Book Description

Forward-thinking corporations around the globe--from long-established leaders to fast-growing newcomers--have made it clear:Committed, self-directed work teams are today's new paradigm for success. And as customers demand ever-shorter cycle times and ever-higher satisfaction levels, the positive effects numbers such as these have become increasingly difficult to ignore. THE NEW SELF-DIRECTED WORK TEAMS, SECOND EDITION, outlines a step-by-step process for implementing self-directed work teams, transforming your workplace into one that naturally breeds worker responsibility as it increases productivity and quality. Productivity experts Jack Orsburn and Linda Moran--whose methods have helped companies including TRW, General Electric, and Cummins Engine to implement self-directed work teams--have updated their classic work team bible to include: Fully updated case histories and examples of self-directed work team success outlined in several new chapters; 19 critical tools and techniques for seamlessly integrating work teams into your office or factory environment; Guidelines for integrating new information technologies into a coordinated team effort; Programs to combine flexible compensation systems with greater stakeholder empowerment; Checklists to help you gauge current levels of employee involvement, and the potential benefits of work teams; A framework for working with teams to select team leaders--and ensuring those leaders can fulfill their roles. THE NEW SELF-DIRECTED WORK TEAMS updates the authors' original benchmark reference work to explore latest work team implementation guidelines, update case studies of the dramatic impact of self-directed work teams, and discuss the surprising trends and market realities that will redefine the employer/employee relationship in the 21st century. Let this remarkable guidebook lead you and your organization into a new era of improved customer satisfaction, management effectiveness, and--most important--employee performance. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Sound, practical, insightful, and productive reading.
Managers and owners alike will appreciate this second edition of a classic treatise on revolutionizing the workforce and forming self-directed work teams in a business. This covers trends which have changed in the last decade, refining past methods for creating such teams. Excellent for advanced managers and those involved in medium to large-sized companies. ... Read more

Book Description

A Guide For Managers Of Team-Based Organizations

One of few books to address the management issues of team-based companies, this work shows how to build an organizational infrastructure conducive to superior team performance. The work dispenses with the usual one-model-fits-all approach to identify six distinct types of teams?production, service, management, project, action, and advisory?and explain in detail how to design, implement, and manage the unique systems, policies, and practices that support each. The contributors?all leading consultants and researchers?draw from important case studies to present the best management practices of team-based organizations. Covers every nuance from management structuring to team staffing to information systems. Even shows how to create a physical facility that's right for teams.

... Read more

Reviews (1)

Required Reading
This book was required for my teams class but I found it to be quite informative. Some textbooks are difficult to read but this one proved to be different.

As a student, my review comes with apprehension since reading the book was required to succeed in the coursework. But, since I have it, it also serves as a good referernce for me. ... Read more

Book Description

Using actual case studies from a variety of leading companies, Rewarding Teams provides a blueprint for building team reward programs that spur development and success. The book focuses on the three most important types of team-based rewards programs--recognition plans, project team incentives, and group incentives--offering readers detailed advice on how they can create and implement such programs themselves. Twenty-seven profiles of team reward and recognition plans from today's top companies give readers an in-depth look at how these plans work in actual practice. They also provide the basis for the set of best principles included in the final chapter. ... Read more

Reviews (7)

A practical and timely topic
Rewarding Teams is a helpful and practical book that addresses a topic that is very timely in our "virtual" team business world. The case study format from real organizations adds credibility and makes it very user friendly. The failures, successes and lessons learned approach is a great way to find out invaluable information that can be applied to your organization. It has certainly helped me assist my constituents in the mostly uncharted area of team recognition and rewards versus individual.

Rewarding Teams---A First
Much has been written over the past several years about teams and teamwork. For the most part, these books have concentrated on the criteria of effective teams and how to create the high performing team. Of critical concern to many is how to reward the high performing team - - - how to recognize in a meaningfull way the team's outstanding performance. This book - a first - answers that question with examples from a number of companies. If your company is actively involved in teams and teamwork, this is a volume that you need to read. It is a valuable resource.

An invaluable guide for team-based reward and recognition.
"Certainly there are good books for compensation professionals on the technical aspects of designing incentive plans for teams, and handbooks that offer creative laundry lists of recognition ideas of individual contributors. But there are few sources for people on the firing line looking for practical advice coupled with real-life examples of how to design reward and recognition systems for teams, not individuals. This book provides practical advice and detailed examples of effective organizational unit (group) incentives, project team incentives, and recognition plans. It is for managers in organizations that have made a commitment to a collaborative culture and who want to create effective reward systems for teams...At the heart of this book are case studies of reward plans in companies large and small, in many industries, and of many cultures...Whenever organizations try to make teamwork the norm, many supporters become frustrated because the usual reward-and-recognition programs don't support it. In this book, the fictional BIZCOM Corporation and its managers show how frustration about teams can turn into success. BIZCOM's trials and tribulations are based on the authors' years of experience working with organizations" (from the Preface).

