The most productive teams hold four Keys to a FAST Team, which are the four parts to this book. F-A-S-T is an acronym for Fairness, Accountability, Systems, and Technology. These four factors are crucial to collective productivity in the modern office:

KEY 1—FAIRNESS

Proper under the rules; honest; just; straightforward.

KEY 2—ACCOUNTABILITY

Responsible for someone or for some action; answerable; within one's power, control, or management.

KEY 3—SYSTEMS

One element can impact the whole; interrelated linkages and interactions between components; a set of correlated people.

KEY 4—TECHNOLOGY

Specific methods, materials, and devices used to exchange information; creation and use of technical means; use of knowledge to solve problems.

[Your team may be more familiar with the S-L-O-W model: Sloth, Laziness, Objections, and Workarounds; or Sluggish, Lethargic, Opposing, and Weary, which we're not going to cover in this book.]

The F-A-S-T Team Model

The four Keys to a FAST Team, with their twelve Accelerators.

THE TWELVE ACCELERATORS

Each of the four Keys has three corresponding Accelerators, which make your Team Car go faster. An accelerator on a car is a device (usually a pedal) that controls the speed of the engine; for your team, an Accelerator is a person or a thing that will cause something to happen or develop more quickly. The Accelerators represent the twelve chapters of the book:

KEY 1—FAIRNESS

1. Building Relationships

2. Handling Conflict

3. Improving Cohesiveness

KEY 2—ACCOUNTABILITY

4. Trusting Your Team Members

5. Accepting Responsibility

6. Maximizing Performance

KEY 3—SYSTEMS

7. Making Effective Decisions

8. Managing Time

9. Increasing Efficiency

KEY 4—TECHNOLOGY

10. Communicating Properly

11. Meeting Effectively

12. Following Protocols

Each Accelerator, when properly implemented, will quicken your team to maximum productive speed for that Key—without being reckless.

When you're trying to accelerate on a road, your biggest hindrances are stop signs, stop lights, and speed bumps. In my experience, speed bumps are the most annoying, because they don't just slow you down, they jostle you uncomfortably as well—and you don't get nearly as much warning that they're coming up. If you hit one too hard, you're in the shop for repairs. In fact, if you face more than a few, you'll be slowed down so much that your progress—i.e., your productivity—will be significantly curtailed.

That's why I've included the four worst “Speed Bumps” for each of the twelve Accelerators in this book, forty-eight total, to show you how you can overcome their limiting effects and annoyance. Your team's productivity will be slowed to a halt if you don't find ways to flatten them. Your team should overcome each Speed Bump to master the corresponding Accelerator and Key, so that, together, you can lead the pack within your business segment.

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The SLOW eat the dust of the FAST,

and in the end, only the FAST survive.

Let's get moving!