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Ways to insure support during assignments. 

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Ways to insure support during assignments. 

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4. Devote a segment during class before all group projects begin to implement two important steps.

Step 1: Get to know each other. The first 10 minutes can be a period for all students to find and meet with the group members they have either been assigned or have self-selected. They should then spend some time exploring each other’s communication styles.

Step 2: Establish group norms. encourage each group to negotiate its own group norms (derived from Step 1) and ground rules. Elucidate, negotiate, and establish roles, responsibilities, and expectations. This process makes explicit the specific contributions and ownership of responsibilities that each team member negotiates and agrees to.

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Ways to insure support during assignments.

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Ways to insure support during assignments.

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2. Develop an element of the project that allows group members to make their own choices. For example, let the students pick their own topic.

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Ways to insure support during assignments.

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Ways to insure support during assignments.

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1. Design a group project in which the students work in phases.

For instance, starting with a project idea, then moving to project development, followed by preliminary project outcomes – and requiring students to “check-in” at each phase before delivering the final project.

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Administration for Children and Families (ACF)

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Gary Yeatts, MSW, Clarity Technologies

Abstract

Leadership is the ability to set direction, inspire, motivate, and influence others to produce results. A world-class leader transforms ordinary individuals into a team, which produces extraordinary results. Sustained performance is from equal portions of business acumen, technical competencies, interpersonal skills, and team dynamics. All are essential to producing results. As a leader, knowing what to do and how to engage others are at the heart of expanding success or diminishing returns. This paper presents a pragmatic approach to understanding how tribal leadership (Logan, King, & Wright, 2011) creates a new context for understanding team behavior and how developing interpersonal competencies establishes a foundation for world-class leadership. Project managers will discover how acquiring the appropriate mindset, creating core values, and using team tools can transform an organization's reputation and energize a team. An energized team culture thrives on collaboration, integrity, and accountability. Project managers committed to performance transformation can become world-class leaders. By igniting their leadership capabilities, project managers create trust-based relationships and inspire others to flourish.

Building a Foundation

Executives expect a project manager to deliver on-time results, within budget, by balancing his or her technical competence and interpersonal skills. Using Goleman's Emotional Quotient (EQ) (1998) as a framework, leaders can enhance their personal and social competence to self-manage and build relationships with others. Project managers extend their interpersonal base by mastering the skills associated with Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) and Dominance-Influencer-Steadiness-Compliance (DISC) behavioral-based communications frameworks. When project managers understand their personal styles, pay exquisite attention to others, and demonstrate style flexibility, they build trust-based relationships. Arbinger Institute's, "Way of Being" can significantly accelerate individual trust by respecting the humanity of others and not engaging in self-betrayal (Arbinger Institute, 2004). NLP skills sharpen sensory acuity with heightened eye access and predicate selection awareness (Dilts & Bonissone, 1993). Refined sensory acuity accelerates the identification of preferred communication styles (Alessandra & O'Connor, 1996). In Leadership and Self-Deception: Getting Out of the Box (2002), Arbinger states the greatest source of influence is a "Way of Being," where leaders interact and treat others as people honoring their humanity. For individual leader development and building personal confidence, Goleman's EQ, NLP, DISC, and the "Way of Being" are the building blocks for establishing trust-based relationships and creating greater influence.

Team Behavior

A framework to decode team behavior extends beyond the boundaries of a project manager's self-knowledge and the knowledge of each individual team member's behavior. Tuckman (1965) identified the four developmental stages in small groups: forming, storming, norming, and performing. Hersey and Blanchard's Situational Leadership (1979) combined communication approaches: telling, selling, participating, and delegating with the maturity level, ability, and willingness, to perform a task as a way to influence individual performance. With limited success, leaders have extrapolated the Tuckman and Hersey-Blanchard approaches to explain team behavior. A significant new way to understand team behavior is looking at the five modern tribal stages described by Logan, King, and Fischer-Wright (2011).

Tribal Leadership

"A culture and a person's sense of self are inseparably locked together. One cannot be understood without the other" (Logan et al, 2011). As described in Tribal Leadership (2010), each stage has a mantra and a productivity level with stage one, the lowest, and stage five delivering the highest productivity. The mantras are, stage one: "Life sucks"; stage two: "My life sucks"; stage three: "I'm great, and you're not"; stage four: "We're great"; and, stage five: "Life is great." 2007, p. 25) and summarized at Exhibit 1‥

Exhibit 1 - Tribal Leadership Summary (Logan et al., 2011)

Each stage has a specific language and behavior; the project manager can use this knowledge to move a team to the next performance level by design rather than default. The most effective leaders are stable at level four or five, exhibiting communication style flexibility while honoring team member and stakeholder humanity. Level-five leaders influence team members to accelerated performance. Typically, sponsors select the "best performers" for project team membership. Best performers have a tendency to strive for dominance, outperform, and even put one another down creating leadership challenges. Effective world-class leaders easily adjust their communication styles and behaviors to establish rapport with all team members regardless of their stage (Logan et al., 2011). Leading a stage three team to stage four is possible by encouraging a proper mindset, establishing team values, and deploying collaborative tools and techniques.

