Category Archives: Educators Teambuilding

The Four Stages of Becoming a Team Player

Becoming a Team Player is not always an easy or quick transformation. It often requires a significant personal paradigm shift for an individual to move up through the four stages. Our culture has not always emphasized the value of teamwork.  Heroes such as Clint Eastwood, John Wayne, and even James Bond seem to be icons […]

Competition vs Collaboration for Better Team Performance

There is a very simple but effective activity that I occasionally incorporate into my team building presentations to illustrate the impact of competition vs. collaboration and which one inspires better team performance.  The activity may sound familiar – it is called “arm wrestling.” I choose a fun way to get participants into pairs and have […]

16 Off Site Meeting and Retreat Ideas for Event Planners

If you are planning an off site meeting or conference, there are a number of retreat ideas that creative and clever event planners can use to make it a more fun and engaging experience for the attendees. An off-site meeting or retreat offers a tremendous opportunity to create events that help people connect. Unfortunately, it’s […]

Seven Steps to Planning an Awesome Team Building Event

Planning an awesome team building event can seem like a challenge, but these seven steps will help you to ensure that your people enjoy not only a great time, but also benefit from insights and lessons that they can apply to workplace interactions. So, here are your seven steps to planning a useful team building […]

Smart Teams Focus on Incremental Improvements

If you are interested in truly lasting team success, you will want to focus on incremental improvements over time instead of overwhelming and immediate change. Smart teams know that small changes, over time, provide great results! Consider when you are driving.  If you are moving in the wrong direction, or miss a turn, you won’t […]

Three Tips for Inspiring Innovation on Your Team

Whether in schools, athletics, or in corporations, inspiring innovation on your team in order to do something smarter, faster, or more effectively, is likely something your organization would benefit from. Innovation is a common buzz word now – but it is something that throughout history people have worked to accomplish in order to move their […]

Who is the Audience You Are Trying to Impress?

Everyone has an audience that they are trying to impress. As a leader or as a teammate on virtually any type of team, though, what few may realize is that WHO you seek to impress has a profound influence on what you do and how you choose to do it. Last Sunday, in church, our […]

Why Your Team May Need MORE Cliques and Silos

Do you know why cliques and silos form in your team or organization? It has nearly become cliché to hear from organizations that “our sales staff cannot stand to work with those service guys,” or “we have people inside our department that just won’t communicate!”  Many teams struggle with situations where different departments, or even […]

Symptoms are Seldom the True Cause of Team Issues

No matter what team issues your group is experiencing, odds are that the true cause of your pain is seldom cured by addressing only the symptoms. While I am certainly not a doctor, there are interesting correlations between how we manage both common medical issues and negative organizational behaviors. Have you ever had a headache? […]

To Increase Dependability, Ask Your Team to “Hold the Rope”

If you want your team to demonstrate and increase their dependability and leadership, then ask them to “hold the rope” Coach Jeff Tedford still has the most wins in the history of the California bears Football Program. He was known by many of his peers and players as “The Rope Guy.” He asks his athletes […]