This year’s second Morning Coffee was sponsored by Signature Pools and graciously hosted by Meadowood Apartments in Norfolk. This month’s topic was on Teamwork & Communication and was lead by Waverton & Associates Renee Pulliam. Renee built her discussion around Captain D. Michael Abrashoff’s book "It’s your ship: Management techniques from the best damn ship in the Navy" where Capt. Abrashoff outlines how he took command of what was once widely recognized as one of the notorious underperformers with regards to productivity and how he turned that ship around...literally. He was successful by seeing the ship through the eyes of his crew, creating an environment of communication, creating discipline by focusing on purpose and listening aggressively.
To demonstrate why it is so important that all involved understand their individual roles and how they fit in the team dynamic, Renee held an exercise and told the story of four people named Everybody, Somebody, Anybody and Nobody. There was an important job to be done and Everybody was asked to do it. Everybody was sure Somebody would do it. Anybody could have done it, but Nobody did it. Somebody got angry about that, because it was Everybody's job. Everybody thought Anybody could do it but Nobody realized that Everybody wouldn't do it. It ended up that Everybody blamed Somebody when Nobody did what Anybody could have done. Renee wanted everyone to leave the Morning Coffee with this final thought: "There’s no I in team and contrary to what you may have heard from this cliché – I believe that there is an I in team. That I is all of you. Every person on the team must take responsibility for themselves. The rest of your team is counting on you."
Be sure to mark your calendars for this month’s Morning Coffee to be held at Monticello at Town Center in Hampton on Friday, March 21st at 8:30 am. The topic will be the Power Close with a discussion to be led by Alethea Parker of Artcraft Management so this is not to be missed! You can sign up by logging in at www.vamaonline.org/events. We look forward to seeing you there!