Our new booklet: 104 Tips on How to Ignite and Optimize Your Business and its Leaders is now available. Fifty percent (50%) of all profits from the sale of this booklet between January and March 2005 will go to the Tsunami relief efforts. Filled with great tips on Leadership, Managing Others, Communication Skills, Strategic Planning, and Creating and Igniting Change, 104 Tips makes a great gift for your vendors and customers. You can even have it customized with your logo and business name on the cover. for details and a price list.

Bonni's newest article: "Does Your Company Have the N.O.M.A.R Syndrome?" appeared in Executive Excellence in Sales and Service in December 2004. The article (yes, it was written before the World Series championship!) challenges leaders to look at themselves and their executive team, and ask the tough questions like Theo Epstein might have to ask to select and groom a winning team.

by Bonni Carson DiMatteo, © 2005

How long does it take you to build a winning team? Research would tell you three to six months; the Red Sox would tell you nearly a century.

As long as I have been facilitating and teaching about effective teams, nothing quite taught me all I needed to know like the four hours of volunteering at a soup kitchen on Christmas Day.

For the last few years my family has skipped the frenzy of the Christmas morning gift giving to join a friend and other members from her Temple to serve at a Baptist Church in Cambridge on Christmas morning.

Were it not for the name tags, few of us would know each other's name. We don't know what brought each of us here, we are bound by one mission: give the homeless and less fortunate a Christmas banquet they won't forget.

Before you can say "Merry Christmas," the Reverend has charted the goals of what we need to do, and Sister Liz is assigning roles and asking for volunteers. Within one hour we need to set tables, get the food to the stations, wrap gifts and raffles, and be ready to greet the guests.

This particular Christmas is a Sabbath, so many of the Temple volunteers are unable to come. The contribution of clothes from one company did not arrive. Not only do we have the pressure of time but we also have limited resources.

"I'll set the table if you can help me with folding the napkins."
"Where are the pie plates?"
"Praise the Lord, Brother."
"Let's get some rocking Christmas songs going."
"Thank you, Sister."
"Do you know where the creamers are?"

Quickly the volunteers joined efforts and created a focus on their mission. People help each other and move the goal forward by expediting what needs to be done. Roles are assigned and then changed to fit the need. There is always time to thank each other as you go. Some teenagers are too shy to mingle and some adults would rather serve than wrap. Individual quirks and differences are permitted as long as they don't undermine success.

Our goal was to get the meals ready to serve by 11 a.m. We sacrificed some of our own indulgences for a greater good, and together we accomplished more than we could individually. Along the way we lived and learned the elements of creating an effective team:

1. Have a compelling mission that reflects the values of the group.
2. Have SMART goals: Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Time bound.
3. Have a time limit that creates pressure to focus.
4. Have clear roles and responsibilities, and be able to change them midstream if necessary.
5. Take time to acknowledge and appreciate your team members.
6. Tolerate individual quirks and differences as long as they don't undermine success.
7. Everyone has to sacrifice something to achieve the team goal.
8. The whole is greater than the sum of its parts - individual performance bows to team effort.
9. Have fun.
10. Celebrate your accomplishments.

Even as the TV newscasters arrive and interview cooks, volunteers and clergy, we all know where the true story is. It's in the faces of the guests as they see the room bursting with helpers and a bountiful meal is served to their place at their table. The twinkle in their eyes tells us our goals have been reached as we all pause and the minister leads us in a prayer; sing a carol and the dradle song.

This is what we all come together to do. Our mission was driven by shared values of helping others less fortunate and to give some slice of joy on this morning to people who might be short on it most of the year.

by Eliane S. Markoff

As an individual contributor, she never had to worry about motivating others. As a manager, motivating her employees is one of her most challenging responsibilities. She is accustomed to solve design and other technical issues. In fact, when faced with the opportunity to help one of her employees solve a design problem or debug a program, she is more than eager to help. Unfortunately, she finds herself detailing the solution to her employee instead of helping the employee arrive at the solution on her own.

As a manager, one needs to create the environment for employees to succeed. Success does not have to come immediately. In the short term, it may take longer to achieve the level of success desired by the manager. However, the benefits of allowing subordinates to succeed at their own pace may prove to be very beneficial for the entire group in the long run.

Can you think of a situation where you as the manager end up working on one of your employee's projects? Did that take you away from focusing on more important issues within your organization? Did your intense involvement have an effect on the performance, level of motivation and productivity of the employee? How empowered was the employee to address the next challenge he or she faced on his own? What effect did such action have on the other members of the staff?

From my experience, it may be wise to sit back and let employees perform their job the way they feel most comfortable. The process they use in performing a task may and will most likely differ from your style. However, as long as the task is performed effectively and the results are satisfactory, sit back and enjoy the productivity of your staff. Get involved only when things are not being accomplished on time or in an effective manner. Your role as a manager should focus on leading and motivating your group to accomplish the most it can accomplish.

As an individual contributor, she always attended her manager's staff meetings. Many times she felt it was a waste of time and the issues discussed were not relevant to her projects. She also was never asked to make contributions or provide advice to other staff members' projects. As a new manager, she decided to change that practice. On a rotational basis, every member of her staff was responsible for conducting a staff meeting. That individual would identify the topics for the agenda. In order to do that, she had to learn about the projects and responsibilities of other members of the group as well as understand the issues each faced. This created the environment for increased collaboration with other members of the group and a greater commitment to the success of the entire group. Can you think of at least one benefit of such a practice to the members of the group? Can you think of a benefit to the manager?

Eliane Markoff is Adjunct Professor at Bentley College and lives in Wellesley.

"Executives are focusing on how to build a flexible and responsive organization to more quickly detect and respond to market opportunities," according to Forbes editor John Dobosz and GartnerG2 Research Director Neil McDonald (April 2004). What are you doing to build your leadership competencies?

• Are you looking for a cost effective solution to developing management and leadership competencies?
• Do you want something that has an impact and extends the learning into the culture of the company and the expectations of management?
• Do you want something that is deeper than a weekend quick fix, that sustains and implements the learning?
• Do you want a guarantee that is based upon an agreed measure of success that you establish?
• Do you know that to replace a key employee is estimated to be 1% to 2.5% of company revenue or between $10K and $100K per employee depending on level? (source: ASTD)
• Do you know that the TRS (Total Return to Shareholders) on training that increases development, communication, and morale is up to 200%? (source: SHRIM)
• Do you know that research indicates that there is an average of 5.7 ROI for coaching key employees? (source: Manchaster Group)
• Do you want to retain top talent and groom them for the next level?

Then you want the Next Level Leadership Program. This cutting edge program combines:

• Leadership/management training (3 workshops)
• Assessment of core competencies
• 360 assessment telling people how others see them
• Assessment of personality style and its impact on communication (DISC)
• Goal setting
• Individual coaching to develop and enhance competencies, meet goals
• Group coaching to extend learning and build the team
• 6-month, 8-month, and 12-month programs bring your leadership to the next level

And all for less than it would cost you to send a manager to an offsite three-day leadership program.