Mindset

A level-five leader invites ordinary people to produce extraordinary results. In essence, the ability to influence and inspire others, build a culture of accountability, integrity, and collaboration comes from a level-five leader's "way of being" directed toward stakeholders and the project team. Leadership by example always has a powerful impact on followers. The "way of being" is how leaders access and revitalize the intelligence in the people around them, creating a culture where common people achieve extraordinarily uncommon results Wiseman, Liz (2010). Arbinger's Leadership and Self-Deception: Getting Out of the Box (2010), systematically helps level-three leaders discover how self-deception limits effectiveness and how to operate out of the boxes of blame and justifications. The level-five leader mindset embraces a "way of being" that seeks the natural genius within others and is responsive to the humanity of others.

Way of Being

How a project manager communicates and interacts with others is an important aspect of project life. Arbinger, in Leadership and Self-Deception: Getting out of the Box, states that a leader's actions and behaviors, a way of "doing," achieves results in a variety of ways and "There is something deeper than behavior that [ultimately] determines influence" (Arbinger, 2002, p, 48). Level-five leaders interact and treat others in two ways. One way, a "way of being," recognizes people as people and the other way is to see people as objects; specifically as obstacles, vehicles, or irrelevancies. "This 'way of being' [ultimately] determines influence." (Arbinger, 1998, p. 10) Understanding the distinction between behaviors, the doing, and our "way of being" is essential (Exhibit 2).
Exhibit 2 - "Way of Being" (Arbinger, 2002; p. 35)
Leaders who see people as objects may become resentful or frustrated when the schedule slips or impatient when a team member is slow to make adjustments. By treating people as objects, project managers form a "box" around themselves, creating relationship barriers. Level-three leaders, being resistant to the needs of others, are operating from within a box and betray their deepest sense about the right way to treat people (Arbinger, 2002). This self-betrayal produces justifications, placing blame on others when something goes wrong. Self-betrayal radically degrades working relationships. Level-three leaders find reason to blame others and unknowingly provoke team members into unproductive behaviors. Collusion, a detrimental blame-response cycle, escalates and divisiveness begins to expand as a level-three leader and team members enlist allies to support their respective viewpoint (Arbinger, 2002).

A level-five leader sees others as people and suspends judgment, inviting the team to take collaborative action. A level-five leader encourages the team to develop a solution by asking thought-provoking questions and removing any barriers, which hinder performance. Project managers who respect the humanity of others "are" different, by the way they listen, learn, teach, and while helping things go right. A level-five leader allocates more time keeping others informed, finding and using the genius of others, and helping colleagues grow professionally while clarifying performance expectations. Level-five leaders significantly improve project results and trust by seeing people as people as shown in Exhibit 3.

Exhibit 3 - Project Managers "Way of Being" Guide
Adapted from Arbinger (2002)

Multiplier

To accelerate a pervasive "way of being," a project manager can use the five-multiplier distinctions to establish behavioral interaction expectations. As a talent magnet (Wiseman, 2010), level-five leaders attract the best and brightest talent, maximizing individual contribution by finding each person's native genius. Skilled leaders create an intense environment that requires people's best thinking and work. As a result, people offer their best and boldest thinking, giving their best effort. Successful project managers replace the "know-it-all" attitude by reframing problems as opportunities, challenging the team to ask the hard questions and co-creating action plans. Asking tough questions creates a safe environment for vigorous and passionate best thinking. Micro managers, level-three leaders, exhibit the most debilitating actions through their personal intervention in all project aspects. This level-three behavior exhibits the micro manager's belief that his or her involvement is critical to project success because others lack the experience or knowledge to produce the proper results. However, a wise leader gives other people the ownership for results and invests in his or her success.
Exhibit 4 - Project Managers Multiplier Distinctions
Liz Wiseman, (2010)
Values

Team values are the core ingredients for success. Organizational values can shape teams daily to inspire higher customer service levels, enhance operational effectiveness, better team collaboration, and deliver quality. This greater ability to fulfill the stated mission provides high personal satisfaction and thus creates a more motivated team. Motivation is indeed a necessary component to achieving success in any fully functioning organization. Quite often the values of an organization are present but not clarified and defined. Stephen Kiesling (2000) quotes Richard Barrett,

"Organizations are living entities that share needs and motivations similar to those of individual people. The critical question is whether these corporate values are conscious, shared, and lived or unconscious and undiscussed. When corporate values remain unconscious and undiscussed, they tend to reflect the values of the leader, not the employees. The likely result: The creative potential of the employees is either crushed or they take it home to their hobbies and charities" (Kiesling, 2000, p. 37).

Duncan (2005) cites a Gallup study showing that "actively disengaged" employees cost the economy approximately US$355 billion dollars per year, and that almost 25 million U.S. workers are actively disengaged, resulting in roughly 86 million days of absence from work (n.p.). Kiesling continues, "What's the bottom line performance difference between companies with fulfilled and unfulfilled employees? Citing a number of specific studies, Barrett has a number, 39%" (p. 37). Dearlove and Coomber (1999) reference Fredrick Reichfield, who estimates that the "disloyalty factor" from stakeholders, employers, shareholders, staff, and customers can cut performance and productivity by 50% (p. 10).

David Pendleton and Jennifer King define values as guiding principles for individuals and organizations (Pendleton & King, 2002). Charles Kerns proposes that the leader's values contribute to attitudes resulting in behaviors (Kerns, 2004). Dave Logan and John King identify core values as "principles without which life wouldn't be worth living" (Logan, King, & Wright, 2011, p. 181). According to Thomas Ambler, organizations that have identified three to six core values are more successful than those organizations who have not taken this action (Ambler, n.d). Studies of hundreds of companies have shown that higher functioning organizations build a high producing culture based on aligning values with day-to-day operations (Logan et al., 2011).

