You have a dream of working from home. Yet every day you see articles about home based business scams that are scaring you away. How do you know the different between an legitimate home based business and a scam? Sometimes the answer is that you do not know until you get into the business. Other times, though, the signs that you are not working with a legitimate home based business are obvious.
You have a dream of working from home. Yet every day you see articles about home based business scams that are scaring you away. How do you know the different between an legitimate home based business and a scam? Sometimes the answer is that you do not know until you get into the business. Other times, though, the signs that you are not working with a legitimate home based business are obvious.
Patience - Be patient when looking for a legitimate home based business, especially if you are looking on the internet. There are a lot of scams floating around out in cyberspace, and you want to make sure you avoid as many as possible. Even though you may be impatient to start your home based business today, it is better to take finding a legitimate home based business one step at a time.
Be Persistent - Finding a legitimate home based business takes effort. If you just do a Google search for a business, you are more likely to run into a scam. However, if you take that search and dig a little deeper into the companies offering you opportunities to work from home, you are more likely to narrow your search down to a legitimate home based business.
Be Knowledgeable - If it seems to good to be true it probably is. A legitimate home based business will tell you your potential earnings, but it will also be realistic in describing the business itself. Any company will show off its success stories, but they will not necessarily promise that everyone make millions. Know what the common scams are like envelope stuffing and craft making. Understand the difference between MLM opportunities and pyramid schemes. Knowing what scams look like will help you see a legitimate home based business opportunity more easily.
Know Where to Look - While a simple search engine many not find you a legitimate home based business opportunity, knowing how to spot sites that have good opportunities can be key. Find work directory sites that screen the jobs they have listed. These sites take some of the effort out of researching companies, because they have done most of the research themselves. They will also remove jobs that require you to pay ahead of time, increasing the likelihood of you finding a legitimate home based business opportunity. Also, be sure they are up to date and protect your privacy.
Be Realistic - Most legitimate home based business opportunities will not create an instant money flow. If you need money right now, it may be easy to get sucked into one of the scams out there. Use your common sense and know that you will most likely not start making real money until your second year of business. Keeping a realistic viewpoint will get you closer to your goal of finding a legitimate home based business.
Get Creative - If all else fails, take you own ideas and start a legitimate home based business. While it may seem nice to find a pre-built businessFree Reprint Articles, it can also be rewarding to come up with your own idea and build your business from scratch. Take your passions and make them into a business you know will not be a scam. The best legitimate home based business is your own.
Read the rest of the article here - Legitimate Home Based Business.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Six-Figure Income Earner Charles Fuchs Shows How to Explode your Income and Make Huge Amounts of Money, even with no experience. Visit our Free Website Traffic site and receive the Best Pay Per Click Advertising ideas, valuable tips, strategies, and techniques designed to grow a very successful Home Based Business.
Friday, May 11, 2007
Hypnosis : How it helps you control sadness and develop positive attitude
Read this articles on how hypnosis helps you control sadness and develop positive attitude.
Often there are events in our life that fill us with a sense of sadness that just doesn’t seem to go away. But with Hypnosis we can change the way we think and feel. Hypnosis helps us control sadness and depression. It shows us the path to happiness and more positive thinking, thereby leading to a more happy life.
According to statistics a lot of Americans will have some form of depression in their lives. But only half of those classified as “depressed” actually seek professional help. So it is difficult to get an accurate picture or the exact numbers of how many people are really depressed. But the numbers are staggering. If you feel that you are the only person feeling depressed, you are wrong. Remember that you are not alone
The number of people that are depressed is believed to have to do with socioeconomic changes in the world, except for the few cases of people with chemical imbalances. If you feel little sad now and again is normal, but if you are sad all the time then its time to seek help and hypnosis is the right choice for you.
People with depression experience a loss of energy and joy in life. They also lose interest in activities they once enjoyed, or find themselves aloof from previously enjoyable relationships and associations. They feel “lost” But with Hypnosis you can gain what is lost to depression. Hypnosis does this by making suggestions for having a different attitude or mindset.
