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We are all part of teams. Our family is a team. Our place of work is a team. The community groups we belong to are teams. Sometimes we are the team leader or “coach,” while other times we fulfill the role of follower, or “player.” It is so important then for us to understand teams and how they work, especially those who achieve success – the achievement of their desired goal.

In my life I have been on some successful teams, and some not so successful teams. This includes both athletically as well as professionally. When I was growing up, I worked for seven years with the Seattle Supersonics, our local National Basketball Association team. They were at times unsuccessful, and, in 1979, my second year working there, the most successful team in the league, winning the World Championship. I have been able to see firsthand what makes the difference between the unsuccessful teams and the successful ones.

Here are some principles that I know, when implemented on a regular basis, can turn any lackluster team into an outstanding one! These principles can be applied to your family, your business, your organization, and yes, your sports team. Enjoy.

Communication Leader
The leader needs to communicate the vision. If they are setting the pace, they need to let people know where they are going so that the team can follow. The coach always does a pre-game talk, laying out the vision.

The leader communicates the vision frequently, so as to always be updating the team as to where they are at and what changes need to be made. The coach doesn’t relegate the direction he gives to the pre-game, he coaches and communicates all the way through the game.

Team
Watch a good basketball team. They are talking to each other all of the time. Helping one another out, encouraging one another, praising one another, and telling each other how they can make changes so the same mistakes aren’t made again. The same is true of successful teams in the professional world and in life in general.

Excellence
The truly great teams are teams that are committed to excellence. In everything they do, their goal is to achieve at the highest level. And this commitment is held throughout the team and at every level. A successful team cannot have members who are not committed to excellence because in the end they will become the weak link.

Followership
If you want a fascinating read, pick up The Power of Followership, by Robert Kelley. The author basically makes the point that the secret to getting things done lies not only in great leadership, but in how well the rest of the people, 99% of the team, follows the leadership. Good teams are filled with people who are committed to following and getting the job done.

Understanding Roles
Pardon the Chicago Bulls analogy, but it is so clear. When the game was on the line, with only one shot left, everyone, the coaches, the players, the 20,000 people watching in the stadium, and millions watching on TV, knew who would shoot the last shot. That was Michael Jordan’s role.

Every team works best when the members of the team have clearly defined and understood roles. Some do one thing, others do another. One isn’t better or more important than the other, just different. When teams operate out of their strengths and their roles, they win.

Strengths and Weaknesses
This brings me to strengths and weaknesses. Every team member has strengths and weaknesses. The successful teams are those who on a regular and consistent basis enable the members to operate out of their strengths and not out of their weaknesses. And what is one person’s strengths will cover another’s weakness. This is teamwork, enabling all of the bases to be covered.

Fun
The team that plays together stays together. Is your team all work and no play? If you’re smart, that will change. Get your team out of the office once a month and go have some fun. Enjoy one another. Enjoy life. It will bring a sense of bonding that can’t be made even in “winning.”

Common Goals and Vision
I have found that these need to have three aspects. Short, simple and clear.

Can you say it in less than 30 seconds? Is it simple? Can you and others understand it? Does the team all know what they are working together for?

Appreciation
All through the “game,” successful teams appreciate one another and show it in a variety of ways. The coach shows it to the players, the players show it to the coach, and the players show it to one another.

Here is a “Successful Teams” Checklist for you to evaluate with.

• Is there communication between coach and players and from player to player?
• Is your team committed to excellence?
• Do those on the team know what it means to follow?
• Does everyone on my team know their specific role?
• Do the individuals on our team regularly operate out of their strengths as opposed to their weaknesses?
• Does our team take a break from time to time to just have fun together?
• Do we understand our common goals and vision? Can we all state it (them)?
• Is there a sense of and communication of genuine appreciation among my team?

Source: woopidoo

The main goals of team-building are to improve productivity and motivation. Taking employees out of the office helps groups break down political and personal barriers, eliminate distractions, and have fun. The benefits of team-building programs are so significant that many corporations have incorporated teambuilding strategies into their standard training curriculum. Some of these benefits include:

Improves morale and leadership skills

Finds the barriers that thwart creativity

Clearly defines objectives and goals

Improves processes and procedures

Improves organizational productivity

Identifies a team’s strengths and weaknesses· Improves the ability to problem solve

Taps into hidden potential
Once you decide to participate in a teambuilding program, the question becomes: where shall we go? In Lands End, Lake District, not far from London, there is an organisation called Fresh Tracks that runs team building programmes and builds custom activities for employee teams from large organizations. In the hustle and bustle of the corporate world, where turnover and attrition levels are skyrocketing, there are good reasons for companies to plan teambuilding programmes.

