You First - by Liane Davey (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

There are so many ways a team can go wrong. Does your team make decisions so slowly that nothing ever gets done, or does it go too fast and miss critical issues that come back to bite you later? Does your team bicker endlessly or smile and nod while avoiding the tough issues? Too often, team dysfunction leads to abysmal productivity and zero innovation for your organization, as well as misery and wasted time for you. Most team members sit and wait, feeling trapped in a team that just isn't working. You First: Inspire Your Team to Grow Up, Get Along, and Get Stuff Done presents a radical new idea: you can change your team. Author Liane Davey shows how you, from any seat at the table, even without support from your colleagues or your team leader, can transform even a toxic team. It starts with living up to five responsibilities that will change the workings of even the most dysfunctional team.

• Addresses the five most common ways your team can become toxic
• Gives you a diagnostic to see if your team is at risk
• Doles out practical suggestions to deal with the crisis in the short-term
• Instructs you on how to disrupt the patterns that leave you in an endless cycle of dysfunction
• Replaces those patterns with positive interactions and even productive conflict
• Gives you the right words to say to change your team for the better--starting today
• Written by Liane Davey, PhD, a highly sought-after consultant and Principal of Knightsbridge Leadership Solutions and the Vice President of Global Solutions and Team Effectiveness

Designed for front line employees, middle managers, executives, or anyone who works regularly in teams, You First will help you figure out how to make your team happier, healthier, and more productive.

From the Back Cover

THERE ARE SO MANY WAYS A TEAM CAN GO WRONG.

Some teams make decisions so slowly that nothing ever gets done, while others go too fast and miss critical issues that come back to bite them later. Some teams bicker endlessly, while others smile and nod while avoiding the tough issues. Too often, team dysfunction leads to abysmal productivity and zero innovation for your organization, as well as misery and wasted time for you. Most team members sit and wait, feeling trapped in a team that just isn't working. They're waiting for you to do something.

You First presents a radical new idea: you can change your team. Author Liane Davey shows how you, from any seat at the table, even without support from your colleagues or your team leader, can transform a toxic team. It starts with living up to five responsibilities that will change the workings of even the most dysfunctional team.

No matter what kind of team you're working on--Crisis Junkie, Bobble-Head, Spectator, Bleeding Back, or Royal Rumble--you'll learn how to diagnose your team's ills and begin to apply emergency medicine to stop the decline. Then, learn how to diagnose yourself and embrace the role you play in transforming your team. You First delivers practical, real-world guidance on how to:

• Set aside your biases and start with a positive assumption
• Overcome your shortcomings and add your full value
• Amplify other voices, even if it slows down the decision process
• Know when to say "no"--and when to say "yes"
• Embrace productive conflict

You First instructs you on how to disrupt the patterns that leave your team in an endless cycle of dysfunction and replace those patterns with positive interactions. It gives you the right words to say to change your team for the better--starting today. Designed for frontline employees, middle managers, executives, and anyone who works regularly in teams, You First will help you figure out how to make your team happier, healthier, and more productive.

About the Author

LIANE DAVEY, PHD, is a Principal of Knightsbridge Human Capital Solutions, Inc. and the Vice President for Global Solutions and Team Effectiveness. She is sought out by executives at some of North America's leading financial services, consumer goods, high-tech, and healthcare organizations to rehabilitate teams that have become toxic and to work with healthy teams that want to take their performance to the next level. A dynamic keynote speaker, Liane takes her message about vital teams to leaders at conferences and management retreats around the world. She is the coauthor of Leadership Solutions.