Category Archives: Change Principles

Categorising Group Roles

March 7, 2013 cdv Leave a comment

By Cindy Vallance @cdvallance

I have previously written about principles that can benefit groups when they want to think together. I have also written a series of blogs with practical tips for the chair and for participants in working to ensure that meetings are successful.

But what I haven’t yet done is share thoughts on the roles of group members. Role differentiation and clarity is important to any group. There are many many ways to categorise group roles and I do not profess any particular theoretical expertise on group dynamics. Do take a look at the work of The Centre for the Study of Group Processes at the University of Kent (also Twitter @Group_Lab) that researches social psychological processes affecting group & intergroup relations.

To keep things simple, as a starting point I will reference a single model used by one of my own University professors (Professor A.R. “Elango” Elangovan), which is a distillation of Kenneth Benne and Paul Sheats’ work on group behaviour that originated as far back as the 1940s. Benne and Sheats defined three categories of group roles: task-oriented roles, relations-oriented roles, and self-oriented roles.

Task-oriented roles include initiators, information seekers, information givers, coordinators and evaluators. These roles are important in actually getting the work done.

Relationship-oriented roles serve a different purpose. These roles help the group function in a positive way. They include encouragers, harmonisers, gatekeepers, standard setters, and group observers.

Finally, Self-oriented individualistic roles generally weaken and disrupt the group. These roles include blockers, recognition seekers, dominators and avoiders.

If you have freedom of choice in forming your group, be careful in choosing your members. A diverse range of people who balance task and relationship-oriented roles will take the group forward in a positive way.

But what do you do about the dysfunctional self-oriented roles? Perhaps you don’t have complete control over group membership. If this is the case, then the goal should be to minimise or eliminate these behaviours through increased awareness and full group acknowledgment that all of these roles exist within groups. This is of course easier said than done but a start can be made by simply naming these roles and agreeing from the outset of the group creation that disruptive behaviour will not be tolerated. Coaching and feedback can also help to greatly reduce or eliminate these behaviours.

You have an idea of the range of roles you want. What is next?

Change Principles, Updates

When are many heads better than one?

March 2, 2013 cdv 1 Comment

By Cindy Vallance @cdvallance

As a follow on to my last blog, why do we bother with groups at all?

Firstly, it is important to note that sometimes groups are formed as a conscious structural choice of an organisation. At the University of Kent, for example, staff members who were previously dispersed throughout colleges were collected into subject-based academic schools in the mid 1990’s. Professional services are similarly identified as functional units and sometimes co-located to provide support to the core business of the University’s Faculties / Schools. For example, Information Services, Human Resources, Finance and Research Services (among many others) each serve a functional purpose. While much could also be written about these groups, what follows is not focused on groups that are created as part of an organisational structure.

Rather, what about those groups or teams that are created for a reason beyond the formal structure? Research groups, project teams, working parties – these are groups that come together – usually over a finite amount of time – to accomplish a specific goal.

Why do we create these groups? What is the potential value that we gain? While in reality we do not always accrue significant benefits for a host of reasons we will consider, group decision making can be superior to individual decision-making in a number of different situations. Many heads can be better than one, for instance, when:

Tasks require judgments about uncertain events and information available is either incomplete or uncertain
Concern for quality outcomes are high and potential benefits are substantial
Costs of errors is also high and it may be difficult to reverse or salvage a poor decision
Many feasible alternative solutions exist
Identifying the optimal alternative is difficult
Feedback about results will not be immediately available

This is not meant to be an exhaustive list and there are undoubtedly many more reasons that could be added. Perhaps two key factors that are common, however, are uncertainty and complexity.

So, if groups can sometimes be effective but aren’t in all cases; where do we go wrong? What are the characteristics of successful groups? More on this next time.

Change Principles, Updates

Building and Maintaining Resilience

February 24, 2013 cdv Leave a comment

By @cdvallance

The past few weeks since my last blog have been a struggle. Like many others around the University I have been battling what a colleague referred to as ‘the ubiquitous Kent bug.’ While I very much doubt that Kent is alone as an organisation that has had many of its members fall victim to a range of winter colds and flus, it has certainly been difficult for me to identify anyone absolutely brimming with energy and enthusiasm of late. Add to this a bout of cold, wet, grey weather, short days, dark nights and many work challenges. So what can be done?

