Fun Team Building with Larry Lipman

Clarity in Team Building

I read this story several years ago, and do not know who  wrote it.

A woman was sitting at a bar enjoying an after work cocktail  with her girlfriends when an exceptionally tall, handsome, extremely sexy  middle-aged man entered.  He was so striking that the woman could not take  her eyes off him.
   
The young-at-heart man noticed her overly attentive stare and walked directly  toward her.  Before she could offer her  apologies for so rudely staring, he leaned over and whispered to her,  "I'll do anything, absolutely anything, that you want me to do, no matter  how kinky, for $25.00......on one condition."

Flabbergasted, the woman asked what the condition was. The man replied, "You have to tell me what you want me to do in just three words."
   
The woman considered his proposition for a moment, then slowly removed $25 from  her purse, which she pressed into the man's hand along with her address.

She looked deeply into his eyes, and slowly, meaningfully said.....
"Clean my house."

The key ingredient in Team Building begins with excellent  communication.
Clarity is the key ingredient in communication.

Larry Lipman
Larry Lipman is a Success Coach specializing in TEAM BUILDING!

Good Team Building VS. Bad Team Building

Team members talk and communicate across departmental barriers.	The work place is built around silos, cliques, and isolation barriers.
Leadership walks its talk.	Leadership says one thing --- and acts another.
Team members are encouraged to contribute and are rewarded.	Back-stabbing, private agendas, and low morale rule.
Team members trust each other and ask for help.	People have their own agenda. (What’s in it for me?)
Team roles are clearly defined, supported, and encouraged.	The individual is more important than the team.
Catch people doing things right.	Catch people doing things wrong.

Larry Lipman
Larry Lipman is a Success Coach specializing in TEAM BUILDING!

6 Qualities of an Excellent TEAM

1. Constant and never-ending improvement is encouraged:
   team days, team retreats, motivational seminars, refresher courses, strategy sessions, creative workshops, appreciation days.
   
   
2. Leadership is shared among the whole team with a variety of leadership styles encouraged.
   
   
3. Open communication with team issues is vital for team growth. Conflict is not suppressed. Managing conflict improves team performance.
   
   
4. Team mission statements, goals, and vision are created by the team and held accountable by the team.
   
   
5. Do we ask for Feedback? Feedback clarifies the team direction, helps evaluate team performance, strengthens leadership, and promotes leadership.
   
   
6. Catch people doing things right!

Larry Lipman
Larry Lipman is a Success Coach specializing in TEAM BUILDING!

Top 11 Tips for Team Building Facilitators

1. Ask these 2 important questions to the boss before you meet.
   When a facilitator has these answers, he can create the perfect day.
   
   • What are your team’s biggest issues at work?
   • What specific outcomes would you love to see happen at the end of the day?
2. Have more activities than you will need. A good facilitator always plans ahead by bringing and planning more activities than necessary as back-up, in case the day goes really quickly.
   
   
3. Go propless. When traveling, one never knows when luggage might get lost. A wise facilitator always relies on several propless activities just in case.    
    
   
4. Be invisible. A good team building facilitator asks good questions and steps back--- allowing the participants to engage, interact, and communicate. It’s their day; let them learn by doing and speaking up.
    
   
5. Lead by example. A good facilitator is aware of his or her actions when things do not go according to plan or in between the activities.
    
   
6. Put EGO’s in the back pocket. A good facilitator allows the group to lead and proceed at their rate and on their agenda. Letting go of one’s agenda to meet the needs of the group is a terrific facilitator strength.
    
   
7. Pause. Allowing participants to pause often gives them time to process, think, and anchor their learnings. Few facilitators do this. Pause, pause, pause.
    
   
8. De-brief. Allowing the participants to process their actions, behavior, and responses after each activity is precisely when the learning takes place.
    
   
9. Be punctual. Start on time, allow breaks, end on time. Period.          
      
   
10. Nurture spontaneity. The best moments and the most teachable moments are usually the unplanned moments. Enjoy, appreciate, and honor them.
     
    
11. Laugh often. Participants learn best when having FUN!

Larry Lipman
Larry Lipman is a Success Coach specializing in TEAM BUILDING!

Every Team Building Group is Perfect

We are brought up learning that nobody is perfect. Fine. I can handle that. As a Success Coach who specializes in Team Building and Leadership Training, I am not perfect. I am far from it. “Perfect” is a nasty word. It encourages us to beat up on ourselves when we are not.

That important thought helps me handle mistakes that I make when I present and facilitate groups. I tell myself that I am not perfect. That I will learn from this. That I recommit. And boom ---- I bounce back and proceed to be the best success Coach on the planet. At least that is what I tell my mind.

A turning point in my life happened when I learned the flipside of “perfect.”

All groups are perfect.

Yes, you read that correctly. I have incorporated that brand new belief into my belief system because it works for me. Now, wait a minute. I just said that nobody is perfect. Yes, and I still believe that. I also believe that all groups are perfect.

I success coach groups of all sizes, ages, and occupations. They are all different. And I mean different. I love the challenge of working with a variety of participants who have different personalities, needs and outcomes. That stretches me and that is how I learn and grow.

More importantly, when I remember that all groups are perfect, it’s OK for anything and everything to happen. I follow the lead of my group. If I anticipate one direction, and they go another, I go their way. If a conflict or upset occurs, we handle it and discuss it. If it takes 90 minutes to do a 20-minute activity, we do it. If we spend 12 minutes on an hour activity, we do it. If I make a mistake, I acknowledge it, they see I am human, and we connect even better. If they make a mistake….

That’s the point. The group never makes a mistake. It was meant to happen because a team building day mirrors real life situations. The learning takes place as we choose how to handle our reactions to these mistakes or unplanned events.

I used to get scared handling situations that pop up unplanned in a team building seminar. Truth: I almost welcome those moments now.

I used to think that there were bad apples in every group: you know, the ones who refuse to participate, the ones who blame others, the ones who are never happy, the ones who thrive on conflict and upsetting others.

These folks are part of that perfect group. In fact, they are the teachers. How would the team learn if nobody pushed our buttons? It is those folks who push our buttons from whom we learn the most.

Individuals are not perfect. Groups are.

Larry Lipman
Larry Lipman is a Success Coach specializing in TEAM BUILDING!