Posts tagged "Planning"

Strategy Teams

Are you a good team player?

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“Individual commitment to a group effort, that is what makes a team work, a company work, society work, a civilization work.” Vince Lombardi

Earlier, I have written about the creation of winning teams alongwith a couple of different aspects of team formation. The previous posts were written with a broad perspective of the team as a whole. This week I have chosen to zoom-in on the individual team player. I will talk about how an individual can make sure he is delivering his/her best when working in a team. Those of you who have worked with various teams realize that working cohesively as a team is a lot harder than it actually appears to be. I have had my share of difficult co-workers and teams, I am sure some may have thought the same of me. With so many intertwined dynamics, maintaining a state of equilibrium is not the easiest of thing to do.

This week I will discuss five steps you can take to become a better team player. However, there are a couple of ground rules which need to be established before going into that discussion. First and foremost, working as a team requires a 100% commitment from those involved. A team will only function efficiently if, the team as a whole, makes a commitment to remain honest and flexible. These two building blocks are essential for every member on the team. The environment we operate in is in a constant state of change, sometimes, that change may make us uncomfortable. It is essential that you voice your concerns and opinions while maintaining an environment of constructive candor in your organization.

Working in a team gives each one the ability to shine, to showcase strengths, and bring value to the team. Having worked with several teams for startups, I have seen both the good and the bad. When you are working at a startup, most of the time your team will consist of individuals who are fiercely competitive, have strong personalities and expect nothing but the best from each other. It becomes each and every team members responsibility to bring their “A” game to work everyday. This requires fanatical dedication to what you are doing and a belief that it is going to succeed. I hope this series will provide  insight into how to become a better team player.

Ideas

6 Steps to turn ideas into realities

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“Nearly every man who develops an idea works it up to the point where it looks impossible, and then he gets discouraged. That’s not the place to become discouraged.” Thomas Edison

Eureka! I haven’t heard someone say that in a long time but I know for a fact, whenever a reasonable idea enters my mind eureka is being echoed through my entire subconscious. Its that spark of hope that you may just have stumbled upon the next big thing. Without the spark we usually run out of gas, like when we reach a critical point whilst developing an idea. The steps which follow have provided me with the hope and inspiration to carry on when things get tough. I hope that they will do the same for you.

1. Passion, Passion, Passion!: If you don’t have this before venturing into the unknown then I would advise on staying put for a while. The journey you are embarking on is a long and difficult one, but highly rewarding. Having the motivation to get up after you fall countless times is essential. In my experience that only comes with this absolute burning passion to succeed, to prove the naysayers wrong, to prove to yourself that you have what it takes to win and most importantly a passion for life. As cliched as that last sentence may sound please make sure you have this quality in you before taking your idea any further. To read more please click here.

2. Find the people who care about your idea: Ask yourself the question “Would anyone care about what we are wanting to do?”. From experience this initial market research for your idea is the key , the reality check for the space you are wanting to venture in. A simple test would be to google your idea. You will be amazed as to how many people may be building or have built complete businesses around your concept. This will provide you with key information on how to move forward and in what way you could fulfill this need in the market place with your concept. To read more please click here.

3. The ABC of business begins with an N: The N represents the customer and/or market need. After your preliminary research, you will now reach a critical stage in which you will have to put down a lot of your ideas and research in writing. The NABC approach provides a framework for doing that in an extremely effective manner. It has become my default evaluation model. Once we identify the need we can move on to A where we talk about how we will approach the market. After which we reach B where we will document all the benefits vs costs for our idea. Lastly C will involve listing down competition and evaluating how best to add greater value as compared to our competitors. You will now have your value proposition. To read more please click here.

4. Focus…have you got it?: This is where a lot of first-timers stumble. For you to be successful you have to pinpoint the one area that you will commit to do better in than anyone else. Say for example at InnovoGS we operate in the human resources industry where services provided can be as diverse as doing simple data entry for payroll processing to restructuring the entire organization structure through consulting. We focus in the recruitment department and use psychometric tests to help organizations make more informed staffing and developmental decisions. We have focused solely on building our competencies in this one aspect for the last 15 months. Once we reach a certain level of competency in this department we have plans to move laterally to outsourcing functions related to recruitment. For us to offer virtually every human resource related consultancy service would dilute our initial focus and we would not have made the progress we have. Making sure you stay focused in the early stages of your venture is essential. To read more please click here.

5. Innovation Champions: Every venture needs at least one individual who has this awesome passion for the idea. He/she is the sort of person who infuses everyone with a contagious sense of euphoria and enthusiasm when they speak about their venture. They help team mates through the bad times and are having the most fun at the celebration party when they win their first contract. An idea without this champion would be lost and fall off the wayside when things become tough. If you are serious about the idea you are working on make sure there is at least one champion. To read more please click here.

6. Venture Alignment: In two words this is basically aligning your “core values” with your venture. When there is a disconnect between what you truly believe in and what you are actually doing there can’t be any sustainable long term success. You need to make sure you partner with people who share your core values, get idea champions to make sure everyone is on the same page and to continuously keep checking your value systems. From a long run perspective this is what it is all about. The best of ideas have amazing short term success but if there are vital building blocks missing from the foundation the structure isn’t going to last. To read more please click here.

