For decades educators have taught two important ideas about learning and development: 1) If you say that you believe in a student’s particular capability, and keep repeating it, after a while they will accept that belief as reality. 2) If you wish to get the best out of a student, find the best in a student.
Parents and classroom teachers have not taken these ideas to heart. Students, from a very young age, undergo “forced ranking” through the grading system, a competition which labels individuals as being at the top, middle or bottom of their class. (Enron raised the stakes with their “rank-and-yank” approach to firing underperformers which did wonders for long-term leadership development.) Not coincidentally, teachers habitually point out to students not what they do right but what they do wrong – over and over. Furthermore, they tend to focus their quality teaching time on those students who they perceive will answer a question correctly. As a result, students learn that the best way to succeed is to give the teacher what they want and not make waves. Even if you thought you were right, there’s no point in arguing with the person giving you your performance review, i.e. grades. It’s the rare and heroic teacher who breaks that pattern – check out Dead Poet’s Society, Finding Forester and Rudy for a few Hollywood examples.
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Will Schultz, noted consultant, facilitator, author and founder of the encounter group movement tells us there are three phases to establishing effective relationships with others: inclusion, control, and openness. Each one of these words has other terms that help us understand its essence or importance. The word “inclusion” has as its underlying meaning “significance”. That is, in order to become included, you must first feel significant. If you don’t feel included, Schultz would contend, you might feel insignificant. Webster defines “significant” as having or expressing meaning, often hidden meaning; to be important or weighty.
A few months ago I was sitting in a seminar conducted by Bruce Tulgan, the guru on generational differences. Continue reading » »
I am working on the materials for a two-day class on organizational agility and have adopted the following definition:
Organizational Agility is your enterprise’s capacity to be consistently adaptable without having to change. It is the efficiency with which your organization can respond to nonstop change.
What do you think about this definition? Let’s break it down a bit.
- What does it mean to be consistently adaptable?
- What does “without having to change” look like? What would this look like in the world of sports or the arts?
- What does the phrase “efficiency with which your organization can respond to nonstop change” mean and how does this contrast more traditional change management techniques and methods?
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Listen to what General Mills CEO Steve Sanger recently told 90 of his colleagues: “As you all know, last year my team told me that I needed to do a better job of coaching my direct reports. I just reviewed my 360-degree feedback. I have been working on becoming a better coach for the past year or so. I’m still not doing quite as well as I want, but I’m getting a lot better. My coworkers have been helping me improve. Another thing that I feel good about is the fact that my scores on ‘effectively responds to feedback’ are so high this year.”
While listening to Steve speak so openly to coworkers about his efforts to develop himself as a leader, I realized how much the world has changed. Continue reading » »
Is Work-Life Balance Worth Fighting For?
What makes an organization an employer of choice? So many people list “work-life balance” as one of the key knock-out factors. Like an elusive vision of an oasis in the desert, it radiates with simplicity and philosophical appeal. Some things are more important than work but what does “work-life balance” really mean? A source of much discussion and great frustration among employees, the idea of an organization with work-life balance doesn’t really stand up to scrutiny – it’s an oasis that will always exist on the distant horizon.
One shouldn’t despair – work-life balance may not be such a great idea anyway. The quest for it reminds me of Shel Silverstein’s wonderful story, “The Missing Piece.” Although written for children, it speaks most aptly to adults. Continue reading » »
