Team Work

In the simplest words T.E.A.M means ‘Together Everyone Achieves More’.

         Team is a group of people working on the same or different assignment but for a similar result or cause. In this blog we will try to understand that why different team’s perform at different levels.

          We are in twenty first century; a well developed world is what we see today. If you see any major achievement in the world, it’s for sure a result of a good team work.

          From freedom fight of India to landing on moon, all what is worth calling an achievement is a fine example of a team effort. Millions of people have sacrificed their lives to make this world look so well civilized & developed as it is today.

          Business Empire like Reliance started by great business leader of India is a fine example of team work of common men, lead by a business genius. Another such example is ‘White Revolution’ of India lead by ‘Dr Verghese Kurien’ which resulted into Anand Milk Union Limited (Amul).

        ‘Lagaan’ & ‘Chak De Inida’, two Bollywood movies got super hit success. Both had two things common in them- 

             (1)  A great leader to lead the team.

             (2)  A Purpose (Vision) to inspire the team.

            Most recent example of a great leadership in Indian sports is Mr M.S. Dhoni who lead the team from the front and became the only captain who has won the world titles in all three formats of Cricket. Current Indian cricket team is proving the fact that a purpose driven team can actually achieve the impossible.

          In every part of the world we see some of the businessmen has grown over the period of time even in the worst market conditions for business, proving that the right attitude & leadership quality with excellent team support, anything is possible.

          In the corporate world, I have found within the same company there is a huge difference in performance of the team managers.

         What determine the performance level of a team: - As I stated above that there are two major factors which make all the difference - Leadership & the purpose to inspire the team.

            Gone are the days that an administrative head or a manager can take out the best from the team members. It’s the time when only ACTION will make the difference, a manager has to have all the qualities first & his action should be exemplary. It’s the time when a manager has to lead. In many of the modern organizations the designation has also seen a transformation from Manger to Team Leader.

          The point is very clear that today the world needs more leaders, who can WALK THE TALK & lead from the front, rather than managers who can only take reporting & send the reports.

         Data says majority of SMEs (Small & Medium Enterprises) & Start ups companies close down their operations in less than 24 months. Why a start up fails.

                (1) Lack of experience.
       
       (2) Lack of funds.

      
       (3) Poor leadership.

              (4) Purpose not defined properly.

         In many cases we see that a hardworking man was doing pretty well alone, but once he expanded his business & then failed. It can be poor leadership or a lack of team work or could be both put together. Though there is no team which is created for losing or performing law but still some don’t achieve the goal ever.

          Let’s find out the common mistakes which can result into the low performance or failure of a team:-

                   (1)     A person who wants to be an administrator only, and want to push his team to perform.

                   (2)     A person with negative attitude will defuse his team.

                   (3)     A person who wants to do lip service only.

                   (4)     A person who is not focused & not driven by purpose.

                   (5)     Lack of coordination in the team.

                   (6)     A bad environment will never see a team grow.

                   (7)     Office politics/ gossips can be fatal for any team.

                   (8)     Lack of vision/ purpose.

        Let’s find out the remedy for creating a successful team:-

                 (1)     A person has to lead a team from the front. A leader pulls his team like a train engine.

                 
                 (2)     Positive attitude is a prerequisite to become an effective leader.

     
                 (3)     A leader has to follow the principle of “Walk the Talk” means he must follow what he preaches.

                 (4)     A person who is purpose driven will always be consistent in his action & will inspire the team.

                 (5)     A good leader will bring in synergy among the team members to ensure the best performance.

                 (6)     Positive environment will bring out the best from each team member.

                 (7)     Positive energy will reduce the chances of politics in the work place.

       
                 (8)     An ambitious team will only stick to a team which is driven by a vision/ purpose.

               In the last I would like to advice all leaders to be with your team more often, break bread with your people, means have meals together in regular periodic manner. Always praise in front of the team & share improvement areas in one to one meeting. This will win hearts, and the one who can win hearts can lead the team to success.

                Stay grounded & keep your eyes on the vision.

                Make vision statement & follow your dreams.  

                A dreamer is always a good leader.

           Keep dreaming, keep moving with passion, keep scaling new heights, keep reading, keep sharing…..

Stay Happy…Stay Blessed

A Magic Called “Gratitude”

Gratitude is a gesture to acknowledge the favor done to us by anyone in life. The gesture can be - bowing your head in simple manner, or passing on smile or a word of praise for the other person, or just by saying thank you. Thank You is the most common gesture which comes on top, in the list to acknowledge the favors. Hence we will take - "Thank You" as word of gratitude in our discussion to understand the magic of gratitude.

