HOW TO BUILD A GOOD TEAM

HOW TO BUILD A GOOD TEAM

• A team needs a good leader. Usually, in a work situation, the leader is chosen by people outside the team. In more social contexts, the team may choose the leader. If you are leading a team, you might want to read my advice on "How To Be A Good Leader"
• A team needs to be the right size. There is no precise figure here, but generally speaking one would expect a team to be around 8-12 members; smaller and supervision runs the danger of being excessive, larger and it is difficult for the leader to exercise effective control.
• A team needs members with a variety of skills. The nature of these skills will depend on the organisation and the task. However, typically one might want someone good with figures as well as someone good with words, someone who is effective at getting things done as well someone who is a creative thinker. It is important to avoid the temptation to chose too many like-minded members and team members need to know and respect the skills of others in the team.
• A team needs members with a variety of personalities. Again the nature of these personalities will depend on the organisation and the task. One might want an introvert as well as an extrovert and a maturer person as well as a younger one. Gender and ethnic differences can also make a creative contribution to an effective team.
• A team needs to bond. Some of this can be in done in the course of carrying out team tasks. However, it is good to create more specific opportunities for bonding that are outside the normal work schedule and situation, such as strategy sessions, training course and social events. One should take opportunities to celebrate successes - such as winning a new contract or fulfilling a particular project - and to celebrate occasions - such as birthdays of team members.
• A team needs to be able to resolve internal conflicts. However well a team bonds, it is likely that from time to time there will be differences in the team. This should not be unexpected or even always avoided; it is an inevitable feature of creative people having different ideas. So you might like to check out my advice on "How To Resolve Conflict"  
• A team needs good communications. People need to know what is expected of them, what is happening in the organisation, and how all this effects them as individuals and as a team. In many ways, the best communication is face-to-face but this can be time-consuming and may not always be practical. These days e-mail is an efficient means of communication, provided that it is not overdone or used as a way of avoiding difficult encounters.
• A team needs shared values and a shared vision. All team members need to know and agree how the team is going to work and what it is trying to do. This might involve having some sort of strategy session - maybe facilitated by someone outside the team - with exercises to ensure that the values and the vision are embraced by all.
• A team needs clear objectives. Ideally these objectives ought to be SMART - that is, specific, measurable, achievable, resourced, timed. For more information on this, check out my advice on "How To Produce A Strategic Plan"
• A team needs to be empowered. There are two elements to this. First, the team collectively needs to be given the resources and the authority to achieve the objectives set for it. Second, each individual needs to know what is expected of him or her but left to work out for himself or herself how best to achieve this on a day to day basis.
• A team needs trust. Members need to trust each other and most especially the team leader. This requires open and honest communication, acceptance of a 'no blame' culture, and a recognition that every mistake is an occasion for learning and not an excuse to criticise.
• A team needs to be flexible. There are two elements to this. First, roles in the team should not be rigid - it is the team's success that matters more than who exactly does what. Second, the composition and existence of the team needs to be flexible so, if a new skill is needed, one might add a new member to the team, but conversely, if the team's project is satisfactorily completed, there might be no continued need for the team.

