Watch Your Group Dymanics

Bill’s Take-Aways from Ken Blanchard’s The One Minute Manager Builds High Performing Teams, Harper Collins Publishers, 1990.

We’ve all functioned in groups – at work, family, in our religious assemblies, etc.  One thing that has caught my attention over the years Blanchard so tactfully presents - viewing the actual process of being a group, how we arrive at decisions, how we do what we do.  Over the years it’s been easy to become overwhelmed by fears and insecurities while working in groups that we remain blind to how we do what we do. 

Blanchard correctly perceives group interaction in 2 parts: the Content and Process.  What we are about…what we are attempting to accomplish when we get together and how we go about accomplishing it in our groups.  Often my local colleagues also miss this point.  They get so caught up in the content (the What) that they forget that the process (the How) is also as significant.  This is extremely important in my field – training adults.  If folks can’t understand the content (simplicity is essential) AND the process (readily reproducible) then people won’t do it.  When we gather for meetings and this disconnect occurs, it decreases our productivity.  I fail the folks I train if I don’t address both of these critical issues.When I meet in a team to decide our next step of action yet the only one talking is me...the process is broken.

I realized quickly in my professional life that some things like this do not come intuitively for me.  I am not as gifted as many of my colleagues, yet Blanchard readily helped.  I must keep both parts of team dynamics in view. 

In team building, Blanchard brilliantly points in the right direction…to actually observe a team, looking for these two parts, evaluating them in order to become better and more effective.   When a team gathers for a meeting – how are they interacting with the content of what brought them together?  How are they interacting with each other? Are people fearful to give their insights?  Are unresolved personal conflicts undermining team meetings? Is someone manipulating or dominating the group so it no longer is a team?  Is healthy debate of conflicting points stifled instead of allowing productive discussion that might produce further effectiveness?

How are we as a team functioning in these two areas? (In our families, work, etc.)  What and How?  Too often we don’t look at our group dynamics in this light. In answering these, often our vanity gets in the way of producing positive growth in each other. 

Blanchard writes,

You help all team members develop the skills and knowledge so they become self-directed and to provide an environment where they feel willing to risk, to grow, to take responsibility and to use their creativity.

That’s the kind of team I want to work with.  That’s the environment I want to endeavor to create. Observing and then adjusting our group interaction - the content and process - can greatly enhance our work and colleagues, perhaps even inspiring others to be more and do more than they thought they could.

Moving Beyond the status quo and Lead!

3 P’s

Priority: Triage Everything

Propriety: Bill of Rights

Do the Right Thing

For the Right Reason

With the Right People

In the Right Order

With Intensity

For the Right Results

Commitment: “I Gotta Wanna”

The On-time, On-Target Manager by  Ken Blanchard and Steve Gottry, HarperCollins, 2004.

Blanchard writes these 3P’s are a mnemonic device…since the 3^rd P is a “C”....

We all struggle with staying on top, leading while also keeping at bay the tyranny of the urgent. I find myself coming back to Blanchard's list often.  Lately I have forgotten to look at it and feel continually behind.  I’m reminded of it today and it certainly helps my decision making. I so desire to do more and be more than simply be a mediocre manager.

The latest from Seth Godin: ‘If you're on the critical path, if someone is waiting for your contribution, ship now.'  Godin’s ‘shipping’ means - getting things done and moving on.  I want to lead v. merely staying on top of my to-do list, but how can I when our technology fails, our machines break, our clients are calling, our suppliers are late, our budgets get squeezed… Blanchard’s list helps to alleviate the stress caused by the confusion.  Living in India, I encounter a different set of challenges than if I were to live in the US. No matter where I live or work or what company employs me, I will face a variety of challenges from within and without that will attempt to thwart my pursuit to lead.

I need to come to grips with the things that are truly out of my control – they are truly not worth fretting about.  If changes need to be made because of them, then so be it… I need to move on and stop worrying...and ship with the aid of the 3P's.

