Big Idea Sports | Team Telepathy: Recent Episodes

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In Episode 5 of The Team Telepathy Podcast
we explore how to build a successful team in a different culture: China.

Our guest is an experienced cross-cultural leader, George Smith, Director of New Business Development for Orbis International.

Orbis International is an pioneering global NGO with a game-changing mission: “We bring people together people together to fight avoidable blindness. We believe that no one should live a life of unnecessary blindness, simply because of where they were born.”

13 years ago, George took the leap to move to Beijing with his family to take on the new challenge of building a world class Orbis program in China.

His success is considered best in class.

George shares his experience of changing a top-down team culture into one of empowered team participation, with insights such as

• The importance of local teams (in any culture) thinking globally if they want to succeed.
• The role of the leader in creating a safe space for expressing ideas, particularly ones that go against the grain.
• That leadership is both science and art. Trust you intuition rather than the Management 101 textbooks.
• The deeply-rooted positives of a Chinese team’s loyalty and excellence.
• That you have to enjoy the experience. If not, it’s time to move.

More information on the great work of Orbis International, and how you can support it, can be found at: www.orbis.org

Thanks for listening.

TEAMS ARE THE ENGINES.
LISTEN TO THEM. FUEL THEM. HELP THEM HUM.coachmike.biz

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In Episode 4 of Team Telepathy we explore how to build and sustain impactful and happy teams in the non profit sector. And through better teams make a better world.

Our guest is Patton McDowell, a recognised leader in non-profit leadership development based in Charlotte, North Carolina, USA.

Patton shares his take on current top of mind challenges for non profit leaders. And with Mike Smith, delves into numerous team themes, including:  The "i" in team, investing in talent,  increasing collaboration, getting "Return to Office" right, and the key new skills needed by nonprofit leaders:  team communication, coaching and understanding the next generation of talent.

Plenty of insights and team development ideas for leaders in both the NGO and corporate sectors shared by a thoughtful leadership expert.

More information on Patton McDowell's work, including 200 Podcasts on Leadership in the Non Profit World, can be found at: www.pattonmcdowell.com
Within these Podcasts (Episode 68) is Patton leading a discussion with Mike Smith on The "3 C's"of Non Profit Leadership.

Thanks for listening.

TEAMS ARE THE ENGINES.
LISTEN TO THEM. FUEL THEM. HELP THEM HUM.coachmike.biz

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In sessions 1 and 2 we introduced the concept of Team Telepathy: The playful, purposeful connectivity that creates the magic that brings the fans to their feet. And highlighted its value in companies where collaboration is fundamental to sustainable growth.

We outlined a framework based on a sport preseason/early season model and its “3Ps”: **People, Process and Patience.

IN EPISODE 3 we look at two current pain points for business team leaders:**

1. How to evolve a New Way to Play(e.g., Hybrid Work Model) that truly contributes to team success?
2. How to find the additional time needed to focus on the team dynamic?

While this podcast with esteemed basketball coach Annette Lynch is grounded in sport, her open, descriptive language makes the business team relevance pretty easy to get.

1. HOW TO EVOLVE A NEW WAY TO PLAY **THAT CONTRIBUTES TO TEAM SUCCESS? KEY POINTS:

New Hybrid Work Model = PLAYING IN A TOTALLY NEW LEAGUE.** So start with a blank sheet.

You want your teams to come back in shape. Mental and physical wellness initiatives are a key part of team preparation and support.

The Head Coach (Team leader) needs to be able to help players visualise and feel this New Way to Play — not just charts and concepts.

A shared vision — tactical clarity from the Head Coach— helps players feel settled and build the fluid connectivity of team telepathy; it underpins an extra winning power.

The team leader’s shared vision also has to be adopted by the assistant coaches- with everyone moving in the same direction.

Successful Hybrid: In the perception of the team, is a New Way to Play that contributes to personal development and to the team’s collaborative ability; helping the team create the magic needed to bring their fans to their feet.

2. HOW TO FIND THE TIME TO FOCUS ON THE TEAM DYNAMIC?Besides player development and performance,team coaches have many other important and time-consuming **outward facing responsibilities.

But teams need the personal involvement of the team coach, particularly in times of transition:** to help them meet their personal needs, to make a strong start, to gain confidence, and to become a great team, not just a good one.

In this situation, Assistant Coaches need to be key allies in synch with the team leader.

And a team leader/manager needs to lean on their senior team members to step up as New Season leaders within the team — taking some of the weight off the coach. Senior members should be recognised for this.

Not everyone is going to be happy with the New Way To Play.But negative influence fromunhappy team members needs to be personally addressed by the team leader — earlier rather than later.

A good team dynamic, catalysed by the team leader **becomes a tailwind not a headwind.

WHAT’S NEXT?
IN SESSION 4 we will catch up again with Annette Lynch to talk about 3 Coaching Priorities** going into a new season:

- Furthering individual agency, self-expression and love of the game
- Creating the live time and space for purposeful practice
- Minimising the distractive noise, **and upping the positive.

