Have you noticed the extra challenges that seem to make “TEAMING TIME” tougher to achieve in today’s world-of-work? Think about it.  As you work hard to assemble maybe 3-10 co-workers/associates/colleagues to work together on solving a problem or to strategize on a cool development issue…doesn’t it seem like a “distraction virus” has infected the room?

What am I describing…let me offer these visuals:

• Only some arrive on time
• Some forget to bring something to write with and/or write on
• Some bring only laptops
• Some bring only cell phones
• Some immediately ask: “How long will this last?”
• Some comment: “This isn’t my job area!”
• Some even bring other “regular” work to spend time on

I know you all know what I mean.

I believe Leadership…strong LEADERSHIP is critical to achieve quality “TEAMING- TIME” in the 21^st Century.  And rather than spend valuable TRIPLE III TIME message space explaining why this is the case…how about a TOP 10 list of progressive “TEAMING-TIME” concepts.

1. Communicate an EXACT start time and an EXACT end time for the “Teaming” session…prior to start-up.
2. Require that paper, pens or pencils MUST be brought to the room for note-taking.
3. Specify that NO technology (i.e. cell phones or laptops) are allowed in the room.
4. Announce immediately at session start-up that: “THIS is what we want to accomplish!’ No sidetrack topics will be added.
5. If possible, write on a whiteboard or flip chart the 1-5 discussion priorities related to the topic.
6. Require each “TEAMING-TIME” member to offer a 1-2-minute opening statement about their interest/role/hopes for the session.
7. Drive discussions with a sense of urgency to arrive at a solid outcome.
8. Set an example of effective and efficient time management for the session.
9. Retain a goal of simple understand-ability for decisions/actions that result from the session.
10. Announce that everyone’s thoughts/opinions matter…so hiding during the “TEAMING-TIME” session will not be allowed.

If these suggestions sound old-fashioned…THEY ARE!  Pure “TEAMING-TIME” mostly requires caring people…that lead.

Long ago as a young professional working in the public sector…the term entrepreneurship was never expressed in any segment of my world of work.  But make no mistake, chasing non-traditional creative and innovative pilot projects, unique program waiver options and/or designing new public service opportunities as demonstration initiatives, were an everyday…EVERYDAY job/career pursuit.

Well, today so much has changed and I am pleased to share my latest American Society for Public Administration PATimes article entitled: Public Sector Entrepreneurship: PART II.  It is a continuous piece on encouraging innovation and creativity in all public sector employment opportunities.  I hope you enjoy the special examples.

Public Sector Entrepreneurship: PART II

For those who are regular readers of my TRIPLE III TIME blog messages, you are assuming that this “Planting Seeds” message will be a fun tale about my Dad, spring planting season, and why it is important to begin tomorrows work!  Well…you are wrong.

Today we are going to take a survey and think professionally WHO supports you by “Planting Seeds” for your development.  Then at the same time…look around and consider those who you may influence by “Planting Seeds” in your workplace, at home or during regular conversations with friends and family.

To be more specific, how often do you use “Planting Seeds” words like:

• Quality matters
• Calculated risk-taking
• Investigating for tomorrow
• Influencing decisions
• Driving the conversation
• Experience-based learning
• Everyone’s a leader
• Remembering your roots
• Not always about the money
• TEAMING is HUGE

I believe it is critical to remember the impact you can have by “Planting Seeds” that are positive and progressive everyday…EVERYDAY!  Don’t waste this opportunity to make a quiet undeniable daily difference.

One of the most challenging responsibilities of a leader is Managing Negativity in the workplace. Many times…unfortunately…there is one person in your business or agency that complains about their job, whines about change actions, spreads misinformation about leadership decisions, or all of the above…and maybe more.  The result is an ongoing leadership time management dilemma and a need to effectively decide how much time and energy should be dedicated to this often-single Managing Negativity issue?!

Well, my advice/recommendation in this TRIPLE III TIME message comes from my career experience as an organizational leader and my consulting learning moments.  When you think about Managing Negativity…think FIRST about ALL of the people you manage.  Second, determine the percentage this negative person (or persons) make up of your total workforce.  For example, one (1) of ten (10) equals 10% or two (2) of fifty (50) equals 4%.  Then ask yourself: Am I dedicating as much leadership time Managing Negativity as I am managing/leading the other 9 or 48 working with me who are doing GREAT?

