Welcome to the August 17, 2005 issue of The Total View

Published by Success Performance Solutions, Written by Ira S. Wolfe

Visit our Human Resources Blog and Perfect Labor Storm Blog where we can post daily (and more often) human resource updates, news, and Perfect Labor Storm facts. 

What's Inside:

1. Understanding Style Differences

Sometimes, organizations will hand-pick potential team members, focusing on their technical expertise. If they do not also consider what each member brings to the table in terms of personality characteristics, they run the risk of selecting members that are too similar, and thereby limit their success. Dr. Meredith Belbin is one of the original "gurus" on team building and was one of the developers of a team-typing process.

One aspect of his research was the discovery of 'The Apollo Syndrome', a phenomenon whereby teams of highly capable individuals can, collectively, perform badly. In his study, his expectation was that Apollo teams (those members hand-selected for their analytical minds and high mental ability) were bound to win ability and aptitude tests in team competitions. However he found the reverse to be true. The Apollo team often finished near the bottom of all the teams in the competition.

He found their failure was due to the way in which the team 'operated'.

They spend too much time in destructive debate; trying to persuade others to support their viewpoint while highlighting the weaknesses in others' ideas.
Team members intended to focus on working along their own thought-lines, regardless of what other team members were doing.
They experienced difficulties in decision-making, with little coherence in the decisions they did make.

The similarities among the team-members often proved to be the downfall of the group, creating competition rather than collaboration.

There were examples of successful Apollo teams though, which were typically characterized by the absence of highly dominant individuals and the presence of a style of leadership that sought to create some structure to the group discussions, maintaining the focus on the intended outcome of the group activities. Therefore he concluded for a team to be successful, there needs to be a blend of team roles, behaviors, and skills. Successful teams need to have this blending of differences they bring to the table plus the structure and flexibility to support such differences.

Energize your team and maximize results with CriteriaOne DISC and Values behavioral profiling  and TotalView Assessment System today.

Source: Understanding Style Differences, Manager's Guidebook.  Email about pricing.

2. Perfect Labor Storm Alerts #437 to #438

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Fact #437: From 1997 to 2002, Americans' private spending on obesity-linked medical problems increased from $3.6 billion to $36.5 billion, and swelled from 2% of all health spending to 11.6%.
A study published in the journal Health Affairs found the rise in obesity has boosted the costs for treating arthritis, asthma, diabetes, and heart disease. In 2002, treating an obese person cost $1,244 more than treating a healthy-weight person.

Fact #438: One of the biggest worries facing the Army and other armed services recruiters is finding enough recruits. An even bigger worry is finding enough recruits who can fit in their uniforms. Nearly 2 out of 10 men and 4 out of 10 women of recruiting age weigh too much to be eligible, a record number for that age group. (Source: U.S. Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine, 2005)

Don't be caught in storm without all the facts. "The Perfect Labor Storm Fact Book: Why Worker Shortages Won't Go Away" is a must-read leading edge forecast that predicts workforce trends for decades to come. Order your copy today - Only $7.95.

3.  What's new in building high performance teams?

Understanding Style Differences (USD) has been developed to provide groups with insights into their potential strengths and weaknesses. Participants are given the opportunity to view their group's profile and to assess its relative strengths and potential downfalls, viewing each from a strategic perspective. In doing so, they are afforded the opportunity of increasing their interpersonal effectiveness and thereby their team's success.

Each team member receives a personality report and personal development guidebook detailing his/her preferred interpersonal style, work style, and emotional style. The manager receives a group report identifying the strengths and weaknesses of each employees and the impact of individual contributions (or distractions) to the success of the team.

Understanding Style Differences increases each employee's sense of accountability and responsibility to the team and minimizes the likelihood of miscommunications and personality clashes. USD is perfect for managers who want their new or existing work teams to increase productivity and reduce departmental conflicts, and for managers/supervisors new to their role of leading and coaching others.

Email us today to learn more about Understanding Style Differences and using individual differences to energize team productivity and innovation.

4.  Manager's Pocket Guides for....just about everything!

Today's busy leaders and knowledge workers are looking for informative, to the point self-study resources that will answer questions, stimulate new thinking and help solve problems.

These management development pocket guides are ideal for self-directed learning, training and coaching workers, corporate universities, or to use in seminars and workshops.

Each guide covers an important topic such as managing generations, mentoring, creativity, project management, knowledge management or strategies for handling people issues such as conflict management, sexual harassment and performance.

Order the complete library of these 32 best selling Manager's Pocket Guides for only $279 - that's like getting 5 books free, a savings of $39. Start your management development today by ordering all 32 Pocket Guides for Management Development here or call us about our Manager's Book of the Month Club..

Manager's Pocket Guides can be ordered individually for $9.95 each plus shipping.

5.  50 Training Activities for Team Building and Customer Service

Choose from over 1,000 activities, including role plays, assessments, games, simulations, icebreakers. Virtually every important training topic is covered. Three-ring binders are ready to use and fully reproducible. Each volume - only $139.95 each - includes trainer's notes and clearly stated objectives.

Other topics include Developing Leaders, Sales Training, Conflict Resolution and more.

Ira S. Wolfe. 2005 - All Rights Reserved. Reprints and other distribution by permission only.

Syndication available - call us.