Congratulations on completing the Region we call “7 Keys to a Winning Team”! If you’ve done your work over these past seven weeks, you have positioned yourself and your business to be supported by a high-performance team of people who are as passionate about your business vision as you are. Frankly, it doesn’t get any better than that!

This week we enter Stage 37 of this year’s Tour de Profit. Stage 37 is the much-anticipated Team Time Trial. This week your challenge is to demonstrate the new skills and capabilities you have just learned about leading and motivating your team. There is nothing quite as powerful as putting your new learning into action immediately after you gain the new knowledge.

So let’s get right into this week’s challenge. Your assignment for the week is to plan for and pull off a unique experience for your entire team that embodies the 7 Keys of a Winning Team. Here are some ground rules for your team activity. The activity should:

Be the central theme for your week.
Be not less than half a normal workday.
Be off-site if possible, however an on-site activity can work if you must.
Require interaction across functional areas of the business.
Build one another up.
Be fun.
Be novel.

Now, think back over the 7 Keys to a Winning Team and ask yourself, which ones do I really need to make a positive change in to improve our teamwork and performance. Make sure your activity can allow you to demonstrate those particular keys. Be purposeful in the design of your activities.

To prime the pump, here are a few ideas to consider.

Find an arcade or recreation center where your team can “play”. They will often times have staff members who specialize in team building activities.

Host your team to a catered dinner event combined with a memorable experience. You could take them out on a boat, go to a fun dance hall, or hold your event in an art gallery.

Take your team to a baseball game, or other sporting event where they can be recognized on the jumbo-tron.

Reserve a park where you can have your senior leaders grill burgers and organize games.

The ideas are endless. To get the best results and to employ one of the 7 Keys, invite some on your team to get involved with the planning and organizing. You will immediately notice a level of excitement and enthusiasm that will likely be greater than anything you would see in the workplace! Isn’t that interesting?

When you introduce an out of the norm experience for the team and show them that they are more important to you than just about anything in the business, their level of commitment and passion will immediately rise. It does not have to be anything fancy or expensive, but it does need to have your people at the center of the activity. This is not the time for you to boast or show off. This is the time to let the team see that you care about them, trust them, have confidence in them, value them and appreciate them.

Take the opportunity to give out some awards or give some personal recognition. Focus on the behaviours and habits that you want the entire team to embrace. While it is certainly ok to recognize outstanding results, the more powerful approach is to recognize the behaviours you want to see in your business in spite of the absolute result, particularly if you are confident that one will lead to the other.

So, there you go. You’ve got your assignment for the week. Step out of the box this week. Let your people know you value them. Don’t put it off. Do it this week. Once you see the benefits from doing this Team Time Trial, you will certainly do it again – next time with much more planning and preparation. But for now, we’re about ACTION! Don’t worry that it won’t be perfect. Just get started.

Good Luck – and have fun! This is certain to be a GREAT week!

Contact Rich Allen, Business Coach at www.actioncoach.com/richallen or at richallen@actioncoach.com for more information on his business coaching programs.