It appears to me that the more I read and experience, in terms of professional development, the more similarities can be drawn about what we do at home and what we do at work. Sound familiar?October's Management Today had a great read about team development, by Peter Cullen and Terri Hunter. It likens the stages of a soccer training session for building a successful team.
Recently I have also read Daniel Goleman's "Emotional Intelligence". (And to be frank I think you need to have a fairly high Intellectual Intelligence to get through it). The reference to toddlers and children, to draw out examples is prolific. This book tends to focus on individual characteristics and how to adapt to them. This whole book, in my opinion, is based on a 12 month visit with an cognitive behavioural therapist (CBT), nothing wrong with that.
Another example, drawn from personal experience, was some time ago when I attended a "dealing with difficult people" seminar. That evening I had the pleasure of assisting at a 5 year old's birthday party. What I had learnt that day was so applicable for dealing with a bunch of boys at this party and gave me a good opportunity to try out a few tools.
The examples are endless. How about listening skills - how important is it to listen? I found myself reading books to my son the other night called, Listening, Sharing & Helping. Lots of examples of how to listen actively, the importance of acknowledgement, waiting until the other person has finished speaking and so on. Maybe I don't need to spend hundreds of dollars on courses, management magazines and books, instead just be way more present in the day to day activities of my own developing child. I'm definitely putting this method down on my personal development plans for the future.
The best advice from the article by Cullen & Hunter is that team commitment will come from a clarity of goals. And coming together as a team should only be done when joint work from the team is needed - if you bring your team together just for an update or informal session it could leave members uncommitted, overloaded with information, and lacking focus.
The best advice from the article by Cullen & Hunter is that team commitment will come from a clarity of goals. And coming together as a team should only be done when joint work from the team is needed - if you bring your team together just for an update or informal session it could leave members uncommitted, overloaded with information, and lacking focus.
How often have you forced a meeting with no agenda and no winning outcome?
