When it comes to improving teamwork, defining what improvement looks like and establishing the outcome you’re trying to improve is step one. The team attempting to accomplish something would have to define this clearly and as often as possible to ensure they stay on track in their shared common goals.
Clearly defining shared common goals, understanding how to collaborate most efficiently and how to place individuals in the roles that best fit them is the recipe for team success.
Beyond Teambuilding have the expertise to drive support teams to adopt a spirited competition and a “shared common goal” mindset. We help you to understand the benefits of teamwork, how to build a high-performing team, and learn how to improve teamwork, for real.
We offer formal and informal teambuilding options to cater any teambuilding objective, so contact us now and take your team BEYOND their limits!
Rated number one company in all aspects and categories on the WORLD STOCK EXCHANGE 2030
Please note: All numerics are in African dollars (A$)
Can this really happen?
For those who think every African comment is based on tribalism, racism, pessimism, colonialism, communism …there is only one ism that counts and that’s OPTIMISM.
So, those who see Africa as a place of optimism, this is for you.
Optimism only exists if one can see the light at the end of some chasm, without the light we just get the negativity of dark thoughts and the gut wrench of frustration.
Those who have lived for a long time on this continent, have ALL possibly experienced exasperating thoughts about a variety of popular subject matters ranging from potholes, viruses, political incompetency, corrupt officials, Ebola, HIV, wars, desperate plights, emigration, immigration, hungry eyes, greed, policeonomics, flowing street sewers, failed schemes/cities/countries, plastic bag flowers and senseless deaths. It makes me feel despondent every time I read a paper, look on facebook or watch the news, so guess what we do, watch it even more and now we soon become back room facebookers and eternal pessimists…eish, I hate others’ who perpetually whinge and hate myself every time I go there. Sharing points of view does not necessarily make you a proponent of the message but it does taint you with the message and I have been a culprit of this. We share negativity as if it will somehow change everyone’s actions, but sadly it doesn’t, it just enhances the justification of another “ism”.
Is there a solution, a light that we can actually all see, or don’t we all see light the same?
Bubble bath thinking allows us to switch from the realities of real life to the sanctity of warmth, cleanliness and open free thought. As I came up for a breath, I swished the bubbles and froth from my forehead and a thought of immense optimism hit me.
As a business sort of guy, I have 4 companies that somehow miraculously work and give 40 odd people a meaningful job, allows me to ride my bike in weekends and drink a few ales with mates, provides the Tax Man, the Vat Man and the ANC celebs with a few bucks to fix our roads, educate our children and enhance a country for the benefit of all. I pay several commercial suppliers including Telkom and Eskom and whatever other “koms or cons” are out there, to provide the juice to keep us going. I was even given some BEE brownie points by my Government for educating my black son…wow life is full of amazement.
But how did all this happen?
Was it a fluke, my heritage, inheritance, skin colour, education, personality, beastly good looks, diet, my tribe, my skills, my mates, my mother, my luck?
This got me thinking and like most businessmen, we tend to look back and start to preach to our staff and especially children about how we made it in those harsh post war days. We all know how this ends up!
The reality of personal or business success comes from the simple ability to have good idea and make sure you implement it properly. Of course, other people (customers) must also believe in and see some value in your grandiose ideas, otherwise it’s just another orbital pie in the sky.
Another learning we mostly have from business is that, the only way to create a bigger success than the one you originally thought of, was to grow an idea or a business exponentially by partnering with other smart people and allowing them to do what they do, better than you. This is the art of skillful delegation/cooperation/collaboration and allows the synergetic momentum to get people to help create a common dream by applying their contributions to the business model.
At this point, as I emerged from the bubbles and thought of Africa and how to turn it into the most successful business in the world. What a challenge, what optimism, what a dream, where is the light?
Let’s look at this quite simply, as any form of complexity tends to irritate me. Let’s break this down and see if this thought hasn’t got some meat attached (sorry vegans, a bit insensitive)
What’s the light that we all want to see?
This would seem easy as we see it in every NGOs vision statement and even in most political parties “promise statements”. Let’s try a few of the ones we observe while driving down memory lane….
This is the never-ending list that most African political aspirants subscribe to and sadly most of it is based around western values, especially $$$$$
What is the real light for Africa, the vision that would grab 600 million people to want to be part of anything?
What gets your staff, your friends, your brothers to pitch up every day and give it “horns”…yes $$$$ will be there, but what do they need the $$$$ for?
There may be a few more but that’s being greedy and I am a firm believer that if all 600 million could see this as the “light”, there would be a unified approach and effort to get the African Team (600 mill) to respond. As long as a man has a dream, keeps the dream and believes in the dream, he will chase that dream. As an employer, I believe that if your staff has that dream and if you can provide opportunity and facilities to allow that to happen, then most will fight the good fight.
MY LIGHT MOMENT
I am a firm believer that if you can’t do the job or haven’t got time to do the job or believe someone else could do it better…it’s simple; delegate it to those persons who can do it best.
This simple business philosophy fails if you delegate to idiots, but I’m thinking that within the 600 million participants, there has got to be at least 500 million smarter than me, so it shouldn’t be difficult to delegate appropriately on this massive continent.
I am however, not stupid enough to fall into the supremacist approach of going into the drama of African failures and disappointments, but let’s look at what causes failure in most businesses and relate this to our African Motherland.
