Blog

Team-Building – What Works?

by Coaching Out of the Box

Team-building exercises are historically hit-or-miss endeavors. In most workplaces, when people hear that management has planned some team-building, employees’ reactions will range from active defiance and eye-rolling to outright apathy, but rarely is it news received with enthusiasm. However, there are exercises and strategies which work, which aren’t cringe-inducing, and which won’t cost anybody an arm and a leg. If you’re looking to bring some unity to your team, let’s take a look at a way to do that without driving your employees crazy. 

 
Why Work on Team Building?
 
Team-building is some of the most important work that a team leader can engage his team in. A team which works well together will be a more efficient team, producing better results in shorter periods of time. When a team begins to gel with each other, communication will be better and more open, improving relationships between members and anybody else with whom they interact outside of the team. People operating in this healthy environment will be more motivated and have a better overall sense of mutual trust.
 
How to Approach These Activities
 
It’s important to keep in mind that team-building should not feel like team-building. If it feels like a tedious, heavy-handed task with an obvious purpose, employees will quickly lose interest and not put any effort into the activity, which will obviously defeat the whole purpose. Trying too hard will drive a wedge between you and your team, and could even cost you their respect.
 
Try to keep a casual air about these activities, and let them be fun. It’s important to note the difference between “letting it be fun” and “making it fun”; team members can tell the difference. For instance, when planning something, don’t take the whole burden on yourself. Instead, allow as much team input as possible to make sure the idea is something that the people taking part in it actually want to do. Studies have shown that happiness and learning go hand in hand, i.e. a happy employee will learn more than an unhappy one, so let them make the activity fun. They will enjoy it more and get more out of it as a result. 
 
Team Building Exercises and Strategies That Work
 
  • Informal Address – Drop formal manners of speech. Allow team members to communicate with one another and with their superiors in whichever way feels most comfortable. Let them throw an emoji or two into their emails or their texting, discard the use of titles, add slang to the workplace vocabulary. Team members who feel less overshadowed by their superiors and uptight around their fellows will be encouraged to speak freely and honestly.
  • Celebrate Success – This starts with the leader. When your team members do well, whether it’s getting work done ahead of schedule or coming up with a great new idea, celebrate it openly. This will encourage other members to do the same, pushing negativity out of the team environment. 
  • Mix Up Your Team – There are a number of ways to do this, but all share the same goal: get people out of their comfort zone and interacting with people they might not ordinarily work closely with. This creates a greater sense of cohesion and overall understanding across all parts of a team. Ways to do this can include breaking discussions into randomized groups or letting employees from one department go learn what a different department does for a day. Be creative!
  • Group Outings – Taking the team out for a day or an evening is a great way to develop cohesion. Ideally, this event shouldn’t have any intended purpose, other than fun. Don’t try to draw any profound lessons out of the experience or point it towards “Team-Building”. Just take the team out to a sports game or a concert and let them have a good time with each other. They will bond and have a good time. The results will show in their work.
  • Encourage Shared Hobbies – In most teams, it is common for team members to share outside interests. Provide these employees, if possible, with the space, email lists, and even minor financial support (if appropriate) to pursue these hobbies with each other. Not only will these team members feel supported, other members may discover new interests and join them, as well. This sort of extracurricular team involvement strengthens the relationships between team members and will show up at work as well.
 
Team Building – Not an Episode of ‘The Office’
 
So there you have it. Keep team-building casual, fun, and employee-driven. Most importantly, don’t force things. Instead focus on creating environments which foster natural development of team chemistry. If you keep these things in mind, you will be a respected and well-liked leader, and, as a result, you will have a team which runs like a well-oiled machine, both during business hours and outside!

Feel free to contact  us via email: [email protected], or at any of our social media sites:

Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Stay up to date with everything we have to offer by signing up for our newsletter

Read More

Empathy in the Workplace

by Coaching Out of the Box

When it comes to making sure you and your coworkers are operating at the highest rate of efficiency, there are a ton of factors to consider. Things like communication, cooperation, and leadership are commonly discussed elements of a successful team, but what underlies all of these things is a little thing called empathy. Empathy, not to be confused with sympathy, is the ability to experience and relate to thoughts and emotions of people around you, and it is a vital skill often overlooked in the workplace.

 
Empathy – The Key to Leadership
 
For some time now, it has been relatively common knowledge that empathy is an essential component of strong relationships. At the same time, research shows that leadership in the workplace has become an increasingly relationship-based role, dependent largely upon your ability to really get the most out of your relationships with others. In today’s increasingly connected world, contact and communication with people from different countries, cultures, and ideologies is common as well. Leaders who have the ability to understand and empathize with others find crossing these divides to be much easier. 
 
