Watch the video below of a marching band accomplish one of the most creative routines I have ever seen.
What would have happened if just one person had failed to be in the right place at the right time? One person moving in the wrong direction or at the wrong time would have resulted in failure for the whole marching band.
I am sure this routine required many hours to plan, practice, and perfect before the marching band performed at the game. Each member knew their specific role and position for each beat they played.
As teams begin to develop plans to accomplish the tasks they have been given, it is important for each member of the team to understand his/her individual responsibilities. If one person fails to complete his/her task correctly or on time, the rest of the team may experience a snowball effect resulting in the entire team’s downfall.
This marching band is a wonderful example of well-orchestrated teamwork and personal commitment to the team’s success. Teams who fail do so because they have forgotten the basic team principles demonstrated by this marching band: their plans weren’t well designed or specific enough to let each person know his/her responsibilities and the teams failed to communicate with one another and did not meet for “practice” sessions to clarify who’s doing what, when, and they simply executed their plans before they were ready.
All teams, regardless of their goals, should strive to be as coordinated as this marching band. Making sure every member understands how important it is to the success of the team that they perform as expected, that they are in the proper places at the proper times, that they come through for their teammates. Because as you can see, when individual members are dedicated to the team’s success, the results are amazing!
Several years ago, I attended the 40th anniversary of the Sabin polio vaccine and the contributions of Dr. Albert S. Sabin at the University Of Cincinnati College of Medicine and Children’s Hospital. As the representative of my employer at the time, Pfizer, I was there to present a proclamation to Mrs. Sabin and hospital staff members
The University of Cincinnati Medical Center’s mission statement is to “enhance and improve the quality of health for people everywhere by discovering, teaching and applying knowledge related to the health sciences.” This mission is accomplished “by providing high-quality educational programs, completing excellent research to improve health tomorrow, and applying knowledge today by providing the highest quality patient-centered care possible.” The mission statement is dedicated to humanity so as to develop and provide innovative health care products that lead to healthier and more productive lives. This was obviously demonstrated by Dr. Sabin’s work in developing the Sabin polio vaccine.
Dr. Sabin’s work is a constant reminder that through a committed and focused effort, and teamwork, great work can be accomplished. As you know, in the 1950’s polio was the most feared childhood disease, it spread during hot summer months when children crowded around public swimming pools.
Pfizer was also committed to “achieve and sustain our place as the world’s premier research-based health care company.” With that as the mantra, the development of a polio vaccine became imperative and Pfizer played a key role in producing and distributing Dr. Jonas Salk’s killed-virus immunization. Pfizer’s facility in Sandwich, England, started bulk production in 1958. Meanwhile, in Cincinnati, Dr. Albert Sabin, assisted by a grant, had formulated his own “live-virus” polio vaccine. The Type I Sabin Oral vaccine was developed. The drug was a huge success; children quickly discovered that eating vaccine-laden sugar cubes was far more pleasant than under going injections.
Working with local health services, company representatives fanned out across America, organizing mass-immunization programs to administer Type I of the Sabin Oral vaccine. This effort, promoted as S.O.S. – Sabin Oral Sundays – brought doctors, nurses, pharmacists, parents and civic groups together to immunize more than 50 million men, women and children in a mighty effort to eradicate this dreaded disease. By enlisting the support of entire communities, from pharmacist to physician and from Boy Scout to banker to partner with Dr. Sabin and the University of Cincinnati, the eradication of polio was well within site.
Working together as team members, miracles happen.
Recently, a client invested time and money into training all of their employees with the goal of achieving more effective communication throughout the organization. The training was provided to nearly 1,300 employees at several facilities. This many people in a very short span of time made the situation a little bit out of the norm but clearly doable. What made this task challenging was that many participants came from several different cultures and countries, which meant that English was either the individual’s second, or possibly even their third language.
So, picture the scene…..Communication Skills training, lead by a facilitator in the English language given to a group comprised of international cultures and languages and including Cambodian, Laotian, Chinese, Japanese, Spanish, Russian, and Hmong. Easy training to conduct, right? It posed some unique challenges. One major component of this training involved using the DiSC profile. Let’s face it, even those who are native English speakers don’t always understand all of the words and their definitions in this profile and not all English words have a direct equivalent word and meaning in other languages. For example, the work accountability does not translate into Spanish. The closest you can get is the word responsibility and these words are doesn’t really say the same thing. Since translators were not provided, we had to rely on the efforts of one patient facilitator and the teamwork of the group.
