When Good Teams Go Wrong by Ruth Dubinsky MS, President, Clarity Consulting

How's your team doing? Are you hitting your targets without leaving "dead bodies" in the wake? Do you sense trust, commitment, and accountability from your fellow team members?

If the answer is yes, fantastic—you're in an elite club! But if your team is like many others, sometimes (or more often than not) you feel "dysfunctional." Not quite working on all cylinders... not cooperating or communicating well... not making decisions that stick. Dealing with power struggles that exhaust and frustrate everyone. Running on empty.

So, what makes good teams go wrong? It's rarely a lack of technical skills. Many good teams have all the experience and technical knowhow they need. But they tend to miss or ignore signals that suggest the rudimentary, essential elements of teamwork are absent on their team—and they are unable or unwilling to recognize how this dysfunction sabotages their efforts.

Don't be discouraged. The "team essentials" are all within your span of control. Challenge your team to watch more closely for signals of team trouble.

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One Year Later: The FSMA and the Food and Beverage Industry by Cindy Fazzi Marketing Communications Specialist, MasterControl, Inc.

A year has passed since the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) was signed into law. Some of the changes envisioned under the FSMA are already in place, such as the FDA's new mandatory food-recall authority and the authority to detain food products that the agency has reason to believe are adulterated or misbranded. The FDA said in its one-year progress report that it has already used its "food detention" authority three times. It has also met its mandate of inspecting 600 foreign facilities in 2011.

But the FSMA is a massive undertaking, and the FDA has a long way to go in implementing it. The agency is lagging behind in the rulemaking process and in the publication of regulations and guidances. Other FSMA requirements, such as increased inspections of facilities (based on risk), depend on a significantly bigger FDA budget, which is unlikely in these tough economic times.

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