Leading Through Teams Practitioner Articles March 3 rd, 2010 Nanci Atrach * Manon Wakkach Jon Skirving * Markus Vujacic

Agenda Living With Teams Building Cohesiveness and Pride Transference Cultural Intelligence When Followers Become Toxic The Law of Identity

1. People are frowning a lot People are empowered to dig their own grave People are stabbing one another in the chest People think you’re a turkey. Your leadership is tentative and inconsistent People are getting the short end of the stick People don’t give a hoot... a)Probably time to get a new team b)Know one another early on, appreciate one another and sharpen the focus c)Reward people for teamwork and remove the every man for himself mentality d)Set quantifiable limits for team members, carefully define power e)Keep squabbles from undermining the team effort, promote friendliness f)Keep Leadership consistent and the vision alive CHALLENGE: When to apply a team to a task, and when to keep things simple. To keep teams running smoothly, need to constantly check oil and tires TEAM DIAGNOSIS: SIGNS THAT TEAM LEADERS ARE IN TROUBLE:

Bottom Line to Teams Use them when they work, and when they don’t, use something else! Emphasize and promote the spirit of teamwork cultivate co-operation and sharing, and weed out turf issues and ego games

Building Cohesiveness and Pride High performing leaders do 3 things to build group cohesiveness and pride: 1. they establish and articulate visions of what could be for their organizations - go after the “heroic” goal - “The greater the obstacle, the more glory in overcoming it” – Moliere - own the heroic goal, when you own something, you take more care 2. they PROMOTE the goal - promote employee communication and motivation with the same intensity you would market to customers - internal advertising campaigns eg) memos, reward programs - “What gets rewarded, gets done.” - continually stress goal achievement

Building Cohesiveness and Pride 3. they provide abundant feedback, appreciation and recognition - how long would you keep playing tennis or golf if you couldn’t keep score? - people thrive on praise - “Outstanding leaders go out of their way to boost self-esteem of their personnel. It is the key to performance improvement.” - recognize someone at every staff meeting - praise inner qualities first, and then what they produce - limit praise to situations where it is deserved and you understand the improvement made

Transference Transferring experiences and emotions from past relationships onto the present Rooted in Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalysis experiments Patients would constantly fall in love with him (his wise father like approach) Business World  Relationship Between Leader and Followers Follower’s Motivation Rational (Money, Status, Power) Irrational (Powerful images, emotions project on relationships) Transference rooted in Irrational Motivation Does not have strong grounding in reality Based upon perception

Types of Transference Defined by family experiences (both leader and followers) Tradition Family Unit Paternal Transference Leader  wise, understanding, protective father Followers  give up own views and embrace leader as unquestionably correct Traditional Family Model  Considered normal behavior in hierarchal businesses Maternal Transference Leader  Unconditional love, caregiver, supporting Followers  Look for support, nurturing, dependence Sibling Transference Non-traditional family model (parents absent) Leader  Absent or non-existent (Flat Org.) Follower  Dependent on Peers Thrive in Flat, non-hierarchal organizations

Can You Identify the Type of Transference that Followers Identify With?

Making Transference Work for You Western vs. Asian Culture View of good Manager Western  helpful when needed, encourage independence Asian  protect and teach followers, in return give complete loyalty and obedience Positive vs. Negative Positive  Powerful sense of support, higher productivity Negative  Rejection, incompatibility Managing Transference: Know Yourself  Promote Mutual Understanding  Create a Common Enemy

Cultural Intelligence or CQ « The ability of an outsider to interpret someone’s unfamiliar and ambigious gestures like that person’s compatriots and colleagues would » Related to emotional intelligence: « a propensity to suspend judgement – to think before acting »

The three sources of CQ The head: inquiring about the meaning of some customs. Requests to implement learning strategies The body: the ability to mirror the customs and gestures of the people around you The heart: the self-confidence to believe that you can adapt to the new culture and stay motivated in front of obstacles

The CQ Profiles The provincial The analyst The natural The ambassador The mimic The chameleon  Many managers are a hybrid of 2 or more profiles

When Followers Become TOXIC

When the majority rules Solomon Asch Experiment Most people (including LEADERS) prefer conformity to controversy, and the pressure to conform rises with the degree of agreement among those around you American-Vietnam War: John F. Kennedy bowing to pressure from advisors, agreed to escalation of American intervention in Vietnam Effective leaders can end up making poor decisions because able and well-meaning followers are united and persuasive about a course of action

Followers = Toxic ??? “cognitive misers”- preferring the shortcuts of automatic thinking over considered examination Dell’s Olympic line of desktops Reinforced by American/Western culture

Fooled by Flattery The power of INGRATIATION Flattery, favours and frequent compliments all tend to win people over. Leaders naturally like those who like them and are more apt to let those they are fond of influence them

What can LEADERS do? Listen to LSI Yellow Reflect External Feedback Challenge your team 360 degree feedback program Will voice opinion when asked

Six ways to counter wayward influences 1. Keep vision and values front and center 2. Make sure people disagree 3. Cultivate truth tellers 4. Do as you would have done to you 5. Honor your intuition 6. Delegate, don’t desert A good set of values, some trusted friends, and a little paranoia can prevent followers from becoming toxic!

The Law of Identity Shared values define the team Just as personal values influence and guide an individual’s behavior, organizational values influence and guide the team’s behavior

Shared values are like… Glue Foundation RulerCompass Magnet Identity

Values Add Value To The Team Articulate the values Compare values with practices Teach the values Practice the values Institutionalize the values Publicly praise the values

L = f {l 1, l 2, g m, s E,e } traits behaviour group members situation Living with Teams Building cohesiveness and pride CQ Toxic Followers Transference Law of Identity