giving credit and building a winning team. Coach Wooden said, “it’s amazing how much can be accomplished if no one cares who gets the credit.” When things go well, managers must be prepared to “give” the credit to others. “You did it”.

While we want people to take responsibility for their actions, we accomplish little my associating failures with individuals. Examine the following example.

A piece of equipment in your business, a forklift, breaks down. The employee operating it at the time, Bill, reports the breakdown to you. With Bill right there, you pick up the phone and call your boss.

“Hey boss, Bill just told me ‘he’ broke the forklift. Do you want us to call the service man?”

How do you think Bill feels? Probably angry. He doesn’t think he broke the truck. You didn’t mean to suggest he did. You could have just as easily reported, “the forklift broke down”, but that little pro noun just snuck in there. It might seem like a small difference, but it can cause big problems.
It’s important for all the employees in a business to understand that they share their success. A sales person won’t get the order unless the receptionist answered the phone, the factory produced the product, the shipping department sent the merchandise, and the accounting department took care of the details.

Its important to build a “we” attitude for a winning team. But when things are going well, every member of the team needs to hear “you” did a great job every now and then.

Forming a team is always awkward at first. You are all new to each other, nobody knows what anyone likes or dislikes, and you are all in the same boat trying to figure out how you can all work together.

Instead of letting people stumble upon how you operate tell them upfront! You can do this in a clear focused way using what I like to call The Drucker Exercise.

The Drucker Exercise

The Drucker Exercise is a powerful relationship building exercise to help you and your team gel at the start of a project.

By sharing the answers to four simple questions:

• what am I good at?
• how do I perform?
• what do I value?
• what contribution can be expected from me on this project

you give your team the means to figure out how best to work with you, while at the same time setting expectations around how you can best work with them.

For example, spend two minutes thinking hard about what you are world class at and what you can do better than anybody else.

Understanding your core strengths is good to two reasons. First, it raises your level of self awareness (necessary for spotting opportunities where you can really shine). And secondly, it tells others where they can expect you to excel and where you are really going shine.

The next question to ask yourself is around performance.

How you perform is giving team members a heads on where your magic comes from. Are you a morning person? Let them know. That way they won’t schedule meetings with you during your most productive hours.

If you enjoy collaborating, but occasionally require moments of solitude, let them know that too so they won’t be surprised when you grab your laptop and head down to the coffee shop for some private brain storming.

The next question has to do with your values.

Values are about what you stand for. There are stake in the ground that let’s people know what’s important to you and what you care deeply about. Letting people know what you stand for is important because it gives them insight into what they can expect from you, and better predict how you are going to act and behave.

For example, say on your last project you were perpetually being asked to cut corners, hack, and take every liberty with the code base in the name of speed. Quality was all but thrown and the window and you felt bad coming in every day knowing you weren’t going to be able to do your best work.

If quality is important to you on this project then set that expectation upfront. Let the team know you are going to stand for shoddy craftsmanship. Your code is always going to be accompanied by a suite of automated tests you won’t tolerate bugs—of any kind.

Which brings us to our last question. What can the team expect from you on this project.

This question really gets into what role(s) you can be expected to play on the project.

If your a developer with a passion for user experience, let them know that in addition to cutting high quality code you would like to participate in designing the user experience.

If you were an analyst on the last project, but are now stepping into the role of project manager, let them know they won’t be able to count on you for analysis during this project as you will have your hands full learning the ropes of project management.

Setting expectations about roles at the beginning of the project is good because if there is any confusion about who is doing what, this brings it out on the table for all to see.

Then if any expectations need to be reset (including yours) you can do it before the project begins, and avoid having to reset expectations later.

Don’t wait

You don’t have to wait for a new project to do the Drucker Exercise. You can do it right now. Yes it takes courage to share this kind of stuff with your team. But when you do the response is almost always the same: “This was most helpful. Why didn’t you tell me about this sooner.”

