Have you ever been abandoned by your team? Does the fear of that happening again ever get in the way of your committing to teams? Confidence in one another is an essential ingredient of all successful teamwork. Exactly what it takes to build confidence (and, therefore, trust) may seem hard to define. But basically, the formula is embedded in the[…]

One of the central features of a team, and of any relationship, is interdependence — when individual actions affect others. Any member of a team can take action that moves the entire team forward or backward. Here is a simple example: I had asked two colleagues who were stakeholders with me in a book project to meet with me so[…]

I wanted to add a few thoughts to the Leadership Gift Fairness Principle I introduced in my previous post. Here are additional ideas for more successful communication between team members that are in the office and team members that phone in during conference calls. Some research suggests that we use gestures as mental anchors for words rather than as nonverbal[…]

Many managers, team leaders, and meeting planners make a costly mistake by “playing favorites,” whether they intend to or not. Here are three scenarios that examplify playing favorites: 1. A team member happens to share an office location with the manager while all other team members have their offices in other locations. The collocated team member enjoys more visibility, greater[…]