related_results_labels({"version":"1.0","encoding":"UTF-8","feed":{"xmlns":"http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom","xmlns$openSearch":"http://a9.com/-/spec/opensearchrss/1.0/","xmlns$georss":"http://www.georss.org/georss","id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8815505"},"updated":{"$t":"2009-12-21T16:37:29.123+08:00"},"title":{"type":"text","$t":"Anything HR by Ed"},"subtitle":{"type":"html","$t":"Ed Shares his Opinions on Human Resource Management, Recruitment, Headhunting, Training, Organization Development, Team building, performance management, Leadership, Philippine Labor Code, Labor Practices and employment practices in the Philippines"},"link":[{"rel":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#feed","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://anythinghr.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/8815505/posts/default/-/teambuilding?alt\u003djson-in-script\u0026max-results\u003d4"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http://anythinghr.blogspot.com/search/label/teambuilding"},{"rel":"hub","href":"http://pubsubhubbub.appspot.com/"},{"rel":"next","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/8815505/posts/default/-/teambuilding/-/teambuilding?alt\u003djson-in-script\u0026start-index\u003d5\u0026max-results\u003d4"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Ed Ebreo"},"uri":{"$t":"http://www.blogger.com/profile/16821972694832736436"},"email":{"$t":"edebreo@gmail.com"}}],"generator":{"version":"7.00","uri":"http://www.blogger.com","$t":"Blogger"},"openSearch$totalResults":{"$t":"7"},"openSearch$startIndex":{"$t":"1"},"openSearch$itemsPerPage":{"$t":"4"},"entry":[{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8815505.post-8020014063774152958"},"published":{"$t":"2009-07-07T15:10:00.002+08:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2009-11-22T09:24:57.243+08:00"},"category":[{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"teambuilding"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Team Building"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Leadership"}],"title":{"type":"text","$t":"You Can't Have Teamwork If You Can't Manage the Change"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"\u003ca onblur\u003d\"try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}\" href\u003d\"http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_Xrl8sY60k3w/SlBmSBhg6yI/AAAAAAAAAdg/lg_K-QHszPA/s1600-h/edtalking.JPG\"\u003e\u003cimg style\u003d\"margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 346px; height: 260px;\" src\u003d\"http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_Xrl8sY60k3w/SlBmSBhg6yI/AAAAAAAAAdg/lg_K-QHszPA/s400/edtalking.JPG\" alt\u003d\"\" id\u003d\"BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5354892416776203042\" border\u003d\"0\" /\u003e\u003c/a\u003eIn my opinion, the reason why many efforts to build teamwork go to waste is because managers fail to manage the change. I often get inquiry about team building and when I inquire back about how far they want to go with it, I get silence.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eMany managers are convinced that they need to improve teamwork but are unwilling to do the necessary work to have it. They think (or wish) that a one or two-day off site will create some magic that will suddenly turn the backbiting off. That it will suddenly make people more committed to the goals and do their fair share in improving organizational performance. Sadly, this rarely happens or if it does, the improvement is short lived.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eNo wonder some people are skeptical about it and have lost hope that a team building intervention will help a team work better. I know at least one person who declare that team building is for suckers. I can't blame all those who think the kind of solutions that proliferate out there are not real solutions. I'm of the opinion that a lot of the things people learn from a decent team building workshop are valid. The problem lies in how the whole thing is set up and how follow-through is given.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eBuilding Teamwork is pretty much about managing change. Let's listen to what Change Management Guru John Kotter has to say:\u003cspan class\u003d\"fullpost\"\u003eHe said first \u003cb\u003e\"Create urgency\".\u003c/b\u003e This to me means make a case for the change. Do you need it? Or do you need an excuse to go on a company outing? Be sure that you need it and are willing to go towards great lengths to achieve it.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eKotter then said, \u003cb\u003e\"Form a powerful coalition\".\u003c/b\u003e This means that the journey from no-teamwork to with-great-teamwork is bought into by the leadership of the organization and are committed to championing the change. Since we are talking about building teamwork here, they should also be committed to modeling the way by showing teamwork among themselves.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eThe third step is \u003cb\u003e\"create a vision for change\".\u003c/b\u003e This is important. We don't have a common understanding of what it is like to have teamwork. For some it's unbridled collaboration and empowerment, for others it's allowing the boss to herd the rest of the team like cows. So what do you really want to see into the future when the team succeeds and becomes a high performing team? This has to be expressed in vivid terms.