In this context, Glenn Parker, Jerry McAdams, and David Zielinski:

* describe BIZCOM, a fictitious company that wants to use a team approach to adress a critical business problem, and discuss team and organizational development issues such as vision, sponsorship, membership, stakeholders, launches, training, coaching, management style, and organizational support.

* discuss reward and recognition systems, communications and performance feedback, and training and development tools for creating a team-based organization.

* introduce an organizing model for rewards, and discuss organizational culture. At this point, they argue that "One general description of the whole organization's culture is possible, although organizations are made up of a number of suborganizational units, each with a slightly different culture. Accounting has a different culture than marketing. Manufacturing has a different culture than customer service. Hopefully, they are aligned with the overreaching organizational culture, with the differences simply reflecting the nature of the work they do". And they also argue that "One of the keys to success in improving organizational performance is to ensure that reward plans reinforce the desired culture, or at least attempt to reduce the gap between the existing and desired culture".

* define six types of reward plans: (1) individual base compensation and benefits, (2) individual capability (competency), (3) individual incentives, (4) recognition, (5) project team incentives, (6) organizational unit incentives. (But throughout the book they mainly focus on the last three plans - more detailed examination of these plans in several companies and review of their experiences see Chapters 3-5).

* summarize how you can best utilize project, recognition, and group incentive plans to improve teamwork and organizational performance as lessons from the trenches (more detailed discussion of these trenches see Chapter 6):

(1). Customize the plan.

(2). Align plans with business objectives.

(3). Send the right message.

- create many winners, few losers

- involve employees in the selection process

- trust the folks

(4). Use noncash as well as cash awards.

- noncash awards are not limited to recognition plans

- give a few big awards and lots of small ones

- pay the taxes on noncash awards

(5). Communicate, communicate, communicate.

- never assume people understand

- tell people how they are doing - all the time

- reinforce the messages

- role modeling works

(6). Create a smorgasbord of plans.

(7). Budget for recognition activities.

(8). Keep administration in mind.

(9). Payoffs are in the eye of the beholder.

(10). How plans are introduced and operated is paramount.

Finally, they argue that "There are no silver bullets. There is a good will, faith in the value of employee contributions, good business judgement, and willingness to act on a strategy of teamwork reinforced by rewards and recognition plans. We've learned how to manage financial, fiscal, and customer capital. Leveraging human capital is the challenge for the next century. Reward and recognition plans designed to encourage teams and teamwork is one way to meet that challenge".

I highly recommend this invaluable study to all executives and HR professionals.

rewarding teams
Rewarding teams is an excellent book. It offers an easy to understand and powerful reinforcement model as well as a six different types of reward plans. It also has great real life examples to prove the model and illustrate the power of rewarding teams correctly. This book is helpful for both the team leader wanting to establish an effective incentive plan as well as for the professional looking to understand the nature of team rewards. Glen Parker has done it again. This book takes a great deal of complicated information and makes it easy to understand and easy to use. I highly recommend it.

Very Practical and Thorough!
For those of us helping to develop team-based work environments, this book hits the mark. I already know the theories. What I need are some examples of how to make it work in the trenches. It provides the kind of practical, down-to-earth examples that show what really works in the real world.

This book isn't a simplistic, one-dimensional approach to recognition. It reviews all aspects of the development, care and maintenance of strong teams, and provides a clear understanding of the role that recognition and rewards play.

The first chapter is a great primer on the right way to get teams up and running. Parker, et. al. throw in numerous tips for team leaders on how to get the ball rolling, and alert you to potential pitfalls and traps and how to deal with them. Chapter one puts team rewards and recognition in the proper context.

I didn't realize how superficial my understanding of team rewards was until I read the book. For example, the book differentiates incentives from rewards, an important distinction that I have to admit was somewhat muddied in my thinking. It illustrates how rewards and recognition need to fit with the organizational culture, and show how this works in practice in organizations.

The authors use a fictitious team start-up situation in the first two chapters to add another dimension to aid the reader in understanding the principles of team development from the team leader's perspective. I found myself wondering if the authors had worked in some of the companies I was in. They clearly have "been there and done that."

Chapters three through five profile almost twenty companies to provide actual examples of how to implement the various approaches to team reward and recognition to address different situations and challenges. For example, the book goes into the rationale, philosophy, criteria and detailed administration of Chase Manhattan Bank's Service Star Program, as well as the organization's candid assessment of the program's strengths and weaknesses. Some companies are large, some small. Government, non-profit, and associations are also represented. Some use stock options, some cash awards. Some tie in team performance with individual performance reviews. Throughout, "successes and lessons learned" enable the reader to benefit from what others have done.

