Team Development

Brainstorming exercises are an important tool in every manager’s toolbox. They are a perfect opportunity for managers to gather input and ideas from employees and to inspire creativity at work. But it’s not always easy for managers to find the right activity.

Are your teammates able to depend on you? To become a more dependable team member, start here with John Maxwell's 4 signs of dependability and 3 tips to improve your dependability.

A compilation of internal values and external focuses interact to create each of the four manager types.

This article is excerpted from Frank Sesno’s book and tackles creativity questions, the kind of inquiries that Sesno says can elevate a brainstorming session from the bane of your company’s existence to the reason for its existence. 

Leadership Essentials has a robust selection of books that guide professionals towards creating a positive and intentional company culture. Here are a few of my personal favorites. 

How do you ensure that your virtual team members are getting their jobs done? Well, it requires a little bit of faith and a lot of trust building on your end. 

Loneliness, isolation, and boredom can easily set in and affect team morale—especially for those of us working from home. This forced situation can help us develop new skills and a higher level of self-awareness and personal growth about who we are and what we stand for. 

When members of virtual teams lose face-to-face contact and only interact via screen, feelings of indifference can intensify. Virtual conflicts vary slightly from in-person conflicts, and include the following types:  performance conflict, identity conflict, data conflict, and social conflict.

The Law of Mount Everest states that as the challenge escalates, the need for teamwork elevates.  If we try to tackle challenges alone, we’ll only spiral into failure. 

The establishment of a virtual team brings a ton of potential to a business, but only if it’s set up correctly.  Setting up a virtual team is like planning a roadtrip. You don’t have to know every detail ahead of time, but you need to have checkpoints and alternative routes in mind. 

Large and small companies are forcing or allowing employees to work from home in the wake of a new virus that experts have yet to gain a full grasp on.  Executive responses to coronavirus are impacting managers, many of whom are responsible for managing virtual teams for the first time. 

Your employees can only perform at their best when they have a clear vision of what winning looks like, understand the specific goals they need to own, and are empowered to carry them out. In order to build a business culture of trust, empower employees by not separating power from responsibility and accountability.