Team Archives - GUJRAT INDIA

Management Tip – Building a Winning Team – Developing Self-Esteem

How important is self-esteem to your employee’s success? As managers, we all know that high self-esteem leads to high confidence and a high feeling of self-worth. These are critical traits in any employee’s success. Having said that, here is an important and introspective question: What kind of self-esteem does each of your employees have? If you do not know, I would challenge you to start observing your employees. Believe it or not, you can play a major role in making boosting their self-esteem and can change their attitude and performance in the process.

It has always been interesting to me that the term self-esteem starts with “self”. Our self-esteem is usually not determined, high or low, by ourselves, but by the feedback of those around us. We get a view of ourselves in our mind as to who we are, and our strengths and weaknesses, based on what others say to us and about us. As a manager, knowing this simple fact unlocks a key of opportunity for changing and improving our employee’s self-esteem every day. In essence, powerful words and affirmations can lead to a changed, more confident, self-assured and productive employee. I have seen this metamorphosis happen to thousands of individuals in my career. This is all possible through the power of words!

Have you ever had someone significant in your life (a spouse, parent, sibling, teacher, coach) who consistently told you that you weren’t good enough in certain areas of your life? Someone who tended to focus on your weaknesses instead of your strengths? Someone who was always correcting you? How did that make you feel? What was the impact and what were the long-term repercussions? Did it negatively impact your self-esteem, self-image and self-worth? Do you think your employees have had (or are having) the same experience in their life? As their manager, are you one of those critical people?

Now let’s look at it another way. Have you ever had (or have) someone significant in your life who told you could do anything? Someone who found the best in you? Someone who constantly built you up and focused on your strengths? If you have, and I hope you did, you know the positive impact that had in changing your view of yourself and building your confidence and self-esteem. That’s exactly the kind of influence you can be in your employees’ lives. No matter what negative feedback your employees are getting from others in their lives, you can counteract that with positive, encouraging words. By doing so, you will not only build up their self-esteem and confidence, but you will gain their respect, admiration and loyalty. These are qualities that make for great employees! It is all up to how you speak to and treat the people in your care.

Let me share with you some timeless words of wisdom and truth from the Bible that will support this point: “Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouth, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs so it may benefit those who listen.” (Ephesians 5:29). You have the power to make a difference in your employees’ lives. Starting today, make that difference!

Top Team Understanding and Commitment

If you examine all the companies who have successfully implemented any initiative of any kind into an organisation you discover one simple truth; they all have a common understanding and commitment to the initiative which has been chosen at the very top of the organisation. Think of Jack Welsh at GE or Bill Smith at Motorola, they and their board agreed that they would use Six Sigma as their improvement initiative and everyone agreed; the rest is history.

This is why you always hear the phrase ‘Top Down commitment is essential for successful deployment’. The problem is that you don’t always have all your managers with common understanding and therefore commitment to an initiative. Top managers also constantly change their ideas and launch a new initiative which gives the organisation all kinds of problems.

The fact is that most senior managers don’t understand the methodology they have selected to implement, don’t understand their own business and its culture and certainly don’t understand the work required to make it a success. They then get frustrated as they don’t get the results they expect, so they pick another idea and run with that. The result is that when we go into organisations to help them you hear things like – we tried that before and it didn’t work; don’t mention xxx around hear as it was a disaster; we are different, that kind of thing never works for us.

Why do senior managers not understand the initiatives they are trying to implement?

When we start to spend time with an organisation which is looking to change, they ask us what we can do to solve their problems. They want a quick fix and rapid changes to the organisation as they are in trouble, which is why they have asked us to come and see them in the first place. As a result they don’t have in their view point the time to spend understanding where they are, then working out how to turn things around and lastly understanding themselves how to change things.

If you ask a senior manager what they do with their time you get some interesting answers. Ask them to split their time in the last few weeks as an average into the following categories:

o Strategy, Leadership and Motivation for the workforce

o Tactical day to day chasing of orders, checking things have been done and answering issues

o Financial elements of the business

The answer is normally staggering. Most senior managers spend 80% of there time doing tactical day to day issues and virtually no time doing strategy and motivation. Guess what successful senior managers spend more time on strategy and motivation than anything else. This explains why when we say lets get the senior managers together even for 1 day so few can make the time to start to understand what Lean Six Sigma is and how to deploy it. How then do you think that they can get enough of an understanding to motivate and drive the methodology through the organisation? The answer is they can’t?

