Team Performance

Collaborating Across Borders: Five Keys to Creating Powerful Partnerships

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Collaborating across borders. If this dog and cat can do it, so can we. Image by Hannah W on flickr.

Several weeks ago, a distraught vice president called. His organization had just been restructured and he had just received ownership for two new divisions. He needed to integrate the new divisions quickly and help them collaborate with his existing organization.

The problem was that he had inherited a group of people who didn’t understand why the change had happened. They were struggling to comprehend why they should redesign their processes to accommodate the new organization chart. In addition, they were used to working alone and saw no reason to collaborate with their new peers.

The Power Five: Better Decisions through Strategic Questions

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strategic questions

People are always looking for their magic wand: a miraculous tool that will immediately and painlessly improve the problem at hand. I haven’t found a magic wand yet. But this tool is the closest I’ve found so far.

The Power Five are five strategic questions that uncover expectations, assumptions, inter-dependencies, and impacts. They’re five of the best questions to use in any situation and bringing them into any decision-making, strategy, or planning conversation will improve the likelihood of a positive outcome.

The five questions are:

  • What is the goal?
  • Where are we now?
  • How will we get where we want to go?

    • Trust Falls at Work… Seriously? Trust in the Workplace

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    trust_fall_rosscreations

    I talk with a lot of people about networks. I tell them that, at the very root of the matter, networks are about trust. We build relationships with people we trust in order to solve problems, get things done, and imagine what could make our companies successful and the world a better place.

    When I have these conversations about trust, one group of people nods. They intuitively understand the importance of being able to trust your colleagues.

    Who You Calling Virtual? Leading a Virtual Team

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    Let’s get one thing out of the way: there’s no such thing as a virtual team. They’re only called virtual teams because members are distributed across organization boundaries, time zones, and countries. And the virtual piece isn't the problem at all. It’s a red herring.

    People like to blame their problems with dispersed teams on the technology. They complain: “The WebEx froze halfway through our session” or “All I can hear is buzzing on the conference line.” Yes, these are problems. But, dear readers, many of you are tech people. You can figure it out.

    Lessons from the Octopus: Business Ecosystems, Adaptability, and Change Leadership

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    Why should companies care about octopuses? It turns out that there’s plenty to learn from these creatures about adaptability, change leadership, and business ecosystems.

    Rafe Sagarin, author of Learning from the Octopus: How Secrets from Nature Can Help Us Fight Terrorist Attacks, Natural Disasters, and Disease, is a fan of the octopus. Not only are these creatures highly intelligent and capable of problem solving, they also have the ability to camouflage in sophisticated ways. When moving from one area of the ocean to another, they rapidly change color to match their surroundings. To the human eye, it’s almost too fast to see: octopuses blend almost instantaneously with the fauna behind them.

    Measuring the Intangible through Organizational Networks

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    There are many ways to evaluate culture, collaboration, employee morale, team performance, and the impact of restructuring. But it’s difficult to measure all five at once without over-stressing the organization. The National Braille Press successfully used organizational networks and network analysis to evaluate its progress and identify simple but effective improvement actions. Read National Braille Press White Paper to find out how they did it.

    Speed Coaching: A Fun Jumpstart for Collaboration at Work

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    How can 40 people share expertise in meaningful ways in just 30 minutes? With speed coaching, of course! This staple from our training programs helps people gain real-time assistance with on-the-job challenges. It’s been used successfully in the financial services, pharmaceutical, insurance, technology, and education industries. This Speed Coaching article tells you exactly how to replicate speed coaching in your organization.

    Check it out if you need an innovative, easy way to:

    • Break the ice during community of practice meetings.
    • Help people clear their heads and focus before beginning a meeting.
    • Solve small problems at the beginning of project team meetings.

    High Performance Team Workout: Partnering Resources introduces new service designed to boost team performance

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    The group has six months to come together and accomplish something challenging. Maybe it’s designing and rolling out a new project management methodology worldwide. Perhaps it’s pulling off the first large-scale user conference in the company’s history. Or maybe this group needs to create the next breakthrough product for the company. The stakes are high and failure is not an option.

    Partnering Resources helps you transform individuals into a cohesive, high-performing team. Partnering Resources’ High Performance Team Workout leads your mission-critical team through a facilitated, proven process that gives your team what it needs to succeed. Read about how we implement a High Performance Team Workout for your organization.

    Is your strategy stuck in the 20th century?

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