After Action Reviews (sometimes referred to as AARs) have their origins in the United States military. Tools and techniques that improve team performance often have a military provenance. An advantage of techniques with military origins is that they’ve been tried and tested when the stakes were very high. The idea is that after… Read more
It’s not unusual for teams to experience conflict: in team sports it can get physical, in rock bands it can end in smashed guitars and in the workplace, conflict can lead to poor performance. Ultimately, conflict within teams can see some members shown the exit. Not all conflict is A Bad Thing – it… Read more
Delegation seems simple to some; maybe too simple. You give a task to a colleague, and they get on with it – nothing to it! Hmmm…If you’re thinking, ‘really, how hard can it be?’, there may be some lessons heading your way. Are you guilty of any of these ‘sins of delegation’? 1. No context… Read more
What’s your reaction to that question: do you relish the time you spend having a 1:1 conversation with one of your team members to discuss their progress? Or do you find 1:1s a waste of time, a tick-box exercise? Or maybe, you find 1:1s a little uncomfortable? Welcome to your job. If you’ve progressed… Read more
I need to manage your expectations on this one: if you’re a PRINCE2 PM guru you’ll be familiar with what follows. If you work on projects but your specific skills aren’t in that area, this post is for you. One of Zoomly’s many bite-sized workshops is ‘How to manage projects’ and it’s about the essentials… Read more
There’s a great deal written about how to lead teams, and a great deal written about sporting teams (which may or may not translate to organisation teams). But what if you’re a team member rather than the leader? Seems to me there’s not much out there to help you navigate that particular workplace challenge. So… Read more
People often ask me questions after training workshops (whether F2F or virtual). They didn’t feel comfortable voicing them in front of the group for a whole host of reasons (their boss was there, they didn’t want to show themselves up, they wanted to get some specific advice from someone outside their organisation, to name just… Read more
Whether you’re working virtually with your team-mates, or getting together face-to-face, now’s a good time to recap what teams are all about. Here’s my A-Z of healthy, happy, high-performing teams. Accountability Successful team members hold themselves and each other accountable. They commit to the team’s plan. Belonging People identify with the team, its purpose,… Read more
Some of us find we’re much more productive working from home, using tech tools to communicate virtually. The rest of us find it harder to deflect or deal with distractions and stay focussed to get the job done. Some people find that, despite the use of email, video calls and chat channels, communication suffers. This… Read more
Ghosting. There’s a lot of it about. Having started on dating websites when an apparently keen potential date turns unresponsive for no apparent reason, the term is now widely applied in the workplace. Job applicants talk about the potential employee – and/or the agency they applied through – ghosting them. At the same time, recruiters… Read more