Right-Minded Teamwork: 9 Right Choices for Building a Team That Works as One

If you’ve been wondering how in the world you can lead your teammates to actual collaboration and true team effectiveness, you’re in the right place.

Right-Minded Teamwork (RMT) is a proven methodology to achieve better teamwork. This book explores RMT’s “9 Right Choices” and the thought system that successful RMT team leaders and facilitators use to create and sustain teams that work as one.

Is This Book for You?

This fast read is an excellent Right-Minded Teamwork primer. In this book, RMT’s 9 Right Choices are defined, and practical leader and teammate exercises are provided for applying each one.

This book teaches team facilitators, team leaders, and teammates how to incorporate these 9 Right Choices to build unified teamwork that makes achieving team goals inevitable.

Right-Minded Teamwork’s 9 Right Choices

At a glance, RMT’s 9 Right Choices look like this:

1. Make the Right-Minded Choice: Choose Reason
2. Oneness or Separateness? Choose to Behave as One
3. Right-Minded Communication: An End to Separateness
4. Meaningful Vision: Make Your Dream Come True
5. Work Agreements: Bring People Together as One
6. Critical Few: Complete Important Tasks First
7. Mistakes Happen: Correct Them; Don’t Punish People
8. Conflict Happens: Go to the Classroom, Not the Battleground
9. Recognition: Make It Easy to Keep Going

These nine teamwork choices are universal, self-evident, and self-validating. With these choices in your mind, you no longer have to wonder what you should do in any team situation. The answer will always be, “Do no harm, and work as one.”

How to Apply the 9 Right Choices in Your Team

There is no single right way to apply the 9 Right Choices. But there are two possible scenarios that lend themselves well to team application.

The first option is to ask all teammates to read this book and complete the survey at the end. You will then compile teammates’ scores and comments and distribute the overall results to all teammates. As a full team, you will discuss the results and identify which Choices to apply in your team.

The second option is to openly discuss, in a team meeting, just the first two of the 9 Right Choices. By the end of the meeting, teammates will have chosen several of their own “right” attitudes and work behaviors that they want to live by going forward. These team-wide “right choices” are captured in team Work Agreements that everyone agrees to follow.

No matter which approach you choose, remember it is really about the dialogue. These 9 Choices are undoubtedly important, but they are secondary to your team’s discussion of them. Regardless of your preferred approach, every application should include a healthy, functional, and empowering dialogue that moves your teammates towards acting and behaving as one unified team.

Praise for Right-Minded Teamwork’s 9 Right Choices

A fast read that takes you straight to the root of team dysfunctions and gives you proven, step-by-step tools to improve team function and deliver results. I have paid thousands of dollars for team trainings and workshops that are better summarized here. I am glad to be reminded to choose Reason over Ego and stay in my right mind.
Robin Hensley, VP IT, UPS

The author of this guide is all-knowing and has clearly and in a pithy way documented the nine steps to bringing a team together. Togetherness and one-mindedness are key elements to an average team doing extraordinary things. [This book] provides a roadmap to use in building a team that works.
Alan Kleier, Former GM/VP, Chevron