A631.9.2.RB - Video Debrief of Team MA

The Steve Jobs brainstorming video with his new team at NeXT Inc. was very interesting. The mood in the beginning of the video portrayed something that seemed to be appealing and encouraging to everyone to get the critical thinking juices flowing. In the first 30 days of the new launch of NeXT everyone is super excited to launch this new product and you can see it in their faces and hear it in their voices.  Ideas and grandiose goals are being set and it seems everyone is thrilled and ready to go. The scene moves ahead 90 days and we see a company that is not as excited and pumped up as they were at the start. The goal was to have a product to present in 18 months and yet 6 months in they still have nothing to show for it. Everyone is stressed even Steve Jobs. There is tension in the air and it seems that the finger pointing is getting under way as no one wants to take the responsibility for why there is no product yet.

Watching this video and reviewing my assessment I don’t think that I would have done very well with this type of environment in the long run as my assessment results show me being very much to the right side on the independence attributes. My aptitude to work autonomously is high so the part of the video where Jobs has everyone in the room and they throwing ideas out there I feel would probably make me crazy. I would have done well in that area but when Jobs begins to micro manage I would have bumped heads with him for sure. He seemed to become impatient and I would have felt that he didn’t want to take the time to break things down for me or hear me out on my ideas.

One of the things I noticed in the video is that Jobs seemed to interrupt people a lot when they were trying to get their ideas out.  As a leader it is important to be able to actively listen to your followers. My leadership style is diplomatic so one of my characteristics is to inform. Jobs didn’t seem to follow through in this area because he was too busy interrupting his followers to actually inform and inspire them. As the atmosphere changes the communication drops off and Jobs and the others don’t seem to have the same excitement they did in the beginning of the video.

An area that I think we would have done well with was the fact that Jobs had high goals for himself and his company. I scored highly in this area of goal ambition and goal setting as I like to set high goals for myself as it applies to my job. His drive to meet any challenge also would have worked in my favor and I would have done well in that regard. His motivation to get things done and not accept excuses is something that I feel strongly about as well so that is another level I would have fit in.  I like to motivate others as well as myself and seeing people who get excited about learning new things and adapting to change pushes me to want to go further.  

Because Jobs was starting up a company and I scored highly in the large rapid growth company, I would not have lasted very long as there would have been too many rapid changes for me to be become a vital part of his company. Though Jobs was a transformational leader his overbearing ways and need to micro mange would not have made for a work relationship in the long run for either of us.  While this environment would be good in the short term I need to be in an organization where achievement is recognized, realistic goals are set, people are empowered and inspired.

A631.8.4.RB - Reflective Analysis

I have taken the MBTI test a few times over the years and interestingly enough the only thing that has changed for the most part was the last letter Judging (J) or Perceiving (P). It would be interesting for people to take this test when they first enter college, again when they graduate and then again once they are in the workforce in order to see how much we change in how we look at people, ourselves and the way we think about both. My results this time around were ENFP which is described as:

Ø  Extroverted: enthusiastic, gregarious, sociable, and expressive

Ø  Intuitive: creative, imaginative, unconventional, and forward-thinking

Ø  Feeling: passionate, empathetic, supportive and warm

Ø  Perceiving: open-minded, spontaneous, adaptable and whimsical

This pretty much nailed my personality! Being an extrovert has really helped me to overcome my shyness as a teenager to the point where I am not shy to speak to strangers, engage them in conversation just to learn more about who they are and what makes them tick. Getting up in front a group of people large or small makes me nervous and excited not filled with dread like it does to most people.

            Over the course of this program I have become more in tune as I have learned more about whom I am as a person and how I relate to others. At one time I was more on the thinking end where I would try to suppress my feelings and stayed focused on be rational and objective. As I have gotten older I have gone more to the feeling side where I am more focused on finding cooperation and harmony and I have no fear about following my heart and being sensitive to others needs. As one who takes pride in trying not to judge others when I took this test earlier this year I earned a small percentage in Judging which I didn’t understand.  It wasn’t until I realized that I was on the border of perceiving and judging that I realized that judging was not about how you view others but in how you like to stay committed to deadlines and having clear rules and guidelines.  As I have gone through the program I have become more relaxed about deadlines (though I still like to turn things in within the deadline), and I am more willing to be open to all options understanding that the most obvious one is not always the right one.

            So how does this help me relate to others? There are not too many people that I don’t get along with and even those that I don’t relate to every well I find something in common with so that I can engage them in conversation. One of the biggest things that has helped me being an ENFP is that I tend to value each person for who they are not what group they belong to. I have no problems accepting a person’s unique characteristics and I am a pretty tolerant person. My perceptive nature makes it easy for me to understand where someone is coming from and I am able to connect with most people in some way. My friends joke that I have a story for everything meaning I find a way to relate to what I am hearing from others.

