Telescope/Microscope

There are times that it is absolutely necessary for you to use your ‘telescope’ to get the big picture, strategic look at the organization and the competitive landscape on the distant horizon.  There are times when you need your ‘microscope’ to look at a single ‘atom’ within your business.

Both views are important, but very different.

imapMyTeam provides both the macro and micro relationship views to you.

When you need the instant insight and the big picture of relationships there is no better telescope than the individual team player grid, or the team dynamics grid.  There reports help you look at yourself or a group of people in a broader way, capturing the dominant characteristics that contribute to the way we work and work together.

When you need the microscopic view to put particular focus on a nuance of behavior you have several narrative reports available to get that close-up look.

A flexible and powerful tool, imapMyTeam.com accelerates your ability to see and understand both relationship perspectives.  Use it to gain the microscopic as well as telescopic views of the people you work with.

Beware of Dragons

One of my good friends is a passionate student of history and geography. His interest in geography led him to complete a Masters in Surveying. You might not be surprised to know he is really into maps…old maps. Some of the old maps can be quite detailed with some fascinating graphic depictions.

The old map-makers liked to fill blank spaces on both land and sea with animals. Claus Magnus’s Carta Marina (1539) shows lots of sea monsters throughout the North Atlantic, while the Anglo-Saxon World Map (1025) shows lions with a phrase hic abundant leones, translated means “here lions abound.”

However, one of my friends’ favorite maps is the Lenox Globe (1510). On the globe you will see the phrase hic sunt dracones, “here be dragons.” If this sounds like a cautionary note you would be right. The phrase became known as denoting dangerous or uncharted territory.

At work when projects are new or entering new phases; or when someone new (especially a manager) joins the team it can seem like you are headed for uncharted territory. Sometimes it can feel as though you’re adrift in waters filled with ‘dragons’. What course do I/we need to chart becomes an important question.

In 2015 we still create maps for people’s use and guidance. In this case your ‘map’ is imapMyTeam and it has been designed to give you direction when you need it and helps you anticipate or outright avoid any ‘dragons’ so you can chart a better path to success.


So heed the warning, “beware of dragons” and remember imapMyTeam is available to see you through. 

You’re Really, Really Not Good at This!

I was reminded about the importance of perseverance as I was recently honored to attend the University of Arizona School of Law graduation ceremonies and events in Tucson.  The primary commencement speaker was NASA Astronaut Commander Mark Kelly. His speech was filled with inspiration and spoke to many characteristics that are critical to success.  One of the characteristics of his success- perseverance- stood out as he eloquently and humorously shared some of his life’s story.

Welding or Mars?

In front of an audience filled with accomplished scholars, he was quick to admit he was not a very good student. After high school his dad introduced him to the welding trade which was fine except Commander Kelly’s dream had always been to go to space and be the first man to walk on Mars.

So in pursuit of his dream, he was able to get accepted into the Merchant Marine Academy and later joined the Navy as a pilot.  He worked hard and tested well for flight school and successfully completed that challenge. However, one of the skills he needed to master to be a successful naval aviator was landing on an aircraft carrier.  More than landing he described it as a ‘somewhat controlled crash’ onto the carrier deck.  After his first successful ‘controlled crash’ his deck observer and a senior officer candidly warned Mark that ‘you are really, really not good at this’.

Landed!

Commander Kelly may not have been good at initially landing on an aircraft carrier but he ended up flying 375 missions and became good enough to pilot the space shuttle for NASA on two missions and commanded two more. He landed his dream of going to space because he did not give up on what it took for him to succeed.

What is the lesson for our imapMyTeam® readers?  You have to persevere through difficult things and times. Leading people can be as complex as landing on an aircraft carrier – and if you are charged with getting the best from people (and all you readers are!) imapMyTeam will help you be proactive in taking new approaches when your usual style is not working for you.  It may feel difficult at first; you may even feel like you are not good at implementing the suggestions in the reports. But by committing yourself to learn and stretch you will reach your goals too.