Of course the real power of this exercise comes from doing it as a team and sharing your thoughts with others.

For the full story behind the Drucker Exercise get a copy of the paper Managing oneself and give it the full read. You won’t be disappointed.

“Having the power to make some changes, the serenity to accept the things that can not be changed and the wisdom to to make the difference between those two”, that thought was first on my mind when I started in this team building trip to Covasna.

New people, different characters all willing to disconect, to reinvent themselves and have the experience that they dreamed of.

Navegando por Internet, he caído sobre esta página, de la que he tomado este video. Espero que lo disfrutéis

P.S.: Gracias a Liderarte.com

Si te gustó, puedes buscar más, entre los Posts para Mirar Sonriendo

RUSNANO and AmBAR Announce the Business Plan Competition of Nanotech Projects 

    AmBAR creates a unique platform to facilitate the exchange of knowledge, ideas, and business contacts between technology entrepreneurs, professionals, and investors. The organization is also dedicated to accelerating access to capital for innovative projects and developing technology partnerships between Russia, Ukraine and other FSU countries and the United States. Through various seminars and conferences AmBAR provides educational programs that help entrepreneurs refine their business plans, and advance their product development and marketing efforts.

Ambar’s Mission:

·       To provide a networking platform for technology entrepreneurs, venture capital investors, and other business professionals from Russian, Ukraine and other CIS countries who are interested in innovation and commercialization of high technology products.

·       To educate, showcase, and support entrepreneurs in Russia, Ukraine and other CIS countries as they seek equity capital, corporate partners, and grow their companies globally.

·       To enhance all aspects of technology partnership between the United States and the countries of the former Soviet Union. 

SVOD Conference is right around the corner and we have an amazing lineup of speakers! Register today and don’t miss out on this unique networking opportunity!

 

    This is a not to be missed event for the entrepreneurs and the Venture Capital community. This year’s theme will drive a very exciting Agenda exploring “re-invention” as it affects the startup process on multiple levels — technologies, business models, financing, monetizing and team building.

 

 

• Vinod Khosla, Founding Partner, Khosla Ventures
• Charles Giancarlo, Managing Director, Silver Lake
• Steve Blank, Serial Entrepreneur; Founder, Epiphany; Lecturer, Stanford University, Graduate School of Engineering
• Sergei Beloussov, CEO, Parallels
• Ron Conway, Founding General Partner, Angel Investors LP
• Jason Pressman, General Partner, Shasta Ventures
• Adam Lashinsky, Editor at large, Fortune magazine; regular panelist and business commentator for Fox network programs
• Esther Dyson, Director, 23andMe, Principal, EDventure Holdings (sold to CNet), investor in Flickr and del.icio.us (both sold to Yahoo!) & Medstory (sold to Microsoft)
• Jeff Crow, General Partner, Norwest Venture Partners
• Vivek Mehra, General Partner, August Capital
• Ping Li, General Partner, Accel Partners
• Kittu Kolluri, General Partner, New Enterprise Associates
• Franklin Pitch Johnson, Founding Partner, Asset Management Company
• Peter Loukianoff, Partner, Almaz Capital Partners
• Guy Kawasaki, Managing Director, Garage Technology Ventures
• Pavel Pogodin, Partner, Sughrue Mion LLP
• Dmitry Dubograev, Partner, Femida LLP
• Leonid Gozman, Board Member, RUSNANO
• Mikhail Chuchkevich, Director, Project Office, RUSNANO
• Dmitry Vasuytinsky, Managing Partner, Allianz Asset Management
• Yan Ryazantsev, Investment Director, Russian Venture Company
• Bo Parker, Managing Director, Center for Technology and Innovation, PriceWaterhouseCoopers
• Phil Libin, CEO, Evernote
• Vlad Shmunis, CEO, RingCentral, Sequoia-backed company
• Matthew Trevithick, General Partner, Venrock
• Eric Buatois, General Partner, Sofinnova Ventures
• Vish Makhijani, COO, Zynga
• Vimal Solanki, Vice President, McAfee
• Evgeni Utkin, CEO, Kvazar-Micro, acquired by Sitronics, voted the Best Ukrainian Entrepreneur
• Greg Shenkman, General Partner, Exigen Capital, formerly CEO of Genesys, sold to Alcatel for $1.9B
• Mike Selfridge, Northern California Region Manager, Silicon Valley Bank

