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Answer Upon - Teamwork - Does It Always Work?
I recently spoke with a franchise company that provides cleaning services. This enterprise has been in business for about 18 months. The company has ten employees, 115 clients and produces revenue of over $12,000 per month. Unfortunately, the company advertising expenses total of $5,000 every month! As a result, company profit only totals a little under ten percent. The owner wants to increase its client base and attract and retain my best employees.This reminds me of the old saying: "That you have to spend money to make money." Do entrepreneurs have to spend money to make money?Well, so
But as we embrace Teams and Teamwork... as Teams are heralded as the answer to all workplace ills... you might pause to ask, does Teamwork always work?
And the answer is: no!
Structuring work around Teams... or Teams around work... will not always lead to the b
When we were kids, most of us had some adult teach us to greet people with a "Hello" or "Good Morning"; to say, "Please" and "Thank you"; and to ask permission of adults before going out to play with the neighborhood kids.Flash forward a couple of decades and those same social niceties are reinforced by all sorts of business and sales gurus who tell us what we need to know we learned in kindergarten!So, imagine my surprise when I first heard about the executive committee meetings where presenters received specific, no-nonsense instructions for their conduct during these meetings."State yo
Listen to executives, professionals, consultants and academics, and they'll inevitably gush about the wonders of teams and teamwork.
And why not? Companies are teams, or at least they're made up of teams. A "team" being a group of people that works together to accomplish a common goal. So it only makes sense that business writers should devote attention to building, motivating and getting the best and most out of teams.
But when we talk about teams, we're not just talking about any old group of people working together to accomplish a common goal, are we?
We're talking about Teams with a capital "T" -- tightly focused groups of interdependent individuals using their distinct yet complementary skills to tackle projects and problems. Whew -- that was a mouthful!
These Teams do the same work as individuals or small-"t" teams, but in a more effective way. While in the past one person might have done it all, or a small-"t" team might have worked in "production line" fashion -- where each person did his or her little bit, before handing the project on to the next person -- Teams work together at the concurrently.
As such, they not only get the work done quicker, but if problems arise, they can more readily share solutions and overcome such stumbling blocks.
But as we embrace Teams and Teamwork... as Teams are heralded as the answer to all workplace ills... you might pause to ask, does Teamwork always work?
And the answer is: no!
Structuring work around Teams... or Teams around work... will not always lead to the be
I bet you have not thought about it much, but there are many ways you can help your customers in their daily lives. If you have a customer who just got laid off from their job, tell them you will be glad to take a few of their resumes and put them in a file box and when Corporate Executives come into the store you will be sure to put a good word in for them. Many years ago I use to drive from company to company to wash cars. Sometimes companies were hiring and sometimes laying off or closing. It was easy to put a small box behind the seat of my work truck and sense most of those who gave me their resumes were
But when we talk about teams, we're not just talking about any old group of people working together to accomplish a common goal, are we?
We're talking about Teams with a capital "T" -- tightly focused groups of interdependent individuals using their distinct yet complementary skills to tackle projects and problems. Whew -- that was a mouthful!
These Teams do the same work as individuals or small-"t" teams, but in a more effective way. While in the past one person might have done it all, or a small-"t" team might have worked in "production line" fashion -- where each person did his or her little bit, before handing the project on to the next person -- Teams work together at the concurrently.
As such, they not only get the work done quicker, but if problems arise, they can more readily share solutions and overcome such stumbling blocks.
But as we embrace Teams and Teamwork... as Teams are heralded as the answer to all workplace ills... you might pause to ask, does Teamwork always work?
And the answer is: no!
Structuring work around Teams... or Teams around work... will not always lead to the b
If you have been itching to start your own small business but not sure where to start, business ideas and opportunities are everywhere to be found. Identifying good opportunities is often as easy as identifying problems many people share and finding a solution for those problems.Anyone can own and run a successful small business; you do not need to have an MBA to turn your business opportunity into profits. You just need capital for investment, a good solid team and reliable small business software. To run your business smoothly and efficiently you need effective business software as they help automate
We're talking about Teams with a capital "T" -- tightly focused groups of interdependent individuals using their distinct yet complementary skills to tackle projects and problems. Whew -- that was a mouthful!
These Teams do the same work as individuals or small-"t" teams, but in a more effective way. While in the past one person might have done it all, or a small-"t" team might have worked in "production line" fashion -- where each person did his or her little bit, before handing the project on to the next person -- Teams work together at the concurrently.
As such, they not only get the work done quicker, but if problems arise, they can more readily share solutions and overcome such stumbling blocks.
But as we embrace Teams and Teamwork... as Teams are heralded as the answer to all workplace ills... you might pause to ask, does Teamwork always work?
And the answer is: no!
Structuring work around Teams... or Teams around work... will not always lead to the b
If you have your own company or just an idea for a great product or service, you undoubtedly have opinions and advice to share with others. One of the most powerful yet underrated forms of PR is the "opinion piece." As the name suggests, an opinion piece expresses the author’s point of view based on his or her own experience.Many people assume that reporters have written all the articles that appear in local business magazines and trade journals. In fact, many business owners write what gets published (either through their own effort or via a PR agency acting on their behalf).Nearly every major
As such, they not only get the work done quicker, but if problems arise, they can more readily share solutions and overcome such stumbling blocks.
But as we embrace Teams and Teamwork... as Teams are heralded as the answer to all workplace ills... you might pause to ask, does Teamwork always work?
And the answer is: no!
Structuring work around Teams... or Teams around work... will not always lead to the b
You offer a reliable, quality service. You know that if more people knew what you can do, you'd increase sales. So you advertise in the most likely media for potential clients to read about you. But there's no response. Why?If this scenario is familiar to you there's a few likely causes.1. Maybe your ad's aren't designed well - poor layout, inappropriate offer, etc.2. Maybe you have selected the wrong media, placement or timing.3. Maybe you shouldn't be advertising your services.Now I know there's a lot to consider when writing advertisements - creating "killer headlines", l
But as we embrace Teams and Teamwork... as Teams are heralded as the answer to all workplace ills... you might pause to ask, does Teamwork always work?
And the answer is: no!
Structuring work around Teams... or Teams around work... will not always lead to the best possible results -- whether in terms of productivity, sales, profits or any other measure of "results".
Now, I'm not going to go into some obvious potential problems with Teams -- like people not getting along with each other. Frankly, there's no faster way to hamper workplace performance than people fighting! However, this can negatively impact non-Team work environments too.
My real objection is to companies (read: managers) rushing to deploy Teams, when one or more individuals -- working largely independently -- could more quickly and effectively do the work.
In fact, you need to be very clear about when to use Teams and when to use teams or individuals. There are three factors to consider:
-- Type of work
-- Scope of work
-- Kinds of people attracted to this kind of work
Let's consider each...
1. Type Of Work
When it comes to the type of work, ask yourself:
-- Can it, must it, be done at the same time? If so, the greater the need for a Team. If not -- if it is sequential -- the smaller the need.
-- Does knowledge need to be acquired from one task in order to do another? If so, the more likely that one person or a group of independent people should perform the work.
-- Does the work require diverse talents, skills or knowledge? The more varied the talents, skills a
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