This is an example of the improvements one company decided to make in its approach after the initial evaluation period: - Give plants more control in choosing and tailoring plan metrics. - Encourage employees to get involved in creating goals - Shift the burden of plan communication from the corporate level to the plants

The final chapter summarizes the key principles and insights from the authors' work.

I would highly recommend this book for executives who are responsible for creating the organization culture, operating managers and human resource staffs. It should be REQUIRED reading for anyone involved in forming, leading and supporting teams because it can prevent so many problems that affect team performance. ... Read more

Book Description

Creating a healthy organization is more than fixing a broken system. It requires an understanding of the thinking that keeps us stuck in our old ways of doing business, and an awareness that we think in the first place. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Unique Insights on Corporate Leadership Skills
This book offers a unique and perhaps counter-intuitive perspective on corporate leadership in today's frenetically-paced business world. Nakai and Schultz suggest that slowing down internal mechanisms and finding balance in life affords leaders the clarity to focus on the visionary and creative processes which will have the greatest impact on the long-term viability of the organizations they lead.

The book is full of current, anecdotal stories and examples from the leaders of today's large corporations. Also included is a unique interactive section which invites the reader to read a quotation and spend several moments reflecting on a thought-provoking question which relates the quote to a reader's personal experience. The chapter is constructed throughout with one-to-a-page of these "thought experiments."

A great read and a unique, thought-provoking experience. Highly recommended. ... Read more

Book Description

Many corporations, in their attempt to create innovative products and services, have focused on the concept of building teams.While many groups fizzle, on rare occasions the members of a group will experience an extraordinary eruption of excitement, transcending an organization's rigid confines to achieve astonishing results. These individuals, say Jean Lipman-Blumen and Harold J. Leavitt, are lucky enough to be members of a "hot group," a phenomenon they lucidly and enthusiastically describe in their ground-breaking new book Hot Groups.

A hot group is not a name for a newfangled team, task force, or committee.Rather, a hot group is defined by a distinctive state of mind coupled with a style of behavior that is intense and sharply focused on its ultimate goal. Stretching themselves beyond their own expectations, members of a hot group plunge into enterprises that have the potential to change, even ennoble, their own and others' lives.

Neither trendy fabrication nor new management fad, hot groups have existed since the dawn of civilization, perhaps invigorating groups of cavemen to hunt together furiously for food before winter's approach. Today, examples of hot groups abound in territories such as Silicon Valley, where impassioned people have blazed paths through the burgeoning computer industry.Consider the hot group that created the original Macintosh and revolutionized the personal computer market. John Sculley, who joined Apple in the early 1980s, described a "magnetic field" that surrounded the Macintosh hot group members, and Bill Gates, Microsoft's mastermind, reported that a hot programming group to which he once belonged "didn't obey a 24-hour clock." Instead, they programmed for days at a time, pausing only to eat and talk about software with fellow programmers.Here also are examples of hot groups at work in other industries:the individuals that created the blockbuster TV drama "Hill Street Blues"; the Navy and civilian personnel that transformed a standard cruiser into a guided missile cruiser in less than 12 months, and even the ad hoc crisis management group advising President John F. Kennedy during the Cuban Missile crisis.Indeed, the inspiring case studies found throughout Hot Groups illustrate that well-nourished hot groups can profoundly transform any type of organization.

Still, Lipman-Blumen and Leavitt recognize the risks inherent in loosening an organization's structural soil enough to accommodate these groups.Consequently, they address such issues as how to provide the kind of leadership required by a hot group, how to mesh a hot group with the regimented structure of the overall corporation, how managers can encourage new hot groups, and how best to cope with an overheated hot group.

Drawing on decades of research and experience with groups and organizations throughout the world, Lipman-Blumen and Leavitt have written an intensely engaging book about a phenomenon that will become increasingly important in our rapidly changing world.Expertly carving a path through this unmapped terrain, they lucidly demonstrate how managers and executives can ignite hot group sparks in their own organizations. ... Read more

Reviews (4)

Hot Stuff!
Great book - Full of ahHAs and insights, as well as implied tips and watch-outs. I was able to pull a great deal of information out of the book and integrate it into what I do when helping kick-start project teams. Have dropped major thoughts and concpets from the book into the both curriculum of our School for Innovators and the process of Thinking Expeditions. This is a MUST READ for any manager or leader who wants to make some improtant things happen fast - with his or her eyes wide open to the ramifications of a Hot Group's impact on the rest of the organzition.

