I recently was halfway around the world, meeting a new business partner, and found myself in the midst of a seller’s nightmare: I had to do an in-person prospecting call on one of the world’s largest banks, with an unfamiliar business partner, with no idea of the reason behind the cold call, or the people who would be there.

When I was picked up from the airport I was told of this meeting, and there was no one available to discuss anything with me until we were at the client site. Nightmare.

As we entered the building, I quickly asked the history of the prospect relationship, the expected outcome, and the level of the folks we were meeting with. The news wasn’t good: this was the first prospecting call and they weren’t sure who would be attending, but they hoped I could help them open the account by using my Buying Facilitation model to encourage a working relationship.

Great. Just great. Unprepared. No data. No strategic planning. The prospect would see an unknown vendor, coming for an unknown reason, dragging along a very tired – and unknown – foreigner. They’d most likely know nothing about my work, models, or books. They wouldn’t know how to differentiate me from the competition, or how to choose me.

What would success even look like? And other than what I’d read and heard about this Middle Eastern country I didn’t even understand the cultural norms of vendor/client communication, not to mention if my being a woman would be a negative.

THE NEED FOR FACE MEETINGS

When Dale Carnegie introduced the need for face meetings, face time was vital due to the difficulty in getting broad exposure for products. Now, we can take it for granted that the next seller who stands in front of our prospect – if we can even get an appointment! – will be just as charming, caring, well-dressed, smart, and professional. And if a personal relationship is the only criteria for a prospect choosing a vendor, then the seller has a truly long slog here, to find only those buyers with buying patterns and personalities that match the seller’s selling patterns and personality.

I don’t believe in using my body as a prospecting tool. I believe that if it’s important to a seller to have a face meeting, they should first become part of the prospect’s decision team and have already decided collaboratively, with the prospect, how they plan on working together and how best to use a face meeting. Then, a face meeting cements the relationship and brings together the rest of the decision team, even on the first meeting. Otherwise, the only prospects who will agree to a face meeting are those already in the market, and interviewing untold others. Not to mention that when several things seem the same, the only differentiator is price.

But I didn’t have much choice in this instance, and there was no agreement, action plan, or stated outcome that a prospecting call using Buying Facilitation would have ensured.

I realized that I would be out of control during this call, even if my training would solve their business problem: there was no prior decision on who should attend the meeting and an untold number of people from the decision team wouldn’t be present (and would need to be managed afterwards somehow); and if they were willing to see us on a cold call, they were certainly seeing others.

CASE STUDY OF A FACE-TO-FACE PROSPECTING CALL

Given that my choices were limited, our meeting proved interesting. I believe I made a difference in our ultimate outcome, but I’m not sure that a face meeting was any more successful than if I had used Facilitative Questions on the phone.

I’ll describe the face visit conversation, and then offer a mock Buying Facilitation conversation as to a phone call I might have had prior to the meeting.

Meeting

At the prospect’s site, a large man with a gentle persona, followed by a smaller, local, man, came out to bring us to a small office in which sat a very professionally attired woman. The large man sat down in a tiny chair, and the smaller man went behind a very large desk. As they introduced themselves, I barely had time to peruse the 2 business cards handed to me – the men gave me cards, but not the woman.

I addressed my first Facilitative Question to the man behind the desk: “How are you currently adding new sales skills to the ones you’re already offering your

staff?” I realized that I had addressed the question to the wrong man, as I noticed everyone looked to the large man in the small chair for an answer. I quickly glanced down at the business cards and noticed this man was the big big boss. He began telling a charming story of how he was just in the country for a few weeks, and newly brought in to head up this division and bring in new thinking. He said he was delighted that I asked that question.

OK. I was on the right track but there was a major problem: the local man at the big desk had been at the bank for a long time, and was the sales manager for 5 years. If he had been doing a good job, the new man wouldn’t have been brought in! Not to mention that the smaller man most likely had a team of loyal followers (in countries outside the US, folks stay at their jobs for decades) who would have some strong feelings about a new man, from another country, coming in with big ideas that would certainly change their status quo.

The problem was much, much bigger than needing new sales skills. All of the brilliance I offered would be moot if they couldn’t manage the internal politics that this problem created. And, obviously, I couldn’t manage the internal politics for them: while their Identified Problem was something I could solve with my product, until they could manage their internal politics, they weren’t going to take any action.

