A520.7.3.RB - Importance of Having a Coach and Mentor

If I were to have my preference of a coach or a mentor to help me through my professional journey I would choose a mentor.  To me a mentor is someone who has a vested interest in you as a person and a professional and will be there for the long hall.  A coach is a great tool to utilize when you need a certain skill sharpened or task completed, one that could be called on from time to time to help when needed.  A mentor is someone you can call with any problem, issue or dilemma and know they will be there to help you through. 

Zachary (1997) described mentoring as “one of the most powerful influences in a person’s life” (p3).  She goes on to explain that it can arise out of a personal relationship or a professional role, but that most people will be both a mentor and a protégé in their lives.  Mentoring is designed to be a long-term relationship, one that both parties can gain from, and a friendship of sorts.  Coaching is more like acquaintances than friends, someone you can call to ask a favor or to answer a question but not someone you are going to open up to about your personal feelings. 

I would enjoy the opportunity to have a mentor in my life again.  As I do not have helpful parental influences in my life it would be nice to have someone who I could turn to that would help me grow in my journey through this phase of my professional life.  I have a fairly decent personal support system in place; my husband, mother in law and a small group of good friends are always there to help me when I need it in my everyday life, but no one to turn to in my professional life at the moment.  I had a good mentoring relationship at the start of my teaching career she was the lead teacher at my school and she was so helpful through my years there.  We are still in contact, in fact we both sit on the youth soccer board and have kids in the same grade, she was a positive influence in my life and I am thankful for that. 

I feel that everyone can benefit from a mentoring relationship, whether it is as a mentor or a protégé.  We all need people in our lives that are positive and support us through good times and bad.  Sometimes we just need a trusted person to give us a reality check and tell us our thoughts are way out of line, this is just as important as cheering someone on, maybe more important.  People have a much easier time giving you positive feedback than negative, but the negative is an important part of growing and succeeding. 

Zachary, L. (1997). Creating a Mentoring Culture. All About Mentoring, (11), 3-7.

A520.6.5.RB - Team Roles

Whetten and Cameron (2011) talked about the two main roles that enhance team performance: task-facilitation and relationship-building.  They go on to explain how most people focus on one or the other not equally.  They define task-facilitation role as those that help the team accomplish its outcomes, for example giving directions, elaborating and summarizing.  Relationship-building roles on the other hand are defined as those that emphasize the interpersonal aspects of the team, for example supporting, developing and empathizing.  Both of these roles are important for all teams to become effective.

I would say I identify more with the task-facilitation role.  Looking back on my Diagnostic Surveys for Self-Awareness on the Cognitive Style Indicator I scored above the mean on both knowing and planning, which lends itself nicely to the task-facilitation role.  I am very outcome oriented and tend to focus on the path to get there, whether it be by gathering information, giving directions to the group or analyzing the group process.  I have always stepped into the role of facilitator in the teams I have participated in, I like to monitor progress and make suggestions to try and work more effectively.  I also enjoy gather information and passing it along to others.  In other words, I tend to do a lot of legwork but would rather let others find a way to use the information to solve the task at hand.  When I was teaching I found that I was very good at researching and creating lesson plans but I would not have the follow through to bring them to fruition.  In fact I had even thought of studying to become a curriculum coordinator, that way I could use my research skills to create a curriculum that the teachers could carry out.  I enjoyed watching other teachers teach the lessons I created, as I liked seeing their personal spin on them.

The part of teams I struggle with are the relationship roles, while I believe it is important for teams to have a good working relationship I don’t always know how to foster that.  I guess you could say that I don’t excel at the “touchy feely” part of groups.  I could sit here and blame this on my childhood and lack of connection from a young age, and I feel this does play a part, however I think the real reason I struggle is my black and white thinking style.  I become so focused on the process and the outcome that I forget how others are feeling.  I know this is something I need to work on.  I think sometimes I need to take a step back and look at the team as individuals and watch how they interact with the other members and not worry about the goal for a few minutes.  This would give me a better perspective on the interworking’s of the team, and give me the opportunity to step in and help the team through any conflicts that may stand in the way of them solving the problem. 

I recognize my strength within a team; I am the organizer, researcher and monitor.  I need to step outside that comfort zone and become the leader that can also foster the relationship part of the team.  This is especially important if the team is going to be together for a long period of time.  The way members relate to each other can be as important as the task they are trying to solve.  This chapter has opened my eyes to my weaknesses and how I need to improve on them in order to become a better leader.    

Whetten, D. A., & Cameron, K. S. (2011). Developing Management Skills (E. Svendsen

Ed. 8th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

A520.5.3.RB - Forrester's Empowerment

In both the Forrester (2000) article and our book by Whetten and Cameron (2011) the idea of Empowerment is looked at through ways it has succeeded and failed.  Forrester states that the idea of empowerment comes from the idea that employees could be trusted to make decisions about their work and would even acquire knowledge in the process.  Whetten and Cameron (2011) define empowerment as the use of acquired power to give others power in order to accomplish objectives. 

