What is Team work?

So much said about it... I am sure I am not adding a big deal. But a question a few days ago really kept hammering my mind that why is team work only about success? If Indian cricket team does not win a game, that doesn't mean they are lacking team work... the effort and the hard work still remains... a lot of people for some reason really don't understand what it is really meant by team work... I really don't blame for that... Our systems do not teach us team work theoretically.. we always learn it by experience... by participating in group and team events, by been collectively responsible to reach goals and success defined clearly.

I always felt soccer was the best game that exposes team work very evidently, not that other sports don't.. but if you want to defend yourself from a goal or score one, or just play the game, there is a lot of co-ordination needed.. this co-ordination really builds up a momentum within which turns into team work as a result.. Team work to me was always visible through sport and as I got into job became evident that if the organization , product , department or group has to do good, the entire set of people who are a part of it, should contribute to it, not just on what is required, but more than what is expected... When the successes and strengths of your colleagues start adding value to your own self and in turn to your group goals, that is when you see team work kicking off... when each one of the team member start contributing in equal amounts or more without keeping a count of it..is when team work blooms out.

When you do just more than what is required to help others who are working with you to achieve the same thing is Team work

When your commitment is visible by your actions Team work blooms

When you are disappointed by failures of your team mates or goals have created a peer index of team work.

When you celebrate your teams and your results success that is team work

In short... when your teams success values more for you than your own success.. it yields to team work.

Read More

You dont have license to Innovate

So while in the past few days we are talking about Innovation and ways to build culture's to Innovate.. we left out one important point "Blocking Innovation". While those passionate souls bring Ideas and are keen to Innovate, there are bunch of evil souls that stop them from doing it... this block doesn't come for a reason.. some times it is for Jealousy, Unawareness, Non Risk taking approach , Willingness, No passion towards goal.. above all self ability...

So lets list down the way people deny Innovation in teams, organizations...

Ask for it, Document it, What next?

A lot of cultures ask people to throw ideas, when these ideas start flowing through.. the Innovation Managers do not know how to manage them. Ofcourse when you get bombarded with 10's and 20's of ideas you would not know how to map it to your Product Vision... then you wiki it and there is no way in future to extract it and implement it.

Many times this goes to another level.. a lot of people do not know how to validate if these ideas are good or not.. When they do.. they do not know how to approach it to a destination.

How to solve this ?
Build a process to list down ideas, form a way to evaluate and validate them. Every idea listed needs to be categorized and find a way to delegate this to the right authorities and people who are empowered to help this goal succeed.

Dig the well when you are thirsty

A lot of times you would see requests for Innovation coming when your product is in bad shape, sales are not doing well or things are not going well all together.. All of a sudden you reach office and you would see that all Sr. Managers standing in the work area with all the office walls loaded with Innovation posters and all of them demanding Innovation from the Team in the next quarter...

A while back a friend worked for a company who was building a Travel portal. The business was dripping down in a span of 1 year.. everyone in the Team was asking the decision makers to reform the model, the decision makers chose however to increase inventory instead of increasing effort on SEO, building semantic web product etc... All of a sudden when the business hit the ground.. the management decided to re-engineer the product and the marketing strategy.. Result it was too late to build it back as other players were already running fast with their models.

How to solve this?
Regular evaluation of Innovation in the Team. Form brainstorming groups, create channels to ideate. Bring decision makers with right stats on Innovation Quotient.

Cant afford to fail now

A big bunch of stake holders and decision makers do not want to risk anything not with the figures, business, product thus the risk analysis Teams are formed and these teams do not let Innovation happen. Risk taking abilities and commitment to succeed drives Innovation away.

Resistance to change

Some people just dont want to change. Any new thing in the process is a threat, a problem, an issue and a potential problem. Hence you would find Innovation dying everyday where people are allergic to change.

If it has to happen, It will Happen

A lot of time people just dont want to initiate it. The thought behind is let things go as they are going .. it will happen. This attitude of lay back causes Innovation to die even before it is born.

