May 20, 2017

Ladder of Inference : Management Funda; V5 Issue 5

May 20, 2017/ Anu Sharma

What kind of ladder are we talking about?

The Ladder of Inference is a model which explains why we tend to ‘jump to conclusions’ when we are faced with a particular circumstance. Initially developed by Chris Argyris, and later used by Peter Senge in his book “The Fifth Discipline”, the Ladder of Inference describes how we make sequential interpretations from a set of observations, form beliefs, and then commit to take actions based on those beliefs. It is as if we rapidly climb up a mental ladder, drawing conclusions on our own, with little or no data to actually support these conclusions. Finally, we end up taking actions based on these conclusions which almost always causes breakdown of communication.

An Example

I have given an assignment to my team mate Rashmi and have specified the deadline for the same. I feel that the assignment is not too difficult and the time given to finish the assignment is adequate. The deadline comes and goes, without any response from Rashmi. I write a mail to her reminding her that the assignment was due. She however, does not get back to me with any explanation for the delay. The following day, I receive an SMS from her informing me that she is unwell and will not be able to make it to office for a couple of days. I immediately link this with the unfinished assignment and think to myself that Rashmi is faking an illness in order to get away from the deadline. That’s why she avoided talking to me and just sent me a message instead. I start to recall that she did not seem too enthusiastic about taking this assignment up. Maybe she felt that this assignment was a burden and hence did not consider it important.I figure out that she is clearly not interested in taking up additional responsibilities. She is also very irresponsible since she did not get back to me with a response on the stipulated timeline. Based on these beliefs, I decide never to include Rashmi in any new assignments in the future. I start to behave very curtly with her after she is back from her leave. And even though she finally does a very good job on the assignment, I never include her in any future projects and continue to maintain very low levels of trust in her.

Here is the ladder I climbed in my sub consciousness in the episode with Rashmi.

So how do we avoid leaping up the Ladder of Inference?

We can avoid ‘jumping to conclusions’ by remembering the following three points:

Reflection: By becoming more aware of our own thinking and reasoning (Is it fair to judge Rashmi based on non-conclusive data?)
Advocacy: By making our thinking and reasoning more visible to others ie. saying what we are thinking. (Explaining to my colleague why I don’t give Rashmi any more additional responsibilities and checking whether my reasoning is correct?)
Inquiry: Inquiring about other’s thinking and reasoning ie. asking questions to understand others’ thinking. (Asking Rashmi - Is there any reason why you did not respond to my communications on the assignment deadline? Do you feel that additional responsibilities are a burden for you?)

Along with being more conscious of our own reasoning, the use of advocacy and inquiry in the right manner should promote understanding between the parties. For e.g. had I used advocacy and inquiry with Rashmi, I would have found out that she had been extremely unwell in office the day before the assignment deadline and hence had not been able to respond to my communications. She had left me a voicemail on my phone, which I had unfortunately missed. Even though, she had almost completed the assignment, she had been unable to complete the last bit by the deadline set. And contrary to what I thought, she was extremely interested in taking up additional assignments in order to increase her learning.

What role does this ladder play in the communication process?

Understanding this ladder and incorporating our understanding into daily practices can be a pivotal component of a learning organization. It gives people ways to self-check the various interpretations of events, which in turn will prevent breakdown of communication. As Chris Argyris cautions people, when a fact seems self-evident, it requires us to be especially careful. However, the use of advocacy and inquiry in the right proportion is very important. A ‘high’ of either of these two, can lead to a one way communication instead of a two way understanding.

The ability to make deductions from available data and information is an important cognitive skill. The Ladder of Inference shows to us both the power as well as the dangers of this ability, and can help us differentiate between its use and its misuse. When embedded into teams as a regular practice, this ladder helps in eliminating lack of understanding between team mates, break down of communication and feeble compromises.

References

Argyris, C, “Overcoming Organizational Defences”, 1992.
Senge P, “The Fifth Discipline Fieldbook”, 1994.
Larcher, B, “Up and Down the Ladder of Inference”, 2007 .
Brown, Y, “The Ladder of Inference” .
Kofman F, “The Ladder of Inference: How to Avoid Climbing to Unwarranted Conclusions”, 1996.