Toyota took 30 – 40 years to change the culture of their organisation with Ohno and Sengo providing the thoughts and drive for lean to be implemented. It took GE and Motorola decades to implement Six Sigma fully into their organisations. Yet today’s senior managers expect instant results. I think a good analogy would be football teams in the UK who switch and change managers looking for instant success where as successful team – Manchester United and Arsenal have giving there managers time to get it right.

To ensure success, it is vital that the senior management team take some time to understand the following essential elements of any Lean Six Sigma deployment.

o What is Lean Six Sigma

o How can Lean Six Sigma help your business

o How to deploy a successful program

o How to structure your organisation to ensure success

o What is the role of Lean Six Sigma Champion and sponsor

o How to select projects

o How to support and motivate your people

If a top team can spend the time understanding and planning the above then they can start to implement Lean Six Sigma and there might be success.

o It means that when they stand up to talk about the subject they know what it is about enabling them to talk with credibility.

o They understand how much time each Green or Black Belt needs in order to be successful and can be given the right kind of support.

o When they run gate reviews they ask the right questions and ask for the right behaviours from Green and Black Belts. Meaning a greater chance of projects being a success.

o They know how to structure the organisation and to choose the right people and projects.

o They know how to link the strategy of the company to the Lean Six Sigma deployment.

How to obtain top management buy in?

If you are in the situation where you know that Lean Six Sigma is the best thing for your organisation and you need to convince your management, you must consider a few things to convince them. You must also have the skills to influence people throughout the organisation that Lean Six Sigma is the best thing for the benefit of the organisation. Influencing skills are being recognised as essential in business if you wish to be successful.

The items below will help you influence and convince senior managers.

Show benefits

If you can demonstrate how the approach will help the organisation and the kind of benefits you can obtain, then you will catch the attention of your Senior Managers. To do this, Deployment Champions run a few improvement projects under no name in particular. They can then calculate the benefits using the finance community to validate them. Some benchmarking can also be done, showing what has been achieved in other similar organisations. Lastly you can highlight where your current problems are and then explain how Lean Six Sigma will help to address these issues.

Explain the concept and how to ensure success

If you understand the concepts, then you have the knowledge to explain how Lean Six Sigma can benefit a company and how to set up for success. If you don’t, then you could ask an expert to come and talk to your Senior Management group. 100% Effective Training have enjoyed the challenge of talking to management groups in many different industries and answering the questions of the Senior Management group.

Understand where it can help

Identifying where to run your projects is vital in any deployment and even more so in the early stages. You must pick projects which are not so easy that any attention would have solved them, or projects which are so big it would be like solving world hunger. If you pick a meaningful project which brings great results both monitory and other wise then you can usually gain the attention of Senior Management and then move to a full deployment in your organisation. Another problem we have been encountering is that businesses don’t really know where there real problems are. They work on solving symptoms and putting out fires, they don’t actually know where the root causes are. In this instance then, we would suggest obtaining a diagnostic of your business which would then tell you where to start in your program deployment.

Understand what motivates your Managers

If you understand the motivations of your management team then you will know what buttons to press to get the concepts accepted. This might require some work and research and would include things like how they are measured, how their bonuses are made up, where they wish to take the company, what they believe the current issues are, what they know about the concepts and what they have tried in the past. If you work on these areas, your pitch to your Managers will be considered, have the right detail and will have a chance of working.

Can you deploy without top management buy in?

The simple answer is yes you can. It is however a lot harder; you must ensure that you get quick wins to demonstrate the benefits of the approach. You must also start to use the skills of influencing with Senior Management to convince them that Lean Six Sigma is the way forward.

Interlocking Accountability – The Secret to a Winning Team

Picture what would happen if a quarterback hurled the football with no regard to whether the wide receiver could catch it. Sounds ridiculous, doesn’t it? After all, football is a game in which every team member wins or loses-together. Shouldn’t the same be true of the business world? Though we embrace “teamwork” rhetoric, most companies continue to operate as a group of separate individuals with separate goals.

