Keeping the Disconnected Team Connected

With today’s flexible work arrangements (e.g., telecommuting, job sharing) and geographically dispersed teams (e.g., satellite offices and multi-national corporations) it is becoming more difficult for employers to build a sense of “we,” maintain a stable and consistent corporate culture, and foster supportive communication and cooperation between team members. Employees who don’t physically work together may struggle to recognize the priorities of others, lack an understanding of what each member’s “job” really looks like, and be unable to access the resources they need – or even know such resources exists. Furthermore, if they are working alone, whether at home or abroad, they may feel isolated and neglected.

No matter what employee structure you have or are working within, to foster employee engagement and business success, it’s important to make time for the team to connect. Here is a short list of ideas, some of which we’ve used at Life Strategies.

Develop a system for regular updates to keep everyone “in the loop” and help them stay connected

• Choose a method that works for you – in person, over the phone, via the internet (e.g., GoToMeeting)
• Use a framework to structure your meeting (e.g., Let’s CHAT!)
  

Utilize alternative methods of connecting beyond email or phone (e.g., Windows Live Messenger, Skype, Blogger, LinkedIn)

• However , don’t rely solely on electronic communication; pick up the phone if necessary

Invest in professional development opportunities that get dispersed teams together

• Attend workshops, seminars, and/or conferences
• Take part in webinars or teleconferences
• Provide an opportunity to debrief learning
  

Set aside time for fun

• Arrange a potluck at team meetings
• Participate in a charity event
  

Celebrate “good news” and recognize team successes

• Use something quick and simple (e.g., an informal congratulations email, post on company intranet or blog) or more formal (e.g., “employee of the month”)

The Slow Death of Passenger Rail Service Between Ontario and the USA

Perhaps the most chilling example of our archaic Canadian passenger rail system is the current debacle facing the Amtrak The Maple Leaf train that runs from Toronto to New York.

In my lifetime I may be witness to the elimination of all passenger rail trains between Ontario and the USA. While most countries have seamless movements of people between countries by rail, successive Canadian federal governments have failed to have any policy or plan for cross border passenger rail service. The end result is that two of three passenger rail crossings between Ontario and the USA are extinct, while the third crossing at Niagara Falls for the Toronto – New York train is on life support.

I am from Windsor, Ontario, and saw first hand the elimination of the Detroit -Windsor border when the Amtrak Niagara Rainbow passenger train was eliminated on January 31st, 1979 after almost a century of passenger rail service.

After moving to the Waterloo Region, I experienced the death of the Toronto-Chicago Amtrak The International passenger rail service through the Sarnia-Port Huron border in 2004. Ironically, I shot a photo of The International at the Kitchener, Ontario railway station not knowing that in less then three months it would be discontinued.

Now there is the precarious situation for The Maple Leaf train that runs from Toronto to New York.

It seemed like in the USA, passenger rail renewal on this line was hopeful. President Obama is reinvesting in passenger rail including a dedicated third track for passenger rail in the Albany – Buffalo corridor part of the Toronto – New York route. The City of Niagara Falls New York was building a new International Railway Station. They are very supportive of continued use of passenger rail service between Canada and the USA

Now circumstances in the USA and Canada have put passenger rail service through the Niagara Falls border on a lifeline.

In the USA, Section 209 of the Passenger Rail Investment and Improvement Act requires that all routes under 750 miles, excluding the Boston - Washington Northeast Corridor, be the financial responsibility of the state governments. This mandate will become effective in 2013. So that means that the cost of running Amtrak’s The Maple Leaf will be the responsibility of the State of New York. It is hoped that the State will fund its continued use.

The Niagara Bridge Commission owns the Whirlpool Bridge that has a single track crossing that The Maple Leaf runs on.

CN has the rights to run trains on the bridge. It has not run freight traffic over the bridge in several years and now has decided unilaterally to abandon the bridge and offer the track for sale at an unknown cost.

The Niagara Bridge Commission is charging a fee for passenger rail operators that want to continue to run a service over the bridge. Sources who want to remain private have stated that the fees the Commission is charging Amtrak to run on the bridge are extremely high.

VIA Rail is doing its usual “duck and cover routine” on this issue and are doing nothing to keep the passenger rail service intact on this line.