Whether you are looking for a deal flow, funding, information or networking – SVOD 2009 is the place to be! - WWW.SVOD.ORG 

 

 

Date: December 9-10, 2009

Location: Computer History Museum, Mountain View, Silicon Valley, CA

To Register: http://www.svod.org/

 

Russian Corporation of Nanotechnologies (RUSNANO) and American Business Association of Russian-speaking Professionals (AmBAR) announce the Business Plan Competition cor projects and companies working in the field of nanotechnology. Origination of the project may come from any country or person all over the world, but its implementation or some part of implementation has to be completed in Russia. In 2009 the nominees for the contest are pre-selected by AmBAR among the participants of the Fifth Annual High Tech Investment Conference SVOD 2009. For more information, please go to: http://www.svod.org/ or e-mail to info@ambarclub.org

The projects are evaluated by the following criteria:

• nanotechnology application;
• scientific and technical feasibility of the project;
• quality and feasibility of the business-plan;
• steps already made towards project implementation.

The winner of the competition receives the RUSNANO award and the prize in the amount of 300,000 rubles (~$10,000).

For more details, please see the Contest terms and conditions (in Russian)

As a manager, much of my time is spent focusing on the staff in one way or another. This is as it should be, since your team is your number one asset in terms of your ability to practice veterinary medicine. Veterinary medicine is a service-driven business. While veterinarians do dispense medications and sell products, their primary “business” is service-driven: professional examinations, professional services, radiography, surgery, etc.

Service industries require the human element, in order to function. This requires hiring, training and retaining solid teams that share in your philosophies. The culture of your practice should be a direct reflection of your philosophy of veterinary care, as well as client service.

In order to create and manage successful support staff teams, you need to first create a solid expectation for the culture of your practice. Spelling out expectations makes it easy for any new team member to understand what you want, the work environment you’ve created, and how they should function within those parameters. I call these expectations the Principles of Mutual Respect, and an example is shown here:

Principles of Mutual Respect

The ABC Veterinary Clinic is a diverse organization made up of people from a range of backgrounds with differing values and experiences. As an organization, we aspire to do our best. This aspiration extends to all relationships, including our behavior towards one another, and the clients we serve. These Principles of Mutual Respect are designed to encourage all individuals who make up the ABC Veterinary Clinic to work together in an environment where shared values are supported and diversity is embraced.

Statement of Commitment

Each staff member, manager, and veterinarian shares in the responsibility for creating and maintaining the practice’s environment of mutual respect. We demonstrate openness and fairness in all our dealings with people. Staff, managers, and veterinarians perform the functions of the practice in an impartial and professional manner. We act with care and diligence in the course of our work.

We recognize and value the contributions made by people to the Practice

• We affirm the professionalism of our colleagues, trusting and empowering them to work constructively for the well being of the practice community.
• We exemplify respect through the simple courtesies of always being on time, listening without interrupting, and cultivating a sincere appreciation of what every individual brings to a given situation.
• We recognize and respect, although we are willing to question, established obligations, systems, policies and procedures.
• We encourage and acknowledge a range of contributions that support our values and principles.
• We respect difference and welcome creative, or alternative viewpoints.
• We care for, and encourage staff members, managers and veterinarians in their personal pursuits.
• We encourage and support the educations, professional and personal development of all staff members, managers and veterinarians.

