The Achiever Newsletter

3-2-1 Action:
What is an Action Team?

By Jeffrey W. Drake, Ph.D.

AchieveMax^® has been working with a number of action teams to turn organizational problems into opportunities for improvement. Action teams are also called self-directed or self-managed teams.

Action teams consist of volunteer members from a cross section of an organization. New members are rotated in to allow for different perspectives.

Each action team develops a mission statement, beliefs and values statements, and goals for its organization. Members also create a name and a logo. Examples include: COM-LINC, FIRST Team, PEAK Performers, Raving Fans, and SPARK Team.

Next, the team identifies challenges and positive actions, follows through on actions, and records successes on a scorecard of achievements.

Each team is trained in identifying challenges, meeting facilitation, and leadership development. Each team meets with AchieveMax^® facilitators for a specific period, dependent on the organization, and then maintains its own meeting schedule.

Jeffrey W. Drake, Ph.D., is a professional speaker and consultant for AchieveMax^®, Inc., a firm specializing in custom-designed keynote presentations, seminars, and consulting services. Jeff has made presentations ranging from leadership to empowered teams and project management to communication styles for a number of industries, including education, financial, government, healthcare, and manufacturing. He can be reached at 800-886-2MAX or by visiting http://www.AchieveMax.com.

Publication Date: Winter 1996

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