A521.6.3.RB – High-Performance Teams

Whetten and Cameron (2011) defined a team as “groups of people who are interdependent in the tasks they perform, affect one another’s behaviors through interaction and see themselves as a unique entity” (p494).  To me, a team is a group of people who share a common goal or outcome.  They may be in the same company, they may simply share similar interests, and they may be in the same building or across the globe.  The one thing that brings them together is the goal they have in front of them.

High-Performance Teams are slightly different that regular teams in that they are exceptional and what makes them exceptional are they have a clear goal, appropriate leadership and members, and adequate resources (Denning, 2011).  According to Denning (2011) there are six elements of high-preforming teams:

·      They shape the expectations of those who use their output

·      They adjust their performance to meet the needs of the situation

·      They grow steadily stronger over time

·      The members grow individually

·      They are fueled by interpersonal commitments

·      They carry out their work with a shared passion

What makes high-performing teams unique is the bond the members share with each other, in fact, it is that bond that makes them high performing.  Managers can create teams and mandate that they hold meetings and discuss ideas, but they cannot force them to have a bond or work well together, that is up to the team and the chemistry they have.   Yukl (2013) points out that group performance is higher when members have the knowledge and skills needed for the task and when they know what is expected of them.  Denning (2011) stated that the reason team building activities are not effective is the lack of follow through or substance.  In order for a team to become high performing they must find a shared value or set of values, without this the team may still end up with an appropriate outcome but they will not form the bond needed to be high performing.  The ideal situation is to have all members of the team want to work together again once they are finished with the current task, an even better result would be the members forming a bond strong enough for them to reach out to each other without management assigning them. 

When I think of a work group I think of my undergraduate years where the professor would assign us to work together to complete an assignment.  This usually meant that we would meet once to divide the assignment up, work on our parts separately, meet again to check the status then hand the assignment in on the due date.  There was very little if any collaboration.  If we had met more often and worked together to complete the assignment instead of simply dividing up the tasks, we may have learned more from the assignment and even about each other.  On the other side of the spectrum, the soccer board that I am a member of has become a great working community.  We are all volunteers, but we share the love of soccer and a commitment to the town’s youth.  Some of the members have been there from the beginning, some of us are newer and some have participated and moved on.  We are still in contact with some of the former members and they often make an appearance at our annual open community meeting.  While some of us have assigned roles such as president, secretary, treasurer and registrar we all help out as needed.  We also have enough faith in the other members to know the tasks will be done.  We also know we can rely on each other outside the meetings for support and help with any issues we have.             

Denning, S. (2011). The Leader’s Guide to Storytelling: Mastering the Art and

Discipline of Business Narrative. San Francisco, CA: John Wiley & Sons/Jossey-Bass

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

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

Yukl, G. (2013). Leadership in organizations (8th ed.). Boston: Pearson.

A521.5.4.RB - Aligning Values

Denning (2011) breaks ethical communities down into three components: trust, loyalty, and solidarity.  Trust is defined as the general expectation that all employees will behave ethically towards each other.  Loyalty refers to excepting obligation and refraining from breaking others trust.  Solidarity means caring for other people and acting on their behalf.  These three components are very important in a company, and without them employees are not likely to stay for very long.  They lay down the framework in which the communities are built.

There is a distinction between instrumental values and ethical values.  Whetten and Cameron (2011) define instrumental values as the standard of conduct or methods for attaining an end while ethical decision-making is described as a set of moral principals used when making decisions.  Denning (2011) lays out a test for determining a company’s moral values by listening to the words they use.  If the words are people oriented then they are most likely a moral company, if they view employees as a means to and end then they are not as morally sound.       

Inside a company, the leader is the one who imposes ethics on their staff.  Yukl (2013) stated that a key characteristic in ethical leadership was a leader’s efforts to influence the ethical behavior of others.  Yukl (2013) also defines integrity as honesty and consistency between a person’s embraced values and behavior.  Not all employees are going to buy into the company’s values and beliefs and this can create tension.  Some employees will see and accept the gap in values and continue on, others will make the decision to leave the company.  Those that remain will either grow increasingly pessimistic about the company or choose to rise above and act with their own higher ethical standards.