Activities in these programs are designed to motivate people to pool their talents and perform at their best individually and as team players. Team members discover that diversity is their greatest asset and trust, cooperation and effective communication are the key to a team’s success. Structured activities not only encourage individual development, but bring all members together for a common cause.

Team-building programs provide upbeat and powerful team experiences allowing companies to compete effectively by enabling staff at all corporate levels to work as true team players.

If you are feeling like you do not have enough time, or that you are not getting the most out of your time these strategies can radically alter how effectively you manage time and hence how much quicker you’ll reach your goals.

Time management is a concept that many people naturally have difficulty with, but with the right time management strategies, there is no reason why you cannot take charge of your time and change your life. Here are four time management strategies that need considering if you are feeling like you do not have enough time, or that you are not getting the most out of your time. By taking on just one of these strategies at a time, you can radically alter how effectively you manage time and hence how much quicker you’ll reach your goals.

1 - Simplify. There are a lot of different processes in your life that can be simplified as a means of managing your time better. Simplify how much stuff you have to cut down on the time you spend dealing with clutter, or simplify the number of tasks you have to do in a day so that you can space your tasks our more realistically. If you have complicated ways to handle certain tasks, consider working to simplify them as well. By thinking in this way, you can make many processes in your daily life more straight forward and less time intensive, which can save you a significant amount of time by the end of the day.

2 - Schedule Weekly Reviews and Re-Evaluations. By sitting down at some point during the week and looking at your time management effectiveness throughout that previous week, you can start to alter your routines and actions until they are more time effective. Every week you need to make a point to review your current time management plan and strategies, and re-evaluate them as necessary. What is working? What isn't working? This is an excellent foundation to begin from when further fine tuning the management of your time.

3 - Develop Routines. By developing routines, you will always have a good idea of what needs to be accomplished and when. Routines are excellent at encouraging both action and momentum, so if you feel like you are not getting enough done in a day, or if you feel like your time management strategies could use a pick me up, developing routines may be just the strategy for time management that you need. Create routines for different facets of your life, such as tackling morning duties at work, or weekly cleaning. When you do not have to speculate what to do because your routine is laid out for you already, you will find yourself saving a lot of time.

4 - Start Small. Time management is not something you can suddenly master. Instead, you need to start small by identifying the biggest time management problems that you need to tackle, and tackling each one individual. Chip away at your time management follies one by one until you see yourself saving time and getting more done. By taking things slow and starting small, you can better conquer your time management rather than simply becoming overwhelmed by everything involved in such a large life change.

Posted on Friday, July 6th 2007 (4:38am) by Leo Babauta in WebWorkerDaily

It’s perhaps the greatest challenge of all web workers: how to productively get work done on the web without getting distracted.

Because while the computer and the Internet are two of the greatest productivity tools ever invented, they are also the two biggest distractions ever invented (not counting reality TV). And the productivity and distractions come bundled in one package, canceling each other out.

The trick is to get the productivity without the distractions. You have to unbundle them.

How do you do that? First, and most importantly, identify the distractions. Know the stuff you really need to get your work done — the actual work, not the communicating about the work — and know the stuff you do that’s fun, or that just keeps you busy without actually getting the work done.

You know what those distractions are — email, IM, Twitter, Pownce, Google Reader or Bloglines … and if you’re a blogger, your blog stats, Technorati, Digg, delicious, Adsense, etc. But it’s useful to identify them on paper — write them down.