HOW TO MAKE A GOOD PRESENTATION

• Think about the presentation beforehand. It is short-changing the organisers of the event and your audience if you only think about what you're going to say the day before or while travelling to the event. If necessary, clarify with the organisers exactly what is required of you and what facilities you will require.
• Do use PowerPoint if the facilities are available. Although some speakers seem to have taken an aversion to PowerPoint, it is so convenient and ensures that your presentation has a clear structure and something for your listeners to take away.
• Face your audience at all times even though the screen to which you are speaking is behind you. So that you know what your audience is viewing at any given time in the presentation, either have a computer screen on a desk in front of you showing the presentation or print off the slides and use the paper copies as a speaking aid.
• Be very clear about how much time you have - and stick to that time in preparing and delivering your presentation. It's very difficult to 'cut' a PowerPoint presentation at the event itself, so it's a great mistake to run out of time. Most presenters prepare too much material; but nobody ever complains that a presentation was too short (it always allows more time for questions).
• Be very clear about your key message - and ensure that everything in your presentation is both consistent with, and suppportive of, that key message. You should be able to articulate the message in a phrase or a sentence and indeed you might want to use that phrase or sentence in one of your first slides, or one of your last, or even both.
• E-mail your presentation to the event organisers in advance. Ask them to load it onto a laptop, run it through, check that it looks fine, and confirm that with you. Then you don't have to worry about the technology when you arrive at the venue; you can concentrate on the delivery of your material. Also it enables the event's organisers to run off copies of your slides, so that they are available to them in good time.
• Make copies of your slides available. It is a matter of preference whether you do this at the beginning of your presentation or at the end. If your listeners have copies at the beginning, they can take notes simply by annotating the slides, instead of having to note down all the information on the slides. On the other hand, you might feel that, if they can see in advance the slides you are going to use, you lose the element of control or surprise. It might depend on the content of the presentation: if you are going to show detailed tables or graphs with lots of figures, your audience will probably find it easier to have a copy on their lap. It might depend on the circumstances of the presentation: if there is a large auddience, people at the back may not be able to see the screen clearly and would really appreciate having copies of the slides.
• Ensure that the slides look good. This does not necessarily mean that they look flashy - although suitable pictures or illustrations are very effective - but it does mean using a consistent format and typeface and readable colours plus giving each slide the logo of the organisation you are representing and a chronological number.
• The first slide should announce the title of your presentation, the event and date, and your name and position. This may seem terribly obvious, but many speakers miss off some of this basic information and then weeks later listeners (or their colleagues back at the organisation) are not clear who made the presentation or when. You should try to make the title catchy, so that you immediately have the interest of your audience. A challenging question works well - for instance, a presentation on the global economic crisis might ask: "Is this the end of capitalism as we've known it?" Or a play on words works too - for example, a presentation on next generation broadband could be titled "The Slow Arrival Of Fast Broadband".
• The second slide should seize the attention of your audience for your presentation. It could be the central proposition of your presentation or a conventional wisdom that you wish to challenge or a relevant or witty quote from a leader in your field. If it is amusing or controversial or both, so much the better.
• The third slide should set out the structure of your presentation. The default structure should consist of three themes that you intend to examine. For a very short presentation, there might only be time for two; if you want to look at more than five areas, write a book instead.
• Each theme should be the subject of a small number of slides. Again, a good working assumption is that three slides for each theme is about right. Less than two and it isn't substantial enough to be a separate theme; more than five and it should probably be broken up into two themes.
• Each slide should have a clear heading. A question is often a good way of winning attention - but, in that case, make sure you answer the question in the body of the slide.
• Each slide should normally contain around 25-35 words, unless it is a quote (when you might use more) or contains an illustration (when you will probably use less). Too many words and your audience will have trouble reading the material; too few words and you're likely to be flashing through the slides and spending too much time clicking the mouse.
• Each bullet point should consist of an intelligible phrase, rather than merely a word or two that is meaningless on its own or conversely a complete sentence that is better delivered orally. So, for instance, do use "Focus on profitable and growing markets" rather than simply "Focus" or "Markets" or "It is necessary to focus on those markets which are profitable and growing rather than those which are loss-making and declining". Consider this test: your slides should make sense and be useful to someone who was not present at your presentation.
• Make appropriate use of pictures. It's a good idea to break up text with illustrations and it is true that a picture is worth a thousand words.
• The last slide should set out all appropriate contact details: certainly e-mail address and possibly snail mail address, the web site of your organisation, and any personal website or weblog if you have one. 