We care for the social and natural environment

• We ensure staff members, managers and veterinarians have the opportunity to become socially and environmentally responsible.
• We use our resources responsibly and seek to minimize or eliminate waste.
• We encourage and value a safe, healthy and creative environment.

We value and support the right to confidentiality

• All private information will be kept confidential, unless with consent or as required by overriding moral or legal obligation.

We avoid conflict of interest in all our dealings with the ABC Veterinary Clinic and the community

• We agree that a conflict of interest may occur when an individual’s personal, financial, political or other interests may conflict with the performance of their duties.
• We agree to avoid situations where there is, or may appear to be, a conflict of interest.
• Possible conflicts of interest should be disclosed to a manager on an ‘as needed’ basis.

We value a harassment free workplace

• We treat everyone we encounter with respect and courtesy, and without harassment.
• All staff members, managers and veterinarians have the responsibility to ensure that their behaviors do not harass, threaten, bully, belittle or vilify others.

We work towards building a harmonious working environment in which we maximize our professional performance

• We maintain honesty, integrity and professionalism in all our work within the ABC Veterinary Clinic.
• We encourage staff members, managers, and veterinarians to be personally accountable for their performance and behavior.
• We agree that any interpersonal friction is handled directly person-to-person, without lobbying for support from outside viewpoints.
• We trust that we will give each other the benefit of the doubt should others ever need it, and will each be worthy of that benefit when given.

Once you create your practice’s Principles of Mutual Respect, you should also write a statement of personal commitment for staff to sign and return as an acknowledgment. This can be filed in their personnel record. An acknowledgment statement should include the following:

Personal Commitment

As a member of the ABC Veterinary Clinic team, I do hereby acknowledge and affirm that as a member of the team I will abide by our Principles of Mutual Respect.

I acknowledge that each staff member, manager, and veterinarian shares in the responsibility for creating and maintaining the practice’s environment of mutual respect. It is my responsibility to do my part by understanding and utilizing these principles on a daily basis.

Signature: _________________________________Date: __________

Creating and implementing your own Principles of Mutual Respect is a solid step towards improving your own workplace culture. If you haven’t had one in place, launch it in a full staff meeting, explaining the importance of everyone’s participation. Ask every existing staff member to sign a personal commitment statement and get everyone off on a fresh start! In Part 2, we’ll discuss how to hold yourself and your staff accountable to the Principles of Mutual Respect.

My first year in UP Manila, as an Organizational Communication Student, holds a lot of memories for me;  memories, that were mostly associated with the feeling of being anxious, nervous, excited, scared, and all other bunch of emotions. It was my first year in UPM, after all. I remember that I always used to worry about being accepted by my block mates and think about how I would interact with them. It was a little difficult thinking, during that time, that I may not have the same interests with them. That’s how I used to be back then; until that one activity that changed and took all my worries away—our first block team building.

The day our block team building was held was also the day when I fully gained the trust and acceptance of my block mates. I think, the same thing would be true for them. It was really just a simple gathering hosted by some Intern Students of the UP Manila’s Guidance Counselor Department. The venue was set in the old NEDA Building Conference Room, and was just simply decorated with a banner in the wall, bearing our activity’s title: WE’VE ONLY JUST BEGUN. It was really a fun, fun day for us. Everyone was in the mood to break away from the academic stress and just let loose.

Our team building started with a briefing from the facilitators. We were given the objectives of the program, which was mainly to build a stronger bond among our block by breaking the barriers between us. They also told us that as part of the Guidance Program, it is their duty to help us in developing ourselves as students, and one is through team buildings. After that, series of exciting activities, such as games; mood-sharing; presentation; and contests, were conducted. Most of which were group-based, involving working with your teammates; thus, learning the value of cooperation, teamwork and unity.