On the Canadian side, the Progressive Conservation Federal Government under Prime Minister Harper has not taken any actions to address the issues relating to purchasing the track over the bridge and negotiating a fair price for usage of the bridge. This failure by our government may result in the final nail in the coffin for Ontario/USA passenger trains. Non action by our Canadian federal government will result in the abandonment of cross passenger rail service at Niagara Falls.

It is tragic that our Canadian federal government has no plan for passenger rail at our border crossing or in this country as a whole. What is more tragic is that we the public allow this to happen.

Employee Engagement Indicator

A popular concept for many of today’s organizations is employee engagement. There is a plethora of information available on the topic; a Google search resulted in over 3.5 million hits. In researching employee engagement as part of my doctoral program, I was somewhat surprised to learn that a wide-variety of definitions exist. Each individual, from consultants to scholars, has his/her own definition – while quite similar when talking employee engagement there is no guarantee everyone is speaking about exactly the same thing. A colleague of mine presented it as everyone talking about apples but some are focussed on Gala and Fugi while others are talking Granny Smith and Red Delicious. The differences may be slight but can still cause confusion and misunderstanding. In our work helping organizations increase engagement, often through career development initiatives, we first recommend establishing or adopting a definition which resonates with the team.  At Life Strategies we’ve adopted a four-factor model of engagement:

Alignment – fit between individual and organizational values

Commitment – loyalty and intent to stay with the organization

Contribution – level of discretionary effort employees are willing to make (i.e., going above and beyond). 

Appreciation –awareness employees are valued and their effort to support the organization’s goals is appreciated

In seeking to measure engagement along these four factors, we developed the Employee Engagement Indicator (EEi). The EEi is a 40 question survey with 10 questions per factor. The total score is intended to indicate an overall level of employee engagement on a continuum from full disengagement to full engagement.  Sub-factor results can also be analyzed (e.g., level of contribution).

While we are still researching the psychometric properties of the EE-i, preliminary results have been interesting and have demonstrated how a low score on one of the factors can drastically impact overall engagement results. Interested in using the EE-i with your own team? Contact us at info@lifestrategies.ca for more information.

Mallick: Bullet trains go to Beijing. Why not Montreal?

Heather Mallick article from the Toronto Star Columnist article on high speed rail is another one well worth reading. READ IT HERE.

The Case for High Speed Rail in Canada - London Chamber of Commerce

Excellent opinion article by Gerry Macartney at the London Chamber of Commerce on the need for high speed rail in Canada. Read it here at London Free Press..

Beijing-Shanghai High-speed Rail Line 2 - Video Links

Always amazing to see videos of the latest high speed rail lines. Here are two relating to China's latest lines. The first one is in chinese but is mainly shot inside the train. It is in chinese but shows all the amenities the train has. My favourite part is 1:36 into the video where the reporter balances a drink on the arm of the chair to show the smooth ride! CLICK HERE
The other video is in english and can be seen here.

The Synergy of Teams

People are constantly asking me how I do all that I do – my response invariably is that “I have a great team!”

At its simplest, synergy is defined as “two or more things functioning together to produce a result not independently obtainable.” Research has demonstrated that synergistic teams can out-produce even the most talented member – and we’ve seen that over and over within the Life Strategies teams.

There is strength in diversity – at Life Strategies, we deliberately build teams that comprise individuals with different competencies and styles. This, of course, means that we all have to embrace and appreciate diversity. Sometimes it’s easier to work with people who approach tasks the same way or share a very similar perspective. However, by choosing to surround ourselves with people who see the world differently and bring unique skills and talents we minimize our blind spots and maximize our productivity.

Do you really know the strengths and talents on your team? Do you let people do what they do best . . . and try to accommodate their weaknesses? Or, are you trying to do too much independently – spending hours at tasks that others could do better in a fraction of the time?

Tools like Personality Dimensions® can help you better understand the teams you work with – whether at work, in athletics, or on community boards. Most members of the Life Strategies team are Personality Dimensions facilitators or Master Trainers . . . aside from facilitating workshops, though, we all walk our talk – celebrating the diversity on our team and providing opportunities for each other to do what they do best. Contact us at info@lifestrategies.ca if you’d like to introduce your own team to this amazing tool.