The power of team work!

It’s true that as individuals we can achieve a lot both in life and in business and when one looks towards the realm of personal development we’re often asking the question how can I achieve more. An experience over the past few months that culminated in a lot of running this past Sunday has reminded me of the importance of team work as well as individual achievement.

Towards the end of last summer we at Dale Carnegie committed ourselves to run in a Half Marathon in honour of our colleague Clive Thompson who was diagnosed with a blood cancer last year and therefore we chose to run in aid of Leukaemia & Lymphoma Research. I’m delighted to say that as a team we’ve raised so far over £1300 towards that cause. This past Sunday the team competed in both the Fleet and Reading Half Marathons .... some people running the whole way and others as part of a relay. Fun was had and medals and a few blisters were earned!

My advice to you is twofold:

Firstly when looking to tackle something in business and life look to the people around you and draw on the strengths of your team. It’s amazing how much more you can achieve by focusing energy on recruiting a team to solve a problem, than it is focusing on worrying about how you’re going to do it on your own.

Secondly It’s great for team moral in a work environment to have a goal outside the business that does good for the community at large and continues to pull you together as a team. We’ve decided to make Leukaemia & Lymphoma Research our charity of the year and will be looking for another team event in the autumn.

Please look to those around you and focus energy on building the right team and see what results are possible.

By David Anderson
Managing Director

www.London.dalecarnegie.com

Take one for the Team

It’s 8.55pm and I am sitting on the sofa with chocolate by my side and the TV on.... ready and waiting for the next instalment of Hell’s Kitchen. Over the past week I have found myself becoming rather drawn into this latest reality TV show. You may be thinking to yourself ‘What is she watching that rubbish for, has she nothing better to do?’, but if you look past the cameras and the glamour there are some core values being showcased which are key to any successful working environment.

Marco Pierre White sacked one celebrity from the kitchen because he wasn’t a team player. He appeared to have been doing well, working hard and cooking what was expected of him but this was not enough to survive. He built up no rapport and chose to work as an individual rather than helping and working alongside the others. He may have been creating what was required but what he was producing was not spectacular, if he had chipped in with the others and made himself a team player perhaps the results he could have achieved would not just have been acceptable but would have been outstanding.

Marco leaves the kitchen in the hands of the celebrities, how will they cope without their teacher at the helm? Step up Ade.... as soon as Marco has left the kitchen Ade has taken control, he is shouting orders, checking his colleagues are ok and getting stuck in to the task at hand. He keeps the kitchen moving, which in turn keeps the food going out to the tables and consequently makes the diners happy. If Ade hadn’t stepped up to the challenge and taken the role of leader things could have been very different. Every working environment needs a leader who will engage with the team and lead them in the right direction to achieve the desired results.

So if you take away the celebrities and the TV cameras Hell's Kitchen is very similar to any work place; people are key to its success. Whether you are working in a shop on Oxford street, an office in the city or in Hell’s kitchen, you need team players and leaders to make sure your successful in whatever you do.

Sophie Whittall

Marketing & Admin

http://www.london.dalecarnegie.com/

Don't Worry, Be Happy

Welcome to the Dale Carnegie London Blog, we are very excited about our launch and can't wait to start sharing our views and advice with you. The whole team here in London will be contributing to the blog and we will hold monthly polls to find out what you want to hear about and what issues you are facing.

Right now we are getting fed up with the doom and gloom of the credit crunch and want to focus on our goals and see how we can thrive in current times, in the words of Dale Carnegie 'It's Time to Stop Worrying and Start Living'.......

Sophie Whittall

Marketing Co-ordinator

http://www.london.dalecarnegie.com/