May 20, 2017

First, Break All the Rules: What the World’s Greatest Managers Do : Book Review; V4 Issue 3

May 20, 2017/ Anu Sharma

Title: First, Break All the Rules: What the World’s Greatest Managers Do Differently
Author: Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman
Publication details: Simon and Schuster, New York, 1999
Number of pages: 271 pages

When I had to select a book for review on the theme “Employee Engagement”, “First Break All the Rules” was an obvious choice. Authored by leaders of The Gallup Organization, this book summarizes their findings of 25 years of research on 2 questions. “What do the most talented employees need from the workplace?” And “How do the world’s greatest managers find, focus, and keep talented employees?” The authors are convinced that employees leave managers and not the companies they work for. Hence effectiveness of managers is vital to retaining employees. Through their research the authors discovered that great managers build a work environment where employees answer positively to the following famous 12 questions included in most employee satisfaction surveys today:-

Do I know what is expected of me at work?
Do I have the materials and equipment I need to do my work right?
At work, do I have the opportunity to do what I do best every day?
In the last seven days, have I received recognition or praise for doing good work?
Does my supervisor, or someone at work, seem to care about me as a person?
Is there someone at work who encourages my development?
Does the mission/purpose of my company make me feel my job is important?
Are my co-workers committed to doing quality work?
Do I have a best friend at work?
In the last six months, has someone at work talked to me about my progress?
This last year, have I had opportunities at work to learn and grow?

And the key to ensuring positive answers to these questions, lie in managers being able to discharge four important responsibilities extremely well viz., Select a person, Set expectations, Motivate the person and Develop the person. Now if you think you know how to do these then just see if it is the way great managers do these. Great Managers select for talent and not simply experience, intelligence or determination. They define the right outcomes and not the right steps when defining expectations. When motivating they focus on strengths and not weaknesses. They find the right fit and not the next rung on the ladder when developing someone. Thus the book challenges conventional wisdom like the best way to help an employee is by fixing his/her weaknesses. The authors give detailed tips on each of the four keys to engaging people. For instance on defining right outcomes they talk about how your customer’s expectations should help you determine what is a valuable outcome. In the airline industry while safety is paramount, customers don’t choose an airline because of its safety record since they anyways expect to arrive unharmed. So while flight attendants at Southwest Airlines are experts in safety procedures, they focus on ensuring passengers have fun while flying with them.

The book has some valuable insights into managing people. Spend more time with your best people. The best managers know they are on stage every day. They know their people are watching every move they make. And it gives some fantastic solutions to the typical problems faced by managers. For example it talks about how employees invariably want to be promoted even if it means getting promoted out of roles in which they excel and moving into roles in which they struggle. For example, not everyone has the talent or the desire to be a manager. The talent to be a great software programmer will not be the same talent needed to be a project manager. The solution? “Create heroes in every role.” One way to do that is by defining graded levels of achievement in every role. At ATand T help desks are organized at 3 levels according to the complexity of the client’s question. It also propounds some radical theories like paying an excellent performer at a junior level role more than an average performer at a senior level role.

The best part of this engaging book is the way the ideas are explained through simple and real life examples be it the art of interviewing or conducting performance reviews. Every chapter is complete in itself and you can pick up the book and read any chapter and make sense of it. While the book is mainly for managers it also has a section for individuals and for management to help them implement the ideas elaborated in this book. I first read this book several years back and since then have reread it many times. I really hope you too will read and reread this book and you will come to value it as much as I do.

May 20, 2017

Unraveling and Practicing Employee Engagement: Feature Article; V4 Issue 3

May 20, 2017/ Anu Sharma

Understanding Employee Engagement

Does Employee Engagement seem like another buzz word to you? And yet you must be experiencing the presence or absence of it every day at your workplace. Employee Engagement is nothing but involving an employee’s mind and heart completely when he/she is at work which in turn enriches the employee and the organization. It is about an employee experiencing high job satisfaction while contributing effectively to the organization. Employee Engagement has been defined differently by different organizations doing research in this area as given below.

I personally like the definition provided by Tim Rutledge, owner and publisher of Mattanie Press and author of ‘Getting Engaged: The New Workplace Loyalty’. He says‘truly engaged employees are: attracted to and inspired by their work (‘I want to do this’), committed (‘I am dedicated to the success of what I am doing’), and fascinated (‘I love what I am doing’).’

Levels of Employee Engagement:

In a study conducted by Towers Perrin in 2003 representing the views of more than 35,000 employees in U.S companies it was found that there are following types of employees.

Highly engaged: A small percentage of employees freely give extra effort on an ongoing basis. The opportunity for an organization lies with this small group of people, who can become role models for their peers, helping build the kind of environment and work experience that does engage greater numbers of people.

Disengaged: An equally small percentage of employees who have “checked out” from their work constitute this group.

“Moderately” engaged: The remainder of the employees ie, roughly two-thirds forms this group. The challenge lies with this group. Left to their own, these employees could easily become disengaged, causing a dramatic fall in productivity and morale. Strengthening this group’s level of engagement is the most critical task virtually every employer faces.

Benefits of Employee Engagement and its evolution

Hewitt has been conducting Best Employers studies around the world. Their research shows that Best Employers excel at employee engagement. As a result they enjoy a bigger pool of talent from which to select employees, lower employee turnover, lower absenteeism rate, increased customer satisfaction, higher economic returns, and greater sustainability in the face of business challenge. And Best Employers are better positioned to take advantage of business opportunities and weather business cycles effectively.

