Case Study:
Read a selection of your colleagues' postings.
Respond to two of your colleagues in one or more of the following ways:
1) Sharing an insight you gained from reading your colleagues' postings and exploring how you will apply this insight to your professional career and managerial practices.
2) Based on details of a colleague's analysis, sharing from your own observations or experiences related to the challenges of successfully leading a diverse group in a unified direction and offering lessons you learned from those observations or experiences.
3) Suggesting an alternate or modified approach to leading diverse groups towards success and illustrating why those might work better
POST 1
In a leadership role, he or she must use creative ways to accommodate diversity so that everyone feels that they are an important part of the team. The idea of "one shoe fits all" is just not very creditable in every situation or country.
My parents are from Iran and Indian which already is a diversity that one should get used to especially since out of 5 children I am the only one born in the United States. It is true that we think different and it is very hard to conform but when push comes to shove we have and bring front to our mind that "one shoe doesn't fit for all even if they are from the same place we are as being in America one learns to conform and hold his or her country dear to their heart.
In being ask to analysis of the barriers that prevented the group from leveraging their differences and creating innovative idea I would have to say no one was willing to consider the others opinion everyone wanted to be a back-seat driver always have something to say but only seeing it from a different angel. For this process to improve everyone needed to really listen to one another, weight out the pros and cons, agree to disagree and come up with a plan that works best for the company.
The article title Psychological diversity: Leading people with different styles within that article West (1997) argued that, "The more diverse the workforce, the more likely it is that an organization will be innovative, just simply because of the variety of alternative perspectives that are brought to bear" (p. 95). With that in mind I would first remind my staff that I am as affective as my counterparts, and suggest a team meeting to go over the upcoming project and at this team meeting I would suggest everyone bring in a dish that represents his or her ethnic background and we will have lunch as we discuss the task that is at hand. In doing this type of meeting it gives team members the opportunity to step into their colleague world even if it just for a moment and open discussion that will give one another a better insight to who they are and maybe then the diversity that once kept us a part is the one thing that will pull us together as a team as we are open to really listen when place in a different setting.
In my 26 years at the company that I recently retired at I needed to be creative as a team leader but as well as a coworker; which meant I need to stop marching to my own beat, realize there is no I in team, and communicate. Once I could do that then and not until then I could work as a team to improve the current work environment. In this scenario if I was placed to lead I would make it a point to let everyone know that his or her opinion matters before I asked them to go to lunch then come back with a clear mind leaving the walls down at the door and we will write everyone's ideas down do a process of elimination with what works and doesn't work and then once we have the remaining ideas to decide as a team how do we mesh everyone ideas to have a fulfilling accomplishment.
Finally, in out reading the lesson learned from that chapter was in a leadership role he or she must use creative ways to accommodate diversity so that everyone feels that they are an important part of the team
Reference
Puccio, G. J., Mance, M., & Murdock, M. C. (2011). Psychological diversity: Leading people with different styles. In Puccio, Mance, & Murdock, Creative leadership: Skills that drive change (pp. 241-264). Los Angeles, CA: Sage.
POST 2
Hi, based on my experience this seem like a group that barely worked together before and still in storming phase of its formation. I noticed few barriers within scenario:
1) There seem to be no common understanding of the process to reach the solution . Understanding of each other preferences and inclinations.
2) The structure of the meeting is driven by the individual preferences, not the plan or ground rules.
3) It is not clear for me who is the leader/manager accountable for the project success and empowered to take necessary decisions or guide the process. They seem to be all involved and feeling accountable, hence getting stressed and emotional.
I see a number of ways how the process can be improved.
The team shall be made aware and clear of the grand process of problem solving (i.e., clarify the situation, generate ideas, develop solutions, implement solutions) and its key outcomes and expectations of each phase. This will help the team to understand what kind of effort is required at what time. This will also assist in putting the structure to the sessions, such as the one.
Each shall reflect and be open to express own preferences within the process and make effort to understand others point of view. For example, Ideatormight feel quite frustrated by the Developer tendency to limit the number of ideas.
The clear leadership role that can steer the team through the process. "A leader who is aware of CPS can employ this process to circumvent both personality and process clashes" (Puccio, Mance, Murdock, 2011, p.23).
Based on my previous experience of successful projects delivery and work in highly diverse teams as well as this courses reading material, if
I asked to lead the team, I would prefer the following approach. Ensure that team is clear and united by the common purpose of the project and its objectives. I will spend sufficient time with team understanding each concern and conceptual ways to address them. This might result in a framework that I may use going forward while working with them. For example, maintaining a risk register and communication plan, that will satisfy some of the Clarifier concerns about board awareness. I will start with small tasks and assignments to help team feel the power of quick-wins. This might be building a detailed project plan or status update templates. This will help me to achieve a greater buy-in from the team into the plan and activities required to be done for the success of the project. Followed by the discussion around each other preferences and roles, we will structure our meetings to address the particular objective of the process. For example, to clarify the problem. During this meeting, we will embrace the use of the tools and techniques that may help low clarifiers to maximize own contribution. Table 13.3 (Puccio et al, 2011, p.20) offer a number of principles including staying focused and reembracing objectives as well as tools, such as success zones, a web of abstraction. Based on my creative thinking style analysis I have an inclination towards all FourSight preferences and enjoy participating in different parts of the process. What I found truly interesting here is bringing such a diverse team of great people to a final solution that will make an impact to the organization that matters. In my view delivering a project is about facilitation, this would require an application of different management instruments (e.g. coaching, selling, mentoring, just do it etc.). Depending on the situation and requirement each of the instruments shall be applied. For example, if it is about using new tool or technique, some mentoring or coaching might be a good instrument. In case it is about completing the status report in time, just do it might be more relevant. In the situation where there is a buy-in issue selling instrument might work well. Trust this paragraph also explains the implementation of the ideas I listed above.
There are a number of useful ideas that I have highlighted while reading the book. In particular, following resonated with me most. "team focuses their problem solving energy in one direction and together progress through the process" (Puccio et al, 2011, p.23). To me, this translates into having a common plan that everyone is aware of while ensuring that right type of creative thinking and personality is leveraged at the right phase of the project. This also means that team effort and focus should be put together towards the success of each phase irrespective of individual preferences.
References:
Puccio, G. J., Mance, M., & Murdock, M. C. (2011). Psychological diversity: Leading people with different styles. In Puccio, Mance, & Murdock, Creative leadership: Skills that drive change (pp. 241-264). Los Angeles, CA: Sage.