Articles for teams
Explore our insightful articles and discover their relevance to you
The perils of Groupthink and how to avoid them
Groupthink can happen to anyone, any collection of people and any business. It is something to watch out for and to guard against. Take the 2008 economic crisis, the space shuttle explosion, Swissair’s insolvency and Kodak’s failure to get on board with digital camera tech quickly.
Temple Grandin rates mentors super-high – Here’s why
Temple Grandin was diagnosed with autism as a child. She thinks in pictures, a novel way to solve problems in a way that isn’t accessible to people with neurotypical brains.
The risk of single stories, and the value of balance
In the 1930s scientists began examining the cognitive effects of labeling. According to a hypothesis by the linguist Benjamin Whorf, the words we use to describe what we see aren't just random. They actually determine what we experience to a startling degree. And that can be dangerous.
How to handle five generations in the same workplace
Your workplace could easily involve five generations. This is the first time in the history of work that this has happened. While everyone in a company is supposed to work together towards shared goals, people’s attitudes, feelings, approach and expectations differ slightly across the generations.
Covey’s Circle of Concern and Influence
Have you heard of Stephen Covey’s Circle of Concern and Influence? It’s extremely useful for coaches and managers, a powerful model to apply to both individuals and teams. So, what’s it all about, and how might it help you survive those downward mood spirals that sometimes hit a group of people, then spread out more widely to others?
Cultivating Deliberate Creativity in Teams – Part 2
In this blog, I continue to explore how creativity is best understood as a collective effort. One that always involves other people. I describe how this understanding can help groups to think differently and become more deliberately creative. Describing what they need do to get the creativity juices flowing.
Forget your superchickens and connect better for brilliant teams
Margaret Heffernan recommends we move past the pecking order at work. As the successful former CEO of five businesses, Margaret has discovered that one of the most common ways businesses are run invariably leads to troubled waters.
Innovate or stagnate? Get ahead of the curve
In a fast-changing world it is important to stay open, and be aware that people who are the most responsive to change are those who survive, even thrive. Does that sound familiar?
It isn’t money, strategy or technology. So what really makes teams effective?
What makes an exceptional team? As the management guru Patrick Lencioni says in his 2002 book, The Five Dysfunctions of a Team, “Not finance. Not strategy. Not technology. It is teamwork that remains the ultimate competitive advantage, both because it is so powerful and so rare.” So how functional is your team? Could you do better?
James Kerr, the All Blacks, and their awesome insight into leadership
Who does teams and leadership better than anyone else? The New Zealand rugby team The All Blacks do an epic job, and their methods of working together are the primary reason behind their enviable, long-held status as the world's most successful international men's rugby team.
Managing Virtual Teams to Achieve Powerful Results
You can be as brilliant as you like as an individual, or as a group of individuals, and once you form a fully-functioning team, whether it's virtual or physical, you almost always achieve more than the sum of the parts. Having said that, without careful management and constant nurturing a virtual team can easily fail to gel properly in the first place... and just as easily fall apart.
Teams, Creativity & All That Jazz – Why Teamwork Should Be Fun
Different conversations are central to strong leadership. At the Listening Partnership we call it ‘Conversational Dexterity’. Conversations are essential to organisations, and that means having a good breadth and depth of conversational competence then applying it deftly in different situations. No wonder great conversational skills form such a vital part of a strong leader’s repertoire.
Team Building Chatbots – The Future of Executive Coaching?
As recently reported in New Scientist magazine, innovative chatbot software created by London HR company Saberr is helping team members communicate better. Called CoachBot, it assesses workplace dynamics, 'listens' to people's complaints and puts forward ways to help make teams more productive.
What is team facilitation all about?
Having an impartial external team facilitator can pay impressive dividends, working closely with everyone to generate the best outcomes...
Choosing a facilitator
There are times in the life of every group when the team has a really difficult matter to resolve, or would benefit from fresh thinking and a different perspective. There may also be meetings when you as team leader would...
Team performance
Teams are the basic building block of business, but few teams always perform at their best. Paying attention to how they’re set up and how they’re expected to function as a group is vital. By following a few simple ...
I’m on the road to nowhere
Whenever a team meets, there are two dangers: an outcome no one really wants or slipping into complacent groupthink. Both involve the sacrifice of beneficial results and informed decision-making. However, there is another way… british indie band, the subways, could've...
