One of the fastest ways to get a new team member "up to speed" is to make the process intentional.

In many companies, HR plays a key role in "onboarding" new employees. But more must be done at the team level (from senior leadership teams to functional teams) to help new team members get acclimated to the culture and its unwritten rules (that aren't documented in employee handbooks), and to truly understand roles and accountabilities (that aren't usually accurately captured in a position description).

When teams formally spend time orienting new team members it...

I recently wrote a post about the importance of understanding your team's purpose. After all, purpose drives everything. It drives what's on the team's "agenda" and what's not (I am using the term "agenda" more broadly than meeting agenda. I am referring to the specific areas the team should be focused on).

An important step in clarifying team purpose is to first understand the "type" of team you need (and want).

I hope that you and your loved ones have a wonderful day filled with joy and gratitude.

Sal

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.

There was a great article in Tuesday's Wall Street Journal about how grateful people are happier and healthier.

The article states...

What is the purpose of this complimentary webinar on August 11th?
In just 57 minutes your senior leaders will learn specific ways to avoid or address some common, costly mistakes, and help them achieve a major shift in how their teams perform.

Senior leadership teams are the single most influential factor that impacts employee engagement, productivity, and retention.

Have you ever watched a 400-meter relay team work?
On a good team, their hand-offs are impeccable.

In fact, given two teams of equal quality runners, the team with the more efficient
hand-offs always wins. The same holds true in the work place.

I had the good fortune of speaking at a local Rotary Club meeting last week, and at the end of the meeting I was given a pen inscribed with "The 4-Way Test of the things we think, say, and do."

Now this wasn't just an ordinary pen. It was one of those cool "clicker" pens, where every time you push on the top of the pen a different message appears in its side window. In this case, the pen displays each of "The 4-Way Test" messages:

I have talked a lot about the importance of alignment in my past newsletters and blog posts and how alignment creates focus, clarity, and accountability. But, the glue that holds alignment together throughout the year is...feedback.

I recently wrote a three-part series on reluctant new managers. One cause of reluctance that I wrote about was due to a fear of losing control (which often leads to a reluctance to delegate, hand over responsibilities, etc.).

I recently came across an article called When Teams Work Best by Frank LaFasto and Carl Larson and within their article they deal with a similar issue head on. And I quote: "The best way to manage your personal control needs as team leader is to demonstrate behaviors that share control.