I have a new niece, just one week old (that’s her on the right). Talking to my sister, brand new mother, has made me think just how much many aspects of our lives resemble Tuckman’s team development process. My sister and her husband have been a happy little team of two for about three years [...]

Today is St. Valentine’s day, and the origins of the feast are much disputed. One version lies in the ancient Roman festival of Lupercalia, where young men would draw from a jar the name of a young woman with whom they would then be partnered for a year. It is said that later the Christian church [...]

People are different; we all know that. So why is it that many of us go out looking for clones of ourselves when recruiting new team members? Steve Portigal quotes the New York Times in his ponderings about how to make different working styles compliment each other rather than creating friction. It’s an interesting question, and one [...]

Somebody asked me the other day what I meant when I said ‘team’ – did I mean the leader’s direct reports, or the whole team? What if the person was responsible for hundreds of people – would that be the team? What if the team meant the whole organisation? He wanted me to put a number [...]

Something occurred to me today: people tend to think about teambuilding and team development activities as stand-alone events that take place periodically through the year and serve to boost morale, reward success or solve a problem. And they do these things.  But why wait?  There’s no need.  You can, and should, be building your team [...]

Human nature means that most people come to work to do a good job.  That means that your team members want to be recognised for the effort and commitment they are putting in. I recently spoke to a team member who was going to a team meeting offsite, and he was not looking forward to [...]

Watching a programme from BBC’s ‘Planet Earth’ series I was fascinated by the teamwork demonstrated by Emperor Penguins during the long Antarctic winter. When the females lay their eggs they transfer them to the male penguins for safeguarding, and make their way to the ocean to hunt for food.  During this period there is no [...]

The Irish economy continues to boom, and it’s an employee’s market.  Jobs are secure and people are not afraid to leave their jobs to go travelling or take a career break of some kind, feeling sure that they will easily find another, perhaps even better, job on their return.  For employees, a great time and [...]

I’ve noticed that many people I’ve been working with this week seem to be, well, somewhere else, for want of a better description.  The holiday period is looming fast and thoughts may be more on ‘what on earth will I get Auntie Betty this year’ than ‘how can I use the remaining time in December to [...]

Well, we are well and truly into the festive season, and teams everywhere are looking forward to their Christmas night out.  Or are they? Many people dread the team Christmas party – for some, the thought of spending hours socialising with the boss and watching their Ps and Qs whilst still trying to enjoy a [...]