For me, the only way to regain and then maintain my personal and professional resilience in relation to work is to reflect on the question ‘why do I bother?’ What do I believe about why I get up every morning and go to work? Of course I need and want a pay cheque. That is a given. But this isn’t enough for me and I believe it isn’t enough for others either. I believe we all (or at least the great majority of us) want to feel that we are making a positive difference in what we do and that we also want to share these feelings of pursuing a common purpose with others.

How do we do this? In my last blog, I shared six keys to successful change coined by leading thinker Rosabeth Moss Kanter. To recap, these were:

Show up, speak up, team up, look up, don’t give up, lift others up.

In my next few blogs I will discuss why I believe groups and teams are key to organisational success. This is partly selfish. My hope is that sharing my thinking about something I care about – team work and collaboration – will also help me rebuild my own resilience and restore my own energy in trying to make a positive difference at the University of Kent.

Change Principles, Updates

Leadership in Action

February 5, 2013 cdv Leave a comment

By Cindy Vallance

@cdvallance

I was very pleased to be asked to present our University of Kent leadership and management programme participation certificates at the annual Learning and Development Awards Ceremony in late January.

However, before I presented the certificates I was given the opportunity to share a few thoughts with the 120 staff members in attendance. A few people asked me afterwards for my references so I thought it might be useful to repeat the words I shared with that group again here:

Everyone in this room today that is receiving an award has demonstrated leadership. This type of leadership is self-leadership and is the foundation for all other types of leadership. An American professor by the name of Charles Manz provides an explanation of the concept of self-leadership in relation to self-management. He stated that while self-management is largely concerned with a set of behavioural and cognitive strategies that reflect a rational view of what people ought to be doing…self-leadership goes beyond this to place significant emphasis on the intrinsic value of tasks.” (Manz, Charles C. “Self-Leadership: Toward an Expanded Theory of Self-Influence Processes in Organizations,” Academy of Management Review, Volume 11, No. 3, 1986, 585-600.)

The individual who exercises self-leadership does not simply respond to a leader’s vision; the individual helps to create the vision. Your achievements reflect your individual part in helping to embody a wider organisational vision for the University of Kent.

I have also noticed a number of common themes recurring increasingly in discussions across our leadership and management programmes – behaviours that appear to resonate to participants, managers, and sponsors alike – qualities that I am happy to see not just being spoken about but also demonstrated.

These themes include: collaboration, community, respect, fostering diversity, transparency, trust, breaking down silos, appreciation, balancing creativity with consistency and focusing on a purpose that is larger than ourselves to inspire and motivate others.

Everyone can help to demonstrate their self-leadership and belief in the themes that are resonating across the University by practicing six keys to leading positive change. These keys were coined by one of my favourite thinkers, Professor Rosabeth Moss Kanter and are really very simple:

“Show up, speak up, look up, team up, don’t give up, and lift others up.”

Change Principles, Excellence

Features of a high performing team

January 28, 2013 Simon Black 1 Comment

In the past I have made a several links (some more oblique than others) to celebrated efforts and achievements of sportspeople over the past year including Bradley Wiggins, Usain Bolt, and the British Cycling team and the London 2012 Olympics.

Bradford City ‘picked up the ball and ran with it’ by working together, playing to their strengths, committing effort, taking responsibility, keeping discipline, and always believing the dream!