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eNext, \u003cb\u003e\"communicate the vision\u003c/b\u003e. This can be part of the preparation for an off site activity or can be done in the early part of the event. I prefer the former. I think everybody should be clear about why they are camping out. I tell you I've had more than enough of participants mistaking the offsite activity for  company outing and the team building activities mere parlor games! I hate it, I hate it, I hate it! ( Sorry, got carried away there)\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eThe fifth action is to \u003cb\u003e\"remove obstacles\".\u003c/b\u003e This is why people go out for a two-day off site team building. This is so they can identify what get's in the way of teamwork and decide how to overcome them. Patrick Lencioni identified five dysfunctions that get in the way of teamwork and prescribed some ways to overcome them. I use his prescription in my workshops.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eYou can't go home from a team building event without doing Kotter's 6th step and that is \u003cb\u003e\"create short-term wins\"\u003c/b\u003e. You need to identify the things you can do right after the workshop that will pave the way for building a stronger, more cohesive team. These quick-win activities should be clear, specific, actionable and observable.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eThis will be the subject of step seven, \u003cb\u003e\"Build on the Change\"\u003c/b\u003e Which is following through on the norms set in the workshop and see to it that they all happen. Managers should not let up until all the agreed changes in behavior become habits and that quick wins are pursued and achieved.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eThe last stage is \u003cb\u003e\"anchor the change in the corporate culture\".\u003c/b\u003e Let it grow roots. Build your policies around strengthening and rewarding teamwork and discouraging, even prohibiting the absence of it.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eSee? You build your team building effort around John Kotter's 8-step model and I tell you, there's hardly any reason for it to fail.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eHere's one more thing. I'll be more than happy to help you use this model to facilitate an organizational culture change for your company if you let me. Forget the one-day or half-day sessions that lead practically to nowhere.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eIf you want teamwork, manage the change.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eRelated download: \u003ca href\u003d\"http://exeqserve.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/teamculturebldg_ExeQserve.pdf\"\u003e\u003cspan style\u003d\"font-weight: bold;\"\u003eExeQserve Team Culture Building Program\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003cdiv class\u003d\"blogger-post-footer\"\u003eVisit Anything HR so that we can share views on matters concerning HR, Leadership, Management, Training and Teams. I'd love to hear from you so please leave me a feedback.\u003cimg width\u003d'1' height\u003d'1' src\u003d'https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/8815505-8020014063774152958?l\u003danythinghr.blogspot.com' alt\u003d'' /\u003e\u003c/div\u003e"},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://anythinghr.blogspot.com/feeds/8020014063774152958/comments/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID\u003d8815505\u0026postID\u003d8020014063774152958\u0026isPopup\u003dtrue","title":"0 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/8815505/posts/default/8020014063774152958"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/8815505/posts/default/8020014063774152958"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http://anythinghr.blogspot.com/2009/07/you-cant-have-teamwork-if-you-cant.html","title":"You Can't Have Teamwork If You Can't Manage the Change"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Ed Ebreo"},"uri":{"$t":"http://www.blogger.com/profile/16821972694832736436"},"email":{"$t":"edebreo@gmail.com"},"gd$extendedProperty":{"xmlns$gd":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005","name":"OpenSocialUserId","value":"09665855214378586454"}}],"media$thumbnail":{"xmlns$media":"http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/","url":"http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_Xrl8sY60k3w/SlBmSBhg6yI/AAAAAAAAAdg/lg_K-QHszPA/s72-c/edtalking.JPG","height":"72","width":"72"},"thr$total":{"xmlns$thr":"http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0","$t":"0"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8815505.post-3675386550317880787"},"published":{"$t":"2009-05-31T21:59:00.007+08:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2009-06-01T18:17:11.908+08:00"},"category":[{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"teambuilding"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Team Building"}],"title":{"type":"text","$t":"A Culture of Candor and Assertiveness in the Filipino Workplace"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"\u003ca onblur\u003d\"try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}\" href\u003d\"http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_Xrl8sY60k3w/SiKQm8T4rqI/AAAAAAAAAdI/zujClQup1Ak/s1600-h/collaborate2.JPG\"\u003e\u003cimg style\u003d\"margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 436px; height: 291px;\" src\u003d\"http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_Xrl8sY60k3w/SiKQm8T4rqI/AAAAAAAAAdI/zujClQup1Ak/s400/collaborate2.JPG\" alt\u003d\"\" id\u003d\"BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5341991106713792162\" border\u003d\"0\" /\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eNote:\u003c/b\u003e Not all Filipinos are passive or have the tendency to avoid conflicts or confrontations but most are. In this blog, I'm talking about most Filipinos, not all.