I believe…I know it is critical for those in leadership positions to try extremely hard to use an “equal-time” guide when Managing Negativity. Those who are trying hard and doing well will appreciate the progressive attention and development time with you.  Those practicing negativity will receive no more than “their fair share” of your leadership time and may realize that they are not attaining the special attention they seek.  Instead their non-productive habits are causing them to become more distanced from you, co-workers and yes, their job.

Managing Negativity is not easy…but being a great leader isn’t always easy either.

This week I have been involved in a special evaluation project with a long-time partner organization. As you can guess evaluation has not been my career-long area of interest.  Mostly I love being on the front-creative end of any project… instead of researching and measuring how it went.  However, this time the evaluation event caused me to look back to my farm roots to better realize missed Evaluation Learning 101 opportunities with my Dad

Dad was always a cautious risk-taker.  Whether the challenge was crops, livestock, or farm machinery…he was always ready to try something different. I remember tractors.  John Deere, Massey Ferguson, International, and even a David Brown.  As a young man, it was fun to work with them, test them and see what was special about each.  But interestingly, I never knew what Dad thought…nor did he ever ask me?  This absence of Evaluation Learning 101 conversation is the point of this week’s TRIPLE III TIME message.

There is a tremendous amount of Evaluation Learning 101 that never occurs due to a lack of communication.  Think about it.  Do you have regular communication about unique sales techniques you used that worked great?  If you helped a person with a ton of challenges get a start-up job through special coaching time…do all of your co-workers know?  Or if you partnered with a new group to have greater access to all kind of cool resources… did you share your strategy?

I wish Dad had shared his Evaluation Learning 101 process for measuring options and opportunities.  YOUR Evaluation Learning 101 experiences have lifetime value.  So share your Evaluation Learning 101 occurrences every time you can.  Waiting for a better time to share may never come.

One of the greatest challenges of being an INNOVATIONIST is trying to maintain a steady supply chain of productivity experience.  OK…what the heck did I just say?  Well, what I mean is that as you work with people or groups and steadily expend your innovation and creativity energy and ideas…you also need to maintain some form of new, unique, non-traditional input dreamer activity to balance the output action.

This balance is an almost necessity in both your personal and professional worlds. Typically, if you have developed a reputation for being the “IDEAS” person (i.e. Innovationist), friends, family, co-workers, students, and business partners all tend to seek your advice on something.  The Innovation Drain that results tends to make you wonder: “Am I losing my edge?” … “Are my Innovationist days numbered?” … or “Can I really help whoever find the creative solutions they need?”

My TRIPLE III TIME response/advice is to make sure you better balance your innovative inputs and outputs.  First, make sure you take time to connect with “your own kind” (i.e. fellow Innovationists) to gain regular dreamer inputs.  Second, seek out books, articles and other written pieces on new approaches to old problems and absorb the concepts discussed.  Third, remember that innovative ideas do NOT have to be big and/or save-the-world impacting.  Rather, just inspiring individuals to openly share THEIR IDEAS about continuous improvement…is innovation at it’s best!

Finally, don’t allow The Innovation Drain to continue for a long period of time.  Quality, confidence, uniqueness and inspirational spontaneity can all disappear.

Let me know your thoughts.

As I have worked with leaders from the private and public sectors, most recently I have tried to emphasize The Value of Example Setting in all that they do.  Close your eyes and think about how you would grade yourself and those in leadership positions that you know…with regard to the professional examples that they set.

Seriously, would you give them (or yourself because YOU are a leader too!) an A – B – C – D – E or F with regard to Example Setting in the areas of:

• Visioning
• Prioritizing
• Communication
• Fairness
• Time Management
• Consistency
• Use of Dollars
• Partnership Building
• Appreciation
• Inclusion

These are the TOP 10 Example Setting areas that I believe are “on display” in both your personal and professional life everyday…EVERYDAY! Therefore, remember The Value of Example Setting is PRICELESS…so never waste the opportunity.