A631.1.5.RB - EcoSeagate

After reading the OD Application: EcoSeagate and Team Development and watching both videos I was so pumped up by how well the teams managed to work together.  The power of teams collaborating and working together to reach a common goal outside of the work area showed with how enthusiastic they were and how into it they all were.    The singing and growling, the dancing…. they did it together!  No one was complaining or trying to take the credit they were like family.  They moved like one and I am sure that there were many friendships to come out of this exercise.  I definitely can see the value of the team development process with EcoSeagate especially when the CEO Bill Watkins came on board.  He could see that something needed to change.  People were fired all the time and the CEO had a grenade on his desk so what kind of message was he sending to his employees?  

Bringing people together has so many benefits when developing teams.  In the text they talk about sports teams and how well they must work together.  We must be able to work together similar to a basketball team or a dance troupe.  Everyone needs to know their part, when they must move, how their part interconnects with the other teammates or dancers and that when they practice (a form of communicating) by going through drills or with the music they can trust each other to be there.  When the dancers first come together they do not know the dance so they must watch the instructor so they know what they are doing.  They must listen to the music for their ques so that they know when to perform each step.  As they learn the dance, some will pick it up quickly while others will need more time.  This is where the other dancers AKA team members will come in handy.  They will assist and coach until everyone has it done perfectly.  They are working as a team to accomplish a task by solving problems (getting everyone on the same page with the dance) and improving to reach a common goal (win the basketball game or get high marks for a performance).

In the videos they talked about the importance of being able to get comfortable with conflict to not be afraid of it.  Working together can force teams to be able to get comfortable with conflict and being able to tell your teammate that an idea is not good and them not getting upset by it.  This will help to open up the channels of communication.  They also talked about how bringing people from different backgrounds helps one learn to appreciate each other’s differences.  This can work to a team’s advantage because you can use the diversity of the group to bring it together to get reach the common goal.

I definitely think my organization could benefit from a similar activity.  I also believe it would be a way to weed out those who are not team players and who are not interested in learning and growing with the organization.  While it may not seem like a big deal if everyone doesn’t want to be a part of a team or participate in team building exercises it really does hurt the organization as a whole.  Of course that is not the point of doing this kind of activity, to weed out the ones who don’t want to be team players but it will become apparent pretty quickly. We don’t have to do a zip line or brave the rapids but forcing people to step outside their comfort zone can get them to open up and become more comfortable with conflict and dealing with it in a better way.  We can even do something like a field day where we are teamed up randomly so that we can get the full learning experience and bond with people we may not have thought twice about talking to before.  My department will be doing a retreat in a few weeks and one of the main things we are going to do is take a self-defense class where we will learn not only self-defense but also the importance of team building.  We don’t get to go on many retreats and this one will be the first one where we actually have to be part of a team and I think it will really bring our department together and make us more cohesive.  Perhaps it can also help us in dealing with conflict in a more constructive way.

A630.9.4.RB - Hiring and Recruiting

In the video Schmidt talks about how important it is to develop the culture of your company and I think he is so right about this!  Proof of this is Google which has a great culture within their company and it shows in all the great things that they have created.  He talked about having passion and drive to do what you love to do.  When you walk into any kind of business you can see right away the people who are happy to be a part of that company and the ones who are only there to collect a pay check.  Throughout this course we have talked about culture and the importance of having it and Schmidt explains this when he talks about Google.

He mentions how time has been spent on passion, academic qualifications, commitment and intellectual flexibility and I agree that these are very important to the culture of a company. I will say that while I understand the academic qualifications, sometimes a book cannot teach us what happens in the real world so if that is the only thing that keeps a person from being hired and they have all the other aspects, they should be hired because you can mold them and teach them so much more than they could learn from a book.

When I first started at ERAU Worldwide I had no financial aid experience but I had everything else (drive, passion, and academic qualifications) so my old director took a chance on me and 5 years later I am a manager and I have learned so much more than I ever thought I would but there is so much more to learn as well and this is the drive and passion I have with my job.  I want to learn and grow and I feel that is something that is vital to the culture of any company.  People who want to learn to explore what their organization can give them and how far it can take them.  I continue to ask questions  as well as go to conferences and absorb everything I can not only on the regulations but how it affects our students and our counselors.

