Category Archives: Blog

The Different Management Types

Published April 4, 2022 / by admin

There are different types of management styles and each one has its pros and cons. The different styles are suitable for managing different teams and projects. There are seven styles of management: authoritarian, laissez-faire, visionary, democratic, transactional, pacesetting, and servant leadership. The authoritarian management style takes total control. It is ideal for new employees who are inexperienced or who are working on a very sensitive project.

Management Styles As Tools For Success

Managers can use different management styles as tools. They can use them for effective team building which involves constructing a team of people who have the skills and experience that are needed to keep a department going or to see a project to completion. As they put a team together and oversee it, it is important that a manager has the right leadership skills for the job. For instance, not every doctor can effectively manage a hospital’s emergency services unit.

Building an Effective Team

Having the right manager for the job is the beginning of having an effective team. This is particularly true for specialized projects or departments like the different ones in a hospital that is staffed by highly specialized staff. The managers of such units need to have not only leadership skills that include the ability to make the call in life and death or very dire or situations.

Getting Better and Better Over Time

A good manager will not have the skills for the job but will be vigilant about them and the members of their team remain competent through continuous training. This may be through short courses, seminars, or other forms of training. The goal is to equip staff including managers through ongoing training that ensures they are knowledgeable about the latest products, methods, technology, and research findings. It makes all the difference in having a capable, competent team that can handle anything.

How to Become a Digital Nomad

Published August 9, 2021 / by admin

By definition of what they do, digital nomads are online workers whose destinations are constantly changing. With a laptop and an online job, they work remotely from anywhere in the world. Accommodation options are as unlimited as the locations. Some travel within their country in campervans or RVs. Others stay in hostels, Airbnb’s or rental houses. Others still travel in and live on boats and travel by sea.

Skills Digital Nomads Must Have

For most digital nomads, the goal is to experience living abroad. It’s also about working abroad but without the hassle of work permits and having to get an in-house nine to five job. Digital nomads earn from freelance work they can get and deliver online. Payment for the job is also done online. The most common type of freelancing work is writing web content, designing websites, graphic design and other jobs that don’t require physical presence or work delivery.

Locations Where Digital Nomads Can Work

When it comes to locations, the world is a digital nomad’s oyster. Where you go depends on your means and preferences. However, for beginners, it would be wise to stay closer to home at first before venturing into working abroad and living abroad. Apart from getting a taste of the lifestyle without being too far away, it costs less to travel within the country or continent before venturing further.

Getting Help As A Digital Nomad

As the digital nomad lifestyle has become more and more popular, more resources have been availed to them. There are digital nomad retreats and co-living communities around the world. Remote Year, Remote Way, YonderWork, Be Unsettled and Nomad House among others organise living and working spaces for nomads. Co-Living, Nomad.Life, Roam, WeLive and WiFiTribe organise longer stays. Teams can have their travel organised through Outside and Surf Offices to name just a few communities set up to support digital nomads.

How to Develop a Good Working Relationship

Published June 4, 2021 / by admin

A good working relationship is important for employees and businesses. It is the foundation of better productivity in the workplace. Furthermore, the poor relations of staff and employees can make employees angry and dissatisfied with their work. This can result in a bad performance or quitting an organisation. Here are a few tips for developing a good relationship with staff.

Top Tips for Working Relationships

Making a good first impression is very important in the workplace. Office friendships will not develop if you have a bad attitude, are rude or impolite. A sense of humour is also important for breaking down barriers between people. You can befriend coworkers quickly just by taking these simple steps. In addition, communication is another important part of making good working relationships. It is important to be aware of your own body language and adjust to the working environment.

More About Communication

In western culture, looking at the ground when someone is speaking to you means that you are shy or not assertive. It also shows a lack of confidence. This is just one action that could affect your working relationships. Furthermore, It is easy to see other examples of poor communication in the workplace. Employees that are distracted, talk over people, can’t answer questions or don’t listen are bad communicators.

