What Is Teamwork?

The ______ of the Leader

According to John Maxwell, "The speed of the leader is the speed of the team." While that's true, it is important to remember that the leader sets many agendas in addition to speed. Consider this phrase: The ______ of the leader is the ______ of the team. Now pick almost any word to fill in the blanks...

Attitude.

Enthusiasm.

Focus.

Service.

Rarely will team members rise higher than the standard set by the team leader. As I often share with my audiences, team members pay more attention to what the leader does than what the leader says. Ideally, there is congruence between the words and the action of the leaders. Wherever there is discongruence, followers choose to believe actions.

Are you giving team members something to live up to? Or are you a limiting factor in the team's success?

Teamwork: Where?

While working with a telecom company recently, I was reminded of a couple of points about teamwork that are seldom addressed but critically important. The first is this:

Teamwork isn't always the best means to an end.

There is much organizational work that is better done by an individual. Trying to bring teamwork to bear on every process and activity is likely to create something that has a scary resemblance to the dreaded "management by committee."

To make teamwork work, it is necessary to answer the question "Where?" Where should we team and/or partner? What areas will be improved by applying a teamwork approach?

Secondly, it isn't enough to sell the benefits of teamwork if you can't identify the opportunities. This is related to my previous point. Start by asking where in your organization teamwork is most needed. Rather than apply a general and vague team approach, target specific areas. Once momentum is gained in those important areas, you can increase the scope of teamwork.

I wonder how many team efforts crashed and burned because nobody ever asked if teamwork was desirable for the type of work being done, or identified where the opportunities for teamwork were greatest.

Middle-Down Teamwork

One of the most common mistakes I observe is what I call "middle-down teamwork." That occurs when upper management thinks that teamwork is a great concept for every in the organization except them.

Here's what happens: someone in leadership gets turned-on by an article in Fortune or Business Week about the organizational benefits of teamwork. That usually results in a mandate to create teamwork that is directed to middle management. Middle management is expected to put their people through prerequisite training and take the steps necessary to ""make it happen." Often during the initial training, it becomes painfully obvious to those involved that upper management neither practices nor supports the concept of teamwork, and that if teamwork is to happen, it will happen from the middle down. Evaluations of the training include comments like, "Why wasn't upper management involved in the training?" and "I hope our leadership takes these lessons to heart."

For teamwork to work, it must be embraced--in principle and in practice--by everyone in the organization. But, in my opinion, the best place for a teamwork initiative to start is at the top. Once employees see leadership practicing what they preach, it becomes significantly easier to get acceptance throughout the organization.

1. In successful teams, team members are interdependent. They are willing to ask for help when they need it and offer help when they can provide it.
2. Work groups compete inward. Teams compete outward. There are three things you can use to create healthy competition: a competitor in the marketplace, a team goal to be achieved or a common problem to be solved.
3. Team members are self-starters. Since they understand the big picture, they don't need to be told what to do.
4. Successful team members share both rewards and sacrifices. Don't expect people to make sacrifices if they won't get to share in the rewards later.
5. The best thing you can strive for is not a team with a great leader. The highest goal is a team of leaders.


Cindy Ashworth is a single, work at home mom. Providing a REAL work at home business with one on one coaching and mentoring. The way it should be! Also the owner of www.asinglewahm.blogspot.com and www.mykidsmywhy.com.

Articles written in this blog by Cindy Ashworth are the sole property of Cindy Ashworth and permission is needed for duplication.

Plugging

Plugging... What an effective way to get your business or service out there.. And guess what? It's FREE.

So many websites and blogs have plug boards on them that will allow you to place your plug and url on their board in exchange for allowing them to plug on yours...And you can still find websites and blogs that will let you plug without even having a plug board of your own.

Of course you can google "plug boards" but you won't get as many listings as you would by actually visiting one. Because once you visit one, you will have access to many more.

You will need a plug image that represents you. For this blog, I am using the "Asinglewahm" and I can go to other blogs or websites and plug it...Meaning, when someone clicks on the image, it will take them to my business or service.

Example: at the bottom of this blog is a section called "Plug It" When plugging you will need an image url and a website url.... In the first box is where you will input the image url.... That link is what allows your image to show.... The second box is your website url..... once you enter both, you click on "plug" and that will display your image and link so someone can click on it and see what you are all about.

So go ahead and plug everywhere you can... It's a great way to get your business/service out there and the best part is, it's FREE!



Cindy Ashworth is a single, work at home mom. Providing a REAL work at home business with one on one coaching and mentoring. The way it should be! Also the owner of www.asinglewahm.blogspot.com and www.mykidsmywhy.com.

Articles written in this blog by Cindy Ashworth are the sole property of Cindy Ashworth and permission is needed for duplication.

