Build a Team that Works for Your People

How much time have you spent building your team?

That doesn't mean a fancy outdoor course with ropes and ladders and touchy-feely conversations in the woods. Conversations are a useful idea, but you don't need the snakes or mosquitoes.

What you do need is a team that gets along. What you do need is a team that talks things over, that is able to reach consensus quickly, that can argue without fighting, that can embrace new ideas without trashing the old. You want a team that works.

People work best when they work well together.

Individual performances improve. Collective performance multiplies. Goals become much more achievable.

Build a team that works for your people.

How do you do that?

- Remove rules that get in their way without adding value to your product or service
- Challenge people to be their best and to help each other get there
- Delegate with authority and follow-up with diligence
- Measure what matters and ONLY what matters
- Find out what your people want most from the team and create an environment that makes it possible

Fix what bugs your people, and you can leave the bug spray at home.

-- Douglas Brent Smith

To learn more, explore Building Your Team

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The Benefits of Supervisory Training

When was the last time you had any leadership training? How often do the supervisors in your organization get training? If you are like most organizations, it's never enough. Some teams go without any supervisory training at all and expect supervisors and managers to learn as they go, on the job. Unfortunately, while it is memorable to learn from your mistakes, it comes at a high cost. People get tired. People leave. Important accounts go away. Customers complain. And teams struggle without the skills and knowledge it takes to build cohesive teams that are capable of solving problems, improving performance and achieving goals. Admittedly, I can be expected to support training since I'm in the business. Still, take a closer look at your own leadership career and decide for yourself. Are leaders better off with more training and development or with less? Supervisory training can generate benefits that pay off long after the training is over. Here are just a few of the things sup...

On Failure

Failing one test is study for the next. As adults, the learning never stops. We get to repeat the lesson until we LEARN the lesson. I've learned to take my lumps and keep learning. Keep getting better. Study harder, work harder, and fill the gaps. We all fail sometimes. Let the learning continue! -- doug smith

Own Your Time

Do other people sometimes waste your time? I facilitate workshops on workflow and time management occasionally and there are usually people in the workshop who blame their circumstances on other people. "It's all their fault" may feel like it takes the responsibility off your shoulders, but does it help? No. Any time we choose to be a victim we get to stay there. Time. No one knows for sure how much we have, except that we all have only 24 hours at a time per day. No stretching. No expanding. Time doesn't care what we do with it. Time keeps moving. So why blame other people? Sure, other people make unreasonable requests. Other people use inefficient processes. Other people make mistakes and talk endlessly when we know we should be working. But think about it. Other people can only do that TO you if you let them. Take charge. Move along. Keep your focus. Other people can only wast your time if you let them. Why let them? -- Doug Smith

Bust That Barrier

What stands in the way of achieving your biggest goal? There's always something. It might seem bigger than it is, but it's there. It might be hiding in the field like a clever little rabbit ready to jump out and bite with the force of a wolf, but it's there. And, the very thought that it's there can sometimes keep us from going through that field. Sometimes our fears of the barrier are bigger than the barrier. Get past the barrier. Go around it. Go over it. Go right thru it if you can. Get past the hold, the clasp, the fence, the fear. Get past the barrier. Sometimes a barrier is simply testing how much you want to achieve your goal. You do want to achieve that goal, don't you? Get past the barrier. -- Douglas Brent Smith Are you developing leaders in your organization? Bring our two-day workshop for supervisors, managers and project managers, Supervising for Success to your location. Contact me here: doug@frontrangeleadership.com

Coach like it's important...

Unless leaders coach for performance the performance will slide. Your people need you. Your coaching matters. Keep coaching your brains out! -- doug smith

Stronger

It's been a year. It's been more than a year, it's been a dilly. Are you building muscle? Are you building resilience? Are you creating greater possibilities by hanging in there and doing your best. Of course you are. And we can even do better. We are all far stronger and far more vulnerable than we've ever imagined. Keep thinking, keep singing, keep going strong. Just look at those muscles now! -- doug smith

Disagreement Clarifies

One of the biggest mistakes I've made, many times, was assuming that someone agreed with me. That's a dangerous practice. It feels easier to agree. It just isn't always the agreement we think we have. High performance leaders constantly clarify the truth. They clarify meaning. The granular details reveal the truth. Abstractions keep us smiling and nodding. Clear communication sparks the awareness needed to see true disagreement. Disagreement can be the start to understanding, and without understanding there can be no true agreement. The more clearly we communicate the more likely it is that someone will disagree with us. Then we know where we stand, and the direction we need to move. -- doug smith

Power In Your Foundation

Where do you start? When you're building a team. When you're starting a project. When your developing a career. When you bonding a relationship. Build a strong enough foundation and your subsequent mistakes won't matter. Take the time to create the agreements, the conditions, the promises that you keep. Take the time to steady the ship and the waves won't matter. Sure, problems will bother you. Certainly, mistakes will sometimes hurt. But that strong foundation that you build creates resiliency that will see you through. Why not build for the long, long term? -- Douglas Brent Smith

Communicate!

A lack of communication is often interpreted as a lack of care. -- Doug Smith

Get Going!

What goal are you working on? Maybe you don't spend every minute of every day working on your goals. I certainly don't. But when I do work on my goals they propel me forward. They get me going. Find your favorite goal. Work on it. Even if you start with the smallest task. Put one task after the other like little steps leading to a lofty elevation. Goals get us going. Because standing still goes nowhere. -- Doug Smith

High Performance Leadership

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