Another Individual Mistake Sabotages “Teamwork” in U.S.-England Tie at World Cup
June 13, 2010 by Skip Weisman
Filed under Champion Teamwork, Featured
Teamwork never breaks down.Teamwork never fails.
This again was proved in Saturday’s U.S. vs. England World Cup tournament opener.
Despite outstanding teamwork that allowed the stronger team from England to control the ball for 57 percent of the game, they left their opening game with a disappointing 1-1 tie.
The reason? A misplay by England goalkeeper Robert Green on a shot by Clint Dempsey of the U.S. allowed the tying goal late in the first half.
It’s plays like this that continue to reinforce my belief that breakdowns in what many consider “teamwork” rarely are the cause of achieving desired organizational performance results.
Teamwork is a buzzword in corporate america that continues to ask employees to strive for. They strive for ways to breakdown silohs that build up due to competition over resources between divisions and departments.
Yet, these requests, proclamations and teambuilding initiatives continually fail. They fail because the focus is mis-directed.
Teamwork fails in organizations and in athletics not because people do not understand the importance of working together so that “Together Everyone Achieves More.”
Teamwork fails for three reasons:
1) The rewards and benefits of giving of oneself for the betterment of the group/team are not strongly enough aligned for the individual to do so;
2) The rewards and benefits of giving of oneself for the betterment of the group/team actually create greater competition for resources between those who are supposed to be working together to share those resources.
3) One individual on o the team “drops the ball” (or fails to perform the necessary task or assignment) as England Goalkeeper Robert Green did in attempting to protect his goal against the U.S. in their opening World Cup match yesterday;
On athletic teams, when team members fail to perform to expectations and make mistakes that cost their teammates there is usually tremendous despair on the part of the teammate who didn’t perform.
In today’s Wall St. Journal, Robert Green was quoted “It was obviously a horrible mistake, a terrible mistake,” said Mr. Green, bobbing his head incredulously after the game. He blamed neither the controversial new ball, the bounciest ever, nor the slickness of the pitch, and said his teammates left him alone after the mishap. “People don’t say anything. You know you made a mistake. You’ve got to deal with it.”
Yet, in many business situations, few individuals who fail to support their team members in situations when teamwork is required feel as though they’ve let anyone down, because many times they are performing in their own self-interests or truly have a blind spot and do not realize the negative impact of their parochialism.
If you would like to learn more about how to truly improve teamwork in your organization I want to know about it.
I’m presently working on a new White Paper titled, “The Myth of Teamwork - Why Teamwork Breaks Down and What Organizational Leaders Can Do About It.”
Click this link and order the White Paper and you will receive notification as soon as it is ready for you to download, read and begin applying to improve teamwork in your workplace.
Champion Leadership Tip #1 - Leadership Defined
October 24, 2009 by Skip Weisman
Filed under Featured
Ten years ago I heard U.S. Army General and first Gulf War Commander Norman Schwartzkopf speak at a leadership conference. He told us that day that defining leadership was similar to the Supreme Court’s definition of obscenity, “I can’t define it but I know it when I see it.” He proceeded to try to define it anyway with, “getting others to do things they ordinarilly wouldn’t do because they want to do it.”
In preparing for a leadership keynote address I was asked to deliver recently at a regional martial arts school I decided I needed a definition that rang true for me.
I sat down this week to craft my own and in reviewing not just my 27 years in business, 20 years in minor league professional baseball management, and now 10 years studying business success and successful leadership I reflected on the role those I respect as the best leaders I’ve experienced in my life played in making me who I am today.
What I realized was they inspired me to go for something that I was not even aware of was something I could enjoy achieving or being a part of. They usually did so by being a role model in how they went after the same or similar thing. Additionally, they took responsibility for their role in inspiring me to go for it and continued to me by coaching and guiding me to perform at the level necessary to achieve success at it.
Based on my experiences as identified above, here’s what I came up with:
“Inspiring others to do something they ordinarilly would not do, and/or coaching them to perform at an even higher level than they ordinarilly would perform, if left on their own.”
What do you think? Does it ring true for you? What would you add or change about it? Or, what is your definition of leadership and what specific references do you have that have directed you to define leadership in the way you do?
I look forward to your comments and contributions.
It Is Time to Forget About Your Company’s “Mission”
October 14, 2009 by Skip Weisman
Filed under Featured
One of the most mis-understood and mis-construed concepts in all the business world has to be the concept of “mission.” There are probably as many different takes on “mission” as there are consultants who facilitate strategic plans. Many times the vision and mission are confused. Other times the mission is two-three paragraphs long and no one cares to read it after its created and put on a poster to hang in the hallways, never mind trying to memorize it.
