New Book

New Book! I'm delighted to announce that my new book, co-authored with Stephanie Baker and Karina Whisnant, is now available! Organizing from the Heart: Change Your Mindset, Conquer Your Challenges is availabe as an ebook from Amazon or a downloadable PDF via HOPE Unlimited. Ebooks are $5.99 and the PDF is $4.99. This book was written in a way that includes teaching, personal study questions, small group discussion, tips and even a fiction story. It's designed to appeal to readers of all styles!  Visit this link to the right to get your cop...

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Sabbatical

Teambuilding Strategy will be going on a Content Sabbatical while we wait to see if the teambuilding portion of our business, including personality assessments and team coaching, develops a paying audience. This blog, in part, was designed to introduce people to these services and we feel that until we can support this part of our business effectively, we will need to step back from regular blogging. We may recycle former posts to provide content on an occasional basis from time to time. HOPE Unlimited, our parent company, has a variety of initiatives including the publishing of a new book in April, Organizing from the Heart and we will let you know when the book releases. It has a chapter on cooperation that lends itself to the idea of teamwork in your family and we hope you will consider...

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Four Questions to Ask Yourself When You Notice Problems on Your Team

Every manager faces it--those times when your team is not behaving like a well-oiled machine and you finally have to step in to do something about it--or him, or her, or the situation. Here are a few things to keep in mind. Is this a short term problem? In some cases, an individual may start behaving in a less than effective way, but only for a short time. This can be due to personal issues of all kinds, or a short term health issue, etc. If the person is usually cooperative, and you know of extenuating circumstances, you might try to be extra gracious during that window of time when their normal patience and kindness is not as evident (i.e. while their husband/son is deployed, while they get elderly parents into assisted living, while their...

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Make Their Job a Little Easier

A simple tip today...pick one or two employees on your team and ask them this simple question: "What would make your job easier today?" Then, as quickly as possible, try to act on that suggestion if it can be reasonably applied. If not, suggest an alternative that will help improve that employee's day. For example, let's say one of your support staff has to drop off the outgoing mail at the post office each day after she leaves work. Is it possible to hire a courier, or erect a secure mailbox at which she can put the outgoing mail inste...

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In Esther 8, some excitement occurs in the story of Esther. It is at this point that the king makes a decision to "approve" Esther's request that her people, the Jews, be saved from destruction. Isn't that great? Yes, but... What if the king's scribes didn't respond quickly to write the edict? (v. 9) What if people didn't know all the individual languages, to be able to write in that language, for all the various provinces? (v. 9) What if the "sealing" of the edict hadn't happened properly, to affirm the authority of the command? (v. 10) What if the person who "wrote in the name of the king" didn't accurately portray what the king wanted? (v. 10) What if the mounted couriers didn't speed to deliver the news? (They didn't have email or Facebook...

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There is No "I" in TEAM, or Is There?

There is a well-known quip that there is no "I" in team. After all, team is spelled  TEAM. One catalog for team building materials uses TEAM to mean "Together Everyone Achieves More." Ain't that special? In real life though, quips, mugs and posters don't automatically lead to a team working the way a couple of employees of a local firm described their team to me, as running "like a machine." It takes time, effort, and understanding to truly relate as a team. Because of that, yes, there is an "I" in team, because teamwork starts with YOU. Teams are only as good as the individuals that make them up. Yes, the whole is greater than the parts, but if the parts are defective, the team will be affected. (Hey, that sounds like another quip! "Parts...

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Peanut Butter and Honey

As I write this, I am sitting in my favorite writing spot, a coffee shop on the banks of the river in my city. Today I decided to have a whole wheat bagel with peanut butter and banana. There is leftover peanut butter, so I decided to add a little honey to it, stir it together, and finish it up just as it is.  Yum! You can't see the honey in the container. But you can taste it. It's that little bit of extra sweetness that brings the peanut butter to "treat" level. That "honey" is the same thing you will find in a workplace culture that has the undeniable, indefinable feeling of "this is a great place to work." Where does that culture come from? Taking care of your employees. Your people are your teammates. One organization I know refers...

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Teambuilding Idea: Appreciation Lunch

Bring in lunch for your staff "just because." Yes, it's fun to celebrate milestones and achievements, but it's also great to fellowship over a meal just because you are a team. Have no particular agenda for this lunch meeting, and for an even better treat, allow the staff to leave an hour early on the same day. That way they will feel like they also received their normal "lunch hour break" rather than having had to use it for a mandated lunch activity.&nb...