If you have any questions, or would like to book a time to discuss Team Telepathy and the needs of your team, please contact us at** contact@bigideasports.com.

Until then, stay well, And look after your team.

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In Episode 2, we outline the framework for developing this quality in your team.THE 3P’s

Going into a New Season, to develop Team Telepathy in your business team, you need to have 3 things:

• The right kind of players
• The right kind of process
• And the right kind of patience

THE RIGHT KIND OF PLAYERS - Your Top Talent

High performing teams consist of motivated, skilful people with strong individual talent and the skills and desire to connect and combine with others.Companies need their workforce to be “On the Bus.” Creative work teams are looking for a bigger, earlier say in co-designing that bus.One criteria we would add to a talent selection — if not already there —Is a candidate’s potential to contribute to the playful, purposeful connectivity that underpins Team Telepathy.

THE RIGHT KIND OF PROCESS - Preseason for Business

Transitions from covid restrictions to “post-covid,” or from remote to hybrid, or old strategy to new, need more than just strong company values and norms and worker adaptability.A team in transition needs close interaction from the team leader and a process that everyone understands, benefits from, and buys in to.

In complex environments, situations and opportunities may evolve rapidly.

Teams have to have the freedom to act and adapt. That’s what good preparation achieves.In sport team development there is an established and proven Preseason/Early season process which can be creatively mapped over to business.

The core role of the club or company in team preparation is not to manage the team - that’s the coach’s/team leader’s role.

In addition to strategic direction and financial investment, the key role of the club or company is to be“ The Custodian of the Team Shirt.”A team shirt carries in its fibre mission, history, values and norms, and serves to transmit pride, inspiration and togetherness which a player feels when he or she puts on that shirt.

THE RIGHT KIND OF PATIENCE - “Hurry Slowly”

A famous NFL football coach said: “In a 17 week season I won’t really know my team until game 5.”Patience is a virtue, and is vital in both sport and business.

But a business team and it leaders need a different kind of patience, particularly during development or transition time.

• In sport, progress may come faster than points on the board.
• In business Quarterly Targets might not be met. That means pressure.

We can’t just say: “Well, be patient , it will come.”Many top products (e.g. the iPhone) are the result of the combination of an innovative vision strong game plan, trust in the development team, and patience based on the ability to keep track of and communicate key indicators.

• Internally: As a team are we doing what we set out to do?
• Externally: Are there early external leading indicators of our impact?

Most companies already have their well-tested quarterly performance reviews - KPIs. We suggest you add TTPIs: Team Telepathy Progress Indicators.You can develop TTPIs by getting together with your team and having them define what measures makes sense for their team - More round-the-table Team Telepathy talks; less surveys and check-boxes.

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WELCOME TO OUR TRAINING GROUND

TEAM TELEPATHY

TO START, watch a few minutes of the video at the top of the page that features Barcelona FC, one of the world’s top soccer teams, preparing for their next high-stakes, high-pressure game.

It captures the feel of Team Telepathy, and a sense of where it begins.

Team Telepathy:

Playful, purposeful connectivity creating game-changing magic that brings the fans to their feet. It’s the difference between good teams and great teams - in sport and in business.

In this podcast series

In Episode 1 - Team Telepathy & It’s Value
In Episode 2 - How to Develop Team Telepathy in Your Team - The Process
In Episode 3 - Coaching Team Telepathy - The Priorities

You don’t have to love sport to get something out of these podcasts. We present sport as simply an example of creative, goal-oriented human endeavour where the value of the team dynamic is particularly visible.

We try to stay away from locker-room sport jargon. And make the link to business teams intuitive and relevant.

A GROWTH MINDSET IN CHALLENGING TIMES

• In challenging times, you can’t just stay your shell waiting for a new normal to settle back in.
• It won’t.
• We are entering what would be better described as the new not normal,
• where a growth-oriented business strategy is essential for getting ahead of the wave
• and building future value.

But we need to remember that TEAMS ARE THE ENGINESwho implement and iterate strategy, and who ultimately bring your fans - customers, partners, company, community - to their feet.

So every business also needs a growth-oriented Teamstrategy.

WHAT MAKES A GOOD TEAM SPECIAL?

Part of the DNA of high-performing sport teams is their playful, purposeful connectivity, fuelling the ability totest out options, move with speed and fluidity, anticipate opportunities and generate attacking momentum, as well as providing the trust and mutual support needed when the going gets tough.

This is more than just “good teamwork.” These top teams play as if telepathic.

So we have made Team Telepathy the core concept for our work with business teams.

A V1 EXPERIMENT WITH A TEAM AT GOOGLE

We took our Team Telepathy thinking into an interaction with the dynamic team at Google US Creative Works - the creative minds behind the development of YouTube.

Based on their feedback,our Team Telepathy catalyst

• Created a more positive mindset
• Sharpened individual ownership of RTO & the new Hybrid Work model
• And surfaced insights for managers to further support team development.

A good initial result. More to come.