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

Table of Contents

To all who see
the grand possibilities,
and
believe in their heart.

Acknowledgments

So many people helped with this project in so many ways. Here I thank just a few, alphabetically, of course.

Thank you to Giles Anderson, without whose brainstorming, guidance, advice, and initiative, this project would have never even started. To John L.V. Bobell, for pressing me when pressing was needed. To Eugene Bobinski, Im really glad youre my dad. To Elsieanne Cook, your unselfish hours made such a difference. To Robert Croker, who is always there. To Jim Grove, for disciplining my pen. To Michael Kroth, an extraordinary idea man and encourager. To Norris Krueger, may your wit and wisdom never part. To Ilya Kucherencko, for the great insights. To Nancy Lull, who is not afraid to speak her mindat all. To Jim Medina, I probably couldnt have kept my head straight without your help. To Kathleen Morris, for setting it up and all the support. To Debra Murray, for the realism and business insight. To Kelly Pound, for being a phenomenal support, friend, and encourager. To Lorena Roberts, for the years of being there while this book percolated. For Greg Sigerson, for brainstorming, encouraging, brainstorming, encouraging, and also for encouraging. To Rose Sulfridge, for reminding me about grammar. To Michael Tomlin, the pro, for your uncanny way of making me think. To Kim Weber, for your frank honesty when frank honesty was needed. To the Beginning and the End. You know why. Thank you all.

At a recent conference of economic developers, the following statement jolted me: We are fifty years into the Information Age, and we are still managing like we are in the Industrial Age.

Based on my interactions with thousands of businesses, I believe this statement is absolutely true, and most leaders dont know where to start.

Dan Bobinskis Creating Passion-Driven Teams helps bring focus to the most critical area in todays Information Age business world: people.

In the Information Age, we have shifted to an economy that is much more driven by services. A service-based economys primary assets are people and their innate ability to identify and solve problemsto 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. However, when I started reading, I found myself drinking deeply from Dans 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 meand even within 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 arent doing. Either way, the practices Dan describes need to become habits for all of us, as they are necessary to create the type of teams needed for success in todays business world.

Gary Harpst,
Veteran CEO and best-selling author of
Six Disciplines Execution Revolution

Passion-Driven Teams.

Just what is a passion-driven team? Relying on my trusty dictionary, heres my interpretation:

Wow. Who wouldnt want to be on a team like that? The one question that needs answering is Where is the compelling force? The answer to that question has been elusive for many managers.

After 20-plus years as a business owner, trainer, consultant, executive coach, keynote speaker, and columnist, and with all of my work revolving around workplace issues and having worked with executives and leadership teams in Fortune 500 companies, as well as owners and management teams in small and mid-sized companies, Ive come to a few conclusions about that compelling force:

The elusive forcepassionmust emerge.

For the person who serves on a team and sees the grand possibilities of that team being compelled by passion, this book is for you. It is a noble desire. Stay the course.

If you seek to create a team driven by passion, then you must look within each person on your team, for its there that the passion resides. As I said, it cannot be manufactured, demanded, bought, or faked. It must come out by invitation of the person who owns it. Each person must release it.

And here lies the heart of this book: If you want to create passion-driven teams, the only thing you can do is create the conditions in which the people on your team feel safe enough to release their treasured passion. In other words:

But on a team, when passion is ready to fully emerge, it must be released by all.

As I said, your endeavor to create a passion-driven team is a noble one, and should be pursued. This book was written to give you insights Ive gained throughout the past 20-plus years on how to create the conditions in which passion-driven teams can emerge.

When Ive seen passion-driven teams, they had caring people at the helm, and people who cared throughout the team (Chapter 1). All team members knew their roles and responsibilities (Chapter 2). They knew what caused micromanagement, and they knew how to steer clear of it (Chapters 3 and 4). They understood each other very, very well (Chapter 5) and didnt play head games (Chapter 6).

The people Ive observed on passion-driven teams were can-do thinkers (Chapter 7), understood how to work together effectively to get things done (Chapter 8), and stayed in balance (Chapter 9).

They listened carefully to each other (Chapter 10) and quickly resolved any disagreements that arose (Chapter 11).

They acquired whatever skills they needed to succeed (Chapter 12), and if ever they fell down, they got right back up again (Chapter 13). And they guarded their crowning achievements very carefully (Chapter 14), celebrating the rare thing that they had: a Passion-Driven Team.

The fact that youre holding this book right now tells me you want to make a difference in the world, your industry, or maybe just where you work. It could be youre a leader wanting to elevate your teams to a whole new level. Perhaps youre an experienced manager or team leader and youd like your teams to be more effective and vibrant. Maybe youve just been promoted and you want to get a jump on things so you can hit the ground running. Or maybe youre a front-line employee who wants to develop your capacity for teambuilding.