When a company looks to be broken from the top down the bottom of the pile has to either step up or move on.  This was the case with my last employer.  The upper management was nonresponsive to our department’s requests for changes and, as a result, we could either pass the blame onto the department that was at fault in front of the customer or we could smile and try to make things right.  For the majority of our staff, the correct or ethical thing to do was to smile and make it right.  We each created a standard of our own and that was the standard we maintained, even with little to no support from above.  As the supervisor in my department, I held my staff to the higher standard of our department rather than the lower standard of the upper management, and as a result we were routinely in the top two in departmental rankings from guest surveys.  We could have lowered ourselves and aligned with the “Oh well, its someone else’s fault, not ours” mentality, however, that would not have fixed the issue at hand.  I still live by the rule that it may not be my fault but at the moment it is my problem and I will find a way to fix it.  I apply this to both my personal and profession life every day.              

Denning, S. (2011). The Leader’s Guide to Storytelling: Mastering the Art and

Discipline of Business Narrative. San Francisco, CA: John Wiley & Sons/Jossey-Bass.

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

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

Yukl, G. (2013). Leadership in organizations (8th ed.). Boston: Pearson.

A521.4.3.RB - Subtleties of Communication and Hidden Messages

I talk with my hands.  I have always talked with my hands, and probably always will.  This is especially true when I am giving directions.  If you are to turn left then I will point to the left, travel over a bridge and I will make a motion with my hand and arm as if they are traveling over the bridge.  In school someone once asked me, “If I tie your hands behind you back will you still be able to talk?”  While this can be helpful at times, like when explaining directions or details, at other times it could be seen as annoying.  McKay, Davis and Fanning (2009) would define my movements as gestures that are a part of my body language.

After reading about paralanguage, which McKay, Davis and Fanning (2009) describe as: pitch, resonance, articulation, tempo, volume and rhythm, I thought about how my husband would love to use these examples against me.  As he lives in another state we often communicate via phone, he tells me in almost every conversation that I do not articulate, my tempo is too fast and that my volume is too low.  I argue back that he is the only one who seems to feel this way.  I was a teacher for many years and I do not recall ever being told I was not loud enough, unable to be understood or that I talked to fast.  So the issue becomes, is my husband’s view of my speaking accurate or are my teaching reviews a better indication? I was thinking the other day after hanging up with him about why my paralanguage would be different in those two situations, and it came to me that the way I talked to him was a different type of communication than the way I was addressing a classroom.  When I was teaching I was the main focus in the room.  It was my lesson, my students and my classroom; I had just the right amount of time I needed to present the material I had prepared.  When I speak to my husband I often feel rushed, either by the needs of our children in my house or by the agencies and patients in his world.  When I feel rushed and I have something I really need or want to say then I try to do it as quickly as possible before I am interrupted.  This means my tempo speeds up, my articulation becomes sloppy and generally my volume goes down so little ears don’t hear what I am saying.  It took years of frustration from my husband and my readings from class to make me realize that I do communicate differently with him than with others, and not for the better. 

My insight with my husband, my epiphany if you will, reminded me of something I learned in a pervious class, supportive communication.  Whetten and Cameron (2011) define supportive communication as communication that seeks to preserve or enhance a positive relationship while addressing a difficulty or problem.  Some people might believe that the keys to supportive communication are the words being spoken, but I believe the focus is on the body language.  Facial expressions, gestures and posture can set the tone for a conversation even before words are spoken.  I know I have entered a room and immediately felt the vibe, positive or negative, without ever hearing a word.  This is an important lesson in business; it goes along with the theory of first impressions.  If you only have one chance to make a first impression then you also only have one chance to set the tone of an encounter.    

        

McKay, M., Davis, M., & Fanning, P. (2009). Messages the communication skills book

(3rd ed.). Oakland, Calif.: New Harbinger Publications.

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

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

A521.3.4.RB - Personal Reflection

When I think back to my childhood the memories are not always happy ones.  I grew up always trying to overcome the power that is my mother.  All I knew from a young age was a sense of walking on eggshells, never knowing what would set her off on any given day.  As I was an only child the only focus in the house was me and that gave me very little privacy or ability to work out problems on my own.  As my mother continued to intertwine her way into my life I withdrew and was eventually lost.  My personality has always been a strong one, which often lead to conflict between my mother and I.  I was not allowed to have my own opinion and I was expected to do what made my mother happy at all times.  As I grew older and became an adult I separated from my mother and discovered I had this voice inside me for the first time in my life.  I had feelings and ideas that were all my own.  This was an amazing discovery for me.  From there I realized I had a talent for leading people and this is where I was determined to make a difference.  I had lived under a leader, my mother, who had taught me to never question decisions and from this I realized that the leader is not always correct.  That is not to say that the leader is not to be respected but that sometimes they do not always have the best answer. 