Prior to the 1990’s ‘employee surveys’ were focused on employee satisfaction. However it was found that there was no guarantee that satisfied employees would contribute more to the organization. The concept of employee engagement was developed in response to increasing globalization. Global competition forced businesses to become more flexible in responding to employee needs. There was also a rising interest in employee engagement due to the dotcom bubble burst in 2000 which caused the economy to dip and created unemployment. Then came the Millennials, a new generation of workers who demanded more from their employer than just pay. During the recent recession many organizations have had to cut costs, lose staff and demand more from their remaining employees. Technology continues to revolutionize not only how work gets done, but also how people access their work and each other. As the economy changes and employee needs evolve, employee engagement becomes more and more essential in increasing productivity while satisfying employee needs.

What drives Employee Engagement and how can you drive it?

Frederick Herzberg observed over 40 years ago that the same employees who complained about poor working conditions, such as cold, dirt and dim lighting were quite happy to work on their cars in a dingy, dusty garage at home. So there was something else which was driving engagement. In fact there are several factors which drive employee engagement. Let us look at how as a manager you can help in creating employee engagement in your team by doing your bit in each of these factors, which come to think of it is quite a bit.

Relationship with manager and Managerial support: Very often when employees leave an organization, they are leaving their manager. It is not dissatisfaction with the company but dissatisfaction with the manager that causes them to resign. So it is important that you develop a strong and positive relationship with your team members to ensure high levels of engagement in your team. Which means you need to be engaged yourself to engage others. If you are highly stretched at work and don’t energize yourself, you will not have the energy to initiate or sustain engagement efforts. As manager you need to provide your team with required direction and resources to support work processes and activities. Ensure employees balance between work and home life. Be supportive of the engagement initiative while monitoring the work-life balance of employees. Highly engaged people run the risk of burnout by becoming too eager and too passionate about their work.
Role clarity: This factor refers to whether employees know what is expected from them. As their manager you are the best person to provide this clarity by defining clear and specific goals. Also make them understand how their goals relate to company goals and make them understand how their unit/department contributes to company success. This line of sight between individual actions on the job and broader company objectives is important for engaging an employee. Helping employees clearly understand the mutual responsibility and accountability is at the heart of an effective employer/employee relationship.
Challenging work: Being able to do something interesting and meaningful helps create a sense of personal inspiration and accomplishment, leading to pride in one’s work and one’s company. There are certain things you can do to help promote a more stimulating and challenging environment for your subordinates. Encourage people to take initiative, be open to change, tolerate uncertainty. Coach and develop people’s skills, and hold people accountable for their performance. These become even more important where the work itself is relatively routine work.
Performance feedback and recognition: Regular, specific performance feedback is a powerful tool to engage people. When one knows where one can improve one is more actively involved in doing something about it and reaches ones’ goals. As important as pay and benefits are in attracting and retaining people, they are less important in engaging people in their work. Though pay does not drive engagement, any form of recognition for good work does. So, offer recognition for employees who excel or who demonstrate a strong passion for their work and organization.
Career development opportunities: Employees look at their jobs and careers as more than a means to gain money. By working they hope to gain both professional and personal skills. Training and coaching is important to achieve this. Get to know your employees as well as their goals and aspirations, so that together you can develop a clear path for advancement and opportunities for growth. Ensure that high performers in your team advance in the organization.
Not everybody speaks well and not everybody can put people at ease. These are talents unique to individuals. Identify the talents of your team members and provide them with work opportunities where they get to use these talents. Being good at a job bolsters confidence and ensures both the organization and the employee achieves individual and collective goals.
A sense of ‘team’: This refers to the camaraderie, intimacy and the ability to be oneself that one experiences at work. Have a friendly and welcoming atmosphere. Foster a sense of community and team work. People’s positive emotions are strongly influenced by the people they work with day to day, by collaboration, teamwork and shared goals, and by a sense of a purpose in work. Emphasizing team goals can be of help here.
Communication: Effective communication is not just about disseminating basic information. Rather it is providing context, commentary and ensuring a two-way dialogue. Employees want to know what management thinks and believes and how it plans to act. And they also want forums to give their input. Communication means not only articulating a vision for the future but also being honest and forthright in dealings with the workforce. Its part of creating the environment of mutual trust, accountability and responsibility that’s important in engaging people and winning discretionary effort. Engage employees through direct communication by involving them in important decisions and keeping them informed of new developments or changes within the company. According to the Institute of Employment Studies (IES), the main driver of engagement is a sense of feeling valued and involved. Listen to employees and act on their suggestions. Just listening and not acknowledging, responding or acting on what is being heard can damage credibility and engagement.
Control: This refers to the freedom to make decisions relating to one’s job. Employees should have appropriate decision-making authority and appropriate decision-making input to be truly engaged. People are much more willing to accept increased risk if they perceive they also have control over decisions relating to that risk as well as relevant information and tools to make good decisions. If you consistently keep your team members fully informed, you are providing them the necessary foundation for them to behave responsibly and accept accountability for making their own decisions. Even when workloads are heavy, being able to control the flow and pace of their work can relieve pressure on employees. So can a feeling that they can turn to managers for resources and support when they need it.
Leadership: A clear vision from senior management about future success and senior management taking steps to ensure company’s long-term success are important in driving engagement. You need to understand and share this vision and action plan with your team. Leadership’s interest in employee well-being also helps increase employee engagement. As a manager you can keep your team updated on what the leadership team is doing to take care of employees. Also don’t miss conveying their message if they specifically ask about a person’s well being. I know every time the MD asks about my team member and I tell her about it how thrilled she looks.
Company credibility: The reputation of a company as an employer, as a corporate citizen and as an industry leader also creates engagement. This determines whether employees take pride in working for the company. Organizations that proactively manage their reputations also enjoy higher levels of employee engagement. Employees distance themselves from the business when they believe their company does not have a good reputation. By talking positively about the company and its practices and by correcting any wrong negative perceptions that employees have about the company, you can contribute to employee engagement.

