Why Team Building Weekends Fail (And How to Make Yours Succeed)

Somewhere in the world this afternoon, a group of office mates are strapping on safety equipment and preparing to scale the side of a cliff together. In another city, another group of mates is engaged in a retreat designed to foster their sense of teamwork. Late at night in yet another town, six men who usually compete in the office are cooperating on building a robot. What do they all have in common?

The phrase is team building, and it has come to represent a way of doing business that takes into account the strengths and weaknesses of each member of a workgroup. The basic concept of team building weekends is to bring a group of coworkers together and, by subjecting them to various hardships, events and activities, cement them into a team that supports each other and works together toward a common goal.

The only problem with that scenario is that all too often, it doesn't work. Once the group is back at the office, they fall back into the old ways of working and the team building weekend is no more than a fond memory. The problem is not in the concept of team building, but in the notion that it can be accomplished in a weekend, no matter what that weekend entails. It's not that team building weekends are a bad idea - it's that they're expected to do a job that should be undertaken in your office, every workday of the year. The purpose of a team building event should be to introduce, reinforce and reward, not to single-handedly forge a group of coworkers into a team. If it's used to replace the work your company (or you as a manager) should be doing every day, then you're missing out on some important points - and the major benefits of dragging everyone out of the office for a weekend of exhilirating and challenging activities.

So how do you forge the bonds of a team if not by dipping them into the crucible of a team building weekend? In simple street terms, you can't just talk the talk - you have to walk the walk. If you want your staff to believe they're a team and function as a team, then you have to treat them as a team - and yourself as an important member of it.

- Communication is the key to building a team.
o- The single biggest mistake that 'management' makes is failure to communicate. Your company doesn't have to be an open book to all employees, but sharing goals and intentions gives employees a sense that they are a part of a larger team working toward a specific purpose.

- Build teamwork into the work flow.
o- In order to work as a team, people need to be treated as one. Start each project with a team conference to define and refine goals. Create a central 'lounge' area where team members are comfortable grabbing coffee in the morning - and taking a few moments to catch up on things together. Hold regular team meetings where team members can report progress and delays so that no one feels left out of the loop.

- Make recognition of achievement a priority.
o- Recognizing achievement is important to reinforcing the team feeling. It needn't be formal - in fact, informal and unexpected recognition can be very potent. A word in passing in the hallway, a moment taken to pass on praise from a client while having a cup of coffee, a casual 'great work on that proposal, guys' at the end of a meeting are all part of the teamwork frame.

- Make time to play as a team, too.
o- Whether the play is a softball team, a bowling league or a semi-annual weekend where the team members can really stretch their wings, teams work best when they have something in common besides their work. A trek up a snowy mountainside builds shared memories that help cement the bonds that have formed throughout the year.

Why Training Fails

Sometimes when I conduct my workshop on Effective Meetings, one of the participants will ask, "Where's my boss?"

And I say, "Your boss claimed to be an expert on holding effective meetings."

Then the person laughs. "My boss needs to attend your workshop more than anyone in our company. And without our manager's support, no one will use this."

This is bad because if no one uses the ideas presented in a workshop, the client will conclude that training doesn't work. And then the company might abandon all training.

Here are three important issues that determine the effectiveness of training.

1) People follow the leader. Any training program will be more successful if management supports it. This is why I always involve top executives in planning my workshops. I also ask them to attend. And I recommend follow-up sessions to review the material covered in the workshop. In fact, I only work with people who value and support learning.

Training has earned a bad reputation because many programs were just thrown over the fence at employees who were sent to be fixed. It's unlikely that any training program conducted under these conditions will accomplish much.

> Key Point: Gain management support before scheduling any training program.

2) Each of us has control over our area of responsibility. And each of us lives in the environment that we create.

The participant mentioned above can still conduct effective meetings, even if top management continues to hold bad meetings. In fact, someone who demonstrates sound leadership by holding effective meetings could end up replacing the boss who holds bad meetings.

There are two parts to every learning experience. The first part involves mastering new skills. The second (and critical) part involves choosing to use them.

> Key Point: You can be an effective leader even when others aren't.

3) Some people play make-believe. Many years ago I received an evening phone call from a colleague who wanted to know if I could recommend a good book on how to hold effective meetings. It seems this person was scrambling to find material for a workshop that was scheduled to start the next morning.

You will learn more from an expert, rather than from someone who is delivering a book report. In this case, I recommended either of the two books that I had written on how to hold effective meetings.

Many companies hire trainers who build training programs based on books that they read. And some entrepreneurs agree to speak on topics that are purely academic for them. The best trainers ARE the message, which means that they live and breathe and use what they teach. They can answer any questions, meet any needs, and help with any situations that the participants may bring up. They truly know their topic.

> Key Point: Hire a trainer who wrote the book instead of one who (you hope) read a book.

Any training program can succeed, if delivered to people who want to improve by an expert who can show them how.

Why Try Factoring?

When you engage in factoring or selling your accounts receivable, you're accepting less money for an asset than you might expect to get for it. But there are great reasons for factoring and here are 10 of them:

1. The ready cash you'll get by factoring will help your company to grow. If you have $2000 ready cash in the bank, but you've invoiced for $100,000 down the line this will lead to $75,000. Think about it: the ability to hire more necessary staff, buy needed equipment, and have stock on hand could make a real difference to your business.

2. Ready cash can help you pay your suppliers sooner, helping you negotiate discounts and have a larger credit line than you had before.