We say “Thank You” when we get a favor from anyone.  “Thank You” is the most common gesture to show our gratitude and most of the time these two words go almost unnoticed or get a reply as ‘Most Welcome’ or ‘Mention Not’. 

“Thank You” is a phrase which is used worldwide to acknowledge the favor & most of the time it just comes out so very quick that we forget to rap it with feelings.

If we can use “Thank You” with feelings it can really change our world.

 Imagine a friend who has taken some favors from you and in return he says “Thank You”, it will not make much of a difference to you, and probably you will forget the matter. But in case the same friend who has taken some favors from you & forgets to say “Thank You”, you will get some strange feeling. It is the first notice point, and a reason of discussion.

At times simple gestures like using Thank You & Sorry at the right time makes life beautiful even beyond our imagination. Mostly a decent person will never forget to say thanks to a person for his favor. But at the same time there is a strange fact also, that people forget to say thanks to the most loved ones. They take the loved ones for granted. Why so???

Here I would love to sight few examples where we will find that a simple use of Thank You would have created magic.

Ø  A house wife does countless jobs at home & hardly gets enough credit for her work, as it is considered to be her duty. The family takes her for granted.

Ø  A sole earning male gets hardly any recognition from the family for his contribution, and most of the time he is taken for granted. As it’s considered that he is not doing anything special, though in today’s world earning decent is also a challenge, ask any working class or a small business owner.

Ø  In some cases children don't value their parents or find it difficult to adjust, some of them even dare to ask “what have you done for us?”

Ø  Business partners find it difficult to continue because with time their excitement of being together starts fading.

Ø  Neighbors are not very friendly is most of the cases. Try to recall when you said Thank You to your own neighbor.

Ø  Customer retention is a major problem in service sector.  Even regular customer also doesn't get his due regard and one day flies away.

Ø  Employee – Employer relationships is a classical case of lack of gratitude. Even the biggest business houses are facing tough times to hold on the talent.

Let’s try to understand the basic reason for all such cases; the root cause is lack of gratitude in most of the cases. Just think that a simple gesture of saying “Thank You” could have made a big difference. The biggest human motivator is “Praise” a word of appreciation can make a person happy & proud. A word of appreciation in genuine words can create magic in someone’s life. Try this mantra & find out.

We can take our own example that when somebody gives recognition to our efforts, how we feel, in similar manner we can reciprocate to take the advantage of this age old mantra.

“Praise people and win hearts.” Praise is also a part of gratitude. Praise should be real, not superficial. As to praise genuinely one has to value the effort of the other person. Once we give due importance to the work done, we find it easy to pay gratitude.

Ø  Just imagine if a house wife gets recognition for her work, and a Sunday is given to her making her the Queen of the house, who can order & can get the simple household work done from husband & kids. She will never forget this special Sunday. Try & let me know.

Ø  A sole earning member can be treated as the lord of the family and a Thank You card can be handmade & presented to him with adorable words for his efforts to run the family. He already suffers a rude world while dealing with irritated clients, pending sales orders, pending collections for the office, a scold from the boss etc. All he needs is love & respect from the family. Let me know you take on this.

Ø  At time I see children asking their parents “what have you done for us”, I believe it’s the most stupid question if you understand the simple biology. Without parents, our existence could have been a fiction only. Respect parents, give them respect, in most of the cases parents need love, care & affection rather then financial support.

Ø  Maximum business partnerships fail due to either loss of respect for each other or  they don't pay enough gratitude to each other's genuine efforts. Having a partner can be a boon also, if both understand each other’s feelings & can say “Thank You” more often.

Ø  Invite a neighbor for a cup of tea & say Thank You for being nice to your children; or for any favor he did to you in last few weeks & you forgot to thank him, he will be nicer from next day.

Ø  We provide service to a client; the client enjoys our services but still leaves us! Why? A client expects something more than the mere service.  A magic called smile to greet the client since the time he / she enters the business premise can actually make him/ her happy. Retention of a happy customer is always easy.

Ø  If the organization can fix up a plan to encourage the employee for a small effort also, it can boost the morale of the employee, & a happy employee can be much more productive. Productivity will always attract more incentive. An effective system for employee appraisal is the key to retain talent. In the similar manner it’s a duty to praise every positive effort of the employer. 

The key is to maintain mutual respect & pay gratitude.

With these easy to follow mantras, I sign off today…Keep reading…Keep sharing…

Stay Blessed…Stay Happy!!!

Yours

Sanjay Singh