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BlogCultureCulture Series

Culture – Involvement: Team Orientation

by Ron Potter

The Team Orientation of Involvement contains several wonderful elements.

  • Cooperation is Encouraged
  • People are not isolated pieces
  • Teamwork is used over Hierarchy
  • People see the relationship between their work and the work of the team (teams)

Problem Solving

I think one of the first things that get in the way team orientation is that corporate leaders and members are problem solvers.  Don’t get me wrong, problem-solving is a wonderful skill and is the reason why most people get promoted in organizations.  But it can also be the first thing that gets in the way of good team orientation.

Email Overload

As a consultant, I was often asked how to reduce the amount of email that was a burden to everyone.  I always looked at three things:

  1. Why was the email sent?
  2. What was the response?
  3. Who was cc:d on the email?
Why was the email sent?

The answer to this question was always something like:

I gave this person an assignment and they were looking for an answer or a solution.

What was the response?

The answer to this question was almost always – I sent them the answer or solution.

Who was cc:d?

The answer to this one always seemed a little more cynical.  It would go something like – Everybody and their brother

Immediately eliminate 40% of email

The solution to almost all overload email is accountability.  This incorporates questions one and two.

I would suggest to the leader that they stop reading email with the intent to respond.  And start asking themselves the question “Why am I receiving this email?”

Because corporate leaders are good problem solvers, their immediate (non-thinking) response is to figure out the problem and send the answer.  However, if they look at every email with the first question being, “Why am I receiving this email?”  their response becomes different than providing a solution.

Why am I receiving this email?

Some of the responses I’ve heard from the Leader:

  • I don’t have the right expertise on the team
  • The person sending the email doesn’t like the answer their getting from the team
  • The person doesn’t want to be held accountable for the solution.  Now they have an email to prove that I gave the solution, not them.

This last answer is hardly ever seen by the leader (they’re problem solvers.  They feel good about themselves for giving answers).  But it’s the reason many emails are generated.  It’s an easy way to get the monkey off their back and onto the back of the leader.  And the leader seldom notices.

Answer with a different response

I suggest that the leader answer the email with a simple question, “Why are you sending me this email?”

40% of email will cease!

This response sends the message “I’m not accepting the monkey”.  Figure it out.  It’s why I gave you the job.  Come to me with solutions, not questions.

Notice that this one response touches three and maybe all four of the Team Oriented Culture elements.

  1. Cooperation is Encouraged – It encourages the individual to work with their peers.  Cooperate.  Engage!
  2. People are not isolated pieces – It’s not just one person solving a problem (or their boss solving it for them).  Again, they need to engage with the team and peers.
  3. Teamwork is used over Hierarchy – I’m starting to sound like a broken record here but it’s not a top-down solution.
  4. People see the relationship between their work and the work of the team – Decisions are not made in isolation.  It’s not just the boss who sees the big picture.  The individual must understand it as well to provide a workable solution.

I used the example of email but it can be any electronic media.  In fact, texting adds a sense of urgency that makes the leader feel they must give a solution rapidly.

But, it can also apply to one-on-one meetings and even happen in team meetings.

Solution or Team Orientation

This idea that the leader should also be the problem solver is at the heart of most of these team orientation issues.  It’s a tough habit to break.  Don’t just solve the problem,

  • Encouraged cooperation
  • Make sure everyone functions as part of the whole, not just individual pieces
  • Don’t perpetuate the hierarchy, build the team
  • Make sure everyone understands how their actions and solutions impact the team

Create a team orientation, you’ll get better involvement.

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BlogCultureCulture Series

Culture – Involvement

by Ron Potter

We’ve looked at Mission and Adaptability.  Individually they’re each required to create a great culture.  But, we also looked at them as a pair.  The top of the chart says “External Focus” meaning that these two quadrants look to the outside world.  They are not focused on things internal to the organization but are focused on the future with Mission and on the customer and industry needs and changes with Adaptability.

Today we’ll begin focusing on the third quadrant, Involvement.  As a preview of things to come, you’ll notice that the left side of the chart is labeled “Flexible”.  This means that the two quadrants on the left side of the chart, Adaptability and Involvement help create very flexible organizations.  We’ll talk more about that when we look at Involvement in summary.

Like all of the other quadrants, Involvement has three subsections:

  • Empowerment
  • Team Orientation
  • Capability Development

There seems to be an abundance of “Engagement” surveys in the market place today.  I believe the root of these was based on the research of the Gallop Organization.  Their premise is that the more employees are “engaged” the more productive they are; leading to a more successful organization.  I agree with their premise.

I also agree that the Denison organization’s focus on empowerment, team orientation, and capability development direct the company and it’s employees to specific areas of engagement that have the greatest impact.  It’s not just engagement for engagement’s sake but focused engagement by empowering people, equipping them with the right capabilities and helping them work as united teams.