our theme

Among the activities we did, one of my favorites was when we were told to put puzzle pieces together. Hearing about it first, it seemed to be a very simple activity; but then, the facilitators instructed us that we were not supposed to speak during the process. We were only given the chance to “act out” what we want to say. Along with that is, of course, being pressured by the time. It didn’t end there, however. In the latter part, when we were about to finish the puzzle, we found out that one piece of the puzzle doesn’t seem to fit anywhere no matter how hard we try. My group mates and I were all surprised and were in deep thoughts as seen in our facial reactions. Remember, we were not supposed to talk. “What are we supposed to do?”. That was when we noticed that the other groups were seemed to be having the same problem. By the end of the day, we learned that each of the group has one puzzle piece, which belongs to one of the other groups. It taught us that in a class, no matter cliques may eventually form; we are still linked together and are still considered a whole.

Apart from that activity, I also enjoyed consuming the free food and posing for the pictures.

The last part of our team building was a sharing activity. Everyone was given the chance to open up his/her thoughts on what happened during the event. We were asked to give our own reflection of the activities, what we learned from it, how we are going to use what we got from it, the experience and our feelings towards it. I can only remember that everyone answered that they were satisfied and very happy. We all learned the value of being united no matter how diverse we may be and different from each other. For my part, I learned to open up to my block mates and realized that I can be liked even by just being myself. Most importantly, we realized that everyone within that room during that day was not just another block mate or someone we know from the school. There in that room, we found friends; long-time friends.

Source : Team Building and leadership blog.
Do you ever stop to think how successful a hockey team would be if theydid not celebrate each and every goal they score? Or any sports teamevery time they put a point up on the board?  You would sit in thestands and wonder what was up if they didn`t.

Hockey teams celebrate all goals.  It doesn`t matter if they arelosing– they still celebrate each and every time they put the puck inthe back of the net.

So why do businesses seem to ignore the small goals?  In smallbusiness computer consulting, leaders seem to over look when staffachieves the smallest of victories and they even sometimes brush overthe big achievements in their business.

These are the same businesses that I talk with when they arestruggling, when morale in the workplace is low or when they are on alosing streak with clients leaving.

Read more @Team Building and leadership blog.

Whether in competitive sport or in the workplace, we can all sense and enjoy that moment when everyone is in the zone and pulling together towards a common goal.

There is no doubt that an excellent “team” will outperform a group of excellent individuals. It is a cliché, but the synergy created by a team firing on all cylinders, creates the capacity of an extra person, or more. Plus, the camaraderie and rapport generated is a pleasure to experience.

Former football manager, of Arsenal and Tottenham, George Graham said “Only a team player that has been involved in a major team event can understand the sense of togetherness that can send the dressing room temperature soaring in the moments before going out to the kick off. It is an indescribable feeling, but you can almost reach out and touch it. It’s a combination of harmony, brotherhood and a desire to do well, not only for oneself but for each other. In short its “team spirit”.

So how do we build that “team spirit” enjoyed by the Wimbledon crazy gang and Jose Mourinho’s title winning Chelsea ?

Firstly you assemble the right blend of people and set them off in pursuit of a common goal ; a goal that they all understand and believe in. Sandor Vesteveld the former Liverpool goalkeeper recounted that in 2001 before the first ball was kicked, the Liverpool team were all asked individually and privately what they wanted from the season. 99% of the players said “to finish in the top 3”. The common goal and commitment to it was immediate.

However, a common goal does not guarantee a common approach.

A team leader would be incredibly lucky to build or inherit a team where all individuals have the same values and desires. However, an effective team will include people who have the emotional intelligence to understand, appreciate and get the best out of those with different values to themselves. It is paramount that a leader has this ability.

The book “The 90 Minute Manager” by David Bolchover and Chris Brady tells the story of the 1972 Football League Championship, where Manchester City looked like they were heading comfortably towards winning the title. To add strength to their title run-in, manager, Malcolm Allison decided to buy Rodney Marsh, a player of undoubted talent and flair.

If you are too young to remember Rodney Marsh, check this out ….

