Author: John Ingram

Making Personalities Your Differentiator

January 23, 2019

Business Think Tank, Teambuilding Tips

People are uniquely different, but only through their thinking: nothing else should actually matter. Differences of opinion are the cornerstone of growth in a company, but sadly conflict can escalate to confrontation, and this causes a team to implode.

Good managers will ensure that this conflict remains healthy by guaranteeing it remains as a conflict or differences of opinion only. Managing different personalities can be the key to creating success in the workplace and creating a positive and innovative atmosphere. But how do you achieve this? Here are four tips for managing personalities effectively:

First off, the FORMING phase.

In order for any team to move into the STORMING phase, they need to be able to have intelligent conversations with each other without belittling each other, throwing insults or backstabbing. There are many profiling systems, some simple and some complex, but in our situation, we use a simple DISC (Dominance, influence, steadiness and compliance) process which helps you as a manager understand the basics of:

The person’s two adaptive personalities and why they have these.
The predominant traits of their decision making, communication, planning, and motivation.
The compatibility of their work personality with the team and the team leader.
Areas to avoid and where their traits will add value

Beyond Teambuilding pride ourselves in creating events, activities and challenges that push any team past mediocrity, allowing them to express themselves in a way that unleashes a team synergy that is often lying dormant. Our teambuilding is done in two definitive ways; formal and informal. Both have merit and are used to create the specific objectives of your particular team’s needs.

This should be objectively discussed with the team member so that they are not fearful of its outcomes.

WARNING: don’t be fooled into recruiting only people similar to yourself or others. This will limit the team to YOU and do YOU know it ALL, can YOU do it ALL? You need difference. You need diversity in thinking as this generates creativity and innovation: the keys to growth.

Be prepared

People are creatures of habit. This means that they repeat patterns and behave in a predictable way. There are times when we want everyone on the same page, doing what is required as one, complying with managers or customers’ requests, but when it’s time for the flair to flow, we need difference. Be prepared for conflict as conflict is what you need to grow. A golden rule of dealing with conflict is:

Address it quickly and independently
Always start with a true positive statement, like “I really enjoy working with you” or “I really enjoy your creativity”. This will de-sensitise any aggression from the meeting.
Then move into the issue that irritates you, the behaviour that upset you and explain why it upset Don’t blame the person for the action but try to get them to explain why they did what they did and LISTEN.
Stress the need to find a way forward “as you want to continue working with his/her creativity”. Oftentimes they will give you the solution, and it will be your job to agree or support. Don’t go in trying to get your own way, be prepared to understand and find a compromise if necessary.
Thank the person for their commitment and repeat what is agreed.

And remember: praise in public, criticise in private.

Be respectful

Most normal people want to be treated with respect. No matter your differences, show each member of your team the same level of respect and courtesy. People are more likely to respond with respect, towards you and their fellow team members, ensuring that everyone works together. Respect individual differences and how people manifest their personalities- this will go a long way in creating team spirit and facilitating collaboration at work.

If you want to know more about your own colleagues and how they should be managed to promote working together, find DISC profiling, team climate surveying and facilitated training courses through our training division.

How to manage work “load” shedding

January 9, 2019

Teambuilding Tips, Training Trends

It’s 2019, and Eskom persists in keeping us in the dark and draining our treasury of its limited reserves. But there is a bigger threat than being left in the dark, and it’s work overload caused entirely by yourself.

Yes, little old innocent workaholic YOU! One of the biggest threats we face in achieving success is our ability to overload ourselves with tasks and underload ourselves with clear focus. I see the impact of this in most of the work I do with teams today, from the bottom of the pack admin clerk to the high fliers at the top of the food chain. They just cannot say no to work, more work and even more work.

The reason is varied but often has to do with FEAR, yes FEAR. It’s the FOMO of modern business, the need to keep your finger on the pulse, to be seen as irreplaceable, to know what’s “cooking” and more. The egocentric beings at work just keep on taking on more and more until the boasting becomes excuses;

I am up to my eyeballs!
This place can’t do without me!
I worked till 22h00 last night!
Be great if everyone else chipped in some time!
Sorry, I just had too many reports to finish!!
Again, just me and the boss working till late!

Beyond Teambuilding pride ourselves in creating events, activities and challenges that push any team past mediocrity, allowing them to express themselves in a way that unleashes a team synergy that is often lying dormant. Our teambuilding is done in two definitive ways; formal and informal. Both have merit and are used to create the specific objectives of your particular team’s needs.