Project teams generally reflect the values of the creating organization; when the behaviors of the members of the project team align with organizational values, a successful project outcome increases (Ambler, n.d). Team members build credibility with customers when behavior is consistent with stated values (Kerns, 2004). Unfortunately, some organizations have stated values, yet have not implemented them in ongoing operations (Kaufman, 2005). A value failing to guide behavior reduces organizational productivity and adversely affects team culture (Kaufman, 2005). In 15 years of research, Kouzes and Posner (1995) link values to individual and team behaviors, such as ethical behavior, expectation clarity, solution innovation, and team collaboration. With core values in place, the project manager's mindset inspires others to find the genius in others and honor their humanity.

Kuczmarski and Kuczmarski (1995) say that in order to define organizational values, management should actively involve the employee perspective. Every employee's personal values contribute to the creation of the values of the organization. Exhibit 5 displays an effective values definition process.

Exhibit 5 - (Kuczmarski & Kuczmarski, 1995, pp. 120-123)

Team Tools

With values woven into the culture, the effective leader can begin to shape working relationships by sharpening team focus on results and setting expectations for teammates. Specifically, the effective leader shifts the team relationship structure, creating triad work teams to produce results (Logan et al., 2011) using simple tools to sustain core-value awareness, plan interim deliverables, solve problems, and engage others in passionate debate.

Triads

"Leadership is not about changing ideas or gaining knowledge; it is about changing language and relationships" (Logan et al., 2011). Triad teams connect three stakeholders by common values and complementary skills, experiences, and opportunities where collaboration will produce a significant result. Self-sustaining triads will generate excitement and naturally attract the genius within others. World-class project managers form triads because they are matchmakers. Triad project conversations are always with at least two people, with the project manager primarily listening and deepening the relationship between the other two. Woven into the discussion are the values and gifts that make each person great. In short, level-five leaders create trusted relationships between people linked by mutual core values and beneficial abilities.

Core Values

"Genuine success does not come from proclaiming our core values, but from consistently putting them into daily action" (Blanchard & O'Connor, 2003). Using the six-step value definition process, project managers engage team member participation. Identifying a core value is an essential start; the dialogue creating action clarity is valuable. Specifically, listing bulleted points that clarify behaviors, in essence paraphrasing what that value is and is not. A team discussion about value boundaries facilitates understanding integrating values into daily action. For each value, identifying, and documenting a team story makes the value memorable and enriches team culture. The table in Exhibit 6 assists in creating value clarity.
Exhibit 6 - (Bristol & Yeatts, 2002)
Quick Plans

Project managers know the planning cycle is continuous. During the project life cycle, quick planning and thorough planning appear at odds. Logan and King have created a "champagne glass" planning format, which helps leaders and teams rapidly develop plans for interim deliverables. This tool liberates a teams' best thinking. Stating the desired outcome, identifying the deliverable, and any constraining resources such as dates, funds, or personnel begin the discussion. The next gate validates the outcome clarity. With outcome clarity, a team triad brainstorms available assets for projects. The next questions are the hurdles for the second gate, "Are the listed assets needed for producing the desired outcome," and "Are these assets available?" With a YES answer, the next step is to determine the milestones and activities needed to achieving the outcome. This simple tool uses the power of team triads to align outcomes, assets, and actions.

Exhibit 7 - Champagne Glass (Logan, et al, 2011)

World-class project managers liberate triads to use their best and most innovative thinking by creating a safe space for idea exchange, encouraging collaborative team solutions. A safe environment allows the project manager to set work quality expectations instead of personally dictating every solution. Equally important, the project manager invites team members to admit, share, and learn from mistakes. This blame-free "way of being" makes rapid learning cycles a team habit.

Problem Solving

"Creative problem solving is a form of innovative learning." (Bennis, 2009, p. 71) World-class project managers know how to create a culture where the passionate exchange of ideas is a standard procedure. Wiseman, (2010) states that defining the question and selecting the appropriate triad to assemble the data, sets the proper decision-making framework. Most important, level-five leaders spark debate by creating safety for incisive thinking while demanding rigorous thought processes. The cumulative effect, each team member is accountable for sound decision making and communicating the decision rationale. The seven-step problem-solving- process shown in Exhibit 8 helps keep the team focused and synchronized. During problem solving, a project manager's responsibility is to ask the hard questions, verify the data are correct, and ignite a triad debate.

The Challenge

Kouzes & Posner (1995) wrote that leadership was not about a functional position of authority, but "...about having the courage and spirit to move from whatever place you're in to make a significant difference...it's about leadership and how ordinary people exercise it" (p. XX-XXI). World-class leaders commit to performance transformation. Transformation requires innovation. The key to innovation is for leaders to unleash the genius within ordinary people to produce extraordinary results. Level-five leaders engage with a mindset, which honors the humanity of others, avoids limiting assumptions, masters advanced skills, and creates a culture beyond "What's in it for ME." By embracing leadership beyond "me," the world-class leader inspires others so the organization can flourish.

Mindset Challenge

World-class leaders know that influence comes from their "way of being" while inviting integrity, accountability, and collaboration to become the team's foundation. Staying out of "the box," avoids self-betrayal and increases time spent on making work go right instead of constantly making corrections (Exhibit 9).

