Teamwork

Why being supportive is the best thing ever

Why being supportive is the best thing ever


The other day I was at the final game of the Canadian Women’s Hockey League playoff season, known as the Clarkson Cup.

It was kind of a big deal.  The Premier of Ontario was there as was the Mayor of the city, and TSN was there to put the game on TV. 

The stands were packed full of grown-up supporters like myself as well as hundreds of little girl hockey players (like my daughter) and other young women who have a passion for the sport and were there to support their heroes.

It was a great game filled with athleticism and fantastic end-to-end action, but there is one thing about that day that will stay with me for years. And it happened even before the puck dropped.

There was a young girl (sorry, I didn’t get her name) who came out on the carpeted ice to sing the Canadian National Anthem. She was maybe 10 or 12. How brave, I thought.

As the crowd hushed and the first nervous notes came out of her, it was obvious that the largeness of the moment was on her mind. 

I’m pretty sure you don’t get picked to sing the national anthem if you can’t sing. And sing well. But that day, in that moment, she was having trouble staying on key.

Sympathy for her rose up in my chest.  How was she going to get through this? 

Then it happened. The crowd just started to sing along.

And not the pseudo-singing you hear at church or in a school gym full of parents.  It was full on.  Jumping in by the third line, the crowd supported her with a cushion of in-tune notes. 

A smile crossed her face as her confidence grew with each word. It was one of the most wonderful moments I have ever seen take place in a large crowd.

That’s the power of support and it made me think: What if support existed in more places, particularly at work?

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What I learned about team chemistry that you need to know

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What I learned about team chemistry that you need to know

Does your team have chemistry?

You know, that “thing” that many of us look for in our personal relationships, with our friends, or even where we work.

In our personal relationships, it’s what we look for to know that we’ve met someone special. It’s often more of a happenstance – we meet someone and it’s there - or it’s not. We can tell. It’s almost instantaneous.  We have chemistry with them. We’re on the same page; it’s as if our minds are connected. There’s a certain ease.

However, chemistry is much more difficult to achieve at work.  

We’re on the lookout for it. That’s because people don’t want to be on just any team, they want to be on a team that has chemistry.

Why? Because having chemistry between team members allows special things - things that surpass the ordinary - to happen. These are the things that get you excited about going to work everyday.

Having chemistry on your team is like having a team on steroids.  You know it will be successful. You can conquer anything. 

But it’s elusive, hiding somewhere.  Can you make it happen?

Maybe.  Just maybe…

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6 things you need to combat chaos at work

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6 things you need to combat chaos at work

I have spent a lifetime on teams --except I never called them teams.

The word “team” has a bit of a sports feel to it, and I was in the music world.  So the “teams” I worked with were bands, ensembles, orchestras, theatre companies, quartets, and quintets.

Same idea though - they were groups – groups of people working towards a common goal.

Bosses, coaches, managers go to great lengths to assemble “teams” of people that they think will win, i.e. bring in the most profits, make sales, solve a problem, help them reach a goal.

But we know that despite the best efforts of those folks, not all teams are created equal.

 So whenever I come across one that is working really well, I like to explore how they do it.

Recently I came across a team that did do what they were supposed to do in a very unlikely part of the world and in a very challenging situation.

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You could do it by yourself but should you?

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You could do it by yourself but should you?

Maybe you’re a bit like me in that you’re pretty independent when it comes to doing your job.

After all, you and I have spent years becoming proficient, knowledgeable and responsible in order to be able to do what we do.

There’s a certain satisfaction, a sense of pride, when you can do things without relying on others. 

As children, we were taught to be self-reliant – strong and capable.  And it’s still going strong. Google “children and self–reliance” and you’ll see there are reams of information on how to create an independent child.

Then there are the quotes we often hear that re-enforce the necessity of being self-reliant.

“If you want a thing done well, do it yourself.” Napoleon Bonaparte

You usually hear this when someone is complaining about a task they entrusted to someone else that didn’t go so well.

“Survival of the fittest” – This is a phrase that originated from Darwinian evolutionary theory, inviting us to make ourselves the brightest and the best in order to succeed.

“No one can really pull you up very high - you lose your grip on the rope. But on your own two feet, you can climb mountains. “    Louis Brandeis

You get the idea.

But there’s a downside to all this. 

Sometimes we can be too independent, so much so that it costs us.