Hypnosis also helps you change your attitude to your outlook to life. Attitude exists only in our mind. Hypnosis changes a negative attitude to a positive attitude. You start thinking more positively. You start seeing the world differently.
Hypnosis works well with attitude adjustments. This is because often the only obstacle to a good attitude is a cluttered and confused mind. Hypnosis helps to organize and change the focus of your thoughtsPsychology Articles, so that they are turned into a positive attitude. You start experiencing a calm and an inner peace that you were lacking for so long.
A lot of people who are sad or negative have a tough time relaxing. Hypnosis works by helping you relax. For hypnosis to be effective you should completely shut out other stimuli in the room. The best time for hypnosis is usually right before going to sleep at night. Make sure the room is quiet and dark and you are able to completely relax. This feeling of relaxation is akin to the feeling you have just before you drift off to sleep. Once you reach this relaxed state then hypnosis shows you a new way of thinking and looking at things by suggesting to the receptive mind a new way of seeing things. So now you start seeing things in a different light and also start thinking more positively.
One thing you must keep in mind is that Hypnosis does not change who you are or change your personality in any undesirable way.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Pradeep Aggarwal is a Hypnosis & NLP guru with over 3 decades of experience practising hypnosis and NLP. He has conducted life changing workshops across the world with thousands of people benefiting from his workshops. Register for ecourse on self improvement at http://www.mindinsports.com.
Often there are events in our life that fill us with a sense of sadness that just doesn’t seem to go away. But with Hypnosis we can change the way we think and feel. Hypnosis helps us control sadness and depression. It shows us the path to happiness and more positive thinking, thereby leading to a more happy life.
According to statistics a lot of Americans will have some form of depression in their lives. But only half of those classified as “depressed” actually seek professional help. So it is difficult to get an accurate picture or the exact numbers of how many people are really depressed. But the numbers are staggering. If you feel that you are the only person feeling depressed, you are wrong. Remember that you are not alone
The number of people that are depressed is believed to have to do with socioeconomic changes in the world, except for the few cases of people with chemical imbalances. If you feel little sad now and again is normal, but if you are sad all the time then its time to seek help and hypnosis is the right choice for you.
People with depression experience a loss of energy and joy in life. They also lose interest in activities they once enjoyed, or find themselves aloof from previously enjoyable relationships and associations. They feel “lost” But with Hypnosis you can gain what is lost to depression. Hypnosis does this by making suggestions for having a different attitude or mindset.
Hypnosis also helps you change your attitude to your outlook to life. Attitude exists only in our mind. Hypnosis changes a negative attitude to a positive attitude. You start thinking more positively. You start seeing the world differently.
Hypnosis works well with attitude adjustments. This is because often the only obstacle to a good attitude is a cluttered and confused mind. Hypnosis helps to organize and change the focus of your thoughtsPsychology Articles, so that they are turned into a positive attitude. You start experiencing a calm and an inner peace that you were lacking for so long.
A lot of people who are sad or negative have a tough time relaxing. Hypnosis works by helping you relax. For hypnosis to be effective you should completely shut out other stimuli in the room. The best time for hypnosis is usually right before going to sleep at night. Make sure the room is quiet and dark and you are able to completely relax. This feeling of relaxation is akin to the feeling you have just before you drift off to sleep. Once you reach this relaxed state then hypnosis shows you a new way of thinking and looking at things by suggesting to the receptive mind a new way of seeing things. So now you start seeing things in a different light and also start thinking more positively.
One thing you must keep in mind is that Hypnosis does not change who you are or change your personality in any undesirable way.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Pradeep Aggarwal is a Hypnosis & NLP guru with over 3 decades of experience practising hypnosis and NLP. He has conducted life changing workshops across the world with thousands of people benefiting from his workshops. Register for ecourse on self improvement at http://www.mindinsports.com.
Network Marketing Training
You see all of the articles tell you how network marketing can change your life. Yet you are afraid to start your own business, because you have no network marketing training to show you how to be successful. A lack of experience does not have to mean you cannot be successful. You are just in need of some extra network marketing training to give you the confidence you need to run a successful network marketing business.
