Team Building & Leadership Blog: Create-Learning » images http://create-learning.com/blog Team Building - Leadership Training - Executive Coaching - Facilitation Fri, 03 Feb 2012 19:36:35 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 What’s the Companies goal & how do you fit in? Team Building Activity http://create-learning.com/blog/team-building/whats-the-companies-goal-how-do-you-fit-in-team-building-activity http://create-learning.com/blog/team-building/whats-the-companies-goal-how-do-you-fit-in-team-building-activity#comments Wed, 01 Feb 2012 16:50:31 +0000 mike http://create-learning.com/blog/team-building/whats-the-companies-goal-how-do-you-fit-in-team-building-activity The majority of problems within teams and organizations comes from unclear goals. Once the Goals are agreed upon and known my preference is within a QQT/R format then developing the Roles and Procedures can happen.

BUT without the Goal you will have failure, or if the work does get done it’s late, over budget, below quality standards, and people are angry and demotivated.

I recently led this Team Development activity with a company of Environmental Consultants and it created a great discussion about the knowledge and lack of knowledge about the goals of the Organization and the people who work there.

TeamWork and Communication. Create-Learning team building & Leadership www.create-learning

What’s The Goal?

Objective

  • Complete quality work on time, within standards
  • Create a discussion about the companies overall goal
  • Clarity of why the company is in business
  • Enable employees to make decisions that are aligned with the Organizational goals
  • Employees to discover how their work, is aligned with the goals of the company

Materials

  • Flip chart paper
  • Markers

Group Size

  • Works best with teams of 6 or less

Preparation

  • Take some time and research the company see if you can determine what their goal is. Generally you can find some version of this on their website and materials.
  • Make sure you have flip chart paper and plenty of markers
  • If you want to get fancy, you can have the questions written before hand or on a power point slide

InstructionsTeamWork and Communication. Create-Learning team building & Leadership expert michael cardus

Break people into teams of 6 or less there are a variety of ways to do this.

I suggest you try to mix people who don’t normally work together, that will create a richer discussion.

This is a 2 part activity, in their groups they are going to answer the following two questions. Then create a shared visual / metric / representation of all your responses as a team. The shared information must be visual with no words or letters.

The questions.

What is the Goal of the company?

  • The larger organizational goal, why we are in business.

How does your role within the company contribute to this goal?

  • Create a shared visual / metric / representation of all your responses as a team.

 

Allow for ~15 – 20 minutes of discussion and drawing. Walk around answer any questions and listen to the discussions going on.

After the 20 minutes ask the teams to take turns sharing their responses to the 2 questions. Facilitate any question and answer time – then tape the flip charts to the wall so everyone can see the responses.

Connections and Concepts

TeamWork and Communication. Create-Learning team building & Leadership www.create-learning (36)Goals drive everything a a company. Many manages and C-level executives believe that people ‘should just know’ what the goal is, and they themselves may not be too sure of the goal! Having a discussion and hearing from the employees what they see as the goal and how they think their work contributes to this goal will strengthen the work that everyone does.

Keeping it visual will also keep it simple. The goals should not be too complicated the visual representation will keep people engaged in the discussions.

The power of this activity is in the discussions that happen, keep them talking and gather the information for people to use later.

Processing and Reflection

Now that everyone has shared and you have the images hanging on the wall, it’s time to see what we can do with this information. Here are some discussion questions.

  • In your small teams how did you reach agreement on the goal of the company?
  • In your small teams how did you reach agreement on how your work contributes to the company goal?
  • Looking at these representations, what commonalties did we discover?
  • If we all knew, with certainty what the Company Goal is – how would these images be different?
  • How would your contribution to the goal be different?
  • What about this activity was useful to you?
  • What about this activity was useful to the company?
  • What is one step that the management can take to make the goals clearer?
  • What is one step that you can take to understand the goals better?
  • How will we know that this has happened?
  • When can we go-and-see?
  • Once those steps are accomplished, what will be better about your work?
  • Once those steps are accomplished, what will be better about the company?
  • What is already happening that shows up progress is being made?

Variations

Instead of company ask about the Department you work in, the project you are working on, the people you work with, etc…

 

Hire Mike

Need experiential and hands-on ways to create lasting memories and content in your programs / workshops / and lessons.