True teamwork requires what I call interlocking accountability. Traditional business structure is a vertical hierarchy: I report to a boss who reports to a boss who reports to a boss and so on. To move beyond that mindset, we must become accountable to each other laterally as well as vertically. That way, a success for you is a success for me. We unify, share resources and strive for the same goals-and we all win.

Here are some tips for companies wishing to move toward interlocking accountability:

1. Support, don’t blame!

In sports, successful teams stick together. All members accept the win or the loss and they all take responsibility for each others performance. They support each other rather than pointing the finger when something goes wrong and instigating a blame war. Adopt this policy at your company. Instead of blaming your coworker when she drops the ball, say “we’re here to help you; now what can we do differently?”

2. Create a blueprint of success.

Before you can talk about holding people accountable, there must be a standard to hold them accountable to. Your team should establish specific expectations up front and make them clear to everyone involved. It’s not enough to talk about a vision. Contractors never build a house based on a vision! They begin with a blueprint that identifies the foundation, the walls, the roof-all the way down to the size of the nails. The same should be true for any business project. Create your blueprint up front and your “house” will be strong in the end.

3. Expect some fallout.

Interlocking accountability usually translates to hard work. And it often means letting go of projects a team member may have his or her ego wrapped up in. For both reasons, holding people accountable will often expose-and even break-a team’s “weak links.” I always tell my clients that some team members may quit. If someone has been coasting along in his job and failing to live up to his promises, then turning the accountability spotlight on that person forces him support his team members in kind… or leave.

It’s amazing what can happen when coworkers support each other. I have seen struggling companies adopt interlocking accountability practices and completely turn themselves around. So the next time you’re tempted to say, “I threw the ball, see what a great player I am!” try saying “How can I help you catch?” Your team-that is, your company-will be on its way to victory.

US Lacrosse Vets Give Back to the Game – Help German Team at World Games

The U.S. lacrosse community is a close knit group. Just about everyone who has played or coached the game welcomes opportunities to stay involved with the sport by helping improve the level of competition and by encouraging young players to excel.

At this year’s World Lacrosse Championships in Great Britain, the German men’s team benefited significantly from several U.S. lacrosse veterans who have ancestral ties to that country. Their involvement helped the team achieve an exciting fifth place finish. They also spurred growth for the game throughout Europe and Asia, and helped instill lacrosse camaraderie among a new generation of players.

Team Germany was coached by Jack Kaley, who spent a considerable part of his life playing or coaching the game in New York. He played the game at Hofstra University from 1957 to 1960, and then coached at Long Island’s East Meadow High School for 18 years. Kaley spent 17 years, until 2009, at New York Institute of Technology, where he delivered four national championships and the best winning percentage among all Division I and II schools.

“At this stage of my life, I am the Von Steuben of America who is going to Germany,” said Kaley, referring to Baron Von Steuben, the military officer from the area of German rule known as Prussia who arrived in America to help win the Revolutionary War. “Instead of coming here to fight a war for independence, I went there to help train lacrosse players and raise the bar in international competition.”

Lacrosse in Germany still is in its infancy. This year’s team consisted of players aged 19 to 34. They competed against some of the best players in the world as part of the ever-expanding tournament that fielded 30 teams.

“Lacrosse is not only the fastest growing game in America,” said Kaley, “it is the fastest growing game in the world. This year, Hong Kong, Korea and Japan were new to the tournament.”

Long Island Supports German Lacrosse

All the support for the German team this year had ties to Hofstra. The assistant coach, Richie Donovan, was an assistant coach at Hofstra (1986-1995) and the only member of the group without German roots. Chris Bergersen played with Hofstra (1993-1996).

The key financial supporter was James Metzger, who earned All-America honors at Long Island’s Half Hollow Hills East High School, where he won the 1977 Ray Enners Award for Outstanding Lacrosse Player in Suffolk County.

Metzger went on to play at Hofstra during the 1979 and 1980 seasons. He was named to the 1980 Division I All-American lacrosse team following his sophomore year. During that season, Metzger established a school sophomore record of 4.9 points-per-game that still stands. That record also ranked as the second highest points-per-game average in Hofstra lacrosse history at the time, and it currently ranks as fourth best all time at Hofstra.

