A641.5.3.RB_BorutyAlan_ICT at the Team Level

ICT at the Team Level

Using the concepts within ICT focused on the team level, reflect on why the Olympic US Women’s Soccer team won so often and the US Dream Team basketball men’s team did so poorly in 2000 and 2004?

Looking at the Intentional Change Theory (ITC) and its application to individual, organizational, and national level change, to me it only makes sense that the concepts of ITC would apply to teams and/or groups in a similar manner.  This blog is focused on explaining the performance of two teams that on first glance should both be categorized as high performing teams in name if nothing else.

Disclaimer: I am not familiar with the performance of either of these teams during the 2000 or 2004 Olympics.  I have heard of the US Dream Team by name and I believe the team was made up of professional basketball players..  I have to assume based on the prompt that the Women’s Soccer team was expected to do poorly, but did well and that the US Dream Team was expected to do well, but did poorly.

Discovery #1 ideal self

The equivalent for the group is an image of the ideal or a shared vision characterized by hope, an image if the desired future, and a core identity.  Each characteristic is critical to group to development.

The women soccer team most likely had all three characteristics in place and reached a shared vision relatively fast.  Assuming they all were selected and considered to be among the best amateur players, but equal among themselves. Hope and desired future would be almost automatic.  The core identity as US Women’s Olympic Soccer Team would quickly follow suit. They were free to dream big.  They had nothing to lose. Their hope could be diminished by public expectations or amplified by it.  I would bet on the latter.

The men could experience difficulty reaching shared vision.  They were professional American basketball players.  The hype that came with selecting the ‘Dream Team’ generated expectations and assumptions.  Losing was not a possibility.  The desired future was gold with each member seeing themselves as the MVP.  Developing a core identity would be difficult as each member was an established superstar in the game.  Reducing them to equal teammates would be difficult at best.

Discovery #2

The women came into this stage with a solid shared vision.  This discovery would continue to strengthen their team identity.  They would be able to work through any perceived issues as a team.  They would be thinking more as a team than as a group of individuals.  What tension the women experience may push them toward the negative emotional attractor but their clear shared vision serves to pull them back toward the positive allowing them to resolve the tension.

I doubt the men truly developed a shared vision and this discovery would create further tensions. The paradoxes of group life would likely be problematic.  However, their experience could be positive enough here to create dynamic balance driving them to take action to eliminate tension within the group.

Discovery #3

The women are able to objectively agree on necessary changes to fill in the gaps.  Their commitment to the group continues to grow stronger.

The men can commit to the necessary actions to fill the gaps, but they still have paradox issues.  Despite their issues they are developing as a group.

Discovery#4

The women function as a well-developed group.  They are comfortable, happy, excited, and positive.  They encourage and support each other.  They are a high performing team working together effortlessly.

The men work together very well, but with nowhere near the intensity of the women.  It seems like the tension level is better. They are in their comfort zone.

Discovery #5

The women are in tune with each other.  They support each other and seem to intuitively know what each other needs.  It is impressive to see.

The men have formed a solid group and work extremely well together.

Summary

I made many assumptions and may have taken a liberty or two along the way.  But, in my mind, the women had a dynamic going on that the men never reached.  Groups that are developed well from the beginning can easily become high performing.  High performing teams almost always exceed expectations.  Another thought…while it is true that the US is not known for their expertise on the soccer field and the expectations were not high.  That does not mean the US cannot play the game.

The men did not develop as quickly or as well as the women.  They most likely still had unresolved issues.  Teams like this often under-perform  and fail to meet expectations.

 

~Pete

Reference:

Akrivou, K., Boyatzis, R. E., & McLeod, P. L. (2006). The evolving group: Towards a prescriptive theory of intentional group development. The Journal of Management Development, 25(7), 689-706. http://dx.doi.org.ezproxy.libproxy.db.erau.edu/10.1108/02621710610678490

A641.4.3.RB_BorutyAlan_Tipping Points of EI

Tipping Points of EI

A tipping point is not a term I would have used in my days as a leader in the Air Force.  As competencies were proposed for the leadership profession by the research community, testing had to be conducted to determine how well each competency matched up to what actually was being practiced in the field.  Published test results were often met with criticism for two reasons; 1) measurement methods used to assess the competencies, and 2) how performance was defined and measured (Boyatzis, 2006).  Competencies are necessary because they serve as the bar between outstanding leaders and effective or average leaders.  The question then becomes, how much of a particular competency must be demonstrated to justify outstanding performance.  To answer this question.  Researchers borrowed a tool from complexity theory.  That tool is called tipping point analysis.  Boyatzis (2006) explains that “a tipping point analysis allows examination of how much of the competency is sufficient for outstanding performance” (p. 124).

Now that we understand what a tipping point is, we can move forward to the Module4 Blog prompt.