I want to give business leaders a different approach to make the concept more useful and give it greater impact throughout their organization. That is why I am recommending doing away with your company’s “mission.”
Instead of developing a “mission,” business leaders should be focusing on their company’s “purpose.” Your company’s “purpose” is a very simple concept to understand. There should be no confusion.
What is a “purpose”? It is the reason your company’s exists. In eight years of facilitating strategic planning processes this has been the number of concept that has provided the most value to my clients and is something that has been extremely well received and remembered.
This concept was reinforced for me twice last week. The first time was when I was watching the new Ken Burn’s PBS series on “The National Parks.” In reviewing the history of Yellowstone National Park the message over the North Gate was discussed, which states, “For The Benefit and Enjoyment of the People.”
This message over arch of the gate is Yellowstone’s “purpose.” It is simple, easy to recite and remember. It is also a statement both park employees and visitors can understand and associate to in a very positive way.
Other examples include the first purpose I ever created with my co-workers at my former employer, the Hudson Valley Renegades minor league professional baseball team. There is a long story and a lot of inner-office debate behind the creation of this purpose and it took all of my influencing skills as a leader to help our executive team agree to it, but it is something I believe is the true essence and purpose of the organization to this day:
“Making Magical Moments and Memories for Our Community”
Some other recent clients have developed the following Purpose Statements and are all using them in place of “Mission” which I believe to be an obselete concept, it is time to put it out to pasture:
“Constructing Exceptional Buildings and Exceptional Environments for Our Community”
“Transform the mental health system so that each individual with mental illness
has hope for recovery, choices for quality care, and a sense of empowerment and self-determination.”
If you want to get the most out of your employees, connect at a deep level with your customers and build a brand around something that shows your company makes a difference forget about the mission and find its“Purpose.”
At a recent workshop with a half-dozen business leaders this subject was a hot topic we discussed for at least 30-minutes because they all wanted to know “where to start?”
You start with asking and answering these questions:
“What is the one thing that our company must fulfill for our customers that will absolutely ensure our financial success for the long-term?”
“What is it that we do consistently that makes a difference in our customers lives/businesses every day?”
Even with these questions leadership teams have a challenge in answering them by themselves because internal facilitators fail to push the issue deep enough to get to the core essence of the company’s existence. What is created is a statement that lacks power and emotion. If you want to create a statement that has power and emotion like the ones above, it helps to have an outside facilitator take the leadership team through the process.
CEOs Are “Wusses?” I Agree With Pat Lencioni
October 7, 2009 by Skip Weisman
Filed under Champion Leadership, Featured
In Tuesday’s Wall St. Journal Pat Lencioni wrote an article proclaiming that many CEOs are “wusses,” meaning they are weak when it comes to proactively managing performance. I have one thing to say:
ABSOLUTELY!
I couldn’t agree more.
As many of you know my coaching practice began by helping business owners breakthrough the habit of procrastination. I continue to do workshops where I get uncomfortable, squirming in the seats of business owners and CEOs when the subject of procrastination is broached.
Why are CEOs “wusses” and what do they procrastinate on? You’d be surprised to learn a myriad of things, including as Lencioni points out confronting behavior issues that negatively impact individual and organizational performance. Other procrastination items include marketing, sales, accounts receivables, delivering bad news to employees and customers, and the list can go on.
Not to be flip here but one of the big issues CEOs procrastinate on is the procrastination of their employees. Instead of confronting performance issues, they hope they get better, they hope they get better, they hope they get better. Then, they blow wreaking havoc on the individual and ripple affects are felt throughout the organization impacting the culture for months, if not years.
Here are some resources with more specific articles on some of these issues, if you want to learn more and go a little deeper into this issue. Thank you to Mr. Lencioni for bringing the issue to the fore, I’ll do my part to help CEOs build the skills they need to more positively influence individual and organizational performance and improve workplace morale:
Manage Workplace Conflict to Improve Employee Morale
Stop Procrastination Before It Kills Your Business
Champion Organization Defined, Does Yours Stack Up?
September 2, 2009 by Skip Weisman
Filed under The Traits of Champion Orgs
This morning at a client meeting I was challenged to define a Championship Organization so the company leadership could get a grasp on the concept. That was unusual for me. Usually I’m the one asking the question of the client to get them to focus on what they want to create that is different, better and/or special from where they are at.
The question challenged me to come back to my office and define it for myself sothat I can better articulate it to my clients, here is what I came up with.