The internal problem

Once I recognized the elephant in the room, I decided to ask a tactical Facilitative Question to help my prospects begin to make sense of their main issue:

“Since you (the man at the desk) have been around for some time and have a loyal team behind you, how can you bring in new thinking (which he obviously had failed to do) that might represent change, and have the team remain loyal?”

The man behind the desk nodded:

“No problem. No problem. We can handle this. We are very excited to have someone new join us with new ideas. We look forward to change and hearing how you could help us.”

Right.

The boss quietly said:

“That is why I’m here: to bring in new thinking, and manage implementations. I’m sure that we can all get on board here and there shouldn’t be a problem. I’ve done this sort of thing in other banks, and we’ve been successful. I have met the folks here and they are great. It will be fine.”

OK. Now I had a larger problem. They were either really going to be fine, they were doing denial, or just giving me, the outsider, the company view. I had no way of knowing. I turned to the woman (turns out she was the training manager) seated, quietly, next to me and said to her:

“I’m so glad that everyone is getting on so well, and I’m sure that it will work out fine. I’m wondering what you would need from a vendor to ensure an easy implementation?”

She briefly opened her eyes wide, and quickly returned to her very very composed, professional behavior.

“Thanks for bringing that up and caring. I’m sure that there won’t be a problem, like the gentlemen said (smart woman). In case there is, maybe you could explain to us what you have done in the past when bringing in new material? And possibly give us a run-down on what you have that might be interesting to us to help us differentiate ourselves from our competitors, as I saw on your website (Ah. The woman had done her homework.)? If what you have has value for us, maybe you and I could have further conversations about the content. Along the way, if any internal issues come up – which I don’t think there will be – we can discuss them at the time.”

Good. I just got onto the decision team.

“Great. It seems to me there are several issues here. One: how will you all decide on the specific type of new thinking you would be willing to bring in; Two: how you’ll know that one specific set of skills would work better than another since you wouldn’t have a way to understand the outcome before you start; Three: how you could ensure, before you start, that a new skill set would work comfortably with that your folks are already using; Four: how will you know when it’s time to address implementation issues; Five: how would you know we would be the type of partner who could help you manage all of these issues?”

Follow-up action

The boss nodded vigorously and smiled. He asked me to write down the points I’d just made, email them to him, and contact him in two weeks to move the conversation forward. Sounded great – until I called him at the appropriate time, and he told me that he had handed everything over to the training manager. I had to ask permission to speak with her as no one had given me her number. I have left a message for her and have gotten no response yet.

I believe my ‘relationship’ with them all is as good as their memory. Did they like me? Appreciate me and my questions? Yes. Did that move the sale along? Not convinced – they still have too many internal issues to manage. And now I have to find ways to maintain the relationship and conversation, while living half-way around the world.

Because there was so much going on in the room, I’m not convinced they understood the difference between Buying Facilitation and a more conventional selling model. I have started a conversation, and we have developed some rapport. I believe they trust me a bit, and might consider a pilot – but I’m also sure they will pilot other programs as well.

Since I teach that it’s not necessary to make a face-to-face visit until the internal decision team has agreed to change and has a model for the specifics of how to bring in a new idea/product/vendor, I was curious if what happened in this interaction could have been managed better on the phone. I think so.

MOCK CONVERSATION OF TYPICAL BUYING FACILITATION SEQUENCE

I’ve never had a face meeting prior to signing a contract with a major corporation, and yet on a second or third conference call, I’ve met with the entire decision team and made collaborative decisions involving a great deal of buy-in and change. I will create a similar conversation here, much like I’ve done (literally) thousands of times before. Note the difference with the absence of the political issues, and how far I can get using these Facilitative Questions on the phone:

SDM: How are you currently offering new selling skills to your sales people?

Boss: We haven’t been. I’m just here a few weeks, and I was brought in to help us differentiate ourselves from the competition. I’m actually seeking new material to trial now as part of my purview.

SDM: That sounds exciting. What fun! What has stopped your group from achieving this until now?

Boss: The past manager was very good at keeping the status quo and managing the office politics. My job is to find new thinking and bring it in. Do you have something new for us?

