Communication between cultures 9th Edition Chapter 6 Cultural Values: Road Maps for Behavior © Cengage 2017 Chapter 6: Cultural Values: Road Maps for Behavior 1 Key Ideas • • • • Understanding perception Understanding values Cultural patterns Cultural patterns and communication © Cengage 2012 Chapter 6 Cultural Values: Guidelines for Behavior 2 Understanding perception • Perception – Making sense of your physical world – Making sense of your social world – How you construct reality • Perception is selective © Cengage 2012 Chapter 6 Cultural Values: Guidelines for Behavior 3 Understanding perception • • • • Perception is learned Perception is culturally determined Perception is consistent Perception is inaccurate © Cengage 2012 Chapter 6 Cultural Values: Guidelines for Behavior 4 Understanding values • Beliefs are foundations for values • Values are individual and collective • Values inform a culture of what is good or ba, right or wrong, correct or incorrect, appropriate or inappropriate • Values establish normative modes of behavior in a culture © Cengage 2012 Chapter 6 Cultural Values: Guidelines for Behavior 5 Cultural patterns • • • • You are more than your culture Cultural patterns are integrated Cultural patterns are integrated Cultural patterns can be contradictory © Cengage 2012 Chapter 6 Cultural Values: Guidelines for Behavior 6 Selecting cultural patterns • Cultural pattern typologies help to identify and understand dissimilar cultural values • Values presented I cultural patterns are points along a continuum • There is a great deal of duplication and similarity between different cultural patterns © Cengage 2012 Chapter 6 Cultural Values: Guidelines for Behavior 7 Kohl’s Values Americans Live By US Values Foreign Counterpart Values Personal Control over the Environment 1 Fate Change 2 Tradition Time & Its Control 3 Human Interaction Equality 4 Hierarchy/Rank/Status Individualism/Privacy 5 Group’s Welfare Self-Help 6 Birthright Inheritance Competition 7 Cooperation Future Orientation 8 Past Orientation Action/Work Orientation 9 "Being" Orientation Informality Directness/Openness/Honesty Practicality/Efficiency Materialism/Acquisitiveness © Cengage 2012 10 11 12 13 Formality Indirectness/Ritual/"Face" Idealism Spiritualism/Detachment Chapter 6 Cultural Values: Guidelines for Behavior 8 Hofstede’s Value Dimensions • • • • • • Individual/Collectivism Uncertainty Avoidance Power Distance Masculinity/Femininity Long term/Short term Orientation Indulgence/Restraint © Cengage 2012 Chapter 6 Cultural Values: Guidelines for Behavior 9 Minkov’s Monumentalism/Flexhumility Monumentalism • Self-pride/self-promotion • Self-concept is consistent/fixed • Truth is absolute • Absolutist cognition • Religion is important © Cengage 2012 Flexhumility • Humility • Self-concept is flexible/fluid • Truth is relative • Holistic cognition • Religion less important Chapter 6 Cultural Values: Guidelines for Behavior 10 Minkov’s Monumentalism/Flexhumility Monumentalism • Interpersonal competition valued • Lower value on education • Difficulty in adapting to another culture • Suicide taboo • Tipping expected/prevalent © Cengage 2012 Flexhumility • Interpersonal competition problematic • Higher value on education • Easily adapts to another culture • Suicide accepted • Tipping not expected/rarely done Chapter 6 Cultural Values: Guidelines for Behavior 11 Kluckhohn and Strodtbeck’s Value Orientation • Basic questions – What is the character of human nature? – What is the relation of humankind to nature? – What is the orientation toward time? – What is the value placed on activity? – What is the relationship of people to each other? © Cengage 2012 Chapter 6 Cultural Values: Guidelines for Behavior 12 Kluckhohn and Strodtbeck’s Value Orientation ORIENTATION VALUE AND BEHAVIOR CHANGE Human nature Basically evil Mixture of good and evil Basically good Humans and nature Subject to nature Harmony with nature Master of nature Sense of time Past Present Future Activity Being Social relationships Authoritarian © Cengage 2012 Being-in-Becoming Group Chapter 6 Cultural Values: Guidelines for Behavior Doing Individualism 13 Hall’s High Context and Low Context Orientations • High Context – Most of the meaning exchanged during an encounter is often not communicated through words – High-context cultures are usually quite traditional – People from high-context cultures tend to be attuned to their surroundings and can easily express and interpret emotions nonverbally © Cengage 2012 Chapter 6 Cultural Values: Guidelines for Behavior 14 Hall’s High Context and Low Context Orientations • High Context – Meaning in high-context cultures is also conveyed “through status (age, sex, education, family background, title, and affiliations) and through an individual’s informal friends and associates – Members of these groups often “communicate in an indirect fashion and rely more on how something is said, rather than what is said © Cengage 2012 Chapter 6 Cultural Values: Guidelines for Behavior 15 Hall’s High Context and Low Context Orientations • Low Context – Low-context cultures typically have considerable population diversity and tend to compartmentalize interpersonal contacts – The verbal message contains most of the information and very little is embedded in the context or the participant’s nonverbal activity © Cengage 2012 Chapter 6 Cultural Values: Guidelines for Behavior 16 The Globe Study: The Globe Study and Cultural Dimensions Uncertainty Avoidance The extent that societal or organizational members work to reduce uncertainty about future events through the use of social norms, protocols, and established practices. Power The degree that societal or organizational members Distance acquiesce to the unequal distribution of power. Collectivism – The degree that established social and organizational Societal practices condone and reward collective actions and resource distribution. Collectivism – The degree of pride, loyalty, and interconnectedness In-group that people have in their family or organization. Gender The degree that a society or organization minimizes Egalitarianism differences in gender roles and gender inequality. © Cengage 2012 Chapter 6 Cultural Values: Guidelines for Behavior 17 The Globe Study: The Globe Study and Cultural Dimensions Assertiveness How assertive, confrontational, and aggressive are members of a society or organization in their social interactions. Future The extent that people take part in future orientated Orientation actions, such as planning and investing for the future and delaying gratification. Performance The degree that a society or organization rewards Orientation members for improvement and excellence. Humane The degree that a society or organization promotes and Orientation rewards displays of fairness, altruism, generosity, caring, and kindness toward others. © Cengage 2012 Chapter 6 Cultural Values: Guidelines for Behavior 18 The Globe Study: Globe societies and clusters • Anglo Cluste r: – All of the members of this cluster are developed nations with predominantly English speaking populations – A major characteristic is an individualistic, performance based orientation, with a forward looking perspective – Rewards are a result of merit and there is less dependence on formal rules and established procedures – While gender equality is valued, in practice the countries are male-dominated © Cengage 2012 Chapter 6 Cultural Values: Guidelines for Behavior 19 The Globe Study: Globe societies and clusters • Latin Europe Cluster – A distinctive feature of the Latin Europe group is the reliance on the state to provide a wide range of social support services – tends more toward collectivism than individualism – gender equality was the lowest score of the cluster – power distance was the highest score © Cengage 2012 Chapter 6 Cultural Values: Guidelines for Behavior 20 The Globe Study: Globe societies and clusters • Nordic Europe Cluster – High score on gender equality, future orientation, and uncertainty avoidance – Underplaying of assertiveness, familial, and masculine authority and emphasis on certainty, social unity and cooperation – The welfare state found in all Nordic nations may contribute to the cluster’s low performance orientation scores © Cengage 2012 Chapter 6 Cultural Values: Guidelines for Behavior 21 The Globe Study: Globe societies and clusters • Germanic Europe Cluster – High scores on assertiveness, uncertainty avoidance, and power distance – Low scores on gender – Self reliance on well-defined rules and standards, masculinity – Assertive approach taken by members of these nations, along – Technocratic orientation © Cengage 2012 Chapter 6 Cultural Values: Guidelines for Behavior 22 The Globe Study: Globe societies and clusters • Eastern Europe Cluster – Preference for hierarchical organizational leadership practices – Strong in-group collectivism, and gender equality – High tolerance for uncertainty It is useful to note that – Many of the nations in this cluster were once part of the former Soviet Union © Cengage 2012 Chapter 6 Cultural Values: Guidelines for Behavior 23 The Globe Study: Globe societies and clusters • Latin America Cluster – Paternalism perspective is a central theme – Desire to sustain personal social status – Predilection for in-group collectivism – Sense of fatalism – Prefer to live life in the present, rather than planning for the future © Cengage 2012 Chapter 6 Cultural Values: Guidelines for Behavior 24 The Globe Study: Globe societies and clusters • Middle East Cluster – The five nations of this cluster share a common historical, religious, and socio-cultural heritage. • Arabic is the common language in all but Turkey • Islam is the dominant religion – Strong in-group collectivism - centers on the family and attachments to other groups such as tribe, sect, village, neighborhood, or classmates © Cengage 2012 Chapter 6 Cultural Values: Guidelines for Behavior 25 The Globe Study: Globe societies and clusters • Middle East Cluster – Follow well-defined power distance hierarchies in their relationships – Have very distinct gender roles, with masculinity being predominant – Many institutionalized values can be attributed to the Koran, which teaches that leadership authority should be respected and provides clear definitions of the different roles for men and women © Cengage 2012 Chapter 6 Cultural Values: Guidelines for Behavior 26 The Globe Study: Globe societies and clusters • Southern Asia Cluster: – Strong in-group collectivism, humanism – Preference for social hierarchy – Tendency toward male domination • Within the workforce, women commonly have to rely on family connections or a lengthy work history in order to compete with their male counterparts • It appears that modern South Asian women are seen as having outside accomplishments but are expected to concurrently maintain strong family ties © Cengage 2012 Chapter 6 Cultural Values: Guidelines for Behavior 27 The Globe Study: Globe societies and clusters • Confucian Asia Cluster – Pervasive influence of Chinese history and Confucianism – Confucianism that contributes to the contemporary practice of strong societal and ingroup collectivism performance – Rewards are associated less with individual achievement and more with attainment of collective goals © Cengage 2012 Chapter 6 Cultural Values: Guidelines for Behavior 28 Face and Facework • Face is your public identity • Face is acquired, lost, and maintained through social interaction • The process of acquiring face is referred to as facework • Facework consists of those actions you engage in to acquire or maintain face for yourself or give face to someone else © Cengage 2012 Chapter 6 Cultural Values: Guidelines for Behavior 29 Face and Facework • Face and facework, however, are influenced by cultural values and vary across cultures – In individualistic cultures a person’s face is usually derived from his or her own self-effort and is normally independent of others – In collectivistic cultures, group membership is normally the primary source of identity and status © Cengage 2012 Chapter 6 Cultural Values: Guidelines for Behavior 30 Face and Facework • Varying attitudes as to what represents face and how facework