The Power of Teams…

Do you work as part of a team? What is your definition of a ‘team?’ Does your definition change when you change teams or does it stay constant and consistent? What defines a great team and separates it from a good team or one that is not working well?

I’m interested in all of those questions. I have been part of some absolutely phenomenal teams and some really terrible teams. I am sure the difference between the two is how they are managed. What criteria was decided when formulating the type of team needed, the important characteristics of the team members, how new members would be introduced as the team matured, what goals and milestones would be used to measure performance and how the team would share in outcomes produced whether positive or negative?

The Power of Regrouping…

Do you ever find yourself realising for just an instant that you’re holding your breath? Then, consciously, you have to will yourself to breathe again. That can be a little frightening while, at the same time, quite eye-opening. It is a call for you to step back, get a new perspective and regroup.

When you change your physical position and your physical disposition, you have the opportunity to get a new perspective, a new slant or direction and go back to what you were doing with fresh eyes, a fresh ear and fresh ideas. Regrouping doesn’t have to take a long time. It can be almost instantaneous. The key is that you have to be willing to give yourself permission to breathe, to look at and see things differently, to listen and hear things differently and to consider possibilities.

Go ahead, give it a try! [Please don't do this while driving or operating heavy machinery... ] Whatever you’re doing right now – take a minute to change your physical position (shift in your seat, get up and walk around, stand up rather than stay seated, lie on the floor, tilt your head sideways, stand on your hands – or head, go into another room, go outside); now breathe – breathe from your stomach and use your diaphragm to inhale and exhale slowly and deeply a few times; listen to something other than what you were listening to; look at something different to what you were seeing; now, when you’re ready, go back to what you were doing and consider the possibilities!

I’d love to know the outcomes if you’d be kind enough to leave a comment.

The Power of Getting Back to Basics…

It’s very seductive – the easier, newer, faster, more convenient processes, software, techniques and access we have achieved over the space of the last 20-40 years. It’s seductive because it lures you into thinking that easier, newer, faster and more convenient is better. For the most part, it’s true. Just remember, there is power in the basics.

When we rely on new things that do things for us, especially thinking, we are subtly encouraged to forget the basics. We are also subtly encouraged to overlook the fact that all these new things require more energy, more space (although small we do like our toys) and more reliance on confidential safeguards over global tools.

Getting back to the basics comes to light for me, personally, when I have a germinating idea that needs a voice. I don’t rely on conveniences to give my ideas voices initially. I rely on paper and pencil for that. I rely on using a basic program like Word to record my planning and I rely on a PC-based design program to add polish to my rough sketches. The pencil and paper work gets stored in a document wallet and the PC-based work gets stored on a separate hard drive on my home-based system. I use a calculator for only complex equations. The basic equations are done in my head or on paper. The results are stored wherever they end up – on paper or PC.

Where I can truly embrace the basics is in working with my time management, my organisation and my people skills. I believe it is essential to retain the basics in these three areas as, once these skills are made redundant or lost, it is easy to become adrift in confusion and ire. It is essential to develop good communication skills; good time management skills; a well honed skill of prioritising, filing, follow-up and follow through; and good interpersonal skills.

The basics are still powerful and will assist you throughout the span of your lifetime though conveniences, software and hardware will come and go as they are interminably replaced by upgrades. Spend your money and your time developing your basic skills and embrace the power of getting back to basics.