SDM: Well, I’ve got a new sales model, but let’s discuss that in a few moments as I think there are other issues we’d need to manage first. I suspect you’ll have to manage some internal, personal issues with the old manager and his team with whatever material you choose. How would you need to work with a new vendor to ensure that you, the decision team, and the vendor, would all work well together while implementing a trial?

Boss: We’d all have to get on board here, make some team agreements, and monitor the implementation from the beginning. I would bring in the training manager to help with this as I believe her to be very committed to success. I’d also have to understand that your material, over the more conventional material, would bring me the new skills that I’m seeking while not creating too much confusion for our sales folks who have been using SPIN for a long time.

SDM: So as we move forward, we’d have to ensure that there is buy in from the decision team, and be aware of any danger signs. We could work that out between us. Before I give you data about my Buying Facilitation Method®, can you tell me what would new skills give you that you don’t have already?

Boss: We’re having great difficulty differentiating ourselves in this market: our products appear similar to our competitors, and clients don’t know how to buy us. We’ve tried educating them, but that doesn’t seem to make much of a difference in our numbers.

SDM: My model, Buying Facilitation, helps buyers know how to choose you over the competition. It’s a collaborative decision making model, rather than a product placement or problem solving model – it gives sellers the tools to teaches buyers how to buy, rather than approaching it through the product sale. How would you know, before we were to do a pilot, that you and the rest of the team would be willing to consider a model this unusual?

Boss: I’d have to understand it better, and the team would have to agree to consider it. How can we get a hold of material that would help us learn more about it?

SDM: In addition to sending you some reading material, I’m actually coming to that part of the world in a few weeks. I would love to stop in and meet with all of you. What would be the best use of our time together once I’m there? And, given all of the political issues you’re facing in your new assignment, who should be at the meeting, what would you need to see from me, and what sort of an outcome would we be seeking? I think it would be best to plan all of this before I get there.

Different outcomes

In my estimation, had I been able to use Facilitative Questions on the phone prior to our face meeting as I did in the mock conversation above, I could have helped the Boss recognize the internal issues (politics, relationship issues, and management issues, etc.) that needed to be managed outside of the purview of the Identified Problem and accelerate his decision cycle accordingly. I would have become his decision partner and eschewed the uncomfortable relationship issues that came up during our meeting. By the time it was relevant to discuss and pitch my product, he and the team would have been in a position to make a purchasing decision – or not, and I would have known that prior to making a face visit. [Note: Buy the book that breaks down the decision segment from the product sale segment: Buying Facilitation: the new way to sell that expands and influences decisions, at www.buyingfacilitation.com]

Use face-to-face meetings to cement the decisions the entire decision team needs to make with you; use the phone to help the early decisions get made and the decision teams coalesce and start taking the action they need to take anyway. It’s the internal, unique, and idiosyncratic systems end of the buying decision that’s been hidden from us for so long, but is now able to be managed with the Buying Facilitation Method®.

The time it takes buyers to come up with their own answers is the length of the sales cycle, whether it’s a decision to buy an insurance policy or a company-wide implementation. By leading the buyer through the entire range of necessary decisions, you can reduce the length of the sales cycle by 75% and you can do much of this on the phone. By sticking to Dale Carnegie’s belief that sales calls need to be face-to-face, you’re 1. helping delay the sales cycle, 2. not getting to partner with the decision team in a truly supportive way until farther into the sales cycle than necessary, 3. wasting unnecessary time on prospects who won’t buy, 4. keeping yourself solidly in a price, product, and service competition, and 5. waiting in the dark as the decision team figures out the decisions they need to make that you could have sequentially walked them through much more quickly.

Sharon Drew Morgen
http://www.articlesbase.com/sales-articles/facetoface-vs-phone-sales-a-case-study-130481.html

i need to develop and implement a new fun team building task for kids aged 14 -18, already have skis tyre tower, stepping stones, cones with holes, need somwething thats new just cant hink , someone help!!!

be a buddhist. Follow the eightfold path.

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Building your market size and your market share from the ground up is a simple task that every sales person should do in his/her region.  What you want to have is a good visual, that you can easily update, that will shout out to do’s with the best chances for closing, that fit into your schedule. 