To make the classroom dynamics even more challenging, some of these participants were going through an internal culture change. The organization had recently acquired several of these locations and many of the workers had been transferred from a facility in one state to a location in another state. This meant that many participants had not had the opportunity to establish relationships within their peer groups. Integration was still in its infancy stages and some cultures don’t always mix well together. The “we vs. them” mentality that often develops when new players join a team was still prevalent. It was clear that our facilitators had some animosity to overcome.
With these obstacles, our facilitators really had only one choice…which was to involve the participants in helping each other, particularly in their native tongues. We knew that people might not want help from a peer because it would expose their weakness with a language. What we didn’t expect, however, was that some people who speak the same language, i.e., Cambodian, clearly had cultural barriers of their own.
One particular person, a Cambodian who was able to read and speak English well, finished her DiSC profile relatively fast. When the facilitator asked her for help with other Cambodian speaking people; she was not only hesitant but her resistance was physically expressed in her face. Yet, with a specific description of what the facilitator needed and purpose of her help, along with some encouragement, the participant finally agreed to help the others. This was a big step for her and the other Cambodians.
This cooperation and assistance became very critical to the success of the program. Without this support many of the other participants would not have been able to complete their DiSC profile and continue with the learning. The point here is that true teamwork can take place, even in very simple forms, when we are able to clearly articulate the common purpose that we share. Finding the common ground for our people and teams with diverse circumstances can overcome all kinds of obstacles and help improve relationships within an organization to continue to foster the teamwork effort.
Having spent 5 years of my life playing on a Division IA college football team, I am getting very excited because the football season is here. I have my season tickets to my alma mater and have been reading and listening for the polls, predictions, and hoopla. It all makes me reflect back to this summer, I noticed a sad trend this last summer of negative publicity at many colleges.
• Big name schools are facing probation for ethics issues
• Players are being arrested for burglary and drug use
• Some top players have been dismissed from established teams and are finding themselves on new teams
• Coach’s are being sued for hiring away skilled coaches from other schools
Is this negative publicity just or unjust, right or wrong? Regardless of your opinion one question that keeps running through my mind is, “Do I really want that player or that coach on my team?” It has made me think about following the advice and research in the book Good to Great in the chapter “First Who… Then What.” What the author is referring to is that you need to get the right people first, then the ability to create a vision or direction and strategy will follow. I don’t see recruiting coach’s or recruiting players to be any different than hiring employees and executives, as these are the resources that will ultimately determine the success of the organization. The author of Good to Great quotes one executive in his research as saying.
“Look, I don’t really know where we should take this bus. But I know this much: if we get the right people on the bus, the right people in the right seats, and the wrong people off the bus, then we’ll figure out how to take it someplace great.”
It appears this is occurring with several of these schools and football programs this summer. A football team is just like a business, literally. The highly paid Head Coach’s are the CEO’s of the team and are making important decisions about who will help or hurt their team. I think more and more of these “CEO’s” are figuring out that you must do as the author suggests, get the right people on the bus in order to achieve success. You have to have the right kind of players to perform as a team. One bad apple can spoil the whole bunch!
Although they may seem like an unusual place to find inspiring lessons on teamwork, the giant redwood forests have a lot to teach us.
The majestic trees found in the redwood forests of California have been on the earth for over 100 million years. At one point, giant redwoods could be found almost everywhere in the world, but they are now found primarily in a narrow strip of land near the California coast. The statistics describing the redwood tree are truly amazing: These giants can live for upwards of 2000 years. They can weigh up to of 500 tons. They may grow to a height of over 350 feet and be over 25 feet in diameter.
You would think that the root system for trees of this type would go deep into the earth, providing the support it would need to weather high winds, lightning storms, and earthquakes. You would be mistaken. In my research on these trees, I was amazed to learn the root systems of these giants only go between eight and ten feet deep. The roots of each tree spread out laterally and interlock with the root systems of surrounding trees, giving them the strength they need to stay upright over millennia. And in addition to the joint strength of their roots these trees also release upwards of 500 gallons of water into the air each day to help create a moist fog that provides the other trees and plants in the forest the water they need to live.