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How to make your people more cohesive.

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How to make your people more cohesive.

I’ve been lucky.  I've been part of a cohesive team. I have played in the same musical group for 27 years. The group is the Evergreen Club Gamelan.

Evergreen is not famous like U2, Coldplay or the Rolling Stones. I'm pretty sure you haven't heard of us. But we do have a bit of a following and a reputation for being great at what we do, including several CD’s, many concert tours and a couple of Hollywood film sound tracks.

While we’ve had many great things happen to us over the years, it hasn’t been the quickest path to financial freedom. Yet, many of the members have been in the band since it started more than 30 years ago.


Why is that? Why would people be part of something for so long when the financial incentives are low?


Because being part of a cohesive group is a powerful experience. It satisfies so much of what we look for in our work and, dare I say, even in our lives.

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How To Have People Fall In Trust With You

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How To Have People Fall In Trust With You

I had just come back from the beach when the phone rang in my room.

I’m not even sure how he found me, hidden away at my favourite resort in Punta Cana with my wife. I guess I might have told him I was going. I couldn’t remember.

It was one my band mates back in Canada. 

He told me that one of my musical mentors (John Wyre) was putting together a concert in Germany for Expo 2000. The concert was in a few days and one of the acts couldn’t make it last minute and there was an opening for our group. The fees weren’t quite worked out yet but it would all be taken care of.

He said, “ Can you do the gig?” I said, “Absolutely.” 

A day later I flew from the Dominican Republic to Toronto, had a quick airport meal with my wife, and boarded an overnight flight to Frankfurt. I was picked up at the airport, whisked to Hannover, and showed up for the second last rehearsal before the show with my bags in tow.

Looking back now, it was pretty crazy. I dropped everything and flew over an ocean on a moment’s notice. 

Why would I do such a thing?

Because of trust.

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Why You Need To Think Twice Before Making Promises

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Why You Need To Think Twice Before Making Promises

Have you ever done any of the following?

· Said to someone “Let’s do lunch” and never set it up?

· Promised to have something done by a certain time but didn’t meet the deadline?

· Said you’d take a look at something for a colleague but never got around to it?

I know I have and I know I am not alone. 

Since the New Year is upon us I have been thinking about things I would like to be better at, and this intrigues me.

It intrigues me because not fulfilling promises like these chips away at trust. 

Not fulfilling promises chips away at our personal brand.

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How to get people begging for your feedback!

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How to get people begging for your feedback!

I once made someone cry because of the feedback I gave them. 

I didn't mean to, of course. But it happened. 

I spent many years pursuing my dream of becoming a professional percussionist, wanting to play in an orchestra or any ensemble, for that matter, that would pay me to hit a drum. And while there was a bit of a transition period between being the student and becoming a pro, one day I was there.  I, dressed in my second-hand tuxedo, was being hired and making a living (albeit meagre) as a freelance player in the big smoke. 

Shortly after that, I found myself no longer the student but the teacher when I applied for and got hired by the Royal Conservatory of Music as a percussion instructor. 

And while my playing resume was not too shabby by then, my teaching experience was limited and no one had ever talked to me about how to give good feedback to my students.

All I had was what I had experienced myself, the way I had been taught, the good and the bad. 

I left the Conservatory a few years ago after having given feedback in over 15,000 private lessons and in some 2000 rehearsals. 

While I did make someone cry once (ok maybe twice), I did figure out a few things about getting people to really want the feedback you have to offer.

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How to work with eccentric people and not go crazy.

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How to work with eccentric people and not go crazy.

About 2% of the population is considered “gifted”. We don’t hear this term as much when referring to adults. Instead we hear odd, eccentric, weird.  

And while their numbers are small, I am sure you have come across someone who could be described this way.

If you happen to be their boss, you know they test you like no one else.

If you happen to be their colleague, you know that they can amaze, bewilder and, possibly, annoy you. 

At your first meeting, you knew there was something different about them. It could be that they dressed without concern for convention. It could be that when they talked, it seemed they had ingested the whole Internet. Perhaps they didn’t like to talk and they always seemed sullen and removed until it was “ShowTime”.  

And then, when you saw their work, you were amazed and all was pretty much forgiven because they were just so darn good at what they do. 

While their competence may help your company’s bottom line results, it doesn’t necessarily help your day-to-day because you still have to figure out how to work with eccentric superstar employees.