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Mind Tools Newsletter 135 - September 9, 2009
Build an Exceptional Team, Starting Now!
Teams: get them wrong, and they're frustrating, inefficient, and no fun at all. Get them right, and they're productive, rewarding and enjoyable to work with. What's more, better team-working helps your organization perform more effectively, at the same time that it propels you towards your own goals and ambitions!
With the stakes so high, it's easy to see why managers and leaders need to learn how to develop their teams and get the best from the people who work with them. Yet, time and again, we hear how teams get into difficulties, and how the people tasked with leading those teams are thrown in at the deep end, without being fully prepared for the challenge.
Over the years at Mind Tools, we've helped thousands of people solve team problems and become exceptional team leaders, and we've built up a comprehensive toolkit to support this. Now, we've taken this a step further: working in collaboration with Professor Felix Brodbeck, a global expert on leadership and team management, we're proud to announce the launch of the latest Mind Tools training program: Team Tools: Build and Lead an Excellent Team!
At 160 pages in length, Team Tools teaches the 44 skills needed to identify the very best people for your team; evaluate their developmental needs; motivate and inspire them to perform excellently; build the creativity, pro-activity and engagement needed for lasting success; and deal positively and successfully with problems along the way.
In This Issue - Team Excellence Month...
To celebrate the launch of Team Tools, September is Team Excellence Month at Mind Tools! As such, we have a month-long program of team-enhancing events within the Career Excellence Club, helping you build your team management skills, and optimize the performance of your team.
In this issue of the newsletter, we feature the CONNECT Model. This is a simple approach for improving relationships within your team, and it's just one of the tools and techniques that you’ll learn within the Team Tools course.
...and Our "Team Tools" Offer!
For the next 9 days only, you get the Team Tools coursebook (worth US$37) to download as a free bonus when you join the Mind Tools Career Excellence Club.
The Career Excellence Club is your single, central career training resource, bringing together into one place the skills you need to make a real success of your career. In it, you'll learn leadership, team management, decision-making, project management, business creativity, personal productivity, communication skills and much more. With new resources every day, the Club is a dynamic and engaging way of keeping up-to-date with your personal development!
Join us in the Career Excellence Club, and build exceptional team management and team leadership skills during September. The first month's membership is just US$1 - yes, one dollar. You can cancel any time, and keep the Team Tool course even if you do! (There's no lock-in at all - we just want you to experience the Club, and decide for yourself if you want to stay as a member.)
Click here to boost your team excellence skills, but do it now - this offer closes at midnight PST on Friday, September 18! |
Enjoy reading about The CONNECT Model, and make sure you also check out the articles in the "What's New?" section below!
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James Manktelow and Rachel Thompson
MindTools.com - Essential skills for an excellent career!
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What's New?
Free Resources |
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Why Soft Skills Matter
Making sure your hard skills shine
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All Readers |
| Does your organization encourage you to develop your people skills? Find out why these skills are increasingly gaining the spotlight, compared with technical skills; and learn more about fostering soft skills in your workplace. All Readers' New Tool |
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Job Crafting
Shaping your job to fit you better
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All Readers |
| No two people will fill a role in exactly the same way, but there are good reasons why you should try to adapt your job to fit your skills and interests. Find out how, here. All Readers' New Tool |
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Team Effectiveness Assessment
How good is your teamwork? |
All Readers |
Being a good team member requires skills in a variety of key areas. Take this quiz to see how well you, and your team, perform in these. After all, when you know what to work on, it’s much easier to improve!
All Readers' Featured Favorite |
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Career Excellence Club Resources |
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| Building Your Self-Confidence |
Club Members |
| Confidence is key to so many aspects of success. Two of these are skill development and leadership - critical for achieving your career goals. Work through the four steps outlined here, and start building your self-confidence today.
All Members' Bite Sized Training™ |
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Managing, by Henry Mintzberg  |
Club Members |
| In this book, Henry Mintzberg, one of the world's foremost experts on management and business strategy, looks at what managers REALLY do from day to day. Find out more about it here, and learn why he is so against traditional MBA programs. Premium Members' Book Insight |
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Editors' Choice Article
The CONNECT Model
A tested approach for building good team relationships
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Closing the gap successfully. |
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©iStockphoto/blackred |
Reflect for a moment: have you ever seen a situation where a simple disagreement between people has flared up into a bitter dispute?
If you’re like most people, your answer is probably "YES!", and you’ll have seen this often! In a personal context, these disputes can lead to ill-feeling and feuding that lasts a lifetime. In a professional one, they can sabotage your team’s mission, or can split good teams apart.
This is why you need to manage these situations within your team. You need to defuse the negative effects of conflict before they damage your team, at the same time that you learn from and correct the underlying causes of conflict.
The problem with this is that it's easy to believe that others are at fault where relationships turn bad, and to ignore the problems that we ourselves may be causing. This is why, while we each have the right to present our own viewpoint, we need to be equally receptive and respectful to the views of others as well.
The CONNECT Model is an elegant tool for dealing with this problem. Developed by Frank LaFasto and Carl Larson in their book, When Teams Work Best, it's a proven approach for building and sustaining healthy relationships between the members of a team.
