Message of the Day - What a Team is NOT

Good Morning,

 

Yesterday morning I was talking to my wife, Karen, and our conversation kindled a thought about teams. We weren't talking about teams, but through conversation, my mind forms many ideas. Talking through problems is my favorite, and most productive, method of solution, and I thank those who are trapped listening to me as my mind weaves solutions.

 

Anyway; when we look at teams and envision the best of the best we tend to look at high performance teams as being well oiled machines. That is the gold standard and what all teams hope to achieve. The ability to work extremely well with each other, to flawlessly interact and hand the baton off to the next team member just at the right time in just the right place, etc.

 

As a well oiled machine, though, the V-8 engine of a Mustang, or any car of your choice, would NOT make a great team if we looked at the cylinders of the engine as the members of the team. Sure the cylinders fire precisely at the right time and they give the precise amount of effort, create the right amount of pressure and do the precise amount of work, but they would ultimately fail as a member of a high performance team.

 

Why?

 

Because each of the eight cylinders of the engine are nearly identical to each other.

 

Look at any top performing team and you will see 'unique individuals' working together. They may wear the same uniform and know the same skills, but each one is ultimately different from each other. No two are alike, much less eight.

 

As teams are made up as individuals, then training a team to work like a well oiled V-8 would be an impossibility. No eight people could become eight completely interchangeable person. Sure people can take on the tasks of another and fill in when necessary, but going down to the core of the person, everyone is different. For example, I have an MBA, but do I know everything that any other MBA knows? Probably not.

 

A well oiled machine then would be one with different cylinders, one for each of the different people you have on or within your team. This then would be a troublesome V-8 with different sized and shaped cylinders. 

 

Building a team with the allowances of individuals working together opens the door for greater achievement as it is far easier to be yourself than it is fill the role of someone you are not. With all of our differences, strengths, weaknesses and idiosyncrasies, becoming the well oiled machine will look different in each case, and may not even remotely resemble the very cool and powerful Mustang V-8 engine.

 

And that is okay, because a high performance team is not a bunch of replicants, but individuals contributing their person and unique best to the benefit of the entire team.

 

Now go out there and be yourself and help your team win!

 

Sanford Berenberg
Sanford@berenberg.net
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Message of the Day - Naivety Overcome Through Learning and Experience

Good Morning,

 

Yesterday during my birthday, a friend took me out to a shooting range and gave me some lessons on handing firearms. This is a huge step for me. Growing up as a kid I was not a gun guy, rather I loved the airplanes, tanks and ships. Guns terrify me. Even after today, they still scare me and I am far from comfortable around them. It is a healthy respect, but we often do not have big picture appreciation of the impact of things we use and do.

 

Like driving for the first time, we are often scared of being behind the wheel of a vehicle. We are afraid of what may happen to us in the car. Will we hit something, hurt ourselves, look funny, etc., but do we think about the damage the car can do to others if we handle it poorly? Most people don't when they start driving. Worse yet, many seasoned drivers pay no mind injuries a car can deliver to people, animals and buildings.

 

This naivety hidden by fear has kept me away from firearms for decades. I used the excuse that I did not want to own one because of fear of using it.

 

A funny thing did happen after my lesson though. My fear slowly changed to growing knowledge and respect. The more I learned, the greater the scope of my understanding.

 

That fear powered by my naivety started blowing off as I became more aware of the tool I was using. By learning more about what I feared I found that my fear was justified. Simultaneously the sting of my fear waned as I gained understanding, appreciation and respect. There is still a lot to fear, but having this new understanding allows you to navigate that fear and operate more efficiently in an area where we tend to have problems.

 

Replacing the fear of the unknown with bits of information, I find that I can be more in control of my feelings and think more clearly about the subject. The fear I have is more a deep respect, and thus allows me to be more objective. I can look into this field with less trepidation, but still be cautious. 

 

My naivety in this area has diminished because I spent some time learning about it and then doing it with the help of a professional.

 

Once again, learning and growing helped me pass another hurdle in life.

 

Enjoy!

 

 

Sanford Berenberg
Sanford@berenberg.net
http://www.berenberg.net

http://sanfordberenberg.blogspot.com/
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Message of the Day - Out with the New and In with the Old

Good Morning,

 

A few weeks ago as I watched ‘Space Cowboys,’  for the umpteenth time,I mused on the competition between the young and old astronauts. They both tried to "one-up" each other. The scenes in the cafeteria with the cans of 'Ensure' and jars of baby food are hilarious.

 

The young astronauts had zest, drive and knowledge of the latest technologies, plus more endurance and greater familiarity with facets of the modern world.

 

The old astronaut had experience, wisdom and knowledge of how things are done without the latest technologies, that is when the computers and technology failed (like that never happens).

 

Both teams are admirable and had their areas of specialty. It is a powerful message to us that both the old school and the latest craze have their places in our lives.

 

I experienced this years back when I was doing some office cleaning and had to clean large glass windows. Instead of using bottles of Windex, I was handed newspaper and water. Like the new astronauts 'Space Cowboys' I looked at it and asked 'What do I do with this?' After the snickers I was shown how to take some of the newspaper and soak it in water and wash down the windows and then use dry newspaper to dry and clean the glass.

