History remembers Thomas Edison as a lone genius. Wrong! He created his most famous invention with a team of 30.

Machines systematize; people innovate. And so it’s no surprise that relationships are a major factor in producing those innovative ideas that lead to better, faster, more elegant solutions. Remember, Thomas Edison didn't invent the lightbulb alone - he was part of a team of 30!

Why does innovation so often boil down to relationships? Here are a few reasons:

1.    Greater Risk Taking: Trusting, caring relationships help people feel comfortable taking risks. Without those relationships, people don’t open their mouths to voice potentially good ideas because they’re afraid of looking stupid.

2.    Creative Collision: When candid exchanges between people collide, the fusion generates entirely new insights, new ideas, and new approaches that might never have been considered independently. But people need to feel comfortable “colliding” with colleagues. That requires a deep base of trust and mutual respect.

3.    Less Rigid Hierarchy: Strong relationships help communication flow beyond traditional hierarchies. A boss who truly cares about and respects his employee is more likely to listen to new ideas, not reject them out of hand.

So leaders: Give employees time, space and structure to build deeper relationships! Individuals, make it your responsibility to make your work relationships deep. Don't wait for the company cocktail hour!

According to Tom Rath’s Vital Friends - great book by the way, I cited it in Who's Got Your Back - only 18 percent of people work for organizations that provide opportunities for social bonding in the workplace. And many of the companies who do provide those “opportunities” don’t structure them in a way that really serves the goal of deeper, stronger relationships. Throwing people in a room with chips and booze does not make for a productive event!

If I could wave a wand and change just one thing this year in the landscape of American business, that would be it. The results could be incredible.

3 comments // In Team Building

Have you ever thrown yourself over the line at work?

By that I mean taking real emotional, personal risks with people who respect you professionally. Showing sides of yourself that you tend to keep under wraps.

It may sound scary, but I can tell you first hand that it can work MAGIC on your team.

Keith and I work every day to help individuals "go there," so that teams can quickly build an environment of trust and commitment that enhances their ability to work through business problems and achieve goals. In this work, I've witnessed exceptional moments where leaders have shared their most defining moments, devastating losses, and crippling fears. These moments, often accompanied by tears and respectful silence at the dinner table, transform the team, almost instantaneously.

This is the moment when that person has taken a risk, and has thrown him or herself over the line. And this is the moment where everyone in the room commits to that person’s success.

I always wondered, could I cross the line myself? I found out recently when as part of my training to become a coach I was asked to - don't laugh - try a "Lara Croft" personality on for size in front of a room full of 25 people. For this role-playing exercise, I was to be big, bold, and physical - all things I'm normally not. It required real vulnerability to "go there."

After taking this risk, I felt so much bigger and more powerful for it. Issues I had been dealing with came into perspective and became so much easier to address. I learned that in “throwing myself” across this imaginary line, I was suddenly bigger and bolder than my problems.

Just Remember:

1. “Throwing yourself across the line” can help you get out of a rut or “up your game”; it's also a way to gain trust of those who watch you take the risk.
2. Environment matters – make sure you are in a place where you can take a risk and you can land safely no matter what happens.

I’d love to hear your stories of throwing yourself over the line – what did you learn?

Meghna heads up the High Impact Teams consulting practice at Ferrazzi Greenlight with Keith. She is based in New York City. If you have questions or want to increase your team's impact, contact her at mmajmudar at ferrazzigreenlight dot com.

4 comments // In Team Building, Uncategorized

In the Stones documentary Shine the Light, Martin Scorsese asks Keith Richards who he thinks is the better guitarist, himself or Ronnie Wood. The question was tongue-in-cheek, but Keith answers in kind:

"The truth is we are both sh*t - but together - we are better than any ten…"

Thanks to Jason Jon for sending this anecdote my way. Forward it to your favorite colleagues!

Who's the Ronnie Wood to your Keith Richards, and what makes the relationship/collaboration so effective?

1 comment // In Team Building, Uncategorized

Today, a special guest post from Waldo Waldman, author of the just-out Never Fly Solo. (Should I do guest posts on Weds, so that the Tues/Thurs posts are always from me? Hmmn...)

Waldo’s got an incredible story to tell that also has the benefit of getting a great message across: A committed Wingman – a.k.a. Lifeline, in my WGYB terminology – can change your life. In fact, in Waldo’s case, a wingman can save your life. Below, Waldo’s post, drawn from Never Fly Solo – go here to buy and to download all his free bonus resources (including one from me). Also, give him a shout out in the comments and ask questions - I'll make sure he stops by to respond!

Check Six: How to Get the Mutual Support You Need to Thrive at Work
By Lt Col Rob “Waldo” Waldman

My wingman screamed over the radio “Break Right, Break Right! Missile launch, your 3 O’clock!”

I looked to my right and saw two SAM’s (surface to air missiles) skyrocketing towards my aircraft at twice the speed of sound.  My radar warning receiver was blaring which meant I was being locked up by enemy radar. If I didn’t maneuver my aircraft immediately, I would get shot down.  There was no time to think.

