1. The team rules need to be understood and applied by all members of the team / pack.  2. You need to protect your team from outside forces.  3. Listening and being present are important to your team.  4. Greet your team members like you are meeting them for the first time every day.  5. Consistency is crucial to trust and understanding.  6. Trust is built...

There are times with Jake when he just wants to be near you; I wouldn't say that he craves attention but it is clear that he feels more comfortable when we are around and a spontanteous act of care and affection (a pat for no reason) goes a very long way. It is very easy to get caught up in the day-to-day hustle and bustle of team activity and the multitude of requirements that need to b...

To state the obvious, humans don’t have tails that can give away our mood. Often I work with team’s that struggle to understand each other, finding it difficult to read each others expressions, let alone their intent. What I love about my dog Jake is no matter what type of day he has had, he always manages to cheer me up when I arrive home. I think we can take a lot out of Jake’s demeano...

  Jake has certain expectations of us as a family. He expects to be fed in the morning, he expects to get a pat when he comes over to you, and he expects to go for a walk every day. There are plenty of others, but this is a blog post, not a novel. In return, we expect certain behaviour from Jake; not doing his business in the house, not jumping on people, not chewing things. During ...

As Jake has developed from a puppy in our house, we have had to teach him what is accepted and not accepted as part of our team. In Lesson 5 I highlighted how Jake’s development needed to be embraced by all members of the team; this is particularly important when it comes to inappropriate behaviour. A rule set by one member of the team (no dogs on beds) and then broken by smaller members...

   In the video, the coach blindfolds his player and undertakes a drill without the player seeing what he has achieved, asking him to ‘give his best’. He pushes his player, and encourages him to go beyond what he thought was possible, inspiring not only himself but the rest of the team that is watching. It got me thinking about two things: 1.     &nb...

The same can be said of teams. While there are some common sense rules for being a good team member, the nuances of how that is applied and regarded is different from workplace to workplace. I believe that this rule is forgotten when people have worked in a team for a while. People wrongly assume that the behaviours that worked in their old team will automatically work in their new team....

It isn’t a fight sequence (that would go on too long!), just a great some great dialogue regarding resilience. 'It ain't about how hard you can hit, it is about how hard you can get hit, and keep moving forward.' We are not resilient Managers / Leaders when we see something wrong (a process / a concept / a new idea), present it to our senior leaders, have the idea knocked back – and th...

From the many, many examples that I have seen demonstrated, the simple things are often the best. How often do you do the following:   Giving a pleasant, cheerful ‘good morning’ in the morning to your team mates Not letting little things get you down Ask about how people are doing – both at work and at home Say thank you for a job well done   The last point – saying thank you...

This is what makes leading people so difficult – we all have different perceptions of good and bad leadership. An autocratic leader could be regarded as decisive, bold and focussed by one person / culture, yet regarded as bossy, headstrong and demanding by another. What I have found interesting in recent weeks is that the perception of good leadership is variable and an action by a leade...