Five Star Performance

Effective team building is essential if your company is going to achieve its full potential. A team is much more than the sum of its parts, and even a group of great minds is not destined for success unless they can learn to work together toward common goals. Although your desired outcome may be to function like a well-oiled machine, the fact is that people are not machine parts. Personality clashes, egos, differences in opinion, simple misunderstandings, and so on, make it necessary and worthwhile to spend some time developing the teamwork aspects of working together, and helping everyone understand their important role within the team structure.

If you haven't checked out our new website please do! If you have, please let me know any suggestions you might have to further develop our website. I would love any feedback you might have, Thank you!

Successfully,
Patrick "Coach" Frazier

Patrick S. Frazier, CBC
Five Star Performance, LLC

[email protected]
http://coachingauthority.net
(574) 286-1123
Five Questions to Ask Before Forming a Team

A project or challenge comes up and many people without thinking immediately form a team to research, solve the problem, and implement the solution. Teams can be a very powerful way to solve problems and implement massive improvements, but teams aren't the right answer to every situation.

To get the best possible results from the resources available, it is important that a leader answer a question they typically don't ask - "Is a team the best way to address this situation?"

Unfortunately when they assume the answer to that first question they jump to "Who should I put on the team?" When they start there, they may have already doomed the organization to less than the perfect solution before they even get started.

This article poses five questions designed to help you answer this important first question.

1.) Is the goal clear?

If the goal isn't crystal clear yet, don't form a team. A team can develop a problem statement and solve a problem, but they can't work successfully (at least not quickly and efficiently) with a goal that isn't clearly articulated. Once the goal is clear (you might want to meet with a couple of people in a one time meeting to get this clarity), you can continue on with the rest of the questions. Until then, don't form a team!

2.) Will the team have the resources they need to succeed?

You may be the person who needs to provide those resources, or you may need to negotiate for them. Teams need to know what resources they have in terms of skills, budget, time, support, and more. While a lack of resources will challenge people and teams to be creative, there is a limit to this! Teams will falter and struggle without the necessary resources needed to succeed. Proceed with out them and you risk massive frustration and low productivity.

3.) Does this really require a team?

This is perhaps the biggest of the questions. We all value collaboration and teamwork, but they don't have to go together. Collaboration can be achieved without a team. Perhaps what you need to do is assign or find a person to run a project, and encourage others with valuable input and experience to collaborate and help as needed. Remember there is a big difference between putting people on a team and asking them to help on an as-needed basis. When you remember that you can foster collaboration without a team you allow yourself to really answer this question successfully.

4.) What is the relative importance?

Not all projects or problems are created equal. It is important to consider the relative importance of a situation before dedicating a great deal of resources to it. Think about your overall plan and your people resources. See where this fits into your big picture before you decide to form a team, versus assigning it to a single person to manage.

5.) Is there time?

It takes time to schedule, form, acclimate, and help a team get a good start. Is there time for all that, relative to the need for a solution or answer? If not, get someone, get a decision, and move on.

If you get yes answers to all of the questions above, congratulations! Form your team and help them succeed.

But if you get one or more no answers-do yourself and those you might put on a team a favor. Think a bit longer before automatically forming a team.

March 5, 2013
Join Our Mailing List
Visit Our Website
View my profile on LinkedIn
Follow us on Facebook
Team Leadership

In today's business, the team leader is the main link between the organization's goals and the people who are responsible for the daily activities that make those goals a reality. Because of the necessary and integral role that this position plays, it is obvious that good team leaders are key to the success of any organization.

Many everyday decisions required within this role affect profits, productivity, service levels as well as attitudes and morale. With a role and function of this magnitude, it would seem logical that the process of becoming a team leader would require years and years of training. However, most team leaders have had little or no training in the required skills. Almost universally, today's team leaders are men and women who have been promoted from being a superworker to being a team leader.

Brought to you by:

Five Star Performance, LLC

Five Star Performance
51818 Bonanza Dr.
Granger, IN 46530
(574) 286-1123
SAVE $500 on any
Team Leadership

Development Process!


The Team Leadership process makes team leadership development not only possible, but also eminently profitable. Individually, each team leader reflects the proficiency of a specialized knowledge, which creates a powerful force that assures the achievement of organizational goals through its people.

Better than 50% of a team leader's time is spent managing other people. To be effective in this role, it is important that the individual develops the skills necessary to effectively communicate and maximize productivity.

Offer Expires: March 31, 2013