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Collaborative Teams: Working Together as a Contact Sport We understand Collaboration to be one of the key elements to successful teams however in my experience as a Miami-based Executive Coach and Consultant I find that few organizations know how to successfully be collaborative. First, it is important to understand why collaboration might benefit your employees and organization as a whole. The word “collaborate” is rooted in the Latin collaborat- ‘worked with’, from the verb collaborare and from col- ‘together’ + laborare ‘to work’. By the definition, all teams are collaborative because all teams work together on some level. It is really a question of how well does your team work together, what are the risks/consequences of them not working well together and how do you put the right mechanisms in place to be truly collaborative. I find that organizations have several underlying assumptions and beliefs that organizations have preventing them from being collaborative, including: a)…

In my last blog “Core Values: 3 Step Discovery Process” I outlined a simple process for clarifying your organization’s Core Values. Many teams stop here because they are uncertain exactly how to apply and implement the Core Values. It is critical for the leadership team to remain consistent and follow through. I suggest the following applications: 1. Hiring & Firing. Use a Values Based Interview. New hires may have the necessary technical skills for the position however if they are not aligned with your organization’s Core Values then this can be disastrous. Good HR teams will evaluate an applicant’s skills, personality style, interpersonal skills AND assess for real examples of how they demonstrated your Core Values. This will determine what they prioritize at work, what drives their behavior and whether their priorities align with your Core Values. For example, ask a question related to each of your organization’s Core Values (either through written question and…

As a Miami-based Executive Coach and Consultant, my experience is that all companies have a set of Core Values whether they realize it or not. The question is whether they are clearly articulated and thoughtfully implemented into the company culture. Often, the Core Values are unspoken, underutilized, latent principles. Waking up the Core Values is perhaps the most energizing thing you can do for yourself as a business leader and for your team. Many organizational and leadership issues—including hiring and firing, talent retention, employee motivation and performance, and simple management skills can be vastly improved when the Core Values are alive within an organization. Oddly enough, there is no formal discovery process or “delivery system” for the creation and implementation of Core Values. Below, however, is a four-step Discovery process to help your organization clarify its Core Values. In my next blog entry, I will detail practical ways to implement the Core Values into your…

In the wake of their semi-final World Cup defeat to France, Belgium’s goalkeeper, Thibaut Courtois, criticized France, telling Sporza. “I would have preferred to have lost in the quarter-finals to Brazil, at least that was a team that wanted to play football. [France] are just an anti-football team.” France did not win because it was anti-football (and to characterize being anti-football as solely defensive in strategy is of course absurd). We can actually look to France’s championship team for key ingredients about leadership and effective teams:  · Adaptability. France was criticized as having been over-reliant on defense (“anti football”). But a major reason France won was because of their ability to adapt to the changing strategies of their opponent—they happed to play extremely efficiently and defensively against Belgium and more offensively against other opponents. A leader and team’s ability to adapt to changes in the market and environment is critical to success—this “Adaptability Quotient” (AQ)…

In a recent trip to Cartagena Colombia I found myself fascinated with the sun-drenched, hypnotic world of author Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Although having settled in Mexico City, he would make many trips back to Cartagena to visit his parents and siblings and a city that would inspire many of his stories and characters. After wondering the streets of el Centro for a few days it is not difficult to see how Marquez’s magical realism literary style was inspired and crafted—or perhaps that Cartagena’s dreamlike feel, with its seamless and at times vigorous blend of Caribbean and Latin culture, found Marquez, who would simply become its scribe. As a Miami-based Executive Coach, I wasn’t thinking about leadership at all. I was wondering about Marquez’s ability to intertwine dream and reality, about the centuries of conquests of this canon-lined, walled city, and the astonishing gold animal carvings of the pre-Columbian Zenu tribes that lured the Spanish conquistadors….