Based on the previous articles of this series, hopefully you’ve been gathering some intelligence from meetings with existing customers, old and/or lost customers, new prospects and/or competitors customers.  But even if you haven’t begun your meetings, you’ll still be able to get this planning document started.  And having something is better than keeping it stuffed somewhere in your head.  A visual map – no matter how crude – of your journey to your sales destination makes selling much easier, more fun and very profitable.

Here are the 3 steps of how to start building your Opportunity Matrix

1. Use an Excel spread sheet.  Start with existing clients and list them down the left column.  If an existing client has other buying divisions or locations give each it’s own box or row – even if they don’t currently buy from you. 

Across the top row, list all the products and services you sell. Include new or potential products as well. Use categories of products/services if there are similar items i.e. different sizes or colors. 

 Enter the percentage of their total purchases of this item this customer buys from you if they also buy the same from competitors and/or do some themselves.  If you don’t know, guess a percentage and place a “?”  next to it.  This will alert you to find out more. Keep reminding yourself that it is OK not to know, but it is not OK to pretend to know. 

 Leave blank all the services and products this existing client doesn’t buy from you, but could.  Later we will fill these with other information.  Put “N/A” through those boxes that don’t apply at all.  If you prefer use dollars or quantities, but keep it a simple visual.  Now repeat the above for all your existing customers.

 Clients: /  Service (1),  Service (2),   Product (1),   Product (2), …

Review this chart with your customer team.  That is all the people in your company who touch this customer – Customer Service, Engineering, Tech Support, Operations, and Senior Managers. It can be done as a group or one-on-one.  Many times these people know more or have easier access to the client’s people than the sales person.  They can be a wealth of information about what’s going on inside your clients’ organizations.  Later they can be used as a great source for introductions to C-Levels and other influential people.  You’ll want to do this team review at least twice a year for each client.  However, you’ll update this report every 4-6 weeks and review it with someone, preferably your boss and/or subordinates.

2. Now list all the old or lost customers down the left side.  Indicate who they buy it from now and how much in the boxes.  Leave the other boxes blank, but indicate (N/A) what doesn’t apply. 

3. Then list competitors’ customers that you’ve never done business with.  List the accounts down the left as before, and in the boxes write who the competitor/s is/are and/or  “?s” if unsure.  Note products or services they don’t buy from anyone, but could, or do it themselves.  Include prospects that you know buy, but you don’t have any information about.  Finally list those that do it all themselves.  Keep in mind also that some of your competitors can be customers as joint venture partners for services they don’t do or have too much volume to handle.

This is your Opportunity Matrix.  Every box without an N/A is a  potential sale or work being done internally (which can be a potential sale eventually) for all the products and services you have available.  At this point we are not using a time horizon.  This will come later.  For now you just want to know could they or will they need what you sell someday.

In the next part of this series, I will show you how to phase all of these opportunities no matter how busy you are.  I will discuss setting up 4 marketing categories and 4 selling categories.  Then we will assign action items of varying energies to handle each possibility of your market potential based around the time you have available for selling.

And now I invite you to

Bonus Tip:   FREE E-Book “Getting Past Gatekeepers and Handling Blockers”.  Just click this C-Level Relationship Selling Link .   Sam Manfer makes it easy for any sales person to be successful and feel comfortable connecting with and relationship selling C-Level leaders. 

Sam Manfer
http://www.articlesbase.com/sales-articles/clevel-selling-know-where-to-hunt-and-when-a-3-step-process-429015.html

When you think about the ‘American Family’ what comes to mind? Are you envisioning the typical ‘Soccer Mom Family’ with junior running off to play softball while little Sally takes a ballet lesson, and Mom dashes off to a spinning class as Dad plays a round of golf? Even when the entire family spends an evening at home they do so separately. Dad works on his laptop while junior plays video games with his new gaming system. Mom is on the cell phone while she does the laundry, and little Sally watches a DVD.

Perhaps you have heard of a concept called ‘quality time’, coined during the 1980’s as families noticed that they were too busy to spend ‘quantity time’ together anymore. Now it seems that quality time is being sacrificed for ‘let me entertain myself please time”.

If you know a family who is growing apart instead of together you might want to consider buying them a year’s worth of family fun gifts to put the ‘quality’ back in family time.

January is a great time to enjoy winter sports. Tickets to an ice rink for a family skate, or to the ski slopes for a day of ski rental is great for families with school-aged children. In February a gift certificate for a Valentine’s Day brunch at a local restaurant will help fan the flames of family love.