Fairness is also important in creating credibility. This refers to acting with equity in sharing rewards, being impartial while hiring and promoting people, being fair in people practices and policies and how well employees are treated in terms of pay and benefits compared to similar organizations. You can ensure fairness in your areas of accountability ie, while making hiring, promotion, performance rating decisions.

Conclusion

You must have figured out by now that building employee engagement is a process that never ends and is a lot of hard work. All the employee engagement drivers are related to the kind of culture and work environment a company creates and nourishes over time. It takes commitment, consistency, trust in employees’ judgment, strong leadership practices and programs that align with and support the desired culture create to create a meaningful and emotionally enriching work experience. Most importantly it takes strong day-to-day management. Yes you, as a manger, are an important factor. You will be the one who will set the tone for your team, taking cues from leadership and the prevailing culture. So, understand employee engagement and practice employee engagement for the risks of not doing so are very high.

References

May 16, 2017

My Secret Life on the McJob : Book Review; V4 Issue 2

May 16, 2017/ Anu Sharma

   Title: My Secret Life on the McJob
   Author: Jerry Newman
   Publication details:Tata McGraw-Hill, 2007
   Number of pages: 203

Looking through the library to find a book to review for Prerana, I found books that were either too preachy, or too factual, until I chanced upon one with mustard and tomato ketchup dispensers on its cover. Titled ‘My Secret Life on the McJob’ and written by Jerry Newman, this book is about life behind the counters of fast food joints like McDonalds, Wendy’s, and Burger King. After the author’s daughter gets a rubber glove finger, in her burger at a fast food joint, the author, a college professor, decides to take a sabbatical to embark on a unique journey to gain insights into the functioning of fast food joints. This leads him through several jobs in various fast food joints, as well as a hospital visit for his bad back including 9 months of rehabilitation.

Jerry Newman a University Distinguished Teaching Professor for the New York State University, Buffalo is the coauthor of 'Compensation', a bestseller and an advisor to firms like AT&T, Hewlett-Packard, Burger King, McDonald’s, and Nabisco. However, it was not easy for him to find his first job at a fast food joint. It was only after he had understated his qualifications that he actually found a job. Having been a professor for over 30 years, he was used to being the center of attention and it was difficult for him to adapt to the new circumstances of his choice where he was often “invisible” and not thanked at all for his work. Jerry works in seven different capacities, the Front Counter, the Sandwich Board, as the Fry Guy, the Runner, the Cook, Specialty Prep, apart from doing menial work such as mopping and cleaning the floor. Along his year long journey, he learns that the McJob is not as easy as it is believed. While it pays less and is perceived to be dead end and boring, it does take quite a bit of time and skill to master. Managing workers who are paid less than their counterparts in other restaurants, some of whom have tougher jobs does need quite a bit of personnel management skills, as the book successfully brings across.

The book talks about the different types of managers, and the reasons for their success in different contexts. A toxic manager is one who uses sarcasm very often on the employees in order to get work done or as punishment. A mechanical manager is highly impersonal and is not empathic to employee needs. A relationship manager ensures that the employees develop strong friendships with each other. A performance manager sets specific performance parameters and sets rewards with regard to those parameters. The book also talks about the different kinds of workers. The survival worker is one who is doing the job only to make ends meet. The way-station worker is one who is holding the current job until the next phase in his/her life. An aimless worker does not know what to do in his/her life and thus is doing this job to pass time until something better comes up. A career worker is someone who is doing this job as a career and thus wants to pursue it long term. However, all the employees who hold McJobs have three things in common.