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K1DMG9fCdB4&feature=related

However, Marsh’s individuality and flamboyance disrupted the flow of the team’s football, and City went on to lose the title. Mike Doyle a former City player said “It was clear Marsh just wanted to do his own thing. You don’t win anything with players like that in your side…All we had to do was to win 3 games to get the championship. But they persisted in playing Marsh and we lost all our rhythm and everything. We blew it “

All the blame seemed to be heaped on one person. But, what if they had been able to communicate openly with Rodney Marsh, understand his footballing values and motivation,  and then harness them to the good of the team. Would they have won the title ? Perhaps ?

We all know that strong relationships are essential in effective teams. We don’t need to necessarily agree with, or like our fellow team members, but we need to respect them and communicate effectively with them for the good of the team. Alan Hansen, the former Liverpool captain and TV pundit said “Human nature dictates that if you have 16 players, 2 coaches and a manager, they wont all like each other. But that doesn’t matter as long as you can rely on each other.”

However, there is a particular obstacle; we all see the world through a different set of lenses. Everything we observe is filtered through our own value system, which can mean we misinterpret the actions of others, causing conflict within a team.

Mike Doyle’s interpretation of Rodney Marsh’s behaviour was that he “just wanted to do his own thing”. It seems like Doyle was making an assumption based on Marsh’s behaviour on the pitch, seen through his own value system. We don’t know exactly how well Mike Doyle knew Rodney Marsh, but what if Doyle had a better understanding of Marsh and his values. What if Marsh was actually trying to use his individual skills, because he was totally committed to the team and that he thought that was the best way he could contribute. If this was the case and Doyle understood Marsh’s values, would his view of Marsh’s behaviour have been different?  They perhaps could have discussed how the team might harness Marsh’s skills to secure the title ?

 Have you ever been on a motorway and had a driver right up against your back bumper, flashing their headlights to get past. What do you think at that point ? Probably something quite negative and unprintable ! You might stay put in your lane to block them (with or without an appropriate gesture !)  or be intimidated to move over. How would you feel if you knew that person had a sick child in the car and was rushing them to hospital ? Probably a much different emotion, and you would gladly move over ?

Therefore, imagine how relationships and teamwork could be improved if we knew what was driving what people do and say ?  Imagine what it would be like to truly understand what makes us and others tick.

An American Psychologist called Dr Elias Porter developed a simple to use method for people to gain emotional intelligence and understand their own “motivational values” and those of their team mates. Porter’s emotional intelligence model is widely used for team development. In view of the supreme teamwork required, it is used by a number of UK police forces and even forms part of induction for all new entrants to the RAF.

To acquire new insights into their own behaviour and that of team-mates, individuals within the team complete a simple questionnaire identifying how they would behave in various situations.

From the questionnaire, team member’s “Motivational Values” are identified in the form of a colour or blend of colours. These are the deeply held values that drive a person’s behaviour, but which can change when the person is faced with conflict or stressful situations. It is thought that a persons value system is formed at an early age;  “show me the boy and I will show you the man”.

Depicting value systems as colours makes Porters theory memorable, easy to apply and fun to learn. It creates a common language to explore why team members behave the way they do.

Emotional intelligence allows us to be self-aware and manage our strengths and weaknesses. Have a think about this statement. “A weakness is merely an overdone strength in the eyes of someone else”.  Rodney Marsh’s individual skill was clearly seen as a weakness by Mike Doyle. But it may well have been Marsh’s strength just being overdone in a particular situation.

How often have you been in a team, and you have felt frustrated by the performance of someone you consider to be a “weak link”? You have probably judged that person based on your own value system. If you know the value system of your team-mate, you will understand better why they behave like they do, and with that empathy be able to discuss with them how their “strength” could be being overdone and how it could be used more beneficially for the team.

So how do we improve a team’s emotional intelligence ?