March into spring with passes to a home show, a boat show, or a car show. April showers bring May flowers, so a gift certificate to a local plant nursery will give the family a chance to buy some spring seedlings for planting together. May is for music. Tickets to an outdoor concert will get the family out for some fresh air and they can move to the groove together.

June is steamy, so cool your favorite family off with tickets to a water park. July’s fireworks are great fun to watch while enjoying a picnic dinner purchased with a gift certificate from a local deli. August is the perfect time for a boat cruise along a local river or lake. If there are no waterways near your family consider buying passes to a local ‘ropes course’ where counselors will assist the family in working as a team and building trust between family members.

September is the busiest of all months for most families, so how about treating your family to a pancake breakfast at the local flapjack house. Eating lots of sugar is a great way to start off a busy Saturday! October is haunted house month, and most of these spooky attractions sell gift certificates.

November always has family fare at the movie theater, so movie passes along with gift certificates to the concession stand make the perfect indoor outing as the winds of winter begin to blow. December is the time for homemade sweets and treats, so end the year by having the local grocery deliver a bag or two of ingredients for an afternoon of family cookie baking.

Remember, the family who plays together, stays together. Give a family you love a year’s worth of playtime, and maybe, if you are lucky, they will invite you along to share in the fun!

Rachel Campbell
http://www.articlesbase.com/home-and-family-articles/family-fun-gifts-125306.html

Wouldn’t it be great to be a successful entrepreneur or even grow your business even bigger than it is right now? One of the most popular resources for helping people worldwide accomplish both is a website. Not just any website will do, though.

Too many people try to do it themselves or skip steps when seeking a professional quality site builder and site building tools. Results are often ugly websites too many colors, too many different fonts, navigation that doesn’t work – if there is any, flashy and noisy buttons and other tech features that pop out at readers, poor shopping carts that don’t work right and more.

Instead, here are some major points to focus on with regards to your website building:

Website Checklist

_ When possible, instead of spending so much time learning the latest technology and Internet updates for great professional-looking websites, save all that for the professionals who prefer to delve into that realm and focus on your marketing, sales and other entrepreneurial activities. Seek an affordable alternative with a support team 24/7.

_ Find a company that offers professional website templates so that you can build fast and easy, skipping lengthy tech guides and loading steps to get your pages up and activated. The templates should be available in full color choices complete with a line of premium images for selection and loading to your site pages. Features should also include the ability to enter HTML or simply key in your information in text, plus some templates with CSS or Cascading Sites Sheet web pages.

_ Special features like hosting flash, a forum and podcasts plus activating RSS (Rich Site Summary or Really Simple Syndication) feeds and other popular tech tools is best.

_ In this mobile era, boasting the ability for your users to access your .mobi-compliant website is also a bonus feature.

To find the best features you can like those listed above, searching your favorite search engines to find and interview website design and hosting companies using this handy checklist.

Then when you find a website company with a team to help you 24 / 7, let them do the work: provide quality website templates with plenty of advanced features and a professional hosting package – all at costs you can afford. And find a place with packages that grow as your company grows. Then use the rest of your time wisely, growing your business with marketing and sales efforts plus any other entrepreneurial hats you wear.

And of course, don’t forget to relax and have fun once in awhile!

Diana Barnum
http://www.articlesbase.com/internet-articles/checklist-for-affordable-professional-site-building-in-minutes-126996.html

Has your sales team just completed its third record-setting month in a row? Did your advertising team pull off a spectacular campaign under a tight deadline? Have you just closed the books on your most successful year ever? One of the best ways to motivate your employees to continue working hard is to reward work well done with fun.

It’s a simple enough concept, and one that is central to the concept of team building. People work harder when their hard work is noticed and appreciated. While a little extra in the pay cheque is always appreciated, there are other ways to show appreciation and recognition that can help cement the team spirit you’ve been working so hard to foster. One of the best of these is to offer special corporate event weekends for your hardworking team.

Corporate events have come a long way since the old fashioned company picnic. These days, companies are taking advantage of travel and networking to offer corporate events that are fun, productive and memorable. Many companies these days make their annual meetings and other corporate events do double and triple duty – a business meeting, a recognition and appreciation reward, and a strategic corporate team building event all rolled into one.