Highly Recommended!
This book is about using and encouraging intense teams at work. Jean Lipman-Blumen and Harold J. Leavitt make it clear that hot groups are not a new management phenomenon. They have existed since the beginning of time. The ability of hot groups to respond to problems quickly with innovative solutions will make them an essential component of organizations in the future. Many of the techniques mentioned in this book can be used without instituting major changes in your organization. While the book offers many organizational case studies as evidence of the effectiveness of hot groups, it lacks hard numerical data showing the bottom-line results organizations get when they support hot groups. Despite that, we at getAbstract recommend this book to managers and leaders who want to introduce or use hot groups or are already using groups in their organization.

Good overview for newbies, not much new for the experienced
I've just finished Hot Groups and am somewhat disppointed. Since this book is well written and does give a good overview on the need for hot groups and how to use them effectively in organizations, I'm assuming I wasn't very impressed because I didn't realize it's absolutely an introductory book. I imagine it might be helpful for people who have never had experience creating or working on ad-hoc groups or on short-term critical projects. Additionally, it might help people working in very large and bureacratic organizations. However, for anyone who has experience in working on short-term projects or crisis management, this book doesn't offer much that's new. I work in an Internet startup on short-term projects and the authors suggestions to "build a sense of community in your hot group; be aware your team will need downtime so as not to burn out; be aware communication is important, be aware of the political sensitivities within your organization..." are simply too obvious for anyone with experience working on important short-term projects. If you have such experience, this book isn't for you.

Organizational Ignition
In the Preface, the reader is told: "The time is ripe for large, hierarchical, well-ordered organizations to make room for small, egalitarian, disordered hot groups. That is the first thesis of this book....The book's second and ultimately more important thesis is that hot groups are not good just for organizations. They are also good for people. They offer individuals opportunities to find meaning and ennoblement through their work. In our fast and impermanent new organizational world, those who work in organizations -- and that includes most of us -- both expect and deserve such opportunities." Here is how the book is organized:

Part I Hot Groups: What They Are and Why They're Hot

Part II Who Needs Hot Groups? And Who Seeds New Ones?

Part III How Do Hot Groups Operate?

Part IV An Optimistic View of What's Ahead

At this point early in my review, I want to stress that a "hot group" should be the logical, indeed inevitable result of a way at looking at organizational renewal. Think of the "hot group" concept as precisely that: a concept which affirms the value of a process by which individual members of any organization (regardless of its size or nature) can effectively collaborate. These members are "task-obsessed and full of passion." They share a style which is "intense, sharply focused, and full bore." Moreover, members of a "hot group" feel engaged in "an important, even vital and personally ennobling mission"; their task is "dominates all other considerations"; and although a "hot group" tends to remain intact only for a relatively short period of time, it is "remembered nostalgically and in considerable detail by its members."

Such groups require effective leadership. In Chapter 6, Lipman-Blumen and Leavitt address this issue, suggesting a number of specific "options" when "hot group" is assembled and then charged with its mission. For example: "To develop a hot, task-obsessed group, think about people before you begin laying out a flow chart. Bring on the people. Getting the task done is not your solo job. It's the whole group's job." The leader is urged to "recruit wild ducks", then help the group to bring the right people in, to get the wrong people out, and with unexpected departures. According to the authors, there are two kinds of c"wars" and "races." In wars, the goal is to destroy the enemy; in races, the goal is not to destroy but to out-perform others. Also, "at least as much", to have members outperform themselves, to exceed their personal best.

In my opinion, this brilliant book makes two immensely important contributions to our understanding of what it takes to achieve superior organizational performance. First, it explains what the members of a "hot group" can themselves accomplish if given the leadership, freedom, and resources needed. Second, it explains what the positive impact of such a group can have on all others within the same organization. Paradoxically, a "hot group" is most effective within an organization that has stability, solid and enlightened management, and sufficient resources to support the group's efforts. That is certainly true of those associated with Xerox PARC, the Manhattan Project, Lockheed's "Skunk Works", and the Disney studios which produced the first full-length animated films.

If an organization is unwilling and/or unable to tolerate a "small, egalitarian, disordered" but NOT disorganized "hot group", it probably has problems which even the hottest of "hot groups" cannot solve. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

A must read for the business professional
For the past five years, I have been in the business of using the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator within business environments to help all levels of professionals from managers to executives understand their working style and personality pattern.

After reading Turning Team Performance Inside Out, I find Susan's method of typing to be superior to the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator. There are many flaws with the indicator and people end up incorrectly typed. Susan's method is also much quicker and easier to use.

