You are likely to be familiar with the term "one bad apple spoils the barrel". The meaning here is that the rot in the bad apple will spread to all the other apples in the barrel, thus destroying the barrel of apples. What happens when we apply this logic to people in a team? What is the "rot in the apple" behaviour that is not in keeping with the team environment? It
It's no secret that there is a battle to attract the best people. Organisations invest heavily in talent attraction programs, culture PR, extras and more to hire the star players. But is this the best tactic for developing a high performing team? The answer is, that it depends. We are complex beings as individuals, and when we start to put groups of complex beings together in the form of teams, well, it
There is an old Irish tale about an American tourist who gets lost driving around rural Kerry. He stops at some point in the middle of nowhere asks a local farmer for directions. When the tourist asked what is the best way to get to their location, the farmer replied with a grin, “Yerra I wouldn’t shtart from here anyway” Similar to the bewildered tourist, many in the world of business would
The key to a high performing business is not about an individual person. Businesses that perform well are built on a foundation of high functioning teams. This won’t be a surprise to many. The understanding of the role of the team in successful organisations has spawned an entire industry of “Team Building”. Traditional team building has tended to revolve around team activities and off-site days. These are designed with the intention of
Have you ever heard the term “Happy Cows Produce More Milk”? In the dairy farming world its commonly known that the happier the cows, the greater the yield. The same is true of people. When people are happy we are more productive, it’s common sense really. Yet, business doesn’t act upon this basic premise. It’s not all about paying more money either. There are simple things, that literally cost nothing in their
Sometimes, as leaders, we need to look in the mirror. Look closely. We may be the problem. Sometimes, we open the door but stand in the opening. Sometimes, we are wrong. What we do and how we make people feel, is more important than the words we use. There is always pressure to improve performance. We try to do this by putting more rules in place, policies, bureaucracy, red tape, and on
