2nd Quarter 2009 Working in Teams (download)

Volume 5, Issue 14
June 2009
Dear friends and partners,
As 24/7 has become a by-word in
business today, we are upgrading
our website to make it more
interactive so we would be “on
call” for you.
Aside from including a forum
where our online visitors can be
in touch with everybody, we also
plan to provide our registered
clients
free
sample
documents
and materials that can easily be
downloaded.
We
would
appreciate
any
suggestions and feedback from
you in our continuing effort to
serve you better.
Working in Teams
A significant shift is taking place in
organizations throughout the world. A
shift that has important implications
for the skills that will be critical to your
success both as a member of
organizations and as a manager and
leader. This shift involves increasing
the emphasis on the team. Teams can
enhance problem solving and
creativity, generate understanding,
acceptance,
support,
and
commitment. In addition teams can
enhance morale, provide an outlet for
affiliation, enhance self-esteem, help
create consensus and security. Even
people who claim a real antipathy
towards teams cite some kind of team
experience in a high point in their
lives. Self-esteem, help create
consensus and security.
(continued on page 2)
Commitment…
Inside this issue:
FCU’s Improved Website
Page 1
1
Working in Teams
1-3
Surviving Economic
Downturn
3-4
Cost Cutting: Besides
Staff, What Else?
4-5
Client Testimonials
5-6
There’s a difference between
interest and commitment.
When you’re interested in
doing
something, you do
it only when circumstances
permit.
When
you’re
committed to something,
you accept no excuses, only
results. – Art Turock
(Volume 5, Issue 14)
June 2009
IN TOUCH
...Working in Teams, from page 1
What makes a team effective?
Most critically, effective teams are characterized by individual
and mutual accountability and a sense of common commitment.
All members (whether they are "leaders" or not) must take
responsibility for the overall group effectiveness and for dealing
with the problems that are inevitable.
There is no absolute checklist for what makes a group/team
effective. Different situations may call for different approaches.
For example, one particular situation may call for one dominant
leader while another situation may call for distributed leadership.
Another list of characteristics has items whose first
letter forms the word PERFORM
•
Purpose
•
Empowerment
•
Relationships and Communication
•
Flexibility
•
Optimal Productivity
•
Recognition
•
Morale
An effective team is characterized by…
•
a sense of urgency and direction, purpose and goal
•
a lot of work at the start, setting a tone, setting a
"contract," specifying a clear set of rules
•
clear notion of what the "problem" is, immediate and
demanding performance-oriented tasks and goals
•
broad sense of shared responsibility for the group outcomes
and group process
•
membership based on skill and skill potential, not personality
•
use of positive feedback, recognition, and rewards
•
effective ways of making decisions and shared leadership
•
high level of commitment among members
•
balance of satisfying individual and group needs
•
climate that is cohesive yet doesn't stifle individuality
•
ability to brainstorm
•
confronting differences; confronts conflict; dealing with
and use it
Focus on the positives in your teammates
and their negatives will begin to fade
Keys to creating effective teams:
effective communication patterns — both ideas and feelings;
good listening skills among members
•
Praise publicly, correct privately
Ask for input on decisions which affect others Credit others when praise is thrown your way
minority opinions effectively
•
“TEAMWORK TIPS”
can be objective about reviewing its performance objectively
“Accomplishment”
Look at the day when you are supremely
satisfied at the end. It’s not a day when you
lounge around doing nothing. It’s when you’ve
had everything to do, and you’ve done it. Margaret Thatcher
Page 2
⇒ Create clear goals: Members must
understand what their goals are and
believe they are important; these goals
must be important enough to cause members to sublimate their own personal
concerns. Members need to know what
they expect to accomplish, and understand
how they will work together to achieve
those goals.
(continued on page 3)
(Volume 5, Issue 14)
June 2009
IN TOUCH
...Keys to creating effective teams, from page 2
⇒ Encourage Teams to Go for Small Wins: Building
effective teams takes time and teams should aim for
small victories before the big ones. This can be done
by setting attainable goals and using these short term
goals to build cohesiveness, confidence.
⇒ Build Mutual Trust: Trust is a fragile thing in a
group; it takes a long time to build up and can be
destroyed very quickly. To build trust it is important
to keep team members informed. Try to create a
climate of openness where people feel free to discuss
problems without fear of retaliation. Be candid about
your own problems and limitations. Be available and
approachable; be respectful and listen to team
members' ideas. Be fair, objective, consistent, and
dependable.
⇒ Ensure Mutual Accountability and A Sense of
Common Purpose: For a team to be a real team, all
members must feel accountability — for both
successes and failures. There must be mutual
accountability.
