The Dream Team: Engaged for Maximum Star Shining

In Why You’re Not Dominating the 1992 U.S. Olympic basketball team – the dream team is discussed.

The point of the article is to prompt you to think about your dream team and why you don’t have it.

The author questions:

What is it that stops us from bringing together our dream team? Often times it’s the idea that a dream team will blow out the budget.

The focus of the dream team is a shared and unified purpose, ethos and desire for excellence.  Get over the roadblocks of budget and think about possibilities and potential productivity.

The article says that if you invest in the star and you build a team of stars you will dominate.  We aren’t sure about domination but we are sure that star players spark creativity, innovation happens and employees are more engaged.  So build your team with an eye to possibility not the boxes that constrain that possibility.

Stephanie Ringer, February 24, 2012

Spark Creativity Using the Backbone of Organizational Agility

We absolutely love it when we feel the enthusiasm of creative, and explosive ideas in things we read and encounter. So Mike Richardson’s article: “Stop Wasting Time in Meetings!” got us energized.

Not because he was dismissing meetings but because he understands that the pace of business is fast and that organization’s need to make decisions that support the missions, visions and goals that come out of the meetings that matter.

His phrase organizational agility really captured our attention and we know that the amount of information, the capabilities of technology and the pace of today’s working world are fare removed from our agrarian roots of changing with the seasons.

So Richardson takes the ugly out of meetings and encourages a transformation.  As he explains:

“But meetings are the backbone of an agile business.” He offers [several] tips for developing agile meetings with traction[.]”

We love the energy he emits through the tips from documenting live action to starting with music or a video game to se the mood.

So the next time you want to spark some creativity and move your company into a more agile space take heart, find the right space, set the tone and carry-on.

Stephanie Ringer, February 24, 2012

Efforts to Engage Employees in New Team Cultures Require Thoughtful Leadership

We read Suzanne Lucas’ 5 Ways to Shake Up Your New Team’s Culture with great understanding. News bosses in old teams have a lot of challenges.  Perhaps the most frustrating can be the “That not how we ____” you can finish the sentence right?

Change is difficult even if it is something that is desired.  It is hard to push people out of their comfort zones. The article gives five very good guidelines that can help motivate changes positively in old teams with new managers.

Some are tried, true and expected such as “Listen” and “Respond to all ideas”. 

One that particularly caught our attention was:

Ask "Name one thing that should we stop doing immediately to make us more effective?" People don’t want more work — and "give me your ideas!" always seems to result in someone having to do more work. This question will get people talking and the ideas flying. You’ll also find out a lot about what goes on in your new department.

This shift in getting people to think about their work can brighten eyes and motivate people to embrace change.  What a great way to engage your new team and really get them to be creative and innovative. We have to add one crucial thing that really does work for the folks we see at Workshop, the Creative Workplace, get out, do something together that is for a greater good.  That bond is a special bond that keeps the team strong.

Stephanie Ringer, February 23, 2012

Using Competitive Intelligence- To Succeed in Sales

We read 12 Tippers to Guarantee Your Success in Collecting Intelligence from Sales with an air of wonder. The article is written about how information professionals can support sales teams and it made us see things in a new way.

The ideas presented are based upon capturing competitive intelligence through cooperation.  The first few tips give the information professionals take on what motivates and resonates with sales teams.

The end goal is to gain enough information that can be applied to close more deals. So the info pro and the sales person really can work together for a common goal. Obviously the motivation presented in this article is to add another “loyal” customer base to the info pros organizational clients but the reality is this type of collaboration serves the organization as a whole.

Perhaps the best to provided was based on value. The recommends:

Find out what’s hard for them to get that they value. You have access to so much information. What about those industry analyst or financial analyst reports? How about competitor profiles you’ve developed? They’ll tell you what they need.

The work ethic demonstrated by the information professional working towards supporting another department within the organization is something we appreciate.  You would think they were farmers with that kind of dedication. Our big takeaway from this list of tips is that teams need all types of members and adding someone who understands the goals, needs and values of a sales team that can provide missing ingredients that closes the deals – well that’s a good addition.

Constance Ard, February 23, 2012

Does Leading Require More Meetings Than Other Activities?

Are You a Meetings-Junkie? is a headline that caught our attention easily. It caught our attention not because we are a junkie but because we strive so hard to be sure that the meetings that our clients conduct at Workshop, the Creative Workplace are worthy.

The article breaks down Charlie Hawkins’ approach to making the best of meetings.  Obviously, Hawkins worked hard to get his fundamentals to be catchy. 

The statistic that caught our attention in this little gem of an article was the

According to Alec Mackenzie (author of The Time Trap) the average American boss spends 450-500 hours a year in meetings, making this one activity capable of dominating the working life of senior people.