is conducted have a very noticeable impact on how a culture views and approaches conflict • The differences between face and facework across cultures are a function of different cultural values © Cengage 2012 Chapter 6 Cultural Values: Guidelines for Behavior 31 Cultural patterns and communication • • • • Individualism Focus is on the individual & selfpromotion Independency Task dominates relationship Social obedience through sense of guilt © Cengage 2012 • • • • Collectivism Focus is on the group/affiliations & selfcriticism Interdependency Relationship dominates task Social obedience through sense of shame Chapter 6 Cultural Values: Guidelines for Behavior 32 Cultural patterns and communication Egalitarian • Horizontal relationships • Subordinates consulted • Equality expected © Cengage 2012 Hierarchal • Vertical relationships • Subordinates informed • Inequality accepted Chapter 6 Cultural Values: Guidelines for Behavior 33 Cultural patterns and communication Low Uncertainty Avoidance High Uncertainty Avoidance • Change is normal and good • Few behavioral protocols • Greater cultural diversity • Change is disruptive and disliked • Many behavioral protocols • Less cultural diversity © Cengage 2012 Chapter 6 Cultural Values: Guidelines for Behavior 34 Cultural patterns and communication Monochronic • Time is linear and segmented • Focus on a single task • Adherence to schedules © Cengage 2012 Polychronic • Time is flexible • Focus on multiple tasks • Weak ties to schedules Chapter 6 Cultural Values: Guidelines for Behavior 35 Cultural patterns and communication Low Context Communication • Meaning reliant on verbal message • Nonverbal communication low importance • Silence is avoided © Cengage 2012 High Context Communication • Meaning can be derived from context • Nonverbal communication high importance • Silence is normal Chapter 6 Cultural Values: Guidelines for Behavior 36 Cultural patterns and communication Low Face Concerns • Conflict/disagreement is constructive • Concern for self-face © Cengage 2012 High Face Concerns • Conflict/disagreement is threatening • Concern for mutual/other-face Chapter 6 Cultural Values: Guidelines for Behavior 37 PRAISE FOR TOOLS FOR TEAM LEADERSHIP “An extremely useful book. The illustrations, straightforward language, and practical tools make it very accessible for anyone leading teams. Designed for the practitioner, it clearly hits the mark.” —Hal Stack, Director, Labor Studies Center, Wayne State University “Offers excellent, concrete, and specific advice managers can actually use to meet the daunting challenges of making sure their teams really work.” —J. Frank Yates, professor, University of Michigan Business School; author, Decision Management “Those who lead or work with teams will find many practical resources that can be put to use immediately. Huszczo reaches out to the reader in plain, easy-to-understand language and offers the wealth of his experience through stories, examples, tips, and exercises.” —Sandra Krebs Hirsh and Elizabeth Hirsh, consultants, Hirsh Consulting; coauthors, Introduction to Type® and Teams and the MBTI® Teambuilding Program “Provides you with practical tools and strategies, and a logical understanding.” —Edgell W. Turnquist, StaffRd. AFSCME/Executive Director, Michigan Labor-Management Association “Gives team leaders proven practical tools to tackle team leadership problems, as Huszczo’s first book, Tools for Team Excellence, did with team problems.” 2 —Paul Davis, President, Scanlon Leadership Network “Whenever I need to work with teams, I turn to Greg Huszczo’s work, with its clarity, realism, and practicality. Leadership teams are not often dealt with well in organizations, and Huszczo is astute and insightful on this topic.” —Peter Geyer, consultant, writer, and researcher; Otto Kroeger Associate; columnist, Australian Psychological Type Review 3 TOOLS FOR TEAM LEADERSHIP 4 TOOLS FOR TEAM LEADERSHIP Delivering the X-Factor in Team eXcellence Gregory E. Huszczo 5 First reprinted by Davies-Black, an imprint of Nicholas Brealey Publishing, in 2010: Hachette Book Group Carmelite House 53 State Street 50 Victoria Embankment Boston, MA 02109, USA London EC4Y ODZ Tel: (617) 523-3801 Tel: 020 3122 6000 www.nicholasbrealey.com Special discounts on bulk quantities of Davies-Black books are available to corporations, professional associations, and other organizations. For details, contact us at 888-273-2539. Copyright 2004 by Davies-Black, an imprint of Nicholas Brealey Publishing. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or media or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews. Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, MBTI, Myers-Briggs, and Introduction to Type are trademarks or registered trademarks of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator Trust in the United States and other countries. Davies-Black and its colophon are registered trademarks of Nicholas Brealey Publishing. ISBN: 978-0-89106-386-5 eISBN: 978-0-89106-352-0 Printed in the United States of America. 14 13 12 11 10 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Huszczo, Gregory E. Tools for team leadership: delivering the X-factor in team excellence / Gregory E. Huszczo.—1st ed. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. 6 ISBN 978-0-89106-201-1 (hardcover) 1. Teams in the workplace. 2. Leadership. 3. Management. I. Title. HD66.H873 2004 658.4´022—dc22 2004015274 FIRST EDITION First printing 2004 7 This book is dedicated to my family … a loving, learning, growing group 8 CONTENTS List of Exercises Acknowledgments About the Author Introduction 1 The Need for Team Leaders at All Levels Helping Teams Help Themselves 2 Your Natural Leadership Strengths Capitalizing on Your Knowledge, Skills, and Personal Qualities 3 Effective Teambuilding Launching or Growing Your Team 4 Knowing Why the Team Exists Leading the Way to Clear Goals 5 Communicate, Communicate, Communicate Sharing, Listening, Providing Feedback 6 Problem Solving and Decision Making Establishing Defined Procedures 7 Resolving Conflict Turning the Blame Game into Problem Solving 8 Motivating and Coaching Teams to Success Reinforcing Team-Oriented Behaviors 9 Leaders As Ambassadors of Team-Based Change Efforts Building Diplomatic Ties in the Organization 10 Monitoring and Reviving Teams Helping Your Team Get Unstuck 9 11 Helping a Whole Team of Leaders Leading Leadership Teams 12 Summary: The Learning Leader Makes a Difference Reviewing What You’ve Learned Appendix A: The Exotic Orchid Role Play Exercise Appendix B: Jacobson’s Progressive Relaxation Technique Bibliography Index 10 EXERCISES 1 Lessons from Experience 2 Focus Group Interview Questions 3 Survey of Team Leader Training Needs 4 A Dozen Tools for Team Leaders 5 Identifying Your Natural Talents and Deficiencies 6 Extraverted Type (E) or Introverted Type (I) Checklist 7 Sensing Type (S) or Intuitive Type (N) Checklist 8 Thinking Type (T) or Feeling Type (F) Checklist 9 Judging Type (J) or Perceiving Type (P) Checklist 10 Capitalizing on Your Personality Preferences 11 Personal “Coat of Arms” 12 Teambuilding As an Ongoing Effort 13 Developing Your Team’s Charter 14 Composing an “Elevator Speech” About Your Team 15 Scripting the Start of Your Day 16 Monitoring Your Listening 17 Assessing Your Communication Skills 18 Consensus Decision Making: The Significant Inventions Exercise 19 Step 1 of the 4-A Plus 2 Model: Awareness 20 Step 2 of the 4-A Plus 2 Model: Analysis 21 Step 3 of the 4-A Plus 2 Model: Alternatives 22 Step 4 of the 4-A Plus 2 Model: Action 11 23 Follow-up Step 1 of the 4-A Plus 2 Model: Assessment 24 Follow-up Step 2 of the 4-A Plus 2 Model: Appreciation 25 Awareness and Analysis of the Problematic Conflicts on Your Team 26 Identifying and Clarifying Perceptions of Conflict Strategies 27 The Designated Bragger Exercise 28 Practice Meeting with Your Boss 29 Mental Models: The Arm-Wrestling Exercise 30 Your Vision of Team Excellence 31 Strategies for Overcoming Resistance to Change 32 Applying the Three Laws to Tip a Change Movement 33 Our Team’s “Stock Price” and Analysis 34 Team Diagnostic Questionnaire 35 Team Morale Survey 36 A SWOT Assessment Appendix A: The Exotic Orchid Role Play Exercise 281 12 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I owe a great deal to the men and women whom I have witnessed helping teams in organizations. It has been encouraging to see them care and make a difference, and I have learned from their efforts to provide leadership. They have trusted me as I have attempted to help them help others. I also owe a great deal to my family and other loved ones. Without them my life would never be in balance. Kathy has made our lovely house a home. Her love and faith make me happy. Sam has grown and blossomed. I am so proud of him. He has become a wonderful man. My mother still wonders why I like to work hard, but she and my dad taught me long ago that learning and helping others is why we are on this earth. Family members Mike, Jan, Amy, Stacy, and Annie have all added joy to my life. I am grateful to my colleagues. I am blessed to have worked with talented and patient people both through my consulting practice and in our MSHROD Program at Eastern Michigan University. The challenge of trying to articulate what I am observing, researching, and teaching has resulted in insights I could not have achieved without them. The comments and support from key organizations and individuals must also be recognized. I would like to thank Jim Lomac and Cindy Hayes of the Management Research Group in Portland, Maine, and Paul Davis of the Scanlon Leadership Network for making their resources available to me. I also want to thank the people who reviewed the manuscript and provided their insights: Sue Bird-Johnson, Jack Buettner, Scott Fenton, Peter Geyer, Sandra and Elizabeth Hirsh, Pat McDonnell, Lee Sanborn, Mike Schippani, Maureen Sheahan, Hal Stack, Ed Turnquist, Mary Vielhaber, and Frank Yates. This book would have never been completed were it not for the wonderful team of people at Davies-Black Publishing and CPP, Inc. Connie Kallback, Senior Acquisitions Editor, has been particularly helpful to me. She encouraged, cajoled, put up with my sense of humor, and kept me going. Laura Simonds, Director of Marketing and Sales, was so helpful in promoting my previous book and has been kind enough to do the same on this one. Lee Langhammer Law, Publisher, encouraged me to stay with Davies-Black and has convinced me of this company’s effectiveness. 13 Mark Chambers provided much-needed help as copyeditor. Finally, I want to thank the readers of Tools for Team Excellence, who have given me useful feedback, especially regarding material needed to help those who are taking on the responsibilities of providing leadership to teams in their organizations. 14 ABOUT THE AUTHOR Gregory E. Huszczo, PhD, is an organizational psychologist and author of such works as Tools for Team Excellence and Making a Difference by Being Yourself. With more than thirty years’ experience as an awardwinning teacher, researcher, and consultant in the areas of organizational change, teams, personalities, and leadership, he has worked with Ford Motor Company, Kellogg, La-Z-Boy, the VA hospital system, British Petroleum, Navistar, and National Coalition for Community and Justice, among other clients. Currently professor of organizational behavior and development in the master’s program in human resources and organization development at Eastern Michigan University, he also has taught at various other universities and institutes, including Southern Methodist University, Michigan State University, the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, and the UAW Education Center. 