Firstly all team members complete the questionnaire to identify their value system and colour. The results are then plotted on a wall chart for the team to take away.

 Each colour or blend of colours is explained to the group. For example :-

Red value systems are motivated by task completion, speed, decisiveness, competition and achievement.

Blue value systems are motivated by the quality of relationships with others, team harmony helping people and caring environments.

Green value systems are motivated by thoroughness, detail, fairness, justice and independence.

A discussion then takes place about the profile of the team, what strengths each colour or blend brings to the party and where the teams “blind spots” could be.

The newly found insights are then road-tested in group exercises. Team members are put into smaller groups based on their values and touch papers are ignited !  Some fascinating and fun sessions usually ensue as you see the different value systems interacting, debating and enjoying “light bulb” moments.

So how does all this benefit the team? Team members will gain increased emotional intelligence and understanding of team-mates. This will improve the quality of relationships, reduce conflict and increase synergy, creativity and productivity. Last but not least it will help foster that elusive, immeasurable ingredient, “team spirit”.

If you would like to find out more about how emotional intelligence can benefit your team please contact Les Potton Chartered FCIPD ACII on 07533 161310 or les@target-hr.co.uk

Target HR are accredited facilitators of Elias Porters emotional intelligence model and providers of a full range of Human Resources Consultancy, Administration and Training Services.

Follow us on Twitter : http://twitter.com/Les_Potton

Facebook :http://www.facebook.com/pages/Target-HR

 www.target-hr.co.uk

Be Honest

How many people woke up this morning and said to themselves, “I’m going to be completely non-productive today”? How many people went into work this morning committed to finding a way to make mistakes? The answer is nobody. Nobody goes into something hoping to fail. So, why do some people flourish while others struggle?

The answer is leadership. And people deserve good leadership.

Ivy League Stars Can Fall

Let me tell you about James. (I’m not using real names here.) James was a star student at a private prep school. He was awarded the highest honors that the school could give. He was captain of several athletic teams and received top honors there as well. After prep school he was accepted to an Ivy League college where he also excelled both academically and athletically. It seemed like James was destined for greatness no matter what he did.

At his first job out of college, James began working for Brad. Brad is a hands-off manager. In fact, his hands are so far off you might think that he is absent. James receives minimal guidance and direction. The only time Brad gets involved with his team is when his boss takes an interest in what is going on in the department. When James is given projects to work on, he does them and does them well. But, on any given workday are as likely to see him surfing the web as you are doing anything for work.

So what happened? How did this Ivy League star fall so far? The answer is leadership.

People genuinely want to do good work and to be recognized for it.

In exchange, they will work hard to do what it takes to get the job done, if only the person in charge can connect with them and will lead them. If someone isn’t doing well at work, 90% of the time it is because they aren’t sure what is expected of them or they don’t possess the competency to do the job at that point in time. In either case, it is the responsibility of the leader to address it by making sure the expectations are clear, the skills and experience of the individual align to the work at hand, and the desired outcome is reached. Ken Blanchard calls this situational leadership and does a good job of illustrating it in his One Minute Manager series of books. Specifically, in the book “Leadership and the One Minute Manger” Blanchard says,

“Everyone has peak performance potential – you just need to know where they are coming from and meet them there.”

So, did James suddenly tell himself that he was just going to coast in his career? Did his new job reveal that James is not capable of mastering the requirements of the job? Not likely.

Servant Leadership

What happened is that James came face-to-face with self-appointed authoritarian royalty. Leaders like Brad are more focused on fitting themselves with the crown of authority than they are working with their people to help them achieve great things. Sadly this is an all too common story. The most effective leaders are those who have realized that they will be far more successful if they find ways to help their people to be successful. This is called servant leadership.

Servant leaders find it hard to work with people while wearing the crown of authority because the crown tends to fall off when you bend down to help somebody.

In what ways are you a servant leader? How are you helping people achieve the performance potential of which they are capable?