Conclusion – Making Good Relationships is a Skill

Making good relationships is more than just good communication. You need to show respect to work colleagues by showing your eagerness do take on tasks, be flexible and more. You also need to be positive when things are not going well as it helps make people feel comfortable. Giving feedback, advice and assistance to staff is another important part of developing working relationships. These are only a few ways to make friends and lifelong relationships with people at work.

Benefits of teamwork

Published March 17, 2021 / by admin

In a team, a task is shared among members with different skill sets. Teamwork contributes to more innovative strategies, increased motivation, and faster performance speed. It mostly works in organisations where a supervisor oversees the coordination of several employees. As such, these entities should provide enabling conditions such as supportive management structures for teams to thrive.

Teamwork Is Good For Morals

Working as a team has dynamic moral benefits for the employees. It helps make them more hardworking as they strive to input their various skills into the shared workload. Trust also develops among the team members due to increased interaction, which adds to a healthy office environment. Teamwork enhances the employees’ communication skills because they need to air their ideas effectively to achieve their goals.

Teamwork Results To Better Productivity

One of the ways that teamwork increases productivity is through sharing of workloads. You can also expect more from businesses that enforce teambuilding because there are better brainstorming sessions. A strong team creates a support system for its members, which helps manage challenges such as losses. And, it fosters the acquisition of new skills among team members, so they increase their expertise in different areas.

More About Teamwork

Successful teams consist of members who understand their roles and accommodate the opinions of their teammates. In a team, the workload is distributed equally, and each member must have the necessary qualifications. To work effectively, teams have to agree on their work structure, the strategies that they will use, and the goals they want to achieve.

5-A-Side Football Rules

Published January 11, 2021 / by admin

5 A Side Football is a fantastic way for players to come together, do some team building and go for the big win. The sport has modified rules and requires quick thinking about the gameplay. This means that a team’s weaknesses are exposed quickly, so teams know where they should improve. Let’s learn about the rules and how the sport can help team building below.

How it works

5 a side football is one of the great team building sports. It has four outfield players and one goalkeeper. Playtime is reduced and the field size is smaller. Only the goalkeeper can touch the ball in the goal box and pass the ball with their hands without kicking. There is no offside and handball rules are looser. Yellow cards and red cards are also given. Learning how to play 5 a side football takes little time.

Great for teambuilding

Good team sports should put players in situations where they have to make decisions quickly and rely on each other to feel some accomplishment. The fast nature and rules of 5 a side football means that decisions need to be made quickly. Players must be tuned into what their team is doing. The game shows where a team is weak and how to improve communication.

Why Play 5 A Side Football ?

It is clear that the game is a great workout due to its pace. It requires each player to think about exploiting the rules to get small advantages in very short periods of time. It exposes players to a team-building environment where player’s communication and flaws are shown. This makes the sport an easy way to try and improve the team in a short amount of time.

How To Be a Great Leader

Published November 11, 2020 / by admin

Regardless if you are running a small or a big business, teaching a class, or managing a team, leadership skills will always make a difference. A good leader is capable of bringing the best out of everyone and, that equates to success. Not all can naturally lead and inspire the people around them. But the good thing is, there are tips and practices that will help you improve your leadership.

The Key To Being A Good Leader

Learning how to lead is crucial but you can start small. Work on your communication skills first. As you communicate, make sure to learn managing your emotions. It’s valid to feel frustration, anger, and stress. But as you speak, don’t let these feelings control you. You should also be a part of the team. Be a guide, a mentor, a listener, and support, build your people’s confidence. These are a few leadership tips that’ll help you and the team grow.

How To Effectively Improve Your Skills

Once you know what areas to improve, you start practising it. It’d be helpful if you read books, blogs, articles about how to lead a team. These materials have techniques and inputs you can incorporate into your leadership style. You could also attend seminars and training, listen to podcasts about how to manage a team.