There is a lot to learn in this quadrant and as with the others, it’s easy to declare but difficult to implement.  Doing so will help you create a great corporate culture.

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BlogCultureCulture Series

Culture – People Quit Organizational Cultures!

by Ron Potter

I read a recent blog by Christie Lindor.  The title of that post was

“People do not quit companies, managers, or leaders – they quit organizational cultures.  Here’s why.”

In her post, Christie wrote, “I had always believed that people quit leaders, not companies.”

I also believed that statement and observed it as well.  Christie then goes on to say

But then I realized that there is probably another way to look at it.  It is more than just leaders.  Organizational culture, in its simplest form, is an ecosystemic mashup of values, beliefs, underlying assumptions, symbols, rituals, attitudes, and behaviors shared by a group of employees and driven by leadership.” (Italics are mine)

While I don’t disagree with Christie, I think there are important distinctions.

Beliefs and Assumptions

In the Denison Culture Survey chart, there is a center circle labeled “Beliefs and Assumptions”.  While that little center circle is often overlooked, Dr. Denison is making it clear that it’s a set of corporate beliefs and assumptions that drives the culture.

In my Culture Introduction blog post I stated:

What is Culture?

A dictionary definition says, “the set of shared attitudes, values, goals, and practices that characterizes an organization.”

We hear a lot about a corporate culture being toxic or exciting or silo-ed or productive.  But in my mind, many of those conditions have more to do with Teams and Leadership than they do with Culture.

    • If there is a toxic environment, that’s usually caused by poor leadership that is ego-driven rather than humbly driven.
    • Exciting environments come from leaders and teams developing people to face difficulties and obstacles in innovative thoughtful ways that utilize the skills and experiences present.
    • Silo-ed environments happen when teams are unable to work through their difference and reach a committed direction or approach.
    • Productive environments exist when teams learn how to elegantly use the resources they have to get the most out of an organization in a simple way.

Focusing on “culture” doesn’t cure any of the identified difficulties.  Building better teams and leadership improves those issues.

I believe Christie and I are saying the same thing.  However, I believe it’s important to distinguish between Team, Leadership, and Culture.  It’s difficult to correct issues of “Culture” without acknowledging that its Leadership and Teams that cause the Culture issues.

 

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BlogCulture

Culture: Adaptability

by Ron Potter

The next quadrant of the Denison Culture Survey we’re going to explore is Adaptability.

Photo credit: Denison Consulting

This quadrant is divided into the three sections of:

  • Organizational Learning
  • Customer Focus
  • Creating Change

You can easily see how an attitude of learning, customer focus and one of creating change will certainly make an organization adaptable.

What are some signs that we are NOT an adaptable organization?  I’m sure you can come up with a lot more examples than I could ever possibly list but here are a few that I’ve seen through the years.

  • There’s a belief in the organization that we’ve been successful for 100 years.  If we just keep doing things the same way, we’re sure we’ll pull out of this slump.
  • The industry is producing products that make our product look old.  But, we’ve gone through an extensive competitive bidding program and the cheapest supplier we’ve chosen is not capable of providing the new look.
  • Our customer feedback has dried up because we never seem to respond to the customer stated needs.  It’s just too expensive for us to manufacture it that way.
  • Everyone is doing a great job but the feedback from the customer never makes it out of the customer service department.
  • We tried to make a change but were punished for “making a mistake.”  We’ll never try that again.
  • The leadership team seemed to be focused on that issue, they just neglected to inform the rest of us.

As I said, you can probably come up with many more reasons for not being adaptable.  Those are just a few of the many that I’ve experienced with my consulting clients through the years.

It’s easy to say we’re adaptable.  We might even make an attempt at being adaptable.  But do our actions support change and innovation?  Or do people feel like they get punished or labeled for being a trouble maker if they try to make changes?  Adaptability requires organization and cultural support.

I believe it was Alan Deutschman who coined the phrase, change or die.  When the environment is changing faster than we can blink (my grandkids don’t remember a world without an iPad) that saying was never truer.  Just ask the people who ran and worked for many of the largest corporations in the world that are now nothing be memories.

The average life-span of Fortune 500 companies in the 1950s was over 60 years.  The average life-span of the companies on that list today is less than 20 years.

Change or die!

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BlogCultureCulture Series

Culture: Introduction

by Ron Potter

What is Culture?

A dictionary definition says “the set of shared attitudes, values, goals, and practices that characterizes an organization.”

We hear a lot about a corporate culture being toxic or exciting or siloed or productive.  But in my mind, many of those conditions have more to do with Teams and Leadership than they do with Culture.

