Developing TEAMSDeveloping TEAMSBy Maxwell RanasingheBy Maxwell Ranasinghe

Developing TEAMSDeveloping TEAMSBy Maxwell RanasingheBy Maxwell Ranasinghe

• Italian Renaissance Philosopher once said • “ The first method for estimating the

intelligence of a ruler is to look at the men he has around “

• Chinese proverb “ If you are planning for one year grow rice, if your are planning for twenty years grow trees and if you are planning for centuries grow men”

• Therefore, leaders who continue to grow and bring growth will develop good teams around them.

• Picture of a winning team– Have great leaders– Pick good people– Play to win– Make individual team members more

successful– Keep improving

Great leaders• Everything rise and fall in leaders• There are two ways that you can get

others to do what you want• 1. Compel ( force)• 2. Persuade (influence)

– Compulsion amounts to slavery, persuasion is for free men

– If you want to persuade people, you need to understand how people think, feel and act

( simply how to motivate people)

• Great leaders know basic human needs

• Great leaders create the right environment for the members to work

• They believe in their team and they let know it to them

• They provide guidance, show interest and care for the team by going out of the way

• Great leaders avoid following sins– Trying to be liked rather than respected.– Not asking team members for advice and help– Suppressing talent by emphasizing rules– Not keeping criticism constructive– Not developing sense of responsibility in team

members– Treating everyone in the same way– Failing to keep people informed

Great leaders get involved

• Great leaders become part of every decision• They may not decide everything but they have

made them available for all decisions • The decision makers at all levels have access

to them and can contact them freely.• The systems will make the leaders to have

access to the process and be informed and be part of the decision process

• In short they will never go out of touch of what is happening in the team

Winning teams pick good people

• Ross Perot, once a contender for US Presidency, who is a billionaire businessman said ‘ Eagles do not flock together. You have to find one at a time”

• You cannot make teams with individuals, you need to find team players to build teams

• A clear directions and sound resources coupled with right team players will make formidable teams

• Therefore getting right people to a team is very crucial to a success of an organisation

Five Cardinal rules of selecting good team

members• 1. Smaller the organisation, more

important the hiring• ( eg. If you have four members in

your team and you hirer an inferior one 25% of your team is weak. If you have 100 in your team and hirer an inferior one 1% of your team is weak)

2. Know what kind of person you needPositive attitudesHigh Energy Level *Personal warmthIntegrityResponsibilityGood self imageMental ability to learn *Ability to be a leaderAbility to be a follower

Absence of personal problemsPeoples SkillsSense of humorAbility To bounce back when problems arise *Hunger for growth and personal developmentself disciplineCreativityFlexibilityAbility to look beyond personal interestAbility to sense a situation without tangible data *

( * cannot be taught)

3. Know what the job requires before you hireA. Front liner or a behind the scene personB. A generalist or a specialistC. A producer or a maintainerD. People person or techno personE. A leader or a followerF. A veteran or a rookie ( novice)

• G. Creative thinker or an abstract thinker

• F. Constant supervision or little supervision

• H. A team player or an individual• I. Short term or long term commitment

• 3.2Selection process– Screen the applications– Many would look good in paper as one

can write anything but you need to verify and make sure he is what he says

– If analytical skills are needed test them– Have several interviews if needed– Ask hard questions– Check out background

– Check the veracity of track record– Get references, talk to them or even meet

referees.– Use psychometric or any other proven test to

evaluate applicants– Hiring wrong person cost your company in

many ways. Person may not deliver or fit into your team, it will make problems inside the group, would be difficult to get rid, may have to face legal implications, time waste, unpleasant, energy wasted on negative matters.

• 4. Know what the potential staff member wants• People work harder, stay longer and do their

jobs well when they like what they do• Initially find out what they really like and

motivate them by offering that rather than blindly offering them money, attention, privileges etc.

• Every person has his personal agenda to be in the team and find out that and that is the key to motivation

• He or she should like to be in the team and he should feel good about it.

• If his family and spouse also feels good about it, that may be a boost for him to be in the team.

• 5. If you cant get the best, at least get the young where you can train to become best

• Once you hire them, believe in them and show them that you believe, love them, train

and teach, trust them and let them perform• Let every team member know how important

they are for the success of the team what ever the position they hold.

• Let player know the basics of the game and how to play his or her position

• Winning teams make their team members more successful – each player is better than that player would be if that player played alone

How to put Teams in to Practice

• Map out a vision, mission and develop organisation mottos, names, symbols and slogans

• Set specific SMART objectives • Have a mechanism that they are frequently

reviewed• Define the role of each member and let them

know that their role is very vital for the success• Create a sense of belongingness to the group and

ownership to what they do• All the problems of a member whether it is

personal or official is going to affect your team.• Try and see you make your team members not to

distract and focused on to the team objectives

• Use “we” and “our” than “I” and ‘mine”• Day to day simple coaching will bring more

results than periodic extensive training• Communicate with everyone• Make appreciations for work done well• Demand explanations for poor work/ failures• People who continuously perform poorly

should be encouraged to leave.• Make them understand that they do not fit

into this and they should be relieved to find a job suitable

• Winning teams keep improving– That’s why many companies who perform

well does it for many times– That’s why many teams win championships

continuously.– day to day coaching is better than annual

big coaching events (and forget about it till the other big event)

– Makes frequent progress reviews - makes problems solving sessions

Good Teams work towards

You have one more task !

• This is a presentation done by Maxwell Ranasinghe to Students of the Final Year in the Department of Marketing at the University of Kelaniya.

• Please develop it further with your own insight, knowledge and experience, share with your friends and members of your staff. Send comments to maxran1@yahoo.com

• The knowledge is universal, we need to share it for the common benefit.

• We, Sri Lankans need a big change in this attitudes more than any other thing.

• So act now and send it to many friends as possible• Good luck …………