They know what goods/services to deliver
They know to deliver the goods/services under pressure
They work as a team

In the fast food industry, with its employee diversity, communication issues arise because of language and cultural barriers. This is when the practical prowess of a manager is needed. A manager who can understand what the worker is going through is able to manage things better, as compared to a mechanical manager who simply wants things done and works according to the rule book. The author says that the best restaurant he has worked at was a Burger King, and the worst was also a Burger King. So, the work quality is not organization specific, but specific to the culture of a work place. The managers together with the employees in that workplace create this culture.

Training in these restaurant chains happens less on the job, and more through videos that show the slow and deliberate preparation of each item. While on the job, preparations were to be done amidst a lot of clamor and pressure. This goes to show that the training that is imparted must be realistic. Employees are rarely told to have realistic expectations; they are told that the job would be easy and boring, but in reality they end up being high pressure, high speed, and high precision jobs with minimal room for error.

Although the book talks about the way fast food joints are managed, there is a lot to learn about managing one’s workplace on a daily basis. Motivating workers involves not only rewarding them monetarily, because sure enough, just down the road there will be another employer ready to pay more for the same work. In such a scenario, and in an industry where the average industry turnover is about 200%, a lot more than pure monetary motivation is needed. The book gives examples of managers who have managed to keep employee turnover at about 100%, which is an amazing figure for this industry. This book is overall, a quick and interesting read.

May 16, 2017

Appreciative Inquiry : Management Funda; V3 Issue 4

May 16, 2017/ Anu Sharma

Do you believe that “organizing is a problem to be solved” or that, “organizing is a miracle to be embraced”? David Cooperrider and Suresh Srivatsva, who developed Appreciative Inquiry (AI) in the 1980s, believed in the latter. AI is based on the premise that “organizations change in the direction in which they inquire.” So organizations which inquire into problems will keep finding problems. And organizations that try to appreciate what is best in them will discover more and more that is good.

In 1985, a team from Case Western Reserve University's Weatherhead School of Management (Cleveland) was consulting with The Cleveland Clinic, consistently ranked among the top hospitals. They discovered something interesting. As the team asked the clinic's employees questions related to positive work aspects, a wave of energy was seen to be unleashed. The factors that had contributed to the clinic's success were actually being enhanced by the interview process. Thus was born AI, a philosophy and process that builds on the goodness in a person, a situation, or an organization and enhances capacity for collaboration and change. It is the opposite of problem solving. Instead of focusing on gaps and inadequacies an attempt is made to build organizations around what works, rather than trying to fix what does not. AI is a particular way of asking questions and envisioning the future that fosters positive relationships.

Building blocks of AI
AI should have four characteristics. It should be Appreciative, Applicable, Provocative and Collaborative. To understand how AI is implemented let’s look at how a company actually used it. In the late 1990s, Waterbury, VT-based Green Mountain Coffee Roasters (GMCR) was expanding. It was tripling its sales force and doubling its plant size. It was an exciting time of growth for the now $100 million specialty coffee company that CEO Bob Stiller founded as a coffee shop in 1981. In 2000, Stiller realized he needed to capture the economies of the company’s new scale to prevent the company from sinking under its own significantly increased weight. He decided to deploy AI.

GMCR worked through the "4D" AI process comprising of following four phases:-

Discover: Here people talk to one another, often via structured interviews to discover the times when the organization is at its best. These stories are told in as much detail as possible. GMCR team identified where the company's processes worked perfectly.
Dream: This phase is often run as a large group conference. Participants are encouraged to envision the organization as if the best moments discovered in the ‘discover’ phase were the norm rather than exceptions. GMCR team envisioned processes that would work perfectly all the time. “We identified the one best path in each process,” says former CFO Bob Britt, “and asked, “Why don't we do this with everything?”"
Design: In this phase a small team is empowered to go away and design ways of creating the organization dreamed in the conferences. GMCR team defined and prioritized the elements of perfect processes.
Destiny: This is the final phase in which the changes are implemented. GMCR team participated in the process design creation.

Initially the four phases used to be spread out over a long period of time. But nowadays it is more common for the whole process to take place at an ‘Appreciative Inquiry Summit’, a 4 day large group event. Each phase takes place on a separate day. GMCR organized formal AI summits on the company's major business processes—procure-to-pay, order-to-cash, plan-to-produce, and market-to-sell. More than 200 employees, over half the work force, focused on raising productivity.

EXAMPLES OF AI BENEFITS

How can I use it?

Interestingly you can use AI to improve your team’s functioning too. The following exercise can aid in developing shared mental maps of group success, reenergizing the team and improving its performance. It can also help create a safe way of discussing difficult issues for a team.