When you think you want to get some network marketing training to help you in starting your new business, you should first look toward the network marketing program you are considering. In many cases, network marketing programs will offer free training as part of the program. This network marketing training will allow you to gain the skills you need for that particular network marketing business. The network marketing training is often very targeted at building your niche specific confidence.
The network marketing training in one area is not necessarily going to give you confidence in all areas of the field. If you are not sure which network marketing company you are going to go with, you can always complete a general network marketing training programs. These network marketing training programs will give you a general idea as to what you need to know to run your own successful business. In some cases you will have to pay for the network marketing training, while in others the resources are free.
If you are already involved in your own network marketing business, you may be interested in honing your skills through network marketing training. There are always new things to learn about network marketing, as the business and technology grow and change. Network marketing training can take the experience and skills you have built over time and enhance them with new information.
Network marketing training comes in various forms and mediums. You can find a number of websites that provide advice from training to helpful hints. You can also find network training books, CDs, and DVDs, where you learn insider secrets to network marketing. These network marketing training resources often provide you with information on how to recruit, lead, and prospect and more.
The nice thing about many of these network marketing training modules is that you will also be signed up for newsletters and other industry-related promotions. You can get even greater network marketing training through these resources, as they are usually filled with up-to-date information about the field of network marketing. Often these network marketing training extras are freeArticle Submission, and they will add to your confidence level.
Read the rest of the article here - Network Marketing Training.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
When you think you want to get some network marketing training to help you in starting your new business, you should first look toward the network marketing program you are considering. In many cases, network marketing programs will offer free training as part of the program. This network marketing training will allow you to gain the skills you need for that particular network marketing business. The network marketing training is often very targeted at building your niche specific confidence.
The network marketing training in one area is not necessarily going to give you confidence in all areas of the field. If you are not sure which network marketing company you are going to go with, you can always complete a general network marketing training programs. These network marketing training programs will give you a general idea as to what you need to know to run your own successful business. In some cases you will have to pay for the network marketing training, while in others the resources are free.
If you are already involved in your own network marketing business, you may be interested in honing your skills through network marketing training. There are always new things to learn about network marketing, as the business and technology grow and change. Network marketing training can take the experience and skills you have built over time and enhance them with new information.
Network marketing training comes in various forms and mediums. You can find a number of websites that provide advice from training to helpful hints. You can also find network training books, CDs, and DVDs, where you learn insider secrets to network marketing. These network marketing training resources often provide you with information on how to recruit, lead, and prospect and more.
The nice thing about many of these network marketing training modules is that you will also be signed up for newsletters and other industry-related promotions. You can get even greater network marketing training through these resources, as they are usually filled with up-to-date information about the field of network marketing. Often these network marketing training extras are freeArticle Submission, and they will add to your confidence level.
Read the rest of the article here - Network Marketing Training.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Visit our Home Business Article Directory and receive valuable tips, strategies and techniques designed to grow a very successful Home Based Business.
Copyright © Charles Fuchs is an established online marketer who specializes in helping people start their very own Home Based Business. He specializes in showing people the best Home Based Business Opportunities.
Microsoft Great Plains Implementation for Midsize & Large Corporation: Lockbox Processing
Microsoft Great Plains is now targeting large and midsize businesses and being matured ERP has advanced, but still very simple in use modules and features: Lockbox Processing for Accounts Receivables, Customer/Vendor Consolidation, Multicurrency etc. We’ll try to cover these features in the series of small articles to help decision maker and end user understand the feature and how does it work to make a decision to purchase additional nice modules.
In our opinion large corporation, which had to use ERP with rich functionality in the past, doesn’t have to do it in our new time. There are few reasons to switch to cheaper ERP, the most important are: database platform reliability improvement – nowadays MS SQL Server does excellent job and has most of the former instability and maintenance issues resolved. The second reason – MS Windows server is now close to be considered as a solid rock and you do not have to reboot it on the regular basis to fix all the types of “memory leaks”, etc. OK, lets review Lockbox processing:
* Customer Matching. This is rather the question about generic lockbox application – which basically imports text file, received from your bank and matches them with customer invoices, debit memos and miscellaneous charges. The question typically sounds like this – in our Great Plains CustomerID is different from bank customer ID. This is right, but each check has Bank Account Number and Bank Routine Number, identifying the customer, all you need to do is – carefully review first processing and enter this customer info, or open it here: Cards>>Sales>>Lockbox Bank Details – and next time you get check from this customer – lockbox will catch and identify it. This is true even in the case of hand written check.