If there is a toxic environment, that’s usually caused by poor leadership that is ego driven rather than humbly driven.

Exciting environments come from leaders and teams developing people to face difficulties and obstacles in innovative thoughtful ways that utilize the skills and experiences present.

Siloed environments happen when teams are unable to work through their difference and reach a committed direction or approach.

Productive environments exist when teams learn how to elegantly use the resources they have to get the most out of an organization in a simple way.

Focusing on “culture” doesn’t cure any of the identified difficulties or enhance any of the identified strengths.  Building better teams and leadership improves those issues.

So what should be looked at when we think about and measure culture?

Culture Model

I first met Dan Denison many years ago when he was completing his research on corporate culture at the University of Michigan.  One of the things that caught my attention right from the start was Dan’s purpose in finding those items that can be measured on a survey that actually impact the bottom-line performance of an organization.  I knew that would catch the interest of every senior corporate leader I was working with.  They are very bottom-line focused.  If Dan could demonstrate that certain parts of the environment or culture actually had an effect on financial performance, I knew we had a winner.

From that initial work, Dan has gone on to be Professor of Management and Organization at IMD – International Institute of Management Development in Switzerland as well as found and become CEO of Denison Consulting in Ann Arbor, MI.  I would encourage you to visit his website at www.denisonconsulting.com.

The Denison model identifies four quadrants with three subsets each.  In this blog, I’ll introduce the four quadrants and then go on to explore each one in more detail over the next few months.

Four Quadrants of Corporate Cultures

Mission – Adaptability – Involvement – Consistency

Much of the wording you’ll see to describe each of these quadrants come directly from the Denison materials.  I trust Dan will see that as flattery and not plagiarism.

Mission

“Do we know where we are going?”

High performing organizations have a mission that tells employees why they are doing the work they do, and how the work they do each day contributes to the why.

Adaptability

“Are we listening to the marketplace?”

High performing organizations have the ability to perceive and respond to the environment, customers, and restructure and re-institutionalize behaviors and processes that allow them to adapt.

Involvement

“Are our people aligned and engaged?”

Highly involved organizations create a sense of ownership and responsibility.  Out of this sense of ownership grows a greater commitment to the organization and an increased capacity for autonomy.

Consistency

“Does our system create leverage?”

Consistency provides a central source of integration, coordination, and control, and helps organizations develop a set of systems that create an internal system of governance based on consensual support.

Schedule

Over the next several weeks I’ll break down each one of these four quadrants into their three subsets and share many experiences I’ve had through the years of companies that have improved over time.  Some of them have changed rapidly, others slowly but steadily and unfortunately some not at all.  But there always seemed to be reasons for the growth and development or lack thereof.  One thing that has been very clear, the growth and development that did or did not occur was caused by internal issues, not external environments.

Just as a reminder, these blogs will be our Thursday morning series.  Our Monday morning blogs will be less structured and disciplined and made up of issues and ideas that are striking me at the moment.

Thanks for coming along on this journey with me.  I’ve appreciated your loyalty and comments.  And don’t forget to share this connection with someone you know.  It will be more fun when we increase the size of our community.

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BlogLeadershipTeam

Team and Leadership: Summary

by Ron Potter

Over the last several weeks we have been reviewing and expanding on the elements of a great team in our Thursday blog.  At the same time, our Monday blog has been exploring more detail on the elements of great leadership.  These are the first two legs of our Team Leadership Culture (TLC) model.

In general I believe it’s important to build a great team before working on leadership skills but in reality, it’s difficult to accomplish one without the other.  In many cases, they are tightly coupled and interdependent.

Today let’s review the elements of team and leadership and see how they fit together.

Elements of Team

Truth – Respect – Elegance – Commitment

Elements of Leadership

Humility – Development – Commitment – Focus
Compassion – Integrity – Peacemaking – Endurance

Interdependence

Let’s start with the elements of Team and look at the interdependence, overlap, and alignment with the Leadership elements.

Truth => Humility – Integrity – Peacemaking

To build a great team, members must be truthful with each other.  Truthfulness requires Humility, Integrity, and Peacemaking from the Leadership Skill List.

Humility

Humility has been misunderstood and misused in recent years.  Often people think of “turning the other cheek” or even being a “doormat” in order to be humble.  The original meaning of the word meant great power under complete control.  Humility doesn’t mean you’re powerless.  In fact quite the opposite.  It means that you have tremendous power.  Enough power to crush your opposition.  But when you’re humble, you choose not to use that power in a destructive way but to use the power for intense learning and curiosity.  Humble people may be the most powerful people in the room but are focused on individual and team learning through curiosity.  Humble people assume the other person may know something they don’t or have a very different perspective that’s worth learning.

