TEAMWORK

TEAMWORK

In my last postion, I was part of a software implementation team. We all worked together to plan and manage the implementation schedule, to provide customer training, and ensure a smooth transition for our custom ers. Our team always completed our projects ahead of schedule with very positive reviews from our clients.

I was part of team responsible for evaluating and selecting a new vendor for our office equipment and supplies. The inter-departmental team reviewed options, compared pricing and service, chose a vendor, and implemented the transition to the new vendor.

In high school, I enjoyed playing soccer and performing with the marching band. Each required a different kind of team play, but the overall goal of learning to be a member of a group was invaluable. I continued to grow as team member while on my sorority's debate team and through my advanced marketing class where we had numerous team assignments.

The following sample job interview questions about team s and team work enable you to asses s your candidate’s skill in working with teams. Feel free to use these job interview questions in your own candidate interviews.

?Give an example of a successful project you were part of. What was your role? Why was the project successful?

?Describe two situations from your past work experience in which you have determined a team was the best potential solution to a problem, a needed process

improvement, or a planned change. How did each work out?

?What actions and support, in your experience, make a team function successfully?

?Give me an example of a time when your work group or department worked especially well with another work group or departm ent to accomplish a goal.

?Have you been a member of a team that struggled or failed to accomplish its goal? If so, what assessment did you make of the reasons for the failure?

Teams and Team Work Job Interview Question Answers

Depending on your work culture or environment, working with teams, working on a team, or working in a team atmosphere may be important. You are attempting to identify how well your candidate works as a member of either a cross-functional or departmental team. You are listening to hear that the candida te values team work. You are assessing your candidate’s skill in analysis as well.

You are also discovering, with these team work job interview questions, what your candidate believes about why teams fail and why teams are successful. You are learning what must be present in the work environment for the candidate to experience team work.

Example of Good Teamwork and Bad Relationships

Poor Relationships?

Does good teamwork require good relationships between team members? Below is an example that seems to dispel that myth.

A Breakdown in Relationship

In 1998, the main striking partnership of Manchester United was Andy Cole and Teddy Sheringham. For readers unitiated in European Football, these two had primary responsibility for scoring goals. To do so against good opposition required a great deal of co-operation between them.

During a game at Bolton, an incident occurred that caused a complete breakdown in their relationship. When Bolton scored, Sheringham blamed Cole for it, and Cole then refused to talk to him

The breakdown in relationship was never resolved, and reputedly they never spoke again.

Superlative Performance

In the following season (1998-1999) Andy Cole and Teddy Sheringham continued as the main striking partnership, supported by other players. They continued to play games and co-operate on the pitch, but off the field they didn't speak.

During that season, Manchester United achieved a unique treble that no British club had ever achieved. They won:

?The Premiership League

?The FA Cup

?The European Cup (the biggest club football prize in Europe)

Cole and Sheringham continued to play together during the next season as well, that is 1999-2000. During that time, with Cole and Sheringham as the main striking partnership, Manchester United set two Premiership League records:

?The reached 50 goals in just 19 games

?They scored a total of 97 goals in the season

Here we have two people whose relationship was reputedly so bad that they hadn't spoken to each other for over a year. Yet, despite the off-field hostility between them, their co-operation on the field was excellent and they made a significant contribution to, arguably, Manchester United's most successful season ever.

Conclusion

This may be an extreme example, but it illustrates the principle that personal liking, or a harmonious relationship, are not essential for good teamwork. What matters is that the behaviour used (in this case, on the pitch) is one that leads to optimum performance.

Return to teamwork article.

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Great Time Management Examples You Can Apply in Your Life

Home ?Tips ? Great Time Management Examples

There just never seem s to be enough tim e to get through everything you’ve put on your daily to do list. However there are some simple practices that you can do to help you m anage your tim e a little better.

Below are great tim e management examples you can apply in your life; if they work they might just enable you to explore that elusive “m e time” entry that’s always the last thing on your to do list!

Allocate Realistic Time Allowances for Tasks

When planning your day think realistically about how much tim e each task takes to com plete.

Buying milk and bread at the grocery store should take just 5 m inutes, but what about the length of tim e it takes to get to the store and back? Is it likely that you’ll stop to talk to som eone on the way? What about the check-out lines?

All of these things will add tim e to your 5 minute errand and will m ean you are running behind your schedule. The key is to allocate enough tim e for each task.

The m ore items you check off, the less stressed you’ll be. The less stressed you are, the m ore you will accomplish.

Group Tasks by Location

Group your chores so that you aren’t running all over the place all day long.

If you have to go to the Post Office, then pick up dry cleaning and groceries in the sam e trip.

If you’re droppin g off the kids at school or soccer practice, go and do any other out of house errands directly afterwards.

The less tim e you spend “commut ing” between item s on your to do list, the less tim e they take to do. You should find yourself a little ahead of schedule by the end of the day.

Create a 5 Minute Blitz List

It’s am azing how much you can accom plish in 5 minutes. Create a list of things that you can do in 5 minutes in each room of your home.

It could be things like sorting through the junk mail, dusting the top of picture fram es, or make the m irrors shine in the bathroom. The sm all chores that have to be done but usually get ignored because they aren’t important and will only take a few minutes later – only you never seem to find those few minutes and so they get left.

Each day try to add at least three 5-minute blitz tasks to your to do list and while you’re waiting for the kids to get their teeth cleaned, or the pasta to cook for supper, get these done.

