Deborah Frances Tannen is an American academic and professor of linguistics at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. She has been the McGraw Distinguished Lecturer at Princeton University and was a fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences following a term in residence at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, NJ.
“Communication is a continual balancing act, juggling the conflicting needs for intimacy and independence. To survive in the world, we have to act in concert with others, but to survive as ourselves, rather than simply as cogs in a wheel, we have to act alone.”
— Deborah Frances Tannen
Juggling is a skill, it involves moving objects and the word has it’s roots in the Middle English or Latin, jogelen to perform tricks or joculare to jest; Juggling may be used metaphorically, like multi-tasking, to mean constantly refocusing attention among responsibilities.
We are about to begin juggling. This month we are launching three new projects that will require we keep our focus and balance, WindTronics, Dow Corning and the Averill Project. Each of these has some unique issues and will test our systems, our culture and our discipline.
Juggling tricks and patterns can become very complex, and hence can be difficult to communicate to others. Therefore a notation system has been developed for 
specifying patterns. Juggling notation includes diagrams, beatmaps and siteswaps. We too have a complex system; we have control points and processes that can not be violated. Just as a juggler keeps all the objects in the air with discipline to repeat the pattern over and over; our success will be based on the same concept — discipline.
Juggling starts with concentration, good balance and stability. Improvement, real improvement, starts with stability. Thanks to all your efforts, we are stable. Consider this point – it’s not finance, not technology – its teamwork and a good culture that provides the ultimate competitive advantage.
Juggling requires practice and trust.
Teamwork requires practice and trust.
Solid teamwork is the bedrock of great cultures.
Trust has emerged as an issue central to successful teaming. Successful teams must establish and maintain trusting interpersonal relationships if they are to function effectively and succeed. Trust may be thought of as individual’s expression of confidence or optimistic expectation in the intentions and motives of others. A person trusts a group when he or she believes that group members make good-faith efforts to stick to their commitments, are honest in their negotiations, and don’t unfairly take advantage of one another – even when the opportunity presents itself.
At the bottom line, trust represents an act of faith and a willingness to take a risk that another person will prove worthy of one’s confidence. Team members must know that everyone will fulfill obligations and behave in a consistent and predictable manner. Experience in many organizations shows that successful teams focus specifically on building relationships to increase trust.
Unsuccessful teams do not.
Remember all the runners are in the race, only one wins
Lets run to win.
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