After a pulsating year of sporting moments in 2012 and having previously prodded at the excesses of football management, I simply cannot miss the chance to celebrate the achievements earlier this month by a humble, honest lower league football club. Bradford City FC are close to my heart, having spent many occasions at their Valley Parade home in years gone by and since then, despite a move down south, I have been able to follow their tortuous progress through financial misfortune and near-collapse with nevertheless genuinely joyful moments amongst a few hundred Bradford faithful as a regular ‘away’ fan down south) …

In the early weeks of 2013 lowly Bradford City, a club that have been in the doldrums of lower-league football for over 10 years, set the media alight with successive victories against Premier League opposition in a winning run that has taken them to a major Cup Final for the first time in 101 years. This gives the team a further chance to shine in front of 90,000 fans at Wembley, the national stadium. At the time of their only previous success, winning the FA Cup in 1911 (a week-and-a half after the Titanic had sunk in the North Atlantic), the site at Wembley was still a rural landscape of fields and woodland copses. Bradford are the first 4th tier (lowest division) team to reach any final in England for 51 years. The story is well documented elsewhere, but it is worth noting that Bradford’s entire squad of players was assembled for a total of £7500 of transfer fees – in a world where opposition players in the Premier League teams which were defeated to reach the final cost millions (often tens of millions) – EACH.

How is this possible? Surely it is a matter of assembling a team of the best, to achieve success? Bradford illustrates that there is an alternative model – to build the best team you can with what you have. And how? To get the team members to prepare and focus on the things that matter. For Bradford this was all about playing to strengths, taking responsibility, keeping discipline, committing effort, working together, and of course always believing that they could achieve the dream! As the team’s winning run extended from August 2012 against lower league opposition through to a thrilling December night against the big-guns of Arsenal and later Aston Villa in the January semi-final, all of the team’s values and actions were validated and rewarded through the results that they achieved together. This builds both self-belief and belonging which enables performance; a difficult blend to achieve purely through big-money signings. In Premier League teams this process usually takes years to achieve – with a lot of waste and at great expense! It is not just a matter of ‘chemistry’, but rather a matter of focus and action.

So in our teams let’s focus on our goals, our various roles, how we work together at a practical level and how we build positive working relationships based on mutuality and trust.

Networking: talk, then work (and see the benefits).

January 21, 2013 Simon Black Leave a comment

It is easy to be busy and to forget the value of building positive working relationships with people. After all, working relationships are often the source of ideas, innovation, encouragement and better use of resources.

Finding time to make proper contact with people can be tricky, especially in roles where “meetings,meetings, meetings” rule, or if you are stuck behind a computer screen. Nevertheless, if we have the right mindset and a clear sense of purpose, we can make the most of personal networking, even if the opportunities are fleeting.

I recall an occasion when a colleague from an operational department picked up an idea with me for developing a training programme. She had previously drafted out a proposal which had been discussed with a couple of colleagues, but had not yet discussed the idea at senior levels. We both worked up the idea and, with a minimum of scheduled meetings (I can recall three1/2 hour discussions), by simply keeping our bosses in the loop, within 2 months we had the programme up and running, briefed to managers, marketed to 150+ people (many of whom voluntarily applied for a place with management approval) and the selected cohort had attended the first event. The normal turnaround for this type of activity – about 6-9 months.

How did things work so effectively on this occasion? Well, for one thing the personal enthusiasm of the people involved, secondly, the trust that each person had in delegating the work (and the trust shown by senior stakeholders in allowing us to get on with it) – and thirdly the purposeful use of time when we briefly met or had a conversation on the ‘phone. These behaviours set the tone when engaging other colleagues for support and encouraged a collaborative atmosphere in the project team. The work needed no significant new resources and the administration was hooked into existing procedures and workflow. The advantage was a 60 – 80% improvement in turnaround time.

Of course networking may involve a host of other things; ideas, innovation, opening up opportunities in new markets, new career pathways, business partnerships, research collaboration, cost saving opportunities, learning. There is no magic networking chemistry – ALL effective networking behaviours can be learned. If networking fails it is probably because one or both people choose for it to fail either consciously or sub-consciously…or they let the potential impact of the contact to ‘wither on the vine’ through lack of effort.