Does this sound like you? You can bring in extra income with a honest, legit, work at home business that is flexible, family friendly and very easy to work.

Bonuses - Incentives - Great Pay - Flexibility - Better Business Awarded Company

See for yourself...Click on the image and fill out the application and you can come and see if what we do is a match for what you are looking for.




Cindy Ashworth is a single, work at home mom. Providing a REAL work at home business with one on one coaching and mentoring. The way it should be! Also the owner of www.asinglewahm.blogspot.com and www.mykidsmywhy.com.

Articles written in this blog by Cindy Ashworth are the sole property of Cindy Ashworth and permission is needed for duplication.

Whatever it takes, commit completely to your goals and
success will follow!

Zig Ziglar

Cindy Ashworth is a single, work at home mom. Providing a REAL work at home business with one on one coaching and mentoring. The way it should be! Also the owner of www.asinglewahm.blogspot.com and www.mykidsmywhy.com.

Articles written in this blog by Cindy Ashworth are the sole property of Cindy Ashworth and permission is needed for duplication.

Writing Articles

Writing articles is a great way to get yourself noticed. As long as there is a topic that you know pretty well, you should be able to write about it. You can even take the same article and rewrite it in another way and create a new article that way.

At the end of each article you write and submit, you will be asked for a bio that leads to you.
This is where you will input your expertise and a link that will allow that reader to find you.

Now when submitting an article, you are giving your rights away for redistribution of that article... However, your bio needs to stay intact. Allowing your article to pop up anywhere and everywhere with your contact info available.

What a great way to get noticed...There are so many article directories that I just suggest you google (article directories or article submissions) for your results.



Cindy Ashworth is a single, work at home mom. Providing a REAL work at home business with one on one coaching and mentoring. The way it should be! Also the owner of www.asinglewahm.blogspot.com and www.mykidsmywhy.com.

Articles written in this blog by Cindy Ashworth are the sole property of Cindy Ashworth and permission is needed for duplication.

Cindy Ashworth is a single, work at home mom. Providing a REAL work at home business with one on one coaching and mentoring. The way it should be! Also the owner of www.asinglewahm.blogspot.com and www.mykidsmywhy.com.

Articles written in this blog by Cindy Ashworth are the sole property of Cindy Ashworth and permission is needed for duplication.

Do You Need A Virtual Assistant?

If you are in business for yourself then I am sure you have heard the term - Outsourcing.
When you can take specific tasks and delegate them to a trusted individual to get the job done, that is outsourcing. Leaving you time to focus on the essential duties that you need to do yourself.

So what is a Virtual Assistant? Consider your Virtual Assistant your Personal Assistant. This is an individual that has your business needs #1 on their priority list.
What does a Virtual Assistant do? A Virtual Assistant is your right hand. Accomplishing so many of the tasks that you just don't have enough time to do yourself.

What are some of the tasks a Virtual Assistant can do? Each Virtual Assistant expertise will vary. But following is a list of the basics that a Virtual Assistant can and will do:

1) Administrative Tasks
2) Set appointments
3) Draw up contracts, proposals and quotes
4) Relieve you of the tedious tasks that time just does not allow you to do yourself
5) Data Entry
6) Order Taking/Processing
7) Email
8) Creating Spreadsheets
9) Power Point Presentations
10) Marketing

Sundi Hayes brings her front office C-Level can do attitude and skills to provide back office support and administration to speakers, coaches and trainers across the nation. After fifteen years in Corporate America, her organizational, project management, communication and process development skills have been sharpened and honed to perfection.

As a Christian, wife and soccer mom to three pre-teen boys, working a full time job and working toward the dream of being a full-time soloist. She knows first hand that balance can be achieved through the use of advanced technology and a lot of it.

Cutting edge technology comes with a price, however, My Office Zilla has been a bootstrap organization from the beginning. Starting in early 2008 with only a laptop and internet connection, Sundi's company has experienced much of its growth as a result of her fantastic attitude and willingness to learn new things - whether it's a new skill to benefit her clients or to further her personal love of learning.

Technology has consistently provided the means to finding unique solutions to many of her clients' challenges. In the end, what her clients experience is Sundi's passion to take their visions from dream to reality.


http://www.myofficezilla.com
http://www.myofficezilla.com/nibbles
You can find Sundi on twitter: @Sundi_MOZ




Cindy Ashworth is a single, work at home mom. Providing a REAL work at home business with one on one coaching and mentoring. The way it should be! Also the owner of www.asinglewahm.blogspot.com and www.mykidsmywhy.com.

Articles written in this blog by Cindy Ashworth are the sole property of Cindy Ashworth and permission is needed for duplication.