Teamwork Skills Blog
Chris Farmer's Leadership and Management Training Blog
Welcome - the purpose of the blog page is to provide you with a never ending source of valuable, practical and entertaining information designed to help you get the best performance from yourself and others.
In these blogs you will find all the information you need to make faster progress in less time and effort. Here you will find all the information you need to achieve your goals. In addition to helping yourself to achieve your goals, you can use the same information to help others to achieve their goals.
Teamwork Skills Blogs
Team work is important because your organisation succeeds by means of effective teams.
An effective team is defined as, “A group of two or more people who willingly work together in a spirit of cooperation with the intention to achieve a worthwhile, shared goal”.
The above definition suggests that team working depends on developing the right state of mind whereby every member of the team is working willingly, NOT begrudgingly. Each member of the team feels a sense of Cooperation, NOT uncooperative. and that the action is geared to the achievement of a shared goal, (teams whose members do not agree on the goal will fail).
Teamwork training depends on the following six skills. Agreeing a shared goal. Clear communication across the whole team. Good planning. Good conflict resolution. Positive mental attitude. A spirit of mutual cooperation.
Teamwork Skills Blogs
Boosting Team Performance
26 March 2024
To enhance team performance, ensure that objectives are well-defined, communication is clear, plans are thorough and grounded in evidence, and the atmosphere is positive. These measures are simple yet crucial for achieving team success.
Continue Reading >Tuckman's Five Stages of Team Development
29 November 2022
What is Tuckman's five stages of team development model and is it the best way for leaders to get the best performance from their teams?
Continue Reading >Characteristics of High-Performing Teams
20 September 2022
To achieve a company's goals, teams must be high-performing. Team Leaders must be aware of the characteristics that teams need to ensure they meet their goals, and how to achieve them.
Continue Reading >Three Most Important Elements for Effective Teamwork
2 November 2021
For an organisation to be successful, it must ensure that it builds effective teams. A team is only effective if all its members share a common purpose and identify with the same set of values. We look at how this can be achieved.
Continue Reading >How to Deliver Virtual Training Effectively
19 October 2020
We have highlighted common problems with delivering virtual training and provided a helpful solution. Read our blog to find out more.
Continue Reading >Team Problem Solving
29 August 2017
It is a fact that the most profitable ideas are usually the fruits of more than one brain. These ideas are usually the fruits of many minds working in harmony, to solve a shared problem. The best way to achieve this is using the Mastermind method.
Continue Reading >Building Better Work Relationships
30 June 2017
The better your relationships with other people, the more likely you will be able to work together, to achieve your common goals. Ten tips to apply in order to improve your work relationships.
Continue Reading >The Use and Abuse of Humour At Work
29 July 2016
At work, it can be good to have a laugh. However, it is better to NOT clown around.
Continue Reading >Be a Team Player
21 August 2015
Think carefully about how you can make the lives of your fellow team members better. If you do, then you will be considered to be a positive, beneficial addition to the team. If you don't, you won't.
Continue Reading >How can I Get the Team to Work Together?
17 October 2014
Do your team members sometimes fight amongst themselves, and tend to work against each other; rather than with each other? If so, what can you do about it?
Continue Reading >Coaching and Mentoring Skills
1 July 2014Non-Directive Coaching and Mentoring Coaching and mentoring are both forms of non-directive teaching. Non directive teaching is radically different to directive teaching. Rather than a directive teacher saying, "Do this. Do that. Learn this. Learn that." a coach or mentor would use a series of provocative questions that would induce the
Continue Reading >A Good Team Builder
30 January 2014How to build the team On the last presentation of the effective leader manager course, I posed the following question to the delegates: "What are the qualities that make a great leader- manager?" The group came up with the following list of attributes. The leader-manager is a person who is: A
Continue Reading >Building Effective Teams
13 December 2013Building an effective team An effective team is a valuable asset An effective team has the ability to pool its mental, intellectual, emotional and material resources in such a way, that the performance of the whole is greater than the sum of its parts, meaning: that if the members work together
Continue Reading >How can I Motivate the Team?
6 November 2013How can I motivate my team? As a leader, one of your jobs is to motivate the team to achieve goals and targets. But some people are not very motivated. And worse still, some people are actively de-motivated; they are cynical and negative. But you don't get much productivity out of
Continue Reading >Staff Development Training
6 September 2013Staff development training You need to get the best performance from your staff. Why? Because the future survival and success of your organisation depends on the quality and quantity of their performance. If you get a good performance from the staff, then your chances for great success improve dramatically, and if
Continue Reading >How can I Improve Team Performance?
28 August 2013How to improve team performance The future of your organisation depends upon the performance of the team. If the team performance is good, then your future will go well. If your team performance is no-good, then your future will be hell. Your organisation is made up of individuals. Those individuals come
Continue Reading >Staff Training Programme
22 July 2013Training programmes for your staff Staff training is important, because your future success is dependent on the performance of your staff. If your staff perform well, then you will achieve your goals and you will be successful. If your staff don't perform well, then you will not achieve your goals and
Continue Reading >People Management Skills - Motivation Training
11 September 2012
If you manage a team, it is important to understand what motivates people. A motivated team will be more productive.
Continue Reading >The 7 People Management Skills
4 April 2011
To get the best from other people, there are seven main categories of people management skills that you should consciously work to improve.