Networking is not just a social process – it needs to be far more than that in order to work properly. Good work involves the use of knowledge, understanding the psychology of people, understanding how systems work, and responding to the comings and goings of events in an appropriate manner. Networking that just involves chat delivers what it deserves…

Incidentally on a separate note – during the same two-month period described above, I had a contrasting experience. I was involved in various discussions (I lost count of the meetings, but it must have been at least six or seven) with essentially the same types of positive people (so the same positive chemistry SHOULD have been working), to resolve some minor concerns in a half-day training workshop. Now on this occasion maybe I was the problem, but progress in this instance was simply not very productive. Avenues were examined which did not require consideration and assumptions were taken which only served to delay decisions (until the real facts were extracted). This experience reminded me of some observations made in a recent blog which included some interesting ideas (attributed to the likes of Deming) but which were summarised as equations. A few choice ones are shown below:

Opinions+opinions+opinions = opinions
Meetings = opinions x people + documents

And the moral of these equations? – None of these activities is real value-adding work.

We need to be diligent in how we use our time. When networking, be purposeful – look to bring something to offer to a discussion as well as have in mind something that you want to get out of it for yourself. Remember that talking together is fine, but working together can be much more rewarding.

Tips for Meeting Participants

December 11, 2012 cdv Leave a comment

By Cindy Vallance @cdvallance

Even if you’re not ‘in the Chair,’ all participants still have responsibilities when it comes to ensuring that all receive the full benefit from effective meetings.

Prior to the Meeting

Submit agenda items if and when asked to do so

Come to the meeting prepared to discuss the agenda at hand

Read and be familiar with any information that is distributed in advance

At the Meeting

Attend all meetings and if for any reason you can’t, send apologies in advance along with your legitimate reason for being absent

Arrive at meetings on time

Stay until the end of the meeting

Actively participate – that is why you are attending in the first place isn’t it?

Understand that within the meeting everyone has an equal right to participate

Exert peer pressure on other group members by fully supporting the Chair in managing inappropriate behaviour

Share ideas in an honest and open manner

If conflict exists, air these items in the meeting in a professional manner, not after the meeting

Retain confidentiality for any meeting items when agreed to

Once actions have been decided, support the group’s decision

Refrain from complaining about other participants or the group itself when outside the meeting

Raise concerns with the Chair directly

After the Meeting

Complete any tasks that you have responsibility for within the timeframe discussed

Share with the Chair any observations that might provide helpful learning for the future

In conclusion, the ‘how’ of the meeting is just as important as the ‘what’ since it is the collective energies, commitment and actions of the group that will help us to accomplish so much more than any of us can individually. Note that further consideration was given to the ‘how’ of creating a thinking environment for meetings in this earlier blog series.

Since this is my final blog for 2012, I would also like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has been reading these pieces. While formal comments within the blogs have been minimal, I have appreciated the references that colleagues have made about the blogs along with the retweets when these have been posted to twitter. I hope that you have found these blogs to be of interest. Do check back in the New Year and in the meantime, I wish you the very best for the holiday season and for 2013.

Change Principles, Effective Meetings, Updates

The Challenge of the Chair

November 26, 2012 cdv 2 Comments

By Cindy Vallance @cdvallance

The challenge of establishing the conditions for a productive meeting falls to the CHAIR and much of the success of a meeting comes down to ADVANCE PREPARATION.

While the hints and ideas that follow should not be seen as prescriptive rules, they can provide ways to think through each meeting element.

As mentioned previously, once again, it comes back to first considering the explicit PURPOSE and precise OBJECTIVES of the meeting, or each part of the meeting.

Once the purpose and objectives are set, it is then useful to consider the meeting SIZE. Seven to ten is generally ideal for discussion. A meeting with over fifteen in attendance starts to become unwieldy and it will become increasingly difficult to ensure everyone’s voice is heard. In these cases, if discussion is desired, it can be helpful to first provide the context, then break into smaller groups for discussion and save time for a report back from each group at the end so thoughts can be collected and summarised.

Estimate the LENGTH of the meeting; two hours is generally a good maximum but many meetings can be effectively conducted within an hour.

The LOCATION of the meeting is also important. Ideally, everyone should have a clear view of everyone else; a round or oval table can be beneficial if the Chair does not wish to convey a hierarchical structure.

Do people need to ATTEND all or only part of the meeting? While having people come and go can be disruptive, it is worth considering on a case by case basis.