Championship Organization Defined:
A Championship Organization is one that stands out from the rest by continually striving to achieve something unique and special from others in its field. A Champion Organization is one that is exceptional in the way it operates, exceptional in the way it treats its employees, exceptional in the way it serves it customers, and exceptional in the way it interacts with its community, and doing it all with a high level of integrity.
The Championship Organization does it in a way in which all stake holders are:
- Enthused to participate,
- Empowered to contribute in their own unique way, and are
- Engaged in contributing to fulfilling the Vision & Purpose of the organization by consistently interacting with other stakeholders according to agreed upon values and behaviors.
Is that the type of organization or company culture that can thrive? If an organization were to fulfill that definition would it or could it be considered operating at a Championship level?
I think so, what about you? Feel free to leave a comment about what you would add or subtract to make my definition even better.
To read about five key traits that Champion Organizations should require of individuals they hire and retain read this article at www.SkipWeisman.com titled - How a Champion Culture Can Give You a Competitive Advantage
Does Your Company Have a CYA Culture?
July 14, 2009 by Skip Weisman
Filed under The Traits of Champion Orgs
I realized yesterday while facilitating a clients’ senior leadership team meeting that they were stuck in the old style CYA culture. You know, “Cover Your A##.”
I asked if they ever went on a construction job site and just gave out praise to the workers and the site supervisor pointing out specific areas where they were excelling or ahead of schedule. In return there was a blank stare, then a comment:
“Well, in our business if the work is done and done well, its a waste of time to rehash that stuff. We need to keep moving forward and make sure the things that aren’t done to spec need to be addressed while focusing on the next phase of the project. Looking back acknowledging things already done never had any value before.”
I could tell a light bulb had gone off in this individual’s mind while another team member chimed in, “you know we’re always looking for pictures of the good work we do and we can never find them because all we take pictures of are the problem areas so we can make sure we don’t get blamed for them or to show our sub-contractors what they need to fix. I sure wish we had some nice, photos of finished projects so we can use ‘em in our newsletter, and on our website and stuff!”
Again, more CYA. So much time is spent in corporate America covering rear-ends that the good work everyone is doing goes unnoticed and un-appreciated.
I’d like to propose a new CYA culture - “Celebrate Your Achievements!”
There is not enough of it!
This does not mean to get soft and open your company to lawsuits, lost revenue, re-doing jobs that eat into profit margins because of a lack of identifying areas that need to be addressed. What it means is taking some time throughout the day, week, month to be open to looking for, and acknowledging and recognizing, the individuals who are doing good work.
It can be as simple as a private pat on the back, or a public recognition at a monthly team breakfast or lunch with a gift certificate as a reward. You can determine what is most appropriate for your situation and budget.
I believe this type of CYA Culture will improve morale and productivity while gradually breaking down the cynicism and lack of trust in most organizations as workers begin to feel appreciated for their contribution.
Curiosity May Have Killed the Cat, But Indecision Kills Leaders
June 30, 2009 by Skip Weisman
Filed under Champion Leadership
One of the first articles I ever wrote for publication was called “The 3 D’s of Leadership - Decisions, Delegating & Diplomacy.” The more coaching and consulting with business leaders I do the more I’m concerned with the ability and willingness to make the tough decisions.
A lack of will in stepping up to address key issues in their division or their own company, if owners or CEOs, and the stories used to justify avoiding the tough decisions is mind boggling.
In January, in the midst of 50 other business leaders at an introductory version of my End Procrastination NOW! workshop, one business leader of a $20 million dollar company, admitted in front of the audience that his habit of procrastination has cost him personally $5 million over the last 10 years. He is now a client.
Last week I met with the managing partner of another $20 million firm who admitted to me that he has been procrastinating on addressing key issues at his firm, including updating their partnership agreement and marketing initiatives in their own backyard where competition has edged in front of them in key networking organizations, business alliances and Chambers because a decision to make it a priority and to hold team members accountable to following through has not made it to the top of the list.
These are avoidance issues all based in fear. As my hero Bruce Springsteen sings in his 2005 song about a soldier in harms way in the Iraq war, “fear is a powerful thing…fear is a dangerous thing, it’ll take your God filled soul…”
This is 100% procrastination. Procrastination is an interesting term that evokes strange reactions in people. Despite working with many intelligent business owners over the last 7 1/2 years of my coaching and consulting practice I continue to be amazed at the lengths many go to engage in this costly habit.
Procrastination, and this flawed decision-making, action-taking strategy is a killer. It is a killer of success, it is a killer of hopes and dreams, it is a killer of self-confidence, self-esteem and self-worth!