 

It actually worked better than Windex, and while it took some elbow grease and a bit of newspaper, it was a lesson for me in that the latest and the greatest in technology is not always the way to go. Sometimes going 'old school' has its values.

 

The challenge we face in today's amped up, high-tech, craze of the minute world is to not lose sight of the old school wisdom which has worked for us for decades or longer and will still help us for decades to come.

 

No matter how great the technology, there is always chances for it to fail. In fact, much of today's technology is EXPECTED to fail. Did I hear you think 'planned obsolescence'? This is especially the time to remember the old-school tricks.

 

In five, ten or fifteen years from now, who knows what will be on the market to clean windows and how much will that cost? And in that same time, I know that newspaper and water will still do as good as if not a better job.

 

In 'Space Cowboys' I rooted for the old timers. It might be because I am nearing my birthday and another year older, or it might be I am just an old school kinda guy.

 

Enjoy!

 

Sanford Berenberg
Sanford@berenberg.net
http://www.berenberg.net

http://sanfordberenberg.blogspot.com/
Follow Me on Twitter! http://twitter.com/sberenberg

http://learnandgrowdaily.com  Click here to order: "Learn And Grow Daily!"

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Message of the Day - Now is Your Time!

Good Morning,

 

My best friend, Howard, implored me to read the following book, and as his taste in books is very similar to mine, I ordered over Amazon and dove right into it. The book is "Now is Your Time to Win" by David Dean (http://www.tremendouslifebooks.net/proddetail.asp?prod=1729). This is a very easy to read and very profound book which caught me by surprise with its simplicity. David Dean was selling books for during his summers during college and put together a list of principles on how to be successful in selling. What he found is not only did they help him be number 1 in sales, these principles applied to all facets of life.

 

While much of the material is covered in other venues and books, the steps here are so basic, so logical that I had to stop and muse on what I have been missing in my growth as a writer and speaker.

 

The seven principles on how to bounce back from failure to success as listed in "Now is Your Time to Win" are:

 

1. Accept Your Situation. No matter where you are, stop and take a look around and see what is really going on. This is one that really needed to read and apply. I often look at the situations in my life and see what steps I would take to get to the next, but never fully took in where I was right there and then and accept it as where I am. It was always where am I going.

 

2. Be Willing to Fail: A gem of a principle that if people are willing to make themselves this vulnerable and then learn from their mistakes they can be unstoppable. Some of my greatest work has come from former failures.

 

3. Make Daily Preparation: The Devil is in the Details. When we don't plan the details, we increase our chances of failing. I need to get my lists out and follow them more often, and more importantly, to keep using them. I have a tendency to make a list of to-do's and then when I finish them I don't add more to the list and keep it going. Lists have been one time events for me, and I need to make them a daily event.

 

4. Be a Professional: This is how you look at what you do. If you are in customer service, then find out what being a professional in that field means and do that. This means dress the part, do the research and putting in the effort to do things right.

 

5. Live in the Present: This goes along with #1. If we keep looking forward to the future or live in the past, then we have limited ability to deal with what is happening to us now, here in the present.

 

6. Do Your Best: When you do something, do it to the best of your ability, and in a way that shows that you really care about what you are doing. This one can be very hard working in a fast-paced world where we are lured and often forced to multi-task and do multiple activities with less efficiency than we can do any one. I have been slowing down and pushing back when necessary to ensure I am doing my best.

 

7. Let God Help You: We can only do so much by ourselves. There is a time when we can power our way through our tasks and there are times when we need help. If we open ourselves up to allowing the Lord to help us, we open the door to doing so much more. (Check Philippians 4:13).

 

Another great read, and one that I need to check and recheck often to help me move forward in my drive to be a best selling author and a successful coach.

 

Thank you all, and enjoy!

 

Sanford Berenberg
Sanford@berenberg.net
http://www.berenberg.net

http://sanfordberenberg.blogspot.com/
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Message of the Day - Passivity is Passé

Good Morning,

 

My friend Dennis sent me this video clip of Clay Shirky (www.shirky.com), http://laughingsquid.com/clay-shirky-on-cognitive-surplus/ promising it would be an interesting video. This is a keynote speech about  "cognitive surplus" and it was indeed interesting.

 

One idea that came out at the end of the speech really caught my attention. Clay Shirky talked about how eventually every form of media (web, electronic devices, tools, toys, etc.) will come with a way to interact with it. Like a computer which has such peripherals as a mouse and keyboard among others, future devices will also have ways to interact with them.

 

In a bigger sense, this means that everything within our lives will have some facet of being interactive, and by being interactive, it allows us to be connected with others in ways that we never thought of before. For example, Facebook and MySpace opened the door for people to communicate with each other faster and more easily than ever before, exploding the genre of social networking. Some appliances now are internet ready to communicate with the manufacturer.

 

This means that as we move forward, day after day, year after year, we will find more and more ways to be in touch with others through easier and easier ways. Like the telephone to pager, to cell phone, to camera phones to internet enabled phones to social networking enabled devices.

