Are We There Yet?

…Or Are We Merely Sitting In A Boat In The Middle Of The Lake?

     So the team is in the boat, some reluctantly, others ready to charge headlong into success. “Give me my oar”, can be heard under this one’s breath, (as he chomps at the proverbial bit just aching to try out his newly discovered information). Also in the boat is the conservative & cautious preparer, “We really should wait until we are ready to proceed. I don’t think we’ve had enough trial runs.” …and the coach yells through the bullhorn, “Stroke! Stroke! Stroke!” Beside the coach sits the coattail king who chirps, “OK, I’m here, come on every body let's go! Coach, tell me what you want me to do.” Coach looks at him over the bullhorn and shouts, “Stroke!”

     Right about now, we realize that we still require full execution of our plan and a motivated team to get to our destination... the other side of the lake. as the team has developed and evolved, forward movement has occurred. Distance has been created between the present location and the point of origin. Realization has begun to set in that significant work is still yet to be done to travel the remaining distance. The middle of the lake is far from home and certainly, not yet an arrival. The team has gradually begun to mature according to Dr. Tuckman's model (see last post), but occasional self interested action still hinders a complete team commitment and goal achievement.

     Conflict, as discussed in our last post, must be managed. Personality types must be understood to effectively harness their attributes and diffuse the power of any associated negative characteristics.
Dr. Stephen Covey wrote that great leaders should “Seek first to understand, and then to be understood.” As effective and attuned leaders, we must understand what developmental stage that our professionals are at. Either invest, or move them out, but own your results as a product of the team you’ve assembled. Manage for results, according to your understanding of potential and talent. Manage your team’s personalities toward success and focus on what is possible rather than on the obstacles that represent barriers in the path. Avoid “because I said so” leadership. This is both demoralizing, and demotivating to those who are essential and invested participants in the achievement of success. Seek a developed understanding of your talent’s stage of professional development and ability and speak to it accordingly, then set expectations appropriately.

     While a belief in what is possible is essential to growth and success, avoid establishing expectations that may not yet be deliverable. Be self-aware as a leader and observant regarding teaching moments and mentoring opportunities. It is not uncommon as leaders to assert a “I know how to get there” approach, and an "I know what is required to arrive at a CHOSEN destination" drive. This practical knowledge will not pass to our support through osmosis or from an infrequent "Watch what I do" example. Leaders must share knowledge to promote growth, break down the elemental components of a function or process and you will progressively move toward goal achievement. "I'll do it myself!" is not leadership, it is not coaching, nor is it effective management of a team. As leaders, we cannot allow our driven, “type A” personalities to lead us into the water without anyone to help row the boat. Having stated that, I must admit that one of the hardest personalities I’ve ever had to manage as a leader, has been my own. My passion, my driven nature and my earned “know how”, have sometimes eclipsed my patience and the need to teach. I can occasionally hear myself saying, “I can see the path…, I see the light shining through the dark, we’re almost through the tunnel. Now, COME ON YOU GUYS! ROW THE DARN BOAT!”

     …but, while performance by command may provide a result, it may also breed dissention and a desire to “jump ship” at the first opportunity. “Because I said so” is not leadership, the passion and driven nature of a leader must sometimes be restrained in order to build the conviction and engagement of those who row the boat. Poor leaders are revealed in the actions and reactions of their teams. Loyalty may be demanded from some Captain Bligh’s of the corporate world, but what is subsequently received, more readily resembles submissive behavior and passive aggressive compliance, as opposed to passionate service.

     Loyalty must be earned and willingly given. This is achieved when team members are able to “see” the leader’s vision of success as their own. The team must see their arrival at the opposite shore as their achievement. They must vividly imagine the success and celebration as they set foot on their chosen shore. The leader must help them “see” the inevitability of this arrival and convey the reward in terms that represent value to each of his (her) charges.

     Strong leadership must exemplify those behaviors that represent the consummate coach, leader, guide, mentor & manager. That said, do not forget that someone must be the boss. Do not fail to make decisions because a decision may be unpopular; never forget that as a leader, you are paid to guide your team to the other shore. As their guide you must reinforce strengths with positive encouragement and dismantle infighting by guiding eyes toward the opposite shore. In other words, remind team members in conflict that “our objective is to achieve the excellence that we are capable of, infighting or festering wounds divert focus and delay our arrival.” Personality types will not always mesh, the ideal is indeed difficult to achieve, and issues must be addressed effectively. At varying levels of group maturity, issues can be difficult to resolve or readily put to rest with discussion and direction. Address issues that must be spoken to, but be cognizant that every perceived slight or issue raised is often mere perception, and not necessarily reality.