15 INTRODUCTION Did you ever play “King of the Hill” as a kid? One kid stands atop an elevated piece of ground, and the rest of the kids try to throw him off the perch so that someone else can become king of the hill, who eventually meets the same fate. This continues until everyone gets tired and frustrated or someone gets hurt. Your organization cannot afford to play this game as a way to determine team leadership. Don’t spend all that energy on determining who is the toughest or the smartest. The major benefits of a team concept occur only when all involved have a chance to exert their skills, knowledge, and influence. You probably picked up this book because your organization is attempting to use some form of a team concept to guide the way it operates. I assume you want to—or have to—help a team in your organization. This book is designed to help you help team members help themselves, not to take over. If you want to play “King of the Hill,” you should probably look for a different book. This book will provide you with the tools to develop the behaviors needed to effectively work together in a team environment. It will encourage you to develop people and help manage situations in a way that is conducive to team excellence. It will prepare you to provide leadership in a team-based organization. You may have also picked up this book because you read my previous book, Tools for Team Excellence. That book was based on my twenty-five years of research on the subject of teams. In it I describe the seven key components of excellent teams in organizations: • Clear goals and sense of direction • Identification of talent • Clear roles and responsibilities • Agreed-upon procedures 16 • Constructive interpersonal relations • Active reinforcement of team-oriented behaviors • Diplomatic external ties I have furthered that research since the book was first published in 1996. I have reconfirmed those seven components but have recognized an additional important factor for success with teams: leadership. Company after company, team after team, expressed the importance of leadership in attaining excellence within a team concept. At first I resisted their comments and the data because I had seen too many teams that demonstrated an overreliance on leadership. Despite their declaration of a team concept on paper, in reality a person or two on each team carried the load. However, the evidence is overwhelming. Coaches of sports teams often speak about the importance of “X-factors” for success. These are intangibles such as experience, intensity, or the ability to make the most out of opportunities. The X-factor in whether a team concept succeeds is leadership. This does not mean an overreliance on one or two key people, but rather a willingness on the part of many people to take on the responsibility of influencing people and events and helping a group of individuals move forward together. Ironically, organizations need to be full of leaders even when promoting so-called leaderless teams. I want you to be one of those leaders who makes a difference in your organization. How This Book Will Help You Help Teams Help Themselves This book gives you the tools to analyze a team with confidence and to provide constructive feedback. It provides you with the tools to creatively generate options among team members and then gain a consensus of what to try. It gives you tools to help the team plan the actions it needs to help itself. Covered are ways to help the team with its task and relationship difficulties while adding more tools to your toolbox beyond those offered in Tools for Team Excellence. It furthers efforts to address the seven key components that separate the excellent organizational teams from the mediocre ones. You will learn how to help a team diagnose its strengths and weaknesses, help establish a clear sense of direction, improve communications, ensure systematic problem solving and decision making, resolve dysfunctional conflicts, motivate and coach team players, build 17 diplomatic ties in the organization, and help teams get unstuck. In reading this book you will have the opportunity to learn a lot about yourself as well as others. There is a natural leader within you, and this book will help you find it. If you are willing to give up your desire for perfectionism and control while steadfastly adhering to a desire to make a difference, you will benefit from this book. I want you to take teams seriously and yourself lightly. Helping a team by being a leader does not mean putting all the responsibility on your shoulders. You are to work with the team, not take it over. You are not being asked to be a saint or a martyr. You are being asked to serve and to lead. You are being asked to identify the leadership talent within the team even if you are the assigned leader of that team. The main theme of chapter 1—that team leaders must help others help themselves—is carried throughout all subsequent chapters. At the end of each chapter you will be asked to complete a review to identify what you have learned and how you will attempt to use what you learned. Leadership development requires active learning. Merely gaining insights by reading will not be enough. You will need to practice the skills required of you as team leader: teambuilding, goal setting, communicating, problem solving, decision making, motivating, coaching, practicing diplomacy, monitoring, reviving stuck teams, leading executive leadership teams, and so on. Be the X-factor in your organization’s effort to build excellent teams. Note: This book was written for both the person attempting to provide leadership to a single team within an organization and the leader overseeing the development of multiple teams within a larger organization. While the text is generally addressed to the former, the lessons contained herein are equally applicable to the latter. 18 CHAPTER 1 THE NEED FOR TEAM LEADERS AT ALL LEVELS Helping Teams Help Themselves Perhaps the best team I was ever part of was an education staff of a large organization. Virtually every member stepped up to the task of providing leadership from time to time. People genuinely respected each other but cared even more about providing the best programs and services. Peers challenged each other constantly. Whenever anyone acted blasé about an issue raised at a staff meeting, that person would be confronted and reminded of his ability and expressed commitment to address the issue in a better way. Everyone was task oriented, relationship oriented, and customer oriented. Isn’t that what you want from leaders? While the team had an official “director” who reported to a vice president, she didn’t tell us what to do—she simply made clear our team goals and created a climate for getting things done well. We were a team full of leaders, not a team whose individual actions were coordinated by a single leader. The best teams are leaderful, not leaderless. Over the last couple of decades, companies have been encouraging the development of self-directed work teams, problem-solving committees and task forces, and even executive leadership teams. Attempts to use teams are evident in nearly every major organization today. Are you now in a position where you have the opportunity to be a leader? Whether your position is that of team leader, supervisor, area manager, coordinator, professional resource specialist, general manager, executive, union leader, 19 or president of the company, the benefit of a team approach is to be found in collective action, not in the actions of individual heroes. Three Chief Requirements for Building Team Leadership If you truly want to help your organization with your team-oriented leadership, you will have to fulfill three chief requirements: raising awareness, generating options, and planning for success. Raising Awareness Your first assignment, if you have the courage to undertake it, is to get the team to take an honest look at itself. You need to serve as a large mirror, one free from distortion. It may seem like magic when a team jells, but there is a structure to that magic. Your job is to help each team make an accurate assessment of its actions and structure. Why do things go well when it is succeeding, and what are its problems when it is struggling? You need to be able to help the team describe what was and is happening so that it can live its life consciously. You are acting as a key catalyst by raising awareness for the whole team. It is a basic premise of this book that a team is better off knowing what is going on than not knowing. The team may be a little too close to its day-to-day activities and routines to notice the patterns. If you have a keen sense of the obvious, you are likely to be helpful to teams in organizational settings. Helping a team understand its strengths and its problems is the first step in its becoming more effective. Generating Options If you are looking for a single best way to help teams, you are reading the wrong book. There is no one best way to capitalize on strengths and minimize weaknesses—instead there are many pathways to the same result. The members of your team—like all of us—develop habits and set ways of doing things; you need them to consider other options. The wisdom of teams results from the diversity of views available. You need to free up their minds to brainstorm strategies and tactics that can make a difference. You can also help by adding options for the team to consider, but be careful about getting sucked into making decisions for the team. It is best to facilitate consensus decisions. If you want a committed, not merely compliant, team, you need to get 20 the members to choose from among its options while staying within the boundaries set by your organization. Leaders in a team environment provide guidance in a process that alternates between expanding the thinking of the team and then gaining a focus regarding what is to be done to resolve the issues. Planning for Success Too often, teams are so relieved they have come up with a solution that they fail to take the steps needed to ensure the strategy is put into practice. Teams dump this responsibility on management or the system and then get frustrated when action does not follow. The team concept is not designed to create a new complaint department or to facilitate members lower in the organization in pointing the finger of blame at other teams or members of management. If you are going to help your team, you need to push it to make the ideas it produces operational. What tactics and actions are needed for an idea to be realized? Who needs to do what with whom by when? You cannot second-guess the team after decisions have been made. You need to help the team produce an action plan for whatever solution the team decided on in the previous stage. The action plan must rely on actions taken by team members themselves—if it primarily dictates what others in the organization should do to solve the problem, the likelihood of successful implementation is low. Freedom of speech is important, but the key to empowerment is team self-reliance. Leadership in a Team Environment What do you know about leadership? What do you know about teams? Who has influenced your thinking about how to be an effective leader and how to be a part of a successful team? Exercise 1 provides you with an opportunity to think out loud about the lessons you have learned from your experience. As a pairing exercise, it also enables you to simultaneously practice the core relationship building skills of sharing information, listening effectively, and providing constructive feedback. Six Key Lessons for Leaders in a Team Environment While there have been thousands of research studies on the topic of 21 leadership over the last one hundred years, the findings have not been all that consistent. It appears that leadership is as much an art as it is a science. However, a few things seem clear. The essence of leadership in a team environment is influence, not control. The key is developing collaborative partnerships while helping others help themselves. A review of the literature establishes six key lessons for leaders in a team environment to learn. EXERCISE 1 Lessons from Experience Phase I: Sharing Experiences Directions: Pair up with another person. Decide who will share experiences (the “sharer”) first and who will take on the role of being an effective listener (the “listener”). The listener will also take on the role of providing feedback. After completing the exercise, switch roles and repeat the exercise. ROLE OF THE SHARER Share your perceptions of yourself as a leader by answering the questions below. You will be given the total, undivided attention of your partner (the listener) for five full minutes. • If you could take a leader (from today or the past) to dinner, whom would you choose, and what questions would you ask? • Who is the person who has most influenced you as a leader? • What was the best or the worst team you were ever on? What did your experience on that team teach you about teams in general? • What has experience taught you about creating change and helping others? • How would you describe the characteristics of your leadership style? • What are your strengths as a leader? • How does your organization’s situation affect your approach to leadership? • How much credibility do you have as a leader? • What behaviors do you need to work on in the upcoming year to become a more effective leader at your level? 