Building Effective Leadership Teams

1. Building Effective Leadership Teams Illinois Alliance of Administrators of Special Education (IAASE) September 30, 2004 John Blattner, Ph.D.

2. Leadership

3. What Really is Leadership? The wicked leader is he who the people despise. The good leader is he who the people revere. The great leader is he who the people say, “We did it ourselves”. - Lao Tzu

4. 10 Leadership Characteristics • A high standard of personal ethics • High energy • Ability to work priorities, shares equal importance with setting priorities • Courage • Committed and dedicated • Unorthodox • Great leaders have the goal orientation to make tough decisions • Inspired enthusiasm is like the pilot light on the oven • Level-headed • Desire to help others succeed is the mark of a truly great leader

5. What to Consider • Fosters a culture of inclusion and sense of belonging and ownership • Builds trust amongst participants • Models emotional literacy and honesty • Lets go of control and process outcomes • Structures meetings • Fosters a learning culture • Builds the architecture of a new group • Undertakes conflict mediation when necessary • Holds the group’s vision (does not create it) • Creates bridges across culture

6. Individual Leadership Competencies 16 Differentiating Competencies Character Displaying high integrity and honesty Personal Competence Technical/Professional expertise Solving problems/Analyzing issues Innovation Practicing self-development Focus on Results Drive for results Establish stretch goals Initiative

7. Individual Leadership Competencies 16 Differentiating Competencies Interpersonal Skills Communicating powerfully and prolifically Inspiring/Motivating others Building relationships Developing others Collaboration and teamwork Leading Change (Senior People) Developing strategic perspectives Championing change Connecting with the outside world - networking

8. Leadership Development Inclusion for New Member • The team itself should have a clear understanding of its: History, Values, Vision and Mission before it can carry on the mission/goals of the organization. • History of the team including key members and events via a time line • Sharing Expectations: • What is your biggest concern about being part of this team? • How would this team function if everything progressed just as you hoped? • What actions do you think must be taken to ensure positive outcomes?

9. Leadership Development Inclusion for New Member • What are the key driving values of the team? • Vision-what image and impact do you want the team to have on the organization including internal and external customers? • What is the mission of the team?

10. Leadership Development Emotional Competence Inventory Group Report • Presentation • Discussion • Problem Solving and critical thinking activity • Action Planning

11. Emotional Reality of Teams • When teams face their collective emotional realities – • They begin a healthy reexamination of the shared habits that create and hold that reality in place • Teams begin to change only when they first have fully grasped the reality of how they function • It is critical to understand this reality on an emotional level

12. Emotional Reality of Teams • Recognizing discomfort does not, in itself, enable change • Team members must discover the source of the discontent-an emotional reality chat usually goes beyond such obvious sources as a “bad boss” • The root of the problem often lies with long established and deeply embedded ground rules

13. Emotional Reality of Teams • Those are called Norms, when we talk about teams and cultures, when we refer to the larger organization • When there is an understanding of the emotional reality, norms of teams and the culture of an organization, it can be used to develop the ideal vision for the group • The more aligned the reality is with the ideal, the more the change can be counted on to persist over the long term

14. Power of Norms • We take norms for granted, but they are immensely powerful - • Norms represent implicit learning at the team level • The norms of a group help to determine whether it functions as a high-performing team or becomes simply a loose collection of people working together • Norms dictate what “feels right” in a given situation, and therefore govern how people act

15. Power of Norms • Collective emotional intelligence is what sets top-performing teams apart from average teams • Group emotional intelligence determines a team’s ability to manage its emotions in a way that cultivates “trust, group identity, and group efficacy” and so maximizes cooperation, collaboration, and effectiveness • Emotional intelligence results in a positive-and powerful emotional reality

16. Group Emotional Intelligence • A group’s emotional intelligence requires the same capabilities that an emotionally intelligent individual expresses – Groups have moods and needs, and they act collectively.

17. Group Emotional Intelligence • Self-Aware Team • A team expresses its self-awareness by being mindful of shared moods as well as of emotions of individuals within the group • Self-Managed Team • Holding team members accountable for managing how they work together • Positive Norms will stick only if the group puts them into practice over and over again

18. Group Emotional Intelligence • Self-Aware/Self-Managed Teams • In self-aware, self-managing teams members themselves will step up to the plate to instill and reinforce resonant norms to hold one another accountable for sticking to them • Team self-management is everyone’s responsibility • When core values and the team’s overall mission are clear and when self-management norms are explicit and practiced over time, team effectiveness improves dramatically

19. Group Emotional Intelligence • The Empathetic Team • This team has the collective equivalent of empathy, the basis of all relationship skills • Being empathetic at the team level doesn’t just mean being nice • It means figuring out what the whole system really needs and going after it in a way that makes all those involved more successful and satisfied with the outcome

20. Group Emotional Intelligence • The Empathetic Team (Continued) • Empathy across organizational boundaries-team to team-for example is a powerful driver of organizational effectiveness and efficiency • This kind of empathy goes toward creating a healthy emotional climate organization-wide, as well as creating a positive emotional environment in teams themselves

21. Leadership Development Operational Guidelines Review And Development • How will we make decisions? • What is each individuals most effective work method? • How will the group assure that everyone gets a chance to discuss issues and raise concerns? • How issues will be resolved/conflict managed? • How will the group manage tasks? • How will the group address change for areas that are not producing results?

22. Vision for Leadership Development • To have management apply their collective efforts toward the same goal as a basis for the continual development of a high performance team. • To focus on leadership which is a key factor in the establishment and maintenance of high performance teams. A fundamental requirement is that the leaders have a strong belief in teams that are results oriented. • To come together to review internal and external work relationships and processes of management.

23. Vision for Leadership Development (cont.) • Internal factors, which contribute to team performance, are: individual performance, accountability, trust, problem solving/conflict resolving ability, getting the job done efficiently, with the desired results and belief in the team. • External factors are identifying critical outside groups (business partners) and individuals, relationships with those outsiders, team performance action plans, and being seen as winners. (Image)

24. Motivating Your Team7 Tips • Be great: Being great is contagious • Equal but different: Discover why each team member comes to work • Let it go: Pick your battles • Blast ‘em: Hold your team accountable • Get connected: Build relationships • Everybody wins: Keep competition healthy • Buy donuts: But not too often!

25. John Blattner, Ph.D.P-A-S International, Inc. 1000 Maple Ave Downers Grove, IL 60515 630-968-5454 630-968-1933 www.DrBlatz.com DrBlatz1@aol.com