As a leader I decided to always take in suggestions and feedback from my followers.  This doesn’t mean I always changed my mind about a decision, but I made it a point to listen to other people’s suggestions and then make my final choice.  Yukl (2013) defines this type of leadership as Consultation.  Employees can feel empowered when there are listened to; it creates ownership over their situation.  Empowerment is something I never had as a child, as a result it is something I want to pass down to my employees. 

In my early adult life I decided to confront and conquer the feelings I had as a result of my mother and my childhood.  This was not an easy task as it involved untangling many layers of deception and manipulation.  When I first sat down with someone to start my process we made a plan, the plan set forth the steps I was going to take to uncover myself from the pain and frustration I was under.  It seemed like a good plan, the problem is things did not always go the way we wanted them to.  This meant that we were constantly reviewing and editing the plan, especially because I could only control my part of the plan.  I could not control how others would react to it.  The plan was always a work in progress.

Whetten and Cameron’s (2011) description of problem solving involves four steps: define the problem, generate alternative solutions, evaluate and select an alternative then implement and follow up on the solution.  This immediately made me think about that plan with my mother.  I was constantly problem solving around her responses to my plan.  Over the ten years I have been working with the plan, and yes I still use the plan, I have learned some great problem solving skills.  The top one being that people will not always react or follow through the way you want them to.  This is a huge obstacle in business.  We create strategies in hopes that others will respond in certain ways and when they don’t we find ourselves not knowing how to react.  My experience with my mother has given me the ability to look ahead and create alternatives when things do not go as expected.            

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

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

Yukl, G. (2013). Leadership in organizations (8th ed.). Boston: Pearson.

A521.2.3.RB - Danger of Stories

The message Adichie (2009) sends in her video is that of narrow-mindedness or tunnel vision based on our experiences.  When we only see or hear one side of any situation or argument we form an opinion that is bias and tainted.  She points out that stereotypes are not untrue but simply incomplete.  Your experiences and encounters lay the groundwork for your future interactions and beliefs.  If you are only told one side of any story then that is all you will know.

The power and danger of a one-sided story can happen in business as much as it does in personal lives.  Most of us believe what our leaders tell us unless we have prior experiences that contradicts it.  Whetten and Cameron (2011) stated that when this happens employees can often view current problems as variations of past problems.  They define this phenomenon as perceptual stereotyping which can restrict the solutions to the current problem given experiences in the past. 

How does one overcome this type of stereotyping in order to solve the current issues at hand?  Listening and education are two ways to overcome stereotyping.  When a leader presents a problem it is important for them to listen to the audience’s reaction to help overcome any preconceived notions.  McKay (2009) breaks active listening into three steps: paraphrasing, clarifying and giving feedback.  When a leader uses these steps they can uncover any stereotypes or bias opinions that may show up.  Paraphrasing gives the audience an opportunity to hear how the leader perceived their message, which can give way to the next step of clarifying.  This can go back and forth until both sides are at the same understanding.  From there feedback can take place.  If a leader believes the audience has a bias then they can give feedback on how to overcome that bias. 

Education can be the most powerful tool in overcoming stereotypes.  This can come in the form of formal education, such as reading articles on the subject, or perhaps a story from the leader that will change the minds of the audience.  Denning’s (2011) springboard stories has designed to persuade the audience to accept change and become comfortable with it.  If the leader can tell a springboard story that overcomes the stereotypes and bias then the audience can open their eyes to a different view.          

When someone has only heard one side of any argument or has limited information on a subject a stereotype can be formed.  This type of bias can be hard to overcome.  Without the guidance of a trusted person or the knowledge to the contrary the stereotype will remain.  This can effect that person’s interactions and beliefs, which can cause issues both personally and professionally.  And this is the danger and power of a single story.   

         

Adichie, C. (2009). TEDTalks: Chimamanda Adichie--The Danger of a Single Story [Video]. TED.

Denning, S. (2011). The Leader’s Guide to Storytelling: Mastering the Art and

Discipline of Business Narrative. San Francisco, CA: John Wiley & Sons/Jossey-Bass

McKay, M., Davis, M., & Fanning, P. (2009). Messages the communication skills book

(3rd ed.). Oakland, Calif.: New Harbinger Publications.

Whalen, D., & Ricca, T. (2007). The professional communications toolkit. Thousand

Oaks, Calif.: Sage Publications.