Want to reward your most prized team members? Why not treat them to full weekend of activities to go along with the annual meeting? A professional corporate event planner can put together a multi-activity day with program of activities that will please everyone on your staff – including corporate headquarters. When you work with a professional planner, it’s easy to combine high profile fun activities like wind surfing or quad biking with team building activities designed to promote and foster the team relationships.

Whether you’re looking for a way to reward your hardest workers, impress your clients or cement relationships between key team members, a bespoke design corporate recognition weekend can be just the thing you need. From a day on the golf course to a night on the town, professional corporate event planners can help you design the perfect event for your company.

Brett Danielson
http://www.articlesbase.com/management-articles/rewarding-work-well-done-with-fun-19013.html

Are you wondering how team building events will save you money in the long run?

Discretionary effort is about employees doing that little bit additional in the ordinary work day – finishing off a report today rather than leaving until tomorrow and planning for the weekend. It is not about working longer but being more productive during the normal working day.

If we can encourage all staff to optimise their discretionary effort, it is easy to see how it will impact productivity for little increased cost. To put this into figures the Hay Group looked at companies whose management team encouraged discretionary effort compared to those that did not.

They experienced a 43% increase in revenues!

They also estimate that high performing workers (those who give more discretionary effort) are 20% more productive.

How do you get your workers to give extra discretionary effort?

It is not something you can ask for in appraisals or train them in. It comes when a staff member feels engaged by having a positive emotional connection to their work, and the extent to which they can fulfil their personal goals and values through work.

There are six renouned components satisfying those goals and values.

1.    Inspiration and values
2.    Work life balance
3.    Future growth and opportunity
4.    Enabling environment
5.    Quality of work
6.    Tangible rewards

So where does team building fit in?

Well it may possibly fit in under inspiration and values and tangible rewards depending on how you use the events. Typically they can be used as a reward for work well done which fits into the tangible rewards component.

They can also be used to show that the company values it’s staff and are prepared to spend time and money outside of their normal job training. This would fall into the inspiration and values component.

So taking some time out of the office might just sound like fun but it may well have a immense impact on your bottom line.

Will Bicknell
http://www.articlesbase.com/team-building-articles/optimise-staff-efficiency-by-20-with-team-building-677920.html

There are 5 basic parts to building an effective and efficient team. If you incorporate these 5 basic principles you and your team will be successful and unstoppable!

Principle #1 – Training: In order to motivate people to learn, show them how the training can improve their lives and their potential. During this process, you will further your own goals through implementing and supporting learning activities. There are few things you need to keep in mind.

Don’t skip the basics. They should be reviewed for everyone on a regular basis. They form the core foundation for everything that follows.

Use a “need to know” approach. Adults don’t need broad training that isn’t related to their job functions. They need specific training that will help them perform their duties, so tie the training offered into their daily functions.

Stress the personal benefits. Unfortunately, first and foremost, people are always interested in “WIIFM?” – What’s In It For Me? If they don’t see a personal benefit, they will not do what you are asking of them. So you need to show them how it benefits them personally as well as the team.

Give hands-on training. Experience is the best teacher. Most people, including myself, will learn a lot quicker and easier if they “Get their hands dirty.” Simulation and role playing can be effective methods for hands-on training. Heck, they might even have fun with it and you never know what kind of creative ideas could pop up out of nowhere!

Keep the training session short. If they are too long, people will lose interest, become board, and not remember what they were taught. Teach them a lesson, allow them time to apply the lesson learned, and then move n to the next lesson. It is said that after 2 hours of straight training or lecture, the mind begins to wander and you aren’t getting through to them any more anyway. So why waste your time and theirs? Keep it short and the training will be more effective.

Recognize that all people are different. Just because John comprehends the training immediately doesn’t mean Mary will (and visa-versa). Have patience with the people who need more time and assistance than the others and give them what they need. In the long run they will be grateful and more efficient and effective.

Match the training to each individual person. If Mary works in the computer repair department and John simply uses a computer to help with his tasks, they obviously don’t need the same training. Mary might need a computer repair course where John might need to know about spreadsheets.

Principle #2 – Delegating: You can’t build a team without effective delegation. It’s all too easy for a leader to fall into the trap of doing things themselves because they “want it done right.” You have to learn to delegate tasks so that your time can be used optimally.