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Dave Hasenbalg is Chief Operating Officer of Customized Solutions, LLC and does coaching and public speaking on Leadership and Operational Excellence.
He can be reached at dhasenbalg@customized-solutions.com

Image Source: farm2.static.flickr.com

Nine out of ten people will tell you that you can’t achieve your ambitious plan – whatever that may be.

Now, I have absolutely zero empirical evidence to back this up. But try it out, you’ll see how many people find problems instead of solutions. This comes down to two basic points: it’s easier to say no and, every one of your successes puts you a step ahead of the next guy. Next guy doesn’t like that.

If you’ve ever championed a new idea, project, product or entrepreneued anything, you know exactly what I’m talking about. The lightning bolt strikes.  You work out the kinks, plan around the pitfalls and realize more and more how great your idea is. You build your confidence and do your homework — you’re off to pitch the idea. Much to your suprise it flops.  Perhaps you expected some push back, but really, you expected someone to say “that’s gold Jerry!”

It plays out the same in almost all situations, your confidants commend your ambition and then proceed to detail a list of why it wouldn’t work.

And just as quick as your idea came in you start thinking you were naive, your plan was no good and what a waste of time! Right?

It’s true our enthusiasm can shone a blinding light and we can miss some pretty important facts that may have required further consideration along the way. This happens. Just rememeber, had it been such a drastic road block you’d have thought of it early on. Your plan and idea still have potential so don’t blow these little criticisms out of porportion because your pride or confidence has been pricked.

Guess what – people say great ideas suck or won’t work all the time. And so goes every cliched story of perseverance, ever.

Today I was reminded that:

Every criticism is actually a challenge. Someone is just showing you a flaw in your plan, now figure out how to fix it.

That tenth person is out there. You know where you can find them? At the top of every organization. The same people who champion other peoples ideas, have their ideas promoted and supported right back. Call it optimistic leadership.

Here’s what I say to you then: be that tenth person for someone else. The world will be a better place when more ideas are kept out of the recycling bin.

Nine out of ten people will tell you can't accomplish your ambitious plan - whatever that may be. 

Now, I have absolutely no empirical evidence this back this up, nor will we delve deep into the why's. 

You can probably figure that put yourself. Outside your mom, significant other and go to pals your success means getting one more step ahead of someone else.

If you've ever championed a new project idea, product or entrepreneued anything, you know exactly what I'm talking about. 

The lightinging bolt strikes. You work out the kinks, gradually noticing the idea might just work. Your confidence builds and you pitch it to someone, anyone, a couple people. 

Much to your suprise while your confidont says they like your idea, they've just listed off ten reasons why you can't. 

Could you have been so naïve? How could you have over looked the obvious? 

Its true that we can be so enthusiastic about our own ideas we skim over some of the potential stumbling blocks and never look back. But, the driving factors that have convinced of your ideas efficacy so clearly out weigh the ones holding you back other wise you wouldn't be so convinced in the first place. 

When you first pitch your idea to the nine people who'll say its no good, while you're hearing valid cons to your pros, don't stop there. Way too many ideas die right there and then. What's happened isn't that your idea isn't any less good, in fact you've now identified more objectives to work towards to make it happen. 

Why do most people there then? Well, it hurts a little bit to hear that your welll thought plan may have some holes. As much as you won't admit it, you hoped somewhere deep in your belly that those nine people would say good lord you've struck oil! That's the sinking feeling in your gut when someone picks apart your plan. 

There are a couple things you can do to avoid this. One, keep your expectations low be objective and take every criticism as a challenge. After all its these peepple, the undiscouranle that never quit. These are the success stories. 

Two, be that one out of ten person. When you say yes, you CAN do that you've done way more good than bad. Remember its these people, the ones, who see the possibilities and accept criticam as challenge. Say yes you can to others, and what you're really saying is yes you can yourself.
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