Now comes the difficult process of unbundling these distractions from the stuff you need to do your work. Here are 5 strategies for doing that (and you can combine strategies in different ways to find a strategy that works for you):

Strategy 1: Cloak
This is one of my favorites — you download a Greasemonkey script to block the time-wasting sites, allowing you to do your work without distractions. Depending on what script you download, it allows you to set different types of breaks, where you’re allowed to surf your time-wasting sites (or check your email, etc.). You can customize the length of your breaks, what sites are blocked, and when the breaks occur. There are several cloak scripts available:

• Invisibility Cloak - this is the original, by Lifehacker’s Gina Trapani. Blocks time-wasting sites until a certain time of day. Can be turned off on weekends.
• Kiwi Cloak - modified version of the Invisibility Cloak, allows you to surf your time-wasting sites for 10 minutes at the top of each hour. This setting can be changed to suit your needs.
• Super Kiwi Cloak - a modified version of Kiwi Cloak, with more customizability.
• Stealth Kiwi - a modified version of Super Kiwi Cloak, but instead of only allowing you to take a break at certain times in each hour, it allows you to take your break when you want to, and then blocks you for 50 minutes. This gives you more flexibility, in case you miss the top of the hour but still want to take your 10-minute break. I like this method best.

Strategy 2: No talking
Remember when you would go to the library to do homework, and end up chatting with friends? And then the stern librarian would scold you: “No talking!” If this was a good librarian, and she enforced that rule, that would actually be the most productive homework time for me.

If you’re allowed to talk to your friends, nothing gets done. If you have to shut up and do your work, you can get a lot done.

The web worker’s equivalent? Don’t do IM or Twitter or similar constantly-on communications services. And don’t do email either, except at set times of the day.

This isn’t an easy strategy to implement. The urge to stay connected and to talk and be available because it might be important is strong. But turn off your email and IM clients, and you’ll find that the world doesn’t fall apart. And when you check your email and respond at, let’s say, two set times of the day, things will still be OK.

The problem with always-on communications is that you’re always being interrupted. And you can’t get much done that way. Don’t be available, except at very limited times in the day, and you’ll get much more done.

Strategy 3: Unplug
If the above two strategies don’t work for you, it might be because your distractions are not just communication-related like email and IM, and it’s not a set number of websites — your distraction is also the web in general. You might start out trying to look something up, notice an interesting link and click on it, start reading all about “game theory” on Wikipedia, go to another site about a related topic, and five hours later, you’re still reading. You can’t ban yourself from certain sites because you’d have to ban the entire Internet.

If that’s the case, you need to unplug. Literally disconnect your Internet connection physically unplug your cable modem or DSL or wireless connection.

But you’re a web worker, you say! You have to be able to go online for research, or to find images, or to get a link. And you need to email stuff to people.

Sure, but those things can be done before and after your actual work on a task or project. Here’s an example method for doing that:

1. If I need to do research before writing something, I can give myself a time limit of say 20 minutes, and do all the research on the topic, including links and images and downloading entire web pages for reference.
2. Then I can unplug, and do the task or project without distraction.
3. When I’m done, I can reconnect, and email the finished project (or draft, if that’s the case) to the boss or client. And repeat.

Strategy 4: Zen-like environment
The idea here is to minimize clutter and distracting things and have a minimal working environment that allows you to be calm and focus on the task at hand.

How do you do that? Several suggestions:

• Clear your desk: Remove all papers and knick-knacks and office tools from the top of your desk. You can sort through the papers later, but for now just put them somewhere out of sight. I would recommend later going through the papers, one at a time, and deciding what to do with them, so they don’t stay on your desk. Toss out the knick-knacks and other clutter. Find a drawer for the office tools and supplies. Have nothing on your desk but your computer, phone, inbox, and a picture of your cat.
• Clear your walls: Same deal here — take down all those papers and memos you tacked to the wall, the calendar of those cover models, pretty much everything but perhaps one or two really nice pieces of artwork if you have them.
• Clear your computer: Take all the icons on your desktop, if you have them, and put them in a folder to sort through later. Don’t have anything on your desktop. Turn off any little programs running that might distract you, including IM or email notifications. Eliminate as much visual clutter as possible from your desktop. Put a serene, Zen-like desktop wallpaper. Only open one program at a time.
• Work full-screen: Only work on one task at a time. Stop multi-tasking. Only have the program open that you need to work on the task before you, and work in full-screen mode. The more minimal the program, the better. Close all other windows or tabs that aren’t needed for that task.

Strategy 5: Carrot-and-stick
Each of the above strategies, of course, still require self-discipline. Here’s a little method you could use in combination with any of the above, to help you maintain that self-discipline:

• Carrot: If you resist distractions for a set period of time (say, 30 minutes or an hour), you get a reward of checking email or reading your RSS feeds for 10-15 minutes. However, this is only if you’re good — if you’re bad, see the next step.
• Stick: If you give in to distractions, you must unplug your modem or router (or whatever connects you to the Internet) and give them to someone else to hold for a set amount of time — a time that would be at least twice as long as the above set period of time (i.e. if you planned to work for 45 minutes but failed, you have to give your modem, or modem cable or whatever, to your friend or spouse for 90 minutes).