Just block it
Why do things when they are working fine? Why introduce new things when every thing is good? Wonder what happens?

Budgets, Figures
Extra investment is what gets your profits down. If it can be done by the same people who are already in or even less, then Innovate. I am sure this is something you have been hearing very often. Budgets, dollars and figures always put Innovation on back seat.

Ownership?
Idea created, assigned to someone in Technology further there is nothing. Innovation dies if no ownership exists. I worked in the company where the Sales Manager would bring several small ideas every day to the Team, however there was no ownership in guidance on how , what , when and where... Taj Mahal was never built by the labourers... there was a vision and ownership.

Excessive Pressure

Excessive pressure to deliver always cause Innovation to fail. If your teams are in tremendous pressure to achieve the routine goals of the Team.. Innovation cannot happen when the mind is full with thoughts of survival.

Innovation Teams?

Managements form Innovation teams , dedicated teams to handle Innovations in the organization.. this is a good thought theoretically, but practically it can turn a killer in way to Innovate... Either these teams take monopoly on Innovation.. thus removing the group part of Innovation Or the others in the company start relying ONLY on these Innovation teams.

Now if you are coming across such lame excuses , reasons that stop Innovation in your Teams... wake up, Invest and Build the Culture to Innovate!!!

Read More

My Stars are great!!!

I am not really talking about the stars in reference to Astrology .... No, I am also not talking about the stars that are in Galaxy, No No No.... I am also not talking about the Film Stars.... I am talking about the Stars that I work with every day, Yes those members of our Team who every time show that they are the best for various reasons....

Why I say that????

We had a rough last week, imagine the worst every day you had in your life.... and then think of having the same day for 4 consecutive days ???? Goshhhhhhh.. trouble some..well we had one.. recently... in fact it ended yesterday.. and the 404 blog might have explained why I was not continuing with my posting spree.....

So when you have a rough time , people say everything and everyone goes against you... If you ask me today... I wont believe you....I think every one that I see stood by and took this to the most positive effect...We are glad that we are a Team that has the equilibrium ....

Imagine a guy who has just landed after a 24 hr flight , reaches in the middle of the night and in 2 hours is ready to support the system.

Imagine the guy who takes up the ownership to fix and resolve whatever that may come and fix it for the people who had issues.

Imagine a guy , who while doing his set of tasks just jumps into the second line and ensures that every single call coming in is answered and answered successfully

Imagine a guy , who is on holiday , On a boat and is still logging into the systems to fix your problems?

Imagine a guy, who turns on a holiday attached to a long weekend to the office , to ensure that if something goes wrong , he is there to support it...

Imagine a Boss, who says "It Happens" after you have caused a blunder...

Imagine a Team that says ... "Prepare us in Advance next time"

Imagine you having one such Guy in your team????? Didnt I tell you the imagination itself makes you happy??? Well imagine this imagination turns to reality, Only Once????? See a smile on your face? Now imagine this reality is cloned ????? not once , not twice but 3,4,5,10,12,18,20 times?????

Yes... Such a great team, You speak about 1 and you cant stop yourself mentioning the rest others... You fall in a ditch and they are there not only to get you out of there, but to clean yourself up so you can run another race....

What a Team!!!!!!! What Stars!!!!!

I always felt that it takes a great Attitude to succeed....Read more here What when you have the Team with Greatest Attitude?????

What would you do with this miracle of clone? Build a Software Product?????? Well this Team is going to build the future... for the Team , for the Company , For each one of us.... and when you have stars building your future, I wont mention that the outcome is going to be Shining....

Thank you guys for being a Team and such a great Team...

Thank you guys for surfing the waves of Tsunami's with a confidence to come to the shores with great stunts

Thank you guys for the Great Attitude you carry!!!!

Now why shoud'nt I say These Stars make my Stars great!!!!!!

Read More

Team Building, What does the leadership need?