In addition to being able to work with diverse people more easily, the empathic leader has a bunch of advantages in other ways, as well. For instance, regardless of the specific setting, it is vital to the success of any project that the people working together believe in and care about the goal towards which they are working. The empathic leader will not only show people that he cares about them, but that he believes in their endeavors and understands the rigors of the task. This last part is especially important, as a strong leader absolutely must have an acute awareness of others. They have to watch for signs of stress and fatigue, and know when their employees or co-workers need a little extra support. Lastly, empathy is a top factor psychologists look for when evaluating a person’s emotional intelligence. Emotional intelligence is, research suggests, a strong indicator of leadership ability.
 
Empathy Can Be Learned
 
So empathy is important, that much is clear. But it seems like the sort of thing you’re either born with or you aren’t. Fortunately, it can be taught and it can be learned. In fact, even if you are a naturally empathic person, honing these skills is a beneficial practice and can be accomplished through focusing on these five main areas:
 
Open Discussion – As discussed above, understand and explain to your employees the importance of empathy. Let them know that the best way for them to improve upon this vital skill is to give real time and attention to others, and be open to feedback. For people who are more performance or “numbers” oriented, explain to them the strong correlation between an empathetic workplace and improved work output.
Listening Skills – Listening is a skill which many people neglect or confuse with “hearing”. Listening is an active process which involves withholding judgment, reflecting your understanding of what is being said, asking for clarification, and sharing in dialogue. By practicing these things, you will better understand what your employees or co-workers are saying, thereby increasing your understanding of them.
Walk in Others’ Shoes – The practice of “walking in others’ shoes” involves shifting your perspective and attempting to feel what someone else might be going through. When interacting with others, actively bring into consciousness what you know of the other person’s life experiences and try to imagine what it is like to be in their position at this moment in time. This may be difficult at first, but over time and with practice, this will begin to come naturally.
Compassion – This is an issue of going beyond the surface level when decisions are being made or events are taking place. Take the time to go deeper than just, say, the financial ramifications of business decision or the nuts-and-bolts view of company structure. Think about how these things affect those around you on an individual and emotional level. Be open, allowing time to reflect on these things honestly and compassionately.
Experience Diversity – Take every opportunity you can to involve yourself with different people. Whether they are of a different race, religion, nationality, or age group, interact constantly with people outside your norm. When doing so, do it with an eye towards learning more about who they are, what they believe in, and what their experiences have taught them. The more different people you learn about and come to understand, the greater your capacity for empathy will be.
 
Teach Empathy. Learn Empathy.
 
When it comes to improving on areas in your own life or helping others to improve their skillsets, it’s important to take a look at what’s most important. In other words, if you’re going to take time to work on something, it is better if that something is an area which affects nearly all parts of a person’s life. Empathy is such an area. By practicing the tools above, you can improve just about every area of your life, from work to personal relationships to just about anything you can think of. Practice empathy in your daily life, share it with others, and learn to grow together. 

 

Feel free to contact  us via email: [email protected], or at any of our social media sites:

Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Stay up to date with everything we have to offer by signing up for our newsletter

Read More

10 Important Actions of Leadership

by Coaching Out of the Box

Being a leader doesn’t come from a position or a title, but rather actions and examples. People choose to follow those they admire and respect. In order to gain a followership or lead a team, certain qualities, characteristics and actions need to be implemented. The following are 10 Important Actions to building leadership status:

  1. Put others first. Making others feel important will gain their trust and improve the relationship.
  2. Have a vision, set of values or common goal people can get behind. When others believe that the cause is worthwhile, they will be willing to get on board.
  3. Practice praise and gratitude. These are important to others, especially if they feel unimportant or unappreciated.
  4. Be there. Leadership takes commitment to be visible to the followers or team. If they don’t feel everyone, including the leader, is fully part of the team, the overall atmosphere suffers.
  5. Communicate effectively. Make conversations interactive and get the point across efficiently.
  6. Be decisive and lead by example. Be the person worth following and make the important decisions quickly and effectively.
  7. Delegate to competent team members. There is no one-man-show in a team. Take the tasks others might not want, but ensure those with the skills to be effective are being utilized.
  8. Practice respect. Respect is easier to give to people who already show it.
  9. Inspire and motivate. Focus on the positive aspects of each team member and motivate them to grow their skills and competencies.
  10. Keep momentum up. There may be times were morale is lower or goals are not being met in the timeframes set out. Every plan needs to be adaptable and it is up to the leader to ensure things stay on track.

The best leadership advice is to follow other leaders to see their example. Outside of this, the above actions are key to building a strong leadership presence and a loyal team or followership. The start of good leadership is caring about others and wanting to see everyone benefit from success. Even if leadership isn’t the goal, these actions can help improve relationships and build to success.