Integrity

Integer also comes from the same root as integer.  It means whole, complete, sound and even incorruptible.  A person of high integrity is the same, complete, whole person no matter where they are or who they are with.  You can always trust they are and will be the same and say the same thing no matter what.  This is essential for the Truth required on teams as well as Commitment.  If you can’t trust that someone is genuine and has integrity, it’s difficult to get at the truth or sustain commitment.

Peacemaking

Peacemaking is also a word that we’ll see associated with Truth and Commitment.  Peacemaking is not the absence of conflict and different opinions.  Peacemaking understands that differences of opinion is natural for human-beings but has figured out a way to work through the differences and conflicts in a healthy productive way.

Respect => Humility, Development, Compassion and Integrity

Building and maintain respect with a team requires a leadership style built on humility, development, compassion, and integrity.

It’s important to note here that when I use the word leadership, I don’t mean the identified leader of the team.  I have observed people of all ranks and positions being leaders.  True leadership comes from your actions, not your position.

Humility and Integrity

We talked about humility and integrity in the Truth section above.  The same issues apply to Respect.

Development

From my book “Trust Me” development is described as “Leaders who accept the truth and train others to seize the benefits of adversity, loss, and change.  Growing people and giving them opportunities is one of the best ways to show respect.

Compassion

There have been a few clients through the years that didn’t believe compassion had anything to do with business.  In their minds, business was logical and should be dispassionate.

I’ve often used an old adage to counter that thinking:  “I don’t care how much you know until I know how much you care!”

When people feel like you care for them as a human being first, they feel trusted and respected.

Elegance => Commitment, Focus, Peacemaking

Commitment and Focus

I’ve combined these two but they do go together in many ways.  It requires a firm and aligned grip on the goal and purpose of the team to accomplish the required tasks in the simplest way with the least amount of friction.  Make the goals and purpose clear and then make sure everyone is committed.  This will eliminate much of the territorial behavior that happens with teams.

Focus is under attack more than any point in history.  All of our modern devices are determined to capture our focus thereby scattering our attention.  Our own egos also drive us to accomplish more things and be in more places than necessary or even possible.  Staying focused on the goal and purpose is the only way to keep things Elegant.

Peacemaking

Peacemaking was discussed above.  In making sure that things are accomplished in the simplest way possible, it will take a great deal of peacemaking to settle territorial disputes.

Commitment => Commitment, Peacemaking, Endurance

Commitment and Peacemaking

These two were also discussed above.  In terms of Team Commitment, it will take a strong commitment to the goal and purpose of the team.  It will also take a great Peacemaking/Decision-Making process.  Our earlier blog on Team Commitment talks about the process that provides a win-win environment which is essential to reach full commitment.

Endurance

I used the TREC (Truth, Respect, Elegance, Commitment) acronym because it looks and sounds like the word TREK.  A TREK is described as a long arduous journey.  Especially one involving difficulties and complex organization.  Building a great team is a long arduous journey.  It takes great leadership to deal with the difficulties and complex organizations.

Team and Leadership

That’s the summary of the first two elements of TLC, Team Leadership Culture.

  1. Build a great team
  2. Development great leadership skills
  3. Create the culture to achieve the goals and purpose

The Rest of the Year Adventure

Over the next several months we will be talking about Culture, the third leg of TLC.  We’ll be doing this in our Thursday morning blog posts.  Our Monday blogs have been dedicated to the Leadership aspect of TLC.  For the rest of this year, we’ll be using Monday’s to blog about things that provoke some thought.  These usually come from my daily experiences in life, what I observe in the world, an article or book that makes a point that I think should be shared.  They won’t happen like clockwork every Monday morning but simply when something strikes me as worthwhile.  Stay tuned.

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BlogTeamTeam Series

Team Elements: Summary

by Ron Potter

We’ve just finished our series on building great teams.  Years ago I named my consulting company Team Leadership Culture, TLC for short.  Over 30 years of consulting work plus another 20 years in the engineering/construction industry and software development I experienced this combination to be the winning formula for great success.

Team

Build a great team first.  While great leaders certainly increase the opportunity for success, if they don’t work together as a team, the final result is always a failure.  Build the dynamics of a great team first.

Leadership

If you’ve built a great team, increasing leadership skills will greatly enhance your opportunity for success.  If your goal is to do something really great or overcome great difficulties, add powerful leadership skills to great team dynamics.  Next week we’re going to look at these two elements in combination and you’ll also see great overlap that makes it difficult to accomplish one without the other.

Culture

There is plenty of research that companies and teams with great cultures rock!  Starting in a couple of weeks we’re going to look at the elements of great culture.  But, it’s important to note that it’s impossible to build a great culture without great teams and great leadership.