This approach is used to improve relationships between two members of a team, and has been tested and used by more than 5000 people in about fifteen different organizations. Before we start explaining the CONNECT Model, a small word of caution: the conversations that emerge when you use the tool may sound a little weird, and you might feel uncomfortable about using it (in practice, you may want to follow these steps informally). However, rest assured, you'll find that this is a powerful and useful relationship improvement tool!
To improve a sour relationship, follow these steps:
- Commit to the Relationship: This is where the people experiencing relationship difficulties commit to one-another to talk about how they will improve the relationship between them.
Here, you would invite the other person to talk using the CONNECT approach. Assuming some level of goodwill, the other person should agree to take part in the conversation - this gives a measure of commitment from both sides to improve the relationship. When you are both ready to talk, explain to one-another why you think it is important to give the relationship a try, what is it worth to each of you, and why you are both willing to put effort into it.
- Optimize Safety: Next, create a feeling of safety for each other. Tell each other, in so many words, that you will do your best to not put each other on the defensive, and that you will make an effort to be more open to understanding and appreciating each other's views. You might feel a little awkward in talking to each other in this manner, but once safety is established, the rest of the process becomes easier to manage.
- Narrow Down to One Issue: Now that the stage is set, you can identify the real issue that brought you to loggerheads with each other. Remember, you should conduct this discussion in the same manner as you would conduct conversations in a meeting. Communicate on an adult level, treat each other with respect, give out all of the necessary information, seek participation from each other, and so on. Also, remember to use a lot of "we" instead of "I" in your conversation: this will reiterate the fact that you are both in this discussion because you are part of a team, and team's interest should not suffer because the two of you are not on the best of terms with one another.
- Neutralize Defensiveness: In your preparation for the conversation, try to come up with a list of words, phrases, or comments, which could put the other person on the defensive. Avoid these when you talk. Also, when you begin the conversation, ask the other person if any of your actions or words in the past have upset him or her, and avoid these when you talk. In the same way, explain to the other person how his or her behaviors have put you on the defensive in the past. The idea here is that you should both avoid doing and saying things that upset the other person, so that you can discuss the issue as constructively as possible.
- Explain and Echo: Also in your preparation, think carefully about what you think caused the problem. Then, when you reach this stage, explain to the other person your observations, say how you felt about this, and describe any long-term impact that may result, or may have resulted. Once you have explained this, ask the other person to "echo" what you have just said, which means that he or she needs to rephrase what you just stated from his or her understanding. Once the other person has done this, ask for his or her perspective on the issue, and echo this perspective yourself. This will help you both understand one another's viewpoint while, at the same time, promoting mutual understanding.
- Change One Behavior Each: Now that you have both understand one another, it's time for action. Discuss how you want to move forward with things now. What improvements are required? Choose one of these each, put your egos aside, and work to resolve these for the interest of your team.
- Track It: Once you've made commitments, it's time to honor them, and this step is focused on tracking the commitments. Set a future date to meet with one another to discuss how things are going, and see if you can improve things still further.
By going through this exercise, you'll find that this effort has helped:
- Bring rationality to the situation: Since this approach asks participants to be well prepared for the CONNECT conversation, it gives people the time and space they need to think calmly about the situation.
- Bring issues out into the open: CONNECT helps you bring emotive issues out into clear sight in a controlled way, so that these can be addressed.
- Promote team spirit and mutual accountability: As team members resolve issues that previously disrupted their working relationship, this helps you improve the team climate.
Next time you run into a serious conflict, whether at work or at home, try using CONNECT. It’s a great way of helping people to be happier – and of boosting teamwork at the same time!
CONNECT is just one of 44 team building skills taught within “Team Tools: Build and Lead an Excellent Team”.
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Featured Resource
"Team Tools: Build and Lead an Excellent Team" Free!
Plus the training, help and support of the Mind Tools Career Excellence Club.
When you join our community, the Career Excellence Club, you'll learn more than 500 skills that help you excel in your career and in your personal life. You'll be a better team member, manager and leader, and you'll live a happier, better-balanced life. Plus, you get the support of our coaches, trainers and other members, helping you achieve your personal and professional goals, at the same time that you grow as an individual!
With Team Excellence Month in the Club; with the new Team Tools: Build and Lead an Excellent Team course (worth US$37) completely free when you join; with a first month fee of US$1; and with the right to cancel at any time and for any reason; this is an unbeatable career development offer!
Click here, and start boosting your team skills today! |
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A Final Note from James
Team building and team management are essential skills for business and career success. So it makes sense, for businesses and individuals alike, to invest in learning them. Whether or not your organization has formal programs in place, do make sure that you take responsibility for your own learning - that's the sure way of being a highly effective and successful leader!
We'll be back with our next newsletter in two weeks with more from Team Excellence Month. But in the meantime, I hope you'll join us in the Career Excellence Club to participate in Team Excellence Month, as well as learning more skills like CONNECT with your bonus Team Tools course!
Until then, have an excellent week!
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James Manktelow
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Mind Tools
Essential Skills for an Excellent Career! |
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