Mike is your answer. He will create and develop customized activities and simulations for what you need. Contact Mike (mike@create-learning.com)

Mike will come to you to facilitate the action learning and processing, or can just send you a document with videos and photos of how to do everything you need.

Mike will make you a success and your next meeting and training program better than ever.

Create-Learning Contact

]]> http://create-learning.com/blog/team-building/whats-the-companies-goal-how-do-you-fit-in-team-building-activity/feed 0 The Difference is the Point of Interaction http://create-learning.com/blog/manager-training/the-difference-is-the-point-of-interaction http://create-learning.com/blog/manager-training/the-difference-is-the-point-of-interaction#comments Thu, 19 Jan 2012 15:39:33 +0000 mike http://create-learning.com/blog/manager-training/the-difference-is-the-point-of-interaction Every employee is entitled to have a competent manager with the capability to bring value to their problem solving and decision making. Contact Mike make your team and leaders better.

Team Building and Leadership Expert Michael Cardus

  • Click on the image to enlarge.

This image above explores the differences between an Organizational Structure that has NO managerial-leadership coaching and an Organizational Structure WITH managerial-leadership coaching.

The image on the right reflects the ‘Cascade-of-Planning’ model or in Lean Manufacturing the Hoshin Kanri used in the Toyota Production System. The difference is where the manager and subordinate interact.

WITH OUT Coaching

  • Interaction happens in limited time-frames and generally only when something goes wrong.
  • Accountability is forced down the hierarchy and the idea of failure, development and growth is often frowned upon.
  • Management is quick to blame employees and see the ‘people as broken’.

With Coaching

  • Interaction is regular and expected, once the manager is accountable for the output of the subordinate, then give-and-take must happen in task delegation and work being accomplished.
  • Accountability is on the Manager to ensure that subordinates are working to their effectiveness. Improvement in decision making and problem solving leads to improved innovation and work of the team.
  • Management is able to examine the process-system that the work is being done in and determine what is stopping this person from doing their best.

 

What do you think?

Is this point of interaction amongst management and employee important? Have you ever had a manager who was great at coaching you to add value to your work?

 

Interested in enhancing and developing a Managerial Coaching Process within your organization and team? Looking to improve your existing managers coaching skills? Click the Box Below.Team Building Leadership Innovation expert Michael Cardus

michael cardus is create-learning

Inspired by Toyota Kata

]]> http://create-learning.com/blog/manager-training/the-difference-is-the-point-of-interaction/feed 2 Images From TeamBuilding & Leadership in Austin Texas. http://create-learning.com/blog/team-building/images-from-teambuilding-leadership-in-austin-texas http://create-learning.com/blog/team-building/images-from-teambuilding-leadership-in-austin-texas#comments Tue, 17 Jan 2012 20:23:15 +0000 mike http://create-learning.com/blog/team-building/images-from-teambuilding-leadership-in-austin-texas I had a great time in Texas with ASQ’s Human Development & Leadership Division. 3 days of Team Development, planning and leadership facilitation. I did not take many photos, we had discussions and used LOTS of flip chart paper. Below is what I did take.

 

BuffaloAirportDeIcing

Sitting in the Buffalo NY Airport enjoying the De-icing machines spray this fluid on the planes. 

Team Building And Leadership in Austin Texas www.create-learning (4)

An image out of the plane window of Austin TX.

Team Building And Leadership in Austin Texas www.create-learning (5)Team Building And Leadership in Austin Texas www.create-learning (6)

Reviewing survey results and starting the meeting.

 

That is all the photos I took, kind of lame I know. I will work with this group again and next time take more photos.

Team Building Leadership Innovation expert Michael Cardus

michael cardus is create-learning

]]> http://create-learning.com/blog/team-building/images-from-teambuilding-leadership-in-austin-texas/feed 0 Favorites of 2011: Images Used in Team Building, Leadership, Innovation Workshops & Speeches http://create-learning.com/blog/team-building/favorites-of-2011-images-used-in-team-building-leadership-innovation-workshops-speeches http://create-learning.com/blog/team-building/favorites-of-2011-images-used-in-team-building-leadership-innovation-workshops-speeches#comments Wed, 28 Dec 2011 16:54:51 +0000 mike http://create-learning.com/blog/team-building/favorites-of-2011-images-used-in-team-building-leadership-innovation-workshops-speeches With the end of the year approaching, this week is a great to share some of my favorites of 2011. Here is the schedule it may change;

Favorite Images Used in Workshops & Speeches 2011

  • In no particular order.