Susan has taken Carl Jung's theory (the basis of Myers-Briggs' Indicator) to a new level. The exercises used are clear and extremely accurate in helping one determine his or her most comfortable process for learning and making decisions. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

KEYS to succeeding with your own Self-Directed Work Team
What I liked about the book is that it's easy to read, filled with information, goes to the point in concicely and simply answering 20 questions on Self-Directed Work Teams (SDWT's if you prefer). The 20 questions are answered.. but what I also liked.. in that each chapter ends with "Questions FOR YOU" -- so the book becomes really hands on.

If you would like a "preview" of the questions... they cover everything going from what Self-Directed Work teams are (naturally...) to keys for success, benefits for the organisation AND for the team members, the roles of team members, managers and supervisors in the Work team, how to get started and I could go on. Actually, the Business Book Quality Digest called it "the best quick introduction to self-directed teams" -- it may very well be! ... Read more

Book Description

A complete workbook for forming, assessing, and developing successful project teams
Written by the author of the bestselling Effective Project Management, Second Edition (0-471-36028-7), this book offers a new and unique approach to developing project teams: treat the development of the team just as you would the development of software. Wysocki walks readers through the key phases for assigning project teams, supplementing the discussion with working examples garnered from his years of experience as a consultant to IT and software development project teams. Readers will learn how to use Wysocki's project team analysis tools to analyze their own teams and gain valuable insight into the five typical personality types that most teams will face. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Shows how to synchronize project teams with projects
I have read all of Robert Wysocki's books and this is by far his best. He's written a book that every Project Manager--rookie or seasoned pro--needs to read in order to improve his projects' success rates. As a PM with over 15 years of experience, I've had my share of projects derail or blow up and in many cases, poor alignment of the project team to the project was a significant cause. This book shows how to assemble the ideal team based on thinking styles and personality types for any given project. The chapters that covered problem solving and conflict management were especially insightful. ... Read more

Book Description

Organize Your Whole Company for Sales Success
The old sales paradigm: R & D developed the product; the sales force sold the product. The new sales paradigm: The sales force, R & D, executives, Web developers, accountants, lawyers, inventory clerks—all of your employees—sell the product.
Selling is more about fulfilling the true needs of the customer than it is about selling a pitch out of a can. Learning how to recognize and respond to the customer's unspoken needs is the most important step toward becoming a problem-solving seller.
In clear and precise detail, sales consultant Eric Baron describes the revolutionary selling strategy he's taught to Fortune 500 companies. He writes for the manager, the executive, the sales professional, and every player on the company-wide selling team, revealing how to integrate the skills of each member of your company into the selling role. Selling Is a Team Sport, the master playbook for organizing any company-wide sales team, shows you how to:
·Train every employee in your company to be part of the selling team
·Motivate your sales force to use every member of the organization
·Transform ordinary sales calls into problem-solving opportunities
·Improve communication among all your employees
·Recognize the true needs of your customers—and respond to them creatively
·And much more!
Sales opportunities can develop at every level of your company—from top to bottom. This book will help you organize each level into a valuable part of the selling process for maximum success.
"Companies large and small can ill afford to forgo the messages in this book. Get started on implementing Eric Baron's approach right away. If you don't, your competitors will."—Noel Capon, professor and chair of the Marketing Division, Columbia University Graduate School of Business
"One of the challenges is to understand and serve the client better than the competition. By assembling a selling team with expertise, the firm is better able to listen, learn, and solve the client's problems."—John A. Ward III, chairman, American Express Bank
"Outstanding. Eric Baron demonstrates how sales success is all about the execution and not the product."—Kenton A. Thompson, senior managing director, KeyCorp ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Universally Applicable - Not Just For Sales Teams
As a Human Resource Consultant, I am always looking for new ways to help organizations design and manage teams most effectively. In Selling Is a Team Sport, Eric Baron provides practical, applicable information that transcends the "sales team" and can easily be applied to all teams. In a very readable and humorous style, Mr. Baron offers his knowledge-based experience on how to obtain workable skill sets in such areas as: team building, problem-solving, needs assessment, facilitation, listening, questioning, action planning and closing. Each of these areas readily translates to all of our everyday interactions- whether it be in a team setting or on an individual basis. The applicability of this book is readily apparent, for example, the reported facts from focus groups about what "buyers" want. "Buyers" wants can easily be translated to facts about what people want in their interactions. The acronym CREST and its translation presented in Mr. Baron's book is a wonderful mnemonic to strengthen quick acquisition of these sensible approaches to dealing with people. Charts, diagrams, anectodal experiences and text make the lessons being taught by Mr. Baron easily acquired and remembered. I thoroughly enjoyed the learning experience I had when reading Selling Is A Team Sport.