First, ask your team members to recall the best team experience they have ever been a part of.

Ask each team member in turn, to describe the experience while encouraging the rest of the team to be curious and to engage in a dialogue with the person. Fully explore what about themselves, the situation, the task, and others made this a ‘peak’ experience.

Once all members have exhausted their exploration, ask the team, on the basis of what they have just discussed, to list and develop a consensus on the attributes of highly effective teams.

Conclude by inviting members to publicly acknowledge anything they have seen others in the team do that has helped the team be more like any of the listed attributes.

Conclusion

So often we fall into the trap of trying to understand why 1% of our customers are dissatisfied rather than exploring how we have satisfied the 99% of our customers. Or we conduct exit interviews instead of interviewing people who choose to stay with the company and work on factors that demoralize the team instead of dwelling on the factors that give energy to the team. Taking an Appreciative Inquiry approach will help you view your work and your relationships with others in a different perspective, more positively. And this will yield more positive results for you and your company.

References

‘Appreciative Inquiry’

Kinni, T, ‘The Art of Appreciative Inquiry’, September 22, 2003

‘Appreciative inquiry’

‘Wipro Inducts ‘Appreciative Inquiry’ For Better Team Work’, Dec 02, 2002

Bushe , G R, Ph.D. ‘Appreciative Inquiry with Teams’

May 16, 2017

Determine your primary Conflict-Handling Intention: Activity Corner; V3 Issue 4

May 16, 2017/ Anu Sharma

People have an underlying disposition to handle conflicts in certain ways. To determine your conflict-handling intention, indicate how often you rely on each of the following tactics by circling the number that you feel is most appropriate.

SCORING:

Place the number that represents your score for each statement next to the number for that statement. Then total up the columns.

Your primary conflict-handling intention is the category with the highest total. Your fall-back intention is the category with the second highest total. Each of the categories is explained below.

Competing: A desire to satisfy one’s interest, regardless of the impact on the other parties to the conflict.

Collaborating: A situation where the parties to a conflict each desire to satisfy fully the concerns of all parties.

Avoiding: The desire to withdraw from or suppress a conflict.

Accommodating: The willingness of one party in a conflict to place the opponent’s interests above his or her own.

Compromising: A situation in which each party to a conflict is willing to give up something.

Source: Robbins, SP, 1994, ‘Organizational Behavior’, 6th edition, Prentice Hall of India, New Delhi.

May 16, 2017

Belbin Team Roles : Management Funda; V3 Issue 2

May 16, 2017/ Anu Sharma

After the success of ‘Team Chandrayaan’, ISRO Chief Madhavan Nair mentioned in one of his interviews that the team’s success was not because the team comprised of brilliant individuals. So if not individual brilliance what made them succeed? I would say definitely the right mix of team members, among other things! Would you like to achieve this mix in your team? One way to do this is by using the ‘Belbin Team Roles’ model.

What are the Belbin Team Roles

Over several years, Meredith Belbin and his research team at Henley Management College, England, studied the behavior of managers from world over observing that people in teams tend to assume different team roles. A ‘Team Role’ is “a tendency to behave, contribute and interrelate with others in a particular way". Their research identified nine distinctive team roles known as the ‘Belbin Team Roles’ as underlying the success of teams. The following table summarizes the same.

Some points to remember are…

The nature of team assignment determines the ideal team composition. If the assignment must be finished very fast, then one needs strong Shapers and Finishers. If the assignment is related to development of new products, then one needs more Resource Investigators, Plants and Specialists. Typically to achieve the best balance, there should be…
- A Coordinator or Shaper (not both) for leader.
- A Plant to stimulate ideas.
- A Monitor Evaluator to ensure honesty and clarity.
- One or more Implementer, Team Worker, Resource Investigator or Completer Finisher to make things happen.

One’s behavior and interpersonal style within a team is to some extent dependent on the situation. It relates not only to ones’ own natural working style, but also to the interrelationships with others, and the work being done. A person may behave and interact quite differently in different teams or when the membership or work of the team changes.

Belbin team roles represent tasks and functions in managing the team, activities and are not personality types or thinking preferences.

While one may have ideal and preferred team roles, it does not mean one cannot or should not assume other roles. A team member can even adopt more than one role if the number of team members is less than nine.

Benefits of using the Belbin Team Roles Model

By understanding your team role within a particular team, you can develop your strengths and manage your weaknesses as a team member, and thus improve your contribution to the team.

As the team leader you can use the model to balance team roles before a project starts. Ensure that each needed role in the team can actually be performed by somebody and is assigned to somebody. Teams can be unbalanced if all team members assume the same team roles. Say there are too many Shapers in the team. Each Shaper will want to pull the team in a different direction weakening the team in the process. The good news is well balanced teams are less risk-bearing and typically will require less of your management attention.