⇒ Provide the Necessary External Support: If team
success is dependent on resources from the greater
organization, it is important to make sure those
resources are there.
⇒ Training: Team members and the team itself may
need some training to build skills. The training may
be in problem-solving, communication, negotiation
skills, conflict-resolution skills, and group processing
skills.
⇒ Change the Team's Membership: At times it may
be necessary to change the composition of a group if
that is possible.
Source:
www.lockergnome.com
"The best teams invest tremendous amount of time
and effort exploring, shaping, and agreeing on a
purpose that belongs to them both collectively and
individually and then translate this purpose into
specific performance goals." - Katzenbach and Smith
Surviving the Economic Downturn
Get Rid of Excess/Waste
✰
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✰
✰
Look into how many people are required to
perform a function
Ask your staff why they perform each
function
Determine why the function is actually
performed
Aim to rid yourself of all manual functions
Track and monitor productivity via data
Know your top three denial reasons
Track progress based on figures and how
quickly the denials are resolved
Make Room for Survivors
Despite every company's best intentions, some
will exit the market by closing their doors.
Additionally, some companies will not want to
alter the way they do business to continue
serving their customers. Perhaps they've done
business a certain way for many years and they
don't want to change now. These companies will
eventually lose market share.
What remains in business are survivor companies
that:
✰
✰
✰
✰
✰
✰
✰
✰
are dedicated
have businesses that embrace change
infuse new ideas
constantly
look
for
ways
to
improve
operations
are prepared for what's to come
are ready to seize opportunity for the
remaining market share
are
working
hard
to
foster
existing
relationships
build a secure infrastructure to absorb the
new business
To them, change is an opportunity, not a
threat.
(continued on page 4)
Page 3
(Volume 5, Issue 14)
June 2009
IN TOUCH
...Surviving the Economic Downturn, from page 3
Look at Innovation
Practical Ways to Achieve Cost Savings:
✰
One of the questions often asked is what makes people
successful during a recession? According to David
Silverman of Harvard Business Review, “While there's
✰
no question that a bad economy makes it tougher to
raise capital and win customers, the reality is that good
ideas implemented well always have room to succeed.”
✰
Now is the time to think outside the box and come up
with the following:
✰
✰
✰
new and creative ways to generate business
include staff in brainstorming sessions
it is often the idea of a staff member that generates
✰
your next big initiative
✰
innovation begins with a needs assessment that
defines the desires and problems facing your
prospective referral source and/or customer
✰
✰
redefining functions and moving away from business
as usual helps identify creative solutions
Source:
http://homecaremag.com
✰
COST CUTTING: BESIDES STAFF, WHAT
ELSE?
When it comes to cost cutting, staff is always a major
item in the boss’ mind as it is normally the most
expensive cost category. Besides, managing people is
not an easy task and most decision makers would prefer
to deal with as few people-related problems as they
can. So whenever a decision has been made to let staff
go, the opportunity to find victims presents itself.
It is not easy to determine accurately the number of
staff to cut beyond which quality of service, efficiency,
etc. would be affected. In fact, there are other expense
categories, which if trimmed properly, can generate
comparable cost savings to staff cutting. As there are
costs involved in an expense-reduction project, carefully
planning the scope and selecting the right overhead
cost item (s) to begin with is crucial.
Page 4
✰
✰
Office Supplies -
a category with a lot of
variety where there can be big price differences
among similar items.
Record Storage - expenses could be reduce
by choosing cheaper storage media and means.
Introducing a record retention guide could
eliminate unnecessary record-keeping costs.
Printing - has a heavy hidden cost. To keep
print costs under control, a proper
print
management system, which standardizes
design, reduces variety and supports bulk
purchase. Establishing a good relationship with
contract printer (s) could also help to reduce
unnecessary costs.
Courier - costs can be minimized by focusing
on specialists, making best use of satchels and
defining regular schedules in the contract.
Communica tion
-
in
par t icu la r
telecommunication, is a very competitive
market. Always keep lookout for what the
market is offering and be prepared to change to
better systems and better technology.
Energy -
an energy audit can identify
inefficient and high consumption areas. Major
saving opportunities include air-conditioning
and compressed air efficiency improvements,
power factor correction and heat recovery from
process heating.
Bank Fees - can be negotiated as no bank
wants to lose their existing good customers.
Service Plans/Action Plans -
having the
right service plans/action plans means
reviewing all existing plans and thinking twice
before signing any new plan. As it is now very
difficult to increase prices, many suppliers build
traps in the service plan. Watch and negotiate
the consumable prices.
