Nice Teams Finish Last - by Brian Miller (Paperback)

About the Book

There's a palpable feeling that clouds many team meetings and keeps them from being productive: overpoliteness. Discover the antidote to this crutch and get your team back on track.

Book Synopsis

This guide provides the antidote to the common tendency of conflict, giving managers, team leaders, members, and facilitators the practical support they need to battle "the nice trap" and start getting results.

Conflict naturally exists in most organizations--even in those that never make waves. In the case of the more subdued teams, author Brian Miller explains that there's a much deeper problem going on: the conflict doesn't go away, but instead it manifests itself in passive-aggression, mediocrity, and a molasses-like inability to get anything done.

In Nice Teams Finish Last, you will learn:

• how to hone skills such as constructive criticism,
• provide clear and honest communication,
• and discover how to lean in to the kind of conflict that drives innovation and quality without hurting feelings or creating enemies.

Clear, sharp feedback, and constructive challenges are just what teams need to go from NICE to BOLD and reap all the benefits that come with that radical transformation--including more satisfaction with your workplace culture (not less). Complete with helpful team assessments and easy-to-use planning sheets, Nice Teams Finish Last provides the eye-opening tools teams need to achieve very nice results!

From the Back Cover

Do you ever get the feeling that your team would be more productive if everyone would just say what it is they're really thinking? Express their opinions without worrying about other people's feelings, office politics, and the fear of pushing things off-track?

When it comes to working with others, we're all taught not to make waves, and not to rock the boat. But when the tensions, conflicts, and differing opinions that naturally exist in every organization are left unspoken and unresolved, team meetings can be left in a cloud of mediocrity, passive-aggression, and a molasses-like inability to get anything done.

Nice Teams Finish Last reveals how you can pave the way for bold results by using open and honest communication to transform the way your team interacts. Filled with powerful exercises--as well as revealing self-assessments you can use to determine whether your team is being "too nice"--this practical, energizing book reveals how you and other team members can productively and positively exchange clear, sharp feedback...effectively challenge ideas without ruffling feathers...and unleash the kind of "good" conflict that drives innovation and quality without creating enemies.

They say there is no "I" in team. But there are a bunch of "me's." Nice Teams Finish Last shows you how to bring the different "me's" in your team together...and achieve very nice results.

Brian Cole Miller is the principal of Working Solutions, Inc., a teambuilding firm whose clients include WellPoint, Ohio State University, and Nationwide Insurance. He is the author of the best-selling Quick Team-Building Activities for Busy Managers as well as Keeping Employees Accountable for Results, and More Quick Team-Building Activities for Busy Managers.

Review Quotes

..".book is as much 'how-to' achieve this difficult goal as it is 'what-to-do.'...an excellent road map to achieve effective team collaboration and results." --Inland Empire Business Journal

..".encapsulates healthy team approaches in an easy-to-read format..excellent work on which to initiate a team or hold a team retreat." --The School Administrator

..".good overview of how all team members interact related to their roles in a team...Anyone...seeking a more productive results from his/her...team's work will benefit..." --AORN Journal

..".ideal team book explains how teams in the workplace can achieve incredible results by balancing compassion and courage." --New Equipment Digest

CEO Refresher The Best Books of 2010

About the Author

BRIAN COLE MILLER (Dublin, OH) is the principal of Working Solutions, Inc., a management training and consulting firm whose clients include WellPoint, Ohio State University, and Nationwide Insurance. He is the author of the bestselling Quick Team-Building Activities for Busy Managers (978-0-8144-7201-9) as well as Keeping Employees Accountable for Results (978-0-8144-7320-7), and More Quick Team-Building Activities for Busy Managers (978-0-8144-7378-8).