Desire Team Failure? Don’t Read This – It’s a Secret…

February 18, 2013 by

Team-Leadership-Teamwork-Team-LeadersIf we could amass the volumes of information written about team leadership, teamwork, leading teams, participating in teams,  we could probably fill a stadium full of paper. In my early years I honestly did not pay much attention to the dynamics that exist within teams. While the intricacies of making a successful team can compare in some ways to making an organization successful, they are two different beasts that usually require different leadership skill sets and behaviors. Try leading a team the same way as an organization and one is bound to experience a whole subset of unexpected problems.

When it comes to the dynamics of teams, I have two favorite books, one of which is the Secret of Teams by Mark Miller. The Secret of Teams is a delightful story of a struggling organization that finds that developing high performance teams is the burning imperative for fixing the company. In the story, the team responsible for figuring out how to fix the team problems, goes out and interviews experts in military, sports, healthcare, and other areas. Through these interviews they start formulating a framework to building a high performance team in their organization.

On top of this framework is an umbrella of leadership. It doesn’t matter how good team members are or what skills they bring to the table; if a team leader does a poor job leading, the results will be mediocre. Under this umbrella of leadership lie 3 vital ingredients to make a high performance team: Talent, Skills, and Community. They seem like 3 simple enough principles, but I was surprised by a few aspects of how these principles were described in the Secret of Teams.

Talent in High Performance Teams

A team leader needs to identify the talent needs of the team, both in the present AND the future. Understanding the talent needs and always being on the lookout for talent is important to create results.  It is important to not just look outside the organization for new talent, i.e. recruiting, but also trying to understand the talents of the existing team members, even those that might not be well-known or might not seem like they apply. Mark also teaches that in regard to talent development, a team leader should never compromise on character, competency, or chemistry.

Having the right talent starts with having the right leader.” ~Mark Miller Tweet This!

Skills in High Performance Teams

Similar to talent, a team leader needs to identify the skills needed for success, and understand any gaps that exist within individuals or the team as a whole. Learning should be a huge part of the culture of a team as they strive to learn new skills and close the skill gaps that exist. Team leaders should provide resources to help close skill gaps and help increase the chance of success for the team and each individual.

The real power will be unleashed when your #team members have individual skills and team skills.” ~Mark Miller Tweet This!

Community in High Performance Teams

I have personally seen the positive effects of community in teams, as well as the negative effects when it is missing. I was pleasantly surprised to see Mark include this as a critical ingredient of high-performance teams. This ingredient should be considered just as important as the other two ingredients.  Team leaders need to foster transparency and vulnerability. They need to ensure that the teams invests appropriate time on community– building activities and always look for ways to help the team “do life” together.

Great teams don’t just occur; they are created over time, through hard work and good leadership” ~Mark Miller Tweet This!

Many organizations are moving to a team type of infrastructure and even your organization is not, there are still teams, though you may not call them teams. I invite you to purchase Mark Millers book, The Secret of Teams: What Great Teams Know and Do, digest the information, then create a high performance team in your organization.

Please share your thoughts on leading teams and your experience with the ingredients from Mark;s book below.

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Mark Miller – Great Leaders Serve

October 9, 2012 by
Last spring a publicist sent me Mark’s newest book, Great Leaders Grow. I think I read a page into it before I knew that Mark and I were going to get along great. I loved the book, it is a philosophy that I embrace deeply. Mark, being the most gracious and kind person that he is, thanked me a lot for my book review. A couple of months later, we had the great pleasure of sitting down to dinner and having a great discussion in San Francisco. Mark is one of the most generous, kind, and humble people I know. He has been immeasurably helpful to me. I value his friendship and look forward to many years of increasing friendship.
Mark Miller
Name:
 Mark Miller
 Company/ Blog Name:
 Great Leaders Serve
Website: 
Click Here
 Home:
 Atlanta, GA, USA

BIO:

Mark Miller is a business leader, best-selling author and communicator.

Mark began his Chick-fil-A career working as an hourly team member in 1977. In 1978, Mark joined the corporate staff working in the warehouse and mailroom. Since that time, he has provided leadership for Corporate Communications, Field Operations, Quality and Customer Satisfaction, Training and Development, and today he serves as the Vice President for the newly formed Organizational Effectiveness function. During his time with Chick-fil-A, annual sales have grown to over $4 billion. The company has more than 1,600 restaurants in 39 states and the District of Columbia.