How do you deal with distractions in the workplace? Let us know in the comments.

1. Deal with problems when they occur, if you can. Don't let them pile up
2. Go to bed to sleep, not to worry or brood. If you find you're in a bad mood at bedtime, take a walk, read a chapter of a book that you enjoy, talk to someone you love about the good things in your life, watch David Letterman or Jay Leno.
3. Find a tension outlet that works for you, and use it when you need to. Consider crossword puzzles, card games, running, dancing, playing in the town band. (But stay away from those outlets that work only at the moment, that only add up to bad news, like eating, drinking and drugs.)
4. Build fresh air and exercise into your daily life.
5. Park a half mile from work or get off at a bus or train stop a half mile from work and walk the rest of the way.
6. If you don't own a dog to take for a walk, borrow one. Your neighbors will love you for it and it will do you more good than the dog.
7. Stay away from the coffee pot.

Get more tips

Interviews are particularly useful for getting the story behind a participant's experiences. The interviewer can pursue in-depth information around a topic. Interviews may be useful as follow-up to certain respondents to questionnaires, e.g., to further investigate their responses. Usually open-ended questions are asked during interviews.

Before you start to design your interview questions and process, clearly articulate to yourself what problem or need is to be addressed using the information to be gathered by the interviews. This helps you keep clear focus on the intent of each question.

Here are some articles which will help you:

• General Guidelines for Conducting Interviews
• Successful Interviews

Discipline is not doing extraordinary things but doing ordinary things extraordinarily well through proper actions. Action is of two kinds- without direction and absolute direction. What is discipline? It is a force, which marshals our inner force and saves us from possible disasters in which the undisciplined often find themselves. Discipline has advantages. It enables you to cultivate steadfastness. You do not permit your mind to sidetrack important matters. It enables you to go on with your work until it is completed. In other words, with discipline you save yourself from dithering.

You remain composed. Adversity cannot push you this way or that. You are not at the mercy of your nerves and do not rush from one chore to another- all poorly done.

Without discipline you cannot experience enjoying the serenity which stems from a job well done. Achievement does not come from feverish attempts. It comes from disciplined action. Begin by doing things of 'trivial' significance. Take something that you have been shirking for long, whether it is a certain area of mathematics, which you don't find interesting, or payment of a bill or a visit to a friend. By using will power, you overcome.

To strengthen your will power, select a small project rather than a big one. If you say "this week I am going to write one essay", you are likely to accomplish this task. But if you say, "today I am going to finish this book" the chances are that, you will not. When you finish one job do not relax. Instead allow yourself another reasonable task, which enables you to proceed at a steady pace. A break in steady and disciplined effort pushes you away from long range goal. Go on adding one link to another which forms an unbreakable chain.

When you come into a task, prepare yourself as thoroughly as you can if you have to write an essay, it is better if you keep your side the reference matter. This ensures concentration, and you have no excuse for leaving the work incomplete. Do not be overawed by obstacles. Instead, look upon each step as a definite move towards the ultimate goal. Then look back and you will be thrilled to see a string of small success behind you. These inspire you to more efforts. They strengthen your sense of discipline. You have results to your credit.

Be on guard against your so-called friends. They will tell you that you are gaining nothing from your efforts. In such circumstances, remind your self of your tangible success. Bad suggestions have a banal influence. Counter them. Your effort to cultivate self-discipline go waste if you do not master the art of dealing with time wasters. They are chronophages. Every successful person has either cultivated or adopted a way of life to keep time wasters out of his life. Einstein says " have to work now", and excuses himself from the time-wasting scene.It is important to have a reasonable, workable plan of work, and a rational spur to it. Hurry is an evidence of inner stress. There is time and ways for action and reflection. Don't 'escape' from time. Fill every bit of it with positive action. This is the core and crux of discipline.

Team-building exercises are used as way to get employees to stick around. Often, though, they consist of co-workers grudgingly playing group games.

But the efforts may be a more natural fit at small companies than at larger ones, where they may feel forced.

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