Are you running on the right fuel type?

Premium - Diesel- Compressed Natural Gas-Electric Battery- FlexFuel 85. There are all sorts of vehicles that require a special type of fuel to operate effectively. When you don’t give the vehicle proper fuel you end up with a mess. Try putting diesel in your gasoline engine and see what happens!

People are the same way. We are looking for the right fuel mix to get optimal performance.
When you set out on a segment of work that is extremely difficult, filled with potential roadblocks and critical to the success of the overall project, what properly fuels you to persevere and see it through?

Sometimes we get to pump our own fuel and we usually make the right selection. Often someone else is filling our tank…are they making the right choice? When others offer to support you, or ask how they can help, what do you tell them?

Your ability to “stay the course” and maintain an effective level of persistence is directly influenced by your own set of needs. When these needs are consistently met, you may not even notice; yet when they go unmet and things get difficult, you will likely notice right away that something’s not right.
The attached grid is designed to help you identify both your ‘fueling needs’ and how others may have different needs than you. This will help you influence your working environment to increase your ability to persist when the going gets tough.


Log in to www.imapmyteam.com and in the center pane you will see the four color grid. Identify the color quadrant in which your circle symbol lies. Then refer to document below this blog entry and look to the corresponding color quadrant for insights on how to remain persistent in your pursuit to achieve success.

The Beat and the Tempo; Who’s Your Drummer and What’s Their Rhythm?

On a recent drive from New York to Pittsburgh I had lots of time to think and listen to music. Earlier I had created a playlist called ‘Drum Fix’ and queued it up for the drive home. In listening to one great song after another I focused my ear on the drummer. If you’re passionate about music, I think you will agree – all great groups have a great drummer!

While most great drummers become well known for extreme precision in providing their creative and complex beat patterns, their first and foremost responsibility is to provide a solid tempo and rhythm for the rest of the band. A great drummer is always listening to the rest of the instruments (parts). They know when it’s time to slow down or speed up the tempo to either simply hold the band together, or to deliver a truly unique performance.

Companies typically have a corporate culture that creates an operating rhythm or beat and tempo that they like everything played to. Leaders are a lot like drummers. They have to understand the outcome (song) that the company wants to play, and then they need to lead their team by providing the beat and tempo to accomplish that.

Leaders, like drummers, have beat and tempo responsibility and set it for their team.

It gets interesting when the team is comprised of many people each of which has a beat and tempo that works best for them – and what works well for them may not be in sync with the beat and tempo that is being set for them.

How does the leader take a group of people, with varying capacity for beat and tempo, and make a beautiful song? The “Getting Things Done” snapshot report in imapMyTeam is a one good place to start!

There are 3 important keys to understand about the team when it’s important to move at the “tempo of business.” Unlike a band playing a song, not everyone tackles action items the same way or at the same pace and there is no “correct” approach. However, moving forward at an appropriate pace is essential.

• Process for making decisions,

• How they prefer to move those decisions into action and,

• How they are most comfortable working all of the various ‘to-do’s’ on their action lists.

The Getting Things Done snapshot helps the leader understanding each individual’s:




Have conversation with your ‘band’ about how you can best support them in the above three categories and soon you will be playing sweet music that meets the needs of the business. 

A Dream Team Takes the Field

This week Major League Baseball has taken a break from the regular season. Tonight the 87^th annual All Star Baseball game will be played in San Diego. The “Midsummer Classic” has been a fan favorite since the very first game played at Comiskey Park as part of the 1933 Chicago World’s Fair. (Fun Fact: It was intended to be a one-time affair to boost morale during the Great Depression but was so successful it was deemed the Game of the Century by newspapers across the country.)

The exhibition game matches the National League against the American League and features the best of the best at each respective position; a “dream team” as determined by the fans. It’s an exciting event for players and they are anxious to do their best. Even though this team is clearly made up of individuals that have distinguished themselves at their diverse positions on the field, they will need work together to align their talent and skills toward team success.

The same is true in business.

The strongest teams are skilled, coordinated, filled with energy, and diverse in what they bring to the table. So what are the key considerations to maximize the effectiveness of such a team? Use your Team Dynamics Report at imapMyTeam® and refer to the strength pages to consider:
A dream team effort starts with everyone on the team understanding exactly why the team exists. Without this initial team alignment, there will be frustration. Talk about and define the goals needing to be reached, why it’s important to the team and how it fits with the larger picture of the project or organization.

