Career Development: 10 Tips on Teamwork from The Apprentice

You’re fired!

Many of us are familiar with this phrase from The Apprentice, a reality television show hosted by Donald Trump that has been renewed for a 13th season. Promoted as “The Ultimate Job Interview,” each season a group of sixteen to eighteen business people compete in elimination–style competition for a one year, $250,000 starting contract of running one of business magnate Trump’s companies.

Here are the top 10 tips I’ve learned about teamwork (and how to avoid hearing “You’re fired!”) from watching The Apprentice.

1. Team leaders must help team members determine their strengths before tasks are assigned.
2. There is no autopilot switch for teamwork, even when the goals are clearly defined and communicated to the members.
3. You don’t really know a team member until you see that team member experience stress.
4. When team members start making excuses, kiss a good outcome goodbye.
5. How well the team leader organizes the team directly relates to the team’s ultimate success.
6. Leaders need to be aware of each team member’s capacity to handle strong emotions.
7. Everyone on the team needs to be aware of non-verbal language and what body language conveys, especially the team leader.
8. Teams should not get carried away with big ideas before they determine the resources needed to execute them (especially time and budgets).
9. The team should not only focus on the situation but also on the lessons learned from the situation.
10. Timelines need to be communicated clearly to every team member and followed-up often.

Bill Rancic, the first candidate hired by The Trump Organization at the conclusion of the first season of The Apprentice, will be sharing more lessons learned at the 2013 Global TapRooT® Summit, March 18-22, 2013 in Gatlinburg, Tennessee.