Enlightened Hospitality

Bill’s TAKE-AWAYS from 

Setting the Table: The Transforming Power of Hospitality in Business

by  Danny Meyer, HarperCollins Publishers, 2006   Read in May 2011

                  

I’m not a restaurateur but Danny Meyer writes in such a way that it’s easy to see his business principles.  I’m grateful when writers do this. I’m always eager to learn about things I haven’t a clue about. Danny makes it easy.  What follows is not a compilation of my full notes but some of my actionable Take-Aways from his book.     See his Company!

1. “Hospitality is the foundation of my business philosophy.  Virtually nothing else is as important as how one is made to feel in any business transaction. Hospitality exists when you believe the other person is on your side.  The converse is just as true.  Hospitality is present when something happens for you. It is absent when something happens to you.  Those two simple prepositions for and to – expresses it all.” From page 11.

“Hospitality is how the delivery of that product makes its recipient feel.  Service is monologue – we decide how we want to do things and set our standards for service.   Hospitality, on the other hand, is a dialogue.  To be on a guest’s side requires listening to that person with every sense, and following up with a thoughtful, gracious, appropriate response.  It takes both great service and great hospitality to rise to the top.” From page 6

As I read this I heard Seth Godin in the background.  It’s brilliant but often overlooked. No matter what it is we are bringing to the table: selling a product or providing a service or training, Meyer’s point holds true.  I’ve learned to keep the end in mind before I start out (see the orchard in the apple).  As Meyer conveys his adventure and core values, this is clearly articulated.  It all depends on what we want to do with those who hear us/receive from us.

Though hospitality is not what drives my company, I see Meyer’s foundation very applicable.   As I meet with clients, am I presenting something for them or to them? Do they believe I am on their side? What can I do in my next meeting to change that to be so?  Maybe we’ll both be able to walk away from that meeting with buy-in that can boldly and encouragingly get us both where we want to be.

2.        Along those same lines, Meyer writes toward the end of his book, in his  Virtuous Cycle of Enlightened Hospitality pages 237-238 regarding valuing his employees and asking the question

“in that transaction, did I present myself as an agent or a gatekeeper?  An agent makes things happen for others whereas a gatekeeper sets up barriers to keep people out.”

Am I taking the time to evaluate, asking myself this same question?  If I can be perceived as my colleagues/clients agent, then not only can our working relationship soar, but so can the work….what they want me to do for them and what I have a passion to do and see done.

3.       “Know Thyself: Before you go to market, know what you are selling and to whom.  It’s a very rare business that can (or should) be all things to all people.  Be the best you can be within a reasonably tight product of focus.  That will help you to improve yourself and help your customers to know how and when to buy your product.”  From page 12

I’ve witnessed so many people, including myself, give lectures or lead meetings where this did not do occur!  Knowing what we have to offer and to whom it can be useful coupled with knowing our clients (who they are and are not) can lead to ever increasing effectiveness.

4.       “Develop 100% employees whose skills are divided between 51-49 between emotional hospitality and technical excellence.”   A 51%er is an employee which has 5 Core Emotional Skills:

1.       Optimistic warmth (genuine kindness, thoughtfulness, and a sense that the glass is always at least half full)

2.       Intelligence (not just ‘smarts’ but rather an insatiable curiosity to learn for the sake of learning)

3.       Work ethic (a natural tendency to do something as well as it can possibly be done)

4.       Empathy (an awareness of, care for, and connection to how others feel and how your actions make others feel)

5.       Self-awareness and integrity (an understanding of what makes you tick and a natural inclination to be accountable for doing the right thing with honesty and superb judgment) From page 143 

I hear Jim Collins’s Good to Great framework of hiring the right people as I read this.  Starting with the right kind of people, as Meyer articulates, is essential. People can acquire skills but their sense of ethics, respect for others and character is what they bring to the table prior to taking a job.   These are the people I need to be seeking for.  These are the people I want to work with.

There’s lots more from Danny Meyer from his story.  It is an excellent read and inspiring.  I’ll pass my copy on to the first who asks … spread the good around a bit!