Catalyst for Collaboration—Achieving Astonishing Results.
Just watched this six-minute TED Talks speech on the redesign of Russian newspapers – to go from blah to being awarded the WORLD’s best newspaper with just a few years! Designer Jacek Utko calmly talks us through his inspiration, vision, strategy and accomplishments – and blithly says “I’m not …
Q. Our leadership team strategically decided that we need to do “sales and marketing” of the services we provide. Problem is, we work for the government and nobody really likes the “s&m” words. Any suggestions on how to proceed?
A. Even though you might think “sales” and “marketing” …
You’ve decided to have a regular staff meeting and you want to make it relevant, interactive, and meaningful. So gather your folks together and ask them to help you build the agenda for the meeting.
Grab a marker and ask “What do we need to accomplish at …
If you don’t know the objectives and agenda prior to walking in to a meeting, you are doomed from the start. Unless the meeting purpose and agenda is created at the beginning of the meeting, chances are you will be held captive in a group grope, …
When your company reorganizes and assigns everyone to a team they can’t simply rearrange the deck chairs on the Titanic. You don’t just put people into teams and then expect them to act like a team. New job titles such as “team leader,” “facilitator,” and “team …
So you have decided to have a staff meeting involving all your CSRs. Rather than corralling them into a room and talking at them, spend a few moments planning a team-based staff meeting:
Know Thy Purpose. What do you want to accomplish during your staff meeting? Typically, these …
You have piles of papers on your desk that report all kinds of operational data: time to answer, duration of call, cost per customer, abandonment rate, IVR first response, etc. With call center technology counting each click, we generate more data than we need or could …
I’ll let you in on a dirty little secret: “Teams don’t do real work. Individuals do.” Now, before you go crazy, hear me out:
Teams are great for making big and small agreements on how the work needs to be done. Team members come together to plan …
As I travel about the country I meet people who are part of a “team.” Perhaps they wear a “team” button, hang a picture proclaiming teamwork, or cheerfully answer the phone: “Team Blue. How may we help you today?” These are the front line workers who …
Every team needs a visual scoreboard that tracks how well they are doing. Using the team’s mission statement, the team should have a few metrics that indicate team success and progress. Just like the gauges on your car tell you critical information, your team’s dashboard …