Great Teams

So let’s recap the elements of great teams.  I use Aristotle’s “Pursuit of Happiness” as the model of great teams.  Aristotle describes four levels of happiness.  Level 4 is the highest of the four pursuits and the one that Aristotle says all humanity seeks.  He describes it with five words: Truth, Love, Purpose, Beauty, and Unity.  I have not concentrated on Purpose because I believe business teams usually know their purpose.  However, if the purpose of the team is in question, that must be corrected first or all else fails.

I’ve also translated the four remaining words into terms that are better understood in a business environment and also make them easier to remember.

Truth (Trust)

Great teams know how to speak the truth with each other and also view their environment in a very truthful way.  We have numerous stories of corporate failures when the leader or the team just doesn’t believe the external environment is going to change enough to affect them.

“I think there is a world market for maybe five computers.”  Tom Watson Sr., IBM, 1943.

“Any customer can have a car painted any color that he wants so long as it is black.”  Henry Ford

On a Clear Day You Can See General Motors: John Z. DeLorean’s Look Inside the Automotive Giant

Speak the truth about your industry and customers.
Speak the truth with each other.  Great teams are built on great people who have entirely different perspectives.  Figure out how to share those different perspectives with each other and speak the truth.

Respect (Love)

This combination of Trust and Respect has been observed and chronicled throughout history.  Modern research reveals that psychological safety is essential for great team performance.  Psychological Safety is bringing Truth and Respect to the team.

Elegance (Beauty)

Elegance or beauty is all about simplicity and clarity.  Most leaders and teams think of organization structure when they think of elegance.  Do they have the best structure that invokes simplicity and clarity to get the job done?

Many of the leaders I’ve worked with through the years have asked me which organizational structure is the best.  They are never really satisfied with my answer because I tell them it doesn’t make any difference.  Organizational structures are simply lines on a chart to help direct large numbers of people to accomplish great things.  But all organizational structures are artificial.  They’re just a means to organize work and people.  Every company I’ve ever worked for is in the process of shifting from one org. structure to another.  No structure is perfect and no structure last forever.

Work on simplicity and clarity regardless of the structure.

Commitment (Unity)

Getting to unity is the ultimate goal of any team.  Commitment is the outward expression of team unity.  I’ve selected the word commitment because of this outward expression and because it brings all the elements together as TREC.  Hopefully thinking of TREC reminds you of the real word TREK which is defined as a long arduous journey.  Using TREC to build a team is a long arduous journey but it’s well worth the effort.

Always the Engineer

I graduated from the University of Michigan with an engineering degree.  I guess I still think like an engineer regardless of the task: Great structures, great software, great teams.  So here is my engineering formula for building great teams with TREC:

[ (T x R) + E ] x C = Effective Teams

Truth times Respect, plus Elegance, all times Commitment equals Effective Teams.

Let’s take a snap quiz.  Pick a team you’re a member of and score each element of TREC on a zero to five basis.   What’s the maximum score for the equation?  [ (5 x 5) + 5] x 5 = 150

Least Impactful Element

Which element has the least impact on the overall score?  Elegance!  Let’s say you score a 5 on all elements except Elegance which is a zero.  Your total score would be 130.  Increasing  Elegance from zero to five increases the overall score from 125 to 150.  And yet, when things aren’t going well, one of the first things I see leaders do is change the org. structure.

Most Impactful Element

Which element has the most impact?  Commitment!  You can score the maximum on Truth, Respect, and Elegance but if your Commitment score is zero, your overall score is ZERO!  Just increasing it from zero to three improves your effectiveness score from zero to 90!  Build Commitment!

Team Effectiveness

It’s hard to improve any one element at a time.  There is no way you will build commitment without truth and respect.  Respect will never be realized without speaking the truth and committing to the team.  Building teams is a TREC, a long arduous journey.  But when I talk with those of us who have grown gray over many years, our best memories are the great teams we worked with and what we accomplished together.

Take the journey.  It’s worth it!

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BlogTeamTeam Series

Team Elements – Commitment: Decision Process

by Ron Potter

Understanding and using the right process is one key to decision making.  It also helps assure that you’ll reach full commitment to the decision rather than compliance.

There have been a number of decision types identified but one simple list includes:

  • Unilateral
  • Consultative
  • Consensus
  • Unanimous

Unanimous

Leave that to the courtroom.  It doesn’t really happen in a corporate environment.

Unilateral

This decision type has the advantages of speed, simplicity, and clarity.  However, it will waste a groups intelligence, invites resistance and lowers motivation.  It should be used when speed and time are paramount and there is a real danger in not making a decision immediately.  It can also be used when one person or team’s decision has little effect or impact on another person or team.

