Get into YOUR Zone to Perform

When you’re doing what you love;
And receive the support that is ideal for you;
Using the strengths that come naturally to you…

You are in the Zone!

I had dinner Saturday night with a professional football player and at one point our conversation turned into an interesting perspective on ‘being in the zone.’ Because he plays on the offensive line I suspected being ‘in the zone’ might look and feel different that it does to a quarterback, a runner, a receiver, even a kicker. (By the way, it does.) One thing we agreed to is that it is defined a little differently for everyone.

Our jobs are different than a professional athlete in many ways – but what is more important is what is similar- we are both operating under pressure to perform. Our teammates expect us to perform. We also put pressure to perform on ourselves for many different reasons, especially to not let the team down.

What the conversation reminded me of is an important part of imapMyTeam® that many users may have overlooked the significance of – that is ‘Your Team Player Zone’ summary page.

It is possible to understand what constitutes your zone.

The Team Player Zone Report summarizes what your personal ‘zone’ looks like–depicting the conditions that when present, contribute to you effortlessly performing at your peak.  In other words where work is simultaneously interesting, challenging and feels fun.

Understanding that summary makes it easier to recognize why things are ‘clicking’ or not and gives you a sense of how to manage yourself into your zone.

When you don’t feel like you are in the zone there can be many reasons.  Operating from our stress behaviors is a common reason we are robbed of the ability to be in the zone. So we need to be aware of how to manage our stress [we’ve had Tuesday Tips about that topic, and you can always refer to Succeed under Pressure report for help].

Login to imapMyTeam® go to the center pane and select the Your Team Player Zone link. You will learn the unique combination of factors that contribute to you being in the zone, and that can help you manage yourself into the conditions that contribute to your success. 

Take Time for Face Time

All business is people business.

Like it or not, your career depends a great deal on how other people feel about you and whether they want to work with you or for you. The good news is you have an opportunity to influence this aspect of your professional life.

In business, relationships matter yet they are often taken for granted.  Having healthy, working relationships with others around you is nice when times are good, essential when times are tough, and often determine if you are successful.  So, making time for more meaningful, individual ‘face time’ meetings makes good business sense.

If you’re one of the people who are already having regularly scheduled conversations with your manager and colleagues – or if you are the manager, with your direct reports and colleagues – fantastic. Make sure you are using the various imapMyTeam® reports to help you frame those discussions to maximize their benefit.

If you are one of the people who wait until a conversation is a necessity because there is a crisis or fire to put out – or some other impromptu business triggering event, you are missing out on an important opportunity to get to know (strengthen your relationship with) your teammates and colleagues. That investment pays off WHEN there is a crisis or fire to deal with.

In a perfect world you might schedule connection time with key people linked to your success every day. Most of us are not in a perfect world, so what should we do? Let business circumstances dictate.  Here are some suggestions:

·         In the early stages of a new project; meet more often until you’re sure you’re aligned.

·         If a project is a higher stakes or riskier/uncertain project; meet more often.

·         Are you a new manager/leader or a new employee? Meet more often.

You can take advantage of the time to ask great questions and make sure there is agreement on the proper path forward.  Another benefit of more frequent meetings is they can also be shorter.

Use the reports in imapMyTeam® to help you frame your conversations in such a way that they "stick" and have meaningful impact on both your personal success, and the success of your team.

The ‘New’ Golden Rule

"Do unto others as you would have them do unto you". Treat people the way you want to be treated. The ‘old’ Golden Rule makes a lot of sense.

You want to treat people with respect so they respect you. You are not rude to people because you don’t want to be treated rudely. It is civility. We largely expect it and are surprised when it is absent.

The core of "getting along" is about the rules, understandings and societal norms that, when shared, provide the foundation for stable relationships. We learn about what polite behavior and manners mean in the workplace [and our communities]. You might say that these rules provide a sense of order and civility fosters feelings of well-being and positive relationships.

Even though we largely practice this civility we still don’t get along very well all the time. Our interactions with others, despite our best intentions sometimes lead to unintentional slights or maybe escalate to a full blown misunderstanding or at worst perceived as intentionally antagonistic.

imapMyTeam® helps you go past the ’old’ golden Rule to the ‘New’ Golden Rule:
Treat people the way they NEED to be treated.
That works far better than treating people the way YOU want to be treated.

Yes, we still want you to practice civility, but we want you to consider a new level of understanding that is based on what people need and expect from you when you interact with them.

The imapMyTeam.com® reports you access on others are mostly written to that person’s motivational needs. Those motivational needs set the individual’s expectations for the situation and interaction they are in. Those needs can be very different – even opposite on occasion – than the behavior the person outwardly exhibits.

Using imapMyTeam® report suggestions when you are interacting with your colleagues– the new Golden Rule – will make sure you do get along far better with everyone than you might have ever imagined.

Who Is Your Glue?

Who is the glue on your team?  Who holds your team together? Who keeps your team focused? Who does all of the little things (behind the scenes more often than not) to make your team successful?

Every team needs one or more to succeed and that man or woman is the [forgive us, but the alliteration is too good to pass up] ‘Glue Guy ‘or ‘Glue Girl’!

Annually Seth Davis of Sports Illustrated writes a column on his ‘all –glue’ basketball team. I love that column. Seth does a great job of stating the case for each player he has nominated and why the team is better for having that player on the team. To be qualified to make the ‘all-glue’ team you cannot be the superstar.  You may not even be a starter in some cases; you are however, defined as a key role player who produces game results when the team needs you most. You do all the little things well and mainly when you don’t see it – at practices for instance.