source : http://www.rogerdarlington.me.uk/Presentation.html

Story of Glutinous Rice A Folktale from North Sumatra, Indonesia

Once upon a time, there were a woman lived with her son Olih. Olih and her mother lived in a village in North Sumatra, Indonesia. They were poor. Their neighbors love them because they are kind and always help other people.
In the evening, seven old women came to Olih’s house. Those women looked dirty, and they were wearing ragged clothes. They were also very hungry.
“Good evening. We are hungry. Could you please give us some food?” asked one of the old women.
“Don’t worry, Ma’am. We have some food for you. Just wait for a moment.”
Olih then went to his house. He opened the cupboard then takes some food. A moment later he gave the food to those old women.
“Thank you very much, Kid. It’s very kind of you. We are also very tired. Would you let us stay here to spend the night? Nobody wants to let us stay in their house. We are strangers here, we have no place to go.”
“Don’t worry. You all can stay here,”said Olih’s mother.
“Thank you very mich. You two are very kind to us.”
In the morning, those seven old women were still sleeping. Olih’s mother asked Olih to wake them up to have breakfast.
Suddenly Olih screamed!
“Mom! Come here!!!”
Olih’s mother then run to the bedroom. She found the room full of rice. The old women were gone. But there was one beautiful girl sitting on the bed.
“Don’t be afraid. I am one of the women. My father sent me here. He has a great super natural power. He changed me into an old woman and ask me to deliver this special rice to a family that helped me, “said the girl.
Olih and her mother were very happy. Then they had enough rice to eat. They also shared the rice to the neighbors. The rice was so delicious. They called it beras pulut or glutinous rice, it means sticky and delicious rice.

the frog prince

Once upon of time there was a kingdom led by a wise king. The kingdom blessed by fertile soil and good harvest. The people lived wealthy and happy.
The palace was big and strong. Surrounded by thick wood and beautiful lake. The king had three daughters. There were all beautiful lake. And that made the king felt complete. But among those three, the youngest was the most beautiful.
Around the palace, there was a beautiful lake. Usually, the youngest princess played on the lake during the season.
One day, when the youngest princess played on the wood and sit near the lake, she was bore, and started to play with her golden ball. She played catch and throw. Up and down, again and again. She loved her golden ball very much. Unfortunately the golden ball slipped from her hand. The golden ball rolled and fell into the lake. The youngest princess was really sad. She just looked at her ball, rolling and falling and then gone.
The youngest princess confused. She wanted to have her ball back but she did know how. Finally she cried. She cried for a long time, louder and louder. Suddenly she heard a voice, a man was talking to her.
“What make you cry? Why are you sad, my lady? Your cry should melt the hardest stone I have ever seen before,” your cry break my hear…,” said a frog.
The youngest princess looked around. She tried to find the voice.
“Who is talking? I see no body here, just me” whispered her. Finally she saw a big frog with it’s ugly big head on the surface of the water lake.
She confused so that she dared to ask. “Is that you who is talking to me ?”
“Yes my lady, ” answered the big frog.
“Do not be worry and stop crying, I think I could help you taking your golden ball back to you, but I you to do something for me also,” said the frog.
“Allright, anything you want, my silk robe, or jewelery ? or pearl ?, or my gold crown ? anything you want but promise me you will take my golden ball back to me,” said the youngest princess excitingly.
“I am sorry my lady, I am not interesting on your jewelery or pearl or gold crown you have offer me. I only want to you to like me, treat me as friend, sit on your chair, eat and drink on your plate and glass, and the last, share your bed with me. If you agree with me, then I will dive to the bottom of the lake and take your golden ball back to you”
Without second thought, the princess agreed, “I agree. I promise to do anything you want me to do as long  as you keep your promise too,” said the princess.
"It is fair enough although I think it is impossible that a frog could speak either live on the land for so that long. A frog only live on the water with his kind, singing and waiting until the rain fall,” whispered the princess.
Heard the princess’s promise, soon the frog started to dive. Several minutes later the frog returned with his mouth holding the golden ball and threw it to the princess immediately.
The youngest princess was very happy. Soon she caught her golden ball and ran home.
“Hey…, wait for me! ” shouted the frog. “Take me with you, you knew I can not ran as fast as you…” shouted the frog again. But the princess ignored him. She was too exciting so that she did not care about the frog and the promise she made. The frog disappoint and returned back to the lake.
The next morning, the king had a lunch with his youngest princess. Suddenly, they heard a jump voices at the stairs. The jump voices followed by knock on the door. Behind the door, heard a sad voice,
” My Lady, My Princess…  please open the door for me and let me in".
Soon, the princess opened the door and she was shock when she saw a frog in front of her. Instead of letting the frog in, the princess closed the door in a hurry. She returned back to her chair, but she acted strange and worry.
“How can he come to this palace ?” whispered her.
The king worried about  his daughter and he asked, “Something bother you my princess? Is there any bad guy behind that door ?”
“No, there is no bad guy, just the frog, an ugly disguisting frog,” answered the princess.
“And what does the frog want, so that you act terrify and scare? “ asked the king. Then the princess started to tell her father the story about her and the frog on the lake.
“I never tought that the frog will come to the palace and ask about the promise.”
“My lady, my princess…, please open the door for me. Do you forget about the promise you have made yesterday?”
“My dear, you must keep your promise because promise is a promise. Now, open the door and let him in, ” asked the king again.
With hard feeling, the princess walked to the door and opened it. Soon, the frog jump inside and followed the princess to her chair.
“My lady, pick me up and let me sit next to you,” asked the frog again. Afraid by her father, the princess prepared  a dishes to had lunch together with the frog. When the meal served, soon the frog ate it using his tongue.
“It is really disgusting, the frog has no manner,” whispered the princess. I am not feeling hungry anymore grumbled her.
“Kwok…, I am, full now, I am tired my lady, take me to your bedroom and let me sleep on your arm, ” asked the frog again.
“My dear, you are the daughter of a king, you must keep your promise and gives the example to the people.”
Once again, hardly, the princess lifted the frog and took him to her room. Inside the room, the princess started to lay down on her bed, the frog came and said:
“My lady, remember your promise, now I am tired and I wanted to sleep next to you, better you do that or will report to your father".
The princess felt angry and annoyed, she took the frog and threw it to the wall,
"Enough ! yes I have made a promise, I do my best but I think it is to ridiculous !” shouted the princess angry.
Braak! …. Unbelieveable, when the frog fell to the floor, suddenly smoke came out from his body. When the smoke was gone remarkable, a prince charming showed up.
"Thank you my lady, you have save my life from the witch's curse. The magic spell dissapear and now I turn to my real," said the prince.
"My God, apologize me, for breaking my promise," said the princess affraid.
In the end, by the king's blessed the prince and the princess married. and they lived happy ever after.

