In this week’s pod, we welcomed Nick Fewings to discuss achieving high-performance teamwork and greater success. Nick Fewings, Director of Ngagementworks, calls himself a Teamologist, someone who specialises in the study of the dynamics of teamwork, using this knowledge, to help teams become more effective. After a 20-year career in banking, working his way up from a cashier to a project leader, and finally a change director, Nick has spent the last two decades, developing teams across the globe, encouraging, facilitating, and helping them to make a positive difference to the effectiveness of their teamwork. During this period, he has profiled thousands of individuals across hundreds of teams. Nick is also the creator of the Team DyNAmics Model that measures overall team effectiveness across 16 areas of teamwork, important in helping to achieve high performance. When not working with teams, he is also a highly regarded, award-winning keynote conference speaker and to date, has spoken at over 500 conferences worldwide, including every branch of the APM, in the UK. The main topics we discussed on the podcast were as follows:

·        Research suggests only 10% of teams are high performing, 50% are average and 40% dysfunctional
·        Most teams do not know which category they fall into because they do not measure their teamwork
·        It is useful to view the traits of people on good days and bad days when reviewing Insights profiles
·        Purpose is more important than trust in developing high performing teams
·        Purpose is a task-based element whereas trust is more about the relationship. Many teams were driven by tasks to the detriment of relationships
·        Good leaders will tap into the preferred communication styles of red, yellow, blue, and greens within their teams when briefing team members
·        Anonymous feedback is the best way to enable more honest feedback when measuring team effectiveness over a period of time
·        Excellence is impossible to achieve within a team. Some teams will come close
·        There is a correlation between high performing teams and project success but it is not apparent in the Project Management industry
·        Having the right skill set and adaptability to inspire teams is important when recruiting future leaders as opposed to trying to force the right balance upon a team here are links to some of the topics we discussed:
·        Team, Lead, Success – Nick Fewings: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Team-Lead-Succeed-high-performance-teamwork-ebook/dp/B09SZHC6P9
·        Team Dynamics Model: https://ngagementworks.com/teamwork/
·        Clarity 4D Profile – Nick Fewings: https://ngagementworks.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Nick_Fewings-Clarity4D-Profile.pdf
·        Google – What Makes a Good Team: https://rework.withgoogle.com/print/guides/5721312655835136/ Tune in next time when we’re joined by Magnus Olsen to discuss career challenges, opportunities, and trends - a student's perspective.

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Episode XXXII - Vespasian, as Prophesised