The symptoms of overload come rapidly, and the quality of one’s work drops off very quickly. Once superb work suddenly becomes average and often incomplete or ridden with mistakes. Deadlines are missed, and the excuses become more and more fictitious. The rot has set in, and it’s very difficult to get out of this downward spiral. Self-pity abounds, and you become a pain in the butt to work with.

So how does this happen and how do we avoid it? A good boss will see it long before it happens and re-allocate work to ensure proper efficiencies and maintenance. But I said “good” boss? Most bosses just love to see team members exhaust themselves with overtime and over commitment, so why stop it; it’s going to make them look good, not so?

Wrong! The overworked team eventually will implode and will need surgery in the near future.

Plan number 2: it’s all about YOU!

It’s only you who can decide what’s best for your capacity and only you who can shape your work ethic. The following will help you stay meaningful at work and ensure your standards don’t slip:

Never start or accept work without clearly understanding WHY it’s beneficial to the organisation and why YOU need to do it?
Is there someone in the organisation who is better equipped to do this work?
Once it’s clear that it needs to be done, and by you, make sure you understand who will benefit from it and WHY?
Take time to ask that person how they would want that work presented and whether there are any time constraints.
Clarify time deviations and communication requirements.
Set clear standards for all your work, schedule your work on a critical path basis.
Creating a critical path simply means scheduling all your deliverable dates, prioritising the importance thereof and ensuring you work backwards to guarantee enough time is allocated to each task. If there is any risk of missing deadlines or clashes of priorities, then report this and or delegate to others who are competent enough to help.
Refresh your thinking every evening.

This is a high-performance discipline that will ensure you promote your personal image and brand in the business and remain a meaningful player in any team.

Several of our teambuilding packages may seem like just a fun day out of the office, but in actual fact are riddled with activities that promote critical path analysis (Manic Motion), force teams to delegate effectively (Ubuntu Challenge) and ultimately urge participants to understand time constraining factors (Movie Maker).

Looking for Innovation in your team?

November 25, 2018

Business Think Tank, Teambuilding Tips

No Team can be a high-performance team without innovation playing an important role. Robert Half, an American human resource consulting firm, has gone as far as believing that “team innovation is the backbone of every successful company.”

Innovation often means change and change for many people is seen as more work! It is essential to show the team that innovation actually comes easily if allowed. Too often we don’t even look for innovation because we are comfortable with what we have got. This comfort is the number one reason why innovation does not flow in a team.

At Beyond Teambuilding, we understand this concept and have gone so far as to not only include the “innovation factor” into most of our team builds, but we have even created team builds whose primary focus is to stimulate innovative thinking within the team:

Manic Motion, where the team has to create a Rube Goldberg machine that allows the flow to continue
Staying Alive, where we test the teams ability to survive in a challenging environment
The News Room, where you create the news; fake or not?
Animation station, where your animated creatures are used to tell a story
Music Video Creation, where the fantasy DJ in you comes to life.

Beyond Teambuilding pride ourselves in creating events, activities and challenges that push any team past mediocrity, allowing them to express themselves in a way that unleashes a team synergy that is often lying dormant. Our teambuilding is done in two definitive ways; formal and informal. Both have merit and are used to create the specific objectives of your particular team’s needs.

These activities are the catalysts to unleashing the innovative talent within your teams. When people are involved in a fun non-threatening activity, they tend to “have a go” as they do not feel pressured. Once we allow this to happen, it then creates confidence within the team to replicate the skill in their own work environment.

When was the last time you supported your employees by giving them innovation training and development? People need to be given the tools to think innovatively, and that includes keeping their knowledge and expertise up-to-date.

Beyond Teambuilding prides in creating events, activities and challenges that push any team past mediocrity. Get in contact with us to build your team, and allow them to express themselves in a way that unleashes team innovation.

How to Deal with a Poor or Difficult Team Player

November 12, 2018

Teambuilding Tips

There is no doubt that when you manage a team, there comes a time where you have to address a member, or members, who are not working well within the group. One thing I have learned about staff is that very few actually want to disrupt others or be the odd one out. They often are not even aware that their actions or behaviours are negatively affecting others or the team itself.

It is important to understand the underlying reason for the team player’s poor teamwork, which may include a lack of ability, low motivation or conflict with other team members. A good question to ask is, “Is this a once-off problem or does it have a lasting impact?”