22 ROLE OF THE LISTENER • Give your total undivided attention to the sharer • Just listen very well—don’t direct the conversation • Don’t interrupt too much • Help the sharer feel comfortable but keep the focus of attention on the sharer Phase II: Providing Feedback Directions: In your role as listener, provide your partner (the sharer) with constructive feedback. Be sure to describe what you hear before you interpret it. Try not to judge whether what the sharer said about his or her experiences, or what he or she learned from those experiences, is good or bad, right or wrong. Try answering the following questions in this order as you provide feedback. • What did you hear or notice? (describe) • What did it mean to you? (interpret) • What did you learn? (summarize) Phase III: Identifying Learning Directions: Together with your partner, identify what you learned about • Listening • Sharing skills • Providing feedback • Characteristics of effective leadership • Characteristics of teams • Creating changes in people and systems • Each other 1. Leaders are made, not born. Some individuals will be born into 23 more opportunities for leadership than others, but they are not actually born with the skills needed to succeed as a leader. Despite the expression “He’s a born leader,” researchers have yet to discover any DNA patterns that determine leadership talent. Some people develop their skills and nurture their opportunities and some squander them. What have you done to discover your natural talents and put them to use? What have you done with your opportunities? To what extent have you truly learned from your experiences? Have you learned from, or merely survived, your experiences? If you want to be a leader in a team environment, you must be willing to apply and develop your talents. Some people start this process quite late in life and others much earlier, but it is very difficult for people to change their basic values or even habits. 2. No set of traits predicts leadership success. Many candidates for leadership positions have technical knowledge and skills but have undeveloped “people” skills. Some others have people skills but are not technically competent. Research has found that there is no one set of physical, mental, or personality traits that leaders require, though it helps to be about as smart as the team you are trying to lead —if you are a lot less smart or a lot smarter, you will likely experience difficulty. No one set of personality traits predicts leadership effectiveness. Some extroverts make good leaders, and some just don’t seem to be able to focus enough. Some introverts make good leaders by listening and thinking through issues in depth, but others fail to convert this trait into the actions teams need to succeed. 3. You need to be both task and people oriented. The key is being fully devoted to getting the job done well and simultaneously showing full respect for the people you are working with. Effective team leaders clarify goals and set challenging standards. They let others know that getting the job done well is very important to them. But if they are not as relationship oriented as they are task oriented, they are not likely to have long-term success. Team leaders seek input on how to get things done—they listen and encourage effort. They don’t see being task versus relationship oriented as a trade-off. They simultaneously exhibit both orientations. 4. Leadership style must correspond to the work that needs to be done and the people available to do it. A good team leader is like a quarterback who reads the situation as he comes to the line of 24 scrimmage. He has worked with the coaching staff and the players to select a good plan during team meetings and in the huddle but is flexible enough to adjust the play to gain successful execution. In general, a participative style of leadership is most conducive to a team environment. This style gains commitment rather than mere compliance. However, situations of crisis and chaos, including when members are new to the task and to each other, occasionally require a more directive style to address more short-term concerns. A directive “tell and educate” style may be needed for a while, but its overuse can destroy a team approach. It creates either resentment or overdependence. Team leaders need to be flexible but must lean more toward the participative style over the long haul. 5. You need to establish and maintain credibility. Kouzes and Posner (1993) studied over thirty thousand leaders and found significant evidence that a leader’s most important quality is credibility. You cannot be a leader without followers, and followers must believe in you. In order to be credible you must be trustworthy. Trustworthiness is a function of reliability and dependability, not likeability. It is basically doing what you said you would do. If you want to be a leader in a team environment—at any level—your actions must be consistent with your words. Be careful about what you promise; keep your promises small but make very visible signs that you are following through on those promises. Credibility also requires that you be perceived as competent. Teams won’t expect you, or want you, to know it all—but they will expect you to know something about the tasks, the operations, the organization, and the people. You cannot bluff your way through; you must be willing to put out the effort to continually enhance your knowledge and skills to be competent. Finally, credibility requires that you show genuine enthusiasm in what you do and say. If your team senses that you are saying things just because you have to say them, or you present ideas (even competent ones) too matter-of-factly, you won’t generate sufficient energy for the team to cope with the inevitable changes in business. 6. Improved leadership effectiveness comes from a focused approach. Leaders have so much to do and so much to keep track of —they need to stay focused. This is true even when it comes to improving themselves as leaders. They need and must want feedback 25 in order to become more aware of their style and its impact and to develop a conscious plan to capitalize on the strengths inherent in that style. Effective leaders have strong egos but are not narcissistic. They like themselves and believe they have something important to offer the teams they are trying to help, but they are also well aware of their weaknesses. But instead of claiming to try to improve on every weakness they have, effective leaders take a focused approach to development. They don’t try to improve on more than a couple of weaknesses at a time. They model continuous improvement through their actions. They do not try to be all things to all people and they focus their efforts to become better leaders. A Team Concept Requires Leaders at Every Level An ironic outcome of an organization’s decision to establish a team concept is that there must be many individual leaders at all levels. Let’s examine how members at each level can help. Leaders at the Top: “General Managers” General managers—those at the top of the organization including executives, plant managers, committee chairs, union officers, and so on— set the strategic direction for the organization and how the use of teams will help accomplish its mission. They need to be clear on how teams are to be formed in the organization and the rules and boundaries associated with the power given to the teams to make decisions and solve problems. They must see the use of teams as a sound business practice. These key leaders must avoid isolating themselves. Sometimes leaders at this level in a team-based organization may feel like the supervisor of a graveyard: lots of people under them, but nobody listening. They need direct contact with teams and must listen to their concerns; they must understand any differences between the plan and the realities. Leaders at the top of the organization may also need to form a team of their own. This can be a powerful way of modeling their true belief in the team approach and an effective way to gain the collective wisdom to identify the innovative strategies needed to address complex problems. Resource Leaders: “Coaches” Organizations wanting teams to succeed must provide the needed 26 resources. In addition to information, materials, equipment, and a budget, they must provide people who can act as coaches. Coaches such as area managers, supervisors, staff experts, trainers, consultants, and others are subject matter experts who can provide insights for the team to consider. They are usually not permanent members of the teams they serve, but rather are brought in when an issue calls for their help. When a problem-solving team is investigating sources of supplies or tools to address a quality issue in the production process, perhaps a staff expert from Purchasing should be invited to a team meeting to help members understand the company’s contracts and policies with current suppliers and steps that may need to be taken to change the current practice. When a team is struggling to contain costs, perhaps the controller should attend a team meeting to help the team understand budgeting and accounting practices relevant to the team’s portion of the operations. Trainers should be made available to teams to help them learn qualityenhancing procedures such as statistical process control or Six Sigma techniques. They can serve as coaches in the soft skills arena as well, facilitating exercises to develop the skills to communicate more effectively, to resolve conflicts more constructively, and to honor and capitalize on the diversity present among team members. Area managers can serve as coaches to help broaden the horizons of team members so that they can make decisions in a manner that enhances, not interferes, with the workings of other teams in that area. Team coordinators can attend team meetings and provide feedback on how to enhance team processes for working together effectively. The emphasis here is on a coaching style that enlightens, educates, and expands a team’s thinking, not one that dictates and controls. Peer Leaders: “Captains” Then there are those special people who can serve as team leaders even among peers. You probably remember team captains from youth sports. They called the coin toss and listened to the instructions of the referees. They were brought in to hear the explanation regarding disputed plays. They met with the coaches to gain a more in-depth understanding of the strategy being utilized. They were expected to spread the word with their peers and were counted on to have that special rapport with the other team members to help the team stay united. Work teams can benefit from having a captain, too. So-called selfdirected work teams typically have a peer as the team leader. This person 27 might be elected by her peers or may be selected by management. Some companies establish a set of qualifications (e.g., know all the jobs on the team, have a distinguished attendance record, pass a series of training courses, etc.) for election or selection to this position. Other companies make it a rotating position that every team member is expected to fulfill. It is important that the duties this person is to perform be clarified. She is not there to dictate and direct or function as a “straw boss.” She cannot be expected to be management’s lackey or spy. She is to be chosen because