\u003c/i\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eThere's not enough of it in most Filipino work places. We Filipinos are not big on saying it as it is.We are non confrontational. We are specially timid around bosses. Geert Hofstede's research on power distance index puts us at top 4. That means that we are among those who have the most tendency to avoid contradicting or challenging a boss' opinion. This go both ways. I've seen managers go ballistic at small hints of challenge. We don't expect to be corrected by subordinates. We see it as an upfront, an uncomfortable, ego busting upfront.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eThe world is changing. The amount of education and information being absorbed by team members and their talents and intelligence would easily go to waste if they are not given the chance to speak up and speak their minds as freely and whenever possible.\u003cspan class\u003d\"fullpost\"\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eI propose, that we change the way communicate in the workplace. Let us encourage candor and assertiveness. There are so much benefit for doing so. It will help managers make more informed decisions. It can save us from making expensive mistakes. Most importantly, it can increase engagement and teamwork.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eHere's the difficult question, how do we go about it? How do we turn around ages of programming? How do we make unassertive people, assertive? How do we change a workplace that subscribe to hierarchical relationship?\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eThis is what I tell my employees.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\"I can't possibly be right all the time, hence I appreciate being corrected. Whenever you feel that I am making a bad decision, try to stop me. But don't expect me to just change my mind just because you tried. I'll put up a fight and I expect you to do the same. If I see you taking the coward's way out, I will call your attention until you realize that it pays to have a healthy exchange of ideas with me.\"\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eLet me tell you however, that saying those things is not enough. You cannot have that litany and then expect things to change right away. Leaders need to put their money where their mouth is by putting people to task about being open with their ideas, feelings and opinions.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eThat too however is not enough. Two interventions are necessary to establish a culture of candor and assertiveness. One requires establishing team cohesiveness by building trust, open communication, commitment, accountability and focus on result. The other one requires building the team's including the managers' assertiveness. They should be able to shift from passive or agressive to assertive style of communication.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eThere are dozens of available interventions out there on team building and assertiveness training. They will help you build a  highly interactive and high performing team. If you need my assistance, call me at (63918)939-9294.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003cdiv class\u003d\"blogger-post-footer\"\u003eVisit Anything HR so that we can share views on matters concerning HR, Leadership, Management, Training and Teams. I'd love to hear from you so please leave me a feedback.\u003cimg width\u003d'1' height\u003d'1' src\u003d'https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/8815505-3675386550317880787?l\u003danythinghr.blogspot.com' alt\u003d'' /\u003e\u003c/div\u003e"},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://anythinghr.blogspot.com/feeds/3675386550317880787/comments/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID\u003d8815505\u0026postID\u003d3675386550317880787\u0026isPopup\u003dtrue","title":"1 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/8815505/posts/default/3675386550317880787"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/8815505/posts/default/3675386550317880787"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http://anythinghr.blogspot.com/2009/05/note-not-all-filipinos-are-passive-or.html","title":"A Culture of Candor and Assertiveness in the Filipino Workplace"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Ed Ebreo"},"uri":{"$t":"http://www.blogger.com/profile/16821972694832736436"},"email":{"$t":"edebreo@gmail.com"},"gd$extendedProperty":{"xmlns$gd":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005","name":"OpenSocialUserId","value":"09665855214378586454"}}],"media$thumbnail":{"xmlns$media":"http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/","url":"http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_Xrl8sY60k3w/SiKQm8T4rqI/AAAAAAAAAdI/zujClQup1Ak/s72-c/collaborate2.JPG","height":"72","width":"72"},"thr$total":{"xmlns$thr":"http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0","$t":"1"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8815505.post-5261244361443715211"},"published":{"$t":"2009-05-26T13:00:00.001+08:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2009-06-17T16:40:52.837+08:00"},"category":[{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"teambuilding"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Team