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Posted on by naren@hybreed.co

Think about it for a minute – who inspired you the most?

A great sports star often inspires others to take to the sport. A colossus like Mahatma Gandhi inspired a whole nation to follow his path of Satyagraha.  A Mother Teresa inspired kindness and compassion in millions. A call by Anna Hazare got thousands out on the street. For many, it is a parent whose actions inspired. Or just maybe, it was a boss at work who inspired you to be a better professional.
Continue reading “10 ways to inspire your team”

Posted on by naren@hybreed.co

Reposting a fantastic post that I came across in the Harvard blog posts about a no-nonsense approach to team building.

The author – Marshall Goldsmith is recognized as one of the world’s leading executive educators and coaches. His 30 books include What Got You Here Won’t Get You There and MOJO

Do you have any suggestions on how I can improve teamwork and coordination with my team?

I would suggest a very simple and practical process that I call “team building without time wasting.” The steps in the process are:

Continue reading “Teambuilding without Time Wasting”

Posted on by naren@hybreed.co

Conversations – especially in a team scenario can often be like an Adventure. We know for sure where we are starting from, but like rivulets that find their own path as they gather momentum, if you ride along with them, you often reach such unexpected destinations.

One of the pleasures of being a Facilitator is being a part of such rides. The place was Goa and the activity we were conducting was called, “Mouse Trap”. As the name goes, the activity involved, “arming” a real life miniature mouse-trap and then, “dis-engaging” it. The activity involves a slight risk that, if not done carefully, the clamp could come down quite painfully on one of the fingers. As in most experiential activities though, the bark was scarier than the bite.

Continue reading “Lessons From The MouseTrap Challenge”

Posted on by naren@hybreed.co

A good article from Richard Hackman on some common misperceptions about team work published in HBR Blogs.

Excerpt below…

“Teamwork and collaboration are critical to mission achievement in any organization that has to respond quickly to changing circumstances. My research in the U.S. intelligence community has not only affirmed that idea but also surfaced a number of mistaken beliefs about teamwork that can sidetrack productive collaboration. Here are six of them.

team collaboration

Source: Pexels
Misperception #1: Harmony helps. Smooth interaction among collaborators avoids time-wasting debates about how best to proceed.”
Continue reading “6 Common Misconceptions About Teamwork”

Posted on by naren@hybreed.co

Some say crisis brings people together like nothing else can, I tend to disagree. I believe success bonds people better than any crisis (real or simulated) that the team goes through. It is often said – put a winning team together with the right mix of people and sit back to watch the results just happen! Yes, great teams definitely seem to be more successful. However, is the relationship as simple and causal as it seems? Or could it be the other way around, that success breeds team spirit and better bonding? Strange as the idea might seem, our experience with multiple teams across segments seems to suggest that the relationship between team bonding and team performance might not be as straight forward as it seems at first sight.

Continue reading “Why Success Builds Teams?”

Posted on by naren@hybreed.co

Everyone we meet in corporates seem to agree that “building teams” (I will not use the word “team-building” since it seems to be clichéd and makes people think of “funny activities which we are made to do at offsites”) is critical for success. The choice infact looks like a no-brainer – “A great team vs a few brilliant individuals?” – but of course, we will take the team.

But do great teams happen by chance – or is there an effort to make it happen? Our experience so far, unfortunately points to the former being the overwhelming belief. Is it our individualistic Indian culture? Is it our hyper-competitive corporate culture? Or is it just a matter of not putting enough thought into a key variable like “building teams”?
Continue reading “Corporate Lessons From IPL Season 4”

Posted on by naren@hybreed.co

What brings people in groups closer together to form a more cohesive team?

A voice from above would perhaps say, “Well, this is going to take a long time!”. But the short and crisp answer we would say is : “Challenges”.

And so, when we received a request from an MNC to conduct a Team building program for a group of 120 people – mostly foreigners, here in India for a sales meet – the question in our mind was, “What is the challenge we can setup for them which is just optimum enough to get them excited, intrigued and at the same time, successful?”.  
Continue reading “Teambuilding through Treasure Hunting!”

Posted on by naren@hybreed.co

Most of us are familiar with Bruce Tuckmans’s model of team development. This typically gets a passing mention as one of the theoretical frameworks used in most team building programs, but no efforts are made to see which stage of team development the team is currently in, and/or how do we guide the team through the stages.

Bruce Tuckmans's model of team development


Source: Flickr


Continue reading “Team Performance Questionnaire”

Posted on by naren@hybreed.co

“Well begun is half done” – so goes a tried and tested saying. When it comes to conducting Team building programs that is one piece of advice you would do well to heed. The mood and tone that is set in the first few minutes of a team building program goes a long way in ensuring its success.

Continue reading “Why A Good Start Is Essential In Team Building Programs?”

Posted on by naren@hybreed.co

With the Indian Premier League beginning today, 2011 is turning out to be a cricket-heavy year.

But watching cricket need not be all play and no work.

In fact, India’s historic win in the ICC World Cup Saturday is a case study for managers on the power of the right team. Indian captain M.S. Dhoni successfully channeled the energies of disparate team members in a way that helped them become world champions.

ICC World Cup 2011

Source: Wikipedia

Continue reading “Build your own winning team: Lessons from cricket”