of her understanding of the team’s operations and especially because she is considered credible (i.e., trustworthy, competent, and enthusiastic) by members of the team. Team Leader Training Any organization attempting to utilize a team concept must prepare and continually develop its team leaders, at every level. This book is designed to provide you with insights, exercises, and tools to enable you to succeed. Your organization may decide to provide some developmental opportunities too. All good training efforts start with a training needs assessment. Exercise 2 provides a series of focus group interview questions; exercise 3 is a survey that was used by one organization that recognized the need to provide more training to current leaders. Notice that the questions attempt to recognize what is going well in addition to identifying the problems that the training was intended to fix. Table 1 outlines the training modules the organization ended up offering its team leaders. Training can only be a solution when the problem involves the need to enhance skills and knowledge. If the problem is motivation, the organization needs to reexamine the degree to which it has made role expectations clear and the manner in which it reinforces fulfillment of these expectations. It is difficult to anticipate all the specific training modules and tools you will need in your unique situation. Your general managers and human resource coaches need to conduct an assessment and design the training elements or find people who can provide them. What tools should your leaders be able to use? Maybe you need to think metaphorically. Exercise 4 can help you to identify which tools you think your leaders should have in their toolbox. EXERCISE 2 28 Focus Group Interview Questions Directions: Have the group respond to the following questions regarding teams and team leaders. 1. First, a general question: What are your perceptions regarding how successful the use of teams has been so far at this organization? 2. How would you describe the roles and responsibilities that team leaders play here? How does a leader help a team become more successful and satisfying? 3. What knowledge, skills, and personal qualities does a team leader ideally possess to help teams succeed in this organization? • Knowledge: • Skills: • Personal qualities: 4. What motivates team leaders to successfully fulfill their roles and responsibilities? 5. What gets in the way of the success of some team leaders? What are the obstacles? 6. What advice do you have for the joint steering committee as it prepares training plans to enhance the development of team leaders in this organization? EXERCISE 3 Survey of Team Leader Training Needs 29 Directions: This organization cannot offer every training module imaginable as it tries to enhance the development of team leaders. Review the list of potential topics below. Rate the importance of offering training modules on these topics using the following scale: 1 = Extremely important—this module should definitely be offered 2 = Important—it would be good to offer this module if time permits 3 = Not very important—maybe nice but probably not necessary Be sure not to place too many items in the first category. We must be practical regarding how much time we can afford to have team leaders in training sessions. ____ How to establish/clarify team goals ____ How to develop talent ____ How to clarify roles and responsibilities ____ How to improve the effectiveness of team procedures ____ How to facilitate team meetings ____ How to improve team problem-solving skills ____ How to facilitate team decision making ____ Building more constructive interpersonal relationships ____ Improving communication skills (sharing information, listening effectively, providing useful feedback) ____ Improving your conflict resolution skills ____ Reinforcing team-oriented behaviors and maintaining accountability ____ Building diplomatic relationships with key players outside your team (e.g., supervisors/advisors/management, skilled trades and maintenance, union representatives, resource staff, etc.) ____ Strategies to gain/maintain credibility as a leader ____ Planning skills ____ Organizing/coordinating skills ____ Strategies to motivate people ____ How to assess team progress ____ Building commitment vs. gaining compliance ____ Understanding why teams get stuck and what to do about it ____ Understanding and utilizing the personalities on your team including your own 30 ____ Providing strategies to communicate organizational change plans (e.g., who to include as communicators of change, how to make messages “sticky,” how the context affects the message) ____ Identifying causes of stress and determining how to reduce them ____ Developing your personal leadership development plan Below list any other training modules you think should be considered and rate the importance of each. _____ ____________________________________________________________ _____ ____________________________________________________________ _____ ____________________________________________________________ _____ ____________________________________________________________ _____ ____________________________________________________________ _____ ____________________________________________________________ _____ ____________________________________________________________ _____ ____________________________________________________________ _____ ____________________________________________________________ _____ ____________________________________________________________ _____ ____________________________________________________________ TABLE 1 Proposed Objectives and Components for the Nontechnical Training and Development of Team Leaders 1. Examine what your experience and research tell you about effective leadership 2. Identify strategies to gain/maintain credibility as a leader • Trustworthiness • Competency 31 • Enthusiasm 3. Assess/enhance your skills as a participative leader in a team environment • Planning, organizing, motivating, monitoring • Building commitment vs. gaining compliance 4. Examine your approach to the seven keys to effective teams • How to establish a clear sense of direction and set goals • How to develop talent • How to clarify roles and responsibilities • How to establish effective team operating procedures (facilitating meetings, problem solving, decision making) • How to enhance and maintain constructive interpersonal relationships (communicating, sharing information, listening effectively, providing useful feedback) • How to reinforce team-oriented behaviors and maintain accountability • How to build diplomatic relationships with key players outside your team (e.g., supervisors/advisors/management, skilled trades and maintenance, resource staff, etc.) 5. Understand and utilize personalities on the team • Understanding your personality • Capitalizing on the strengths of your personality • Strategies to work with personalities different from your own • Personalities and change • Personalities and leadership styles 6. Develop conflict resolution strategies • Assess/enhance your abilities to utilize the five basic conflict resolution strategies: –The avoiding approach 32 –The accommodating approach –The competing approach –The compromising approach –The collaborative (“win-win”) approach • See the advantages and disadvantages of conflict on a team • Learn how to deal with particularly difficult people 7. Examine strategies to communicate organizational change plans • Who to include as communicators of change—connectors, mavens, and salespersons (see pp. 220-222) • How to make messages “sticky” • How the context affects the message 8. Understand and deal with stress on the team • What is stress? • What causes stress? • What are the consequences of stress? • Examine three strategies to reduce stress: – Reducing stressors – Reframing perceptions about the situation – Activating your relaxation response 9. Develop a plan to make use of these training sessions • What is the diagnosis of the team’s current state? • When has this team been stuck, and what should be done about this? • What is your plan to develop yourself as a leader in this environment? EXERCISE 4 A Dozen Tools for Team Leaders Directions: From the list below, pick a dozen tools for your team leader toolbox. Come up with creative ideas for how team leaders at your facility could use each tool metaphorically to serve their team. How would a 33 leader use a hammer? Perhaps to nail down the details of plans. How would a leader use a saw? Perhaps to cut through the bureaucracy to help team members get the resources they need. Have fun with it—add to the list of tools and discover some interesting analogies. TOOL USE BY TEAM LEADER 1. Hammer 1. 2. Saw 2. 3. Drill 3. 4. Screwdriver 4. 5. Vise 5. 6. Chisel 6. 7. Pulley/lever 7. 8. Bubble balance 8. 9. Sander 9. 10. Duct tape 10. 11. Crowbar 11. 12. Pliers 12. 13. Awl 13. 14. Paintbrush 14. 15. Ladder 15. 16. Wrench 16. 17. 17. 34 18. 18. 19. 19. 20. 20. External Team Consultants While this book is aimed primarily at internal organization members attempting to facilitate team excellence, occasionally the use of external team consultants is appropriate. Table 2 outlines the responsibilities of an external team consultant assisting work teams and helping individuals better fulfill their role as leader. Such consultants in an organizational setting should be sure to stop at influencing—and consciously avoid managing the situation or serving as the proxy leader of the team. Metaphorically speaking, they should be helping team leaders learn how to fish, rather than merely giving them some fish. While fulfilling their responsibilities, they need to find ways to ensure that their knowledge and skills are left behind in the hands of the internal leaders. They may find it difficult to intentionally work their way out of a job, but it is crucial that the teams and leaders they interact with end up being self-reliant. Summary The collective action of teams can be enhanced by the individual actions of leaders at several levels in an organization. Take some time to reflect on what you have learned in this chapter about yourself as a potential leader. Why are you in the position you are in? What do you need to learn to do more effectively? What developmental opportunities would serve you and your organization well? To help in this effort, complete the after-chapter review that follows. TABLE 2 Chief Responsibilities of an External Team Consultant 1. Gather information to help the parties take an honest look at themselves and their situation • Conduct discussions, focus groups, confidential interviews, 35 surveys, observations, etc. • Feed back a summary of the collective information to those who provided it but protect individuals’ confidentiality and anonymity • Clarify expectations the parties have of one another and get them to agree on which roles they would like you to play in the change effort 2. Identify and clarify options for what could be done about the situation • Get the team and associated leaders to think about goals, options, strategies, etc. • Describe approaches other teams have used in similar situations • Clarify the steps involved • Warn of the pitfalls and potential problems of each option 3. Get responsible team members to make free and informed choices • Facilitate a discussion of the options • Ensure that the people responsible are making the decisions 4. Help develop a broad commitment to choices made and assist with implementation • Establish an action plan • Coach the parties on how to communicate the plan • Get people involved • Provide training and facilitation as needed 5. Gather data to help assess whether the plan is working • Conduct more interviews, surveys, etc. • Protect the confidentiality pledges • Facilitate the planning of adjustments and the institutionalizing of the change effort AFTER-CHAPTER REVIEW 36 Now that you have completed reading this chapter, it is time for you to challenge yourself to see what you remember, establish what it is you learned, and decide where and how you are going to apply what you learned. The outline provided below can help you get started. The relevancy of this chapter may necessitate that you expand on your thoughts elsewhere. Make sure you benefit from your reading by capturing your thoughts and turning them into actions. 