The Origin of Fire A Folktale from Native American

The Origin of Fire
A Folktale from Native American

Long time ago, animals and trees talked with each other, but there was no fire at that time. Fox was most clever and he tried to think of a way to create fire for the world.

One day, he decided to visit the Geese, te-tl, whose cry he wished to learn how to imitate. They promised to teach him if he would fly with them. So they contrived a way to attach wings to Fox, but cautioned him never to open his eyes while flying.

Whenever the Geese arose in flight, Fox also flew along with them to practice their cry. On one such adventure, darkness descended suddenly as they flew over the village of the fireflies, ko-na- tcic-a.

In mid-flight, the glare from the flickering fireflies caused Fox to forget and he opened his eyes--instantly his wings collapsed! His fall was uncontrollable. He landed within the walled area of the firefly village, where a fire constantly burned in the center.

Two kind fireflies came to see fallen Fox, who gave each one a necklace of juniper berries, katl-te-i-tse.
Fox hoped to persuade the two fireflies to tell him where he could find a way over the wall to the outside. They led him to a cedar tree, which they explained would bend down upon command and catapult him over the wall if he so desired.

That evening, Fox found the spring where fireflies obtained their water. There also, he discovered colored Earth, which when mixed with water made paint. He decided to give himself a coat of white. Upon returning to the village, Fox suggested to the fireflies,

"Let's have a festival where we can dance and I will produce the music."

They all agreed that would be fun and helped to gather wood to build up a greater fire. Secretly, Fox tied a piece of cedar bark to his tail. Then he made a drum, probably the first one ever constructed, and beat it vigorously with a stick for the dancing fireflies. Gradually, he moved closer and closer to the fire.

Fox pretended to tire from beating the drum. He gave it to some fireflies who wanted to help make the music. Fox quickly thrust his tail into the fire, lighting the bark, and exclaimed,

"It is too warm here for me, I must find a cooler place."

