OK, I couldn’t resist jumping on the World Cup bandwagon…
As we reach the mid-year point, how is yours going so far?
● a stretching soaring success?
● an incremental increase on last year?
● a so-so, normal- normal, business-as-usual kind of year?
Nothing worse I hope!
In business, team talks can have a huge impact. Yet so often poorly prepared team talks have the opposite effect, and some even degenerate into a whinging and whining session, a team talk that is so problem-oriented that the team emerges in a worse state than when they went in.
Having a theme for your team talks allows you to use the analogy to explore performance from a fresh angle.
If you find yourself here half way through the year, as captain or manager of a team which is the business equivalent of 2 nil down at half time, it’s time to make some changes.
If you have already resorted to throwing tea-cups at the wall, the team is in trouble! But let’s hope it hasn’t gone that far, and with some skilful leadership, management and coaching you can turn the game around in the second half of the year, starting with a brilliant half-time team talk.
Half Time Team talks are designed to:
● Help you and the team to assess what is working well, what’s not working so well.
● Set a vision for the second half of the year… what you want to happen so that at the end of the year you’ll be able to look back and feel it’s been a success.
● Identify specific and tangible goals for the second half.
● Inspire commitment to making it happen.
● Impart the techniques to enhance performance to improve results.
● Re-energise and re-focus.
● Leave the team in no doubt what is required, and the rewards involved in achieving the goals.
Half time team talks might include:
● What’s the score at half time? You may find the half-time score assessment to be very revealing.
● What has worked really well in the first half and what specific goals were scored?
● How were these goals scored? And what aspects of the way the team is operating can be replicated to achieve results in the second half?
● Individual “well done” for those who have shown top performance.
● Tackling ourselves – what didn’t work so well, and why?
● Who has been playing offside – based on team/ business values, what behaviours do we need to remind are onside/ offside? I would stop short of showing red/ yellow cards though!
● What aspects of our performance –as a team and individually- need to change.
● What are the immediate goals for the second half? This should be something to focus on achieving right after the whistle sounds.
● Team changes and substitutions: who needs to change role? Managers often switch wingers, move players around, or change formation. And who else is needed to join the team (from within the business, or from outside)?
Remember to include a summary, as the team leaves the metaphorical dressing room, ready to go out onto the pitch for the second half:
● Well done on first half goals scored.
● Refocus on changes to tactics in second half.
● Re-energising –get the head held high.
● Focus on immediate goals to achieve “early doors” in the second half.
Have a great second half to 2018.