Will Your Team Take You to the “Premier League”?

Rachel Stone of Bespoke Training, Eastbourne contemplates what Leicester City’s success can teach us about business success – can your team make the cut?

Even if you are not a footy fan, you may still have heard about the remarkable story of Leicester City this year. They have gone from mediocre to outstanding in a short period of time. It hasn’t been without hard work, but it has been against the odds. To avid football fans it has been a really uplifting story. No flashy, expensive players have been drafted in and stolen the show here: it’s much more impressive than that.

This team has played like a proper team. They have understood the key ingredients that make up a successful team and the results have been amazing. This is disrupting the football market and creating results where they never thought it would be possible.

Could your team get these kinds of results? Are you leading as an expert so that your team can rise above mediocrity to excellence?

We had some very specific training needs when we first started talking with Rachel and it quickly became apparent that her training style, manner and knowledge was perfect for our company and got the very best out of our staff. As a manager of people it has been a source of joy to see my team flourish and embrace new working practices and come back to the office with a renewed vigour and true sense of purpose in their jobs and the ability to do their jobs better than they already were.

Rachel has a great knack of empowering people and ensuring they follow best practice whilst enjoying what they do. I would highly recommend Rachel to any organisation trying to get the best from their staff and any leadership or team training that they are considering – she’s definitely the lady for the job!

Corin Dudley – MD, Electrical Services

So what is a team? A team, as a noun, is defined as a group of ‘players’ or participants who form one side in a competition or sport; or as a group of people with a full set of complementary skills required to complete a task, job, or project. As a verb, the word team means to come together to achieve a common goal. The key to all definitions is that a team will share a common purpose or goal to which everyone is committed. Can you say the same about your own team?

One theory of team behaviour by Tuckman defines the stages a team goes through until they reach the ‘performing stage’. When this happens the following is possible:

• The team is more strategically aware
• The team knows clearly why it is doing what it is doing
• The team has a shared vision and is able to stand on its own feet with no interference or participation from the leader
• There is a focus on over-achieving goals, and the team makes most of the decisions against criteria agreed with the leader
• The team has a high degree of autonomy
• Disagreements occur but now they are resolved within the team positively, and necessary changes to the processes and structure are made by the team
• The team is able to work towards achieving the goal, and also to attend to relationships, styles and will process issues along the way
• Team members look after each other
• The team requires delegated tasks and projects from the leader
• The team does not need to be instructed or assisted
• The leader delegates and oversees
• Team members might ask for assistance from the leader with personal and interpersonal development

Is your team truly performing?

I work with business leaders to develop highly effective teams to create the results you desire so that everyone can have their best year yet. This is a coaching programme that has proven to deliver outstanding results. Please contact me if you would like to develop your leadership and your team. I’d love to hear from you. I have a few spaces available from June. Coaching and training programmes are accredited by the Continuing Professional Development standards office and count towards your CPD – 01323 332316/07545 217966 or email rachel@bespoketrainingeastbourne.com