1. Describe at least five things you remember from the material in this chapter. • • • • • 2. Identify the insights you gained from reading the material in this chapter. These insights may have come directly from the points raised or by stimulating recollections of your own experiences. • • • 3. Identify at least one situational opportunity for applying what you learned and describe the steps to be taken (including who will do what with whom, where, and when). Situational opportunity: Steps to be taken: • • • • 37 38 CHAPTER 2 YOUR NATURAL LEADERSHIP STRENGTHS Capitalizing on Your Knowledge, Skills, and Personal Qualities Rhino Records has produced a compilation entitled Golden Throats: The Great Celebrity Sing-Off. It features talented movie and TV stars singing rock, folk, and blues classics. It includes William Shatner (of Star Trek fame) singing “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” and “Mr. Tambourine Man”; Jack Webb (of Dragnet fame) singing “Try a Little Tenderness”; Sebastian Cabot singing “It Ain’t Me Babe” and “Like a Rolling Stone”; Andy Griffith singing “House of the Rising Sun”; and Leonard Nimoy (also of Star Trek fame) singing “Proud Mary” and “If I Had a Hammer.” The album is listed in Rhino Records’ comedy collections section. These talented actors can sing perhaps better than I can, but they sure don’t sound like the legends that originally performed these classics. Leaders should not expect to be talented in all phases of their industry and, frankly, they shouldn’t even try. For you to be an effective leader, helping your team help itself, you need to focus on your natural strengths. You are not going to be good at all things. This chapter will help you to take a look at yourself and decide what talents you bring to the table. It will ask you to develop plans to more consciously capitalize on those natural strengths and discover how to cover the other skills your team must have to excel. 39 Talent = Knowledge, Skills, and Personal Qualities What knowledge, skills, and personal qualities are likely needed to provide leadership in a team-based organization? A training needs assessment survey used by one of my clients was included in chapter 1 (see exercise 3). It represents the client’s determination of what skills should be considered for team leaders at their facility. A more thorough list is provided below. What knowledge, skills, and personal qualities do you have that might be useful in your efforts to help teams in your organization? In this chapter we will examine this question from many perspectives: those of the last one hundred or so teams I have worked with; those provided by models of leadership developed by leading researchers; and those of data-based leadership assessment instruments from leading companies in the field. Use the sections in this chapter, as well as the following list, to help identify your particular talents and the areas where you are going to need some help. Knowledge needed for success as a leader: • Knowledge of the organization’s plan for a team concept (goals, roles and responsibilities, procedures, etc.) • Knowledge of company rules and/or the union contract • Technical knowledge associated with the work being produced by the team • Knowledge of the culture and the politics of the organization • Knowledge of who to go to for what kind of information • Understanding of people and individual personalities Skills needed for success as a leader: • Communication, especially listening skills • Problem solving • Facilitation of meetings, discussions, and decision making • Motivation • Planning and organizing • Presentation/speaking in front of groups • Time management 40 • Report writing • Conflict resolution • Diplomacy • Networking • Keeping people accountable Personal qualities needed for success as a leader: • Honest • Trustworthy • Compassionate • Inspirational • Direct • Committed • Open to new ideas • Nonprejudicial • Respectful • Responsive • Resourceful • Patient • Creative • Sincere • Persistent • Fun loving/humorous • Approachable/unintimidating • Risk taking Are you responsible for managing a team? For decades textbooks have identified the four main functions of the manager of a team or organization as • Planning (i.e., goal setting and identifying the steps, procedures, and time frames in which to accomplish the goals) • Organizing (i.e., assigning people to tasks and procuring resources) • Leading (i.e., motivating people) • Controlling (i.e., monitoring progress and making corrective actions 41 accordingly) Noted scholars such as Warren Bennis have emphasized that companies in the U.S. suffer from being overmanaged and underled. We need good management to deal with the complexities of organizational life. Good managers bring order and consistency, while leadership allows us to cope with the realities brought about by our rapidly changing, competitive world. John Kotter (1999) of Harvard University points out the three key differences between leading and managing: (1) leaders set a direction more than engage in planning and budgeting; (2) leaders align people, whereas managers organize systems and staff them with people; and, perhaps most important, (3) leaders motivate people, whereas managers engage in controlling and problem solving. You need to be a leader even if your job title is manager if your organization is to benefit from having a team concept. Leadership Effectiveness Analysis Many instruments are available from publishers and consulting firms to help leaders (and leaders-to-be) assess their strengths. Kouzes and Posner (2002) have developed the Leadership Practices Instrument, which provides a self-assessment on what the authors feel are the five practices and the ten commitments of leadership. Buckingham and Clifton have worked with the Gallup organization to identify thirty-four potential strengths a person may bring to a leadership position. The Management Research Group out of Portland, Maine, has gathered assessments on over thirty thousand leaders and identified six sets of behaviors that can be assessed by the individual and his or her bosses, peers, and direct reports. They have produced what they call the Leadership Effectiveness Analysis (LEA) instrument. The elements of the LEA instrument are summarized in table 3 and discussed below. 1. Creating a Vision How talented are you at helping teams create a vision that will orient their efforts? Some achieve this by using lessons learned in the past to determine what should be happening now. Others are more innovative and willing to help people extend their thinking in addressing the rapid changes in the environment. Technical expertise could be emphasized in efforts to identify a preferred future. Some leaders take sole responsibility 42 for creating a vision, while others emphasize a more collaborative approach. The LEA also assesses the degree to which the leader pushes for a long-term, wide-ranging approach to planning for the future. What approaches do you typically use to create a vision? TABLE 3 Leadership Behaviors Identified on the Leadership Effectiveness Analysis (LEA) Instrument 1. Creating a vision • Conservative: studying problems in light of past practices to ensure predictability, reinforce the status quo, and minimize risk • Innovative: feeling comfortable in fast-changing environments; being willing to take risks and to consider new and untested approaches • Technical: acquiring and maintaining in-depth knowledge in one’s field or area of focus; using one’s expertise and specialized knowledge to study issues and draw conclusions • Self: emphasizing the importance of making decisions independently; looking to oneself as the prime vehicle for decision making • Strategic: taking a long-range, broad approach to problem solving and decision making through objective analysis, thinking ahead, and planning 2. Developing followership • Persuasive: building commitment by convincing others and winning them over to one’s point of view • Outgoing: acting in an extroverted, friendly, and informal manner; showing a capacity to quickly establish free and easy interpersonal relationships • Excitement: operating with plenty of energy, intensity, and emotional expression; having a capacity for keeping others enthusiastic and involved • Restraint: maintaining a low-key, understated, and quiet interpersonal demeanor by working to control one’s emotional 43 expression 3. Implementing the vision • Structuring: adopting a systematic and organized approach; preferring to work in a precise, methodical manner; developing and utilizing guidelines and procedures • Tactical: emphasizing the production of immediate results by focusing on short-range, hands-on, practical strategies • Communication: stating clearly what one wants and expects from others; clearly expressing one’s thoughts and ideas; maintaining a precise and constant flow of information • Delegation: enlisting the talents of others to help meet objectives by giving them important activities and sufficient autonomy to exercise their own judgment 4. Following through • Control: adopting an approach in which one takes nothing for granted, sets deadlines for certain actions, and is persistent in monitoring the progress of activities to ensure that they are completed on schedule • Feedback: letting others know in a straightforward manner what one thinks of them, how well they have performed, and if they have met one’s needs and expectations 5. Achieving results • Management focus: seeking to exert influence by being in a position of authority, taking charge, and leading and directing the efforts of others • Dominant: pushing vigorously to achieve results through a forceful, assertive, and competitive approach • Production: adopting a strong orientation toward achievement; holding high expectations of oneself and others; pushing oneself and others to achieve at high levels 6. Team playing • Cooperation: accommodating the needs and interests of others by being willing to defer performance on one’s own objectives in 44 order to assist colleagues with theirs • Consensual: valuing the ideas and opinions of others and collecting their input as part of one’s decision-making process • Authority: showing loyalty to the organization; respecting the opinion of people in authority and using them as resources for information, direction, and decisions • Empathy: demonstrating an active concern for people and their needs by forming close and supportive relationships with others Source: Management Research Group, Leadership Effectiveness Analysis (Portland, ME: Management Research Group, 1998). 2. Developing Followership Some leaders develop followership through persuasion, convincing others to adopt their point of view. Followership can also be developed by being friendly, informal, and outgoing. Some display a lot of energy, and their enthusiasm keeps others involved. Still others try to be the calming influence and develop followership by minimizing potentially destructive emotional displays. How do you create followership among members of your teams? 3. Implementing the Vision Having a vision for your team is one thing, but implementing it is another. Do you naturally take a systematic, organized approach to the work of your team? Do you focus on the team’s step-by-step tactics to accomplish goals? Do you dedicate considerable time for clearly communicating what is expected and ensuring a constant flow of information to and from your team? Or are you a delegator, one who recruits talented members to the team and then turns them loose to do their work? How do you help your team implement its vision? 4. Following Through The two issues here are control and feedback. Control refers to setting clear deadlines and closely monitoring whether those deadlines are met. How much are you willing to take for granted? In giving feedback, to what extent do you let others know precisely what you think of their work performance? 