Most Recent Blog Posts
The Game of Chess – What It Can Tell Us About Building The Perfect Team.
"Not much is known, of early days of chess beyond a fairly vague report, That fifteen hundred years ago two princes fought, though brothers, for a Hindu throne..." (from 'The Story of Chess' written by Tim Rice) It's 150 years since Wilhelm Steinitz became the...
METHOD TEAMING HELPS FORTUNE 500 IT ORGANISATION FIX ITS INTERNAL COMMUNICATION PROBLEMS
THE CHALLENGE - Under-performing teams The IT division of a Fortune 500 company had created 'Tiger Teams'; teams specially formed to solve tough business problems. But although composed of highly competent engineers and developers, the teams were often slow to...
HAVING THE RIGHT TEAM ENABLES SUSTAINABLE SALES GROWTH OF OVER 20% PER YEAR FOR IT GIANT
In 2009, the software division of a multinational IT manufacturer created a new global business unit by combining 3 internal organizations, in order to gain scale and save costs. But, within a year, this newly formed business was facing many challenges. Financial results were at only 80% achievement and the morale of the organization was beginning to weaken.
Brexit and the EU: how do you build a great team when you have no choice about the members?
Next month the British people will vote on whether the UK should remain in the EU or not. It's a finely-balanced argument, especially among business people. And I don't want to alienate half my audience by taking sides so I have no intention of arguing for one camp or...
How Leicester City won the Premier League by building a team that works. Not by buying expensive players.
Leicester City is the tiny club that won British football's most important trophy last week. They started the season as insignificant 5000 to 1 outsiders but saw off all the top clubs. It's as if a fox took on a pack of wolves and beat them. It should just...
‘By-Intellect Selling’ – The Revolutionary New Way to Pitch Each and Every One of Your Customers Successfully.
LEARN HOW TO TURN A CUSTOMER'S 'NO' TO 'YES' Imagine if you knew how your customer thinks. And you could speak to him or her in their language. How much more successful could you be? This is the proven promise held out by 'By-Intellect Selling' a science-based...
Job Satisfaction Link to Ethical Behaviour
There is a direct causal connection between better employee engagement and improved ethical decision-making by those employees. Now it's official. The more that employees are engaged with their work and intent on staying with their current employer, the more ethical...
Mark Carney: There are no people left.
In case you missed it, the Governor of the Bank of England, Mark Carney, was interviewed on the BBC's flagship Today programme this morning. 'UK productivity is low,' he said. 'It's because firms have gotten lazy and they've recruited unnecessarily to fill staffing...
WHY DO PROJECTS FAIL?
Many users of Method Teaming tell us that when a project fails, around 90% of the time it is because of people and teaming issues. From what we hear, shortfalls in technology and processes rarely account for project failure. The root cause appears to be that teams are...
NEW FCA REGULATORY ENVIRONMENT – HOW WELL DO YOU KNOW YOUR TEAM?
"Out go box-ticking and relentless focus on process. In come integrity, staff hiring practices and culture." The new broom at the FCA, Clive Adamson, has begun his work. And what a swathe he is making already through decades of accumulated process-dust. To continue...
Solving the Productivity Puzzle
The UK economy is growing but productivity isn’t! What is the Productivity Puzzle? It is very encouraging that the UK is seeing strong economic growth. In 2014, GDP has risen to above pre-financial crisis levels and growth rates are in excess of 3% over 2013...
Speed is essential, but can you keep up
Change is happening faster than ever before. One of today’s biggest business issues is the inability of a company to respond to fast changing market conditions. The inhibitor for any organization is not being able to bring new teams or the right teams together quickly...
Inherent Mistrust
Each Intellect - Strategists, EQs, Networkers, and PDs - think on fundamentally different dimensions. They communicate differently. They value different things. They seek different rewards. They attack their work in radically different ways. They prioritize...
Preventing Prickly PD’s
More than any other Intellect, our PDs are driven to cross the finish line. Because they think on the “How” dimension, they have the most talent for organizing, planning, and most importantly, finishing work. While all Intellects contribute to the quality of work...
Networkers are the oil in the team’s engine
More than any other Intellect, Networkers see the natural talents in each of us and actively look for ways to help each individual use their talent to help the team and company. They are strongly motivated to help others. They have empathy and hence, easily see the...
Strategists and Networkers are a powerful combination
Networkers are driven by the need to help others. Strategists are driven by the need to see their brilliant ideas, their ‘babies,’ come to life. To care for and feed the vast array of relationships within their sphere of influence, the Networker needs a pipeline of...
Should EQ’s be solely responsible for the sales Process?
When we survey EQs, we ask them, “How good are you at finding and qualifying opportunities – the beginning of the sales cycle?” “Oh, we’re very good at that; we love it,” they say. Then, we ask, “How good are you at the end of the sales cycle, closing business?”...
PD/Strategists are the Idea Bridge
The Strategist has a game-changing idea. Being a high pattern thinker with the ability to see many chess moves into the future, the Strategist knows the idea will work. But, since it is a breakthrough idea, it’s never been tried before. There isn’t any proof it will...
Networkers to PD’s: I have your back
More than 90% of projects fail on the people dimension, not the technology or process dimensions. What does that failure look like? It has many faces: one person dominates the team; we failed to understand the end user/client’s objectives; lack of trust; misalignment...
Networkers are the surgical masters of sales momentum
Like all Intellects, Networkers can be misunderstood and their value underestimated. Remember, more than 90% of projects fail on the people dimension. The Networker is keenly attuned to the people dimension, 24x7. Early in our work with teams, there is a tendency for...