CMOE defines teamwork as, “A group of people who combine their energy and efforts to achieve a common goal; A group of people who clearly understand the team’s goals and are committed to achieving those goals; A group in which team members understand their roles and responsibilities. Productive teams have an atmosphere of trust and are completely accountable for their results. Each team member invests in the team through their actions and attitudes. Team members are respectful, caring and cooperative. Teams are the mechanism by which organizations can unlock world-class results.”
The redwoods are a prime example of effective teamwork. In order to survive, withstanding adversities and inevitable hardships, all the redwoods must work together. By sharing their main resource (water) with the other trees and plants in the forest, they are truly making and investment in the team, and through their teamwork, these trees have absolutely unlocked “world-class” results – they are breathtaking.
We can learn many lessons from nature. How much stronger might we make our teams if we were to implement some of the same survival strategies found in the redwoods? If each member of the team became more concerned about supporting the whole team, how much better could the whole team be? What if the individual members of the team were more open in sharing their resources (their talents, ideas, and workload) with one another? By making these decisions and becoming a little more like the redwoods, we can all help to create environments where teams can unlock their true potential.
Traditional rock climbing is a style of rock climbing where a climber places pieces of protection gear, such as camming devices and stoppers, into the rock as they climb up. In traditional climbing there are at least two people, one who climbs andone who belays. Traditional climbing also requires more gear than other styles of climbing. At the base of the climb two people attach themselves to the rope. The climber ties the rope into his harness and the person on belay connects the rope to his harness using a belaydevice, giving him the ability to manage the rope as the climber ascends the wall. The person that begins climbing up and placing gear to get to the top leads that wall. This leader has the responsibility to plan out and take the correct line or route, use the proper pieces of gear throughout the climb, and to set up a secure anchor to which he and the other climbers following him will rely on. Once he reaches the top and sets up his anchor, he takes over the role of belay and manages the rope as those who follow ascend. Often times the reward of traditional climbing is phenomenal as the climbers are able to stand at the peak of their climb and take in the beautiful view hundreds of feet off of the ground.
To run a successful business there must be those who rise up and lead, and as a lead climber does, one must step up and make many decisions that will be crucial to the life of the company. As a leader you will not be alone. You will have those who are beside you who, when you begin the climb, will be there to catch you if you fall. There are also many tools available that you must use to aid you in getting to the top.
To have leadership that gets results many of the same responsibilities that a lead climber has must be taken on. The first responsibility a leader has is planning out and taking the correct line. Remember, others who follow behind you will take the same rou
te you did, make sure its where you want them to go. The second is using the proper tools available at the right times. Often, leaders feel like they have to do everything. Trust and teamwork must come into play. You hire specific people who all have different skills an abilities for a reason, use them. Lastly, setting up a secure anchor. If you do not have a secure anchor to rely on and keep you steady as you make your way to the top, there will come a time when something will happen and because of a lack of an anchor you and others may fall.
These of course are only a few of the responsibilities necessary to lead, and every leader will need to carry out these responsibilities in the way that is specifically tailored to their companies needs. When things get a bit challenging, tie in and climb on, the rewards waiting at the top are well worth the effort.
Question #1: Is it possible for a manager to manage sales in a retail store?
Through out the retail industry, including manufacturers and distributors, the sales number is often the number one priority. Indeed, in many companies sales numbers are so far above any other measurement that managers live and breathe by whether sales are up, or down. If sales numbers are so important they must be manageable, right? Let’s find out.
A number of years ago two highly experienced retail store managers quit their jobs and promising careers and purchased two stores and began a career of teamwork as owner-partners, rather than employees of a large chain. For four years the partners did everything imaginable to build sales volume in both stores. During the first two years the partners frequently told friends and family, “Sales are up.” In fact, about 18 months into the venture one of the partners said, “Can you believe it, our sales are up 22 percent over last year!” Without doubt these two owner-partners had achieved the American dream. They owned their own business and were controlling their own destiny. Clearly, everyone who knew the owners was envious, wishing they had as much courage to do the same. After all, isn’t this how other successful retail business began?
The first indication of trouble was when the partners tried to sell one of their stores. When that didn’t happen, they abruptly closed it over a weekend. Their explanation was that the store had always had problems and by closing it they could focus their attention and capital resources on the one remaining store. With the problem store closed, friends and family once again heard reports of, “Sales are up.” But within a few months the second store was also closed and the owner-partners declared personal and business bankruptcy. Literally the partners lost almost everything they owned. They escaped the failed venture with one taking a job as a clerk for Home Depot, and the other selling used cars.
