Everyone is part of a team.

Whether you are in a family, attend a church, work in an office environment, are part of a project group, or participate in athletics, you are likely always looking for ideas and tips on how your team can become more productive.

Sean’s Great Results Teambuilding Newsletter is a FREE bi-weekly report delivered straight to your inbox full of fun and useful content. As a leader or as a teammate, you will benefit from the tips and resources that it provides.

But just in case you were curious about why you should sign up and subscribe to receive one more email – here are FIVE reasons that Sean’s Team Building Newsletter will be worthwhile and relevant reading material for you and your organization:

It was my pleasure to read and share with you my review of Bill Treasurer’s most recent book, Leaders Open Doors.

This is a radically simple read with profoundly practical ideas.

From his initial story that shares how a five-year-old helped to clarify the main lesson of the book (and its title), to the many ideas that each chapter provided for reflection and suggested applications, I thoroughly enjoyed the well-organized stories and tips that he packed into less than 100 pages of text.

Leaders Open Doors provides a number of powerful and real-life examples of how you, as a leader, can identify and offer opportunities to those in your organization.

Effective leaders are likely always seeking fun anr easy ideas that can show appreciation for their team.

Everyone craves recognition, and perhaps the most impactful way to motivate your team to perform better is to reward the behaviors that you want to see repeated.

This article was shared as a guest post on The Linked2Leadership Blog.

In an ideal world, every leader would be able to choose only the best people who were best suited for specific tasks and who always interacted well with their teammates.

But most leaders do not live in an ideal world... 

Leaders in the real world do not always get to choose the seeds that they are asked to develop.

Sometimes we accept a leadership position and are asked to work with the people that are already there.  As new leaders, we are asked to take over an intact “team” and grow those existing seeds into positive contributors and even future leaders.

Steve Jobs, in a 1995 interview, was discussing the importance and impact of teamwork, and it was during that discussion that he shared a short parable of rocks and how they polish each other:

“When I was a young kid there was a widowed man that lived up the street. He was in his eighties. He was a little scary looking. And I got to know him a little bit. I think he may have paid me to mow his lawn or something.

“One day he said to me, ‘Come on into my garage I want to show you something.’ And he pulled out this dusty old rock tumbler. It was a motor and a coffee can and a little band between them. And he said, ‘come with me.’ We went out into the back and we got just some rocks... some regular old ugly rocks. And we put them in the can with a little bit of liquid and little bit of grit powder, and we closed the can up and he turned this motor on and he said, ‘come back tomorrow.’ 

“And this can was making a racket as the stones went around.

Everyone, at some point, has dealt with difficult teammates who seem to hold onto damaging beliefs or continually sabotage team progress with negative behaviors...

For those individuals that you would like to help change, there are three powerful “F” words that you will find useful in future conversations.

And, yes, all three of them are appropriate to use in any environment…

First, it is important to remember that no matter HOW your teammate behaves, the motivation for that behavior is a perceived payoff of some kind.  The only reason we do anything is that we think it will “fill our bucket” somehow with the attention or consequences we desire.

Take a few moments to humor me.

Hold your right hand up in the air, and then reach as high as you can.

Now notice where your right hand is.

I bet you can reach higher.

My 8 year old son was playing at the beach last summer with a borrowed skim board.

It took him about an hour to learn how to ride it without tumbling into the shallow surf, but he soon had mastered it and was doing twists and tricks by the end of the afternoon.

The next day, another boy joined him, interested in learning.  So, full of confidence, my son spent most of that second day with his new friend, and the two of them only seemed to leave the shore when required to do so for lunch or another layer of sunscreen.

The most interesting part was what I discovered later that night when our family sat down for dinner.  I inquired about my son’s new friend – the person he had spent hours with throughout the day.

My in-laws are probably the most avid and talented gardeners I know.  When my wife and I visit their home, I always find myself amazed at the beauty of their back yard.

The perimeter of their well-manicured lawn is an oasis of beds filled with trees, shrubs, and flowers arranged to produce a symphony of color.  A large wooden deck, itself sprinkled with planters full of fragrant vines and blooms, invites guest to wander out and enjoy the splendor of this setting - and it would be difficult to recall a visitor who left their half-acre of Heaven without commenting on how stunning and peaceful it was.

The most impressive thing I learned about their immaculate landscaping effort is that when they moved into the home nearly 25 years earlier, virtually everything looked different.  Over time, though, they completely transformed the area – pulling up the weeds to clear out new space and establish borders, placing the anchoring trees and complimentary plants, then pruning and weeding where necessary every season.  The results speak for themselves.

Why is this important to you?

Wearing the same uniform does not make a group a strong team, and Teacher Teamwork does not happen on its own.

Unfortunately, although setting a school goal is important, the identification of a unifying goal does not ensure your group will work together through adversity to accomplish it.

To ensure your people reach their stated goal, you as a leader must be aware of the potholes and obstacles that may delay or even sabotage that journey. And while there are millions of examples for why teams fail, there are but a few reasons.

These threats to your teacher teamwork and school success are listed below.