Here are some tips to use when approaching this delicate situation. Remember that your actions should always be based on the premise that the team is more important or valuable than any individual.

Beyond Teambuilding pride ourselves in creating events, activities and challenges that push any team past mediocrity, allowing them to express themselves in a way that unleashes a team synergy that is often lying dormant. Our teambuilding is done in two definitive ways; formal and informal. Both have merit and are used to create the specific objectives of your particular team’s needs.

Tip 1: Assess the issue and consequences

Make sure we aren’t making a mountain out of a molehill! Assess the degree of err and then take the appropriate action, if minor a quick chat and re-direction is called for. When dealing with any form of irritation, focus on the irritation and not the person. Try to relate to the impact this may have on the team. If a major issue, then a more formal meeting should be called.

Tip 2: Confront the team member

There are serious consequences if you don’t confront inappropriate actions or behaviours. One, they will most probably continue and escalate, and second, others in the team will become confused by what is right and wrong and what is allowed and not allowed.

One should organise a one-to-one meeting where you, the manager can listen and discuss the issue with the team member. Always start with a positive comment, then state what it is that you observed or are concerned about. Explain the impact that this observation has and how you feel about it. Allow the team member to air his/her feedback and listen to the reasons or commitments to change. If the person is defensive you will need to possibly escalate the situation to getting evidence, however, try to keep the process as informal as possible.

Always ensure the meeting ends with a positive reaffirmation as to the value the person has to the business and the impact their commitment to their persona change will make.

Tip 3: Do regular check-ups

It is vital for a manager or leader to check in with their team members often, especially if they have made commitments to change. People like to know their commitments are acknowledged and noticed.

Tip 4: Regular training

During your weekly team pep talks, chat about hypothetical situations within the team, and the “what ifs” and allow the team to talk openly about these. This will enable them to better understand what behaviours define your team culture and which do not.

Take your team beyond poor teamwork problems with HiSide Training’s range of team interventions and development programs. Get in contact with us to see how we can build and improve your teams!

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Do We Need Team Synergy?

October 24, 2018

Business Think Tank

Team synergy is a word that gets thrown around often but has come to mean much more than merely a group of people “working together.” The word missing here is “well”, thus synergy is when a team “works together well.”

We often talk of the concept of creating a team where “the whole team productivity is greater than the sum of its parts.”

So, how do we create synergy within a team? Here are some simple tips in no particular order of importance:

Don’t employ replicas. Unless you run a moronic production line, ensure each person who enters your organisation has something that others don’t have.
Create an environment where everyone’s opinions and ideas are sought.
Acknowledge initiatives, good ideas and solutions.
Eradicate hierarchy from your thinking processes.
Challenge what is, often.

Beyond Teambuilding pride ourselves in creating events, activities and challenges that push any team past mediocrity, allowing them to express themselves in a way that unleashes a team synergy that is often lying dormant. Our teambuilding is done in two definitive ways; formal and informal. Both have merit and are used to create the specific objectives of your particular team’s needs.

Synergy only happens if you allow people to apply their unique skills and thinking. One teambuilding exercise we use to show the team their uniqueness is to have everyone follow a simple set of instructions in folding and tearing paper.

In the end, no matter how many delegates, no one will have a piece of paper the same as any other. There is a reason for this, and it’s that we all have the ability to think differently. It is this ability that allows synergy to occur if you allow it too.

Team synergy is a process and does not merely happen overnight. Managers and team leaders should be committed to taking actions to promote team synergy and thus help the overall success of that team’s work.

Why not make use of Beyond Teambuilding and Hiside Training to push your team’s past mediocrity? We allow team members to express themselves in a way that awakens a team synergy that is often lying dormant.

Successful teams do what other teams are not prepared to do! Are you ready?

Contact us for forward-thinking planning, dynamic team development programs to stimulate meaningful change.

Team Dynamics: High Performance or Not?

October 10, 2018

Business Think Tank, Teambuilding Tips, Training Trends

Ever wonder why the simplest situations end up in a chaotic, argumentative, unnecessarily confrontational situation? Never happens to your team…then don’t bother reading any further, you are already the Bomb!

Team dynamics are the unconscious, psychological factors that influence the direction of the behaviour and performance of a team.

A team gets better on its journey to becoming High Performance by working through various stages as described later by the Tuckman’s Model.

Let’s look at the stages that one should master as you become High Performance.

