| Upcoming Events |
|
February 21st -- Live Webcast: Team Building
Register for Spring computer classes at the Downtown Education Center or Contact Stacy Boyle at 314-539-5041.
**Please note correction of date for the April seminar. It will be held on the 10th not the 16th.
Details coming soon on New Customer Service Seminars. |
|
Quote of the Month |
|
"Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence win championships."
- Michael Jordan | |
| Greetings!
Welcome to the Valentine issue of Just Add Value. What do CBIL and Valentines have to do with one another? We really like and admire our clients! This month we focus on work teams. You probably already know that these days, it's all about teamwork. Leaders are often rated on their ability to put together creative, productive, and profitable work teams, and many organizations are now rewarding work efforts on the basis of team, rather than individual, performance. Want to put teamwork into practice right now? Share this newsletter with members of your work group. Better yet, invite them to join our mail list. Happy Valentine's Day!
|
Building a Great Work Team 
So they said you should be a team player. What's so great about that? The Cardinals and the Rams are teams - look what happened to them. Besides, you're an expert, you know what's what. Working with others would only slow you down and cramp your style. Maybe we ought to rethink this teamwork stuff.
On the other hand, what if something happens that keeps you from putting your expertise into action. You could get reassigned, you might have to go out of town at a crucial moment, you could get sick, you could get playoff tickets . . . Hmmm . . . Maybe having some people around who could help out and watch your back wouldn't be so bad.
OK, who'd be good on the team? People who know their stuff? Check. People who get along with you and each other? Check. People who share the vision? Check. In other words, people who are just like you! But wait . . . What was it that guy from CBIL said last month? Oh yeah. He said,
"The best teams are made up of people from diverse backgrounds, with different kinds of experiences, and who can cooperate in pursuing the team's goals."
|
|
"No one can whistle a symphony.
It takes an orchestra to play it."
- H.E. Luccock |
 Meet the Practice Leader
Barry Schapiro is the Business Practice Leader for Leadership & Team Development at CBIL. He has a wealth of experience in a variety of arenas, including commercial business, non-profit organizations, and academic environments. His background includes management and delivery of corporate training, business consulting, website management, college level teaching, and delivery and management of mental health services. Barry is a skilled facilitator with interests in the areas of team building, career development, interpersonal communications, and leadership development. He has a BS and an MSW from the City University of New York.
|
|
"None of us is as smart as all of us."
- Ken Blanchard | |
Team Charters: What's the Point?  Team building is a process that has taken on more than one meaning. What do you think of when you see or hear the term? You might think about a day off in the country, with some fun and games, maybe a little rope climbing, lots of rah-rah, etc.
On the other hand, you might think about how to get a group of people at your workplace to cooperate with one another to bring about a desired result that will benefit the organization all of you work for. If that's your idea of team building, then I've got something for you -it's called a team charter.*
Whenever you put a new team together you want to make sure that after you've decided who will be on the team, these people know what they're there for. Chartering the team means leading them through a process of deciding their...
· Purpose: the focus of the team's efforts, its primary reason for existence, and how the team supports the organization's goals
· Accountabilities: the team's main job responsibilities and deliverables, budgetary issues, etc.
· Goals and deadlines: what they need to accomplish and how, when, and by whom it will be accomplished
· Ways of measuring and displaying success: how progress is tracked and reported on
· General ground rules: behaviors and expectations regarding work, communicating with one another, decision making methods, etc.
· Specific meeting ground rules: frequency, duration and mechanics of meetings
Read on... |
|
"Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much."
- Helen Keller |
Generating New Ideas
 Whenever a work team needs to generate new ideas, get everyone together in a room with someone appointed as a facilitator. After a general discussion of the nature of the problem/issue, distribute 4"x6" index cards to everyone and ask them individually to write down their best idea. The facilitator collects the cards after a predetermined time period and posts them on a wall. Everyone gets to read all the ideas and gets to vote on the ideas using colored adhesive dots. Each person gets the number of dots corresponding to twice the number of people in the room, and must use all the dots, except that no more than half the dots can be used on any individual index card. Once all the votes are tallied, the three ideas with the most dots are selected for further study and consideration.
The use of index cards gets around the common experience that some people in teams/groups are more popular or influential than others. Ideas can be considered based on their merits, rather than on who suggested them. This technique also ensures that everyone on the team participates, and that there are no "lost children." | |
|
|
|
Thanks for reading. We hope this newsletter added value to your day, and made you smile. Email Shayna with your comments and suggestions for future newsletters. This is your newsletter, so tell us what you'd like to see.
Sincerely,
The CBIL "Just Add Value" Team
Center for Business, Industry & Labor
St. Louis Community College | |
|