Exhibit 9 - Arbinger Mindset (Adapted from Leadership and Self-Deception, 2010)

Limiting Assumptions Challenge

Project managers know the project difficulties caused by no authority and limited resources. Getting more out of assigned resources is an ongoing challenge. Project managers can construct world-class leadership mindset by changing thoughts and actions from a "ME-centric" orientation to an others-orientation. Wiseman's (2010) multiplier thinking, summarized in Exhibit 10, accelerates team performance as project managers attract talent, encourage out of the box thinking, and promote passionate discussion.

Exhibit 10 - Multiplier Mindset (Wiseman, 2011)

Getting to Level-Five

Shifting from a project taskmaster to world-class leader is a continual improvement journey, which starts with an assessment of the brutal facts. After project managers complete the assessment, they build an action plan using enhanced soft skills as the foundation for growth. Project managers achieve equilibrium between technical and interpersonal skills by developing communication flexibility and a responsive "way of being." Personal mindset stability is the springboard for advancing to levels four and five. As project managers spend more time helping things go right, compared with constantly making corrections, they can refine and simplify essential technical skills to teach and help others to learn.

Assessment

Unfortunately, many project managers place a higher value on tasks, productivity, and outcomes than on relationships. This work only orientation lacks empathy, creates barriers, and invites defensiveness. The recommended reading list in Exhibit 11 explores the essential aspects for achieving interpersonal skill stability, a launching pad into a level-five leadership style. Goldsmith's (2007) no-holds-barred review of the 20 transactional flaws performed against others provides an excellent departure point. Mersino (2007) clarifies the dangers of a low emotional quotient (EQ), whereas Losier's Law of Connection (2007) helps understand how to improve sensory acuity to build rapport. The Platinum Rule puts into motion "Do unto others as they'd like done unto them" (Alessandra, 2008, p. 2). Goldsmith, Mersino, Losier, and Alessandra do the heavy prep work for building trust-based relationships by starting to shift a project manager's orientation from the "ME-centric" viewpoint. Leadership and Self-Deception, (Arbinger, 2010) help a project manager to see how most communication failures and conflicts perpetuate self-deception, leading to breakdowns in trust, accountability, and collaboration. Most significantly, Arbinger provides practical strategies for getting and staying out of the box. Tribal Leadership (Logan et al., 2011) details the how to identify the stage of tribal development and some strategies to help a team evolve into higher levels of productivity as trust-based relationships create a more cohesive culture.

Exhibit 11 - World-class leader reading list

Acceleration

Warrior-leaders studying the martial arts often hear their Shensi admonish, "Go slow to go fast." This saying is also true when establishing the mindset and interpersonal skill-base for level-five leadership. Incrementally mastering the mindset, interpersonal, and team skills layers adds depth and breadth to the project manager's technical competency base, creating balance with leadership competencies. Each layer adds competencies to a project manager's leadership capacity; to sustain personal performance continuous improvement becomes a life practice. Wiseman (2011) suggests an effective skill refinement strategy. World-class leaders periodically assess their mindset, interpersonal, and team skills; improve the lowest and take their highest to the next level. Exhibit 12, summarizes the steps identifies the suggested authors for consideration.

Exhibit 12 - Accelerating interpersonal skills transformation

Call to Action

Executives passionately debate if leadership is learned or innate. Dr. Bruce Avolio, Director, Center for Leadership Studies posits in Psychology Today (Sep/Oct 1999; 32, 5; p.18),

After 50 years of collecting data on the topic, most psychologists believe that leadership qualities are innate or genetic and thus impossible to learn. Yet, my colleagues and I presented over a decade of research showing that leadership skills can be developed and mastered.

According to Bradberry & Greaves (2009), improving your EQ has a profound effect on your leadership skills, and Mersino (2007, Kindle Edition, Kindle Locations 152-153) states,

The good news about emotional intelligence is that no matter where you are now, most experts agree that you can improve your level of emotional intelligence. In fact, experts agree that you can continue to improve your level over the course of your life.

Building skills layer by layer creates synergy as project managers develop a world-class leader mindset, build core values, and use team tools to transform their competencies to accelerate organizational performance. The transformational journey beyond a "Me-centeredness" takes time-stay with it for a year. By forming a triad with other project managers, learning will deepen, resolve will strengthen, and team performance will accelerate.

Alessandra, T., & O'Connor, M. J. (1990). People smart: Powerful techniques for every encounter into a mutual win. La Jolla, CA: Keynote Publishing Company.

Alessandra, T., & O'Connor, M. J. (1996). The platinum rule: Discover the four basic business personalities and how they can lead you to success. New York, NY: Hachette Book Group.

Ambler, T. (n.d.). The strategic value of values. Retrieved from http://www.leader-values.com/Content/detail.asp?ContentDetailID=292

Bandler, R., & Grinder, J. (1975). Structure of magic I. Palo Alto, CA: Science and Behavior Books. Inc.

Barrett, R. (2003, September). Improve your cultural capital. Journal of Industrial Management, 45(5).

Bennis, W. G., & Goldsmith, J. (2010). Learning to lead (4th ed.). New York, NY: Basic Books.

Bennis, W. (2009). On becoming a leader. New York, NY: Perseus Books Group.

Bradberry, T., & Greaves, J. (2009). Emotional intelligence 2.0. San Diego, CA: TalentSmart.

Blanchard, K., & O'Connor, M. (2003). Managing by values: How to put your values into action for extraordinary results. San Francisco, CA: Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc.

Bristol, P., & Yeatts, G. (2010). Speak the language of leadership. Washington, DC: PMI Global Congress-2010.

Bruce, A. (Sep/Oct 1999). Are leaders born or made? Psychology Today, 33(5), 18.