* Invoice Number Matching. This is a bit tricky question, and you can’t catch invoice number from hand written check. However when we are talking about large businesses – these checks have invoices printed. If you bank has so-called Automatic Clearinghouse (ACH) lockbox file format – it can provide invoice number line if the check is issued by corporate or midsize established business. In the case of ACH header will have prefix 6 and line prefix 4.
* No Invoice Number Matching. This is still OK if you have a lot of small customers with one or few outstanding invoices. In this case – use autoapply method. You can have variety of apply criteria: None, Document Number (when you have ACH), Due Date/Oldest Document, Due Date/Oldest Invoice (other than invoices you apply manually), Document Date, Specific Invoices (and you specify them in the list)
* Additional Considerations. Virtually if you have corporate account in any bank – lockbox processing module does the job – because you map lockbox file at your will in Lockbox Maintenance screen: Cards>>Sales>>Lockbox
* Customization Options. Lockbox is Dexterity piece, so it is in the hand of Dexterity Developer, if you need to improve it for your corporation. VBA Modifier and Continuum are also available. Also feel free to use new tools, such as Extender or eConnect.
Good luck and you can always seek our help in customization, implementation, integration and support. Call us: 1-866-528-0577 or 1-630-961-5918Computer Technology Articles, help@albaspectrum.com
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Andrew Karasev is Chief Technology Officer in Alba Spectrum Technologies – USA nationwide Great Plains, Microsoft CRM customization company, serving Chicago, California, Arizona, Texas, Florida, Georgia, New York, Australia, UK, Canada, Continental Europe, Russia and having locations in multiple states and internationally ( http://www.albaspectrum.com ), he is Dexterity, SQL, C#.Net, Crystal Reports and Microsoft CRM SDK developer
In our opinion large corporation, which had to use ERP with rich functionality in the past, doesn’t have to do it in our new time. There are few reasons to switch to cheaper ERP, the most important are: database platform reliability improvement – nowadays MS SQL Server does excellent job and has most of the former instability and maintenance issues resolved. The second reason – MS Windows server is now close to be considered as a solid rock and you do not have to reboot it on the regular basis to fix all the types of “memory leaks”, etc. OK, lets review Lockbox processing:
* Customer Matching. This is rather the question about generic lockbox application – which basically imports text file, received from your bank and matches them with customer invoices, debit memos and miscellaneous charges. The question typically sounds like this – in our Great Plains CustomerID is different from bank customer ID. This is right, but each check has Bank Account Number and Bank Routine Number, identifying the customer, all you need to do is – carefully review first processing and enter this customer info, or open it here: Cards>>Sales>>Lockbox Bank Details – and next time you get check from this customer – lockbox will catch and identify it. This is true even in the case of hand written check.
* Invoice Number Matching. This is a bit tricky question, and you can’t catch invoice number from hand written check. However when we are talking about large businesses – these checks have invoices printed. If you bank has so-called Automatic Clearinghouse (ACH) lockbox file format – it can provide invoice number line if the check is issued by corporate or midsize established business. In the case of ACH header will have prefix 6 and line prefix 4.
* No Invoice Number Matching. This is still OK if you have a lot of small customers with one or few outstanding invoices. In this case – use autoapply method. You can have variety of apply criteria: None, Document Number (when you have ACH), Due Date/Oldest Document, Due Date/Oldest Invoice (other than invoices you apply manually), Document Date, Specific Invoices (and you specify them in the list)
* Additional Considerations. Virtually if you have corporate account in any bank – lockbox processing module does the job – because you map lockbox file at your will in Lockbox Maintenance screen: Cards>>Sales>>Lockbox
* Customization Options. Lockbox is Dexterity piece, so it is in the hand of Dexterity Developer, if you need to improve it for your corporation. VBA Modifier and Continuum are also available. Also feel free to use new tools, such as Extender or eConnect.