Have a clear definition of the task. Let them person know the results you are seeking and what benefits will come from completing the task rather than telling them how to do it. This allows for creativity. They come up with an idea that you never thought of which completes the task more efficiently or more productively.

Assign authority. Decide who is capable of performing the task and then give them the authority they need to complete the job on their own. Don’t hold them back by micro-managing them.

Be crystal clear about who will be accountable for what. This will instill pride in their workmanship and will remain with the people delivering the results.

Offer guidelines. This reinforces your expectations to competent people and helps the unskilled or uncertain people learn what you expect from them.

Don’t micro-manage! Monitor the progress of the tasks you have assigned, but don’t hover over the people. You will make them nervous and resentful. It will give them the feeling that you are not confident of their abilities. If you micro-manage everything, you are not using your time effectively and you might as well do it yourself! At that point, what’s the sense in delegating?

Provide feedback on progress. Ask the person their thoughts on the progress of the task. Offer suggestions, but don’t make it concrete. You must allow for them to accept or reject your suggestion to a certain degree. Feedback, especially positive feedback, helps people improve and work harder towards accomplishing the intended goal. This is crucial!

Reward and recognize a job well done. Like feedback, positive reinforcement for a good effort is crucial. It allows people to feel they are doing a good job (assuming they are) and it motivates them to maintain the same level of competence and quality of work, if not improve upon it even further.

Principle #3 – Gratification: To maximize productivity and loyalty, create an atmosphere that is as stress free as possible. Finding a way to make the work enjoyable is conducive to people applying their talents and energy to reach the desired results.

Principle #4 – Directing: When you give people direction, challenge them to use their talents, and give them the independence to achieve their goal, you have helped them to fulfill their personal potential and that of the team. The team should create its mission statement itself. This gives them the pride of ownership. You can continue directing your team and use their mission statement and sense of pride as a motivator to achieve excellent results.
Principle #5 – Motivation: Directing your team is just the start. They have to be motivated! One of the best ways to motivate the team is through recognition and rewards. To most people recognition is more important than the pay associated with their successful completion of the task! It’s commonly called “A Ego Trip.” It sounds frivolous but it is important none the less. People thrive on it, some more than others, and it is a fantastic motivator!

Always praise your team in public, but correct them in private. There is no need to embarrass anyone and correcting people in public will eventually lead to embarrassing yourself. Nobody will want to be on your team, and productivity will slow down because everyone will be too afraid of being publicly ridiculed. They will take precautions and be extra careful not to make a mistake.

Praise what’s right and train what’s wrong. It’s just plain stupid to fire somebody who needs training. Instead, get them the training they need. You never know, they could be your next superstar! Praise things that are working well to reinforce confidence. Provide training where improvement is required.

When you respect your team and work with them to improve, you create an atmosphere which breeds personal motivation in people and allows them to do their best. Build professionalism within your team by encouraging them to maintain a high standard of performance. Maintain the ideal that it’s not the job you do, but how it is done that counts.

Louis Bonaventura
http://www.articlesbase.com/advice-articles/the-5-basics-of-team-building-127216.html

Life starts as we are born into teams, called families. At this point, the task of learning to “get along” begins. Then the task continues as we keep working in teams during school and careers. Why is “getting along” such a universal hardship. Perhaps it is because we are all so different and the way we think and express ourselves varies from person to person. Although some people do simply click when they come together, in most cases different personalities clash a little when they are brought together and told to work in a team.

This is somewhat ironic since teams are formed not only for their efficiency, but for their diversity as well. After all, with a potpourri of different personalities come a wider variety of strengths that can help compensate for individual weaknesses. Unfortunately, as sibling rivalry illustrates when we are very young, just being part of a team is no guarantee that everything will go smoothly. Ask any parent, teacher, coach or employer and they will all affirm that team building can be a difficult task.

So, what can help the important process of team building go smoother? Let me suggest an anecdote similar to Mary Poppin’s creed that a “spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down.” Whether you are dealing with families, athletes, students or employees, teach them to have fun together and the ability to work together will follow.

When people have fun together, communication and energy naturally start to flow. This in turn develops trust, relationships and understanding that can then be used in a home, school, sports or office environment. Friends, not enemies, make well-oiled teams.

