Customer Reviews

Creating Passion-Driven Teams: How to Stop Micromanaging and Motivate People to Top Performance

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If you're in a leadership position and want to learn more about developing your team to the highest level, there are a ton of books on the market for you to choose from. So what makes this little 200-page book different from all the others available? The answer is quite simple, really. Many of the books available on team leadership give you some nice abstract ideas that you may be able to alter to fit your needs. CREATING PASSION-DRIVEN TEAMS by Dan Bobinski goes beyond abstract ideas to give you the actual nuts and bolts you're looking for.

Let me put it another way, many books on team leadership present a new angle on how to utilize old ideas of leadership. Bobinski takes a much deeper look at practical application and leads the reader step by step into creating passion-driven teams. The sub-title: How to Stop Micromanaging and Motivate People to Top Performance, is addressed early on. I love the analogy (one I have used myself many times) of equating leadership success with gardening. Being an avid gardener, I understand I don't create a successful garden; I create favorable conditions for my garden to flourish. The same applies to team leadership. You can't build a successful team, you can only create the conditions for your team to be successful and that begins with creating passion.

Based on this premise, Bobinski next looks at the curse of countless managers throughout history, micromanagement; how to identify it and how to cure it. Often as leaders, we need to just get out of the way and let our team do what they do. In this area I found it quite interesting that Bobinski points out how many people come to find themselves in positions of leadership; they did their jobs exceptionally well and were therefore promoted up the ladder. Sound familiar? It will also resonate with readers that just because a person did a job well and was promoted for their efforts does not mean they are leaders or that they will adapt to their new role, but because they did their jobs so well, they have a natural tendency to micromanage others. If you fall into this category, read chapter 4, then go back and read it again and again.

The next few chapters are filled with topics you would expect to find in such a book; emotional intelligence and behavioral differences, motivation and fears, synergy and maintaining open lines of communication. At chapter 8, this book really started rolling for me. Chapter 8 is titled, The Do's and Don'ts of Delegating and is something every team leader should read. Utilizing what you find here will free up valuable time for other team leader duties, build more cohesive and motivated team members and avoid self destructing micromanagement.

Next is a brief chapter on meetings. There's not a lot of detail here but there is a good breakdown of the various types of meetings and determining if a meeting is in fact necessary. Then we find an exceptional chapter on Listening Skills. This chapter is well worth the price of the book if you read nothing else. But don't do that. You'll miss a lot.

In Chapter 11 on Conflict Resolution, Bobinski introduces the reader to what he calls The Relationship Ladder. This is a 5 step tool for conflict resolution in any situation that I found very useful. In my position as a District Manager, I have a customer base of about 15,000, so I deal with angry customers on a regular basis. I wish I could have read this chapter about 15 years ago. This was another brief chapter well worth the price of the book. The book concludes with information on training programs, learning from failure and celebrating achievement. The appendix has a very nice selection and review of Recommended Reading, many of which I have not read and will be adding to my reading list.

I'm definitely putting CREATING PASSION-DRIVEN TEAMS on my list of suggested "must read" books.

I realy like the logical and basic themes of the book and the new focous the author gives on them. I'm transforming the teams of my company with this book as a compass.

Some great insights!

Dan's description of "Climbers" vs "Builders" in an organization will have you nodding your head in agreement: You've met plenty of both. He helps you look in the mirror and determine which you are and what to do about it for the good of your career and the good of your organization.

The Management Matrix(Chapter 2)by itself is worth the price of the book. I have read a lot of outstanding business authors, but I have never seen one deliniate the seperate roles and responsibilities of front-line workers, management and leadership so succinctly. Its powerful because its so simple. For me, the matrix has become a very useful, easily-remembered framework that I carry around in my head as I interact with people at all 3 organizational levels. It makes it much easier to understand what people at each level of a functional organization are primarily responsible for.

Don't try to motivate your employees by manipulating them; be honest with them and you'll discover that they motivate themselves. Don't humiliate them when they make mistakes; instead, treat errors as valuable learning experiences. Don't automatically tune staffers out when they speak; listen and you will discover a lot. Don't hold meetings just to meet; make sure every conference has a purpose. And above all, don't micromanage, because that drives good people out the door. This is an ample list of management "don'ts." But what should you do to manage well? Training expert Dan Bobinski says the answer is simple: Provide the conditions that will spark passion in your people. Although his anecdotes are overly simplified and may seem contrived, getAbstract believes Bobinski presents his points persuasively. His colorful, elementary guide will give newbie supervisors and human resource managers much pause for thought.

I believe in this book so much that I wrote a "forward" to it. I gave a lot of thought to my reaction to that book so I quote it here:
"In the information age, we have shifted to an economy that is primarily service based. A service-based economy's primary assets are people and their innate ability to identify and solve problems - to innovate with purpose. In this "how to" book, Dan highlights the almost unlimited upside to unlocking the potential of individuals and teams working toward common goals.
When reading a book, I first peruse the table of contents to get a sense of what is covered. When looking at the table of contents in this book, my first reaction was "this looks like a bunch of familiar topics." When I started reading, however, I found myself drinking deeply from his principles and examples, and realizing how far I had to go to provide the kind of environment that enables and unlocks the capability of the people around me -- and even myself.
I whole heartedly recommend Creating Passion-Driven Teams. For some, it will be an eye opener to things you have not really thought about. For others, it will provide a much needed reminder of things you say you believe in, but aren't doing. Either way, the practices Dan describes need to become habits for all of us."

If you manage people, read it - you'll be glad you did!

I really loved this book and wished it was standard reading years ago while getting my business degree.
It brought important issues with the creation of teams that work, and more importantly, the facilitation of these teams. The fact is, a business degree doesn't come with experience. In fact, most of the college ciriculum in management is built on theories that have worked years past in an environment that no longer exists. Much of that does not include team building.

This book really goes into the aspects that work, experience that has a weight to it, along with some common sense.

Thanks!

Jason

I have read many books on business and agree with the "Good to Great" premise of the importance of getting the right people on the bus. But I still did not know how to do it in my own business. I found Dan Bobinski a couple of years ago and he began teaching us how to get the right people in the right place and train them on what to do, then how to review their performance. This has produced happier team members. His new book "Creating Passion Diven Teams" lived up to my expectations and more. As an employer I am still learning how to get the conditions right - the more steps I take towards this - the more passionate people I find in my workplace. This books teachs me what I should do to make this happen and reminds me of what I already know and am not doing. I highly recommend it for any business owner who wants to get out of micro-managing and someday have some peace. I have recommended this to other business owners and purchased 10 copies for my team members. Investing in passionate team members will bring a great ROI for my company - I am already starting to see that after practicing some of these principles for a few years.