Building"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Leadership"}],"title":{"type":"text","$t":"My Recommendations for Building a Strong Filipino Team"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"\u003ca onblur\u003d\"try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}\" href\u003d\"http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_Xrl8sY60k3w/ShkOhOhca_I/AAAAAAAAAdA/smcHqSBe_xw/s1600-h/exeqservefunny.JPG\"\u003e\u003cimg style\u003d\"margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;\" src\u003d\"http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_Xrl8sY60k3w/ShkOhOhca_I/AAAAAAAAAdA/smcHqSBe_xw/s400/exeqservefunny.JPG\" alt\u003d\"\" id\u003d\"BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5339314797221276658\" border\u003d\"0\" /\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eAside from the fact that I am a Filipino working in a Filipino setting, I observed that Filipinos are different in many ways from people in the west and even from neighboring countries. This is of course not to say that we are totally different. It is the concoction of similiraties and differences that we need to take good look at and build on as we establish a completely engaged team. Here are my recommendations:\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cb\u003eEquip Managers to Lead Teams\u003c/b\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eMany Filipino Managers are young, lacking in proper leadership training and inexperienced in leadership. Many of the new managers I've encountered are mostly task managers concerned mostly with getting things done. They have a very vague concept of teamwork, much less the dynamics that go with it. Many companies go to team building workshops without addressing a key ingredient to making teams work-- Leadership.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eA Team Leadership workshop should address important team leadership issues as understanding the difference between management and leadership, the role they play in team development, what can get in the way of teamwork and what they can do about it. It should also offer coaching tools in large servings. \u003cspan class\u003d\"fullpost\"\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cb\u003eTrain Your Employees To be Assertive\u003c/b\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eFilipinos are some of the least assertive people in the world. A research made on \u003cspan style\u003d\"font-weight: bold;\"\u003ePower Distance Index\u003ca href\u003d\"http://www.clearlycultural.com/geert-hofstede-cultural-dimensions/power-distance-index/\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/span\u003e place us one of the countries with the highest tendency to defer to authority. What does this mean? It means that most Filipinos are unlikely to challenge a wrong decision coming from a boss. Let me go further by saying that we are mostly non confrontational. We will hesitate to call the attention of a fellow worker whose doing a poor job for fear of ruining the personal relationship. we can do this to the point of damaging the performance of the whole operation. When this happen, we tend to be less engaged because we don't like the fact that the boss is not seeing or not addressing the performance issues.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eAn assertiveness training will help team members assert themselves when they need to speak up to the boss or to their team mates. This will allow the team to have more available information, quality decision making, and more engaged team members. Training them however is one thing, encouraging them is another. I have always find it a challenge to get team members to speak up to me about issues and I'm trying. What more those who discourage it?\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cb\u003eBuild Norms around trust, communication, goals, behaviors and results.\u003c/b\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eThis one is universal.I think all teams in all over the world need this. I'm coming from a book written by Patrick Lencioni on the Five Dysfunctions of a Team. If you've been reading me from sometime, you'd know how I feel about this thing. My teambuilding workshops uses a lot of Patrick Lencioni's proposal on how to build cohesive teams. Let me know if you want to hear more from me about this.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cb\u003eEstablish Opportunities for Teamwork\u003c/b\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eGive your employees a venue to practice teamwork. Equip them with tools. Things that come to mind are quality circles, six sigma teams, business process improvement exercises, etc. You can give them training on problem solving and decision making and other process improvement based tools that go with the programs I mentioned. Institutionalize process improvement. I've seen a lot of process improvement training that went for naught because of lack of a program to sustain it.