It has always been a paing, Yes PAIN... building Team is not a easy task, you have to be calm, patient, understanding, shrewd, helping and above all energetic... Many times team building is not even considered when teams are formed. Mostly what I see in the Service sector of the IT world in India it appears like Teams are formed and collapsed.... The process that we call forming -> norming -> perform and out stand is nevertheless given importance.. as opposed a policy of HIRE and FIRE is applied.

As Building Team comes into discussion I always feel that you need a strong leadership that would apply various rules and methods to build a strong force as opposed to just a Team... Here are a few things that I see important in the Team Building process:

1. Goal Setting

Every Member of the Team needs to know what his goals are for the year / period / project / release or task. Goal less members cannot form a Team... I heard a story in my childhood when a Sailor asks a Bird about a destination... the bird just flies down the sky and says If I had known it I would have being resting and not running around in open sun and sea.... A Goal less Team member is a Headless chicken and cannot let the Team build. Specifying and measuring goals will help achieve fair degree of Team spirits as each one would know what they have to achieve and of course they are in line to organisational objectives....

2. Communicating
Its important that everyone knows how to communicate, they need to be made understand on how to communicate. There should be a fair degree of open culture where everyone is asked to openly talk... a few times I have realised that the quietest people are the smartest ones , however the ones that talk a lot get the paycheck .... Communication has to be fair and in a 360 degree angle... anyone should have access to anyone...

3. Inspiring
Inspire them to grow, Inspire them to think, Inspire them to innovate, Inspire them to critisize, Inspire them to do what they want to.... Yes Inspire them to fly... Its important that everyone in the team is inspired... un inspired mammals are like dead bodies... talk, Understand , Implement and Iterate this till they do what they want to do....

4. Do they Reflect it?
A healthy culture? A spirited soul ? A fresh mind? A killing attitude? Ask them what they have learnt every now and then and make them learn new things... Get them to a place where they start asking themselves on what I have learnt and am I on it or not... Not just this it is important that reflections are thrown to every part of the organisations.... think about Vipin talking about organisational values, think about Shankar loving everyone the Team member, think about people who had quit wanting to be a part of you again... isn't it all reflection? I learnt and I want to learn more....

5. You Suck!!!
Not many take criticism healthy... not many criticize healthy... this is the biggest team building killer... kill it. have sessions to criticize... I always wanted to arrange workshops where every week one person is going to be criticized.. let him /her know what wrong they have done for the whole week not from one person to have grudge or bad feel but from all anonymous masks where no one knows no one.

6. Where is my Mentor?
Let them find their mentors.. let them choose. They need to decide from whom they will learn and what.. its important that they understand and realise that there is a lot of mentoring available and each one of them are ready to mentor others... whoa did we just not plan to conquer the world?

7. Share / Earn / Laugh
Why go to a laughing school when you can sit with your team and make everyone laugh while you do the same... its important that the Team enjoys each others company.. let them laugh and laugh loud.. so that they feel the emotions and burn the frustrations... Laugh is a medicine to the success of Team building activities.. it begins with a laugh and that is what exists and persists...


8. He cannot do it SO CANT I?
Its important that you put yourself in the shoes of others and then talk... i remember Yogesh N once telling me that "I think it would have got delayed if anyone would have done it..." its not about someone not able to do it... its about can you think what he can think of...moreover can you stand for what he stood for? Why not discuss Rama here when he choose to say that even if I had worked on the upgrade to Hibernate I would have taken same or maybe more time.... its all about Team and the bonding... the more you understand each other the more you say that...


9. Commit to your mistakes
Let each one of us come out and commit what we do wrong.. what we can do better and what we intend to do.. there is nothing stronger than committing your mistakes and facing what is lying ahead of you... put the Team into the habit of being honest

10. Driving
Drive them to the best... Till they become the Ants or the Penguins they need to be driven.. Get every one drive everyone but in one force and flow... Its important that they are driven in the right directions... the more they go right the more they learn and earn...

11. Timing
Have you heard of a father who's son asked him how much he is paid every hour? And then he comes back and pays his father just to get time from him? Well your Team is like that... make sure that out of work you find time for them.. be with them when they think they need you. Make yourself available for what they need.. Make this a habit , make this as a passion... after all as a Manager you are not a Supervisor but a force...