I cant believe 3 weeks have already gone by. I want to thank all my loyal readers for yet another fantastic week. Thank you for all your emails and comments. I am accepting topics which you would like covered in the next following weeks for the blog. Please leave a comment on this blog and I will get back to you on whether I will be writing on the topic and by when. Best of luck!
Teams

5 Steps to creating winning teams

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“When it comes to anything that’s social, whether it’s your family, your school, your community, your business or your country, winning is a team sport.” Bill Clinton – 42nd American President

Over the course of this week we have explored the basic fundamental steps which need to be taken to get your dream team into place. It is definitely not the easiest of tasks. However with enough time spent in searching for these, the long term pay off is worth all the effort. The following will be five steps any individual should take when setting up his/her ideal team.

1. Identification of the self: Before we set out to find our teammates we have to first take a good look at ourselves. Who we are and what our core values are . This will help us to identify core strengths as well as vulnerabilities. We will then know to a great extent what sort of people we need to be on the look out for. A key factor of this step is acknowledging, that the law of attraction states that what you get is not determined by what you want. It is determined by who you are. To read more please click here.

2. 8 core characteristics checklist: After you have made an effort to understand who you are, you have to find individuals who share your core values and those of the business. These are individuals who understand the bigger picture and have the ability to execute on a micro level as well. They have a passion for what they do and strive to be the best at it. Once they commit to a goal they work arduously to reach it with honesty, integrity and within ethical and moral boundaries. Use this checklist whenever you are evaluating either joining a team or recruiting members for it. To read more please about the 8 core characteristics please click here.

3. The first critical discussion:This is a step which is usually overlooked or not given enough importance by startup teams. The core question surrounding this meeting is “Who does what?” and “Who gets what?”. These are fundamental questions which need to be answered and talked about extensively before starting operations. If the key points such as commitment levels and amount of capital injection isn’t talked about clearly it results in the team not performing at its potential and usually leads to the beginning of an ugly down cycle for the the team as a whole. To read more about what needs to be discussed in this meeting click here.

4. Performance Management Processes: When teams are new, productivity is usually high. As time goes by there will be a series of highs and lows. These in turn affect productivity and efficiency within the group. If you don’t monitor productivity closely you will end up with polarized teams. These result in factions between the highly productive and the mediocre performers, which in turn causes the entire team’s productivity to decrease and may even result in the team breaking up. In order to keep close tabs on this a team must run regular performance appraisals to monitor the teams progress towards targeted goals and commitments. To read more on performance management processes please click here.

5. Rewards and Recognition Strategy: Team members make a substantial investment when they join startup ventures. They are hoping for a greater payoff for the substantial risk that they are taking. If the team doesn’t manage its rewards and recognition strategy correctly, there will be a loss of morale which directly impacts productivity of the team. We have to ensure that the team collectively decides on attractive rewards and recognition for team members who perform above the average. This will create an environment which is conducive to growth as it pushes everyone in the team that much harder. Correctly managed rewards and recognition strategies are a critical factor which need to be put into place when creating winning teams. To read more about rewards and recognition strategies please click here.

To wrap it all up, first get to know who you are – then look for individuals who excel on the 8 core characteristics checklist – ensure that before starting the project you have clearly recorded who is going to be doing what and what he/she will be getting – track performance extremely closely – reward team members when they excel. Following these simple steps will enable you to get a startup off the ground faster, with greater efficiency and well prepared for the long run.Paying attention to yesterday posts title will translate into. Together Everyone Achieves More = TEAM.I hope everyone has benefited from this week’s topic. If you have any specific queries, questions or suggestions please get in touch.[digg=http://digg.com/business_finance/5_Steps_to_Creating_Winning_Teams]

Inspiration

Lights…Camera…ACTION!

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“What we think or what we know or what we believe is, in the end, of little consequence. The only consequence is what we do.” John Ruskin – English author, art critic and social commentor

You have got it all going, the goal, the planning, the team but somehow you are not gathering the traction you need to move forward. This unfortunately is something that many people experience throughout their life. The reason being; too many people like to talk big and make grandiose plans but when it comes to actually DOING them; this one step separates the people who are successful from those who are not.

Unless you make a conscious effort to get out of your comfort zone, nothing is going to happen. When you take an action step you make a sub conscious commitment to move forward. You start a series of event like the ripples when a stone hits the water. These will provide you with valuable feedback, attract the right people to your side, people will take you more seriously and things which may have appeared difficult to start out with will slowly unravel into manageable tasks. You will most certainly make mistakes along this path, learn from your mistakes. They will be the most valuable lessons you will ever experience in life. I was involved in a project a couple of years ago. I was being pitched to invest in a new concept store for an industry which was thriving. The plan looked great but in that first meeting I didn’t get the correct vibes from the person who was going to head the project. However the numbers looked way to good for me to pass up on the opportunity. Well I guess you can imagine what happened, 8 months later we were closing shop as the partnership was just not working. Ever since that day I have relied on my “Gut Instinct” a lot more.

That lesson may have cost me but I strongly believe that I learnt something which will be invaluable for the rest of my life. So there is no shame in failing, just remember to learn from the mistakes you make along the way. Don’t make excuses to wait a little longer, there will never be a perfect time. Get up and enroll in that course today, get that gym membership, start that company, write that business plan, go back to school. Just make sure you DO IT NOW!

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