Dearlove, D., & Coomber, S. J. (1999). Heart and soul. Berkshire, UK: Blessing/White.

Dilts, R., & Bonissone, G. (1993). Skills for the future: Managing creativity and innovation. Capitola, CA: Meta Publications.

Duncan, R. D. (n.d.). Why employee satisfaction is the wrong metric. The Duncan Report, retrieved from http://www.DuncanWorldwide.com/dr/dr_satisfactionwrongmetric.html.

Goleman, D. (1998). Working with emotional intelligence. New York, NY: Random House, Inc.

Goleman, D. (2006). Emotional intelligence: 10th anniversary edition: Why it can matter more than IQ. Random House, NY: Random House, Inc.

Goleman, D., Boyatzis, R., & McKeel, A. (2002). Primal leadership. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press.

Kaufman, H. (2005). Values as foundation. Retrieved from http://www.leadership-values.com/Content/detail.asp?ContentDetailID=909

Kerns, C. D. (2004). Strengthening values centered leadership. Graziado Business Review, 7(2). Retrieved from http;//gbr.pepperdine.edu/2010/08/Strengthening-Values-Centered-Leadership/.

Kiesling, S. (2000, Winter). The company you keep: Does it need transformation? Spirituality and Health, 36-41.

Kouzes, J. M., & Posner, B. Z. (2002). The leadership challenge (3rd ed.). San Francisco, CA: Jossey- Bass.

Kuczmarski, S. S., & Kuczmarski, T. D. (1995). Values-based leadership: Rebuilding employee commitment, performance and productivity. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall

Lencioni, P. (2002). The five dysfunctions of a team: A leadership fable. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Logan, D., King, J., & Fischer-Wright, H. (2011). Tribal leadership: Leveraging natural groups to build a thriving organization. New York, NY: HarperCollins Publisher.

Losier, M. J. (2009). Law of connection: The science of using NLP to create ideal personal and professional relationships. New York, NY: Hachette Book Group, Inc.

Maxwell, J. C. (2005). The 360 degree leader: Developing your influence. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, Inc.

Maxwell, J. C. (2007). The 21 irrefutable laws of leadership: Follow them and people will follow you. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, Inc.

Mersino, A. C. (2007). Emotional intelligence for project managers: The people skill you need to achieve outstanding results. New York, NY: American Management Association.

Mersino, A. C. (2007) Emotional intelligence for project managers: The people skills you need to achieve outstanding results (Kindle Locations 152-153). Kindle Edition.

Moore, J. (2006). Tribal knowledge: Business wisdom brewed from the grounds of Starbucks corporate culture. Chicago, IL: Kaplan Publishing

Pendleton, D., & King, J. (December 7, 2002). Values and leadership. Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.gov/pmc/articles/PMS1124807

Project Management Institute (2008). A guide to the project management body of knowledge (PMBOK® Guide)- Fourth edition). Newtown Square, PA: Author.

Senge, P. M. (1990). The fifth discipline: the art & practice of the learning organization. New York, NY: Doubleday.

Senge, P. M., Roberts, C., Ross, R. B., Smith, B. J., & Kleiner, A. (1994). The fifth discipline field book: Strategies and tools for building a learning organization. New York, NY: Doubleday.

Straw, J., & Cerier, A. B. (2002). The 4 dimensional manager: DiSC strategies for managing different people in the best ways. San Francisco, CA: Berrett-Koehler Publishers Inc.

The Arbinger Institute (1998). The choice: Suppose everything in life depended on one decision. Salt Lake City, UT: Author.

The Arbinger Institute (2002). Leadership and self-deception: Getting out of the box. San Francisco, CA: Berrett-Koehler Publishers.

The Arbinger Institute (2010). Leadership and self-deception: Getting out of the box. San Francisco, CA: Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc.

The Arbinger Institute (2008). The anatomy of peace. San Francisco, CA: Berrett-Koehler Publishers Inc.

Wiseman, L. (2010). Multipliers: How the best leaders make everyone smarter. New York, NY: Harper Collins, Inc.

© 2010, Phil Bristol and Gary Yeatts
Originally published as a part of the 2011 PMI Global Congress Proceedings - Dallas, TX

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Creating Accountability, Integrity, and Teamwork

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Leadership is the ability to set direction, inspire, motivate, and influence others to produce results. A leader transforms ordinary individuals into a team, which produces extraordinary results. Sustained performance is from equal portions of business acumen, technical competencies, interpersonal skills, and team dynamics. All are essential to producing results.

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Teamwork and collaboration are critical to mission achievement in any organization that has to respond quickly to changing circumstances. My research in the U.S. intelligence community has not only affirmed that idea but also surfaced a number of mistaken beliefs about teamwork that can sidetrack productive collaboration. Here are six of them.

Misperception #1: Harmony helps. Smooth interaction among collaborators avoids time-wasting debates about how best to proceed.

Actually: Quite the opposite, research shows. Conflict, when well managed and focused on a team's objectives, can generate more creative solutions than one sees in conflict-free groups. So long as it is about the work itself, disagreements can be good for a team. Indeed, we found in our earlier research on symphony orchestras that slightly grumpy orchestras played a little better as ensembles than those whose members worked together especially harmoniously.

Misperception #2: It's good to mix it up. New members bring energy and fresh ideas to a team. Without them, members risk becoming complacent, inattentive to changes in the environment, and too forgiving of fellow members' misbehavior.

Actually: The longer members stay together as an intact group, the better they do. As unreasonable as this may seem, the research evidence is unambiguous. Whether it is a basketball team or a string quartet, teams that stay together longer play together better.