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eYou probably know that I am very passionate about this I have created a complete team culture building solution that focuses on the things I've mentioned here. If you are serious with building a team culture for your company and I do think you should, please call me at (639)18-939-9294 or email me at ecebreo@exeQserve.com\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cb\u003eAddendum\u003c/b\u003e I recently put together a new holistic team building program inspired by the  proposal I wrote here. If you want to see it, just click this \u003ca href\u003d\"http://www.exeqserve.com/teamculturebldg_ExeQserve.pdf\"\u003e\u003cb\u003elink\u003c/b\u003e\u003c/a\u003e: \u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003cdiv class\u003d\"blogger-post-footer\"\u003eVisit Anything HR so that we can share views on matters concerning HR, Leadership, Management, Training and Teams. I'd love to hear from you so please leave me a feedback.\u003cimg width\u003d'1' height\u003d'1' src\u003d'https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/8815505-5261244361443715211?l\u003danythinghr.blogspot.com' alt\u003d'' /\u003e\u003c/div\u003e"},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://anythinghr.blogspot.com/feeds/5261244361443715211/comments/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID\u003d8815505\u0026postID\u003d5261244361443715211\u0026isPopup\u003dtrue","title":"2 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/8815505/posts/default/5261244361443715211"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/8815505/posts/default/5261244361443715211"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http://anythinghr.blogspot.com/2009/05/my-recommendations-for-building-strong.html","title":"My Recommendations for Building a Strong Filipino Team"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Ed Ebreo"},"uri":{"$t":"http://www.blogger.com/profile/16821972694832736436"},"email":{"$t":"edebreo@gmail.com"},"gd$extendedProperty":{"xmlns$gd":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005","name":"OpenSocialUserId","value":"09665855214378586454"}}],"media$thumbnail":{"xmlns$media":"http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/","url":"http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_Xrl8sY60k3w/ShkOhOhca_I/AAAAAAAAAdA/smcHqSBe_xw/s72-c/exeqservefunny.JPG","height":"72","width":"72"},"thr$total":{"xmlns$thr":"http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0","$t":"2"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8815505.post-5407727074229049723"},"published":{"$t":"2009-05-15T15:24:00.005+08:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2009-05-15T15:35:28.228+08:00"},"category":[{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"teambuilding"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Team Building"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Leadership"}],"title":{"type":"text","$t":"Team Building Lessons That Blew Me Away"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"\u003ca onblur\u003d\"try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}\" href\u003d\"http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_Xrl8sY60k3w/Sg0aHyZSKvI/AAAAAAAAAcw/SL-zXjvBCXs/s1600-h/DSC01234.JPG\"\u003e\u003cimg style\u003d\"margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 477px; height: 357px;\" src\u003d\"http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_Xrl8sY60k3w/Sg0aHyZSKvI/AAAAAAAAAcw/SL-zXjvBCXs/s400/DSC01234.JPG\" alt\u003d\"\" id\u003d\"BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5335949854593133298\" border\u003d\"0\" /\u003e\u003c/a\u003eAs a team building facilitator, I am blessed with so much life learning each time I go out there and facilitate. There are a number of precious moments when participants would share  important realizations or insights that would blow me away. There are also moments when I learn more than I expect to and I am sharing those moments with you today.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cb\u003eArgue and then Commit.\u003c/b\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eA couple of years ago, I was facilitating this learning game called spiderweb where participants would be asked to go through a web without any parts of their body touching the web. It's quite a physical game that cannot be completed on time without collaboration and commitment among team members. At that time, I have already facilitated this game a number of times and I already have a canned idea of what should be learned in this activity. This one was going to be more powerful than the previous experiences. The size of the group was too big so I decided to split them into two. Accidentally, all the formal leaders went to one group. I worried about the group with no leader because I was concerned that they won't be able to finish on time but I was wrong. The group without formal leaders finished very early while the group with leaders failed to complete the task after several attempts. What happened? In the group with all the leaders, the most senior called all the shots. Assigned tasks to everyone and took command of the group from step one. \u003cspan class\u003d\"fullpost\"\u003eUnfortunately, his strategy was wrong and I supposed a lot of the members know this. They however kept mum and just followed the instructions. Each time somebody makes a mistake, the leader would scold that member and come up with a new instruction. They ran out of time before they could finish. The scene was totally different with the other group. They started by arguing about the best way to solve a problem. Somebody played the role of a leader but only to facilitate the implementation of the idea. When someone in the team thinks that one strategy is going wrong, she would speak out loud and the rest would listen and maybe argue. Each time they would execute however, even the ones who initially do not agree with the strategy would do her best to pitch in.