Working Your Way To Be A Better Leader

If you think you do not have the characteristics of an excellent leader, there’s no reason to panic. You can come up with many ways and strategies to improve your capabilities. Tons of materials are available to guide you. It’s just a matter of continuous hard work and dedication in studying as well as adapting to these practices. You will learn all that it takes to be a great leader in no time.

The Importance of Team Building

Published September 11, 2020 / by admin

Team Building refers to organizing a group of individuals into a cohesive team with an aim of accomplishing a set of common goal or purpose. This is an effective strategy that you can embrace to help your employees work together and raise their working morale to complete tasks on time. Mainly, this will aid in the rise of productivity.

Types of Team Building

Team building process has lots of options and this makes it very hard to know which activity can be most effective for your team. However, there are four main types of team building incorporating team building ideas. If you want to start the planning process you can get ideas from these four types. They include; activity based, skill based, and value base. Embracing any of these in your team will help you understand the importance of team building.

Importance of Team Building

As an area of development, many institutions have ignored the importance of team building. As a leader in any institution, you can benefit from the various activities conducted in team building if you incorporate it into your institution’s culture. Some benefits exhibited include; building trust among members, raising employees’ motivation, enhancing communication process, increasing productivity and easier identification of workers’ strong and weak areas.

Why Leaders Should Embrace Team Building

In summary, team building is an effective process categorized into four main types, each involving various activities. Any leader can embrace it to help raise the morale of the employees, enhance communication, create strong cohesion and build trust among employees. These and many other benefits will cause enhancement of the institution’s productivity.

Maslow’s Hierachy of Needs

Published July 13, 2020 / by admin

Introduced decades ago in the year 943 in Abraham Maslow’s paper ‘A Theory of Human Motivation’ there are levels that people first need to complete before they advance to the next level. Essentially the theory is about humans having a host of needs, and these must be met before they can move on towards others.

Finding out what motivates people

The American psychologist, Abraham Maslow saw human needs as a hierarchy. A manager in the workplace needs to see where the different personality types fit into the hierarchy and how to motivate each individual. People spend a lot of time at work so good relationships with colleagues can increase team morale. Team building can enhance a sense of belongingness. People who know and respect each other, collaborate better and produce better work.

Teambuilding reveals strengths and weaknesses in people

In the workplace a good manager needs to recognize that each person contributes something to the company. Not everyone is suitable for the jobs some people excel at. Then team building helps the manager discover the strengths and weaknesses of the team to ensure that each person fits into a niche. They will then feel at home in their particular niche and be respected for their contribution.

Everyone can better themselves

Maslow’s hierarchy is all about self improvement or personal development, offering a general idea of what people can use to better themselves. Physiological needs should be met before people attempt the other levels, with the goal of people being to complete the hierarchy levels in the right order of importance.

Escape Rooms

Published May 13, 2020 / by admin

Escape rooms are an excellent choice to get together as a group and use your team skills to solve the puzzles in the room in order to find the key within the set time limit. This key unlocks the room allowing you to escape otherwise you will be locked in until the set time frame elapses.

Composition of Escape Rooms

Escape rooms tend to vary depending on the venue. Primarily, each room has a unique theme that aids the immersion process. Some of the popular themes found in escape rooms are abandoned spaceships, murder scenes, haunted hotels/houses, and tombs. These themes, as you can see, are somewhat scary, and this is meant to enable those in team building to devise strategies they can employ when working under pressure.

How They Help

The benefits of escape rooms during team building activies are several. They promote teamwork since people are expected to work together to solve the puzzles. Problem-solving skills are also enhanced considering that those involved have to think creatively and critically to find the correct answer. Further to this, escape rooms enable managers and the organisation access how workers handle conflicts.

Consider Escape Rooms For Your Next Team Building

Some workers struggle with conflict resolution, fixed mindset, and problem-solving. These struggles can have a negative effect on a company’s overall performance especially if they are not identified. Escape rooms provide the right environment to monitor workers who might have such struggles and then work towards having them resolved. Escape rooms are, with no doubt, a valuable tool for an organisation to assess its employees, grow their skills as well as engage them.