This proved to be more challenging than I thought it would have been! These are all from 2011 speeches, workshop and presentation I gave, while not comprehensive, they are my favorites.

Below each image is a link to the content.

 

image

“When Ideas Have Sex, what do the babies look like”

image

“When Ideas Have Sex, what do the babies look like”

image

Creativity To Innovation: Implementing Inventive Solutions

 

image

L.E.A.R.N…Team Building & Leadership Model of Transferring Lessons into Organizational Reality

image

Relevance Enneagram-A Tool for Finding Value in Work.

image

 

image

Relevance Enneagram-A Tool for Finding Value in Work.

image

DiSC Team Building & Leadership. Discover Temperament

 

image

3 Steps to Improve Results of Employees & Management

image

High Performance Team Development & Leadership Workshop with Executive MBA’s

 

image

10 Team Dynamics That All Great Teams Share

image

Innovation and 21st Century Learning

image

Innovation and 21st Century Learning

image

Working & Managing Across Generations

image

Working & Managing Across Generations

 

image

Quality Tools for Quality Teams

 

image

Complexity and Achieving Goals at Work

 

image

7 Steps to High Performance teams.

image

Developing::Leading::Be a part of High Performance Six Sigma Teams

image

High Performance Team Development

image

image

10 Team Dynamics That All Great Teams Share

image

image

Archimedes Principle of Marketing Management

image

In Planning Why Does the By-When Matter?

What an amazing year 2011 was! Looking forward to meeting and working with your team and leaders in 2012.

Team Building Leadership Innovation Expert Michael Cardus

michael cardus is create-learning

]]> http://create-learning.com/blog/team-building/favorites-of-2011-images-used-in-team-building-leadership-innovation-workshops-speeches/feed 0 Favorites of 2011: Photos of Teams http://create-learning.com/blog/team-building/favorites-of-2011-photos-of-teams http://create-learning.com/blog/team-building/favorites-of-2011-photos-of-teams#comments Tue, 27 Dec 2011 19:45:21 +0000 mike http://create-learning.com/blog/team-building/favorites-of-2011-photos-of-teams With the end of the year approaching, this week is a great to share some of my favorites of 2011. Here is the schedule it may change;

 

Favorite Photos of 2011

In no particular order – to see all my 2011 favorites click here

Team Building and Leadership expert Michael Cardus

Perhaps the most kick-ass corporate team building photo I have ever seen! From a series of Team Development and Leadership workshops I led for the Simon School, University of Rochester.

image

From a workshop on TRIZ Innovation that I led for Syracuse University. I thought this idea was rather innovative and did solve the problem we were facing.

 

Non-Profit team building leadership innovation expert Michael Cardus

I like this photo, there is something about a Catholic Priest working through a challenging problem. This is from the Western NY Critical Incident Stress Team.

Team Building leadership innovation michael cardus

This woman in this image may hate that I used this photo, and the image and face match too well.

 

Building Virtual and Global Teams consultant michael cardus

What a great way to build a Virtual-Team by having a team member on skype while developing team Goals and Roles.

 

Experiential Training Expert Michael Cardus

The College at Brockport Physical Education Students and me, in a train-the-trainer program.

 

High Ropes Course Faciliation and Development Michael Cardus

High Ropes Course. From a multi-day leadership program, our last day in on the ropes-course. Them we spend months developing processes and job-aids to apply the lessons and skills.

 

Team Building and leadership speaker Michael Cardus

A crushed Marshmallow Tower.

 

Multi-Generational Leadership Expert Michael Cardus

From a “Managing and Leading Across Generations” speech I gave.

 

Communication between teams. BrightBluryBlind

Visualization of Bright:Blurry:Blind

Create-Learning 4H Camp Bristol Hills Adventure Staff Training

Rocking the Lycra-Tube with 4-H Camp Bristol Hills, another amazing Train-the-Trainer time.

