• 10 Podcasts to Inspire the “Team” That Is Your Family

  Filed under Shift Perspective
  Nov 13

  Here come the holidays! And that means all kinds of family events with family members setting goals, playing roles, and trying to get things done together as big, often unwieldy, teams.  In many ways, families have much in common with formal business project teams.  In this post, we examine some similarities between families and project teams and suggest some podcasts that might help you create more inspired family teams.

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  The Family as Project Team

  Let’s start by considering this list of typical “projects” that families try to accomplish around the holidays:

  • Creating that “perfect” shared dinner party or gathering for a special event
  • Getting everyone safely to Grandma’s house for an extended visit
  • Pulling together that family “newsletter” or a holiday greeting card with group photo
  • Assembling a holiday gift list, then finding, wrapping, and presenting all the gifts to everyone on time
  • Organizing a reunion that achieves the positive outcomes of sharing good memories, reestablishing bonds, and making joyful new memories

  These projects can be extremely complicated! And like any project team, the family group that tries to successfully complete such complicated projects can easily get all tangled up with issues like these:

  • Whose idea was this?  (Who is the project sponsor? … Who “owns” this project?!)
  • Does everyone agree about the desired project outcomes?
  • Do we agree that the list of chores we’ll be doing makes sense? (Have we considered alternate ways to complete the work?)
  • Have we clearly specified what everyone’s roles will be?
  • Has everyone had the opportunity to provide input about their roles or have their duties simply been thrust upon them?
  • Have we set up some means of making decisions (balancing authority and responsibility) so we know when parts of our project are “done” and we can move on to the next chore?
  • How is this project funded? Whose money is being spent? Is this okay with us?
  • How will we know when this project is a success?
  • What will be the rewards, thanks, and praise for a job well done?

  Families that are tackling complicated holiday projects should be talking openly about all these issues for each project they attempt. Better yet, they should be figuring out how to develop more effective ways of communicating, sharing responsibilities, and leveraging each others’ strengths. In short, they should make the effort to develop more inspired family teams!

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  10 Podcasts to Inspire Your Family “Team”
  

  Here is a list of 10 podcasts from the Inspired Project Teams archives that you can use to help inspire your family project team. As you listen to each (or read the blog post) simply substitute the word “family” for “team,” and think about how you could apply the insights to your next big family project.
  

  1. Shift from Drama to Empowerment
  In his book The Power of TED, David Emerald compares two very different ways of being: The Dreaded Drama Triangle (or DDT) versus The Empowerment Dynamic (or TED). We apply these to project teams.

  2. Let Go of Perfectionism
  Are you driven to perfection? … or simply driven crazy? This post/podcast provides suggestions for project managers and team leaders about how they can let go of perfectionism and improve their results.

  3. Consciously Choose Your Attitude
  A project team’s attitude can make or break the project. In this post learn how you can consciously choose your attitude instead of simply allowing it to overtake you as a collection of random feelings.

  4. Accept What Is
  You must first accept a difficult situation for what it is before you can handle it effectively. Accept it, see it clearly without denial and hand-wringing, and then you can take appropriate action.

  5. Learn to Be Optimistic… Learn to Succeed
  “Cognitive therapy works [by changing] explanatory style from pessimistic to optimistic [providing]… skills for talking to yourself when you fail.” – M. Seligman – This post/podcast applies this to project teams.

  6. Take Charge… Stop Playing the Victim
  You create your own experience…[&] you cannot change what you do not acknowledge.” – Dr. Phil McGraw – Post/podcast focuses on how project teams can accept responsibility for bad results & take charge.

  7. Get High on Kindness
  “Kindness extended, received, or observed beneficially impacts the physical health and feelings of everyone involved!” — Wayne Dyer

  8. Listen, Understand, Collaborate
  “Habit 5: Seek First to Understand, Then to be Understood.” – Stephen Covey’s Seven Habits of Highly Effective People – Audio examines why & how project teams should listen, understand, & collaborate.

  9. Get Excited… and Let It Show!
  “Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson

  10. Just Say No

  While it might make sense for individuals to say “yes” to life as often as they can, there are critical moments when project teams have just gotta say “no!” Here’s why & how…

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  Conclusion

  I’ve tried to use many of the ideas contained in these podcasts with my own family projects, with varying degrees of success. All-in-all, however, I know there’s much of value here that can help you inspire your family teams to complete their projects more effectively and…. (dare I say it?) more lovingly!  So give these a try and let us know in the Comments below how they worked for you!

  Tagged as: family, family holiday, family inspiration, family team, holiday, holiday stress
  
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