            Having this type of personality will help me out in most situations as I tend to mot be shy and I do my best to make others feel more comfortable. As a leader I know that I have to be able to adapt to other types of personalities and knowing how to work with other types will help me understand them better and for them to understand me better as well. On one website I went on to read up on the ENFP found this statement to be very true for me. “People with the ENFP personality type seem to be everywhere, even though they only form around 5 percent of the population – furthermore, they can easily get along with nearly all other personality types, which makes them ideal co-workers” (16 personalities website). A smart move for me as a leader would be to have everyone take this test so that we can all understand how to better interact with each other. Everyone learns differently and responds to their work environment differently. This doesn’t mean that I have to baby each employee but if I can figure out how each one ticks I can make sure that I am getting the best results out of my employees by making them feel more comfortable in their daily job.

            After years of working with the same group of people and trying to figure out why I had a hard time getting along with one person, we both realized that we respond completely opposite in situations. She is very introverted and I am very extroverted so right away we are on different ends of the spectrum. After learning that I have to change my approach with her and her with me, we get along much better now.  There is no secret formula to getting along with everyone as I don’t think it is possible to do all the time but if you can figure out how each person works you and they can adapt to make for a more pleasant and productive work place.

Reference:                                                          

http://www.16personalities.com/enfps-at-work

A631.7.4.RB Future of OD

What do you see as the future of the OD discipline? Throughout MSLD 630 and 631, we have studied a lot about how organizations are changing, becoming more diverse, more global, transforming in different ways.  There is a need to grow and change as our workforce changes, becomes something different, something better.  Leaders see the need to make these changes as well to keep up with the ever changing environment in order to stay ahead in the business world. Almost every chapter in the Organization Development text book starts with phrases such as ‘change’, ‘globalization’ and ‘innovation’ just to name a few. The text has emphasized the need to be able to adapt and evolve with the ever changing market. We are no longer local, we are worldwide.  It is so simple to hold meetings with employees who are in England, Asia or Spain all from the comfort of your living room or the company conference room.

Organizations who do not change and adapt will be left behind and die out in the near future.  We are learning more ways to be able to communication with each other, to work together toward a common goal. This means that managers and leaders need to be on board with making these changes for the good of the organization and the people they employ. “Managers need to understand that OD interventions have the potential to make the biggest difference in human development and bottom line performance” (Brown, 2011, p 429).

The practice of OD is also changing as new techniques and approaches are being developed and this shows that even the practice of the different areas of OD are changing and adapting as new research is conducted. Is OD right for everyone? It depends on what an organization is looking to accomplish but one thing that I have learned over these last two classes is that it is important for organizations to recognize who their leaders are, who their employees are and how to get the two to work together as a collaborative team that share the same goals and values of the organization. What is important to understand is that the purpose of OD is that it is not a quick fix, it is a long term plan that must be monitored and changed as needed to continue to grow with the organization. Some leaders will jump on anything that seems to be good enough for the company without realizing that it is not something you put a band aid on and hope that fixes it. “Unless problems are identified and solutions are systemically thought out supported by the commitment of management, the “fixes” may become another fad in a long series of fads” (Brown, 2011, p 425).

One of the things that I have found in these courses is that change is a good thing. It is all in how one approaches it and gets their organizations on board with it. You can’t come into an organization and start making changes without observing first to see where the real issues are.  You don’t stick your nose in the spreadsheets and base your changes on that alone. You have to really truly understand the culture of the organization.  What are the issues?  Where is the breakdown in communication, technology, management?  How can it be fixed?  Just because a technique worked in one organization it is not ‘one size fits all’ you need feedback from everyone within the organization.  Start at the bottom and go up, don’t just rely on the top management because most of the time they have no clue what is going on in frontlines because they are not in it working it every day.

OD practitioners are at the forefront of change.  Some of the future trends of OD are Organization Transformation (OT), empowerment, learning organizations and organization architecture (Brown, 2011). OD practices are here to stay as they have made some great impacts to date.  With anything, the more it is studied and tweaked to fit in with the changes in the globalization the better it will become. Even the best companies have their issues from time to time and being able to recognize it and fix is the first step in the right direction. The future of OD as Brown explains, “The course of change anticipated for OD will predominately surround the issues of a changing workforce, global competence, and transformation within the organization” (Brown, 2011, p 429). I personally cannot wait to see what is in store for me when I am done with this program and how I can take what I learned and make a difference in the workforce.  I know it takes someone who can see the potential, the positive side and vision of where an organization can go.

Reference:

Brown, D.R. (2011). An experiential approach to organization development (8th ed). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall