Richard Highsmith
M.S.
Free
Team Building Expert
Richard Highsmith Quick Facts
- Main Areas
- Team Building
- Career Focus
- Corporate Training, Speaker, Author
- Affiliation
- Quality Team Building
Rick is a sought after trainer and speaker for Fortune 500 companies. His messages focus on the value of collaboration and on how dynamic, creative communication improves team effectiveness. Rick is also a highly skilled coach, working with public speaking improvement and leadership development. Having studied improvisational comedy for one year, Rick recognizes how humor enhances the learning experience.
Rick has a Masters Degree in Clinical Psychology. His background as a Mental Health Counselor gives him tremendous insight into how to motivate and inspire people using positive reinforcement. Additionally he has built and sold two successful businesses in the past 25 years, so he understands the challenges of leadership and management from practical experience.
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Articles by this expert
SelfGrowth articles and saved writing connected to this expert.
Article
Twelve Steps to Effectively Manage a Creative Meeting
There are many reasons for a leader to hold meeting, including but not limited to the dissemination of information, planning for an upcoming week, allowing opportunities for different divisions and/or groups within the organization to share ideas, or review of company policy. Occasionally a leader needs creative input from his/her team. It is this type of meeting being discussed in this article. To maximize the creativity of a group I recommend following these twelve steps:
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The Growth of Charity Team Building
Humanity has a long history of helping those in need. Charity has been advocated by religion throughout human history. Businesses have contributed to their communities even though such expenditures may not derive any direct benefit. This giving of funds or other assets may gain the company some intangible benefit, such as public approval of its image, as a moral player in society. USA TODAY recently released the results of a survey conducted in partnership with The Chronicle of Philanthropy, which measures the pulse of corporate giving in America.
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Is Your Workplace Environment Affecting How Employees Work with Each Other
The short answer to this question is YES! What to do about it requires breaking down the question. Let's begin with what constitutes "workplace environment." OSHA, local and state laws dictate that a law-abiding employer will have a safe, healthy workplace. Setting aside physical conce s leaves psychological and relationship issues as the remaining contributors to workplace environment.
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Building Trust on Your Team
Trust is an essential part of team effectiveness. However the strength of trusting relationships varies significantly based on team dynamics. When teammates trust us, they truly take a risk. And with each successive time people put their trust in us and we don't let them down, we reduce that risk and build a relationship. If you desire to build your trustworthiness remember these three truths about trust.
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Does Team Building Work?
A recent survey carried out in Britain by Vodafone UK and YouGov.com suggests team building doesn’t work. Surveyed workers indicated they feel some team building activities can be a “waste of time, and at worst, are toe-curlingly embarrassing.” The majority surveyed (66%) have participated in some form of team building and more than half (54%) don’t feel the experience helped them in working with their peers.
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Popularity of Bicycle Team Building
Almost ten years ago an Event Planner in Dallas asked my colleague to generate a conference event with a philanthropic element. After a good bit of brainstorming on our team, the bicycle team building was created. The Dallas program was warmly received with some minor glitches. We rethought some of the elements and I conducted the second ever bicycle team building in Orlando for a large pharmaceutical company. The Senior Vice President emailed me to say, “Your bicycle program was the single best team building event I have ever attended. And let me tell you I’ve attended plenty.”
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Top 5 Employee Motivation Activities
What are some actions team leaders can take to encourage their teammates? Every competent manager must ask himself or herself this question to maximize team performance. With my background in psychology and experience of owning two successful businesses I have learned the answer to this question.
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Four Ideas to Avoid Overreacting to a Teammate
For ten years I worked with a manager (I will call him Dallas) who had one tool in his professional toolbox - a hammer. Every problem Dallas ever encountered was a nail. With his limited repertoire of leadership skills, you might wonder how I lasted ten years. Everyone who worked any length of time (including me) learned the time-honored techniques of "duck and cover." Ducking meant avoiding interaction as much as possible. If you had a question, Dallas was the last person you would call.
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Stuck in the Middle with You
PUBLISHING GUIDELINES: You have permission to publish this article electronically or in print, free of charge, as long as the bylines are included. A courtesy copy of your publication would be appreciated. Stuck in the Middle with You By: Richard M. Highsmith, M.S. When I was first promoted from the rank and file, there was a popular song by Stealers Wheel entitled “Stuck in the Middle with You”. The lyrics resonated with me because I was struggling mightily with being a newly minted manager. Here is a verse that was particularly meaningful to me -
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Six Ways to Cultivate Relationships on a Team
A highly functional team is everybody’s ticket to success. Your team can make or break your career. Here are six ways to improve the relationships on your team.
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Understanding Your Teammate's Point of View
How often have you found yourself in conflict with a teammate because you see something one way and he/she sees them another? Perspective is a powerful phenomenon. The ancient fable of several blind men describing an elephant illustrates this well. Each was touching the elephant in different places and consequently their perspectives were radically different. The blind man touching the ears believed the elephant to be flexible and almost flat. Touching the elephant's trunk lead one to certain knowledge that an elephant was like a snake.
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Acknowledge the importance of Teammates
“The deepest principle in human nature is the craving to be appreciated.” - Dr. William James People need... not just want, but need... approval. This is a fundamental principle of human behavior. A three-year-old child demonstrates this principle of human behavior every time he utters the phrase, “Look what I can do,” even when coloring on the walls. The child is saying, “Please approve of me and my creativity, Mom or Dad.”
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Contacting Richard Highsmith
Richard Highsmith, is President of Quality Team Building. He has twenty-five years experience training and coaching. He has built and sold two successful businesses. To learn more about becoming a team leader visit our website at www.qualityteambuilding.com, send Rick an email: Rick@QualityTeamBuilding or call him toll-free at 1-888-484-8326 X101.
How to get started
Visit Rick's company website, http://www.qualityteambuilding.com