One of the best team building activities for groups of all sizes is a scavenger hunt because scavenger hunts do a good job of involving every team member. Scavenger hunts utilize sharp eyes and minds rather than physical prowess and everyone can contribute to solving the clues along the way to find the answers.

Scavenger hunt team building in Philadelphia, Washington D.C., New York and other large cities is especially fun because of the many attractions and historical sites to build on. On these hunts you can learn about local haunts, find clues in museums that hold your interest and keep you moving through the art or learn the most random and entertaining facts about founding fathers like Benjamin Franklin. Some hunts have been adapted specifically for special occasions like Mother’s Day and Father’s day while other are versatile and fun for many kinds of groups any time of the year.

Art Gib
http://www.articlesbase.com/team-building-articles/a-spoon-full-of-sugar-helps-team-building-go-on-408576.html

Companies that claim to teach team building skills may not actually be the “kosher” companies that you would want your employees influenced by. Heaven forbid that any company would teach you “team building skills” for nothing more than “filthy lucre”, but it can happen, so how can you find the right team building skills instructor(s)/company?

My suggestion is to look for a team building skills instructor(s)/company that will teach nuclear-family team building skills. Of course, you don’t want to ask them if they offer nuclear-family team building skills seminars and trainings because they will look at you like you were a cat with an acorn in its mouth. The idea is to secretly check on their methods and processes and see if it fits the nuclear family bill. Read on my friends for more information:

What is a Nuclear Family?

I know, I know. Yes it is true! The nuclear family is represented by that sickening 50s-type family picture that you might find on the label of your baking powder can and that you only distantly recognize as any sort of reality. However, even a picture that some might associate with male chauvinism and or female captivity/confinement might have a few lessons to teach our omniscient 21st century minds.

Team Building Skills Lesson #1: Everybody Sticks Together

Let’s face it. In the 50s divorce simply wasn’t as readily available—or acceptable—as it is today. Women, who in the majority, lacked forms of higher education and valuable work force training relied on their husbands for support and men didn’t seem to demand divorces at the time either. Many 50s families simply had the mentality that they were together for life and that was the way it was going to be.

Now, when it comes to your employees, let’s hope they WON’T be together for the rest of their lives. However there is a valuable team building skills lesson that your employees could learn from the nuclear family. The idea is that every one should be willing to bend just a bit so that the company itself can stick together in unity. For example, if you will only receive managerial training for yourself and not for your employees, then make sure that those offering the training have methods that they can teach you that will help you get every person talking and contributing to the goals that you have for your company. As a manager, this is your responsibility, since you are accountable at some level for every one of your employees.

Team Building Skills Lesson #2: Specific Responsibilities

Each member of many nuclear families–because of social norms–had specific responsibilities in the 50s. If they were an intelligent nuclear family they also realized that at times some members would have to learn the responsibilities of other members in case of an emergency. There are was often forms of discipline (usually from Mom and Dad) if specific responsibilities were not fulfilled.

Now, for your employees this does not mean that Mary the writer can never be trained to do a little of Ted’s graphic design work. What it does mean is that expectations are established and dates are set for assignments to be completed by specific persons and that there are methods for accountability.

Team Building Skills Lesson #3: Love and Respect

Not all nuclear families are perfect (even in the 50s) but families that stick together have love and respect for one another. Now, you certainly don’t have to love your co-workers but it couldn’t hurt to find a team building skills company that will teach youyou’re your employees methods of showing great respect for each other. One method could include really considering the positive attributes and characteristics of your co-workers who would in most cases generally just drive you crazy. Respect is very tangible to the heart. If you find a team building skills company that can help lead you and your team to better respect, then you have probably found a winner.

Team Building Skills Lesson #4: Spending “Fun Time” Together

I think we all imagine nuclear families spending joyful quality time together. You might think it’s crazy to get socially involved with your co-workers but I highly recommend looking for a team building skills professional who encourages “fun time” spent away from work together. It doesn’t have to be a lot of time spent together; even 4 or 5 times a year would most likely be sufficient. I HAVE seen from practical experience that fun can make a company grow stronger.

Team building skills never have to be a mystery but someone who has experience initiating the changes in attitude that many employees need to experience real team building skills can be a very valuable asset.

Marci Crane
http://www.articlesbase.com/team-building-articles/team-building-skills-lessons-from-the-nuclear-family-133609.html