You can use also use the model to identify reasons for and manage interpersonal differences within an existing team. Use your analysis of your team as a guide in developing your team's strengths, and managing its weaknesses.

Steps in analyzing your team using the Belbin Team Roles model

Observe how each of your team members contribute and behave with other team members.
Against each team member list down key strengths, weaknesses and characteristics observed.
Compare each person's listed strengths and weakness with Belbin's descriptions of team roles, and determine the one that most accurately describes that person.
Next to identify potential weakness, areas of conflict and missing strengths ask yourself questions like… “Which team roles/strengths are missing from your team?” “Is there a prevalent team role that many of the team members share?”, “What are the potential areas of conflict?”
Consider the options you have to improve as a team. For instance is it possible for a team member to improve how he/she works with others to avoid potential conflict of their natural styles or can new skills be added to the team through addition of new team members to address potential weaknesses.

Conclusion

The Belbin Team Role model is used by over 40 percent of the top 100 companies in the UK, the United Nations, the World Bank and thousands of organizations throughout the world to enhance individual and team performance.

Now you may be thinking that while individuals are likely to excel when given a role that exploits their strengths, it is not always possible to do so. You may have to deliver through the team members you already have. However, an understanding of the required team roles will help your team members to contribute in a manner that improves the effectiveness of the team. And that is where you as their team leader can help. Of course don’t forget to also ensure the presence of the other factors that are equally important in getting a team to perform at its best. And undoubtedly you will have a winning team to successfully launch your own Chandrayaan.

References

Watson B, ‘An Introduction to Belbin Team Roles’, http://www.housing.sc.edu/rsl/pdf/Training/Students/Week2ReadingBelbinSt.pdf.
‘Belbin's Team Roles’, http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newLDR_83.htm.
‘Belbin's Ream Roles’,http://changingminds.org/explanations/preferences/belbin.htm.
‘Belbin's Team Roles’, http://www.12manage.com/methods_belbin_team_roles.html.
‘Belbin Team Roles’, http://www.leadershipsolutions.co.nz/belbin.cfm.

May 16, 2017

Ask the Expert: V3 Issue 1

May 16, 2017/ Anu Sharma

1. I normally take all work challenges in my stride. But with all this talk of recession, I am getting more stressed than usual. Is this normal? How can I reduce the stress levels that I am experiencing at my work place?

Yes, it is perfectly natural to feel more anxious than usual in such times. However, determine the exact cause of your stress. Is it workplace rumours of job cuts, lack of communication from the leadership or the hype by media about economy woes? Try to put the negatives into the right perspective. Differentiate between things under your control and those that you cannot influence at all. Focus on the aspects under your control.

Exploring your situation with experts could ease your fears. If required consult a financial planner who can help you plan for your financial security. Talk to recruitment consultants or successful professionals in your field of work to know what you need to work on to develop your career. When you know you can handle whatever comes your way you will automatically worry less about it.

Ticking off items from your ‘to do list in meeting long term objectives’ will help you feel you are getting somewhere and in control of your work life. That sense of accomplishment and control can act as a powerful stress reducer. If you don’t have a list, make one. Think about all the small, incremental things you can do to build career success over the course of a year, or five years; subscribing to a newsletter, attending a networking conference, practicing your presentation skills etc. Don’t focus only on the short term!

Take time off now and then to relax. Get into the habit of taking a few minutes several times a day to consciously manage stress. Do some stretching or slow breathing. Take a short walk. Chat with a colleague. And don’t forget the popular stress buster - a tea break. Figure out what works for you. Keeping in shape by taking daily walks and maintaining regular sleep and eating patterns is similarly important to reduce stress levels. Maintain healthy food habits. This will have a positive effect on your stress responses. Being physically fit is essential for you to be emotionally strong and mentally alert during trying times.

I think primarily it is your attitude to stress causing factors that matter. Look for the positives in your professional and personal life and actively build on them- it helps to maintain a positive attitude. With these I am sure you will be able to continue taking all your work challenges in your stride like you usually do.

2. Morale is low currently among employees and as the HR team member, I would like to do something about it. However since the recession has hit our company’s revenues quite badly, it will be difficult to get a budget approved for such activities. Can you suggest a few low cost measures to improve morale among employees?

There are lots ways by which you can improve employee morale. In fact the money spent is only one of the ingredients for increasing morale of employees. With a little creativity and lots of determination and sustained efforts, you can improve your employee morale. For starters get the managers of all employees to thank and praise their team members for their specific contributions. Employees prefer instant and personalized recognition from their immediate boss more than any other kind of workplace motivation. Sounds simple right? But you would be surprised how many managers neglect doing this. Formalize a program whereby managers regularly hand out commendations. Also ensure public recognition of exemplary work. Bulletin boards, company-wide emails, newsletters and meetings are different mediums for the same. You can even supplement it with inexpensive tokens of appreciation.