     In the earlier stages of my leadership development, I often tried to solve every internal problem and address every perceived slight. As I matured in the role, I realized that occasionally the correct answer is “Don’t sweat the little stuff.” Remind team members that this team, THEIR team, is on a mission to achieve a worthwhile objective. Some issues are “Non-issues” and should be recognized and subsequently managed as such. Additionally, not every perception is reality. Be warned that a potential outcome of this approach may be a belief that leadership does not equally support all team members. Diffuse this early by providing “shoe on the other foot” scenarios. Place the complainant in the role of the accused, then place them in the role of leader/referee. Ask them to offer a solution that is not counterproductive, demoralizing or destructive to team direction and growth. Require them to think critically about the issue and their own complaint. Is it a perceived slight, is it some of the “little stuff”? Teaching the team to “play nice” and move the boat across the water can sometimes drive a leader to want to dive overboard. Stay true to the mission. Focus on your vision and not the obstacles attempting to obscure it from view. Seek new sources of knowledge and guidance and employ what you learn.

Leaders, exercise analytical thought; does the issue require appropriate management attention? Does the response require a hammer or a handshake?

Know the difference and employ appropriate responses. Respond to issues within reasonable time frames after attention has brought issues to light. Make a decision and provide correction in short order without excessive delay.
Delayed issue management only breeds an impression of disinterested, uninvolved leadership or a lack of concern for destructive forces in the organization.

         Meanwhile, back in the boat, we’ve toyed with Tuckman’s theory of formative team development, we’ve examined leadership roles in conflict management and we’ve somehow arrived at a midpoint between both shores. The team is now equidistant from their destination (perhaps a destination never before achieved), and the safety and familiarity of their known point of origin. Do we allow them to return to the comfort of what is known and allow a reverse of direction? Do we forsake hard won (albeit small) victories that have moved us thus far? Do we restart the proverbial engines and row together to new levels of achievement? We are almost there, but we have now begun to realize the significant amount of work that the achievement of our leader’s vision requires, do we abandon the vision? Mid-stream we have begun to falter, unity trembles and the team is at risk of disassembling. Where do we go from here?

BCN
7-30-2013

Building the TEAM Dynamic

Comedian George Carlin once joked in his spoof of a news report that “in Central Park today, police arrested a one armed man who was bothering the other boaters by continuously rowing in a circle”. With all deference and respect to our disabled readers and friends, the idea of rowing in a circle is very appropriate when discussing team formation and development.

An interesting dynamic often develops once a leader has everyone in the boat… conflict. If anything can lead a team into rowing their boat in a circle, it is conflict and poor management thereof. Understanding the formative stages of a team's development is critical to getting all oars in the water and all team members rowing in unison. By first gaining an understanding of the stages of team development, we are able to respond to those stages effectively rather than react to them (responsiveness is a positive, reactionary behavior is not). Some of the developmental stages teams evolve through can get a bit ugly and frustrating, but according to Dr. Tuckman's developmental model, they are normal and do in fact represent team development.

Conflict is indeed one of the formative stages of team development that must be carefully managed or it may with certainty, destroy productive team movement. The multiple unique personalities seeking positioning and role identity within a team’s structure often exhibit themselves through counterproductive behaviors and “me first” attitudes. Such behaviors and attitudes in our proverbial “boat”, quite simply make our boat far too small for a TEAM. As we continue with our “boat” metaphor for team engagement and development, let’s discuss what Dr. Bruce Tuckman defined as the developmental phases of the team.

In 1965, Dr. Bruce Tuckman identified four phases of team development (he later added a fifth stage) that I believe provides perfect clarity as to the evolution of team behaviors and dynamics. Dr. Tuckman asserts that among peak performing teams the following five phases of development inevitably will occur. Once on the other side of the developmental hurdles, peak performance and unified team interaction can become an ultimate outcome. However, making it to the other side of the five phases is the challenge that the most determined coaches or leaders often find elusive. Navigating through the phases requires an essential understanding of what those phase behaviors are, how they might exhibit themselves in each phase, how leadership should interpret and respond to such behaviors and what the behaviors represent regarding team development. Leadership must manage itself through these phases in order to guide the effective development of its’ group of individuals into a mature and peak performing TEAM.