Good luck and you can always seek our help in customization, implementation, integration and support. Call us: 1-866-528-0577 or 1-630-961-5918Computer Technology Articles, help@albaspectrum.com
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Andrew Karasev is Chief Technology Officer in Alba Spectrum Technologies – USA nationwide Great Plains, Microsoft CRM customization company, serving Chicago, California, Arizona, Texas, Florida, Georgia, New York, Australia, UK, Canada, Continental Europe, Russia and having locations in multiple states and internationally ( http://www.albaspectrum.com ), he is Dexterity, SQL, C#.Net, Crystal Reports and Microsoft CRM SDK developer
Team Building part 1 - Another Brick in the Wall!
The first in a series of articles giving a slightly different viewpoint on effective team building, condensed from an original seminar presented by the author, John Roberts. John is a Freelance Training Consultant and director of JayrConsulting Ltd. Part 1 deals with selecting and building the initial team. The ideas expressed are personal opinions built up from many years of experience in the Electronics/Aerospace industry, the Armed Forces, the Telecoms industry and the Training industry. There is no suggestion of this being a 100% solution applicable to or workable in all situations, but it is aimed at getting people to think outside of the norm and question the ‘normal' way of doing things.
1. Analogy - The bricks in the wall
Most people have been on some form of ‘team building' course. They vary according to contemporary fashion from things like ‘learning how to work together, to build bridges out of sheets of paper', to the more active residential courses, where people build rafts out of rope and washing up liquid bottles, to ‘cross a crocodile filled' ravine! They all have two things in common: -
(a)They tend to be very expensive in terms of cost per delegate to the participants.
(b)They are actually not very effective in building effective teams when people return to their real life situation.
Teams are about individual PEOPLE and the INDIVIDUAL skills that they bring to the team and how these should be selected and put together to form an effective and lasting entity. All that is needed can be covered in a 1-day seminar/discussion with a group of delegates with no more props than a white board and marker pen. If it is delivered in such a way that the delegates can be coerced to look at themselves and their teams HONESTLY, it can provide effective change in team culture, creating belief and ‘buy in' from delegates and without imposing high expenses on clients.
The analogy that I use to explain the basic ideas is that of building a wall, and I use two types of wall to explain the contemporary team building model and the alternative one. The contemporary model is likened to a ‘standard' brick wall and the alternative model is likened to a ‘dry stone' wall, of the type found in northern fields!
2. The contemporary model and it's shortcomings!
Visualise a contemporary brick wall: Bricks all the same size, weight and shape. In order to stand up the bricks have to be ‘glued' together with mortar. Bricks must be aligned exactly in rows vertically and horizontally or the wall will fall down. The mortar has to be replaced periodically, or the wall falls down. If a brick is not exactly the same size as all the others it has to be padded out with extra mortar, or - the wall falls down! The bricklayer has to keep tending the wall - replacing mortar etc. - or the wall falls down! Life of wall is fairly limited due to wearing out of materials, so eventually - the wall falls down! Bricklayer is competent enough, as long as the bricks match and he has an ongoing supply of mortar and the time to effect repairs.
Key: - Bricks = Individuals and their skills
Mortar = support from Team Leader and Human resources ( competencies, assessments etc )
Bricklayer = Team leader
Problems often start at the recruitment stage. The recruiter ( Team leader or manager ) tends to put together an all-encompassing job description, instead of isolating specific individual EXPERT skills that are required for the project and are very unlikely to all be expert skills for one person. You only have to look at the average recruitment advert to see the types of skill lists that people ask for from one delegate!
Human resources then compile a list of required competencies based on this information that ALL delegates have to fit into - and we are well on the way to selecting our almost identical bricks.
What tends to happen now is that you have a team of good ‘all rounders' but few people with exciting expert skills in any one thing. So what you get is a team that is competent but not outstanding and this has become the normal model that people tend to have become used to. This type of team conforms to all of the standard corporate ‘norms' and is much easier to deal with for a ‘team leader' that is also possibly not a truly expert and exciting ‘leader'.