But the real cost of Unilateral decisions occurs with wasted time because of lack of clarity.  I have observed team time wasted by putting a “unilateral” decision on the agenda for a team meeting.  Unilateral decisions should be made and then the rest of the team informed.  Informing is more effective through other means (memos, emails, reports, etc) than making it a topic of a team meeting.  Once a decision hits the agenda, it is assumed or at least treated as if it is up for questioning, discussion or debate.  If a decision is unilateral, do not put it on the agenda!

Consensus

After observing and working with leadership teams for thirty years, I am convinced that business teams never make consensus decisions.  They may talk as if it was a consensus decision but most decisions are unilateral or consultative.  Don’t kid yourself.

There may be one or two decisions that must be made by consensus because they are so crucial to the future health and well being of the corporation but you cannot run a business by consensus.

Consultative

Almost all decisions are or should be consultative.  However, one major key to consultative decisions is that there is a clear decision owner.   I have seen hours wasted in team meetings trying to make a decision when the real issue that is being sorted out is who really owns the decision.  Unfortunately, that issue is either ignored or never stated out loud.  Consultative decisions must have a clear decision owner.  Sort that out first before you continue with the decision-making process.

The second most important aspect of good consultative decisions is a clear process.  The consultative decision leader or a good facilitator must help the team through a good process that includes more listening than talking.  One of the best processes to learn is the concept of Prudence.

Prudence

Prudence is one of those ancient words that doesn’t get much use today and most people would tell me that it doesn’t fit in today’s modern business world.  However, listen to the definition of Prudence:

“The perfected ability to make right decisions.”

As a leadership team, your goal is to perfect your ability to make “right” decisions!  Learn to follow the process of Prudence.

The Prudence process is described as Deliberate, Decide, Do.

  • Deliberate well.  Most teams either don’t do it well or skimp on the deliberation process in order to get to a quick decision.
  • Decide but be sure to use the proper decision type.
  • Do.  Execution of the decision will be much crisper, clearer and faster if the first two steps are properly followed.

Debate, Discuss, Dialogue

Deliberation can be in the form of debate, discussion or dialogue.  Let’s take a quick look at each:

  • Debate.  If you’ve ever been on a debate team you know that the goal is to win.  Often debaters are asked to take a position that they themselves don’t believe is true but the goal of winning remains.  Debate creates winners and losers.  Commitment will not be achieved when a portion of the team feels like they lost.
  • Discussion.  The idea of discussion may sound more civilized but the root word for discussion is the same root word for percussion.  In other words, he who can beat his drum the loudest will win the discussion.  Once again, discussion creates winners and losers.
  • Dialogue.  Dialogue is part of the Socratic method.  The Greek origins are “through discourse or talk.”  The Unabridged Dictionary says to “elicit a clear and consistent expression.”

Dialogue begins with eliciting, questioning, listening.  Everyone must be heard and understood.  (See my short book review of On Dialogue by David Bohm).

If you do a great job of deliberation, using dialogue, decisions will be made easier.  A decision will not only be made easier, but there will also be a full commitment to the decisions that are reached.  This happens even if individuals were opposed to the decision in the first place.  Dialogue works through those differences and allows teams to get beyond compliance with full commitment.

Once full commitment has been achieved, decision execution happens.  No revisiting.  No dragging of feet.  No sabotage.  Just clean, crisp execution.

Get to full commitment by identifying your decision type and using a good process to reach commitment!

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BlogTrust Me

Becoming a Trusted Leader

by Ron Potter

Grasping leadership greatness starts by letting go:

If we do not let go, we make prisoners of ourselves.…

Let go of the strategies that have worked for us in the past…

Let go of our biases, the foundation of our illusions…

Let go of our grievances, the root source of victimhood…

Let go of our so-often-denied fear…”
—Gordon MacKenzie

Letting go is not a one-time deal. You must do it again and again and again.

Many of the most enduring ideas and values in our lives today have been shaped and molded by modern-day “blacksmiths.” Ancient or modern, the principles are the same: The blacksmith heats the iron at the forge, shapes it on his anvil, and cools it in the water.

The blacksmith heats the metal to prepare it for change. The trusted leader warms people to change through humility and compassion. The blacksmith hammers the metal to form a new shape. The trusted leader shapes an organization through commitment and focus. The blacksmith cools the metal to “settle” its strength. The trusted leader uses peacemaking to give the changed organization meaning and understanding. The forged metal, once cooled, becomes the powerful sword, the productive plow, or the beautiful wrought-iron gate.

By understanding the elements that build and destroy trust, effective leaders shape strong and productive organizations:

At the end of the same session when Jesus shared his Beatitudes with his followers—the ideas on which the eight attributes are based—he told an interesting story. Jesus said that if his team members would put what he had taught them into practice, their lives would be like a man who built his house on a solid rock foundation. No matter what kind of storm hit, Jesus promised that the house would stand. But if these men did not pay attention to the truth Jesus shared, their lives would be like the man who built his house on a foundation of shifting sand. When the storm hit that house, it would crumble and wash away.”