Dr. Tuckman referred to the five phases in the following manner:

Forming: The stage where teams are first assembled. Personal behaviors are self managed and motivated by a need for acceptance by other team members and/or team leadership. Issues are avoided as team members focus on organizational tasks and model or observe how other team members interact and perform. Team leadership is typically an active director in this stage of development.

At this stage, the boat is resting on the shoreline, the team is outside of the boat deciding if they want to get to the other side of the lake and who, if anyone, wants to go.

Storming: In the Storming stage, team member ideas compete for consideration. Team members will begin to identify roles of participation and tolerances for the behaviors of fellow team members (or lack thereof). Conflict begins to rise to the surface as team member behaviors may become contentious. This phase can be a very unpleasant area of team development and requires that leadership keep team members focused on objectives and growth. Each team member should continuously be encouraged toward tolerance and patience. Remind all that without patience and tolerance the entire team can implode and fail. Leadership must focus the team through this phase to ensure continued motivation and an enduring desire for goal achievement. This phase can destroy a team beyond repair. Many teams do not achieve growth beyond this stage.

Leaders should strive to maintain a directive approach and avoid being drawn into taking sides in conflict. An impartial approach by leadership helps to promote “non-partisan” communication with team members who may become more open in discussing team issues. Leadership may take this opportunity to suggest points of view that promote maturity beyond “storming” issues.

At Storming, the team members may be in the boat, one or two team members may have picked up an oar, but the boat may be still resting at the shoreline, in shallow water, or unable to make it through rough tide at best. Team members may be debating over who sits at the stern, middle or aft section of the boat and who or why each of them must use an oar (exert effort).

Norming: As a team achieves the “norming” stage, a mutual goal begins to surface. Some team members have overcome their issues of conflict or let go of them in an effort to support team growth and effective functioning. At “norming”, team members have taken on the responsibility of achieving a unified goal. Personal ambitions tend to serve the team objective and individuals no longer fight for self promotion, (productive actions speak for themselves). The team is beginning to function effectively and is in active pursuit of achievement of team goals. Team leadership may lessen its’ directive approach as team members are now familiar with structural process and role responsibilities.

The boat is moving away from the shoreline, it is beginning to build momentum with each stroke. The team is beginning to realize that in unison the move more quickly and efficiently through the water. The boat no longer lurches with movement but consistently progresses toward the opposite shore.

Performing: The team has graduated from positive and effective interaction to highly effective, peak performing activity. Such teams function almost intuitively and promote efficiency and require limited supervision in task performance. Performing teams are motivated, competent and knowledgeable. Performing teams are often decision making teams whose decisions serve the greater needs of team productivity and development. Conflict or dissent is not pervasive, when it occurs it is managed in a manner that is deemed appropriate by the team. The team is mature at this stage and is actively making required decisions with autonomy, leadership adopts more of a participant role and less of a director role.

The boat is moving with speed through the water. Each stroke is one graceful, yet powerful thrust forward. The work is easier because all team members are in pursuit of excellence. Maximum effort is engaged, total buy-in exists and interestingly enough, because total buy-in exists, the maximum effort employed seems effortless. The opposite shoreline is in sight. Each team member intuitively provides the next stroke, his oar and his effort operate with maximum efficiency and in perfect harmony with the others in the boat. The destination grows nearer with each team members engaged action. The shore is near.

Occasionally regression to the “storming” phase may occur even when a team is at the mature stage of “performing”. This typically comes about when dramatic changes in the team dynamic occur (a change in leadership or changes in critical team roles may prompt a regression). When such changes occur, the five stage process may resume from the beginning, but possibly adapt more quickly if a majority of mature team members are present, (team members involved in the “performing” phase).

Adjourning: Dr. Bruce Tuckman added “Adjourning” to his developmental model in 1977. Dr. Tuckman realized that as a team matures and achieves peak performance, critical team members and participants promote or move on, tasks or projects conclude and teams become restructured. This causes the adjournment of the specific project team or a resumption of the development model at the “forming” stage.

The boat has arrived at the opposite shore. Each team member disembarks the boat. The oars are stowed inside the boat for the next group of travelers. The team wishes one another well, congratulations all around for a job very well done. The boat has landed with safety and speed (efficiency) on the other side of the lake. Each member of the team moves on into the next phase of their journey.

BCN 1-16-2012
MB Nichols Company