A book with impactful, practical applications
As a professional that has been part of the sales process from a direct sales, sales management, and marketing role I found this book to be very impactful. It offers insightful and pragmatic processes and skills that can be applied by anyone associated with the sales process. Whether you are a sales manager, a technical support professional, a product manager, or the line salesperson I think that you will find some valuable information.

I thought the processes regarding the successful facilitation of a "team" sales call to be especially interesting. ... Read more

Reviews (4)

Very disappointed
In purchasing this book I was looking for pragmatic exercises applicable to work teams in the U.K. Having read the book, and being an experienced and well respected trainer,I decided that there was little, if anything that would be acceptable to 'blue collar workers'. There is too much 'ivory tower theory' that would turn people off, rather than stimulating and inspiring them to become actively involved in either a training or team activity. For me it was a waste of money!

Bringing spirituality into teamwork
This book is the only practical book on the market for helping people to deeply explore the connection between spirituality and high performance in teamwork. The six-stage model is applicable not only to teams but to one's own personal development, to couples, and to organizations. The exercises are well-designed and easy to follow. The large full-page layout of the book allows you to copy very professional handout material to use in workshops.

This six-stage team development model has been used with great success in both for-profit organizations such as AT&T, and in non-profit organizations. I highly recommend it to all trainers who are working with teams, and suggest that you consider taking Heerman's Team Spirit Certification Training to further develop your skills in this area.

If you want touchy-feely, this is your book!
I was hoping to find fun, but relevant exercises. Instead, the book wants you to share your feelings, or connect nine dots (been there, done that back in high school!). This book is good if you want to share your feelings, and is not good if you are looking to hve fun.

Team activities that really work!
For once here's a book that truly delivers thought-provoking activities to inspire team members. Organized by the stage of a team (developing, mature, etc.) there are activities here for any situation. I bought this book while preparing a workshop to combine two existing teams from different companies into one. Itseemed custom-made for my needs in developing the staff workshop and provided just the extra energy I was looking for. This book's a keeper - a welcome addition to my reference library ... Read more

Book Description

Budgets are tight. Raises are low. How does an organization keep its workforce satisfied and productive under these lean conditions? Rewarding and Recognizing Employees shows everyone in the organization how to: initiate a dynamic reward/recognition program; maintain a dynamic reward/recognition program; create a working environment that will continue to make employees feel genuinely valued and appreciated. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

great book
This book should be read by everyone interested in managment ... Read more

Book Description

Like any real-life organization, Santa's workshop must find a way to do more with less, in this case producing over 500 million presents each year! That calls for quite a production capability. Each year the demand rises and the workshop must ramp up production or face disappointed children. Production director Rune decides to use a radical approach. Known as the facilitation process, this strategy has three steps: take responsibility, focus on the work at hand, and improve working relationships. Crisis at Santa's Workshop is an engaging story that can be read on many different levels. Managers find a blueprint for change, while readers recognize their own working lives - and possibilities - in a classic tale of a group rallying to a cause and overcoming tremendous odds to achieve success. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

A message I needed in a form that I enjoyed!
If you want something that is a GOOD READ, but full of really useful information and advice about how to really get things done in the pressured work environment of today, Crisis in Santa's Workshop is a book you'll want to own.

All the way through I was following a manager, a lot like me: conscientious but overwhelmed, knowing he had a huge job to do (what could be more pressure and time sensitive than toys going out in time for Christmas?), and now being able to just do it all himself. I had to keep reading to find out what he was going to do. I'd like my whole work team to read this book.

This book is a follow- up to Managers as Facilitators, a book I very much enjoyed, but done in a fun business fable format. Good book!

End Power Struggles at Work!
I have been looking for a book that will convince my organization to include more people in making important decisions and put an end to unproductive power struggles. This is it! My thanks to the authors. I am looking forward to applying their facilitation process in my work. I intend to give this book to every member of my team. ... Read more

Book Description

Advanced training designs prepare teams for future responsibilities

This comprehensive team building resource provides you with the right information and training designs to help you tackle specific issues or overcome difficulties that today's teams face. These training designs help you intervene effectively with:

The customizable training designs are complete with activities, objectives, guidelines, and handouts, flip chart content, and overhead masters. This resource also introduces a new model of team effectiveness and is most useful if you already have fundamental group-process and team building skills.

These training designs help you intervene effectively with:
• Trustless teams
• Teams in chaos
• Temporary task teams
• Merged teams...and more!

Make the effects of your next team intervention long-lasting with the guidance of Team Building for the Future.

Each module addresses the needs in a specific type of team and each activity outlines its specific objective.

TIMING: Varies with each module?each can be customized. Activities vary in time from 15 minutes to 3 hours.< AUDIENCE: All levels of employees in a team.