3. Factoring your current invoices gives you the capital to take on large, deadline-oriented contracts and orders that you'd otherwise have to pass up because of slow cash flow.

4. Those large accounts are worth money. Having cash on hand now allows you to offer longer payment terms to the new large accounts.

5. Out of marketing comes business. With ready cash you can get from factoring, you can buy billboards, newspaper and radio ads, and even have direct mail campaigns for those timely marketing campaigns.

6. If you've invoiced too much and now are finding yourself in a cash crunch, factoring will help you to meet your current expenses right away, reducing the chance of not being able to pay your bills. Nothing is worse for your company than not meeting payroll; you lose your best employees, and the ones who stay are probably going to be seeking other employment.

7. You can improve your balance sheet with working capital without incurring debt.

8. Pay off limited lines of credit, or lines of credit that are costing you too much in interest and fees.

9. Factoring out slow debts allows you to skip the unpleasantness of making payment collection calls; instead, the factoring company does this for you.

10. If you factor out part of your accounts receivable, the factoring company will give you a free analysis and comparison of what payment terms and credit amounts your customers really qualify for. This is invaluable information for conducting business in the future.

In addition to these ten great reasons to try factoring your accounts, there are a few reasons never to factor your accounts. If you're concerned about late and slow payments without a good reason such as; you've given a thirty-day due date to someone and they take forty days to pay, then factoring is not a good idea. Instead, you should change your business practices to give a shorter due date. If you think your customer won't pay, factoring their invoice out is dishonest, and will win you no points with a factoring company. Do you really want to ensure you have a bad reputation with people who trust you with a large amount of their capital?

If you're in a dispute with a customer and you decide factoring out your invoice is a way out, you're wrong. The customer could simply refuse to pay the factoring company and then sue you, or worse, tell everyone else what a horrible company you run. Face your disputes head on. If you are dissatisfied with the customer, don't do business with them again.

Factoring to sustain a non-profitable business without some hope of profitability in the future is a sure way to drive your self into bankruptcy. Instead, you should let your business die a dignified death. Factoring so that you can remove cash from your business is a bad idea, akin to taking out a dozen credit cards so you'll have money now. When you engage in factoring, you're essentially agreeing to a profit loss; you should only do this if you stand to make more money in the long run.

Why Would Anyone Do That in My Meeting?

Imagine that you open a meeting by saying, "We need to talk about the budget."

And someone says, "I named my dog Budget because he's too big."

After the laughter subsides, you wonder why anyone would make such a silly remark in your meeting.

And this leads to a larger question: Why would anyone misbehave in a meeting?

Everyone knows that misbehavior can ruin a meeting. It wastes everyone's time and squanders the opportunity to produce useful results.

Here are some possibilities.

1) They're uninformed

Many people do not know how to plan, conduct, or participate in a meeting. They think that gathering people in a conference room represents holding a meeting. They believe that planning is unnecessary because they expect everyone to arrive with a common agenda. They think that hosting a discussion actually leads to useful results. These well-meaning attempts at holding a meeting are so counterproductive that they can appear to be misbehavior. In addition, a bad meeting irritates others, causing them to retaliate with misbehavior.

Better: Show people how to plan and conduct meetings. Teach them how to use process tools that help people make methodical progress toward results. Schedule a workshop that shows people how to plan and lead meetings.

2) They're bored

Many meetings occur with a few people talking while the rest watch. When this happens, the quiet participants entertain themselves by daydreaming, starting side conversations, or working on other tasks (such as preparing lists of things to do once the meeting finally ends). People with extensive experience in bad meetings have learned how to feign credible interest while being mentally absent.

Better: Plan activities that involve everyone. Avoid relying on discussion for your meeting because it allows the more vocal attendees to dominate.

3) They're mad

People can be mad for many reasons, such as they feel trapped in an unplanned meeting or they disagree with the results being obtained. They could also feel mad if others are preventing them from participating.

People know that a meeting without an agenda will waste their time, and they resent this. For example, a man once told me that he and his friends would "sandbag" any meeting that was called without an agenda. They made inappropriate comments, introduced distracting considerations, and asked pointless questions. Of course, they acted with such professional sincerity that it seemed that they were being productive instead of disruptive.

Better: Always prepare an agenda. Always contact key participants before the meeting to explain their role and to check if they are prepared for the meeting.

4) They disagree

Meetings are an excellent activity to resolve disagreements. However, if people disagree with the issue, the process, or the results AND are unable to exert influence, they will rebel. This rebellion will appear as misbehavior in the meeting or (worse) sabotage after the meeting.

Better: Use process tools in the meeting that involve all of the participants. Always contact key participants before holding a meeting on a controversial issue. Use these conversations to listen to their views, explain the goals for the meeting, and promote your intent for a fair resolution. Make sure that you seek a "Both/And" result instead of an "Either/Or" result so that everyone gets what they need.

5) They misunderstand

Sometimes people misunderstand expectations. For example, an executive was surprised by the negative comments, ridicule, and hostility that occurred during his first staff meeting with a new group. After some investigation, he learned that his predecessor openly criticized and ridiculed people. Thus, this was the behavior that the staff had learned to emulate. The executive fixed this by a) stating new expectations, b) coaching key offenders, and c) setting an example of respectful conduct.

Better: Cultural management is a primary leadership responsibility. Demonstrate the type of behavior that you want for productive meetings and provide private corrective feedback to those who misbehave.

An effective meeting is a team activity conducted by a fair process that involves everyone. People respect this approach and will make positive contributions because they know that such a meeting represents a good use of their time.