Tag Archives: Teambuilding

Teambuilding Through Implied Discontent

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“Do you want to spend the rest of your life selling sugared water or do you want a chance to change the world?” – Steve Jobs, The line he used to lure John Sculley as Apple’s CEO.

The quote above is a powerful question. When you are working to build a team you don’t just want bodies occupying seats you want individuals who are motivated, passionate and gave a vision for what you are seeking to accomplish in business.

The first part of the question focuses on the perceived trivial nature of what someone is currently doing. The response could be a placid rebuff, anger or possibly some serious internal questioning, “Do I want to spend the rest of my life (fill in the blank).”

It is the second half of that question that drives home a powerful consideration, “Do I want to change the world.”

Well, that may sound better than sitting around doing whatever it is your doing now.

It’s fairly obvious the question asked by Steve Job was designed to instill a measure of discontent with the promise of something better. Job wanted to hire Sculley so if discontent was a solid marketing tool then he used it to great effect.

The point is most of us want to live a life with purpose. We want to be able to look back on our life and see some bit of the world that was changed because we spent time on the big blue ball. That’s what makes this question so powerful whether the question is asked because you want to start your own business or because you want to develop a solid team of like-minded professionals.

While some might argue that this approach is simply relying on discontent to motivate an individual to work for you there is a flipside to this controversial coin. If your business is a good match for the potential employee and if you have done your homework in recruiting you may be able to ask a question that offers them the opportunity to view their present job in light of the passions they have. If the job they currently hold is simply a job and you offer a more team oriented approach to business then this approach to recruiting may make sense for you – and the prospective employee.

This really leaves just one question for each of us to consider – if you were offered the opportunity to change the world, would you?

Scott Lindsay is a web developer and entrepreneur. He is the founder of HighPowerSites and many other web projects.

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Need To Cut Down AntiCompany Emails Run Good Teambuilding Programs

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It is amazing just the quantity of email office staff send every working day. It has been estimated that 130 million US employees generate almost 3 billion electronic messages every single working day. (According to D Hawkins in the US News and World Report)

It’s correct that all this email has the potential to trim the cost of paper and other stationery. But on the other hand, this flood of email has the same potential to generate negatives towards the business, if upset workers start sending out complaints onto the Internet.

Setting up team building programs can reduce this problem in a business.

First, good teambuilding programs generate employee loyalty.

This happens because when you’re together in a team you tend to grow to like the others. And this makes it hard to dislike the business that the others all like! What’s more, a good team encourages each members to work better, and when we’re performing at our jobs we naturally feel good about the company that hires us.

Moreover, teambuilding programs bring bring members together.

A fairly low-cost team building idea like free tickets to a concert or sporting fixture, or a more costly one like giving everyone’s family a free holiday, give team members a chance to get to know each other more, in a different situation, in a relaxed frame of mind. Then there the training events that train more than entertain, with formal adult games and exercises. These help members become increasingly confident in the others, give them an appreciation of the others, and often inspire a feeling that it is very positive being part of their team.

People in teams like these are almost certainly not going to email complaints about their company.

Effective corporate team building programs can do much more than just increase productivity. They can also cut down the corrosive effect of negative, employee-written emails.

Len McGrane has written extensively on corporate team building programs and teambuilding ideas for www.teamworx.cc