I believe the eight attributes of leadership will have that kind of effect on you. Allow them to permeate you from the inside out, and you will have a career—and a life—built on solid rock. You will be known as a person who can say with clear-eyed conviction, “Trust me.”

And others will follow.

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BlogTeamTeam Series

Team Elements – Commitment: Building Trust

by Ron Potter

Building Commitment from Unity is the last element of our TREC to build a great team.  Remember that TREC is our acronym for:

Building Commitment requires the following three pieces:

  1. Trust in Purpose, Leader, and Team Colleagues
  2. Diverse Points of View
  3. Good Process

Purpose

Building Trust in the purpose of the team can sometimes be difficult.  Often team members don’t feel they have any power to set the purpose of the team or even tweak it slightly.  It seems to be dictated from on high.

It’s important to note that you always have a choice.

  • You can go along with the purpose even if you don’t believe it.
  • You can decide that the purpose of the team doesn’t align with your personal values or direction and make a move.
  • You can be a part of building a team that’s open to the discussion about the purpose of the team to help align it with personal and corporate goals.
Going Along

Going along, even when you don’t believe in the goal can be a dangerous route.  Going along will make it difficult getting out of bed in the morning and headed out to a job you don’t believe in.  Not speaking up when you don’t agree with the purpose and direction has been directly linked to some of the more horrific events in life.  Be very careful about making this choice, it will affect your well being and may affect the well being of others.

Make a Move

Making a move can also be a difficult decision.  The need for security plays a big part in our lives and making a move means leaving what we know, even if we’re uncomfortable and moving into the unknown.  The unknown is always scary.  However, I have seen this play out in my life and the lives of many of the people I’ve worked with through the years.  If you need to make that move, make it!  Dealing with the scariness of the unknown is much better in the end that living with the consequences of staying in a place that isn’t right for you.

Build a Great Team

Being part of a great team gives us much better options in life.  Building a great team starts with being able to speak the truth with each other.

All good teams start difficult discussions by being open to everyone’s beliefs and assumptions about the topic.  When we understand that we’re not necessarily speaking a “truth” but only our beliefs and assumptions based on our unique lifetime of experiences, it’s easier to state a position that may be very different from the expected purpose.

By starting with beliefs and assumptions, teams can often reach a unique solution that everyone sees as positive and leads to team commitment.  However, keep in mind that this process may lead you back to options one or two, going along or making a move.  I don’t believe going along is ever a good option but if it leads to the need to make a move, it will be much easier to accomplish and will happen with the support of many team members which will make the decision much easier to make and execute.

Trusted Leader

Having a trusted leader for the team is also key to developing commitment.  There are eight great attributes of trusted leaders but the first and most powerful one is Humility.  It almost seems like a paradox or dichotomy but humble leaders are very confident and have great self-esteem.  They just don’t wield either one of them like a sword.  They remain very open to listening and learning from anyone and any circumstance.  Research confirms time and time again, that the number one reason people leave a position is because of their boss.  If you’re the leader, develop into a trusted leader.  If you’re a team member, mentor your boss (mentors are not simply the older person).

Trusted Colleagues

Trusted colleagues possess two great qualities:  They are truthful and they are respectful.  This combination of truth and respect can be found throughout history and has a great biblical foundation.  This series of Team Building started with those two attributes, truth, and respect!

Committed

Teams must be committed to the purpose, the leader, and their colleagues in order to build great teams.  When you see it in action, there’s nothing quite like it.  And, there’s nothing more thrilling than being a part of it.  If you’re not experiencing that kind of joy in your life, figure out why you or others are not committed to the purpose, leader, and members of your team.  Today!

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BlogTeamTeam Series

Team Elements: Progress

by Ron Potter

We just wrapped up the Elegance Summary for building great teams.

You may recall that we started with Aristotle’s Level Four Happiness.  He described this level as being the highest form of happiness that every human being innately desires.  The words he used were Truth, Love, Beauty, and Unity.  There was also a fifth word in the middle.  That word is Purpose.  I haven’t spent a lot of time on Purpose because my assumption is that business teams know their purpose.  But, if there is not a purpose for the team or the understanding of the purpose is not aligned across the team, this must be fixed first before the other elements of great teams can be effective.

TREC

I’ve altered Aristotle’s terms of Truth, Love, Beauty, and Unity to Truth, Respect, Elegance, and Commitment.  The reason for the change is to use language better suited to the business environment and to put together an acronym that may help you remember the list more easily.