Step 1: Forming

The transformation from a group to a Team starts with everyone understanding how everyone else “clicks,” what we like and dislike, what we believe is good and bad, what we think is right or wrong, true or false, and so it goes on. Alongside this, we need to understand just how sensitive are our beliefs in these matters.

This will be the first step to respecting others, which is an important phase in establishing both your own persona, Emotional Intelligence, and ultimately a team maturity.

Beyond Teambuilding pride ourselves in creating events, activities and challenges that push any team past mediocrity, allowing them to express themselves in a way that unleashes a team synergy that is often lying dormant. Our teambuilding is done in two definitive ways; formal and informal. Both have merit and are used to create the specific objectives of your particular team’s needs.

Step 2: Storming

As the name suggests, this stage this is when we are confident to express ourselves on opinions and points of view, knowing that they may be different than others. The only way we can do this is if we know and trust our team members “response” and maturity levels.

If we don’t get the forming right, this storming phase usually ends up is chaos, dysfunctional outbursts and worse.

Step 3: Norming

Without conflict, we cannot grow, so the results of our storming will eventually end up with the team agreeing on some matters of importance. It is because we start to dump our emotive egos and allow clear logic and our link with our vision to guide proper decision making.

Norming allows us to benchmark standards of doing things so that everyone buys in and understands their worth.

Step 4: Performing

When we have a team of superheroes, that respect each other powers, and have clear guidelines as to how we should do stunts properly….hey presto…you get magic.

Here are a few strategies that can be followed to boost team dynamics:

Listen carefully to the team dialogue

Listen to the conversations your team has, assess the level of assertiveness and whether people are tolerant or not. This will indicate whether you need to wind things back to stage 2 or 1 again.

Introduce debrief sessions

After any activity, event or project, carry out a proper debriefing and review session to look into the good, the bad, and the ugly. If done properly, this will provide objective input to how the team assess both their competencies, understandings of the process and most importantly; the appropriateness of the behaviour or the team.

Stress the importance that everyone on the team must talk and

When you see that a team is over-talking each other either through excitement or over assertiveness, introduce the ball process, whereby you have one squeegee ball, and only the person holding the ball can speak, the others must listen. You can, however, only expect to hold the ball for 30 seconds; this ensures team members think about what they are to say and not waffle for the sake of it.

Developing a well-oiled team is a journey…enjoy it or stay at home.

Beyond Teambuilding is committed to offering training on team dynamics to any team who may be experiencing problems in such areas. Allow us to transform your team dynamics from dreadful to dazzling with our training services.

Successful teams do what other teams are not prepared to do! Are you ready?

At the HiSide Group, our HiSide Training team make it happen.

Contact us for forward-thinking planning, dynamic team development programs to stimulate meaningful change.

Connect Your People to Your Brand

September 24, 2018

Teambuilding Tips

Building a strong brand image is key to standing out among the competitors in any industry. A brand is made up of everything that represents a company or organisation in the world, ranging from its logo and slogan to its colours, name and its PEOPLE.

The right brand identity can transform a company’s image and make it memorable to current and potential customers or clients. It can also have an impact on the company’s profits and returns in the long run.

Consumers are extremely loyal to their favourite brands. They fall in love with the brand’s products and trust in its service. Don’t let your people let the Brand down!

Beyond Teambuilding pride ourselves in creating events, activities and challenges that push any team past mediocrity, allowing them to express themselves in a way that unleashes a team synergy that is often lying dormant. Our teambuilding is done in two definitive ways; formal and informal. Both have merit and are used to create the specific objectives of your particular team’s needs.

Here are a few ways to ensure your people represent the Brand better:

Engage your people

You may know your Brand and how you want your customers to remain loyal to it. But are your staff as loyal to the brand? Hold facilitated sessions where the staff can discuss their understanding of the brand and brainstorm ways to better promote the brand. This way they will begin to feel that they are part of the brand’s development.

Connect the Brand to your Culture

Your Brand is a statement of intent. Behind your brand is a series of promises about quality, service and values. There is nothing worse than seeing a brand that does the opposite it says it does. For example, when Avis says “we try harder”, and the very first person you meet from that company gives you the cold shoulder, says “Sorry I’m busy,” and “I’ll get back to you.”

It is very important to allow your team to understand better what is expected of them, by facilitating an exercise that identifies the work ethic that is non-negotiable and that supports your Brand. This becomes your culture, and this will link to your values and value statement. If not, then get a better facilitator.