Can someone please explain to me how such intelligent, high level, successful business leaders can engage in this behavior that is killing their business and costing them, their partners and employees millions, if not, billions of dollars worldwide?
Photos of Skip Speaking at Northern California Career & Leadership & Career Summit
June 3, 2009 by Skip Weisman
Filed under Speaking About Champions
Skip Takes a Batting Stance In His Opening Story
The first photos have been released from the 2009 Northern California Career & Leadership Summit where I gave one of three keynote addresses this past Saturday, May 30th. To read more about the event and my experience speaking there, click here.
Click on a photo to enlarge it:
Here's One Great 21st Century Idea to Help Create a Champion Culture At Your Company
June 1, 2009 by Skip Weisman
Filed under Champion Communication, Champion Leadership, The Traits of Champion Orgs
Here’s a great blog post from an employer law firm that discusses a new way to provide employee feedback. It will totally transform how annual performance reviews and individual performance feedback is provided, using Twitter. It’s Brilliant and could be the wave of the future if forward thinking companies find a way to make it work, a must read:
Using Twitter to Manage Performance
What do you think?
Now I Know How Bruce Springsteen Feels (well, sort of)
May 31, 2009 by Skip Weisman
Filed under Speaking About Champions
I was a little taken aback, and was somewhat embarrassed, by the response of the audience on Saturday when I closed my keynote address in front of 1,500 people. This was more than the usual polite applause and then, gradually, some in the auditorium began to stand (I’m still awaiting the official photos from the event, which I will certainly post when they arrive.).
The event, the 2009 Northern California Career & Leadership Summit at the Community Presbyterian Church in Danville, CA is in its 7th year, and I was one of three speakers on the program.
How does one respond to a “standing ovation” if one has never been the recipient of such a response. It was a little uncomfortable, to say the least, but a learning experience for which I look forward to applying again soon, hopefully.
It is certainly a rush to complete a performance knowing you gave 100%, connected with a large group of people and very well may have significantly inspired some in that group to do something different afterward.
For 33 years and 62 live performances, Bruce Springsteen, has done that for me. Now I know how Bruce feels (somewhat) as he stands on stage, holding the hands of his bandmates taking that final bow before they leave the stage. I also now understand why he plays live so often and has historically played marathon concerts, its a rush to have other people enamored with what you are providing them.
A lot of lessons learned in this process that I’ll be writing about over the next few days and weeks. I have to prepare for another presentation, a somewhat smaller venue of a conference room and 25 workshop participants on Wednesday. Just like Bruce, whether its 25, 2500, or 25,000 I’m committed to giving 100% each time out!
Much thanks goes out to four very special people, professional mentors who helped make this success possible (or necessary as Yogi Berra once said), and have me excited to pursue the next opportunity:
Dr. Shirley Garrett - (www.ShirleyGarrett.com) my most immediate speaking/performance coach, who helped me craft the speech over a weekend intensive and then worked with me to tweak it over the ensuing two months. Shirley also helped with specific stage performance and delivery tips that were invaluable, as was her wonderful wordsmithing and on-going encouragement and support.
Jane Atkinson - (www.SpeakerLauncher.com) I’ve been a member of Jane’s Club Quick Start, a monthly coaching program that has been a consistent development tool for the last 7 months. Thanks to Jane’s program I selected my focused lane “Helping Leaders Create Champion Organizations,” my new brand. Without that decision early on in the Club Quick Start program, my message for this keynote would not have been as focused and inspiring as it turned out to be. This blog is a testament to my work in her program.
David Greenberg - (www.SimplySpeakingInc.com) My original speaking coach from 2 1/2 years ago who got me started on livening up my presentations. Although progress since our sessions 30 months ago has been slower than I would have liked, David has been a constant inspiration, resource and friend for me. I appreciate his candidness and professionalism to refer me to Shirley Garrett shortly after reaching out to him to help me with this project.
Dr. Alan Weiss - (www.SummitConsulting.com www.ContrarianConsulting.com ) Alan may be the most intelligent and most challenging personality I’ve ever come across in my life but I have to thank him for his constant push to exceed the limits we all place on ourselves getting to the next level. Before attending his Million Dollar Consulting College two years ago (where the original concept of this Champion Organizations brand was birthed) I never would have imagined believing I could present to an audience of this size and get the results I did. Alan has no idea of the impact he has had on my growth in the last three years but his is a constant inner voice that has a strong tendency to override the critical one inside my head, allowing me to continually stretch my comfort zone!
I highly recommend each of these professional speaking and consulting resources above.