Ways We Use Quotes:

Meetings

Having lead dozens of teams through critical, highly visable and stressful projects, I can tell you I am not a big fan of meetings. Some long meetings are necessary, but should be extremely infrequent.

However, I LOVE stand-up meetings and 7 to 20 minutes short team huddles.  When run efficiently, these huddles keep the team aligned, create energy and enthusiasm and helps everyone stay connected.

A quote can be very helpful to either begin or end the huddle.  You can have a different person pick one

Dialogue

Pick a quote and use it to begin a dialogue amongst your team.  This feels a little awkward at first, but stick with it and ask questions for deeper meaning from your team and it will come.

You can look more closely at the author of the quote and where they are coming from.  A quote from Helen Keller is very different than from Vince Lombardi.  Yet, they say similar things!

Sports metaphors are very common in business and sports team quotes are everywhere.  Be careful with your team because most work teams are NOT like sports teams.

Facilitation or Training

Using the right quote in the right place can be exactly what you need.

Quotes are great because they come from a trust source and are a different voice from  your own that is encapsulating your content perfectly.  We use them all the time as openers, in the debrief to stimulate dialogue and to wrap up a session.

Remember teamwork begins by building trust.  And the only way to do that is to overcome our need for invulnerability.
Patrick Lencioni

Alone we can do so little, together we can do so much.
Helen Keller

To me, teamwork is the beauty of our sport, where you have five acting as one. You become selfless.
Mike Krzyzewski

It is amazing how much people can get done if they do not worry about who gets the credit.
Sandra Swinney

A group is a bunch of people in an elevator. A team is also a bunch of people in an elevator, but the elevator is broken!
Bonnie Edelstein

The strength of the team is each individual member. The strength of each member is the team.
Phil Jackson

Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success.
Henry Ford

I don’t believe in team motivation. I believe in getting a team prepared so it knows it will have the necessary confidence when it steps on a field and be prepared to play a good game.
Tom Landry

None of us is as smart as all of us.
Ken Blanchard

Teamwork is the ability to work together toward a common vision. The ability to direct individual accomplishments toward organizational objectives. It is the fuel that allows common people to attain uncommon results.
Andrew Carnegie

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed people can change the world. Indeed. It is the only thing that ever has.
Margaret Mead