Building a new team

In any team project, the journey to success often involves navigating through distinct stages:
1st Stage: Forming, when the team members come together and start to understand each other's roles and strengths.

2nd Stage: Storming, this phase is often marked by conflicts and challenges as different opinions and working styles clash.

3rd Stage: Norming, where the team begins to resolve differences, establish norms, and work more cohesively.

4th Stage: Performing, the final stage where the team operates at its highest potential, efficiently and effectively achieving its goals.
At what stage is your team? Contact me via email if you would like some guidance on your journey.

““The only skill that will be important in the 21st century is the skill of learning new skills. Everything else will become obsolete over time.””

— Peter Drucker

---

Survival of the fittest

In the western world we have been conditioned to look out for ourselves and we are judged on individual performance. When for example, we do well in exams or in our work, we are rewarded with awards, promotions and increased wages. People may be rated individually, but what can we do to align and more in the same direction? How can we connect and collaborate on a level where we are looking at that common mission?

As you know I am a huge football fan, so it makes sense to use a football team analogy. A football team consists of a goalkeeper, defenders, midfielders and attackers, they are all doing their jobs in different ways but at the end of the game, they all want the same outcome - to outscore their opponents and win the match. You can do things differently, you can have different skills but you are moving in the same direction and that is the way we want to behave when we are part of a team. What I try to do is get everybody to work towards the organisation's common mission. My work revolves around growing your influence and building trust with your colleagues. Contact me via e-mail for a meeting or a team building workshop.

---

Silos of activity

c/o Getty Images

The majority of you who are reading my blog on a regular basis know that I’m a big football (soccer) fan. There are many parallels between a football team and an organisation. A football team consists of a goalkeeper, defenders, midfielders and attackers. All of them are doing their jobs in different ways but at the end of the game, they all want the same outcome - to outscore their opponents and win the match. You can do things differently, you can have different skills but you are moving in the same direction and this is the way we should want to behave when we are part of a team.


Simon Sinek said, ”Leadership is irrespective of what level we are at.”
You don't have to be in a position of authority to be a good leader and we can show that through our communication. When you just share and tell people something, it's not really powerful. Leaders need to be spending time trying to understand where your people are coming from, what they need and not just feeding them information/data and telling them what to do, as people do not respond very well to that.


It takes strong mental strength for a leader to step back and say what is the best thing that I can do that is going to move the needle forward as a group and build trust. Throughout my career, I have seen many islands of activity! Playing the blame game and pointing the finger at who’s doing it wrong in sales, marketing, production, R&D, etc. What I want to do is enable people, and allow them to support, empathise and learn about each other. Would your organisation like to learn how to communicate as a team and not as individual silos? Contact me via e-mail for coaching, mentoring or workshops.

---