Acknowledge support of your Brand

Be alert to the times when you see your staff or team going out of their way to represent the brand positively. Acknowledge regularly as this will strengthen both the understanding as to the correct work ethic as well as the right behaviours in your organisation.

At the HiSide Group, our HiSide Training team make it happen.

How to Boost Employee Morale When You Can’t Afford Bonuses

September 17, 2018

Business Think Tank, Teambuilding Tips

It’s almost that time of year when employees will be expecting a nice bonus for the holidays or even a raise early next year.

While it would be the right thing to do especially if your staff have been working double-duty or on a reduced workforce, it may be that your company, unfortunately, can’t afford to give everyone a bonus this year. This fact can dampen the morale of employees and affect their performance at work.

However, there are other incentives you can provide to boost morale without handing out extra cash.

Side Hustle

Some employees have not aspired to be in their current position, but this is where life has placed them. Perhaps what they love doing does not fall under their current job description.

Find out what their passion is. Maybe the guy in sales wants to work in IT. Or the cleaner would have a hidden talent in marketing a product.

Give employees some downtime and allow them mobility to go to other departments and learn a new skill. Let them take on their personal projects with this downtime. They could come back feeling refreshed, and you would have happier employees.

Beyond Teambuilding pride ourselves in creating events, activities and challenges that push any team past mediocrity, allowing them to express themselves in a way that unleashes a team synergy that is often lying dormant. Our teambuilding is done in two definitive ways; formal and informal. Both have merit and are used to create the specific objectives of your particular team’s needs.

Training

Training and development programmes are usually more common in large corporations, but even if you are a small business, you can offer employees a chance to take a course or attend a conference of their choice.

In this way, you both reward the employee and fulfil the continuing education goal for your business.

Motivation

The reason you can’t afford the bonus is that the team didn’t reach the goal for the year. Remind them of the goal post and set an even higher one. Set out a game plan on how to reach it and make the rewards transparent for everyone to see.

A motivational talk might be “old school” but not when a CA and business expert is talking at a level everyone can understand. Let John Ingram do an hour’s motivational with your team to kick-start their aspirations.

Successful teams do what other teams are not prepared to do! Are you ready?

Take your team beyond with Beyond Teambuilding’s exciting events, activities and challenges that push boundaries and guarantee loads of fun.

Common Pitfalls for Teams

September 10, 2018

Teambuilding Tips

Building great teams takes a lot of time and effort from HR, management and the employees. Choosing the right team is essential for the success of projects and for the business itself.

However, teams sometimes unconsciously sabotage their success in small but important ways. In his 2012 book, Choose Not To Fail, US businessman Peter Jerkewitz outlines the common pitfalls that plague teams and stops them from doing their best work.

Some of these pitfalls include the following:

Focus on the Wrong Problem

Clear direction and leadership are needed to avoid wasting time and effort in trying to solve the wrong tasks. While they might do the perfect job, if these efforts do not align with the company’s goals, it will all be in vain.

This situation then creates more work for the team who will now have to go back to the drawing board to fix the original problem, thereby resulting in more wasted time and more pressure placed on the team.

Our Movie Making Teambuild is perfect for teams to understand a process from beginning to end and not waste time on pointless tasks.

Beyond Teambuilding pride ourselves in creating events, activities and challenges that push any team past mediocrity, allowing them to express themselves in a way that unleashes a team synergy that is often lying dormant. Our teambuilding is done in two definitive ways; formal and informal. Both have merit and are used to create the specific objectives of your particular team’s needs.

Delivering too Much or too Little

It becomes a problem when teams fail to deliver, miss deadlines or do not complete assigned tasks. However, over-delivering can also be a problem.

If your team is assigned to create a new product or campaign, the goal is not to have as many ideas as possible but rather to have one or two strong ideas. It will result in less time wasted on fleshing out weak ideas and more time spent on a great idea.

Our Ubuntu Teambuild will help teams focus on what is important and how best to deliver exactly that.

Dismissing Personal Issues

A team is not made up of robots. Different personalities and beliefs will clash every now and again. Hurt feelings and closed minds can result in a decrease in productivity.

The above should not be underestimated. Put systems in place to deal with such instances before it affects other aspects in the workplace.

Take some time and get your team to complete a Team Climate Survey and let us help you understand your team.

Successful teams do what other teams are not prepared to do! Are you ready?

Take your team beyond with Beyond Teambuilding’s exciting events, activities and challenges that push boundaries and guarantee loads of fun.