Secrets of Successfull Team

To be a success is not always to be a success individually. In fact, most of the time we achieve our successes as part of a team. That is why I want to devote this issue to the secrets of successful team.

We are all part of teams. Our family is a team. Our place of work is a team. The community groups we belong to are teams. Sometimes we are the team leader or "coach," while other times we fulfill the role of follower, or "player." It is so important then for us to understand teams and how they work, especially those who achieve success – the achievement of their desired goal.

In my life I have been on some successful teams, and some not so successful teams. This includes both athletically as well as professionally.

Here are some principles that I know, when implemented on a regular basis, can turn anything into something! These principles can be applied to your family, your business, your organization, and yes, your sports team. Enjoy.

Communication Leader
The leader needs to communicate the vision. If they are setting the pace, they need to let people know where they are going so that the team can follow. The coach always does a pre-game talk, laying out the vision.

The leader communicates the vision frequently, so as to always be updating the team as to where they are at and what changes need to be made. The coach doesn't relegate the direction he gives to the pre-game; he coaches and communicates all the way through the game.

Team

They talk to each other all of the time. Helping one another out, encouraging one another, praising one another, and telling each other how they can make changes so the same mistakes aren't made again. The same is true of successful teams in the professional world and in life in general.

Excellence
The truly great teams are teams that are committed to excellence. In everything they do, their goal is to achieve at the highest level. And this commitment is held throughout the team and at every level. A successful team cannot have members who are not committed to excellence because in the end they will become the weak link.

Followership
If you want a fascinating read, pick up The Power of Follower ship, by Robert Kelley. The author basically makes the point that the secret to getting things done lies not only in great leadership, but in how well the rest of the people, 99% of the team, follows the leadership. Good teams are filled with people who are committed to following and getting the job done.

Understanding Roles
Every team works best when the members of the team have clearly defined and understood roles. Some do one thing, others do another. One isn't better or more important than the other, just different. When teams operate out of their strengths and their roles, they win.

Strengths and Weaknesses
Every team member has strengths and weaknesses. The successful teams are those who on a regular and consistent basis enable the members to operate out of their strengths and not out of their weaknesses. And what is one person's strengths will cover another's weakness. This is teamwork, enabling all of the bases to be covered.

Fun
The team that plays together stays together. Is your team all work and no play? If you're smart, that will change. Get your team out of the office once a month and go have some fun. Enjoy one another. Enjoy life. It will bring a sense of bonding that can't be made even in "winning."

Common Goals and Vision
I have found that these need to have three aspects. Short, simple and clear.

Can you say it in less than 30 seconds? Is it simple? Can you and others understand it? Does the team all know what they are working together for?

Appreciation

All through the "game," successful teams appreciate one another and show it in a variety of ways. The coach shows it to the players, the players show it to the coach, and the players show it to one another.

Here is a "Successful Teams" Checklist for you to evaluate with.

• Is there communication between coach and players and from player to player?
• Is your team committed to excellence?
• Do those on the team know what it means to follow?
• Does everyone on my team know their specific role?
• Do the individuals on our team regularly operate out of their strengths as opposed to their weaknesses?
• Does our team take a break from time to time to just have fun together?
• Do we understand our common goals and vision? Can we all state it (them)?
• Is there a sense of and communication of genuine appreciation among my team?

Words of Enemies versus Silence of Friends

Martin Luther King once said that in the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends. This past weekend, I was with a group of friends and family celebrating my brother’s bachelor party. At one point in the evening, we stopped at Enoteca Roma Winebar & Bruschetteria, a small, trendy spot on the northwest side of Chicago. The air of the establishment was one that would prompt you to act prim and proper within its perimeters.

Perhaps working for the Urban League causes me to look at everyday occurrences in the context of civil rights and how people of different races and cultures interact with one another. It was very difficult for me not to notice in the entire outdoor patio, our table hosted the only individuals who were not white. Our group consisted of 6 Indians, 3 Caucasians, and 1 African American. Our waitress, Gianna, was also Caucasian.

Gianna was taking everyone’s order which consisted mostly of beer, and when she got to the African American who wanted coffee, she revealed that the coffee bar was closed. He was distraught at the unavailability of coffee and made a remark to the individual sitting next to him about why a late night spot would stop serving coffee. He asked for tea and as Gianna took his order, she was thoroughly upset. Many of the individuals at our table pondered over the reaction and we all shrugged it off and went back to the business of having a good time.

Seemingly, a server could be having a bad day, or perhaps some life circumstances would affect the level of service that may be offered. However, it is difficult to overlook the dynamics of race in these sorts of interactions. Who knows, perhaps if the African American were a blond-hair, blue-eyed jock type, she would have been tickled and humored at the irony of a late night café discontinuing the service of coffee. Or maybe Gianna has just never been exposed to different cultures and different people and different dialects. That is nothing unusual.

For the last year, I have served as the minority representative on a city commission that guides city funding among community services. Recently, I was appointed to serve on a special interest committee and shortly thereafter, another woman on the commission questioned the validity of my appointment, and further questioned my professional abilities to serve the interests of the commission. Several other commissioners came forward and expressed their discomfort with her actions, and one questioned whether the divides in our group were based on race and color. I certainly felt it. I was being attacked, and those around me questioned it.

Again at Enoteca Roma Winebar & Bruschetteria, I felt it, however no one questioned it. No one confronted the waitress to determine if there was a problem. No one pointed out that her service and treatment to one person at our table was different than everyone else on the patio. No one probed to investigate why. No one elevated the matter to the manager. In fact, one of my brother’s Caucasian friends ran after the Caucasian waitress to console her emotions during her overwhelmingly stressful encounter.

Our world is full of sheltered individuals who have never been outside a twenty mile radius of their comfort zone. Though we can not expect that everyone will have life experiences that encompass different cultures, we can expect that people will be respectful of all the different life experiences that exist in our country, all of which shape us as individual people. The days of signs in restaurant windows reading things like “Whites Only” are supposed to be long over. Therefore, public establishments need to be prepared to serve people that may not look like you, dress like you, talk like you, or wear the same skin-tone as you, or have the same ring-tone as you. This is the United States of America. Read the US Constitution if you need a refresher on what that is supposed to mean.

A conversation after the event revealed that the African American on our table actually was hurt by the treatment, just as I was on the city commission. He definitely felt that the waitress was somewhat racist. I definitely felt it. I just wish I said something at the time because as Martin Luther King said, the silence of our friends speak volumes louder than the words of our enemies.

Ram Setu

NASA SHUTTLE IMAGES OF A MYSTERIOUS ANCIENT BRIDGE BETWEEN INDIA AND SRILANKA

Nasa discovered bridge(Ram Setu)currently named as Adam's Bridge made of chain of shoals, c.18 mi (30 km) long, in the Palk Strait between India and Sri Lanka, reveals a mystery behind it. The bridge's unique curvature and composition by age reveals that it is man made. The legends as well as Archeological studies reveal that the first signs of human inhabitants in Sri Lanka date back to the a primitive age, about 17,50,000 years ago and the bridge's age is also almost equivalent. This information is a crucial aspect for an insight into the mysterious legend called Ramayana, which was supposed to have taken place in tretha yuga (more than 17,00,000 years ago). In this epic, there is a mentioning about a bridge, which was built between Rameshwaram (India) and Srilankan coast under the supervision of a dynamic and invincible figure called Rama who is supposed to be the incarnation of the supreme. This information may not be of much importance to the archeologist s who are interested in exploring the origins of man, but it is sure to open the spiritual gates of the people of the world to have come to know an ancient history linked to the Indian mythology.