3 SCIENTIFICALLY PROVEN KEYS FOR BUILDING HIGH PERFORMING TEAMS

3 SCIENTIFICALLY PROVEN KEYS FOR BUILDING HIGH PERFORMING TEAMS

Too many negative interactions can drain energy and creativity from a team, leading to poor performance. Even too many positive interactions can have a negative impact, as there is no one to play “devil’s advocate” or even just be the voice of reason. It can quickly lead to group-thinking where everyone says yes without analysing…

CONTROLLING CHAOS AND THE NECESSITY OF ORDER IN HIGH-PERFORMANCE ORGANISATIONS

CONTROLLING CHAOS AND THE NECESSITY OF ORDER IN HIGH-PERFORMANCE ORGANISATIONS

Organisations are chaotic systems and employe behaviour is often difficult to predict. Controlling variables that impact an organisation requires attention to both chaos and order. Not only can they co-exist, but both are necessary for sustainable growth. But first, let’s talk about the weather. Why is it with all the sophisticated technology we have now,…

THE 8 BUILDING BLOCKS OF EVERY HIGH PERFORMANCE ORGANISATION

THE 8 BUILDING BLOCKS OF EVERY HIGH PERFORMANCE ORGANISATION

When building a house, it starts with forming a solid foundation upon which everything else sits. You can build the nicest house in the world, but if the foundation isn’t solid, it won’t sustain itself over time. Businesses work the same way. You may see success early on, but unless there is a foundation to support…

PROJECT HANDOVERS ALWAYS FAIL!? THAT OLD-FASHIONED TRICK ALWAYS WORK!

PROJECT HANDOVERS ALWAYS FAIL!? THAT OLD-FASHIONED TRICK ALWAYS WORK!

In 2012, I was approached by a large international IT company to get a stalled project team back on track. It was a classic scenario of the difficult handover of a project between 2 teams, one based in Paris and the other based in Delft. The Delft team recently took ownership of the software application…

HOW TO GET ENGINEERS BUILD CONFIDENCE AND AIM HIGHER

HOW TO GET ENGINEERS BUILD CONFIDENCE AND AIM HIGHER

We all crave appreciation, feedback and want to feel noticed. These things make us human, but they could also be the difference between average project delivery and exceptional success. So how do you increase your team performance? How do you make engineers deliver once in a lifetime results and become a more cohesive unit? In…

BALANCE HARMONY AND COMPETITION IN HIGH PERFORMANCE TEAMS

BALANCE HARMONY AND COMPETITION IN HIGH PERFORMANCE TEAMS

Achieving harmony and competition in your high-performance team is a delicate balance. Too much emphasis on either of these outcomes can have negative consequences. Your focus as a leader should be on keeping both outcomes in line without letting one become dominant over the other. But what is the right balance?   High-performance teams NEED…

THAT TIME I WITNESSED 2 ENGINEERS FIGHT IN FRONT OF A SUPPLIER

THAT TIME I WITNESSED 2 ENGINEERS FIGHT IN FRONT OF A SUPPLIER

They had to be physically separated, in front of the supplier’s team watching in disbelief. Let’s find out what happened, why and what we can learn from it to prevent and manage conflict in engineering teams and how to foster innovation and healthy collaboration. This is a true story. It all happened in Germany, back…