This week I was in between 
destinations and had Sunday to explore Chicago. It was also the day for the finals of the World Cup Soccer – football to the rest of the world. I figured that Chicago would have some outstanding places to watch the World Cup. Sure enough, the place to be was Chicago’s Soldier Field where they expected to have 15,000 to 30,000 people cheering their favorite team on to victory. To get to Soldier Field from O’Hare Airport, I had to ride the Blue Line train to downtown and then catch a bus, hire a taxi, or just walk the remaining five miles to Solider Field!
But, something happened on the way to the World Cup: I stumbled upon a group of ordinary folks playing various musical instruments – violins, flutes, horns and the like. Well, I didn’t really stumble and the men and women weren’t just ordinary folks. I had the good fortune to observe the Illinois Philharmonic Orchestra practicing in an outdoor amphitheater.
As I sat in the early morning sun and listened to them practice, I thought of how many businesses I work with who have their own type of orchestra. They don’t realize the 'sound' they make (or are capable of making) with their team. The sounds on this Sunday from this orchestra were beautiful. These magical sounds were created by professionals who have dedicated their lives to a passion for playing a flute or a violin at a concert level, and as one team. Teamwork was essential. Can you imagine the timpani player going off on his own beat and saying this is my department don’t tell me how to do my job. It would never happen with an orchestra at this high level nor would it happen at a high school band level. Because of the sound it would make if teamwork was not in play. There would be discord – no harmony.
My mind began to wander with the music. What does it take to build a successful orchestra? And how does this compare with employee team building for a successful business? The similarities were obvious and amazing. Even more amazing is that business leaders have not asked themselves: How does our business ‘sound’? To an orchestra their sound is what the audience hears as a result of four key team building disciplines:
Discipline One: Define your success for your team. Begin by defining and then owning a clear vision of what your success will look like. In the music world, the concert is the culmination of interpreting and successfully practicing the composer’s written score. The musicians and the audience will know right away if the sound they have created is successful. Have you communicated your vision for success to your employees?
Discipline Two: Commitment of the individual player. The best performers know their role and responsibility as a musician or member of the orchestra. Each individual member understands the effect of their timing, their precision, and their accuracy. Just as important is the tuning and care of their instrument. And, there would be no performance without the musician’s understanding of the written score. These elements are essential to the success of the orchestra. Do the members of your team have a clearly defined role?
Discipline Three: Following the leader. Every orchestra needs a conductor; a leader and coach. Watching them practice, the conductor will stop them periodically and communicate what he expects from the players. The conductor does not accept mediocrity, he expects greatness from each and every musician each time they play. He communicates to each section or specific performer what is needed from them to reach concert level. Do you coach your employees to greatness?
Discipline Four: Practice for success. Practice certainly makes perfect. But, do you want to play perfectly successful or perfectly awful? Once you’ve got the best people in your orchestra (or on your team) they need to have a clear vision or understanding of what perfection will sound or look like. Then, you all know the old joke about how to get to Carnegie Hall: practice, practice, practice. But, one must practice the sound correctly. Practicing correctly makes the sound to your audience -- or customers -- a memorable experience.
The Illinois Philharmonic Orchestra, for that short time on that Sunday, allowed me to be a part of their passion. They were masters of their craft and their discipline to practice and perform at such a high level was proof of their success. They were there on a Sunday morning practicing for beauty and success while some were watching the World Cup and still others were watching them! I never made it to Soldier Field that day to watch world-class soccer; instead I listened to world-class musicians. Just by chance on that Sunday, I was blessed to discover a team of masters who possessed a commitment to expect greatness in all they did and the sound was music to my ears.
Here is a challenge for you today, for every day: Ask yourself, how does my business sound? If you don’t like your sound, then check the four disciplines outlined above and make your adjustments. Maybe your team just needs a little more practice. Or maybe you need to take some time developing a more clear vision for your team’s success -- and help them understand what success will sound like. What do you need to do to help your employees deliver top performance? Stop and listen - you can tell by the sound.
Learn more about team building speaker, author and coach, Jim Jackson.
The Impact of 'Zingers' on Employee Motivation
When it comes to employee motivation, one of the most powerful tools managers have is their words. Words can inspire and motivate -- or they can destroy morale and create a negative environment.
Managers with strong leadership skills know how to coach their employees to inspire performance -- with positive words that encourage people to go where they didn’t think they could go, exceed expectations and become highly competitive in this ever changing market place.
In a positive environment in which everyone is working together toward a vision they can believe in, enthusiasm -- and productivity rise dramatically.
If you introduce 'Zingers' (negative words or comments) into this setting, you create a negative undertow. You may still make progress, but now you're working against the tide.
Zingers have a direct impact on the ability of your business to succeed. They make people become unwilling to invest in your vision and they undermine the trust and safety that is such a vital part of your workplace.
