We observed three lessons from the discussion of the “lost on the moon” exercise in lecture 11:
·
Teamwork in more effective than individual
efforts in solving complex problems.
·
Effective teamwork doesn't just happen by
assigning people to a team. It’s important that they are trained or mentored in
how to work together in a way that utilizes the best knowledge and skills of
each team member.
·
People must be in job assignments that match
their styles. Not every worker does well on a team; some are best as individual
contributors.
There were
two messages in our brief review of Stephan Covey’s teachings on habit 5 from
the The 7 Habits of Highly Successful
People in lecture 12. We learned that if we expect people to listen to our
logical arguments we must first establish our credibility with them, and
second, we must listen empathically to them until they are convinced we
understand their concerns and problems. Only if they are provided evidence that
we are someone they should listen to and only if they believe we understand
their situation will they listen effectively to us. The hardest part for most
people is listening empathically. Effective managers must learn this habit and
use it with their workers, their bosses and the customers for their work.
Lectures
13-16 addressed fear in the workplace. Key points included:
•
Fear of perceived consequences (real or not) causes
workers to avoid proper actions and substitute inappropriate or ineffective
actions.
•
Managers induce fear by negativity, disloyalty to their
boss or to the enterprise and excessive emphasis on numerical goals.
•
Oppressive policies and procedures written in attempts
to control the behavior of the 5% of workers that cause problems are
counterproductive. They cause fear and distrust in the many good workers and
don’t deter the few problem workers.
•
A poor business environment can induce fear; counter
this fear with openness and honesty.
•
Blaming people for problems caused by the system
induces fear
–
Remember the 85/15 rule. Problems are caused by
the system 85% of the time and by people only 15% of the time.
•
Managers that focus on fixing the system and seeking
help from workers without expressing negativity build trust and reduce fear.
•
Energy spent on issues you can influence is positive
and grows your circle of influence. Energy spent on issues you can’t influence
is negative and shrinks your circle of influence.
•
Fear of change and of knowledge are inherent fears.
Managers have to deal with both and must learn to help workers overcome fear of
change.
•
Cultural change requires patience, persistence and
typically training time of about 10% of the total annual hours worked by the
organization.
Exercise
You last reviewed and modified your action plan at the end of Lecture
13. Review your plan after studying the review of lectures 13- 16. Are there
changes or additions you should make based on what you have learned in lectures
14 - 16? If so, make the changes now.
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