Team-Building Author Feature of SEDC Breakfast Leadership Series Today

Deborah Mackin, renowned team-building author and founder/principle leadership coach at New Directions, an employee training and development firm in North Bennington, Vermont, will be speaking on Cross-Cultural Teaming in the Tech-Valley today, March 7, 2013 at Empire State College from 7:30-9:00 am. To register, visit www.saratogaedc.com.

Mackin, considered an international authority on teaming after publishing three books focused on building successful, self-directed work teams, will be presenting the first of four presentations, titled "Cross-Cultural Teaming in Tech Valley: What It Takes To Be Successful." The breakfast seminar will expose the under-utilization of skills, talents and competencies in the workplace and how high-functioning teams can capitalize on those lost talents. Having implemented self-directed work teams for over 25 years in diverse companies such as Alcoa, Coca-Cola, Delta Faucet, the U.S. Navy, Sanofi Pasteur and SI Group, Mackin will be exploring the foundational steps to building an organization centered on teaming. Some of the questions she will be addressing include; "What do the successful teams do differently?" "What causes some to fail?" "How do you get a cross-cultural team to speak the same language?" and "What would a road map for teaming look like?"

This is the first time that the Saratoga Economic Development Corporation (SEDC) and Mackin have collaborated; however, the need for a focus on cultural diversity and building teams has been apparent in the Saratoga region as large organizations such as Global Foundries, IBM and GE have begun to demonstrate a resurrection of global manufacturing in the area. "We met with Deborah a couple of months ago, knowing we had this unique author right in our region, and talked to her about the cultural impact of these large organizations on upstate New York," stated Dennis Brobston, President of SEDC. "With her many years helping to implement not only self-directed teams in some of the world's most well known companies, but also from a cultural and global level too, we are very excited for her presentations where she will share her vast expertise in teaming and cross-cultural collaboration with the Saratoga region."