In This Issue:
	Point of Action's New Look! Building High-Functioning Teams Supervising for Success! Workshop Get The Most Out of Training Day

Building High-Functioning Teams

Many organizations are increasingly relying on teams, rather than individual employees, to deliver exceptional client service. Departments are shifting away from independent, project-based work towards collaborative, "intrapreneurial" efforts, where teams seek out new opportunities rather than waiting for them to be assigned. The increased pressure on teams to seek out and deliver high-quality work in minimal time can create conflict, confusion and frustration in teams. These problems can be avoided, however, by following three simple steps to create high-functioning teams: Step 1. Create a New Team Mission Statement. Working collaboratively as a team, spend a couple of hours to draft a new team mission statement that defines why you do what you do, what your value is to the firm, and what you want to be known for. The team mission statement is not what appears on your website or company intranet; it should be an inspirational, original paragraph that empowers your team to pursue a common goal. Step 2. Develop Team Competencies. Once your team has drafted its mission statement, the next step is to determine the strengths and weaknesses of individual team members. For example, you may have some team members who are technical wizards, but who may not have strong interpersonal skills. In order for these team members to contribute to a more collaborative team effort, they will need coaching and ongoing performance feedback to help them to develop necessary competencies. For your team to truly excel in a collaborative environment, all team members will need to develop effective interpersonal skills. As well- known management consultant David Maister says in his book, The Trusted Advisor: "Can you get by only on technical excellence? Yes, you can, barely, if you're world-famous. The rest of us cannot." Step 3. Create a Team Project Action Plan. Now that you have crafted a new team mission statement and identified the team's strengths and weaknesses, construct a Team Project Action Plan for your team to follow. An action plan will include a clear project goal, a strategy to achieve that goal, specific action steps for individual team members, frequent status updates and project checkpoints, deadlines, and success indicators. The final action plan component, success indicators, is often the one that is neglected. Success indicators outline how your team knows that it has effectively achieved its goal. For example, if you work at a CPA firm and your team's goal is to perform a successful audit, the success indicators would not only answer the question, "Did we complete the audit accurately and on time?" The success indicators may also look at the success of the team in saving the client money, communicating process improvement recommendations to the client's management team, and identifying additional client service opportunities. By creating a Team Project Action Plan, and determining clear and challenging success indicators for each project, your team will be able to exceed performance expectations. »

Supervising for Success! Workshop

Have you thought about offering training for your managers on coaching and delivering effective performance feedback? You may want to consider Point of Action's "Performance Development: Supervising for Success!" workshop. Tailored to your organization's unique performance review system criteria, this workshop will help your managers provide constructive feedback on employee work easily, effectively and consistently. Please check out our website at www.pointofaction.net for more information on this customized workshop. »

Get The Most Out of Training Day

*** Click on the link below to read Point of Action's article, "Get the Most Out of Training Day," which offers more tips and tactics for measuring the value of your training programs. Article Link... »