Class 2

Question 1

Common leadership mistakes - tanagram

Answer 1

• not providing appropriate structure and process for the team (planning)
• failing to orient and social all team members; not developing trust
• not recognizing interdependence among team members
• not providing team with needed resources
• not providing leadership when needed

Question 2

Enabling condition for teams to thrive

Answer 2

• compelling direction
• strong structure
• supportive context
• shared mindset

Question 3

Team leadership

Answer 3

• the act of assuming responsibility for satisfying a team’s need
• man groups have different leaders in different situations

Question 4

Functional view of leadership

Answer 4

• function of leadership is to help teams achieve their goals
• leadership occurs when one or more individuals stop in to close a gap, help a team overcome some weakness, or staisfy some need that a team has.
• Specific functions may across the transition (planning ) and action (doing) phases of the team performance cycle

Question 5

Leadership functions Transition Phase (Planning)

Answer 5

• compose team
• organize
  
  • define mission/purpose
  • establish expectations and goals
  • structure and plan process
• Train and develop team
• Provide feedback

Question 6

Leadership functions Action Phase (Doing)

Answer 6

• keep team on track
  
  • monitor team
  • challenge team
  • support social climate
• encourage team self-management

Question 7

Composing the team

Answer 7

• Size - keep it small
• Personality
  
  • agreeableness, conscientiousness, openness
• Work Style
  
  • analytical, organized, supportive, strategic
• Values
  
  • Collectivism and preference for teamwork are useful
• Role knowledge
• Complemenatry attributes
• Avoid derailiers

Question 8

Organizing the team

Answer 8

• define the mission/overall purpose
  
  • compelling, shared
• Establish expectations and goals
  
  • accountability and specific goals
• Structure and plan the process to minimize losses
  
  • method, roles, timing
  • the process is make or break
    
    • experts + plan = good performance
    • experts - plan (wing it) = bad performance
• Organize via team contract

Question 9

Team contract

Answer 9

• clarifies the team’s goal
• determines how the team can best work together to achieve their goals
• this is a live document, subject to change
• need to have understanding that it is indeed a contract
• need to be explicit and detailed

Question 10

Training/Developing Team

Answer 10

• Identify Deficienes and expanding capabilities
  
  • individual and team level training
• Build trust
  
  • effective communication
  • developing strong relations ties
  • developing strong common identity
  • effective behavior
  • effective structure and process

Question 11

Providing Feedback

Answer 11

• team must periodically asses their process towards goals, one leadership function is to facilitate this process
• Teams can evaluate themselves relative to the gals specified in the contract, on enabling conditions and team effectivementss
• Problems identified should be corrected through a revision of the team’s structure and proecesss

Question 12

Trust

Answer 12

• willingness of one party to be vulnerable to the actions of another party based on the expectation that the other party will perform a particular action important to the focal actor.

Question 13

Leadership functions

Answer 13

Monitor the team

• is the team performing up to its potential
  
  • is the team moving toward its goals
  • does the team still have compelling direction
• Challenge the team
  
  • question the status quo
• Support the social environment
  
  • help manage team members relationships
  • demonstrate respect, warmth and concern

Question 14

Encourage Team Self-Management

Answer 14

• facilitate teams to lead themselves
• teams can become more adaptable and resilient by solving their own problems
• encourage teams to self-manage by encouraging them to evaluate themselves and to figure out how to best respond to any short-coming they see.

Question 15

Key Take-Aways

Answer 15

• there are different leadership functions during the transition and action phases of the team performing cycle that provide enabling conditions
  
  • Transition phase
  • action phase
• The leadership function is not necessarily formally appointed and theres not necessarily only one.
  
  • everyone should be looking for opportunities to provide leadership to their teams

Question 16

Inside Amazon: Wrestling Big Ideas in a Bruising Workplace (Class 3)

Answer 16

Of all of his management notions, perhaps the most distinctive is his belief that harmony is often overvalued in the workplace - that it can stifle honest critique and encourage polite praise for flawed ideas. Instead, amazonians are instructed to ‘disagree and commit’ - to rip into colleages ideas, with feedback that can be blunt to the point of painful, before lining up behind a decision.

Conflict brings about innovation.

Amazon: Leadership Principles
Our Leadership Principles aren’t just a pretty inspirational wall hanging. These Principles work hard, just like we do. Amazonians use them, every day, whether they’re discussing ideas for new projects, deciding on the best solution for a customer’s problem, or interviewing candidates. It’s just one of the things that makes Amazon peculiar.
Customer Obsession
Ownership: They never say “that’s not my job". 
Invent and Simplify
Are Right, A Lot
Learn and Be Curious
Hire and Develop the Best
Insist on the Highest Standards
Think Big
Bias for Action
Frugality: Accomplish more with less. ]
Earn Trust
Dive Deep
Have Backbone; Disagree and Commit
Deliver Results

Question 17

Why the members of your team won’t speak up and what you can do about it (Class 3)

Answer 17

The presence of someone with expertise
The presentation of a compelling, but inferior argument
Lack of confidence in their ability to contribute
The decision to be made seems unimportant or useless
Pressure from others to comform to the teams decision
There’s a dysfuncitional decision-making climate

What you can do
Offer inquiring points of view of what the group is considering
How could we respond to the concern that…?
Appoint yourself the devil’s advocate
Encourage everyone to do their homework
Accept the final results gracefully, even when they don’t agree with your assumptions going in.

Question 18

Agreement and thinking alike: Ingredients for poor decisions (Class 3)

Answer 18

People frequently believe that conflict is to be avoided in organizations. They think that meetings and decisions should reflect agreement and consensus. This article suggests that fostering disagreement in a structured setting may actually lead to better decisions. Two techniques for programming conflict into the decision-making process are suggested–the devil’s advocate decision program (DADP) and the dialectic method (DM). In particular, evidence indicates that larger firms operating in uncertain environments benefit from encouraging structured conflict in decision-making. This article challenges managers to consider either the devil’s advocate or dialectic methods to program conflict into important organizational decisions

Question 19

Keeping your colleagues honest (Class 3)

Answer 19

What enables people to be candid when they encounter ethical conflicts?

Excuses:
It’s standard practice
It’s not a big deal
It’s not my responsibility
I want to be loyal
How to confront:
Treat it as a business matter - analyze it and present it with detail
Recognize that this is part of your job - not some aberration
Be yourself - if you like to challenge ideas, present it as a question to an idea, if you’re usually cautious, present it as caution, stick to your style.
Challenge the rationalizations - “If this is standard, why is there a policy against it” “If this is what is expected, would we be comfortable being public about it?”
Turn newbie status into an asset - “I may have misunderstood since I’m new, but won’t we run into problems if we…”
Expose faulty either/or thinking (false dichotomies)
Make long term risks more concrete - calculate the financial impact of forecasting errors from faulty practices, etc.
Present an alternative