What happened? If sales were consistently up, how could the business not be profitable? The answer is that in retail there is no direct connection between sales and profit. Unless gross and expenses are fixed, sales and profit become independent variables. It is possible for sales to go up, for example, while profit goes down; and profit can go up, while sales go down. The reason is that there are no guarantees in retail. Other factors such as gross margin, labor, overhead, and expenses have greater impact on profit than sales alone. That’s what happened and crushed the American dream for two enterprising, former, store managers. Now do you know the answer to the question, “Can sales be managed?” Let’s use a bit of strategic thinking and drill a little deeper toward the answer.
Question #2: Is there anything a manager can do directly to sales that will make the number change? Is it only possible to impact sales by influencing other factors?
Actually, sales are a product of two factors. That means nothing can be done directly to sales to make it change. To change sales a manager must manage something else, not sales itself. Therefore, to focus primarily or excessively on an unmanageable number, at the expense of the things that can change it, could lead to failure. This explains the failure of the two storeowners.
Question #3: What are the only two factors that determine sales in a retail store? Can these two factors be managed?
It’s true that many things contribute to retail sales; things like, margin, signing, suggestive selling, pricing, displays, merchandising, stocking, store location, advertising, product availability, and many more. But all of these things can be rolled up into two factors. Do you know what they are? The accompanying illustration is the key. All of the things listed above, and many more contribute to two factors: (1) Number of Guests, and (2) Sale Per Guest. The number of guests and the amount of each transaction determines sales. Did you answer correctly?
Question #4: Can the two factors that contribute to sales, Number of Guests and Sale Per Guest, be managed?
As with the sales number, what can a manager do directly to Number of Guests or Sale Per Guest to make them change? The answer is, not much. Once again, it isn’t possible to manage these numbers either, because they are the products of other things. Although they are excellent measurements of the health of a retail store (or company), they are technically unmanageable. To focus primarily or extensively on them at the expense of the basic things that really drive sales could be a mistake.
Question #5: So what can a retail manager manage?
The answer to this question is everything that contributes, or rolls into, Number of Guests and Sale Per Guest. The basic elements are the things that can be managed, not the products of these elements. That means the most effective place to manage sales is not with sales itself, but rather in all of the fundamental elements that begin the process. These are the things that are manageable, not the product number such as sales. When a retail employee is told, “Your sales are down, you better get them up,” the employee can only make the change at the basic element level. And if the employee doesn’t have a good understanding of the process, it will be very difficult to make the change.
Playing the piano is generally done on an individual basis with the occasional duet. When I was 14 years old, I had the opportunity to learn a lot about teamwork from a piano playing experience. I was invited to play in Pianorama, a concert put on in Nashville where piano players are invited and to perform and divided into groups based on their level of skill. I happened to be put in the advanced group with 23 other participants. We were then paired with another individual who we would play a duet with while sitting at the same piano. In my group, there were twelve pairs playing the duet on twelve pianos simultaneously. At one point, the duet splits into two parts, becoming a duet with six pianos (twelve participants) playing one part and six pianos (twelve participants) playing the other part.
When I look back at everything that had to come together for that concert to be a success, there is a lot that can be learned about teamwork. We all came from different parts of the state and had different piano playing styles. Because we came from all over the state, we could only practice together once a week for six weeks. We did a lot of work as individuals to learn our parts and then as we met as a group put it all together. We had to rely on and trust not only our partners to learn their parts, but everyone in the group. In the end, we had the chance to play in front of 5,000 people and our performance was a huge success.
Here at CMOE we define teamwork as a group of people who:
• Combine their energy and efforts to achieve common goals.
• Are committed to achieving the team’s goals.
• Fulfill their roles and responsibilities.
• Have defined processes, procedures, and mechanisms that enable them to function at peak performance.
With Pianorama, our goal was defined and each of us knew exactly what we individually needed to do in order to accomplish the goal. The more specific the goal and the assignments at the individual level are, the better the chance that everything will come together in the end. As we become members of different teams, we need to understand that everyone will have different skills and personalities and that in order to work together as a team, we must learn how to capitalize on those differences.
After all the individual preparation was one and we put all the pieces together, the end result was a beautiful, harmonious song. No one stood out any more than anyone else. Cohesive teamwork occurs when each person recognizes that individual recognition and achievement is less rewarding than achieving the team’s overall goal.
