Team Dynamics

The ‘Competence Trap’: Why Teams Struggle to Change

Why is it so hard to get teams to take on something new and make it succeed? Is it that people are too resistant to change? Are they too busy with their current tasks? Are they just not good enough? In this Quick Take, you will learn the key reason why teams fail when they try to do new things, the unexpected downside of success, and how you can improve the odds that new initiatives will take root and grow in your team.

High-Stakes Problem-Solving: How to Get Crystal-Clear Thinking When You Need It Most

When facing a really tough problem, you need your people to bring 100% of their brainpower to bear. In those make-or-break moments, fuzzy thinking can be disastrous. People grasp at simple solutions. They don’t consider unintended consequences. They fall back on what feels familiar, even when it hasn’t worked in the past. They focus on the wrong issues. In this Quick Take, you will learn why high-stakes problems inhibit the mind’s ability to come up with solutions, how managers may inadvertently hamper creativity and problem-solving, and what you can do to maximize your employees’ innate problem-solving potential.

Random Encounters: How They Promote Team Cohesion and Boost Productivity

As any manager knows, communication is the fuel that makes teams go. And today it’s easier than ever for team members to keep in touch. Tools like email, instant messaging, texts and conference calls allow employees to efficiently share information with their colleagues anytime, anywhere in seconds. In this Quick Take you will learn the number one factor that drives team productivity, why it has such a profound effect and how you can boost team performance by creating more opportunities for random encounters.

Team Goals and Social Loafing

In this Quick Take you will learn the phenomenon psychologists call 'social loafing', why performance can dip when people become part of a team and how you can overcome 'social loafing' and build effective teams.

A 4-Point Model for Leading High-Performance Teams

There is one thing all successful leaders 'get' that failed leaders don’t. They know they can’t achieve breakthrough organizational results by themselves. That wisdom is often hard-earned because most leaders started their careers as individual high performers who moved mountains all alone. But they figured out at some point that the key to their success as a leader was their team. But not just any team. They needed an A-Team. This program will give you a proven 4-point model for building and maintaining a high-performance team that consistently delivers extraordinary results

How to Get More and Better Ideas from Brainstorming Sessions

The #1 rule in brainstorming sessions is no judgments. Everyone knows that if you let team members criticize each other's ideas, you’ll discourage people from putting forward new concepts – and you may not get the best answer to whatever problem you need to solve. In this Quick Take, you’ll learn why traditional brainstorming techniques are actually counterproductive, an improved technique for brainstorming that DOES work, and how to prime people to generate problem-solving ideas.

Team Productivity: The Power of Brooks’ Law

What do managers often do when projects start falling behind deadline? They ask for more resources. Adding a few more good people to the project seems a logical solution to the problem. In some cases, however, that’s not the best course of action. In fact, it could make things worse. In this Quick Take you’ll learn about 'Brooks Law' and what it means to team productivity. You’ll find out what his landmark research revealed and how you can apply it in your organization.

Managing Team Conflict

Conflict is absolutely essential to a well-functioning team. When getting along is more important than getting it right, hard questions don’t get asked. Tough decisions don’t get made. The challenge for managers is keeping productive conflict from turning into a disruptive force that can crush morale and team alignment. In this Quick Take you will learn why conflict is a powerful tool that team leaders must use to their advantage, what’s going on under the surface when disagreements become toxic, and the ACES method of conflict resolution – a straightforward approach that can turn destructive conflict into constructive solutions.

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