Mark began writing about a decade ago.  He teamed up with Ken Blanchard, co-author ofThe One Minute Manager to write The Secret : What Great Leaders Know and Do. Today, almost 400,000 copies of The Secret are in print, and it has been translated into more than 20 languages. Recently, he released The Secret of Teams which outlines some of the key lessons learned from a 20 year study on what makes some teams outperform the rest.  His newest book, Great Leaders Grow : Becoming a Leader for Life, was released in February 2012 and was co-authored with Ken Blanchard.

In addition to his writing, Mark loves speaking to leaders.  Over the years, he’s traveled extensively around the world teaching for numerous international organizations. His theme is always the same: encouraging and equipping leaders.  His topics include leadership, creativity, team building, and more.

Mark has an active lifestyle. As a photographer, he enjoys shooting in some of the world’s hardest-to-reach places, including Mount Kilimanjaro, Everest Base Camp and the jungles of Rwanda.

Randomness from Mark:

  • Mission/purpose: Encouraging and Equiping Leaders.
  • Passion: Helping leaders grow.
  • Favorite Quote: “Everything rises and falls on leadership.”
  • Family: Married to Donna for 30 years; Two sons, Justin and David, one daughter-in-law, Lindsay, one grand dog – Jackson.
  • Books: The Secret and Great Leaders GROW, both co-authored with Ken Blanchard. The Secret of Teams released in 2011.
  • Day Job: Vice President, Organizational Effectiveness, Chick-fil-A, Inc.

Links to Connect With Mark:

 

 

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Desire Success or Mediocrity? …It All Comes Down to GROWTH!

May 21, 2012 by

Leadership and Organizational GrowthI have been wanting to write this post for a while. I have said it many times in passing to individuals and in my writings, but I have never dedicated an article to it. Very few things boil my blood more than seeing business owners, or employees for that matter; that refuse to pick-up a book, read a blog post, or take a class to grow and learn how to be better. Better leaders, better followers, better innovators, better problem solvers, better marketers, better at anything and everything.

A couple months ago I was elated to receive an advanced copy of Great Leaders GROW – Becoming a Leader for Life, by Ken Blanchard and Mark Miller. I received the book and I exhaled and said “Finally.” Not only was this a book by one of my favorite authors, but it hit the nail on the head. I receive a lot of books to review, but I never write about a book that does not move me. This one did it.

In the introduction it reads, “We’re convinced, after more that seventy years of combined leadership, that the path to increased influence, impact, and leadership effectiveness is paved with personal growth.” I could not have said it better myself. As individuals, and especially leaders in an organization increase their personal growth, that increase of wisdom, knowledge, influence, and effectiveness will directly impact every level of an organization. A learning environment and a culture that epitomizes personal growth, is abundant in innovation an success.

Another point I love in the book, was early on and stated, “My capacity to learn determines my capacity to lead. If I stop learning, I stop leading.” Isn’t this true? Leaders that fail to grow, become stagnant. They fail to remain on the edge, fail to remain ahead of the pack. As more research and studies in psychology, human behavior, and social behavior are performed, leadership techniques and tools continue to advance. Ken and Mark leave a great question to ask yourselves, “Will you be a leader that tries to apply yesterday’s solutions to today’s problems?”

The need to continue growing is ever present in all areas of life as is so poignantly said in the book, “Growth is what separates living things from dying things. Organizations and people that are fully alive, GROW.” I have seen what a non-growing company and individuals look like and I have also seen what a growing one looks like. It is without a doubt the epitome of mediocrity vs success.

In my twitter profile I write that I am a “seeker of wisdom.” In the winding down pages of the book, my twitter bio became a lot more meaningful. “Wisdom is accumulated over months, years, and decades. You’ve got to stay with it. The pursuit of wisdom, like …other areas of growth, is never ending. Don’t try to rush it – and never stop seeking it.”

There is so much wisdom in the world. there is very little knowledge that cannot be learned. How to become better a spouse, a better father or mother, a better leader and among just a few of the important concepts that we should always seek greater wisdom. If you are not a reader or seeker of wisdom, I would challenge you to try change, to seek after knowledge that will make you better. Read Great Leaders GROW – Becoming a Leader for Life, by Ken Blanchard and Mark Miller, and then devour everything you can. Then put that wisdom to practice.

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