Remember - ‘if you do what you have always done - you get what you have always got!'
Over the years I have experienced too many of these types of teams ( and team leaders ) and I know it can be done much better!
The problem is then compounded by the fashion for ‘competencies' and ‘Annual assessments'. Managers and team leaders are told to assess their team members annually and to concentrate on improving their ‘weaknesses'! WHY?
Firstly - any team leader that waits a year to point out a problem to one of their team should not be doing the job! Communication and feedback between the leader and all team members should be continuous and open at all times.
Next - why concentrate on improving their weaknesses - all you are going to do is end up with a collection of ‘cloned' bricks again! What you should be doing is emphasising the team members' positives and constantly improving their strengths - the very skills you hired them for in the first place. If you have someone who is a brilliant programmer, then you want to help them be an even better programmer for the sake of the project and the team - someone else in the team probably has good report writing skills or whatever.
Different people are good at different things - use it, don't suppress it!
3. The alternative model - not new but it works!
Visualise a ‘dry stone wall' of the type often used for field boundaries. Stones are all different shapes and sizes - they are selected from what is available, in the right order so that they overlap and fit with each other perfectly to provide a solid fit.
This means that no stone is the ‘wrong' size as long as you find others to fit around it. It doesn't matter if all the stones are perfectly aligned as long as they all mesh together to give the wall stability.
There is no mortar used in the wall, it's all down to the skill of the bricklayer selecting the correct stones in the first place so that the individual stones all support each other in the complete wall. The wall doesn't fall down for centuries!
The wall doesn't look as uniform and pretty as the brick wall on the surface but actually performs its' task far better. The bricklayer has to have a real skill in selecting the right shaped stones to make sure they all fit together well in the first place, but once he has done that, maintenance is minimal!
Key: - Stones = Individuals and their skills
Mortar = support from Team Leader and Human resources ( competencies, assessments etc )
Bricklayer = Team leader
The first thing that is needed before you can recruit and build a team for you project is an expert ‘brick layer' or REAL Team LEADER! ( Not a manager/coordinator or facilitator). This doesn't mean someone who happens to have been in the company the longest and is thought due for promotion. It doesn't mean someone who can write good reports and do all the administration properly - it means someone who can LEAD PEOPLE! This is someone who can control, cajole, coerce and do anything necessary to get people to perform at their own best whenever it is required, at the same time gaining respect from those around them that they have to deal with. They don't bully, shout or ‘use their position' to get things done, people respond to them naturally and TRUST them. It's NOT a promotion, it's another type of skill and you should look for this type of person in all levels of the organisation.
You can teach anyone to play the piano, but not everyone can be a top concert pianist - it is just a skill that some people have and not others. Leadership is exactly the same - you can send someone on a ‘Team Leaders' course and they will be able to go through the motions of team leading, but what you should look for is a ‘natural' - someone who has the ability to really LEAD people.
If no one of your present employees stands out as having this ability - look outside for someone. It is not worth compromising on this all important position - remember you need someone to put that wall together effectively to get the best results!
The team leader should then be tasked with putting together the team - selecting the strengths that are needed from individual people and making sure that their weaknesses are covered by other people in the team, so that you are putting together the ‘stone wall' with all the members supporting each other. As the team is growing, all of the team members should take part in the recruitment and interviewing process - after all they will have a feel for how someone will fit in with the rest of them. Giving everybody some responsibility for how the team is put together gives them all a stake in its success.
From the start there should be honest and open communication between all of the team members and the team leader. There should be no need for ‘Annual assessments'. The Team leader should be aware at all times how their team members are performing in various areas, and in an honest and open environment the team members themselves should be aware of any shortcomings and work towards solving them. A good team actually need very little maintenance input from the Team Leader and should very quickly become self-supporting, just like the stone wall.
Summary
So, if you are considering building a new team, try approaching it in a different light. Think of the people, the skills you want individuals to have - not the skills they don't have, the overall skills that you want the whole team to have and how they all fit together to give you a solid foundation. Choose a proper ‘Team LEADER' to maintain it and put contemporary ideas of ‘assessments' and ‘competencies' behind you!