I lowered the nose, went to full power, banked the aircraft aggressively to the right and performed my best missile defense maneuver.  Then I heard my wingman (call sign “Pigpen”) yell “Magnum” over the radio. Read more →

4 comments // In Coaching, Team Building

Every email you write is an opportunity to strengthen a relationship.

If, in the grind of daily business, you’re wasting that opportunity, you’re making a huge mistake.

Email has become a primary means of communication inside companies and across divisions - sometimes even just across a cube division! Are you going to wait for a face-to-face, or until you're sauced at the Christmas party to be kind and conversational, and talk to someone besides the guy at the desk next to you? No!

Here are 7 tips to maximize relationship development – and ultimately, team performance  – in your intra-office emails.

1. Hey, Boss:  Don’t be afraid to email your boss. In a recent IBM study, researchers found that employees with strong email links to a manager produced an extra $588 of revenue per month over the norm. (If your manager gripes, share the study: http://smallblue.research.ibm.com/publications/Utah-ValueOfSocialNetworks.pdf.) Read more →

22 comments // In Business Networking, Communication, Team Building

Do you want more curiosity and acceptance from your team - the keys to creativity and accountability?

Then here's an exercise I've been thinking about after reading Marilee Adam's great book Change Your Questions, Change Your Life. (Reading it I found out we share a lot of common ground.)

Think about the judgments we make about colleagues every day as we go about our work: What's wrong here? Whose fault is it?

Realize that we ask these kinds of negative questions all the time, when what we should be asking are LEARNING questions: What do I want? What's possible? How can I fix it? This is how you move your mindset from blaming to accountable, rigid to adaptive, self-righteous to inquisitive, protective to curious -- individually and as a team.

Oh, one other thing.  Completing the exercise should maybe entail a rubber band on everybody's wrists to snap when we find ourselves falling into judgmental behavior -- the catholic school nun in me coming out.

4 comments // In Team Building

Jamie Dimon

All over the country before the banking bust, there were people sitting in their desk chairs so tense and anxious – and painfully silent – they could have been holding pennies in their butt cheeks. Too bad. If we had a business culture that truly embraced candor and collaboration, things might not have built to a such crisis point.

Take JP Morgan Chase and CEO Jamie Dimon, one of few heroes in all this. Dimon is well known for his no-holds-barred leadership style that involves a lot of listening and sparring – along with total candor. Dimon himself has been called “outspoken, profane, fearless” – but is also known for relying on a “trusted team of talented lieutenants.”

A few broad lessons to take from the company:

1.    Don’t blindly follow the pack. The bank’s competitors were making bundles off of the subprime market. That didn’t stop Dimon and his crew from saying “uh-uh.”

2.    Don't forget the long view. Dimon saw that the long-term outlook of mortgage-backed securities was very, very risky.

3.    Create an environment where people feel free to say, “That’s $#%@ stupid!” Jamie Dimon recently told me that that was was their CFO’s immediate reaction to securitizing subprimes.

4.    Make fast and efficient information sharing a MUST. Dimon’s top crew are focused on gathering information from across divisions and businesses, and making sure it’s spread through the organization, quickly.

5.    Favor collaboration rather than rigid hierarchy. When Dimon needs information, he doesn’t pay attention to rank or title – he goes straight to the best source.

1 comment // In Team Building

A couple weeks ago on the DC Road Show stop, I gave a talk for Champion Exposition, a premier event planning company. At the event Ryan, my social media correspondent on the tour, had a great conversation with company founder Mark Palm and found out Champion uses team selling with clients, a practice that I recommend in Who's Got Your Back.

Mark’s had great success with team selling and shared with me the top 3 benefits for Champion:

1. Many people provide the client with service, as opposed to just one. This shows the client that we care.
2. We have more “ground support” to capture more feedback from the client.
3. “3 heads are better than one” in the sense that we are able to use information about multiple contacts within the client organization to strategize a sales approach.

Mark also noted that camaraderie and deep personal relationships within his sales team allows them to build personal relationships with clients much more easily. They're able to take clients out in a social setting and bring them “into the fold."

There's an extended version of the WGYB chapter on team selling available for download for those who are interested in pursuing it in their own organizations.

0 comments // In Team Building

Today Harvard Business offers 7 Ways to Be Happier at Work. My two favorites from the list:

Stop managing and start leading. If you're in management, you need to find ways to motivate and stimulate your employees. How? Stretch their minds. Empower your team by giving them more responsibility, more decision-making power, more autonomy. Equally important: be inclusive. Explain what is happening in the company as a whole and give your employees a broader perspective on how their jobs influence the overall business.

Delegate. One of the most destructive and counterproductive byproducts of the downsizing era is fear — many managers are scared to let go of control for fear that doing so will make them obsolete. I have news for you: if you feel that way, you already are obsolete. Being controlling is bad for business, not to mention bad for your physical and mental health. The best leaders always look for people better, smarter, and more capable than themselves.

3 comments // In Team Building