Quotes from Pat MacMillan

The more different a team is, the smarter it is.

When prejudice between team members is present within the team, it's as though a hockey team voluntarily decided to place one or two of their members in the penalty box, and attempted to compete effectively against the opposing team with fewer players.

Trust is the essential quality in any team relationship. Team members will not work interdependently with anyone they do not trust. And without interdependence there can be no effective division of the task, no leverage of the gifts and skills of individual team members, and therefore, no synergy. No trust, no relationship, no team.

Trust is extremely fragile, and although building it can take extensive amounts of time over the course of many personal interactions, it can be destroyed (withdrawn) within seconds.

Crystal clear roles characterize high performance teams. Every team member is clear about his or her particular role as well as those of the other team members.

Role issues are invariably one of the top three problems teams face (ineffective processes and communication represent the other two major team problems).

We see similar thinking in managers who feel you can just throw a group of people together and hope that a team will form. If the right people luckily end up in the group, if the chemistry is just right, and if the situation is perfect, a team might develop.

Change comes hard, because we find nothing more traditional than traditions. We put so much effort into designing and building these hierarchies that we are tremendously resistant to rethinking them in spite of the pressure to do so.

To respect someone in a team setting means to show honor and esteem for his or her contribution. We must acknowledge that we need one another and we must show equal concern for every member. If one member suffers, we all suffer. If one member is honored, we are all honored. We are a team.

Courtesy is often the manifestation of trust, acceptance, and respect. We demonstrate courtesy by graciousness, consideration for one another, sincerity, listening, how we talk about teammates who aren't present, and the type of humor we use when jesting with one another.

Many feel that process and creativity are in conflict, believing that creativity needs spontaneity and unstructured approaches. No doubt, a lot of creativity is a by-product of informal, spontaneous thinking.

Within the team you must balance demands, sometimes conflicting, between individual team members and the task, between individual team members and the team, between the team and the task, and between the team and the larger organization. Again, you're a juggler. And if you drop one of these balls, you must invest in damage control.

Ultimately leadership boils down to a relationship. High-quality relationships are based on trust—trust of one anothers' competence as well as character.

Trust is earned (more realistically it is lent) every time leaders do what they say they will do, do it with excellence, and do

Communication is the very means of cooperation.

Communication appears to be deceptively easy. However, most of us carry a major misconception about the process: that communication is primarily message sending. Communication does not take place until someone receives the message and understands it as the sender intended. The most eloquent speech or the most beautifully composed letter isn't a successful communication if it misses the mark.

If I had to add anything, it would be that team leadership may be the most challenging of all leadership roles. In this arena, the team leader must lay aside his or her mantle of positional leader and take on the role of a servant leader, serving the task of the team as well as the individual members.

The biggest problem with communication is the assumption that it has taken place.

It's virtually impossible to build a team-based organization without the necessary levels of trust, acceptance, and respect among co-workers that will allow them to be open to interdependent relationships.

Solid team relationships (trust, respect, acceptance, courtesy, and mutual accountability) are the glue that holds the team together.

No team can communicate successfully without highly developed listening skills among team members. Most experts would agree that listening is the most overlooked and underused component of communication. Although listening comprises about 45 percent of the communication process, we have little or no formal training in this important skill.

Further, we often make the mistake of treating listening as merely waiting for our turn to talk. While other team members are making their points, we're preparing our rebuttal. It takes practice and discipline to withhold the urge to jump in with our opinion and really concentrate on what the other person is saying.

High performance teams have six characteristics that allow them to consistently achieve exceptional levels of results: Common Purpose Crystal Clear Roles Accepted Leadership Effective Processes Solid Relationships Excellent Communication

Groupthink stifles the possibility of suspending one's assumptions. In fact, its whole purpose is to elevate and protect those assumptions from any assault by logic. Creative and synergistic communication is doomed within groups infected with the symptoms of groupthink. Any new or unusual notions quickly fall victim to the group's terminal sense of certainty.