5 Best Icebreaker Questions

Published March 7, 2020 / by admin

We have all attended parties, meetings and other functions where nobody has a word to say to each other. When it becomes embarrassingly quiet, a good icebreaker at the start of the event, which is uncomplicated and which doesn’t require too much time evaluating it, can loosen things up and get people talking and interacting.

Who needs an icebreaker?

For new-starters in an organisation, icebreakers can play a role in helping them feel at home. Some newcomers might feel awkward with ice breakers and that is why they need to be short and dynamic like 5 icebreakers may be a good start. The whole purpose of an icebreaker is to make people feel safe and comfortable among others. The first effective icebreaker is to simply ask ‘what is your name and what name would you have liked?’

Chilled team-building icebreakers

Team building icebreakers can immediately give you an inkling as to who you could possibly gel with. Questions such as ‘are you competitive?’, ‘do you think teambuilding unites a group or alienates it?, or ‘do you like problem-solving activities?’ can help you familiarise yourself with the group, especially as you watch their facial expressions while answering.

Ice Breakers should always be simple

Icebreakers should never be complicated or embarrassing as they can have the opposite effect. Simple questions like this 5th one – ‘is honesty the best policy’, will give you an idea as to who in your audience believes that ice breakers work and who believes they’re just an embarrassment and only serve to irritate.

Teambuilding The British Army Way

Published January 15, 2020 / by admin

There’s a purpose with teambuilding – the idea is to have retreats or problem-solving camps that will build skills and camaraderie among colleagues. If you achieve your purpose, then the camaraderie built up between colleagues is designed to improve productivity. The British Army has faced ever conceivable challenge and we can learn from them how to overcome challenges in the office.

Protect and Support important Teambuilding Skills

Both the scout team and the fire team in the British army know how to use teamwork, leadership, tenacity and good planning to get the job done. These teams know how to protect and support their team members and skills like these can be implemented in the office as you strive to get along well- and support your fellow workers, particularly those who are new and battling.

Working together to Keep out Harmful aspects

When a scout team engages in their activities, they work together as a team in an unknown area to gain information about it and work together and gather information ahead of the main force. They move forward while using their leadership skills to achieve their motives. The strategies and methods they use can also be extended into the office as you all work to keep out negative and harmful aspects.

Important Strategies gleaned from the Army

There is no denying that we can take inspiration from the way the British army ‘irons out’ their challenges. Teambuilding ideas from the army can even help an office plan for an emergency because you ‘ve all learned how to work through processes in such a way that it has a positive impact on productivity and a healthy, happy environment.

Sports Team Building

Published November 19, 2019 / by admin

Team building activities are crucial for companies of all structures and sizes. Regardless of whether you have many employees or just a few of them, team building is a must. Team building gives employees a time to bond with each other. Through this, trust is created. They also give employees a time to relax, which is essential in promoting their productivity.

Team Building Activities

Team building events are something any firm can’t do without and as such, companies should ensure they regularly organize team building events. During these events, there are various recreational activities that a team can take part in. Some of these are tug-of-war, human knot, blind drawing, water balloon toss, egg drop, blind retriever, and scavenger hunt to mention a few. There are limitless activities that a team can indulge in to create team spirit

Objectives Of Team Building

Recreational activities carried out during team building have many benefits. They inspire creativity, promote creative and critical thinking, and enhances problem-solving skills. Team building also promotes exceptional team bonding which is essential in breaking office cliques. In turn, this encourages team work in the workplace, a factor needed to achieve the goals of any given corporation.