Truth is Truth

The word truth doesn’t need to be changed.  Truth is truth.  Sort of.  Each of us builds our truth based on experiences, environment, history, beliefs and others.  It’s important that a team share their beliefs and assumptions so that truth is understood.

Love is Respect

I had one business leader tell me not to use the word love in their meeting.  They were tough-minded business people and the emotion of love did not come into their decision making.  The love that Aristotle was talking about was the Greek word agape.  It has nothing to do with emotion, it is related to respect and how you treat others.

Beauty is Elegance

Beauty may be the hardest one to understand in a business context.  In the business world aesthetic’s are not the main issue although companies like Apple have proved that devices that are beautiful also have business appeal.  But here I’m talking about simple, elegant, efficient, unambiguous business practices.  Does your business run elegantly?

TREK is TREC

An acronym to help you remember.  We all know the word TREK.  The definition is “a long arduous journey.”  Building a great team is a long arduous journey.  It doesn’t happen overnight and you’re always striving to reach your destination.  I hope TREC will help you remember that it’s a journey and that it’s made up of Truth, Respect, Elegance, and Commitment.

Unity is Commitment

Our next several blog posts will be about building unity on a team.  Real unity!  Not just nodding of heads and not just compliance, but a deep commitment to a unified path and direction.  You won’t build a team without the first three, Truth, Respect, and Elegance but without deep Commitment, the team won’t accomplish the goals of the purpose.  Unity and Commitment take hard work, even as part of a long, arduous journey.

Request

I have a request to make.  Most of you have been on this blog journey with me right from the start several years ago.  I appreciate and cherish the fact that you’re still here reading and commenting.  My goal all along was to build a community of readers where we could share concepts together.

My request to you is to share this resource with others.  Whether they be colleagues, friends, family, someone you’re mentoring or even a broadcast resource that you use.  Would you help spread the word and share these blogs with others?  While our numbers have increased at a steady pace since the beginning, I would like to see them increase at a higher rate.

Thank you so much.  I appreciate you being with me on this TREC.

Ron

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BlogLeadership

You can lead a horse to water but he doesn’t know your resume.

by Ron Potter

I know, the actual quote says “You can lead a horse to water but you can’t make him drink.”  The essence of the proverb is that you can give someone an opportunity but you can’t force them to take it.

I’ve had a couple of horse-related experiences lately that got me thinking.

Equestrians

I have two granddaughters who are both equestrians.  I was watching one granddaughter take her horse through the paces in the arena and then cleaning and grooming him afterward.  During my time in the arena, I watched as she guided the horse through different patterns and speeds.  What amazed me was that I couldn’t discern what she was doing to get the horse to speed up, slow down, turn left or right.  It was almost as if the horse knew what to do and she was just along for the ride.

After her ride, she was washing, cooling down and grooming her horse.  Once again, I was amazed to see this petite young woman work around this half-ton animal with no concern for getting kicked, shoved or bitten.  You could see the complete trust between them.  So that was my first clue.  Trust!

After she released her horse to the pasture, I asked her how she got the horse to work through the different maneuvers without doing much in the saddle.  Her answer was simple.  “I just shift my weight and the horse knows that I want to do.”  Trust and understanding!

Dallas the Leadership Horse

An article appeared in the Wall Street Journal titled “How Dallas the Leadership Horse Glues Teams Back Together.”

The article was about a company called WorkHorse that hosts team-building workshops.  One story was of a team that was given the assignment to get the horses to move into a pre-defined circle in a certain amount of time.  After no success and with just three minutes to go in the exercise, one of the team members dispensed with the pleasantries, walked up to Dallas the Leadership Horse and began scolding him.  “Sometimes you have to do things you don’t want to do!” she said.  Then she leaned against him and started pushing.

Kristen de Marco who founded WorkHorse, says she’s seen this scenario play out before.  “Under pressure, some humans resort to treating equines like recalcitrant office workers, issuing orders, making threats, dangling incentives, even shoving them.  None of it works.”

She says that horses can sense when a stranger’s energy doesn’t feel genuine, or fails to line up with their body language, or conveys something other than trust and respect.  If you’re bossy, overconfident or inauthentic, horses just tune you out.  “They can’t read your resume.  They only care about who you are in the moment.”

Leadership and Teams

The bold emphasis in the previous paragraph is mine.  But look at the words.

  • Under pressure
  • Genuine
  • Trust and Respect
  • Who you are in the moment

They can’t read your resume!  They only care who you are in the moment.

This blog post was supposed to be a break from the Team outline that we’ve been working on since the first of the year.  But it seems to have fallen right back in step with the lessons we’ve been learning along the way.

Who are you in the moment? Genuine?  Authentic?  Trusting?  Respectful?

How are you treating the other person in the moment?  Being genuine and respectful is the only means by which leadership and teamwork are successful.

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