Month: May 2016

We witnessed a great achievement in sport in the UK this week, as Leicester City won football’s Premier League.

This is a remarkable feat as the team narrowly avoided relegation from the league last year. Their fortunes and performances have had a major transformation this season.

When the current campaign began they were classed as rank outsiders by bookmakers with odds of 5000/1. No team has ever won a major competition with such long odds.

Basically it was considered that Leicester City winning the league was impossible and not going to happen. The achievement serves as inspiration for us all. It provides some evidence that anything is possible and achievements against the odds do happen.

It proves that it isn’t always feasible to predict outcomes with accuracy.

Many reports that I’ve read this week suggest that one of the major reasons for their success is that the team has great team spirit. This is a concept that isn’t always easy to describe but you know it exists when you see it in action.

The dictionary defines team spirit as “feelings of camaraderie among the members of a group enabling them to co-operate and work well together.”

I have set out below a few thoughts and ideas on some of the components that I believe help to create a great team spirit:-

Inspiring leadership
Leaders play a vital role in creating team spirit by leading by example and being a positive role model. A great team spirit naturally flows from an environment where everyone contributes and is able to flourish. Leaders can inspire their team to give their best by displaying passion, energy and enthusiasm. Encouraging a positive attitude is an important part of developing the right culture as is having effective listening skills and handling disagreements quickly and fairly.

Trust
A vital attribute of any successful team is trust. It’s imperative that the team trust and take time to get to know each other. Trust is developed from people looking out for one another. It’s also helpful if there is mutual respect and appreciation for everyone’s contributions. It’s important that people honour their commitments and promises. The leader sets the tone for this to happen by being honest, open and consistent in their dealings and communicating clearly.

Clear goals and targets
High standards being set and expected along with clear goals and targets that help to stretch people are a great way to develop a great spirit and high performing environment. This philosophy helps people to develop, increase confidence and discover more of their potential. It’s vital that there are mechanisms to measure performance, clearly track progress towards targets and provide some data for feedback and accountability. This helps teams respond quickly to challenges and a dip in results.

Fun
I have mentioned in the blog previously that research by the University of Warwick suggested that happy teams are 12% more productive. We spend so much time at work that it’s important that we have fun and enjoy what we are doing. Fun increases energy and helps increase enthusiasm for the tasks that have to be performed. It also helps develop an engaged workforce and healthy and productive relationships.

Clarity on roles and responsibilities
Everyone having a clear understanding of their role and the contribution they make helps foster team spirit. Clarity on each other’s strengths plays a significant role. It helps to ensure that people are positioned in roles where they can make the most significant contribution to achieve the team’s goals and vision. Playing to people’s strengths means that team performance levels are maximized and it makes best use of everyone’s natural gifts and talents.

Celebrating success
It’s important that all the team take time out to celebrate the attainment of goals, hitting targets and key milestones. This is an area that can be easily overlooked. Apparently, during this successful season, the Leicester City manager promised his team little rewards for achieving targets he set. This included treating all the team to a pizza when they managed to not concede any goals during a match.

Why not take a few moments to reflect this week and consider the teams that you are involved in personally and professionally. How strong is team spirit? What action would help improve team spirit?

This week’s quotation:

“Coming together is a beginning; keeping together is progress; working together is success.” Henry Ford.

To arrange a free no obligation consultation, please contact Stephen Pauley via the contact form or by e mail: Stephen@befirstclass.co.uk

It was a bank holiday weekend here in the UK, which means that many people got to enjoy a long weekend away from work.

Many people spend their bank holiday weekends by the sea although that may have been a little chilly as parts of the UK had snow at the end of last week!

The extended break gives people a chance to switch off from the day to day pressures and spend some quality time with family. I was thinking prior to writing this that the weekend was probably warmly welcomed by lots of people. Increasingly during my coaching sessions, clients are confessing to feeling overwhelmed by the day to day work pressures, struggling to keep up with the pace of change and the demands of modern life.

The advancement in technology, globalisation, and speed of change, the volume of information to absorb and increased expectations on response times and delivery of service are some of the contributory factors to this state of being. Add to this flatter business structures and stretched resource, it is no wonder that so many are articulating their feelings of overwhelm.

When we are in this state it can mean that we suffer from brain fog and are unable to see the “wood for the trees.” It can lead to feelings of stress and anxiety and mean that we have less time available to think, review and plan. We can feel as though we are constantly firefighting moving from one urgent issue to the next without a moment to spare.

So this week, I thought I would share several simple but powerful strategies that may help you to move from mental clutter to clarity and reduce feelings of overwhelm.

1. Ask yourself “What can I stop doing to sharpen my focus?”    

To do lists are getting longer but the time available remains the same, it therefore makes sense occasionally to take a few moments to consider what you and/or your team can stop doing to free up some time. Areas where clients tend to free up the most time concern changing some habits and practices relating to e mail, streamlining the production of reports and looking at how they can reduce the amount of time spent in meetings.

2. Ask yourself “What obstacles get in the way of me being the best that I can be? What action can I take to help overcome these obstacles?”

There is a simple but impactful equation devised by Timothy Gallwey that helps clients clarify what might be getting in the way of them fulfilling their potential. The equation is Performance = Potential – Interference. Some examples of personal interferences are self- doubt, fear, negative self-talk, busy mind and lack of clear goals. There are also external interferences relating to time, other people, environment, finance etc.

3. Decide to control the controllables.

Make a list of things that you are involved with that you can control, influence or outside both your control and influence. Consider where you are spending your time and what is occupying your mind. Then focus more of your time and mental capacity on things that you can control and influence. Pay less attention to what is outside your sphere of control and influence.

This week, why not take a few moments to consider if there is action you can take to reduce your amount of mental clutter. What will be your first step?

This week’s quotation:

“I continue to be drawn to clarity and simplicity. Less is more remains my mantra.” Stephane Rolland

To arrange a free no obligation consultation, please contact Stephen Pauley via the contact form or by e mail: Stephen@befirstclass.co.uk