Forrester (2000) talks about six short circuits of empowerment: precipitous empowerment mandates, overreliance on a narrow psychological concept, one-size fits all empowerment, negligence of the needs of power sharers, piecemeal approaches, distortions of accountability.  All of these are a result of giving away power just for the sake of it and not to people who can handle or deserve it.  Empowerments works when the people who are being empowered have the skills necessary to use it.  A company who assigns power because they are told that is what needs to happen will ultimately not benefit from it.

Whetten and Cameron (2011) identify three inhibitors of empowerment: attitudes about subordinates, personal insecurities and a need for control.  All three of these causes are directly related to a feeling held by a manager not actual performance of employees.  They also point to insecurities in the managers about their own abilities, if they are unable to let go of power and acknowledge that subordinates are capable of more then they need to look at themselves and ask why.    

To counter balance the six short circuits of empowerment, Forrester (2000) offers the six channels to higher voltage empowerment: enlarge power, be sure of what you want to do, differentiate among employees, support power sharers, build fitting systems, focus on results.  In all six of these elements the employee is the focus, they aren’t just generic blanket rules.  Once managers recognize each employee’s strengths they can delegate accordingly.  This will have a much higher success rate overall.

Similarly, Whetten and Cameron (2011) have nine principles for developing empowerment: articulating a clear vision or goal, fostering personal mastery, modeling, providing support, creating emotional arousal, providing necessary information, providing necessary resources, connecting to outcomes and creating confidence.  These principles are all about teaching the employee how to handle and use power to their advantage.  When you give people the tools and knowledge to be successful they can learn how to grow and become a better employee. 

Empowerment is about employees not managers; it is about wanting employees to be capable of making decisions and handling responsibilities.  If empowerment is looked at as a program needing to be implemented rather than an chance for success it can go badly.  When it is looked at as an opportunity to broaden horizons it can be helpful as well as meaningful.  Empowerment is really all about what you make of it, the more you put in the more you will get out.  I have been in situations where people have been given power simply because a spot needed to be filled, this did not end well as the person assigned was not ready to take on the responsibility.  I have also seen a situation where a manger took the time to groom an employee until they were ready and then gave them the opportunity to move up.  This was a very rewarding experience for both the employee and the manager.                  

Forrester, R. (2000). Empowerment: Rejuvenating a potent idea. Academy of

Management Perspectives, 14(3), 67-80.

Whetten, D.A., & Cameron, K.S. (2011). Developing management skills (8th ed).

Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

A520.4.3.RB - Motivation Beyond Money

In his video Mulholland (2011) talked about three things that should motivate a person in their job and the money isn’t one of them.  The three things he pointed out were to give interesting work, expand ones skill set and recognize them.  He also made a point to say that if the first two happen then it shouldn’t be difficult to find reasons for the third.  I would have to say that I agree with Mulholland.  If my job is routine and uneventful I would not be able to do it very long.  I need to have something that is stimulating as well as thought provoking to keep me moving through the course of a day.  I also need to continually widen my knowledge as well as my abilities.  Without this where would the job lead? I could not function in a spot where I was never going to either move up and take on new challenges or learn new things.  The third motivator is a big one for me, recognition.  From both an employee and a leaders perspective nothing makes me more upset than when a person who is generally underperforming is recognized for the one thing they did well while a high achieving employee is overlooked simply because they always do well.  To me this sends the wrong message to employees.  It tells them that if they perform poorly the majority of the time they will eventually be recognized the one time they actually do the job they are expected to do.    

People can find jobs that pay them anywhere, it’s the way the job makes them feel that keeps them their.  Whether it’s the on the job benefits we saw at SAS or the interest and support shown by a boss, its usually the atmosphere that makes or breaks a job for an employee.  It comes down to what Whetten and Cameron (2011) call extrinsic and intrinsic outcomes.  They define extrinsic outcomes as being controlled by others while internal outcomes are controlled by the individual.  Motivation either comes from within a person or from external pressure, positive or negative.  I agree with this concept but often wondered which is the better motivator.  Whetten and Cameron (2011) stated that no matter how many externally controlled rewards are offered if a person finds their job uninteresting or unsatisfying then performance will suffer.  I would have to agree with that also. 

Coming from my recent job where the external benefits were great: free ski passes, free lesson, free rentals, I could not move past the poorly run management.  I loved my job and the people who worked under me, but the lack of support and feedback got to be too much to handle.  As a result I would have to say that having a supportive and knowledgeable leadership above me would have a huge impact on my motivation.  Where internal factors can drive a person to stay at a job I feel the external ones will end up pushing employees away.     

Mulholland, A. (2011). The Three Things We Work For (Money Isn't One of Them).

Retrieved September 2, 2015.

Whetten, D. A., & Cameron, K. S. (2011). Developing Management Skills (E. Svendsen

Ed. 8th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.