Imagine this situation:
An employee comes to work on time every day and does a good job. The employee hasn't talked to his manager in a while, but assumes that if anything were wrong, he'd hear about it. In fact, the manager is quite happy with the employee's work, but he doesn't know how to express this. Maybe the manager is not as comfortable with people as he'd like to be or maybe he is uneasy because he doesn't know this employee very well.
Instead of saying something positive and supportive when passing by the employee's desk, the manager tries to be funny by launching a zinger. "Look at that stack of papers on your desk!" he laughs, "I can't believe you ever find anything."
It's meant as good-natured teasing, but from the employee's point of view, it's the only thing the manager has said to him directly all week. And it's received as criticism: "Your desk is a mess.” Of all the things the manager might have said when he walked past, he chose to say, “You're a slob."
Even if the employee doesn't take it to heart and worry about his job security as a result, the first interaction he's had with his manager is a zinger - and this just doesn't feel good! Managers who interact with their direct reports on the basis of zingers usually have no idea of the repercussions to motivation and morale. Not only have they set up a negative interaction with the person they're zinging, but they've also established themselves as someone to be avoided -- and they've missed an opportunity to say something inspiring.
Here's another scenario:
An employee goes to the coffee room to refresh her coffee. Three other employees are taking their regular 10 minute break in the coffee room at the same time. The manager, Frank, walks in and says, "So, Julie, you're spending the work day on a break again, I see... I hope you're having fun. That's the important thing."
Julie may know Frank doesn't mind her getting coffee. He may have told her minutes earlier that he appreciates all the hard work she's put in this week, so she realizes he's kidding, when he implies she's goofing off.
But the other people in the room don't know that. All they see is a manager who won't cut his employee any slack. She gets up to refresh her coffee and he ridicules her for it. The rule is that a positives statement makes for a high performance employee and teams that produce quality products. A negative statement does the opposite.
Ask yourself: do you get fired up when you get great reviews or do you look forward to someone saying to you "Take a look at this. It's written so simply, even you should be able to understand it." That was a zinger. How would that make you feel?
Learn to coach people forwards towards the desired end results with positive reinforcement. Zingers don’t motivate. They destroy self-esteem. Are you getting the results you want? Or are you blaming others to make yourself feel better about the bad results? Are you zinging the very people you need to have on the success bus?
To learn more about the power of coaching download a free chapter from my book, Power to Change and discover how you can be a positive influence in your work and your personal life.
Learn more about how to motivate employees here.
How to Motivate Employees
Have you had a day when you knew it was going to be the best ever? Only to have the kids run late getting to school. The traffic was bad on the way to the office. You show up to work and your team informs you that they are not going to meet your deadline. All before you had your first cup of coffee. You ask yourself what is wrong with this picture. Why can't my team be more motivated?
Yet you're probably motivating your team with old worn out techniques that usually create a temporary increase in performance.
Even better is finding yourself as a manager always having to push them and as long as you're pushing they keep the performance up.
What is missing?
The great motivators of sales forces and teams know what drives each individual of the team. Breaking news..... People do not work for you so you can meet your goals they work for you to meet their own goals and dreams. The best managers know what their people's goals are and the reasons why they come to work. For some it will be to provide for their family. Some it is to give their children education and a better chance in life. Others it is for the toys that money will buy. There are many different reasons as to the personal benefit for working for you. You need to know why people work for you.
Go find out! Ask why do you work here? What motivates you to do what you do each day? What is your life dream? When you know these answers you have the insight to become a great motivator. Then start asking the question; is your performance moving you closer to your goals or away. What do you need to do differently to achieve your objectives? What support can I provide to assist you?
A friend of mine who was a very successful high school football 
coach said I know what you mean. As soon as I found Johnny wanted to go to college I asked him if he thought the recruiters would look closely at him if his passing statistics were higher. Another player wanted to be popular with the girls. I asked him do you think the girls would want to meet you if you scored more touchdowns. All of a sudden I became a great motivating coach because I knew what drove each player.
Managers when your people seem to lack motivation go back to the basics and find out what drives them. You then reinforce their belief systems by telling them how well they are doing and this builds a strong self-image. You practice each day the habit of positive reinforcement. Your expectation is that they are the best at whatever they do. In fact when they don't measure up to your expectation you say to them, "your performance doesn't match my world class image of you and your performance is usually better" and say you're better than that now go be the best and excel. I always ask managers what they say to the top performers on their team and usually they say nothing or celebrate their high performance at the employee of the month meeting. Why? They know they are the best and so does the rest of the workforce. Than start treating everyone as if they are the best.
The best athletic teams of the world are always trimming the poor performers and looking to bring better talent to the team as a result the better teams keep getting better. How is your team?
Need help motivating your team? Learn about Jim Jackson's Team Building workshops!
Learn more about employee motivation here.