You could even use idea this at work to keep on top of em ail sorting and paperwork filing type tasks.

Effectively Use Waiting Times

Use waiting times to plan ahead. If you’re waiting for the kids to com e out of school, or holding to speak to someone on the phone, think through what you need to do next and put it on your to-do list. This not only keeps your next task at the front of your mind, but also helps you start thinking about what you need to do in order to accom plish it.

A lternatively use that tim e to think about som ething that’s on the list for later in the day for which you’re not yet prepared – for example what do you need for a m eeting with a client, or to prepare supper.

No-one can put m ore hours into their day, but by putting a little m ore thought into realistically scheduling and organizing your daily tasks you can use what tim e you do have m ore efficiently.

You never know, you might even succeed in getting to the bottom of your to do list!

A Positive Attitude In The Workplace Can Do These 10 Things

A positive attitude in the workplace can help you whether you own your own business, work as an employee, or manage others within a business environment. You’ll enjoy your work more and achieve your workplace or business related goals more easily and faster.

Here’s a picture of a work environment I’ve experienced. I’m sure many of you can relate to this in some way or another.

?Meetings in which most of the discussion is on wha t is going wrong rather than about ideas on how to solve the problem.

?Groups of people complain about the way the company is being run and how the company is “screwing them over.”

?Upper management seems to care only about how they are measured (usually by short-term profits) rather than about the long-term success of the company.

?General conversations occur around the workplace almost daily in which people complain to each other about how this, that, or the entire company is doomed to fail. Or

about how much they “hate working here.”

?Employees backstab each other in attempts to “ge t ahead” in the company.

?People leave their workplace at the end of the day feeling drained and lifeless from all the negative energy.

?Customers receive poor service due to the negativity of the company representatives.

These customers do not become repeat customers or refer new customers.

If you’ve ever worked in an environment like this, you know how easy it is to get sucked into the negativity. I even had days when I went into work feeling upbeat and positive but was quickly sucked down by the negative attitudes surrounding me. Attitudes are contagious!

A positive attitude in the workplace can make a big difference...

10 Things That a Positive Attitude In The Workplace Can Do.

1.Career success:Who is more likely to get promoted? Those who think positively and

get results, or those who constantly complain and say something isn’t their job?

2.Stress reduction: You feel stressed when you see events or situations as stressful.

Change your perception to something more positive and the stressful feelings will go away. Instead of problems, see issues as challenges, for example, from which you and your company can ultimately benefit. Try asking yourself how you can make something easier or more enjoyable. It's amazing what you come up with when you start asking yourself these types of questions.

3.Less sick days and better productivity: This is a side benefit of stress reduction.

Stress can have a serious negative impact on your health. If you can reduce your stress, or the stress of everyone in your organization you'll enjoy better health, less sick days, and better productivity.

4.Improve customer relations and improve sales:Customers would rather deal

with someone positive. Research has also shown that sales professionals who think positively and believe in the benefits of their product have much better sales

performance.

5.Become a better leader:If you own a company or if you manage people, those who

report to you usually get more from watching you than they do listening to what you’re saying. Be a good example of having a positive attitude in the workplace. Set goals and ask for people’s support in achieving them. Take a positive attitude approach to

achieving those goals and to overcoming challenges. Your attitude and enthusiasm will spread throughout your workplace. A positive attitude is just as infectious as a negative one. Be careful about which one you’re fostering.

6.Improve the attitude of other employees or those who report to you:As I said,

positive attitudes are infectious. Even if yo u’re an employee you can help create a

positive attitude in the workplace by being the change you want to see. Refuse to

participate in negative conversations. When you’re in a meeting or when you encounter

a challenge, instead of dwelling on who’s fault i t is or on the challenge itself, steer the

conversation to focus on how the issue can be overcome. You might seem a bit odd to

others at first, but your attitude will begin to affect change. Keep at it and keep focused on your goal of affecting change. Soo n people will be drawn to you because they can’t help but like being in the company of somebody positive. And soon the attitude will

spread throughout the workplace. Or at the very least, those who insist on staying

negative won’t bother you anymore because they know you won’t entertain their

negativity.

7.Improve teamwork:Teams are much more effective when the members are united

in overcoming challenges and figuring out how they can achieve their objectives rather than dwelling on all the problems and obstacles that stand in their way.

8.Improve motivation for yourself and others:If you have a positive attitude

about achieving goals and success in general, you will be much more motivated to take action. If you look a t wha t you would like to accomplish and you see only the obstacles, your motivation diminishes pretty quickly. Ask yourself what might spur you to action.

9.Improve decision-making and overcome challenges:See challenges as

opportunities to grow and become better. When you’re making a business decision, you can use this same approach and your options will really open up.

10.Improve Interpersonal Relations:People like positive people. They’re

automatically drawn to a pleasant and upbeat demeanor. Your business and personal

relationships will definitely improve when you employ a positive attitude. There are also techniques you can use to help improve other people's reaction and attitude toward you.

(check out: 11 Can't Fail Tips for Improving Your Interpersonal Relations Skills for more information)

A Positive Attitude in the workplace can make an amazing difference. Try some of the strategies outlined in 10 Sure-Fire Tips For Creating a Positive Attitude in the Workplace to start enjoying these benefits today. Or check out some of the other workplace related articles listed below for some more great information.