... Read more

Book Description

Effective teams are increasingly recognized as crucial to business success, but few people really understand how to build a team that taps and blends the skills of each member for a winning whole. In clear, simple language, Go Team! shows how to create that powerhouse team. The book begins by defining what constitutes a great team, using examples from real life. It details elements critical to using conflict effectively, making and implementing decisions, sharing leadership among members, and being accountable for results. The authors also explore the three stages of a change process to achieve greatness — sowing seeds for change, dealing with discouragement, and preparing for takeoff — as well as the three keys to empowerment to move the team through these stages: sharing information, creating autonomy through boundaries, and replacing the hierarchy with teams. This proven plan enhances creativity, satisfaction, and a sense of pride, ensuring outstanding results. ... Read more

Book Description

This book is about increasing team performance. It focuses on building system dynamics models when tackling a mix of interrelated strategic problems to enhance team learning, foster consensus, and create commitment. The book is intended to be applied in the organizations of today. As the "command and control" organization evolves into one of decision-making teams, so these teams have become the critical building blocks upon which the performance of the organization depends. The team members face an increased complexity of decision making with the interrelation of several strategic problems. What this means is that people have different views of the situation and will define problems differently. However, research shows that this can in fact be very productive if and when people learn from each other in order to build a shared perspective. Learning in this way might prove to be the only sustainable competitive advantage for organizations in the future. As a result, team leaders want to create "learning teams" and are confronted with issues such as how to:

• create a situation where people doubt their ideas rather than stubbornly cling to dearly held views
• create a learning atmosphere rather than trying to "win" the discussion
• create a shared understanding of a problem in a team
• foster consensus and create commitment with a strategic decision
• facilitate Group Model Building

Book Description

Managing in the New Team Environment is essential reading for all managers in contemporary business organizations who are attempting to work productively in today's challenging economic environment. As the organizational model based on hierarchy and conformity has increasingly revealed its inability to meet competitive challenges, a new team environment has evolved. Larry Hirschhorn's Managing in the New Team Environment presents an overview of the skills and techniques required to manage successfully in this new environment and focuses in particular on the ways in which the manager's role should change in response to changes in the nature of the team.

The book, which includes extensive case studies, is designed to help managers understand the social and psychological realities that shape their choices and behaviors. The manager in the new team environment is at once a member of the team and the leader of the team. Hirschhorn presents guidelines to help the manager adapt to this dual role, to become a "learner" as well as a "controller," and thereby ensure that the team functions at optimal effectiveness. Divided into five chapters and a summary, the book introduces the manager to the nature of the new team. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Best team-building book I've read
I first used this book about 7 years ago and have found the exercises to be so broad-based and useful that I believe they could be used in any size company from 3 employees to millions. I lost my book and couldn't remember the exact title, and it was worth paging through 3,000 random titles to find it and order it again!

Team Fitness Works For Every Type of Group/Team
I first used this manual about 8 years ago. Since then, I've used it many times. It is thorough, yet simple enough that it can be utilized with any group in any organization. ... Read more

Book Description

Whether it’s in health care, hospitality, high tech, or heavy manufacturing, it is no accident that the organizations consistently identified as winners also happen to be some of the best places on earth to work. This is no afterthought, but a vital, premeditated element of business strategy.

Using real companies, real numbers, and real examples, Contented Cows makes the business case, and offers fad-free advice for transforming your workforce into a vibrant competitive weapon.

In this newly released 4 CD audiobook, the authors are characteristically irreverent, candid, and to the point about leadership practices that do and do not inspire peak performance. You’ll find this an enjoyable book to listen to and a great one to learn from. ... Read more

Reviews (19)

So Simple But So True!
I remember reading this book over the course of a few days a couple of years back while I was in Florida on vacation. Since then I have given them as gifts to associates on numerous occasions. The truths held in this book while being so simple in concept reach far into the way successful businesses are run (or should be run) in the new millennium. You need look no further than the list of Fortune 500 companies detailed in this book to find the who's who of the world's most consistently profitable organizations. When I saw that "Contented Cows" had been released in paperback I ordered several copies to give to other managers in my company as well a copy that I can keep on hand for myself. Catlette and Hadden make an excellent point about the power of employee validation. Could it really effect the bottom line that much? Think of the last time your boss patted you on the back on a job well done. How did you feel? Now, multiply that by millions of employees and you can start to see their point. Could the key to success be that simple? Read the book and try it yourself.

Quantitative, yet qualitative employee satisfaction approach
I have read hundreds of management books and found "Contented Cows" to be one of the most enlightening and refreshing, yet statiscally valid approaches to improving performance and productivity through improved employee relations. As a fellow management consultant, I like the way this book depicts the importance of creating a "healthy" environment starting at the top of the organization, yet at the same time showing ways that a front-line manager can make a grass roots change initiative.. I like your "No Excuse" type of mentality. I am a facilitator for accountability at all levels, and this book hits it right on the head. Thanks Richard and Bill for the fascinating and effective ways in which you present your methodologies for change.