As the coaches volunteered their time, Metzger’s financial assistance eased budget worries. Metzger, along with the others, is all about giving back to the game. As a successful business owner of the independent insurance brokerage Whitmore Group in New York, James Metzger ‘s financial gifts recently completed the renovation of the Hofstra men’s lacrosse locker room and established a new lacrosse office suite for the program. He also funded a permanent exhibit that celebrates the history of Hofstra’s men’s and women’s lacrosse programs along with the school’s football program.

With a history of supporting the game he enjoyed in school, Metzger couldn’t deny Kaley’s request for assistance for the German team. Kaley told Metzger that his name already was popular throughout Germany and that it appeared in every town (“Metzger” means “butcher”). Upon hearing this, Metzger felt it was destined for him to help grow the game in the country where he could trace his paternal origins.

“Anyone who is involved in lacrosse as a youth or young adult is told that when they are finished playing the game they need to find a way to give back to the game,” said Kaley. “Some of us can do this with our time as coaches. Others may not have the time as they have found success as business owners, doctors, or in other professions. But they still can help the game grow through their generosity.”

Germans Successful on the Field

At the World Lacrosse Championships, the German team accepted the offer to move up in the seeding to play in the highly competitive top division. The opportunity arose when a more experienced team, the Iroquois Native American team from the U.S., encountered passport issues and never arrived in the U.K. The Germans grasped the offer to play against some of the world’s best teams – Canada, U.S., Japan, England and Australia – and they did very well. They finished in fifth place.

“This was an opportunity of a lifetime for the German players,” said Kaley. “Now, the German lacrosse family has experience competing at the highest level and they have started their preparation for the next tournament in 2014. Now that they have the experience, they will work hard to develop and train to become more physically and mentally prepared for future competition.

A big part of the German team’s current and future success is attributed to those who joined Kaley this year.

“Metzger, Bergersen and Donovan all gave back to the sport’s young players,” said Kaley, “and these young players, when they are successful in their chosen fields, will remember their contributions and will want to continue the tradition by helping the next generation of lacrosse players.”

Hire A Team of Dedicated Designers & Developers – Save Time and Money

Designing, development and maintenance of a web page is a complex and costly process. So if you are planning to develop and run a website you might have considered various alternatives of hiring professionals. Usually, the first option that many people consider for developing their own website is to hire in-house professionals, but this has its own disadvantages. Whereas concept like outsourcing is gaining popularity at tremendous pace. In fact, hiring full time dedicated web designers and web developers from specialized firms have emerged as best options in saving a lot of time and cost. Today hiring a team of dedicated web designers and developers can let you enjoy numerous benefits like:

o You can be benefited with hire on demand policy i.E. To hire a resource just when you need it and for the duration you need it.

o You can monitor quality and progress with direct communication channels. Usually dedicated resources will be connected with you via online chat, email or client support system

o You can just relax and be sure of your work done with quality and as desired with full time designers and developers. By the time you can concentrate more on core business activities instead of project development

o You can hire highly skilled professionals easily having vast expertise in this field.

o You can have better control on your projects as professional it outsourcing company and maintain complete transparency on your project growth along with regular update on the progress in real time.

How dedicated resources can work for you?

o Dedicated professionals work on hourly or monthly basis completely for which you will pay them

o Professionals are highly skilled and maintain high standard of work.

o You get regular updates on work status.

o You pay comparatively lower and transparent amount for the services.

o You do not need to burden yourself with issues like hr, payroll and infrastructure.

o You do not need to spend your time, effort and money for arranging resources for the professionals to work for. You can hire an offshore it office for at free of cost. All you need is to pay for the services.

o Dedicated web designers and developers are scalable and agile in terms of requirements.

While we are talking about outsourcing, it is just impossible to ignore India’s highly skilled and proficient web designers and developers. The key point to note is that in recent times many Indian it web solution companies have seen a huge upsurge in service providers offering dedicated web designing and development services. Mostly all of them take full responsibility of website maintenance and thus hiring dedicated designers and developers can give you a good return of the invested money. So if you want your website to be competent in terms of technology, it is always better to take help of expert web designers and developers. By following this simple yet effective approach you can easily concentrate on other important issues like business expansion and growth.