Here is the third excerpt from our recent article on 3 Ways to Derail Team Formation. In Part 1 of this post I talked about the first mistake that derails team formation - Ambiguity of team purpose and vision for the future. Part 2 focused on the mistake of - Hiring a warm body instead of the right person Here's Mistake #3... Dis-orientation Most team members are hired and then thrown into the fire.

Here are 4 real-life excuses that will scare off a retail customer every time.

Excuse One: “It’s our policy.”

Ah, the dreaded fallback position from employees and organizations that have no clue about what the customer needs. Smells like complacency to me. In other words, corporate has my hands tied and I can’t do anything for you.

Excuse Two: “My manager is on vacation for the next week.”

This seriously happened to me. Right after excuse number 1. Sounds a lot like "my dog ate my homework."

You know what I am talking about.

All-staff meetings, Town Halls, Team Forums. They have many different names, and their original intent was good.

But, here's where they go wrong...

The CEO or senior leader stands in front of the group, tries to break the ice through a method in which no one responds, goes on to give an update on the business, then asks the question, "do you have any questions?"

And no one responds.

Thirty minutes of diatribe from the leader. Thirty minutes of silence from the audience.

What’s your role in your organization? Who are your customers – internal and external?

A common mistake that I see too many people making is that they think their role means that everyone else in the organization should revolve around them.

Take for example a Human Resource Professional, a Communications Manager, and a Sales person.

Effective communication is intentional. A simple tool for speaking assertively and authentically is using the "I" statement. Here is an exerpt from John W. Jacobs.

At the heart of better communication is the self-statement. A self-statement puts the responsibility for your emotional experience squarely on your shoulders. It is one single, easy-to-learn skill that can most dramatically improve the communication.

It's snowing here in Boulder, Colorado....big time. Receiving a foot of snow on October 28th came a bit unexpected. At least for me.

But the fresh snow gets me excited about my favorite winter pursuits, like teleskiing and ice climbing. Unfortunately, the snow also reminds me that it is budget season (not quite as fun as skiing), and it's time to prepare for the new year.