So, how does this affect our United Africa, “the wealthiest opportunity yet to be unleashed”. It is clear that the Africa right now has a lot of questionable leaders and managers, some trying to do a good job but mostly out of their depth, when it comes to dealing with growth strategies and creating adequate returns on assets available. It is clear that if we don’t invest in a management team of the highest quality to lead and manage all of Africa’s abundant assets and resources, we will eventually (and in some cases, already are) be in liquidation and spend the rest of our African lives groveling around our Western and Eastern “bankers” asking for handouts to survive.
Well, my thinking is based around the simple philosophy that Africa is a company, yes a very big one; it has 600 million employees, dependents, children, learners, complainers, protesters, pensioners, dreamers, entrepreneurs, capitalists, communists, socialists, vagrants and some criminals. They all live and work for the best company every created:
Africa Incorporated:
A company where ordinary people live extraordinary lives
SHAREHOLDERS: All Stakeholders living on the African Continent
VISION: To dominate the WORLD! (sorry this was taken from someone else’s vision)
OUR VISION: To have all 600 million Africans and our many tourist and business visitors happy, energized and proud of being part of our company and continent (work place).
STRATEGY: To run Africa as a successful and world leading company, with strong values and a strong desire to deliver on diverse stakeholder expectations.
MISSION: Run a social welfare-based system for 5-10 years and grow this into a more Market and Green/Sustainable system thereafter.
GOALS:
ACTION PLANS
Wow…how long have you got?
STRUCTURE
In conclusion, I have not really thought this through in to the deepest depth but, as I am still in the bath and it’s getting cold, I will delegate the deeper thinking and planning to those best trained in such things.
“Over, but not out”
John Ingram
Director of the HiSide Group
john@teambuild.co.za
MY LIGHT MOMENT
I am a firm believer that if you can’t do the job or haven’t got time to do the job or believe someone else could do it better …it’s simple; delegate it to the person or persons who can do it best.
This simple business philosophy fails if you employ idiots into your business, but I think that within the 600 million there has got to be at least 500 million smarter than me, so it shouldn’t be difficult to delegate on this massive continent.
I am, however, not stupid enough to fall into the supremacist approach of going into the drama of African failures and disappointments, but let’s look at what causes failure in most businesses and relate this to our African Motherland.
So, how does this affect our United Africa, “the wealthiest opportunity yet to be unleashed”. It is clear that Africa right now has a lot of questionable leaders and managers, some trying to do a good job but mostly out of their depth when it comes to dealing with growth strategies and creating adequate returns on assets available. It is clear that if we don’t invest in a management team of the highest quality to lead and manage all of Africa’s abundant assets and resources, we will eventually (and in most cases we already are) in liquidation and spend the rest of our African lives grovelling around our Western and Eastern “bankers” asking for handouts to survive.
Well, my thinking is based around the simple philosophy that Africa is a company, yes a very big one; it has 600 million employees, dependents, children, learners, complainers, protesters, pensioners, dreamers, entrepreneurs, capitalists, communists, vagrants and some criminals. They all live and work for the best company ever created:
Africa Incorporated: A company where ordinary people live extraordinary lives
SHAREHOLDERS: All Stakeholders living on the African Continent
VISION: To dominate the WORLD! (sorry this was taken from someone else’s vision)
OUR VISION: To have all 600 million Africans and our many tourist and business visitors happy, energized and proud of being part of our company and continent (workplace).
STRATEGY: To run Africa as a successful and world-leading company, with strong values and a strong desire to deliver on diverse stakeholder expectations.
GOALS:
ACTION PLANS
Wow…how long have you got?
STRUCTURE
In conclusion, I have not really thought this through into the deepest depth but, as I am still in the bath and it’s getting cold, I will delegate the deeper thinking and planning to those best trained in such things.
“Over but not out.”
John Ingram
Director of the HiSide Group
john@teambuild.co.za
We often live in fear of what could be around the corner, or what’s hiding in the unknown. This is mainly based on us wanting to maintain the status quo, especially when its’ not causing problems or it’s the reason why we have our current success. All businesses strive to create some order to have a level of consistency and reliability in what they do. This is mostly based on the Law of Pareto, where we know we can’t excel at everything, so let’s focus on the 20% of things that give us 80% of our success. Many managers are scared to tamper with this for the obvious reasons.
Today with the many disruptions we face in our events markets, we cannot afford to wait for the disruption, we go out and find it before it hits. This brings us to one of our principle values in the HISIDE Group…CURIOSITY.
Curiosity
Noun
1.A strong desire to know or learn something
“filled with curiosity, the HISIDE team stalked the web for international trends.”
2.An unusual or interesting object or fact
“Through its curiosity, the HISIDE Group realised the impact of AI in the RSVP domain.”
In the past, this fear of the unknown has kept most from being curious. Often it’s a case of not really wanting to know what’s on the other side. It might be expensive, and it might be dangerous; it may mean having to act or do something! This curiosity has to be permitted and encouraged as it’s not for everyone to voluntarily try or do.
For this reason, we have learned to force the issue of curiosity in two ways:
Most companies or teams will agree, this is a “no brainer”, but why does it not happen as a standard in most companies?
Sadly, the culture of the company is often driven by careful Management who only understand that “Curiosity killed the cat” whereas we can easily change this age-old quote to be “Curiosity allowed the cat to become a Lion.”
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John Ingram
Director of the HISIDE Group