Teamwork | Teik Oh

The New Way of Working

Apr 17 2015

Once upon a time (I’m a Baby-Boomer) when my boss said jump I asked “how high”. This just isn’t true anymore. With Gen X and Gen Y you need to really engage your workforce – and if you do, you will reap the effective and optimal performance that comes from an engaged and motivated workforce.

So what is “engagement”? It’s not just about liking where you work, it’s about being invested in the time you spend there, believing so much in the value of what you do that you provide discretionary effort – in other words, you jump before you are asked because you see that it is needed. Engagement is about making people believe that the business’ success helps them, helps others, and is worthwhile, and that its success is their success.

This week’s video lays out this “new” way of working.

So how do you engage people? Read More

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7 Steps to develop a high-performing Team in your Business

Feb 27 2015

Teamwork is essential in any business, no matter how big or small.

Even if your team were only two people, teamwork is important in co-ordinating your roles, ensuring you support each other in multi-disciplinary skills, and operating at an optimal level.

Teamwork is not just about being friendly with your co-workers, it is a very disciplined approach to working effectively together. Businesses need to develop real teamwork in a disciplined and structured way.

From my experience businesses, and especially small businesses, can best work on their staff to create a high-performance team by following the 7 steps of the “PERFORM” model. It is a simple set of steps where you work in a disciplined way on each of the characteristics of a high-performing team, layering one characteristic on another and building up optimum performance.

Watch this video and you will learn about the 7 Steps to Develop Teamwork in your Business and how to implement these 7 steps, no matter what size business you have.

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5 Steps to a Happier and More Productive Workplace

Jan 26 2015

These are lean times. Many businesses are letting go of staff and expecting greater productivity from those left. Businesses that have resisted the temptation of cutting costs by cutting the salaries bill also need to make sure the team is more effective than ever.

A productive and effective business is comprised of team members that are both happy and productive.

So, how do you create such a workplace?

Indeed, there are “happy” places, but not all are also productive. The trick is to ensure that workplace satisfaction, or “happiness” is linked to the creation of an effective and productive workplace.

While there are studies that list 6 or 10 or 12 factors, I believe the following 5 are the key factors to create a workplace that attracts and retains the most effective and productive staff.

1. A workplace with a strong Vision and Mission, and which values reinforce pride in membership.
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Why Teams Fail

Jan 12 2015

Many articles have been written about how high performing teams are formed.

My personal favourite is the “PERFORM” model, which is about:-
PURPOSE – high-performing teams share a strong sense of purpose
EMPOWERMENT – members collectively have a sense of power and feel that they have the necessary skills and resources to get things done
RELATIONSHIP – members have strong relationships, open and honest communication, and accept leaders’ moderation of conflicts
FLEXIBILITY – Individuals in the team share responsibility for leadership in a given situation and can fulfill different tasks that the team need to move forward
OPTIMAL PERFORMANCE – there is evidence that tasks are accomplished quickly and effectively through use of problem-solving skills and the use of each others’ differences in perspective
RECOGNITION – members respect and appreciate the membership of others and individual and collective accomplishments are frequently recognised by each other and by the leaders
MORALE – members feel pride and excitement about membership and confidence is strong.
On the other hand, less is written about why teams fail. Indeed, you can say that teams fail because they do not possess all of the above 7 characteristics, and you would be right. However team failures are often caused, not by lacking in positive traits but more by possessing negative behaviours.
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When is “Admin” really Admin?

Jan 05 2015

There was a survey done recently where 61% of those surveyed said that if “admin” was halved, they would use the time saved to focus on their “core job”.

I’m sure you’ll agree from the gut, with or without survey, that “admin” is unpleasant, unproductive, and not very satisfying and if possible you would halve it.

However, I think an important point is how you actually define “admin”. Unsatisfying does not always mean unproductive.

Note that those surveyed agreed they would better spend their time in their “core job”. However what does their “core job” entail? For example if you spent a great deal of your time filing correspondance that will hardly ever get pulled out again, I’d suggest that is true “admin” and is probably not your “core job” unless you are a filing clerk. However what if say, your sales job is all about filling the sales funnel, assisting the whole sales team to sell better, and ensuring customer satisfaction. In such a job, is completing CRM details part of your core job or just “admin”? Without accurate information about the customer in the CRM system you and the rest of the sales team may not be able to sell effectively – that sounds like part of your core job to me.
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Category - Teamwork

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The New Way of Working

7 Steps to develop a high-performing Team in your Business

5 Steps to a Happier and More Productive Workplace

Why Teams Fail

When is “Admin” really Admin?