Continue Reading >Blog Categories
Accelerated Learning (6)
Accelerated learning techniques are special methods of organising information, so that you can more rapidly memorise and more accurately recall it on demand. Accelerated learning also includes mind mapping and creative thinking techniques.
Assertiveness (4)
Assertiveness is a both a communication style and a mind-set which, when combined, allows a people to express their meaning using just the amount of forcefulness, in relation to their body language, voice tone and spoken language.
Change Management (15)
Change management training is how to use the fact of continuous change, to work FOR you, rather than against you. It is a fact that all improvement implies change, but many people hate change. Change management is about training people to love change as a means of making the future better.
Coaching, Mentoring and Developing Staff (8)
There is a pressing need to develop the next generation of leaders, managers and technical experts. One way to develop staff is through coaching and mentoring. To be an effective coach and mentor is not an easy skill to master. These blogs discuss the skills of coaching, mentoring and staff development.
Communication - Clear Communication (77)
One to the most important facets of communication is clarity. Whenever you write or speak, your words should denote only one possible meaning. If your words can be properly interpreted in multiple ways, then you are creating the conditions for confusion, error and misunderstanding. These blogs discuss the nature of clear communication.
Communication - Listening Skills (5)
Communication includes the ability to attend to, understand and memorise what people say to you. Effective Listening is an active, not a passive process. These bloggs discuss what it takes to be a good listener.
Communication - Nonverbal Communication (8)
Communication includes a large visual component. How you appear, as you speak, makes a big difference to how your message is received. These blogs are about how to best use your body language. (Eye contact, posture, dress, hand and arm gestures, etc.)
Communication - Persuasive Communication (39)
Persuasion is the art of convincing others that your ideas are good, right, fair and practical, and in addition, persuasion includes motivating people to put your ideas into action. Persuasion is a key communication skill that everyone should study. These blogs discuss how to be more persuasive.
Communication - Written Communication (5)
A part of your communication is in the written form. Writing well is a skill that most people do not study, though it is of immense importance. These blogs discuss how you might improve your written communication.
Conflict Management and Handling Difficult People (28)
Conflict is inevitable, and when it occurs, you need to resolve it quickly and efficiently. Conflict management (and handling difficult people) is about managing your communication and your emotions, so that you arrive at a negotiated solution as quickly as possible. This series of blogs discusses the various ways you can best manage conflict.
Decision Making and Problem Solving (21)
Decision making is the skill of selecting the best option from many options. And problem solving is the skill at determining the causes and implications of a problem and finding efficient remedies. This series of blogs discusses the elements of effective decision making and problem solving.
Goal Setting (7)
Success is the achievement of a worthwhile goal. And therefore, the first step to achieving a goal is to set it. Goal setting is the starting point of all achievement and is one of the most important topics you could study. This series of blogs discuss the elements of goal setting.
Leadership and Management (143)
Leadership is the art of setting a clear goal and inspiring others to achieve it. Management is the art of organising resources so as to most efficiently achieve that goal. This series of blogs discuss the details of leadership and management.
Mental Health (12)
Mental health is the skill of managing your own mind so as to achieve mental stability and a high degree of rationality. Mental ill health is the opposite, mental instability and irrational actions. This series of blogs, discusses how you might manage your mind.
Motivation (32)
Motivation is an emotion that induces action. Without motivation, nobody would achieve anything of value. This series of blogs discusses the various ways you can motivate yourself and others.
Other (36)
Whilst interesting and informative in their own right, these blogs don't fit into a category.
People Management (11)
People management is a combination of skills including goal setting, communication, planning, handling conflict and motivation skills. This series of blogs discusses people management skills.
Personal Development (72)
The best investment you can make is in your own personal development. If you develop your skills, knowledge and experience, then you will maximise your potential to produce excellent results. This series of blogs looks at the details of personal development.
Personal Effectiveness (85)
You are not paid for how hard you work; you are paid for your effectiveness. It is possible to improve your effectiveness and get more valuable work done in less time and effort. This series of blogs discusses how you might improve your personal effectiveness and therefore speed up your rate of progress.
Positive Thinking (8)
The quality of your results is based upon the quality of your actions. And your actions are controlled by your thoughts. To simultaneously improve both your material results and your mental health, it is vital to develop the skills of positive thinking.
Stress Management (3)
Stress can be both good for you and bad for you. Good Stress triggers improvement. Bad stress grinds you down. Stress management is about using stress to help you to improve, and to avoid the negative effects of too much stress. These blogs discuss the various aspects of stress management.
Supervisory Management Skills (4)
Supervisory management skills are a combination of five major skill sets, setting goals, communication skills, planning, performance management and motivation. These blogs discuss the details of supervisory management skills.
Team Leadership (6)
For the most part, we all work in teams. Leading the team effectively can make all the difference to the performance of the team, as a whole. This series of blogs discuss the details of team leadership.
Teamwork (19)
Teams are often composed of people who have very different personalities and skills. In order to perform well, the members of the team must work well together and play to each other’s strengths. This series of blogs covers the importance of team work skills.
Time Management (16)
Time management is about prioritising, planning, organising and delegating, so that, at any moment, you are always adding the most value, and setting the conditions for your future success. This series of blogs investigates how you might better manage your time.