Whether we get to choose who will be on our team, or we have to work with the people we have right now, building a team for the long-haul is not something we can do overnight.  Here’s a new favorite quote about that, and five things to look for when building a team that succeeds […]

The post Building a Team: What to Look for When Assembling Your Squad appeared first on RapidStart Leadership.

What do you do when your team is falling apart? We all know that in most cases you can accomplish more as a team than as an individual. But what happens when the “teamwork” part erodes away and all you have left is a group of individuals masquerading as a team?  How do you diagnose […]

The post Book Notes – The Five Dysfunctions of a Team appeared first on RapidStart Leadership.

Think you need to make a change on your team?  Not able to advance because someone is holding you back?  It is easy to catch yourself thinking along these lines.  But the other day I came to an interesting realization when I paused to think about my old running shoes.  Here’s why your “racing” success is […]

The post Building the Team: Why You Don’t Need New Shoes appeared first on RapidStart Leadership.

“I will let your son burn the pancakes.” This is what I tell visiting parents who are trying to decide if their boy should join our Scout Troop. What I’m really telling them is that we do our best to empower the boys, and that the process can be messy. Here’s my thinking on that […]

The post Burning the Pancakes: 7 Steps to Empowerment appeared first on RapidStart Leadership.

Have you bumped up to the next level recently? Taken on a leadership role? Congratulations!  Just keep in mind that what got you there might not be what keeps you there.  Today we’ll take a quick look at a common pitfall new leaders often succumb to, and some good questions to ask that will keep you headed in the […]

The post Doing it Best but Doing it Wrong! appeared first on RapidStart Leadership.

“How do you build a close-knit innovative team under high pressure?” Imagine being put in charge of leading a team to do something that man has never been done before.  You have about ten people with widely differing backgrounds and personalities to work with.  You have tight budgetary limitations, a rapidly shrinking timeline and high […]

The post Book Notes: The Right Kind of Crazy appeared first on RapidStart Leadership.

In the heat of a crisis, as leaders we tend to want to jump in and start making decisions.  The situation calls for boldness, decisiveness; now is our chance to rise to the occasion.  To fail to act immediately may be interpreted as weakness.  But if we act hastily we risk making bad decisions and making things worse […]

The post Snake Bit! A Case Study in Making Haste Slowly appeared first on RapidStart Leadership.

Why turning a “blind eye” is hazardous to the health of your team  In 1801, Admiral Horatio Nelson was leading several warships in a desperate fight against the Danish in the Battle of Copenhagen.  His ships were part of a larger fleet commanded by another Admiral.  Back in those days, commanders communicated with their fleet […]

The post Leading With a Blind Eye: Why You Can’t Ignore the Thing You Didn’t Want to See appeared first on RapidStart Leadership.

We’ve all been there, but it’s funny how quickly we can forget the “New Guy” experience.  Yet how you bring a new person onto the team will have a lot to do with how long they stay, and how productive they’ll be.  Here are four things that the new guy won’t tell you, and what […]

The post Joining the Team: What the New Guy Won’t Tell You appeared first on RapidStart Leadership.

After every major event, good organizations and teams take a moment and very deliberately review what happened in an After Action Review.  In this way, they can keep getting better.  It’s a great process, but there’s an elephant in the room that can keep it from working.  Today we’re going to talk about what that […]

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