45 5. Achieving Results To what extent do you emphasize that you are in charge and use this authority to direct the efforts of others? Dominant leaders are assertive and encourage the competitive urge to achieve. Others get results by setting high expectations for themselves as well as others. How do you help your team achieve results? 6. Team Playing How cooperative are you? As a leader, are you willing to accommodate the needs of team members even if that means deferring performance? To what extent are you a consensus builder? Do you make sure everyone’s input is used in making decisions? How respectful of authority are you? Are you loyal and respectful to the point that you would defer decision making to those in charge? Do you develop close relationships with team members by demonstrating an understanding of their needs? What is your approach to being a team player? Determining Your Natural Talents and Strengths There is no one best way to assess yourself as a leader. You could purchase and complete one or more of the many instruments available on the market for such purposes. You could engage in a 360-degree feedback process and have your boss, your peers, and the team members you are trying to help fill them out about you too. All I can do is assure you that effective leaders in team-based organizations own their talents and strengths: • They have a high level of self-esteem but are not narcissistic—they can tell you what they have to offer without bragging • They are excited to be working with team members who also have great talents and strengths • They recognize their relative weaknesses but do not try to be all things to all people • They are neither intimidated nor defensive about working with others who know more than they do in certain areas • They have discovered their own talents and encourage their teammates to do the same • They use training and development opportunities to become competent 46 in areas where they are naturally strong—not expecting to be great in all skill areas Many types of knowledge, skills, and personal qualities have been identified over the last several pages. Which of these represent particular strengths that you provide in your organization? Use exercise 5 to list your particular strengths and identify some opportunities to make more effective use of these strengths and clarify the steps you will take to do so. Also list your areas of relative weakness—areas in which you may never become great, but where you may need to become more proficient. Do not work on more than two or three areas of weakness at any one time. Spend more time utilizing your strengths than working on your weaknesses. How do you know which are your natural strengths? Buckingham and Clifton (2001) suggest some telltale signs to look for. Use the descriptions of the leadership behaviors provided in table 3 to help with this reflection. 1. Pay attention to your immediate, spontaneous, “top-of-mind” reactions to situations. Is your first impulse to figure out how to accommodate people’s needs (cooperation)? Do you tend to refer to past precedents to cover the current situation (conservative)? Do you immediately think, “What will my boss want to happen here?” (authority). Do you find yourself becoming detached and analytical? Think about situations you have faced recently and try to notice your first, immediate response. This should give you some clues about your natural strengths and tendencies. EXERCISE 5 Identifying Your Natural Talents and Deficiencies Directions: To be an effective leader in a team environment, you need to own up to your strengths and confidently, though not arrogantly, apply them for the sake of the team and the organization. Reread the previous pages to remind yourself of things you know, things you can do well, and personal qualities that you can bring to your role. Identify your natural strengths, followed by your deficiencies. Knowledge: What do you know? What bases of knowledge have you mastered that could be applied to the work you are facing? • • 47 • • • Skills: What are you capable of doing? What technical skills do you own? What interpersonal skills do you own? What skill bases have you mastered that could be applied to the work you are facing? • • • • • Personal qualities: What qualities personify you? These are not about your knowledge or skills. They include traits such as trustworthiness, openness, kindness, and so on. Which of your personal qualities could be applied to the work you are facing? • • • • • Deficiencies: What knowledge, skills, or personal qualities do you lack that may present a problem for you in successfully fulfilling the work you are facing? • • • • • 48 Plans for the future: Develop plans for better applying your talentknowledge, skills, and personal qualities. Remember, it is more important to deliver your strengths to the situations you face than trying to be great at all things. However, spend some time developing a plan to reduce one of your areas of weakness, too. 2. Think about what you have yearned for since early in life. Were you the kind of kid who always wanted things neat and orderly (structuring)? Have you tended to value unplanned events where going with the flow seemed to spontaneously produce good things? Pehaps some long-term yearnings have been unfulfillable until you took on the responsibility of team leader. Notice which things you seem to do naturally now that may be manifestations of inclinations you have had for years. 3. Become aware of the things you seem to learn very easily. Rapid learnings offer another clue as to what your talents really are. Maybe you never thought you would be interested in budgeting information but now find yourself going over the numbers and figuring out things quickly. Maybe you never thought of yourself as a public speaker but are now finding words just flowing out of your mouth at team presentations. Many people have not allowed themselves to consider their hidden talents, having received discouraging messages from parents and teachers for a long time. What have you enjoyed learning lately? Was there anything that you were surprised to learn easily? 4. Recognize those things that are particularly satisfying to you. If it feels good to see a team member become more effective because of a tip you provided, maybe you have a talent for developing people. Perhaps it may indicate that you have a natural talent for breaking down complex situations and identifying the specific details involved (tactical). Buckingham and Clifton would warn you, however, to pay attention only to the positive satisfactions. If you find yourself gaining great satisfaction in telling management “I told you so” when your ideas work, this might not be a talent that will be useful in becoming a leader in a team-based organization. If you take pleasure witnessing others’ pain, don’t mark that as one of your natural strengths. Personalities, Teams, and Leadership 49 Thus far we have concentrated on your need to identify your natural strengths, the knowledge and skills you can easily and effectively bring to the task of helping teams. However, remember that personal qualities are also an important component of being an effective leader. Your personality synthesizes your personal qualities and is one of your most important tools for you to use in your efforts to influence teams. Capitalizing on the natural strengths of your personality and enjoying interaction with people who are different from you are crucial for success. Tolerating differences in the personalities of people you work with is not enough—you need to celebrate those differences. They provide the natural strengths you may need to benefit the team. This section will help you take a look at your personality and understand what you might find easy and natural to do. You also need to know what a team leader would like to be able to do that may be difficult for you because of your personality. Basically your choice is to try to do it yourself or find co-leaders to fill in for the good of the team. The framework we will use to understand personalities is known as the MyersBriggs Type Indicator® (MBTI®) assessment. If you have never encountered this instrument, you may want to read one or more of the references listed as MBTI® Resources in the bibliography to gain a more thorough understanding. I will attempt to give you enough of a foundation here to help make use of your personality and to understand the personalities of the members of the teams with whom you will want to work. First of all, personality traits exist in pairs of opposites. You were born with—or developed early in life—a natural preference for one or the other of each of these pairs. Think of it this way: You are either naturally righthanded or naturally left-handed—you can do things with both hands but you generally favor one or the other. The same thing holds for aspects of your personality. For example, you are capable of acting in an Extraverted manner as well as in an Introverted manner, but you have a natural tendency to favor one over the other. That tendency may be very strong and pronounced or it may be only a slight tendency. The clearer you are on what your natural tendencies are, the more able you will be to use your personality as a tool of your leadership style. In exercises 6-9, we examine fours pairs of type characteristics, or dichotomies: Extraversion-Introversion, Sensing-Intuition, ThinkingFeeling, and Judging-Perceiving. Your job is to decide which characteristic in each pair is most natural for you. Short checklists are 50 provided to assist you in “typing” your personality or that of your teammates. On each checklist, the answer that predominates (E or I, S or N, T or F, J or P) indicates your likely preference. When answering the questions, choose the item that describes something that is more like the “real you,” rather than the one that describes how you want to be. You will be tempted to say, “Well, it depends on the situation.” We all vary our behaviors to match situations to some degree. Choose the item that is more likely to occur across situations, the one that is driven more by your natural tendencies than by how you think you are supposed to behave. Note that these checklists offer only a glimpse of MBTI typology. If you have the opportunity, I encourage you to take the latest version of the MBTI assessment. You can contact the Association for Psychological Type or CPP, Inc., to obtain the names of professionals in your area who can administer the instrument to you and provide a feedback session. Preference for Extraversion vs. Introversion Exercise 6 is a short checklist to help you identify whether you have a natural preference for being more Extraverted or more Introverted. All of us have both Extraversion and Introversion as a part of our personality. Use the standard of the “real you” to help determine which characteristic in this dichotomy is most natural for you. Leaders and team members who have a preference for Extraversion are externally oriented and quite aware of what’s going on around them. They are more likely than those with a preference for Introversion to reveal what they are thinking and feeling. Thoughts that surface in their brain tend to be quickly transmitted through their mouth. Most Extraverts are action oriented. They like variety and want to make things happen, not just think about it. As a result, their natural strengths include getting the ball rolling on projects and keeping their eyes and ears open to what is happening beyond their own work efforts. However, they may have some blind spots, too. They may be easily distracted and interfere with the group’s ability to stay focused. They may instigate action without sufficient forethought about goals and future requirements. They may also dominate team meetings and conversations. However, it is highly beneficial to have some team leaders and members with a preference for Extraversion because of the energy they bring to the team. Their “can-do” spirit is helpful in many situations. Many people believe that leaders should be Extraverts. It is true that the role often calls for interacting with people and things and providing 51 energy to get things going. However, people with a natural preference for Introversion can also be terrific leaders. They are more focused on the inner world of thoughts and concepts. They bring to a team their natural tendency to think before acting. They can help a team by insisting that what the team is attempting to accomplish be well planned and that matters have been thought through in depth. Their blind spots might include appearing secretive or overly intense as a result of all their interior thinking. They often wait to be asked for their opinion and don’t typically want to provide it off-the-cuff. Team members who want immediate answers may find this frustrating. However, it is important to have some team leaders and members with a preference for Introversion because they help the team stay focused and can provide a healthy cautiousness delaying actions that others may not be prepared to support. EXERCISE 6 Extraverted Type (E) or Introverted Type (I) Checklist Directions: For each pair of choices, select the one that best describes your natural tendency across most situations. 