Employees are also more likely to become engaged in their work if they know their bosses are listening to them. Listening implies caring. Sensitize managers to this aspect and encourage managers to regularly move out of their desks and chat with employees. In addition to listening, companies should frequently communicate with their employees to help employees better understand department and company wide actions, increasing efficiency and encouraging team building.

Another cost-effective way to energize employees is by soliciting suggestions from employees, showing that their ideas are valued. So ask for suggestions related to the recession related measures being taken by the company, be it cost cutting or improving revenue streams. The more valued employees feel, the more likely they will display high morale. Another morale booster is getting employees involved in implementing the suggestions made.

Offering lots of autonomy and authority is another excellent way. Freedom fosters creativity, resourcefulness and a sense of ownership, and it establishes a foundation of mutual trust and respect. Discuss with managers on how they can be clear about job assignments and their expectations from team members, while also being open and flexible as to how the team members achieve results. The tough part is to get the managers to then start providing more autonomy and authority to their subordinates.

Finally, there is the good old “introducing the fun element” to work place. Formalize fun events that do not cost much. Some good examples are creating friendly competitions between employees and departments, providing employees the opportunity to showcase their talents, bring your pet/child/spouse to Work Day, get-to-know-your-colleague exercises, funny awards ceremony etc.

All the best and do write to us about how you improved (note we are not saying “if you”) the employee morale in your company. We would love to hear all about it.

May 16, 2017

Goal Setting - the SMARTER way : Management Funda; V3 Issue 1

May 16, 2017/ Anu Sharma

A tried and tested way of achieving organization, team and individual success is by setting goals. Hence, in the context of current economic challenges, this is a good time for the HR folks to strengthen the goal setting process of their companies. Strengthening this organization process will not only help in enhancing current productivity levels, but also future productivity levels. As a manager this is also a powerful way to motivate yourself and your team members.

Aligning Individual Goals with Organization Goals

For goals to produce desirable result for your organization, first and foremost all goals, be it individual or team, should be aligned with organization goals. Let’s look at how this can be done with an illustration for a Sales Officer.

Knowing the target is the first step in achieving the target. The goal therefore should comprehensively and completely define what the role holder needs to target to achieve success. The clarity of the goals set also provides the role holders a higher level of control in their jobs leading to high levels of engagement. One of the methods found very useful across organizations to make goal setting more effective is the SMARTER goal setting.

About SMARTER Goal Setting

SMARTER goal setting entails making the goals one sets SMARTER ie., Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, Time bound, Engaging and Reaching. Let’s see what each of this means.

Specific: The expected result should be stated explicitly. A vague goal like "Take initiative”, has limited motivational value and has lesser chance of being accomplished than a specific goal. Determine “What exactly do I want to accomplish and How?” Use action words such as direct, organize, lead, develop, plan etc. For example the goal of "Reduce costs" can be made specific by saying "Implement two initiatives to reduce overhead costs across the company by 5% in every quarter in order to attain overall 10 % cost reduction for the year."

Measurable: What cannot be measured cannot be attained. Hence the goal should be such that it allows you to clearly measure your progress. When you reach your short term targets you feel a sense of achievement motivating you to put in the efforts required to reach your long term goal too. To determine if your goal is measurable, ask......How much? How many? How will we know if we’ve accomplished the result?

Attainable: An important characteristic of a goal is the level of challenge, related to whether the resources and skills needed to accomplish the goal are available. The need for achievement is strong among people. Therefore one is best motivated by challenging, but realistic goals. Setting a goal that one will fail to achieve is possibly more de-motivating than setting a goal that's too easy.

Relevant: This criterion is related to whether the goal fits with the overall strategy and goals of the organization and department. The goal needs to be relevant for you and your team. For example a goal related to “achieving high customer satisfaction”, maybe more relevant to a service team than for a research and development team.

Time bound: A goal should say by when it will be achieved. Otherwise there will be no sense of urgency and planning for its achievement and prioritizing between goals will be difficult. If you want to launch a new product, by when do you want to launch? "Some time in the year" is not good enough. But if you anchor it within a timeframe like "by August 15th", then your plans for achieving it will be guided by this time limit.

Engaging: The goal should be devised in such way that it is interesting and motivating for you and your team member. You will not mind putting in that extra effort for such goals.

Reaching: A goal should provide a growth opportunity for the individual. Although it should be realistic, it should also be a challenge or a stretch so that in the process of meeting it the individual develops.

An exercise on SMARTER Goals: Look at the first column in the table below and see if you can determine whether it meets the SMARTER criteria. If not which criterion does it not meet?

Goal Setting - the SMARTER way