 

Our days of sitting at home or on the beach and doing nothing but relaxing in solitude are in jeopardy. Being unconnected is getting harder and harder with how interconnected many parts of our live current are, and will continue to grow moving forward.

 

With this looming over us, it is up to us to decide how we would like to be a part of this change. The decision to not be a part is probably not possible these days in how we are connected even if we do nothing we feel worthy of being connected about. For example, Google yourself every now and then and see what comes up. You may find your name associated with an organization that you are a part of which has going the route of social networking.

 

As we look to how we want to be a part of the interconnected world, we should all take some time to think about how we wish to be interconnected. And for parents, please realize that your kids are probably more connected than you are.

 

The choice to sit back and wait it out is going away, so unless you have that cabin deep in the woods or on the mount miles from civilization, then its best we come up with a plan to embrace the tsunami of connectedness that is coming our way.

 

Enjoy!

 

Sanford Berenberg
Sanford@berenberg.net
http://www.berenberg.net

http://sanfordberenberg.blogspot.com/
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Message of the Day - Fear of Leadership

Good Morning,

 

Have you noticed people who seem afraid to take control. They are horrified and even sickened to step into the lead position of any project or organization.

 

This fear is a fear of leadership.

 

Here is an example. In one of the organizations I have been a part of we looked for volunteers to take care of an important, but not that difficult, part of the organization. We had one person step up saying they had no problem helping out when it was necessary. For this we were grateful. When the next step was added, of having this person who stepped up then coordinate other volunteers, they became very agitated and did not want to do it, pointing out they only wanted to help.

 

In this case, the leadership part of the process would have been grabbing a pad and paper and listing names and dates other people were to volunteer. This task, this taking leadership in this area became a scary and imposing force which frightened and overwhelmed someone.

 

Please realize, it was not the task itself which was intimidating, rather the notion of being in leadership.

 

Leadership is often misunderstood to be something more than it often is.

 

When you commit to be a leader over an organization or a task, it does not necessarily mean that you are going to have to roll up your sleeves and dive into a three year long, 80 hour a week grind of talking to and motivating people to get work done to achieve the goals of the task or organization.

 

Sometimes taking a leadership position is as simple as pulling out a pad of paper and taking a list of names and handing it off to someone else.

 

Leadership, being all the rage in the bookstores, business circles and the internet, is not always the giant it is made out to be. Since most leadership materials are presented by current and former CEO's and larger than life 'Leaders' it is no wonder folks may have a misperception of what it is all about.

 

Throw all of that away, and realize that leadership is as simple as taking the lead in a specific area or over a group and taking the steps to get it moving in the right direction. There is more to it than that, but you don't have to be ready to take over a mega-corporation or mega-church to be a leader.

 

Most leadership activities are just not that scary.

 

Honest.

 

Enjoy!

 

Sanford Berenberg
Sanford@berenberg.net
http://www.berenberg.net

http://sanfordberenberg.blogspot.com/
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Message of the Day: Going that extra step

Good Morning,

 

Back when I was in college for the first time in the late 80's I had moved my major from an Engineering major to Classical Civilization (a literary enriched history program). In other words, my engineering degree was becoming ancient history.  In the Classical Civilization program I had to take either ancient Greek or Latin as a language. I chose Latin.

 

A few friends and I were in the same Latin 1 and 2 classes with a teacher who, himself, was a Graduate Student working on his Ph.D. He was also a wonderful instructor and we wanted him to teach Latin 3 and 4. Unfortunately, he was not scheduled to teach those courses. So we asked him if he would if the opportunity opened up. He was agreeable but said that it could not be changed.

 

So we went to the chairman of the Classical Civilization department and asked him to change the teach schedule to allow our favorite Latin teacher to teach Latin 3 & 4. He told us that the schedule had to be approved by the Provost office of the University.

 

At that point, our merry band of about 4 students stopped and thought about what it meant to approach the Provost office. This was only a notch or two below the President of the University. None of us had ever spoken to the Provost, or even knew who they were. We thought it through and decided we wanted this teacher and marched to the Provosts office and asked to speak to the Provost about allowing the schedule change to occur.

 

The Provost's response was that chairman of the department could make that change.

 

The very person who sent us to the Provost office. So, our merry band turned around and marched back to chairman of the Classical Civilization department's office to ask for the change. This time, he was smiling knowing we had seen the Provost.

 

His diversion was not meant as a deception, rather it was to see how much we truly wanted to get this instructor to teach this class, as he would have to switch a bunch of schedules around.

 

When we went that extra step, one that was beyond our comfort zone, we found the barrier to our goal became paper thin.

 

Sometimes it is not how much you are willing to do in order to achieve your goal that gets the barriers to crumble.

 

Going that extra step can make all the difference.

 

Enjoy!

 

Sanford Berenberg
Sanford@berenberg.net
http://www.berenberg.net

http://sanfordberenberg.blogspot.com/
Follow Me on Twitter! http://twitter.com/sberenberg

http://learnandgrowdaily.com  Click here to order: "Learn And Grow Daily!"

502-533-9336