Michael Cardus Team Building and Leadership expert

Ending with my wife The Amazing Christine Cardus (TACC) and I enjoying time together on a catamaran ride in Buffalo, NY.

There are more and you can see them here.

Looking forward to adding your team to my favorites in 2012!

image

michael cardus is create-learning

]]> http://create-learning.com/blog/team-building/favorites-of-2011-photos-of-teams/feed 2 Experiential Education Train-the-Trainer http://create-learning.com/blog/challenge-by-choice/experiential-education-train-the-trainer http://create-learning.com/blog/challenge-by-choice/experiential-education-train-the-trainer#comments Mon, 03 Oct 2011 13:02:51 +0000 mike http://create-learning.com/blog/challenge-by-choice/experiential-education-train-the-trainer Experiential Training & Development has its uses and abuses. Like any educational and training model people must understand when and how to use the tools. Create-Learning’s Train-The-Trainer program teaches you how and when to BEST use experiential learning and when not to. Contact Mike to enroll your team and yourself. 

____________________________________________________________________

 

  • Lycra tube final sequence-focusing on creating a proper sequence of risk from trust circles to body movement to coordination and team-work.

One part of my work is facilitating Train-the-Trainer workshops. These workshops vary from corporate audiences, classroom teachers, non-profit organizations and colleges + universities. Here are some images and notes from a Train-the-Trainer Experiential Education for Physical Education Teachers at The College at Brockport, New York.

Team Building & Leadership with Physical Education Majors at The College at Brockport. www.create-learning (4)Team Building & Leadership with Physical Education Majors at The College at Brockport. www.create-learning (5)

Exploring Critical Thinking & the L>E>A>R>N model. Teaching these soon to be teachers low risk interactive ways to create community and critical thinking skills within their classroom. We began with some noodle innovation.Team Building & Leadership with Physical Education Majors at The College at Brockport. www.create-learning (10)

Physical education is about motion and learning to better understand how your movements coordinate with others. Above is an example of a great partner activity that creates – shared movement, connections and negotiation skills.

Team Building & Leadership with Physical Education Majors at The College at Brockport. www.create-learning (23)Team Building & Leadership with Physical Education Majors at The College at Brockport. www.create-learning (26)

HOOPDOM – is a always a favorite – a non-competitive version where the students must work together to solve a challenge. In our processing after this activity we spoke about applications to the classroom and how HOOPDOM can be used in Physical Education.

Team Building & Leadership with Physical Education Majors at The College at Brockport. www.create-learning (69)Team Building & Leadership with Physical Education Majors at The College at Brockport. www.create-learning (72)

Using metaphor cards to teach reflection skills. For teachers and students the ability to reflect and connect the activities to school and lives is necessary. The teachers really enjoyed exploring and learning many, many, many variations of using metaphor cards.

Team Building & Leadership with Physical Education Majors at The College at Brockport. www.create-learning (86)Team Building & Leadership with Physical Education Majors at The College at Brockport. www.create-learning (93)

With one team we used the Cycle Time Puzzle – VERY TOUGH. For Physical Education we were able to discuss how to handle challenging situations within the classroom and how to decide whether to modify or stop the activity all together.

Team Building & Leadership with Physical Education Majors at The College at Brockport. www.create-learning (94)

Using I2U2ME2WE as a closing and learning activity brings the students back together in small learning teams. Additionally we were able to use this time as a reflection and connection time.

Team Building & Leadership with Physical Education Majors at The College at Brockport. www.create-learning (106)

At one point I took out the “Putting It All Together” kits and one of the students said, “We have already done that!” That gave me a great opportunity to talk about how do you handle that in a classroom? The solution is variations!

Team Building & Leadership with Physical Education Majors at The College at Brockport. www.create-learning (31)

A nice closing discussion of Experiential Education and it application in a Physical Education Classroom – using the lycra tube.

 

Thank you The College at Brockport Physical Education Department and I will see you again soon!

To enroll your class, team, yourself in a train-the-trainer workshop;

Contact Me I travel to you and can develop a program to make your team and you better.

 

michael cardus is create-learning

]]> http://create-learning.com/blog/challenge-by-choice/experiential-education-train-the-trainer/feed 0