In reading Seth’s 2015 article it made me think that every business team needs a glue guy or glue girl too!  Every good leader probably can name one or more people who play that role on their team.

For instance we may send the ‘superstar’ out to do the critical client presentation, but who is the glue that worked behind the scenes to help them prepare or plan the presentation?

I think to be successful in business you need a whole lot of glue!

Take some time to consider who and how certain individuals act as glue on your team.

Perhaps a review of the Team Dynamics Grid in imapMyTeam® is in order. One possible way someone might be the glue is if they are in the interest or strength quadrant by themselves. In that case they bring something different to the team that no one else is.

Successful teams all have ‘glue’ – who is yours?

A Yellow and Green Super Bowl

The Super Bowl is about the game if you are a diehard fan or about the commercials and the munchies if you are not. It’s undeniably one of the year’s major events to gather friends and family.
However, watching the Super Bowl this past Sunday was also a true lesson in the benefits of the Yellow and Green – and no, I don’t mean the green and yellow of the Green Bay Packers. I mean the yellow and green quadrants of the Team Player Grid.

Planning and Preparation; through “Yellow Strengths.” Both teams invested a great deal of time prior to the game establishing a well thought out game plan. Preparation always plays some part in the final outcome of the game. Team members with yellow interests and yellow strengths are good at detailed planning and thorough preparation.

Questions to ask yourself and your team: How detailed is your team playbook? What needs to be added and where might you benefit from more preparation?

Flexibility and Adaptability; through “Green Strengths.” Both teams had a game plan in place prior to game time but not long after the opening kickoff both teams began to immediately adjust and tweak their original plan. Halftime is huge, because it gives teams and coaches a chance to once again flex the original plan for the second half. While you cannot under estimate the importance of the pregame plan, or halftime planning, the most adaptable team often wins by making a great short term adjustment. Team members with green strengths are typically the best at changing direction on the fly.

Questions to ask yourself and your team: How quickly do you recognize if your approach and actions are effective? How willing are you to adapt and change when your usual approach is not working?


In the final minutes of the game, it took the quick “green” reactions to win. No matter how much planning you do, being able to react and respond in the moment when the ball comes your way is the key to winning. Congrats to the Pats and their fans, and sorry Seattle, start planning for next year! 

Good Meetings are Everyone’s Responsibility

An Old Joke: A meeting is an event where minutes are taken and hours are wasted.

Old jokes often come from past realities. In today’s business world the new reality is we certainly cannot afford to waste the most precious commodity we have – time.

Meetings in the workplace are meant to be informative, collaborative and help teams or projects stay on track, so why do they seem to have such a bad reputation? The quick response to that notion is likely to be, everyone just has too many meetings to attend. The truth is, it’s not the meeting itself or the sheer number of meetings you object to; it’s HOW the meeting unfolds that influences your opinion of whether the meeting was ‘good,’ ‘bad’ or maybe worse.

While those charged with leading the meeting are largely held responsible, how you participate also has an impact on the meetings success and whether you and others view the meeting in a positive way. Do your actions and behaviors contribute in a positive way, or do they slow down or stifle the participation of others? Being aware of how your actions and behaviors may be influencing the meeting gives you the ability to adapt your behaviors to help you and others make the most of the meeting.

The ‘Managing Meetings’ report in imapMyTeam is a great tool for both meeting leaders and participants to occasionally review. This report describes various strengths you have and where those strengths are helpful to influencing meetings in a positive way and making meetings productive. The report also suggests ways in which you will need to modify that strength when it is not producing the results you want.

You will find the ‘Managing Meetings’ report in the center pane drop down report menu.

Next time you are in a meeting and you see team members that are not engaged and progress is at a stand-still you’ll be better prepared either as a leader or a participant to have a positive impact in getting the meeting back on track. 

Spring Training is Fundamental

Depending upon what part of the country you live in you might disagree; but spring is just around the corner. One way we can be sure is, spring training has started for professional baseball. Spring training reinforces successful play. Teams spend time getting to know new teammates, work on all of the important fundamentals that lead to success and prepare for the long season.
There is so much about baseball that can be applied to business – here are three important lessons to consider:

1. Have the right person in the right place. You can have nine great shortstops but maybe a terrible team if none can play another position. Successful teams can’t get overloaded and neither can your business team. Do you have the right balance of players that cover all of the bases? Blind-spots can cost the team wins [success]. Which leads to:

2. Good teams are never accidental. Teams that win [succeed] use the best possible combinations of people they can get. The ‘best skill’ player sometimes doesn’t help the team if they don’t fit the overall team chemistry. If given two players who have similar skills but one excels at interacting with their teammates, guess which one the team will choose to keep? Adding a person only for his or her skills sometimes backfires…think about baseball teams that acquire a player at a trading deadline that looks great on paper but ends up hurting the overall team performance. However, you lose if you choose to stand pat because:

3. You cannot remain static. Your competitors are constantly learning and adapting [probably in part from your strategy] and changing their ways to be more competitive. You can never stop adjusting and evolving. You need to be in a constant evaluation mode yourself. What are my strengths, weaknesses and how do I self-manage them.

Are you getting the most out of your work relationships?

If not, conduct some personal ‘spring training’ by logging into imapMyTeam® to work on your fundamentals.