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eWhen we sat down to share the experience, the two groups recognized the stark difference between their approaches and then revised their ideas of how to assimilate a leadership role. They realized that leadership is not about taking control, planning and giving instructions. It's realizing the team's full potential by optimizing team talents. The group without formal leaders finished the game first because they had real leadership that allowed members to passionately share their ideas, argue and then commit. The leader of the team swore to me after the session.\u003cbr /\u003eabout changing his style.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cb\u003eLet's Learn from Our Mistakes\u003c/b\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eIn another spider web activity where the CEO of the company participated, the team was getting stuck with analysis paralysis. They were spending too much time planning every step to the point of wasting it. The CEO who intimated to me that he planned to lay back and allow the other members of the team to take charge ran out of patience and stepped in. He said, we need to stop overanalyzing things and start testing our ideas and if we are to make a mistake, let's learn from them and move on, and this they did. The CEO started asking the members which idea they think they should start testing. The group picked one and then they tested it. The first idea bombed. They talked about it a bit and came up with a better strategy and this one worked. They completed the task in no time. During the debrief, the participants realized two important things. One, it helps to have a leader that allows people to try out their ideas and then learn from mistakes when they make them. Second, that fear of mistake can paralyze a team. If the first one does not exist, the team can only have the second one.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cb\u003eGreat Results follow Great Relationship\u003c/b\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eAfter a two-day management teambuilding, one of the senior managers of a multinational company spoke as a reaction to the workshop. He said \"Every year we focus on setting our financial goals straight. We've talked about KRAs and KPIs but we never really covered relationship. It has always been too soft a topic for us. We fail to realize that the only way we can achieve all those goals, those key result areas and key performance indicators is if we work effectively together. And we can only work well together if we have a good working relationship strengthened by trust and open communication.\" They realize that good working relationship is followed by result. In that workshop they resolved to work on building a more cohesive relationship. They asked me to see to it that they followed through and we did follow through. They hit their targets that year and improved overall employee satisfaction.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eEach of these experiences build on my appreciation of teamwork and guided me in leading my own team and improving my program. The amount of learning I receive from participants humbles me and make me look forward to learning more. I know they make me a better leader and a better team building facilitator.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003cdiv class\u003d\"blogger-post-footer\"\u003eVisit Anything HR so that we can share views on matters concerning HR, Leadership, Management, Training and Teams. I'd love to hear from you so please leave me a feedback.\u003cimg width\u003d'1' height\u003d'1' src\u003d'https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/8815505-5407727074229049723?l\u003danythinghr.blogspot.com' alt\u003d'' /\u003e\u003c/div\u003e"},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://anythinghr.blogspot.com/feeds/5407727074229049723/comments/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID\u003d8815505\u0026postID\u003d5407727074229049723\u0026isPopup\u003dtrue","title":"3 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/8815505/posts/default/5407727074229049723"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/8815505/posts/default/5407727074229049723"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http://anythinghr.blogspot.com/2009/05/team-building-lessons-that-blew-me-away.html","title":"Team Building Lessons That Blew Me Away"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Ed Ebreo"},"uri":{"$t":"http://www.blogger.com/profile/16821972694832736436"},"email":{"$t":"edebreo@gmail.com"},"gd$extendedProperty":{"xmlns$gd":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005","name":"OpenSocialUserId","value":"09665855214378586454"}}],"media$thumbnail":{"xmlns$media":"http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/","url":"http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_Xrl8sY60k3w/Sg0aHyZSKvI/AAAAAAAAAcw/SL-zXjvBCXs/s72-c/DSC01234.JPG","height":"72","width":"72"},"thr$total":{"xmlns$thr":"http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0","$t":"3"}}]}});