TTN Training Blog » implementation http://blog.ttnlearning.com Customer Inspired Solutions Wed, 05 Jan 2011 20:34:39 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 Winning Teams http://blog.ttnlearning.com/winning-teams/ http://blog.ttnlearning.com/winning-teams/#comments Thu, 25 Feb 2010 22:23:42 +0000 Jenny Ellingen http://blog.ttnlearning.com/?p=111 Think back to grade school gym class….back to the days of dodge ball.  The object of the game: players try to hit each other with large red rubber balls while trying to avoid being hit themselves. The gym teacher would pick the team captains.  The rest of the class would wait…some with much excitement that they would quickly be chosen while others would hide in the shadows dreading the whole process.  In my gym class the order of picking usually went something like this:

1.  Best friend(s)
2.  Kids that were pretty good athletes
3.  Kids that your best friend would tell you to pick
4.  Divide the last couple of kids that didn’t really want to play the game anyway

Then the game began.  The balls started to fly.  If you were able to avoid injury or knocking someone’s glasses off, you were golden.  Before you knew it the game was over.  If your team lost, the kids that were in category #4 usually let this roll off of them.  The other kids usually did one of two things.  Either they would blame the kids in category #4 for losing the game or they would blame someone on the other team for doing something to someone in category #4 that caused their team’s loss.  The one thing that they didn’t do is look at how their own performance contributed to the game.

The business world can be a giant game of dodge ball.  We are all part of diverse teams with expectations to win every time.  There may be a lot of pressure and pushback from your teammates.  You will have the team captains who organize the project, you may have peers on your team, teammates that have certain skills needed to get the project done, and there will be the ones that don’t care and don’t contribute.  How do you all work together and deliver? 

Define clear goals and objectives.
Clear communication is essential in order for team members to know what is expected of them.

Discuss and agree on individual responsibilities.
This step will help keep individuals on task and it promotes personal accountability. 

The leader must lead by example.
A strong leader must create a high trust environment so the team will participate in discussions, ask questions, and address conflict. The leader must also have an action plan for conflict that may arise.  With all of this in place, the team will make the most of the time that they have together.

Regularly evaluate and discuss the team’s performance and progress.
A reminder of what is expected and reviewing the goals and objectives throughout the project will keep the project defined.

By implementing these simple steps, you will understand your role in helping your team win every time and you will not get caught up in the grade school blame game.

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