Straight to the cedar tree Fox ran, calling,

"Bend down to me, my cedar tree, bend down!"

Down bent the cedar tree for Fox to catch hold, then up it carried him far over the wall. On and on he ran, with the fireflies in pursuit.

As Fox ran along, brush and wood on either side of his path were ignited from the sparks dropping from the burning bark tied to his tail.

Fox finally tired and gave the burning bark to Hawk, i-tsarl-tsu- i, who carried it to brown Crane, tsi-nes-tso-l. He flew far southward, scattering fire sparks everywhere. This is how fire first spread over the Earth.
Fireflies continued chasing Fox all the way to his burrow and declared,

"Forever after, Wily Fox, your punishment for stealing our fire will be that you can never make use of it for yourself."

THE MONKEY AND THE JELLY-FISH A Folktales from Japanese

Children must often have wondered why jelly-fishes have no shells, like so many of the creatures that are washed up every day on the beach. In old times this was not so; the jelly-fish had as hard a shell as any of them, but he lost it through his own fault, as may be seen in this story.

The sea-queen Otohime, whom you read of in the story of Uraschimataro, grew suddenly very ill. The swiftest messengers were sent hurrying to fetch the best doctors from every country under the sea, but it was all of no use; the queen grew rapidly worse instead of better. Everyone had almost given up hope, when one day a doctor arrived who was cleverer than the rest, and said that the only thing that would cure her was the liver of an ape. Now apes do not dwell under the sea, so a council of the wisest heads in the nation was called to consider the question how a liver could be obtained. At length it was decided that the turtle, whose prudence was well known, should swim to land and contrive to catch a living ape and bring him safely to the ocean kingdom.

It was easy enough for the council to entrust this mission to the turtle, but not at all so easy for him to fulfill it. However he swam to a part of the coast that was covered with tall trees, where he thought the apes were likely to be; for he was old, and had seen many things. It was some time before he caught sight of any monkeys, and he often grew tired with watching for them, so that one hot day he fell fast asleep, in spite of all his efforts to keep awake. By-and-by some apes, who had been peeping at him from the tops of the trees, where they had been carefully hidden from the turtle's eyes, stole noiselessly down, and stood round staring at him, for they had never seen a turtle before, and did not know what to make of it.

At last one young monkey, bolder than the rest, stooped down and stroked the shining shell that the strange new creature wore on its back. The movement, gentle though it was, woke the turtle. With one sweep he seized the monkey's hand in his mouth, and held it tight, in spite of every effort to pull it away. The other apes, seeing that the turtle was not to be trifled with, ran off, leaving their young brother to his fate.

Then the turtle said to the monkey,

"If you will be quiet, and do what I tell you, I won't hurt you. But you must get on my back and come with me."

The monkey, seeing there was no help for it, did as he was bid; indeed he could not have resisted, as his hand was still in the turtle's mouth.

Delighted at having secured his prize, the turtle hastened back to the shore and plunged quickly into the water. He swam faster than he had ever done before, and soon reached the royal palace. Shouts of joy broke forth from the attendants when he was seen approaching, and some of them ran to tell the queen that the monkey was there, and that before long she would be as well as ever she was. In fact, so great was their relief that they gave the monkey such a kind welcome, and were so anxious to make him happy and comfortable, that he soon forgot all the fears that had beset him as to his fate, and was generally quite at his ease, though every now and then a fit of home-sickness would come over him, and he would hide himself in some dark corner till it had passed away.

It was during one of these attacks of sadness that a jelly-fish happened to swim by. At that time jelly-fishes had shells. At the sight of the gay and lively monkey crouching under a tall rock, with his eyes closed and his head bent, the jelly-fish was filled with pity, and stopped, saying,

"Ah, poor fellow, no wonder you weep; a few days more, and they will come and kill you and give your liver to the queen to eat."

The monkey shrank back horrified at these words and asked the jelly-fish what crime he had committed that deserved death.