Facts vs. "Flavor of the Month"
Having spent eleven years in one of the winning companies profiled in Contented Cows, I can personally vouch that the strategies and methods recommended by the authors will truly produce a world-class, highly-motivated workforce that will in turn produce exceptional customer service and financial results. Not occasionally, but every time! What is so impressive about the authors approach is that they first thouroughly researched the "people" practices of truly great companies, then show how those practices in turn naturally and inevitably lead to great bottom-line performance. Too many business authors first create a "neat" model or premise, then go out and find examples to validate what they hope will be the next management "magic pill," establishing correlations that in reality, if they exist at all, are quite tenuous. These guys have done their work the old fashioned way, and you can (and will) take their recommendations to the bank!

Who's Milking Whom?
Don't be deterred by the title (initially I was) because it is appropriate to the authors' purposes in their essentially serious analysis of why only some companies sustain market supremacy and profitability...and why the others don't. Years ago, Jack Welch (then CEO of GE, one of the six companies featured in this book) explained why he admires entrepreneurial companies:

"For one, they communicate better. Without the din and prattle of bureaucracy, people listen as well as talk; and since there are fewer of them they generally know and understand each other. Second, small companies move faster. They know the penalties for hesitation in the marketplace. Third, in small companies, with fewer layers and less camouflage, the leaders show up very clearly on the screen. Their performance and its impact are clear to everyone. And, finally, smaller companies waste less. They spend less time in endless reviews and approvals and politics and paper drills. They have fewer people; therefore they can only do the important things. Their people are free to direct their energy and attention toward the marketplace rather than fighting bureaucracy."

These remarks are directly relevant to the key points which Catlette and Hadden make in this book. It is no coincidence that the most highly admired companies (i.e. those for whom employees of their competitor companies prefer to work) are also the most profitable as they dominant their respective marketplaces. They include FedEx, GE, Hewlett-Packard, Southwest Airlines, 3M, and Wal-Mart. Revealingly, each of these six was founded by entrepreneurs and each has since retained its entrepreneurial spirit. They are among the "Contented Cows" which have outgrown the "Common Cows" (e.g. Consolidated Freightways, General Motors, Texas Instruments, United Airlines, Xerox, and Sears) by a margin of roughly four to one. Catlette and Hadden explain why.

At one point in their book, they assert that "just as productive employees are not always satisfied, satisfied employees are not always productive." A "Contented Cow" company offers generous employee benefits, including those which address personal needs. For example, EDS has a car repair facility, bank, store, day care center, and dry cleaners on-site. However, a "Contented Cow" company also has leaders (at all levels) who recognize the importance to their employees of meaningful work to do, high standards to which everyone is held accountable (a "level playing field"), a clear sense of purpose and direction, feeling appreciated, and finally, meaningful opportunities for professional growth.

There is a "Summary" at the conclusion of each of the 14 chapters. These lists of key points will be invaluable to those who may wish to re-read the book (all or in part) as they attempt to formulate strategies and tactics to transform their own organization into a "Contented Cow." I hasten to add that these key points are relevant to ALL organizations regardless of their size or nature. "To become Contented Cows. companies must realize that just as they have choices, their employees (particularly the better, more skilled ones) do so. The new rules of the game have been set, and now it's only a matter of time before everyone learns how to play, and play it to their advantage." Quite true. Contented employees should never become complacent employees. I am among those who believe that great leaders inspire rather than motivate others: they activate in them what is, in fact, self-motivation. Davenport and Beck address this in The Attention Economy, correctly suggesting that there is a form of ADD in the business world which has serious, indeed profound implications for managers at the executive level.

Decision-makers in "Contented Cow" companies understand full well what will attract the attention of those for whom they are responsible. The challenge is to involve and then engage them productively and enthusiastically, indeed passionately in the given enterprise. Only if and when they are can the nature and extent of relationships with customers ensure sustainable profitability. Those who share my high regard for this book are urged to check out David Maister's Practice What You Preach. His key point, with which Catlette and Hadden obviously agree, is that individuals as well as organizations must have impeccable integrity. "Contented Cow" companies are nothing more and nothing less than human communities within which such values are constantly affirmed, not merely in word but in deed.

Business Bovines
We are using this wonderful book as a tool for understanding why companies are successful. As future investors and entrepreneurs this book will always be our guide. Want to know how and why a workforce is happy, get a Contented Cow. ZM Stevenson, 7th grader ... Read more