(continued on page 5)
“Confidence”
Confidence, like art, never comes from
having all the answers; it comes from
being open to all the questions. - Earl Gary
(Volume 5, Issue 14)
June 2009
IN TOUCH
CLIENTS’ TESTIMONIIES
...Cost Cutting: Besides Staff, What Else?, from page 4
✰
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Vehicle -
expenses covering maintenance, fuel and
insurance always have room for cost cutting measures
to be taken. Putting drivers with good driving records
on new vehicles could help to reduce insurance
premiums.
Travel - expenses can be reduced significantly if there
✰
✰
is a disciplined pre-booking policy in place, especially for
air travel. Making bulk purchases would also be
cheaper.
Office and Space Standards - a review of office and
space standards can help to put more people in a
smaller office space. Encouraging an open plan can
result in flexibility for future changes to be made, thus
making substantial savings on renovation bills.
Inventory -
✰
it is important to do some demand
forecast exercises so that less merchandise or stock can
be kept without the danger of being unable to meet
customers’ demands.
✰
Paper - is expensive to create, maintain and store. To
minimize its existence, there should be a policy in place
to encourage reading and storing electronic information,
and restricting the number of printers.
Recovery Audit -
✰
identifies errors in bills due to
duplication, payment mistakes, non-compliant contract
terms or price mess-ups.
✰
Source:
Cost Cutting: Besides Staff, What Else? by Richard Wong
✰
“FCU renders good service and assistance to our
company specially at times of emergency cases ”
- - - Jean A. Camunay, Assistant Production
Manager, FAS Cebu Corporation
“FCU’s efficient service as our consultant has been
instrumental in getting our ISO 9001 Certification in
2008. Its continued efficient services and virtually
“24/7 support” has equally been instrumental in
maintaining our Certification and has given us the
confidence to be able to comply with ISO QMS
requirements.”
- - - Engr. Fortunato O. Sanchez Jr., President,
QMR, Socor Construction Corporation
“has good and warm relationship with clients”
- - - Sharon Rodriguez, DMR , Cebu Toyo
Corporation
“All Associates assigned to us are very
competent and approachable.”
- - - Juliet Noval, Duros Development
Corporation
“Excellent service rendered”
- - - Rodel dela Cerna, Production Manager,
Shemberg Marketing Corporation
“Very professional and value-adding. Not only as
consultants but also as mentors, motivators.”
- - - Ma. Grace Plaza, QA Division Manager,
DMR, Mactan Parts Technology, Incorporated
"From the start, FCU has been our partner in our
efforts to implement a quality management system.
FCU's highly professional staff and service made it
possible for us to achieve and maintain our ISO
certification smoothly."
- - - Dino Ang, President, QMR, CAVDEAL
OUR NEW CLIENTS
♦ BUGHAW
ELECTRO-CARBON
FACTORS
INC.
♦ UNIMAGNA GROUP OF COMPANIES:
⇒ MEGACOOL MANUFACTURING INC.
⇒ UNIMAGNA INDUSTRIES INC.
⇒ ZHONGFU UNIMAGNA (PHILS.) INC.
⇒ ZHONGFU PACKAGING INC.
Page 5
(Volume 5, Issue 14)
June 2009
IN TOUCH
SEMINARS/ EVENTS
our new Associates...
Mr. Ryan P. Ermac - BSCHE , cum laude
IQA Workshop at
WT Construction,
Incorporated ,
Cebu City
Mr. Wilfredo B. Zamora Jr. - BSEE
IQA Workshop at UKC
Builders, Incorporated,
Cagayan de Oro City
An all-weather Internal
Auditor?
“Change”
There’s always a time and chance for
someone to change, for that someone to be a
better person. The only thing we can give help
is to give that someone the time and the
chance. – Embroy
Discussions during the
Behavior-Based Safety
Workshop at Mactan
Parts Technology,
Incorporated, LapuLapu City
If you have any comments or suggestions, please
contact us at :
fcu & associates
MANAGEMENT CONSULTANTS
A very observant Internal
Auditor during the IQA
Workshop at Philippine-Japan
Active Carbon Corporation,
Davao City
Suite 910 West Tower
PSE Building, Ortigas Center
Pasig City, Metro Manila
Tel. No. : (632) 926-9131,
(632) 637-3210
Cebu Office:
30 Santa Lucia St.,
Subangdaku, Mandaue City
Other Seminars/Workshops conducted during the period:
⇒ IQA Seminar at Medilink Network, Incorporated
⇒ MSA Workshop at Philippine Iino Corporation
⇒ QMS Awareness Workshops at Bughaw Electro-Carbon
Factors, Incorporated; and Unimagna Group of
Companies
⇒ IMS Audit Workshop at Allado Construction Company,
Incorporated
Page 6
Tel. No.: (032) 344-7746
Visit our website!!!
www.fcuandassociates.com.ph
(Volume 5, Issue 14)