Team Magic – Eleven Magical Ways for Winning Teams

Citation

Palethorpe, C. (2011), "Team Magic – Eleven Magical Ways for Winning Teams", Industrial and Commercial Training, Vol. 43 No. 4. https://doi.org/10.1108/ict.2011.03743daa.001

Team Magic – Eleven Magical Ways for Winning Teams

Team Magic – Eleven Magical Ways for Winning Teams

Article Type: Bookshelf From: Industrial and Commercial Training, Volume 43, Issue 4

Claire PalethorpeClaire Palethorpe Training and Development, Wrexham, UKIris ClermontEcademy PressSt Albans2010125 pp.ISBN: 978-1-905823-95-6UK £12.99

Iris Clermont has spent the last 20 years travelling and working in many countries around the world working either as part of a virtual team or coaching and consulting with teams and individuals. She specialises in the telecommunications industry, and her book Team Magic – Eleven Magical Ways for Winning Teams was written to enable her to share her experiences gained from working with these teams. She states that her “vision is to make you smile” and that her “mission is to motivate teams to work effectively”. The book is aimed at managers, team leaders and team members who are open-minded and want to change.

In the Introduction, Clermont explains her philosophy of successful teams with her 11 ways to gain “Team Magic”. The 11 chapters in the book each illustrate and explain one of these ways. She explains that the book contains a range of different exercises and techniques to aid learning. These include shared examples from her own experience, self-reflection and team exercises, coaching questions, stories, poems and cartoons. Each chapter contains a mix of these media to assist the learner in considering their own behaviours and to find ways to improve their own teams.

The 11 magical ways are as follows:

1. 1.

   positive attitude saves time;

2. 2.

   take time to prioritise;

3. 3.

   step into another person’s shoes;

4. 4.

   discuss uncomfortable issues;

5. 5.

   focus on people’s strengths;

6. 6.

   have a clear agenda;

7. 7.

   virtual teams can be even more successful than physical teams;

8. 8.

   look beyond your horizons;

9. 9.

   start by respecting and trusting yourself;

10. 10.

    stop the political games yourself; and

11. 11.

    open up to others.

There was no apparent link between the chapters, so it would seem that the reader can follow the 11 ways in the order of their choice.

The first chapter, titled “A positive attitude saves time”, typifies the format of the book. It has as its aim to save two hours per day. It contains exercises on how to stop moaning and better ways to manage meetings, and concludes that by removing distractions from the workplace you can save yourself two hours per working day. Other exercises cover developing positive thinking, ten easy ways to change your focus, and making decisions. There is a poem by Nadine Stair called “If I had my life to live over” and another by David Whyte called “Start close in” to illustrate the points covered. There are also cartoons using Clermont’s multinational team to explain the behavioural changes.

The remaining ten chapters follow a similar format and mix of exercises as Chapter 1. Although each chapter covers a different element of the team magic process, there are some common themes coming through. These include time management elements such as avoiding distractions (Chapter 2), managing meetings and setting agendas (Chapter 6), dealing with conflict by empathising (Chapter 3) and discussing uncomfortable issues (Chapter 4) and by valuing and recognising diversity (Chapter 7). The skill of listening is covered in several chapters with exercises for improving your ability to listen (Chapters 4 and 11).

Clermont states that her book is aimed at both managers and team members and therefore offers exercises aimed at both ends of this audience. It was not clear whether the author intended her book to be used as a workbook with the reader starting at Chapter 1 and working through until the end or whether readers should dip in and try out those sections that appealed to them. At times this can lead to a potentially confusing mix of challenging self-reflection exercises and simplistic cartoons side by side in the same chapter.

Clermont’s strength is her ability to bring together elements of emotional intelligence and neuro-linguistic programming in a practical and jargon-free way. Her approach is to share her knowledge and experiences gained from 20 years of working with teams and thus her anecdotal style is quite appropriate. I would recommend this book to managers who want an easy-to-read and practical guide to building teams. As a self-reflective guide, I believe it may help individuals who wish to learn more about themselves and how their behaviour impacts on others.