1. Is your attention directed more externally to the world of people and things? Or, is your attention directed internally to the world of ideas and concepts? 2. Are you more likely to take action and then (maybe) reflect on it later? Or, are you more likely to think about a situation a lot and then (maybe) take action? 3. Do you find yourself thinking out loud? Or, do you find yourself thinking a lot before saying things aloud? 4. Do you find yourself feeling energized by interacting with people? Or, do you find your energy being drained by interacting with people and thus need some down time to recharge 52 Circle your answer E I E I E I E I your batteries? 5. Do you tend to have very broad interests? E Or, do you have a few deep interests? I 6. Do you think of yourself as having many relationships and the ability to meet and talk with people easily? E Or, do you make a big distinction between friends and acquaintances and find small talk difficult? I 7. Do you tend to notice most of everything going on around you and not mind interruptions that much? E Or, do you hate to be interrupted and are more comfortable with silence? 8. Are you quite willing to share what you think or feel? Or, do you tend to wait to be asked about what you think or feel? 9. Do you learn best through doing and discussing? Or, do you learn best through reflection and “mental practice”? I E I E I Remember, everyone has the capacity for both Extraversion and Introversion—here we are simply trying to determine your natural tendency. This tendency forms the basis of your personal style. However, situations call for behaviors that may be far from what is natural or comfortable. Any natural Introvert who becomes a leader knows he or she will have to deal with people. Any natural Extravert knows that as leader he or she will need to develop plans and write reports. Your choice as a leader may be to attempt to exhibit behaviors and skills that do not feel natural or to team up with someone whose personality fits the demands of the task. What is your strategy to capitalize on your strengths and to benefit from the tendencies and talents of your teammates? When you need to deal with people who have the same preferences as you do, it is likely to be relatively easy for you to understand one another. Yet, conflict can still occur. People with similar type preferences may end 53 up competing for the same kind of responses. Extraverts may not like all the attention other Extraverts are receiving. Introverts may become frustrated with other Introverts who spend more time thinking about plans and not coming to the same conclusions that they have. When people need to deal with people who have opposing preferences, conflict may arise due to lack of understanding. Extraverts tend to become frustrated with Introverts who do not respond quickly to questions at team meetings. Extraverts wonder, “Why can’t we just give it a shot rather than sitting here and thinking about all this stuff?” Introverts get uncomfortable with the desire to act simply for the sake of acting. They tend to zone out at team meetings when Extraverted teammates bounce from one topic to another. Leaders of both preferences need to learn to adjust in order to match their message to all members of the team. If you are a natural Extravert, provide some quiet time for team members to think before stating their points of view. If you have key issues you need input on, try to announce those issues prior to your team meetings so that the Introverts can think before speaking. If you simply open the floor to responses to questions you present to the team, you will probably hear mostly from the Extraverts. Instead, you might use the round-robin technique. Announce the question on which you want team input. Let members think silently for a couple of minutes and then go around the circle and ask each person to comment. Let members know that if they really don’t have anything to contribute on the issue, they can pass when it is their turn. If you are a natural Introvert, expect your Extraverted teammates to speak out on issues beyond the subject matter currently on the agenda. A leader can effectively deflect off-agenda ideas that come up using the “parking lot” charting method, capturing ideas and yet limiting team meeting time to address them. This method requires that a flip chart or white board be available in the meeting room. When an issue or concern is raised that is not strictly tied to the agenda item being discussed, the leader records it somewhere on the “parking lot” flip chart or white board so as not to lose sight of it. The group is asked to return to the current agenda item and agrees to look for an opportunity to address the “parked” issue at a future time. Preference for Sensing (S) vs. Intuition (N) What is your preferred approach to understanding the world around you? Do you rely primarily on your five senses—seeing, hearing, smelling, 54 tasting, and touching (Sensing)? Do you tend to take things in and discern patterns to intuitively make sense of what is going on (Intuition)? All of us use both approaches. Use exercise 7 to help determine your natural preference in this dichotomy. Leaders and team members who have a preference for Sensing zero in on the facts and details. They want to know what is “actually” going on. They want to focus on today’s realities and use their common sense to understand the situation. Those with a preference for Intuition tend to look at situations and quickly speculate on the possibilities. They notice what could be happening, focusing on the connections and patterns between the details more than on the facts themselves. They tend to look beyond the current situation and use their creativity to focus on the future. The work world tends to have many more Sensing types than Intuitive types. But a team will generally have both types. Those with a preference for Sensing are often frustrated by the idealism of those with a preference for Intuition. They aren’t very interested in the theories and concepts underlying the business strategies. They want to know the specific steps and responsibilities to be undertaken right away. Intuitive types may find themselves frustrated by what they perceive to be resistance on the part of the Sensing types to think “outside the box.” Why don’t they speculate more about what could be and what should be? Intuitive types want to find the strategies for long-term success and often don’t appreciate the Sensing types’ focus on short-term bottom-line results. When you are working with Sensing types, it is important that you develop the case for the need for change before presenting the new idea. Show respect for the past and don’t be quick to condemn the traditional approach team members have been using up until now. Work with them to see the facts that led you to believe that something is broken and needs to be fixed. You might try to break down the change concept into its component parts; you will need to work with the Sensing types to identify a step-by-step implementation plan and a realistic time frame for the steps. Allow them to “try before they buy.” Introduce innovations on a trial, pilot basis. Allow time at team meetings to pay attention to the details. EXERCISE 7 Sensing Type (S) or Intuitive Type (N) Checklist Directions: For each pair of choices, select the one that best describes your natural tendency across most situations. 55 Circle your answer 1. Are you more interested in the actual facts of a situation? S Or, are you more interested in the possibilities of the situation? N 2. Do you tend to notice the details? Or, do you tend to notice the patterns? 3. Are you more patient with routines? Or, are you more patient with complexity? S N S N 4. Do people describe you as sensible, practical, pragmatic, and down-to-earth? S Or, do they describe you as imaginative, innovative, creative, and idealistic? N 5. Are you more present oriented and thus attend to what is happening here and now? S Or, are you more future oriented and thus keep thinking about what could be? N 6. Do you mistrust your intuition and try to prove things to yourself and others in a careful, step-by-step fashion? S Or, once your intuition tells you what the answer is, are you even willing to ignore some facts and go with your hunches? N 7. Do you consider yourself to have a lot of common sense and prefer people who also have a lot of common sense? S Or, do you consider yourself creative and prefer people who also use a lot of creative thinking? N 8. Do you find yourself responding to what people literally say? S Or, do you find yourself reading between the lines and figuring out what they mean? 56 N 9. Do you value practical, hands-on experience as the best way to learn? Or, do you value learning that comes from inspiration and conceptualization? S N When you are working with Intuitive types, allow time for brainstorming. Encourage them to look beyond what they are doing currently and speculate on far-reaching and intriguing possibilities—run wild with a discussion of what could be. Make sure time is spent on keeping things real before going forward but try not to throw a wet blanket on innovative thinking too soon. Challenge the Intuitive types to find the connections between the actions that need to be taken. Encourage them to discover the unified whole underlying team tasks and activities. Having both Sensing and Intuitive types on a team can be a dynamite combination, especially when it comes to planning and problem-solving activities. Intuitive types can help push the envelope and creatively develop new products, processes, and pathways for the team to consider. The Sensing types can take the wild and crazy speculations and identify the obstacles that need to be addressed and the steps to take to move the idea from the drawing board to reality. Both parties need to participate in “what if” thinking. Ideas need to be wiggled and shaken until a clearer image emerges and a road map to the goal is established. Preference for Thinking vs. Feeling The third dichotomy identified in the Myers-Briggs® typological framework has to do with how one naturally goes about making decisions. Use exercise 8 to help determine whether you have more of a natural preference for Thinking or Feeling, but remember, we are all capable of using either. Leaders and team members who have a preference for Thinking value logic above all else. They want to use the principles of logic to come to conclusions wherever possible. They are more comfortable arguing and critiquing ideas and concepts being discussed. They can enjoy analyzing issues without taking things personally. They are often nonchalant about good work—their own as well as that of others. “Heck, isn’t that what we are paid for?” This may establish a very impersonal tone and reduce the energy needed to build enthusiastic support for a change idea. 57 EXERCISE 8 Thinking Type (T) or Feeling Type (F) Checklist Directions: For each pair of choices, select the one that best describes your natural tendency across most situations. 1. Do you prefer to use the principles of cause-and-effect log...
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