Misperception #3: Bigger is better. Larger groups have more resources to apply to the work. Moreover, including representatives of all relevant constituencies increases the chances that whatever is produced will be accepted and used.

Actually: Excessive size is one of the most common-and also one of the worst-impediments to effective collaboration. The larger the group, the higher the likelihood of social loafing (sometimes called free riding), and the more effort it takes to keep members' activities coordinated. Small teams are more efficient-and far less frustrating.

Misperception #4: Face-to-face interaction is passé. Now that we have powerful electronic technologies for communication and coordination, teams can do their work much more efficiently at a distance.

Actually: Teams working remotely are at a considerable disadvantage. There really are benefits to sizing up your teammates face-to-face. A number of organizations that rely heavily on distributed teams have found that it is well worth the time and expense to get members together when the team is launched, again around the midpoint of the team's work, and yet again when the work has been completed.

Misperception #5: It all depends on the leader. Think of a team you have led, or on which you have served, that performed superbly. Now think of another one that did quite poorly. What accounts for the difference between them? If you are like most people, your explanation will have something to do with the personality, behavior, or style of the leaders of those two teams.

Actually: The hands-on activities of group leaders do make a difference. But the most powerful thing a leader can do to foster effective collaboration is to create conditions that help members competently manage themselves. The second most powerful thing is to launch the team well. And then, third, is the hands-on teaching and coaching that leaders do after the work is underway. Our research suggests that condition-creating accounts for about 60% of the variation in how well a team eventually performs; that the quality of the team launch accounts for another 30%; and that real-time coaching accounts for only about 10%. Leaders are indeed important in collaborative work, but not in the ways we usually think.

Misperception #6: Teamwork is magical. To harvest its many benefits, all one has to do is gather up some really talented people and tell them in general terms what is needed-the team will work out the details.

Actually: It takes careful thought and no small about amount of preparation to stack the deck for success. The best leaders provide a clear statement of just what the team is to accomplish, and they make sure that the team has all the resources and supports it will need to succeed. Although you may have to do a bit of political maneuvering to get what is needed for effective collaboration from the broader organization, it is well worth the trouble.

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Six Common Misperceptions about Teamwork

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Teamwork and collaboration are critical to mission achievement in any organization that has to respond quickly to changing circumstances. My research in the U.S. intelligence community has not only affirmed that idea but also surfaced a number of mistaken beliefs about teamwork that can sidetrack productive collaboration. Here are six of them.

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Understanding Three Key Classroom Management Theories

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Spread the loveBy Tricia Hussung How teachers manage their classrooms is an important part of achieving an effective learning environment. Educators know that all students learn differently, and choosing the right instructional style can mitigate behavioral issues and make good instruction possible.

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Active Learning Classrooms: Sharing responsibility for learning

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How To Learn | Powerful strategies to master any new skill or subject

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Twenty-one schools in the Jordan, Utah, district have adopted a program based on author Stephen Covey's, "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People," in which they learn skills in leadership, conflict resolution and more.

The Leader In Me Program is intended to help transform the school culture for the better by helping students learn about accountability, communication and teamwork, while also instilling in them the importance of working toward their goals.

Sure, there's the mathematics, social studies, reading and writing - all staples of elementary education.

But some Utah schools are asking students to broaden their learning spectrum, adding such things as conflict resolution, proactive thinking and raising social and academic expectations.

Twenty-one schools in the Jordan School District have incorporated the Leader In Me Program into their daily learning. The initiative, inspired by Stephen Covey's book, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, focuses on transforming the culture of the classroom and beyond.

"The language that is spoken through the Seven Habits is so intuitive for the elementary school kids that it's a natural to be implemented into the very fabric of the school academics, and into the hallways," said Steve Hall, executive director of the Jordan Education Foundation.

The foundation has helped fund the program, which began with two schools - Eastlake Elementary in South Jordan and Falcon Ridge Elementary in West Jordan - back in 2009. Through fund-raising and donations from local businesses, the foundation is able to make available $5,000 to each participating school to fund the program.

Continue Reading: The Salt Lake Tribune (Utah)

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help students learn about accountability

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How To Help Students Learn About Accountability, Communication And Teamwork - How To Learn | Powerful strategies to master any new skill or subject

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Twenty-one schools in the Jordan, Utah, district have adopted a program based on author Stephen Covey's, "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People," in which they learn skills in leadership, conflict resolution and more. The Leader In Me Program is intended to help transform the school culture for the better by helping students learn about ...

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Teaching Excellence & Educational Innovation

"More hands make for lighter work." "Two heads are better than one." "The more the merrier."

These adages speak to the potential groups have to be more productive, creative, and motivated than individuals on their own.

Benefits for students

Group projects can help students develop a host of skills that are increasingly important in the professional world (Caruso & Woolley, 2008; Mannix & Neale, 2005). Positive group experiences, moreover, have been shown to contribute to student learning, retention and overall college success (Astin, 1997; Tinto, 1998; National Survey of Student Engagement, 2006).

Properly structured, group projects can reinforce skills that are relevant to both group and individual work, including the ability to:

Break complex tasks into parts and steps

Plan and manage time

Refine understanding through discussion and explanation

Give and receive feedback on performance

Challenge assumptions

Develop stronger communication skills.

Group projects can also help students develop skills specific to collaborative efforts, allowing students to...

Tackle more complex problems than they could on their own.