"Oh, none at all," replied the jelly-fish, "but your liver is the only thing that will cure our queen, and how can we get at it without killing you? You had better submit to your fate, and make no noise about it, for though I pity you from my heart there is no way of helping you." Then he went away, leaving the ape cold with horror.

At first he felt as if his liver was already being taken from his body, but soon he began to wonder if there was no means of escaping this terrible death, and at length he invented a plan which he thought would do. For a few days he pretended to be gay and happy as before, but when the sun went in, and rain fell in torrents, he wept and howled from dawn to dark, till the turtle, who was his head keeper, heard him, and came to see what was the matter. Then the monkey told him that before he left home he had hung his liver out on a bush to dry, and if it was always going to rain like this it would become quite useless. And the rogue made such a fuss and moaning that he would have melted a heart of stone, and nothing would content him but that somebody should carry him back to land and let him fetch his liver again.

The queen's councillors were not the wisest of people, and they decided between them that the turtle should take the monkey back to his native land and allow him to get his liver off the bush, but desired the turtle not to lose sight of his charge for a single moment. The monkey knew this, but trusted to his power of beguiling the turtle when the time came, and mounted on his back with feelings of joy, which he was, however, careful to conceal.

They set out, and in a few hours were wandering about the forest where the ape had first been caught, and when the monkey saw his family peering out from the tree tops, he swung himself up by the nearest branch, just managing to save his hind leg from being seized by the turtle. He told them all the dreadful things that had happened to him, and gave a war cry which brought the rest of the tribe from the neighbouring hills.

At a word from him they rushed in a body to the unfortunate turtle, threw him on his back, and tore off the shield that covered his body. Then with mocking words they hunted him to the shore, and into the sea, which he was only too thankful to reach alive.

Faint and exhausted he entered the queen's palace for the cold of the water struck upon his naked body, and made him feel ill and miserable. But wretched though he was, he had to appear before the queen's advisers and tell them all that had befallen him, and how he had suffered the monkey to escape. But, as sometimes happens, the turtle was allowed to go scot-free, and had his shell given back to him, and all the punishment fell on the poor jelly-fish, who was condemned by the queen to go shieldless for ever after.

the golden snail

Long time ago there were a couple of husband and wife, they are Prince Raden Putra and Dewi Limaran. They lived in a palace. Prince Raden Putra's father was the king of the kingdom.

One day, Dewi Limaran was walking around in the palace garden. Suddenly she saw a snail. It was ugly and disgusting.
"Yuck!" said Dewi Limaran and then she threw it away into a river.
She did not know that the snail was actually an old and powerful witch. She could transform herself into anything. The witch was angry to Dewi Limaran. The witch put a spell on her and changed her into a golden snail. The witch then threw it away into the river.
The golden snail was drifting away in the river and got caught into a net. An old woman was fishing and used her net to catch some fish. She was surprised to see a golden snail in her net. She took it and brought it home. When the old woman woke up in the morning, she was surprised that the house was in the good condition. The floor was mopped. And she also had food on the table. She was thinking very hard.
"Who did this to me? The person is very kind." It happened again and again every morning.
The old woman was very curious. One night she decided to stay up late. She was peeping from her room to know who cooked for her. Then, she could not believe what she saw. The golden snail she caught in the river turned into a beautiful woman. The old woman approached her.
"Who are you, young girl?"
"I am Dewi Limaran, Ma'am. A witch cursed me. I can change back as a human only at night," explained Dewi Limaran.
"The spell can be broken if I hear the melody from the holy gamelan," continued Dewi Limaran.
The old woman then rushed to the palace. She talked to Prince Raden Putra about her wife.
Prince Raden Putra was so happy. He had been looking for his wife everywhere.
He then prayed and meditated. He asked the Gods to give him the holy gamelan. He wanted to break the witch's spell. After several days praying and meditating, finally Gods granted his wish. He immediately brought the holy gamelan to the old woman's house. He played it beautifully. And then amazingly the golden snail turned into the beautiful Dewi Limaran.
The couple was so happy that they could be together again. They also thanked the old woman for her kindness. As a return, they asked her to stay in the palace.

Source : http://folktales4u.blogspot.com/2011/05/golden-snail-keong-emas.html