Feel free to contact  us via email: [email protected], or at any of our social media sites:

Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Stay up to date with everything we have to offer by signing up for our newsletter

Read More

5 Steps for Creative Problem Solving

by Coaching Out of the Box

The old adage, “think outside the box” is well known and somewhat overused, but the theory behind it is sound. Not every problem has a straight forward solution just like every road isn’t flat and straight. Sometimes it takes insight, creativity and sheer determination to get the solution necessary to solve a difficult problem.

Here are some steps to help with creative problem solving:

  1. Identify the problem or goal and clearly define the parameters. The purpose of this is to completely understand what the issues are; it isn’t always exactly as it seems and breaking it down can help challenge the original interpretation to best identify strategies moving forward.
  2. Review any steps already taken to deal with the issue and what the results were. Research solutions others might have also used and their outcomes. This may help with processing the right information to find a solution.
  3. Simplify with challenging questions to find solutions and then generate creative ideas for solving them. For instance, if the issue is making more money, a challenging question would be “How might I go about making more money?”
  4. Realistically evaluate these ideas. It may be worthwhile to take a break between steps 3 and 4 to let things set in. Additional ideas may come to mind in the meantime or focusing on other things in life could provide a necessary break to help with better concentration upon returning.
  5. Make an action plan and pursue it. Base the plan, or plans, on the ideas that work for the goal. Creative ideas may mean taking risks and this can sometimes dissolve some of the motivation, but a simple action plan can help alleviate this concern with straight forward steps that one can focus on. Follow these steps but be prepared to adapt them as situations change. Don’t be afraid to come back and re-write if the situation changes – nothing is set in stone.

Creative problem solving is a thought process and not necessarily just a series of “Aha!” moments. The ultimate goal is to move through the problem to the solution as efficiently as possible. The steps above will help to form processes for not only current situations but future ones as well. It may also lead to automatic creative solutions based on previous experiences using these steps. Never underestimate the abilities of the mind to find solutions to all of life’s problems, even if they are “outside the box”.

Read what participants are saying about our coaching skills courses

I got so much more from the 5/5/5 Coaching Skills Training Program than expected. I thought it would be more theoretical about the basics of coaching, but we delved right into the depth of the most important skills and used them together in a practical way. I gained so much confidence in a short period of time through role playing and receiving feedback from my peers. This was a very inspiring course that has given me new life skills.

- Robin Raff, Founder/Chief Strategist at Boomer Business & Beyond, Inc.
on 5/5/5 Coaching Skills Training Program™

If you are challenged by working with coaching clients seeking to connect with their inner game, Personal Groundwork just might be the key. Regardless of your coaching focus - business, leadership, executive, life - this course puts you face-to-face with the trickiest client topics especially around energy, personal commitment, relationships and values all with the intent to release each to her/his greatest, highest vision.

- Kelly Johnson PCC, Keystone Leadership Development
on Personal Groundwork for Coaching Program™

Feel free to contact  us via email: [email protected], or at any of our social media sites:

Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Stay up to date with everything we have to offer by signing up for our newsletter

Read More

7 Steps to Becoming a Better Listener

by Coaching Out of the Box

 
Mindful listening is an integral skill for any coach, leader, or friend. Holding a simple conversation may not seem like it requires skill, only participation, but to really get to know someone, you need the ability to listen to them. Good listening habits are the key to seeing things from another person’s perspective, and to building connections between yourself and others.

  1. Listen mindfully to what the other person is saying. To put it another way, avoid thinking about your response while they are still talking. Pauses in the conversation might feel awkward initially, but most people will appreciate that you don’t jump to conclusions right away. Say, “You make an interesting point. Let me think about it for a second,” and they will usually be happy to.

  2. Repeat back what the other person has said to show that you were listening. This allows you to make sure that what you heard is what they meant. Paraphrasing their information and hearing it again allows you to better understand their point of view.

  3. Keep your body language appropriate to the current conversation and show attentiveness. Appearing to be interested goes a long way in providing a space of comfort and trust. Keep your stance casual, nod when appropriate, and make eye contact without staring at them.

  4. Watch the other person’s body language for more information about what they are saying. Equally important, watch for clues into how they are responding to what you are saying. Not all communication is words.

  5. Avoid distractions. Ignore your phone and turn off the ringer unless you’re expecting an emergency call. Find a quiet place where interruptions from passersby will be less likely. Keep video screens out of your line of sight so that they don’t catch your eye.

  6. Don’t assume that you know what somebody is thinking or what they meant when they said something vague. Ask for clarification so the conversation can continue to flow in a positive way.

  7. Be honest in your responses. If you don’t know something, say so. Improved listening can help you in both your work and personal conversations. It improves your ability to establish relationships and build bonds with others. Practice these habits with each conversation to improve your skills and, by doing that, make conversations more valuable for everyone involved.

If you are looking for an in-depth approach to becoming a better listener, consider our Coaching Fundamentals™ program.

Read More
Page 5 of 23