So Hawkin’s fundamental of purpose, people, place and preparation definitely has some resonance when it comes to making the best of meetings. 

Place is often the reason our clients come to us for their meaningful meetings.  Finding a space where you can be creative, build strong, active teams and make innovative changes really is a good reason for a great meeting.

What Not to Do With Employee Engagement Efforts

This CBS News item, “How Employee Incentives Can Backfire” teaches us that  one is not for all.

The article focuses on how companies use incentive programs ineffectively.  The result is frustrated employees and programs that are confusing to the employees that are targeted for engagement.

The article goes through 4 examples of how not to use incentives in a corporate culture.  One example demonstrates the classic “punish all rather than confront the few”.

As the author explains,

In every one of these situations, the problem wasn’t the incentive itself, it was the way the incentive was implemented.

Keep things simple, communicate clearly and think about incentives that matter to the employees.  In addition, you might actually think about engaging employees before finalizing an incentive plan.  Communicating with them might find that different teams want different incentives.  This may seem more complicated from a management perspective but we at Workshop, the Creative Workplace,  bet that you will find engaged teams that reward you with productivity.

Stephanie Ringer, February 22, 2012

Practice Makes Perfect for Any Team

We read “How Frequently Do Your Salespeople Practice Selling?” with interest.  The introduction wasn’t the typical “sales” article intro. The comparison of the need to practice as a musician and an athlete really hit home.

The author spent some time tying the importance of practice to sales skills too.

In 1985, when I founded my current sales development business, I practiced, much as I had with music and tennis, almost around the clock.  What did I practice?  Selling, of course.

We think that teams need to practice whatever they may be collaborating on to do.  Sometimes your team may need a jumpstart on identifying what needs to be practiced.  This is something we have seen often.

We encourage you and your teams to remember that practice does indeed lead to perfection.

Stephanie Ringer, February 21, 2012

Play to Motivate and Engage Employees

Today gamifying seems to be the hottest trend in education, training and other essential components for development in the workplace. In reading “Gamifying Employee Engagement” the trend is reiterated.

Check-ins, social interaction on mobile devices and apps are all being brought into play for business. And such applications as Causecast that engages employees with volunteer opportunities (which we discussed here) takes the game further.

These days, every business application imaginable is being gamified – from frequent flyer miles to online diet plans, from employee engagement initiatives to check-ins with friends on Facebook and Foursquare.  Indeed, Gartner analysts predict that by 2015, more than 50% of organizations will gamify their innovation processes.

While all of this seems relevant to today’s mobile technology business world, the true element of success is more than gamifying. Engagement is about rewards, listening, communicating, sharing and building. Innovation may come with gamifying if the company has already engaged with their teams and employees for bigger better projects.

Stephanie Ringer, February 21, 2012

Does Employee Engagement Lead to Sustainability and Profit?

A bold headline such as “Engage Your Employees, Educate Your Frontline, Increase Your Profits” is bound to grab attention.  The article was detailed about Claudia Capitini’s commitment to making Eco-Products more profitable.

The approach adopted was a systemic engagement approach that concentrated on education for the teams and the customers.

Claudia [Capitini] and her team identified the knowledge, skills and attitudes her sales staff needed to communicate sustainability to customers. Realizing that a “Sustainability 101” approach wouldn’t suffice, the team built a series of interactive e-learning modules that distinguish the life-cycle characteristics of the company’s diverse product offering. The flexibility of the e-learning platform enabled the company to create updated online learning modules as new content becomes available.

The innovation and creative approach combined with a commitment to managing and engaging the employees seems to be Capitini’s recipe for success.

At Workshop, the Creative Workplace we know that happy employees are more productive, more creative and that their companies become more innovative.  That is a factor that is critical to success in today’s economy.

Stephanie Ringer, February 20, 2012

The Evolving Family Farm: How to Keep and Industry Strong

The article “Celebrating Our Farming Heritage” discussed some of the debate that is ongoing in the farming industry.  We know that farmers work hard and are an integral part of the community.

However, farmers, especially small family farms face a lot of struggles and misconceptions about their industries including labor standards and treatment of animals and land.

The land is a precious resource for farmers and the industry can not be painted by the actions of anomalies.

As the article points out there is a need to:

demonstrate that family farmers:

• efficiently produce a safe, reliable and secure food supply.
• are good stewards of our environment and natural resources.
• remain committed to the values, work ethic and lifestyle that made this country great.

So the family farm may benefit from the same business treatment as other small businesses such as business plans, documentation professional development and community service.

Looking at the work ethic of farmers and understanding that they too are entrepreneurs is a mind shift worth thinking about.  The persistence, perseverance and capabilities give us all something to learn.

Stephanie Ringer, February 20, 2012