The Chair should draw up the AGENDA and circulate with applicable papers a minimum of two days in advance of the meeting (or longer depending how large that pack of pre-reading is, of course). Agenda items should be allocated in priority order so that the most important items are scheduled while people are fresh. Do students attend the meeting? Is their section always last? Why not try reversing the order? It is helpful to save a positive item for the end (see the point about praise in my last blog). However, if the meeting is a difficult one, it is important not to include something positive for its own sake. Simply thank participants for their honesty and engagement within the meeting.

It can be useful to request a brief SUMMARY DOCUMENT in advance from people who want to add agenda items to the meeting. This provides them with the opportunity to outline the purpose and objectives of their item(s), so the same rigour begins to be practiced by everyone.

DURING THE MEETING itself it is the responsibility of the Chair to maintain control by guiding the participants in a clear, transparent and respectful way through the agenda. It can be helpful to think of the Chair role as a facilitator who remains objective and impartial within the meeting even while having a direct and personal stake in the matters at hand. Getting engrossed deeply in the subject matter while simultaneously getting others involved are not activities that easily mix.

Once AT THE MEETING, the Chair should

Start the meeting on time

Clarify the objectives of the meeting so everyone has a shared understanding

Introduce each topic by putting it into context and explaining the purpose and objective of the item

Control the pace and time of the meeting

Keep discussions to the point by asking clarifying questions

Conclude each item by summarising what has been agreed or decided

Finish off by recapping all actions and time scales by individuals and confirm shared understanding

And what about AFTERWARDS? The Chair should:

Reflect on whether the meeting was successful in meeting its objectives by considering: what went well; what could have gone better? It can be helpful for the Chair to test their own perceptions with a few others who attended and who will be honest with us since we can either be our own worst critic or we can let ourselves get off too lightly

Confirm the minutes or action log and circulate to participants as soon as possible (ideally within a few days following the meeting)

Check that those responsible for actions have received the notes and taken action according to agreed timescales

Does all this feel just slightly overwhelming? Even as I write, I am cringing as I think how often I don’t manage to get all this right. However, since we spend so much time in meetings, isn’t it worth our concentrated and conscious efforts to make the best use possible of this ‘supertax‘ of work?

This blog has discussed the ‘what’ of meetings; my next blog will discuss some principles to keep in mind in relation to the ‘how’ of working with groups.

Change Principles

Restoration, re-invigoration and renewal

November 21, 2012 Simon Black 1 Comment

Two types of change are commonly experienced at work (or in life) – ‘incremental improvement’ and ‘renewal’. In a previous blog I discussed incremental improvements and change.

Sometimes this terminology gets muddled – people often talk about ‘incremental change’, as if this is to be expected and welcomed, but it risks us accepting uncontrolled or ill-considered changes…

Drifting in a storm of change is a worst-case scenario!

… analogous to the experience of an untethered boat, without power or sail, bobbing across a choppy sea – at the mercy of external tides and winds and its own susceptibility to leak!

To cope better with change we need to anticipate it, by being proactive in improving our service before it is forced upon us and by getting everyone involved in shaping the change and being a part of what needs to happen. It is of course important to know which change to address and when and part of this is informed by involving people who know what is happening on the ground.

‘RENEWAL’, on the other hand, is a much more glamorous cousin; highly visible, demanding ‘out of the box thinking’ (I think this is the correct parlance) and often packaged as ‘strategic’. Each of these aspects can be very useful, but should be handled with care. Many of us will recognise the renewal approach as the preferred option of many a manager (particularly people new into a role):

One only has to think of a new football manager installed at a Premier League club, who ushers players out (‘dead wood’) and in (‘new boys’) for millions of pounds to ‘get the team into shape’, or to ‘have them working my way’. By the time THAT manager has been fired (often in a matter of months) another ‘new man’ comes in (they usually are men) and does the same thing over again. On occasion the ‘new man’ may re-install players who had previously been in the club, whilst offloading the previous set of new boys…and so the cycle continues. Coincidentally a sacking occurred in the Premier League this week; Chelsea’s manager was hired temporarily in March, formally appointed August and fired in November.