Delegate roles and responsibilities.

Share diverse perspectives.

Pool knowledge and skills.

Hold one another (and be held) accountable.

Receive social support and encouragement to take risks.

Develop new approaches to resolving differences.

Establish a shared identity with other group members.

Find effective peers to emulate.

Develop their own voice and perspectives in relation to peers.

While the potential learning benefits of group work are significant, simply assigning group work is no guarantee that these goals will be achieved. In fact, group projects can - and often do - backfire badly when they are not designed, supervised, and assessed in a way that promotes meaningful teamwork and deep collaboration.

Benefits for instructors

Faculty can often assign more complex, authentic problems to groups of students than they could to individuals. Group work also introduces more unpredictability in teaching, since groups may approach tasks and solve problems in novel, interesting ways. This can be refreshing for instructors. Additionally, group assignments can be useful when there are a limited number of viable project topics to distribute among students. And they can reduce the number of final products instructors have to grade.

Whatever the benefits in terms of teaching, instructors should take care only to assign as group work tasks that truly fulfill the learning objectives of the course and lend themselves to collaboration. Instructors should also be aware that group projects can add work for faculty at different points in the semester and introduce its own grading complexities.

References

Astin, A. (1993). What matters in college? Four critical years revisited. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Caruso, H.M., & Wooley, A.W. (2008). Harnessing the power of emergent interdependence to promote diverse team collaboration. Diversity and Groups. 11, 245-266.

Mannix, E., & Neale, M.A. (2005). What differences make a difference? The promise and reality of diverse teams in organizations. Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 6(2), 31-55.

National Survey of Student Engagement Report. (2006). http://nsse.iub.edu/NSSE_2006_Annual_Report/docs/NSSE_2006_Annual_Report.pdf.

Tinto, V. (1987). Leaving college: Rethinking the causes and cures of student attrition. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

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What are the benefits of group work? - Eberly Center - Carnegie Mellon University

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"Courtney really gets on my nerves," Mario said to his coworker Amira. The two were sitting in the commissary, trays of food in front of them, ready to eat lunch.

"She has to be 'miss perfect' and flaunt finishing her projects," Mario continued. "Yet getting her work done before everyone else doesn't satisfy her-she continually asks other people if they've finished their projects yet. It's like she wants to toss us under the bus every chance she gets."

"She's obviously maneuvering for a promotion. Hopefully she'll get it soon and we can work in peace," Amira replied. The two began to eat their lunch, Mario wearing an expression of agitation, and Amira simply looking disinterested.

"Ravi on the other hand does absolutely nothing," said Mario with a sigh.

"I can't believe Tanya hasn't said anything to him, even after he missed the RFP deadline. What kind of manager is she? I wish she'd crack down on him," responded Amira now wearing Mario's look of agitation on her face.

"Have you finished updating the client files?" Mario asked Amira.

"Not yet," she replied. "Have you finished the research you were working on?"

"Not yet," Mario said, bored at the thought of the research. "It will get done eventually."

"Yeah, we finish when we finish," Amira said as she stood up with her tray, headed to the trash bin, and prepared herself to get back to work.

Back in the office, Tanya, the team manager, is frustrated. Only one person on her team, Courtney, actually meets deadlines. And now the department head is coming down on her, accusing her of not managing her team properly. How can she get her team to get their work done?

Let's start by identifying the major problem that is affecting the productivity of this team: lack of accountability.

This Team Has a Problem: Lack of Accountability

The business dictionary defines accountability as "the obligation of an individual or organization to account for its activities, accept responsibility for them, and disclose the results in a transparent manner." It's simple: to be accountable to a team, a person needs to be clear about what they plan to do, execute on that thing, and let the team know when it's done.

But when it comes to teams, accountability must go both ways. For a team to function well, an individual is not only obligated to be accountable, they need to hold their coworkers accountable too. That means consistently asking for updates on clearly defined goals, and openly sharing their own updates. Yet holding others accountable is difficult because it can cause interpersonal discomfort. Patrick Lencioni writes, "Once we achieve clarity and buy-in, it is then that we have to hold each other accountable for what we sign up to do, for high standards of performance and behavior. And as simple as that sounds, most executives hate to do it, especially when it comes to a peer's behavior."

In the team above, Courtney is the only one holding herself and others accountable. And she is definitely facing interpersonal discomfort.

The Facts About Accountability in Business

Although being accountable is vital to teamwork, organizations across industries struggle with accountability. Take a look at these statistics:

93% of employees don't really understand what their organization is trying to accomplish in order to align with their own work.

85% of leaders aren't defining what their people should be working on - and an equal number of employees crave clarity.

84% of the workforce describes itself as "trying but failing" or "avoiding" accountability, even when employees know what to fix.

80% of people see accountability as punishing.

These are not small numbers! It looks like many organizations could use a lesson in accountability. Let's take a look at what teams that hold each other as accountable look like, versus teams that do not.

Accountable Teams and Unaccountable Teams: What do they look like?
Teams That Are Not Accountable

Create resentment among team members who have different standards of performance

Encourage mediocrity

Miss deadlines

Put disproportionate pressure on leaders to discipline

Teams That Are Accountable

Make sure poor performers feel pressure to improve

Identify problems quickly by questioning one another

Establish respect among team members who are held to same high standards

Avoid excessive bureaucracy around management and corrective actions

For a real-world example of the problems that come from unaccountable teams, let's visit the coffeehouse giant, Starbucks.