The bottom line is, good teamwork makes beautiful music.
Welcome to the March 31, 2010 edition of Business Lessons. In this edition of Business Lessons the topics that will be covered are: Leadership, Strategic Thinking, and Teamwork.
That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of business lessons using our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.
With companies merge, employees leave one company for another, and new members of the workforce land their first jobs, many individuals are trying to form new teams. Regardless of the situation, most organizations encourage open and candid discussions between staff members among employees throughout the organization. These differences in perspective can elevate teams to a higher level of performance. Differences in opinion and/or outright conflict is natural, and it can be very productive. The key is how to use conflict to our benefit so we can reach these higher levels of performance.
So how does one operate on a conflicted team? We still need to be able to create a win-win solution for the team and the organization. How do we use conflict to our advantage?
1. Acknowledge Conflict
Acknowledging conflict can be uncomfortable, yet once the conflict is recognized and discussed the team will feel a sense of relief. People tend to be more effective when they can agree to work together and find mutually satisfactory solutions to common problems.
2. Gain Common Ground
Is there common ground between the parties involved in the conflict? Put the conflict in perspective based on the team’s goals. If everyone is committed to a common purpose, they should be willing to address any issue that may affect the team’s final outcome.
3. Understand Each Point of View
Gaining an understanding of difference perspectives does not necessarily mean gaining agreement on all sides. Here we must take the time both to understand and be understood as we gain information from all sides.
4. Attack the Issue(s), Not Each Other Bickering or fighting with someone on the team is an unwanted stress, yet the issue needs to be addressed in order for the team to maximize its potential. The goal is to reach a solution that allows everyone to achieve individual/team goals without violating anyone’s values.
5. Develop an Action Plan
a. The team will outline specific steps that each person on the team will take in order to reach the team’s goal. Each person will be accountable for his/her role in the action plan, and the plan will be written on paper so that each person is aware of his/her responsibilities to the team.
As team members utilizes this five-step process to address issues and conflicts, they will see more win-win situations and the team will increase their levels of productivity.
Dr. Sabin’s work is a constant reminder that through a committed and focused effort, and 
So, picture the scene…..Communication Skills training, lead by a facilitator in the English language given to a group comprised of international cultures and languages and including Cambodian, Laotian, Chinese, Japanese, Spanish, Russian, and Hmong. Easy training to conduct, right? It posed some unique challenges. One major component of this training involved using the DiSC profile. Let’s face it, even those who are native English speakers don’t always understand all of the words and their definitions in this profile and not all English words have a direct equivalent word and meaning in other languages. For example, the work accountability does not translate into Spanish. The closest you can get is the word responsibility and these words are doesn’t really say the same thing. Since translators were not provided, we had to rely on the efforts of one patient facilitator and the 
“Look, I don’t really know where we should take this bus. But I know this much: if we get the right people on the bus, the right people in the right seats, and the wrong people off the bus, then we’ll figure out how to take it someplace great.”
The majestic trees found in the redwood forests of California have been on the earth for over 100 million years. At one point, giant redwoods could be found almost everywhere in the world, but they are now found primarily in a narrow strip of land near the California coast. The statistics describing the redwood tree are truly amazing: These giants can live for upwards of 2000 years. They can weigh up to of 500 tons. They may grow to a height of over 350 feet and be over 25 feet in diameter.
Traditional rock climbing is a style of rock climbing where a climber places pieces of protection gear, such as camming devices and stoppers, into the rock as they climb up. In traditional climbing there are at least two people, one who climbs andone who belays. Traditional climbing also requires more gear than other styles of climbing. At the base of the climb two people attach themselves to the rope. The climber ties the rope into his harness and the person on belay connects the rope to his harness using a belaydevice, giving him the ability to manage the rope as the climber ascends the wall. The person that begins climbing up and placing gear to get to the top leads that wall. This leader has the responsibility to plan out and take the correct line or route, use the proper pieces of gear throughout the climb, and to set up a secure anchor to which he and the other climbers following him will rely on. Once he reaches the top and sets up his anchor, he takes over the role of belay and manages the rope as those who follow ascend. Often times the reward of traditional climbing is phenomenal as the climbers are able to stand at the peak of their climb and take in the beautiful view hundreds of feet off of the ground.