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Five Ways to Ease Tension at Work

Most of us want to enjoy positive relationships in our workplaces, yet work is often a source of tension. Here are five tips to help you mitigate some of the tension that occurs in workplace relationships. Understand personalities. Begin to study the people you work with. What makes them tick? What ticks them off? Over time, you can see patterns and learn to smile about some tendencies. You can also develop strategies when you know what you are dealing with. For example, if your co-worker is very talkative when you walk in the door, plan your arrival time to be a bit earlier than him or her so that you are already busy at your desk when they come in.  Have a boss that is a quick mover and decisive? Don't go into his office with information...

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The Light Bulb on Your Team

When you walk into a room, do you look at the ceiling lights or lamps and say, "Thank the Lord that these lights are working!" do you? Likely, you don't. You just expect the lights to come on when you flip the switch. If anything, it's most noticeable if you lose power and suddenly what you have come to depend on, and take for granted, isn't working anymore. Your organization probably has a lot of "light bulbs" on the team. These are the folks that, day in and day out, do the background work with excellence. They are attentive to detail. They like routine. They feel unsettled if things are not predictable. They may be somewhat critical, shining a light on people and tasks that can show their negative sides. You need these light bulbs. They...

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The Candle On Your Team

Warm and inviting. That's the atmosphere created when we light candles. There are people who create an environment that is warm, welcoming, and secure. These are the candles on your team--the ones who rarely get into conflicts, who lend a listening ear, who are stable and supportive. We need plenty of candles on our team. They tend to follow more than lead, so they will more likely carry out the work that is determined by the more direct individuals. They will often be the peacekeepers as well. They hate conflict. But beware. If a candle is continue snuffed, or irritated by drops of gasoline, they can "explode," surprising everyone and perhaps even themselves! Because they don't speak up as easily when conflicts occur, they let things build....

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The Party Light on Your Team

If you've ever walked into a room where a strobe light or mirror ball is running, you get the idea of the "party light" personality on your team. This is the person who: •   everyone knows•   knows everyone•   never walks into a room quietly•   is an expert at mingling•   knows what is going on in the organization (keeps his/her finger on the pulse of everything)•   can answer lots of questions about the company•   is in the middle of most fun plans You need some party lights on your team. They keep projects from getting boring. Their knowledge and influence can be very valuable as you make decisions. They will wholeheartedly promote your...

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The Flashlight on Your Team

He always has new ideas. She steps up to the plate whenever there is a new project to lead. People tend to gravitate toward him for instructions. She casts a vision and makes a plan. They are your flashlights. Every organization needs at least one flashlight. A flashlight lights the way, and is usually focused in one direction. In the event of a natural disaster, those with flashlights often become leaders for those who can't see where to go. In your company, the flashlight will "light up" when a new project comes along. They like to conquer goals and see tangible results. They don't mind saying what many wish they had the courage to reveal. They will set direction, make bold statements, and hit the ground running. They may also run into a...

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I'm married to an auto technician. Keith knows the value of doing a regular oil change on a vehicle. After a number of miles, oil begins to get dirty, fluids go down, and an engine doesn't run at peak efficiency. Gas mileage goes down and the life of the car may be shortened. It's the same way with the professional development for members of your team. Unfortunately, with a tight economy, professional development can be one of the first budgeted items to cut. It can seem hard to justify the cost of a class or conference when profits have gone down or income is low. But there are ways to continue to develop your team while keeping costs down. Here are a few ideas: Read a book together. Select a recommended business book and assign a reading...

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Setting Goals with Your Team

From time to time, it is wise to sit down with your team and ask, "Where do we want to go from here?" This can relate to new or existing projects, initiatives that need to be changed, or dreaming for the future. Here are a few tips for making goal-setting as a team effective and fun! Dream big, but be reasonable. Let your team brainstorm crazy ideas and after they are all on the table, then begin to select a goal that is reasonable. For example, if they want to have a big appreciation event for your clients, let them brainstorm big, then design and edit as needed to fit budget and business culture. Merge individual and team goals. Encourage your team members to set individual goals as well as name what they would like to see the team...

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A Request...

(We realize this may be a duplicate for those who receive these posts by email. We apologize for the inconvenience but needed to provide a working link. Thanks for understanding.) If you have subscribed to this blog by email, we would like to invite you to also subscribe to our "Friends of H.O.P.E." list. We send occasional updates about services that may interest you...no more than two in a month, for example, and sometimes not even that. We announce opportunities such as Break Time Bible Studies, resources for organizing/team building/money management, and holiday greetings. In the past, those subscribed to our blogs were automatically added to that email list as well but now we want to leave that up to you! Please consider joining that...

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