The whole team will need help understanding the individual strengths of the team so they can be fully used. Teams’ abilities are enhanced when they understand the strengths of each player on the team so they can utilize them when needed

Allow people to contribute from their individual points of strength. When people are allowed to operate from their preferred approach, they are at their best and may turn in the star performance necessary to move the whole team forward

Are the right people there? Having all your bases covered is critical and if the team is imbalanced it does not mean they cannot be successful. They just need to understand when they need to adapt to cover a perspective they may be missing.

imapMyTeam® is the right tool to ensure everyone on the team understands the strengths of the team and develops a respect for the diversity represented. Teams that learn to rely on the right strengths and take a balanced approach to meet the needs of the project or business are in an excellent position to achieve success.

There is a famous photo from that very first game that features Lou Gehrig greeting Babe Ruth at home plate after Ruth hit a two-run homerun. Those names should tell you the game was special. More special is a picture of team-mates supporting each other and acknowledging the other’s special strengths.


Enjoy the game tonight! 

Back to the Future: Pencil and Paper Meetings?

The headline from the business section of the Wall Street Journal got my attention last week. It read, “When Meetings Hijack the Workday”.

The article cites more and more companies are flattening their organizations and increasing demand for teamwork, innovation and collaboration. While these are key ingredients to success, many leaders and top performers are suffering from “collaborative overload”. A natural by-product of this increasingly common environment is more meetings.

Peter Drucker once said “one either meets or one works. One cannot do both at the same time.”
So what can you do to enhance the efficiency of the meetings you lead? I recently considered the time commitment to prepare and run a meeting and have recently seen some scary statistics about what people are doing (or not doing) in meetings.

My number one suggestion for making meetings more efficient would be to ban electronic devices of any kind. If you are as old as me you remember when people came to meetings just with a pad and pencil – that didn’t necessarily mean everyone was intently focused on the meeting, but they did not have external distractions of looking at a smartphone every 30 seconds.

The shear focus of everyone discussing/interacting and deciding what to do without the urge (or is it addiction) to read/send texts/emails etc. will speed up meetings in and of itself.

Another suggestion is one I learned a long time ago – do not reward tardiness by reviewing what has happened for those that are late. It is inconsiderate to those that make it on time. People that are on time are creating contractual trust with the group or team by doing what they said they would; be on time. In line with this suggestion it is also good to end on time. You have a better chance of it when you ban the electronic devices and stop wasting time by reviewing things for the tardy.

If you participate in any regularly scheduled standing meeting, make sure the purpose has not drifted from being laser focused on point to something other than the prime objective. Also make sure that the right people are in the room so you haven’t fallen prey to participant creep.

To be most effective in a meeting, you should periodically review your Manage the Meeting report in imapMyTeam®.


People will never complain about a well-run meeting and, when you make that your goal, you will also go a long way to having enthusiastic participants.

Multi-Generational Workforce

A lesson from History for the 4^th of July

I have been struck by the seemingly never ending stream of articles and training made available declaring the best way to successfully manage in a multi-generational workforce – as if this is a new phenomenon. Multiple generations working together is far from new; after all, as long as there has been work, there have been workers representing multiple generations side by side in the workplace.

Sometime ago it became clear to me that the upcoming holiday weekend represents the perfect analogy for understanding the power of a multi-generational workforce

As a country we are preparing to celebrate our Independence Day – a prime example of a multi-generational work effort. 240 years ago on July 4^th, 1776 a group of 56 men aged 26 to 70 signed the Declaration of Independence. This group worked side by side to create something they believed in. They showed leadership and character in the face of serious consequences for their actions.

Fast forward to 2016 and we often have the same 44-year age spread coming together to work on something they too believe in, be it a product or a service.

Despite the aforementioned articles and training about how to ‘deal’ with multi-generation workforces and identified demographic differences among Traditionals, Boomers, Gen X, Gen Y and Millennials they still all have something in common.

All generations have motivational needs that must be met.  These needs will not be well defined by the demographic label applied to them based on their age bracket.

imapMyTeam.com helps you understand the motivational needs of others, regardless of whether they are 26 or 70 and we categorize them as a Boomer or a Millennial.

Your people want meaningful work.  Give that to them as well as provide them with the support they need to thrive.  Use the insights you have in imapMyTeam and, like those 56 men who signed the declaration of independence, you can accomplish great things with a diverse, multi-generational team!

Enjoy your 4^th of July weekend!