One of the things Schmidt mentioned that stuck out for me was hiring people who are compatible with other people.  I know from personal experiences when sitting in on the interview process we look for the type of people who will fit in with our department.  Are they outgoing?  Do they take criticism well?  Are they drama free?  We have many different types of personalities and if we drop in a person who creates friction and drama it would upset the balance we have. 

Now our department is not perfect but we do work well together and anyone who comes in has to be able to fit in and deal with the idiosyncrasies (people who hum and talk to themselves, people who like to keep to themselves for the most part, people who are very outspoken, etc.).   When we interview potential employees we will bring in the other counselors and let them ask questions.  I like to watch the nonverbal ques between the interviewee and the counselors to see how they interact.  This way I can see if there is potential for friction within our group.  It is wise to choose the right person who will add to the department not cause problems.

As a leader we may not always be able to make everyone happy and we must be aware of how our employees are feeling and truly listen to their concerns.  Making sure everyone works together is vital to the success of interpersonal relationships and as well as how your team works together.  If you have a great team who can get their work done and done well, jump in and help their coworkers and work through problems without having to go to the boss, there not much management needed because they are already doing it.  You are there to guide and encourage and challenge them to the next level.  For me a great leader is one who wants you to succeed and move to the next level whether it is in that department or somewhere else in the organization.

One point that Schmidt made that I thought was interesting was about discord at meetings.  I think it would be interesting but I feel that it could backfire if not done carefully.  If you are trying to get your employees to speak up at meetings especially if they are quiet or concerned about an issue they may not want to speak up at a meeting for fear of looking dumb or that they should already know the answer.  Maybe a round table where everyone can throw out their ideas so it can be bounced off of the group because this can bring out the best in the group.

 No this won’t always work but I think if you make everyone understand how it will help them grow and learn it is a step in the right direction.  I can definitely apply these things in my job now and feel that having a clear idea of what kind of culture you want in your organization is important not only in how you do this but how you support it.  We have a retreat coming up and I want to bring up to my director that we need to get everyone’s input on what they think the culture of our department is and how we can improve it.

A630.8.4.RB - Build a Tower, Build a Team

Watching the video on building the Marshmallow tower I was reminded of a similar project I was a part of at the ERAU Worldwide conference back in August.  We were put on random teams and the project was to build a tower using construction paper, tape and a plastic cup filled a quarter of the way with M&Ms.  The M&Ms had to be on top and the goal was to make the largest tower.  My group was a mix of faulty and directors from different campuses and the first thing that happened was we had to discuss our plan.  It was sketched out on a piece of paper and then two people decided who would do the building and then we got to do it.  Well I should say they got to it.  Two of the members took over and did most of the work.  I found it interesting how the dynamics played out with the team.

 We had a ‘CEO of M&M Towers’ and his way was the only way to do it.  Two of us tried to make suggestions but they were so involved in the process they really didn’t listen.  Looking around I saw other groups who were working together as a team to make their tower work.  I noticed a few tables had already taped their cup to the top and were working on building their structure on that.  In the video I can see why the kindergarteners performed better because they jumped in and worked around the marshmallow and continued to build on it instead of waiting until the end to see if it would work.

I think the kindergarteners performed better because they weren’t trying to fight for power.  They started building with the marshmallow on top and adjusted as they were going.  This is how they figured what was working and what was not working because they were getting instant feedback on what was working and what was not and they could adjust from there.  As the video went on Tom talked about how CEOs with executive assistants performed better than CEOs who did it alone.  I thought it was interesting and it made sense because the executive assistants tend to have to more specialized skills in facilitation, managing processes, and an eye for attention to detail.  This allows for the team to work together closely, to collaborate on the project so there is a greater chance for success.

If I were to facilitate a process intervention workshop I would keep the video in mind and watch how the teams worked together or didn’t work together.  We have a retreat coming up and I have suggested to the person putting together the different team building activities that we do the Marshmallow challenge as I think this would help us to figure how we work together, how we can improve on our communication skills and see where we are falling short in working as a team.  I can take away several things from this exercise and that is that I can’t always be the leader, I need to be able to follow so I can continue to learn.  Working on teams can be hard at times but it is important to keep in mind open communication has to be a major part of the success of any team.