12. Loving
Teach them how to love each other and stand by each other.. now this is not something you can do easily... When they love each other they love what they do..


Do you think you have some more to discuss? Why not share?

Read More

Of Objective , Goals and Value

This Project will change your career path
This opportunity cannot be missed out
This will change your life
This will be remembered by You as a revolution in your life...

Well Well well many more buzzwords and Jargon's. Honestly I feel that this is how the current Manager Trend has been selling its products and I am left no away from it.... though I am rarely frequent in making such promises or Hives I feel that this is something that has been always been used as a lethal Weapon to motivate the performers(Under Or Over).

While I am still in process to think how We should be presenting the Objectives and Goals for the Project, release or Team... I got a setback when I think is it really Selling or Marketing your Offerings to the Software Development Team?

So I am sure you have a question whats the setback.... So here it is...

1. Value:- I personally think that things are not cared about if they don't have a Value... for example I remember we talking about motivation in my previous posts, We talking about Empowering in the earlier posts, We talking about creating a High performance Team.. all of this is possible only if there is a Value attached to what we do... To Motivate it needs to be Knowledge , Monetary Benefits or lot of other things, To Empower we need to enhance and train, To create a High performance Team the Team needs to know what, How , When and where and so many other things.... All of these things happen only if a Value is associated with what you want to do.... So the question arises Why a Value needs to be associated?

I remember I been a part of the cricket Team that used to play cricket tournaments on tennis ball... while been a part of it I realised that we as a Team were not much interested in winning when there was no prize money or bet on the game... Of course it was a Value attached.
I remember a Team Member calling on me to say that I don't want to be a part of a particular project Team since he/she thinks that he/she cannot learn things or evolve in the given project... of course there is a value associated with what anyone wants to do.... So many other examples and reasons of how Important a value is for anything you do....

So the question arises why is this a setback to me and my thinking now?
Well I realise that sometimes we don't create a value but we just try to market and hype it or sell what we don't really have or want someone to buy something that we cannot sell.... something that shouldn't be done or that doesn't last for long... No wonder faulty promises and organisational exit times appraisals and counter offers don't last long...

A product doesn't sell if the customer doesn't see the value
A Developer doesn't want to be a part of the product that doesn't adds value to him
A Leader finds a pathway if he thinks there are roadblocks ahead.. and so many other things....

It is at most important to Create a Value for something you want to do....

2. Share It? : Its not enough to create a value to sell it, You need a Team to create it.. A Team that is going to be a part of it altogether... for example.... I am sure if the prize money we used to win/loose on the cricket games was not shared the interest would have lowered down... disappointments would have been caused easily and failure was the next door. Creating a value is as must as creating it with the Team that will be a part of achieving it... the Objectives and Goals of a project can only be achieved by a Project Team if the Team creates the Objectives and Values for it... and are not defined by someone else...

So the question arises why is this a setback to me and my thinking now?
Well I feel the needs, Goals and Objectives should be defined by a Team who will be part of the runners to achieve it.... When Talking to the SWAT Team today I realised that their are several Objectives that are not even thought about and Yes this is the time to get them in and work towards them... what a Team it will be where everyone knows what they have to work on and for. So the setback is the vision has to be shared, the goals have to be worked upon and priorities need to be re-defined....


3. Celebrate : In my earlier posts about celebrate the smallest success I mentioned that inventing something , developing something or finishing some tasks is just not the whole thing... It is important that we celebrate each of those... A Value can be predominant only if it is celebrated and appreciated everytime... Every effort towards the value acquisition should be appreciated and celebrated only then the goals are achieved...


Do we celebrate what we achieve?
Do we know what we achieve?

More on and over... let me rethink How to best sell myself and how best to Empower the Team to let do the above 3 key elements....

Regards
Sameer Shaikh
http://sameer-shaikh.blogspot.com

Read More