After eight sackings since 2003, Chelsea Football Club now seek a ninth manager in as many years.

This is NOT to say that renewal is bad. Clearly at times it is vital – but it can easily be mis-handled. When well directed and purposeful, renewal is essential and can have significant impact. The caveat is that when it is not purposeful nor well-directed it is causes disruption (or worse).

So how do we avoid the problems? One major problem with many efforts at renewal and incremental improvement is that it is not really renewal at all, but simply an attempt at copying the previous experience of particular managers or other organisations. Whilst this appears perfectly plausible, attempts at applying methods from one place to another may not work. This lack of success is not just about people, but about the complex needs of different users (customer, clients etc), systems and the way that work is organised. Rather than copying, it is much better for teams to examine their users needs and the work they do to deliver the service. At that stage, use that new knowledge to make decisions about change – which may be incremental or may involve more significant renewal. Well-focused, well-thought out effort will enable change to have a better and lasting impact.

And as for meeting the changing demands of a vibrant, challenging world – what can we really do to be effective? Well, with the right effort and focus, even a tiny turtle hatchling can negotiate an ocean…

BBC Sport (2012) Roberto Di Matteo sacked by Chelsea after Juventus defeat, 21 November 2012
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/20423905

MacDonald, J. (1998) Calling a Halt to Mindless Change, Amacom, UK.

Seddon, J. (2005) Freedom from Command and Control, Vanguard Press, Buckingham, UK.

Change Principles, Communication, Dialogue, Effective Meetings

Team briefings – a particular kind of meeting…

November 19, 2012 cdv 3 Comments

By Cindy Vallance @cdvallance

In my last blog, I discussed the importance of identifying the purpose and goals of meetings so that the Chair and participants can be clear on what should be accomplished. Regular team briefings are one common type of meeting. How can these be constructed?

Relatively short, regularly scheduled team briefings are most often for:

passing on information…I have news to share with you about …

decision-making…What are we going to do about…?

Depending on the length and regularity of the meeting, there may be time to include:

gathering information…What do you think of …?

problem solving…How should we resolve…?

However, often these last two items may involve additional people beyond those in the immediate team since there may be considerations that would benefit from input beyond the team itself.

A handy discipline to think through the team meetings process is to apply the five P’s mentioned by Peter McCaffery in his book, The Higher Education Manager’s Handbook: Effective Leadership & Management in Universities & Colleges.

PROGRESS – how is the team doing in relation to specific objectives that have previously been set? It is important for the team to know that while the team’s ‘to do’ list will never stop growing, taking a moment to reflect on progress and accomplishments keeps us motivated to keep pushing ahead.

POLICIES – a shorthand word for what might be any range of initiatives. Are there new activities or changes in policies, systems or processes underway that team members should be aware of? When we are personally deeply involved in something we can forget that others are just as busy with completely different things and won’t have a clue what we are doing unless we regularly find a way to share this information so the team can gain a sense of the whole.

Note: There may be opportunities with the top two items to share information prior to the meeting to make discussion more effective. Depending how large the team is, maintaining an action log (to track ‘progress’) and circulating updates in advance (to share ‘policies’) can be practical ways to keep on track.

PEOPLE – are people joining, leaving, or changing roles? Have team members been involved in activities or attended events where information has been gained that could be usefully shared? Open and transparent sharing leads to a stronger and more cohesive team.

POINTS FOR ACTION – what do we need to do before we meet again? Who will do what? Identifying action points is critical so that discussion at meetings can lead to successful implementation and progress.

PRAISE – do we show appreciation for individuals and for the team as a whole? This important element is often missed in the rush to focus on the ‘what’ but can do much to keep the team feeling positive about the work to be done and the support we have in doing it.

If you aren’t a hundred percent happy with your team meetings, why not try applying the five ‘P’s within your next few meetings to see if the approach works for you and your team? Let them openly know what you are trying. They may have even better ideas.

My next blog: what are some of the challenges and possible pitfalls to avoid when chairing meetings?

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