APRIL GO TEAM! For the month of April, we will focus on teamwork. The following pages contain verbiage, tips, a printable poster and other articles and resources that you can reference and share with your co-workers and employees.

WHAT AND WHY: It is often said that culture trumps strategy. And that is true in so many regards. Critical to our success as an organization is enabling you, as an individual, to be successful. We each bring important skills and strengths to the table. It is those different perspectives, vantage points and diversity of experience that make our organization what it is and make our products the best they can be. A key element of culture, of course, is the team. Those differences in our perspective and backgrounds can also mean there is a learning curve when it comes with how to work best with and one another. [INSERT INFORMATION ABOUT THIS MONTH’S ACTIVITY, WHERE TO SIGN UP AND HOW TO START.] MORE: Some interesting considerations about the value of a team: –Working alone on a project makes it harder to get early design feedback which may compromise the end product –Working alone removes the opportunity to learn from others –Working on a team allows for continuity for the project and the organization –Working on a team increases accountability –When working alone, slow momentum or bumps in the road are much tougher to take

IDEAS FOR ACTIVITIES: Participate in Healthiest State Initiative’s TEAM Training modules. They are free and available online. At a minimum, have managers review the context. There are modules for managers and modules for employees. ( Have staff take the StrengthFinder assessment at GallupStrengthsCenter.com (There is a small fee associated with this.) The more you learn about yourself, as well as those on your team, the easier it is to work together and leverage the strength that each of us brings to the table.

ARTICLES: Building a Sense of Teamwork Among Staff Members: Members.aspx Members.aspx Importance of Teamwork in Business: How to Optimize Collaboration: OTHER RESOURCES: 10 TED Talks recommended for team building curated by OnlineMBA.com: Quotes to Inspire Great Teamwork: great-team-work.htmlhttp:// great-team-work.html

THE MORE YOU KNOW! 25 TIPS, TIDBITS OF TRIVIA AND TWEETS ABOUT TEAMWORK. SHARE ONE VIA EACH DAY OR POST THEM NEXT TO THE WATER COOLER. 1. Find a quiet, private place to listen to employees. Hallways, shared offices, and other busy places are not conducive to active listening. In a quiet spot you’ll be better able to focus your whole attention and create a nonthreatening environment. 2. You can’t listen while you are talking. Communicate, don’t just take turns talking. 3. Try to put yourself in the other person’s place so you can see his or her point of view. 4. Actively focus your attention on the words, the ideas and the feelings related to the subject. 5. Ways to active listen are using body language to communicate, paraphrasing what the other person said, capturing what the other person is feeling and restating the person’s feelings while combining it with reason for the feeling. 6. Leave your emotions behind (if you can). Try to push your worries, your fears, and problems away. 7. Get rid of distractions that may distract your attention – paper, electronics, etc.

MORE TIPS: 8. Be alert, sit straight, lean forward if that’s appropriate and be interested in the conversation. 9. Be patient and allow plenty of time for the conversation. Do not interrupt, stifle through items, or check the clock. 10. Asking pertinent questions shows you are listening, helps to develop points further and is essential for clarification. 11. Avoid hasty judgments and wait until all the facts are in. 12. Don’t antagonize the speaker. You may cause the other person to conceal ideas, emotions, and attitudes in many ways. Be aware of the effect you are having on the other person. 13. When asking questions, there are two types that you should ask: open-ended and closed questions. 14. Closed questions can be answered with a simple yes or no, or with one or two more words.

MORE TIPS: 15.Open-ended questions begin with words like how, what and why, and require more elaborate answers than closed questions. 16. Use open-ended questions to promote discussion and explore problems and solutions, but make sure the group stays on track. 17.There are five basic personality types and each type tends to prefer a different shape. Knowing what shape you and your co-workers are will help you build better careers, teams and friendships. 18.A square personality is organized, logical and hardworking who likes structure and rules. Sometimes squares have a hard time making decisions because they want more information. They tend to be very neat in their appearance and workspace. 19.Rectangle personalities are courageous (brave), exciting, and inquisitive explorers who are always searching for ways to grow and change. They enjoy trying new things and will be sure that things are done a certain way.

MORE TIPS: 20. Triangles are born leaders who are competitive, confident and can make decisions. They typically are goal-oriented and tend to look at the big picture but forget the details. 21. A circle personality is social, communicative and they handle things by talking about them. This personality is a people person with lots of sympathy and consideration for others, they listen and communicate well and hate making unpopular decisions. 22. Squiggles are creative. They enjoy doing new and different things most of the time and get bored with regularity. Squiggles tend to be funny and very expressive but don’t like highly structured environments.

APPENDIX: We can’t take all of the credit. In compiling this information, we referenced the following organizations and websites: IowaHealthiestState.com Forbes.com