Invest in Team Building

Taking one or multiple days from work for team building may seem unthinkable. The missed work hours may seem like a huge expense. Nevertheless, in reality, team building is something you cannot do without. It is a crucial part of any corporation. Think of it as a vital investment. A team that doesn’t observe team work can cost a business. Investing money and time into team building bu

Workplace Conflict Resolution Techniques

Published September 13, 2019 / by admin

We spend a large part of our day at our workplace, hence when a conflict arises, it can affect us on a very personal level. Trying to solve a problem of this type requires strategy and various tools so that peace can be restored. Here, we will discuss some useful and effective strategies to resolve the disputes arising at the workplace effectively.

Role of a Mediator

If you are a mediator and not directly involved in the conflict, you must remain calm and go to the root of the dispute. Then, you should move forward cautiously to resolve conflict without positioning yourself in favor of anyone or taking actions that can look unfair. You have to then collaborate and listen patiently to all the involved parties and create space for conversation and find out a solution that is amiable to everyone.

Listen to one another

If you are involved in the conflict yourself, then it is very much possible that you are full of reasons to think as you think, but if you do not expand your mind to attend to what the other person has to tell you, then reaching an agreement would be impossible. You’ll need to collaborate to find a solution that is satisfactory for both.

Learning to cope

Some people think of changing jobs when they face conflicts. However, the change of job is not really a solution but a flight. What happens then? That the person does not acquire the necessary resources to face these situations and may come across similar problems at the new workplace too. So, it is necessary to look for resolutions and just not look for an escape.

Different Team Models

Published July 15, 2019 / by admin

Teams are important aspects of the success of any organisation. Indeed, they remain a central methodology for any organisation. The more you align your team to the organisation’s goals, the better the results you get. You, therefore, should be able to know your team and plan your work accordingly. This gives every team member a picture of what is required of them and they thus complement each other’s efforts.

Recognize Your Team

Team Spirit Model refers to a group of people working under one boss. Majorly, their tasks may include delegated functions from the upper levels of management. The downside of this arrangement is that there is usually no room for discussion or deliberations as all decisions are made by the boss. In the Cutting Edge Model, the team manages itself and they are able to make crucial decisions as a team.

Other Types of Team Formations

You can also consider the Cyber team model. Here, teams rarely meet physically. Indeed, most meetings this team have are usually virtual and are hosted over the internet. The teams meet physically only once during the onset of the project. These teams mainly work on virtual IT projects as opposed to physical projects. Communication here is however enhanced via calls and emails.

Know The Best Model For Your Team

Understanding your team’s roles is paramount in understanding the type of team model you may need. You also need to understand the timelines given and the abilities of each of your members. You can then evaluate your methodology and implement strategies accordingly. It is always a wise idea to continually monitor the progress achieved to ensure you’ve got a functioning team.

Benefits Of Teamwork

Published May 8, 2019 / by admin

The success of any organisation is highly dependent on how its workers coordinate with one another. Companies with great teamwork are better placed to succeed compared to those with minimal cooperation between employees. Teamwork involves the collaborative efforts of a team working towards finishing a task or accomplishing a common goal. It fosters progressive growth in a company, and even when challenges occur, it is easier to overcome them.

List Of Benefits You Get From Good Teamwork

The advantages of good teamwork in an institution are many. Some of the benefits a company can reap from excellent teamwork include fostering creativity and learning. It also builds trust among employees and their employers, and encourages healthy risk-taking. Teamwork also encourages thinking outside of the box, which in turn enables people to approach problems in innovative ways. When people work as a team, brainstorming is increased and this, in turn, results in higher productivity.

Ways To Promote Teamwork

The management of any institution can promote a culture of excellent teamwork by practicing clear communication, defining the responsibilities of each employee, and amicably resolving any conflicts that may arise in the workplace. Teamwork can also be advanced through enhancing trust and respect among employees and employers. Job satisfaction is higher in companies where close teamwork is encouraged.

Final Thoughts About Teamwork

A positive work environment is not born, rather it is created. It takes commitment and hard work to foster a positive workplace, with teamwork playing a vital role in making this possible. When employees work in teams, trust, creativity, and thinking outside the box are promoted, enabling a company to handle even the most challenging situations.