Thinking

How to foster teamwork skills

By Ron Price

From Episode 77 of The Complete Leader Podcast

We all love to root for and celebrate winning teams—but how exactly do we create one?

Skip Hall, an old friend and NCAA football coach, once told me that on average players only get 11 to 20 minutes of play per game. That’s it! They’ll commit 20 hours of practice and preparation per week just for this short amount of time on the field. For a successful team, that time can pay off in wins and championships. However, if your team isn’t versed in the skills needed for successful teamwork—communication, goal orientation, relationship building—they won’t be winning many games.

By Jalene Case

“Eighty percent of success is showing up.” You’ve no doubt heard this popular quote by Woody Allen. But I would add that how you show up matters. Your interactions with others, and even with yourself, can shift from ineffectively blah to purposefully engaged when you’re thoughtful about how you show up. It’s palpable to everyone in the room.

My first coach taught me this strategy for getting the results I wanted from meetings. In addition to setting a clear agenda, she suggested asking, “Who do I want to be?” Think of this as defining how you want to show up, the energy you want bring to the space, the character traits that you want others to see and feel from you. I’ve taught this to many clients over the years, and they’re always surprised by the impact of this seemingly simply preparation step.

By Dr. Evans Baiya

Without imagination, innovation stalls in the present. Futuristic thinking is a critical skill for everyone—business owners, leaders, veteran team members, and new hires alike. Without it, teams can’t imagine what the organization will look like in five, 10, or 20 years. They can’t imagine their future customers, sources of revenue, competitors, or even what it will be like to work at the organization.

These questions take imagination, and without the skills to answer them, an organization’s strategy and ability to innovate are at risk. As a skill, futuristic thinking requires the ability to see the big picture, roleplay long-term plans, make accurate predictions of possible outcomes, and determine the direction to take to fulfill those outcomes. If an organization can’t think beyond the present, taking advantage of changing landscapes in the market becomes much harder.