( Don't tell your HR manager this, unless they are lying down in a darkened room ! )
Team Building part 2 - Honesty is the Key! Will focus on the running of the team once it is built and will be published shortly
Acknowledgements
Adapted from an original article by John Roberts, freelance training consultant, Director of JayrConsulting Ltd. www.jayrconsulting.co.uk This article may be freely reproduced / modified and used in any wayFree Web Content, providing this acknowledgement is left in its entirety.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
John Roberts is a freelance Training Consultant and Director of JayrConsulting Ltd.
http://www.jayrconsulting.co.uk
1. Analogy - The bricks in the wall
Most people have been on some form of ‘team building' course. They vary according to contemporary fashion from things like ‘learning how to work together, to build bridges out of sheets of paper', to the more active residential courses, where people build rafts out of rope and washing up liquid bottles, to ‘cross a crocodile filled' ravine! They all have two things in common: -
(a)They tend to be very expensive in terms of cost per delegate to the participants.
(b)They are actually not very effective in building effective teams when people return to their real life situation.
Teams are about individual PEOPLE and the INDIVIDUAL skills that they bring to the team and how these should be selected and put together to form an effective and lasting entity. All that is needed can be covered in a 1-day seminar/discussion with a group of delegates with no more props than a white board and marker pen. If it is delivered in such a way that the delegates can be coerced to look at themselves and their teams HONESTLY, it can provide effective change in team culture, creating belief and ‘buy in' from delegates and without imposing high expenses on clients.
The analogy that I use to explain the basic ideas is that of building a wall, and I use two types of wall to explain the contemporary team building model and the alternative one. The contemporary model is likened to a ‘standard' brick wall and the alternative model is likened to a ‘dry stone' wall, of the type found in northern fields!
2. The contemporary model and it's shortcomings!
Visualise a contemporary brick wall: Bricks all the same size, weight and shape. In order to stand up the bricks have to be ‘glued' together with mortar. Bricks must be aligned exactly in rows vertically and horizontally or the wall will fall down. The mortar has to be replaced periodically, or the wall falls down. If a brick is not exactly the same size as all the others it has to be padded out with extra mortar, or - the wall falls down! The bricklayer has to keep tending the wall - replacing mortar etc. - or the wall falls down! Life of wall is fairly limited due to wearing out of materials, so eventually - the wall falls down! Bricklayer is competent enough, as long as the bricks match and he has an ongoing supply of mortar and the time to effect repairs.
Key: - Bricks = Individuals and their skills
Mortar = support from Team Leader and Human resources ( competencies, assessments etc )
Bricklayer = Team leader
Problems often start at the recruitment stage. The recruiter ( Team leader or manager ) tends to put together an all-encompassing job description, instead of isolating specific individual EXPERT skills that are required for the project and are very unlikely to all be expert skills for one person. You only have to look at the average recruitment advert to see the types of skill lists that people ask for from one delegate!
Human resources then compile a list of required competencies based on this information that ALL delegates have to fit into - and we are well on the way to selecting our almost identical bricks.
What tends to happen now is that you have a team of good ‘all rounders' but few people with exciting expert skills in any one thing. So what you get is a team that is competent but not outstanding and this has become the normal model that people tend to have become used to. This type of team conforms to all of the standard corporate ‘norms' and is much easier to deal with for a ‘team leader' that is also possibly not a truly expert and exciting ‘leader'.
Remember - ‘if you do what you have always done - you get what you have always got!'
Over the years I have experienced too many of these types of teams ( and team leaders ) and I know it can be done much better!
The problem is then compounded by the fashion for ‘competencies' and ‘Annual assessments'. Managers and team leaders are told to assess their team members annually and to concentrate on improving their ‘weaknesses'! WHY?
Firstly - any team leader that waits a year to point out a problem to one of their team should not be doing the job! Communication and feedback between the leader and all team members should be continuous and open at all times.