What Starbucks Can Teach Us About Accountability

During the economic slowdown of 2008, Starbucks took a hit-600 stores closed and profit fell 28%. Leadership during that time blamed the economy and increased price of dairy for the slump. That was until Howard D. Shultz came back as CEO after leaving eight years prior. He held leadership accountable rather than blaming things that can't be controlled, like the economy and dairy prices. He said, "Starbucks's heavy spending to accommodate its expansion has created a bureaucracy that masked its problems."

His solution? To create a strategy that developed brand trust. The initiative, called "My Starbucks Idea," created a way for customers to share ideas directly with the company and with each other. After 1.3 million users on social media shared 93 million ideas, the program was a success and Starbucks pulled out of its slump. Had Shultz not held the company accountable, it's unlikely the leadership team would have solved the problem.

So what can you do if you find yourself on a team that is not accountable and Howard Shultz isn't around? Try these three tips:

Set Team Goals and Team Rewards

People are less likely to watch someone fail if the entire team is at stake

The enemy of accountability is ambiguity

Ask Questions, Stress Inquiry

Agree on goals and then conduct inquiry-oriented dialogue. Questions help people deconstruct the details and try alternatives without being defensive

Break goals into specific elements

Analyze the details that accumulate to produce either success or failure

This makes it easier to identify specific steps for improvement

It gives people pride in the elements that went well

Helping the team see strengths and weaknesses holds others accountable to improvement

Going back to Mario, Amira, Ravi, Tanya and Courtney's team, we can see clear signs of a lack of accountability. Mario and Amira resent Courtney for having a different standard of performance. They even encourage each other's mediocrity with statements like, "we finish when we finish." The two blame their manager, Tanya, for Ravi's missed deadline, expecting her to discipline rather than holding their team accountable. And from what Tanya says, the team misses deadlines all the time.

What if they were more accountable? Mario, Amira and Ravi would feel pressure from the team to improve. They'd identify what stood in their way by asking questions and resolving problems quickly. They'd even strip some of the bureaucracy away, by not relying on management's use discipline to get things done. All of this would help establish respect among the team, which would now be holding each other to higher standards. And what do higher standards mean? Better performance.
Have you ever worked on a team that lacked accountability? What was it like? I'd love to hear about it. Leave a comment below, send me an email, or find me on Twitter.

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Why Accountability is a Must For Teamwork and How To Create It

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"Courtney really gets on my nerves," Mario said to his coworker Amira. The two were sitting in the commissary, trays of food in front of them, ready to eat lunch. "She has to be 'miss perfect' and flaunt finishing her projects," Mario continued.

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Creating a collaborative educational environment can build a community of caring individuals who are all working toward one common goal: increasing the students' positive outcomes. Whether you are collaborating with another educator to team-teach, working hand in hand with other adults such as the school's administration or parents, or are encouraging the students themselves to learn together, collaboration in education can benefit everyone who has a stake in the school setting.

Teacher Collaboration

While the traditional image of the school teacher features a lone educator working in one classroom, a more collaborative approach can increase the likelihood that students will succeed. Whether teachers are team-teaching - with two or more educators actually co-teaching one group or class of students - or they meet for brainstorming and reflection sessions before or after school, creating a collaborative educational community can also help teacher effectiveness. Teaching in a collaborative environment allows educators to divide up the tasks at hand, making classroom activities more manageable. Additionally, according to the Center for Teaching at Vanderbilt University, teaching collaboratively provides a means for the exchanging of ideas. For example, teachers can share lesson-planning ideas or specific classroom activities during weekly meetings or discuss the positive and negative parts of a project for the other educators to learn from.

School Administration

Collaborating in the educational environment doesn't stop at the teacher level. The advantages of teachers and administrators collaborating are numerous and include creating shared educational goals, developing a community sense of belonging and increasing student success. The School Superintendents Association suggests that administrators expand the scope of leadership opportunities among teachers, encouraging them to feel on a more equal level with the administration and to help take on some of the workload that is traditionally given to principals and similar personnel.

Parents

Just because parents aren't trained educators - at least, most of them aren't - doesn't mean they can't play a crucial role in the school setting. The Michigan Department of Education notes that 86 percent of Americans think parental involvement is the number one way that schools can see improvements. Creating meaningful partnerships with parents, and involving them in school activities as well as the students' studies, can help to improve educational outcomes such as grades and test scores as well as building self-esteem and decreasing the dropout rate.

Student Collaboration

Aside from teachers, administrators and parents collaborating to enhance the educational process, student teamwork scenarios can also have academic advantages. Group projects encourage children to cooperate, improve social and interpersonal skills and help them to better understand the material at hand through discussion and a team learning effort. Students must communicate effectively, work as a team and demonstrate self-discipline while working collaboratively with their peers. This, in turn, can increase their learning and maximize the educational experience.

About the Author

Based in Pittsburgh, Erica Loop has been writing education, child development and parenting articles since 2009. Her articles have appeared in "Pittsburgh Parent Magazine" and the website PBS Parents. She has a Master of Science in applied developmental psychology from the University of Pittsburgh's School of Education.

Photo Credits

Jupiterimages/Brand X Pictures/Getty Images

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The Advantages of Collaboration in Education | Synonym

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Creating a collaborative educational environment can build a community of caring individuals who are all working toward one common goal: increasing the students' positive outcomes. Whether you are collaborating with another educator to team-teach, working hand in hand with other adults such as the school's administration or parents, or are encouraging the students themselves to learn together, collaboration in education can benefit everyone who has a stake in the school setting.