Next - why concentrate on improving their weaknesses - all you are going to do is end up with a collection of ‘cloned' bricks again! What you should be doing is emphasising the team members' positives and constantly improving their strengths - the very skills you hired them for in the first place. If you have someone who is a brilliant programmer, then you want to help them be an even better programmer for the sake of the project and the team - someone else in the team probably has good report writing skills or whatever.
Different people are good at different things - use it, don't suppress it!
3. The alternative model - not new but it works!
Visualise a ‘dry stone wall' of the type often used for field boundaries. Stones are all different shapes and sizes - they are selected from what is available, in the right order so that they overlap and fit with each other perfectly to provide a solid fit.
This means that no stone is the ‘wrong' size as long as you find others to fit around it. It doesn't matter if all the stones are perfectly aligned as long as they all mesh together to give the wall stability.
There is no mortar used in the wall, it's all down to the skill of the bricklayer selecting the correct stones in the first place so that the individual stones all support each other in the complete wall. The wall doesn't fall down for centuries!
The wall doesn't look as uniform and pretty as the brick wall on the surface but actually performs its' task far better. The bricklayer has to have a real skill in selecting the right shaped stones to make sure they all fit together well in the first place, but once he has done that, maintenance is minimal!
Key: - Stones = Individuals and their skills
Mortar = support from Team Leader and Human resources ( competencies, assessments etc )
Bricklayer = Team leader
The first thing that is needed before you can recruit and build a team for you project is an expert ‘brick layer' or REAL Team LEADER! ( Not a manager/coordinator or facilitator). This doesn't mean someone who happens to have been in the company the longest and is thought due for promotion. It doesn't mean someone who can write good reports and do all the administration properly - it means someone who can LEAD PEOPLE! This is someone who can control, cajole, coerce and do anything necessary to get people to perform at their own best whenever it is required, at the same time gaining respect from those around them that they have to deal with. They don't bully, shout or ‘use their position' to get things done, people respond to them naturally and TRUST them. It's NOT a promotion, it's another type of skill and you should look for this type of person in all levels of the organisation.
You can teach anyone to play the piano, but not everyone can be a top concert pianist - it is just a skill that some people have and not others. Leadership is exactly the same - you can send someone on a ‘Team Leaders' course and they will be able to go through the motions of team leading, but what you should look for is a ‘natural' - someone who has the ability to really LEAD people.
If no one of your present employees stands out as having this ability - look outside for someone. It is not worth compromising on this all important position - remember you need someone to put that wall together effectively to get the best results!
The team leader should then be tasked with putting together the team - selecting the strengths that are needed from individual people and making sure that their weaknesses are covered by other people in the team, so that you are putting together the ‘stone wall' with all the members supporting each other. As the team is growing, all of the team members should take part in the recruitment and interviewing process - after all they will have a feel for how someone will fit in with the rest of them. Giving everybody some responsibility for how the team is put together gives them all a stake in its success.
From the start there should be honest and open communication between all of the team members and the team leader. There should be no need for ‘Annual assessments'. The Team leader should be aware at all times how their team members are performing in various areas, and in an honest and open environment the team members themselves should be aware of any shortcomings and work towards solving them. A good team actually need very little maintenance input from the Team Leader and should very quickly become self-supporting, just like the stone wall.
Summary
So, if you are considering building a new team, try approaching it in a different light. Think of the people, the skills you want individuals to have - not the skills they don't have, the overall skills that you want the whole team to have and how they all fit together to give you a solid foundation. Choose a proper ‘Team LEADER' to maintain it and put contemporary ideas of ‘assessments' and ‘competencies' behind you!
( Don't tell your HR manager this, unless they are lying down in a darkened room ! )
Team Building part 2 - Honesty is the Key! Will focus on the running of the team once it is built and will be published shortly
Acknowledgements
Adapted from an original article by John Roberts, freelance training consultant, Director of JayrConsulting Ltd. www.jayrconsulting.co.uk This article may be freely reproduced / modified and used in any wayFree Web Content, providing this acknowledgement is left in its entirety.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
John Roberts is a freelance Training Consultant and Director of JayrConsulting Ltd.
http://www.jayrconsulting.co.uk
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