Share instances where you have experienced a tipping point at work. When you experienced the tipping point, describe how positive or negative emotional attractors played a role in it.

·         What was the situation?

·         What did you do?

·         What was the result?

·         What would you do differently?

I am assuming that this statement is asking me to relate an example of a time that I experienced moving from average to outstanding performance on a particular task. 

My first two years in the Air Force was spent learning the wrong way to do almost everything.  Today I know I was a product of bad leadership.  More accurately, my time was spent with people who never should have been put in charge or called leader.  Things were very different from basic training and technical school.  I knew how the Air Force wanted me to conduct myself, but that was not expected nor was it popular to do so at my first duty station.  There was pressure, real or perceived, to conform.  Conforming their ways was wrong and I knew it.  Not conforming meant that I would never fit in with my work center.  I would be the punch line for all their jokes.  When I finally sat down and thought through it, I realized there was no choice for me to make.  I could not knowingly choose to do the wrong thing.  But I was not relieved nor did t feel good about it.  I was flooded with negative emotions that I could not process.  My self-esteem or self-worth had crashed, my sense of belonging was gone, and my attitude was less than desirable.

 Normally I am positive and upbeat.  I can usually see the temporary nature of negativity, but I was stuck.  I was conflicted.  I had surely taken myself off the track that meant training, qualification, and relative success and I did not know how to correct my course.  This had been building up between my supervisor and I for several months but had intensified during the last couple of weeks.  His approach to me was always negative, mostly intimidating, and often threatening.  The constantly negative approach he took with me connected me with the negative emotion attractor and kept me iseeing things with a prevention focus.  I do not know what I did to make him angry, but nothing I tried worked to reverse it.  That morning I got up, pressed my uniform, buffed my boots, and got dressed like every other day.  On the way to work I promised myself I would not lose control.  I wanted it to be settled. 

I do not know what he wanted me to do about my uniform, but it was the reason for his first remark.  I politely referred him to the regulation.  He started to say something else, but I interrupted him.  I asked him if we could find a place and finish the conversation in private and he agreed. 

In a one on one setting he was much easier to talk to and I took advantage.  A couple of months earlier, I apparently put him on the spot and embarrassed him in front of everyone.  I did not recall the incident but assured him I would never purposely do anything like that.  I asked why he did not confront me at the time, he said at the time he was mad and I was right.  I was at a loss for words, but finally asked him what if he rememberedthe question I asked him that day.  He did not recall exactly but it was about weekend duty, a legitimate question, and he had no answer.  He knew he should have known and it embarrassed him and he blamed me.

Wow.  He chose to keep conflict between the two of us instead of a short conversation with me.  I told him the stress that it caused me.  That it nearly caused me to do really childish, stupid things and had kept me ill mentally.  He admitted that it had affected him negatively as well but after a day or two passed he felt like it was a petty matter and did not know how to approach the subject.  I told him in my case, immediately, face to face, and bluntly works best.  It was here that I realized somehow I was controlling the conversation.  This was my tipping point.  I was stronger emotionally than him and I realized that the ability to control (or guide) emotions is powerful and at least in this case could be used to resolve a problem with nobody feeling as though they had lost.  

If I had it to do over again I would understand that I was equally to blame for the time I suffered through this incident.  I could have and would have initiated a conversation with him with the hope of resolving the issue much earlier.

I had a tipping point during the first feedback session I conducted..  I was convinced that the only time feedback was conducted was when someone messed up in some way.  It was the only way I had ever seen it done; it was all I knew.  I scheduled the session without knowing what I was going to say.  I tried my best to provide productive criticism, but when there is nothing wrong, the criticism comes out sounding like,,; my way is better, try it.  Or it simply sounds like bad advice.  Right after the advice came the awkward silence.  I could not think of anything to say and he was not talking.  Then it occurred to me that I should not waste his or my time.  Just talk to him use the time to get better acquainted.  When discussions made their way through expectations, quality maintenance, and numerous relevant subjects, the tipping point was present, but it was more of an ah-ha moment where it all suddenly made sense.  I realized this was the correct way to do feedback from the beginning. I have tried other methods in workshops and training classes, but I have never conducted a feedback session differently than the first one…I did include being prepared and knowing what I need to talk about in subsequent sessions. 

While shaky in the beginning, when the tipping point occurred we were solidly in the positive emotion attractor and focused on promotion factors of advancement, growth, and accomplishment (Boyatzis, 2015).  If I had it to do over again, I would seek advice from a trusted and experienced leader and avoid that bad first 10 minutes or so.

~Pete

References:

Boyatzis, R.E., (2006) Using tipping points of emotional intelligence and cognitive competencies to predict financial performance of leaders. Psicothema. 18:124-131. Retrieved from: http://www.psicothema.com/pdf/3287.pdf

Boyatzis, R.E., Rochford, K., & Taylor, S.N. (2015) The role of the positive emotional attractor in vision and shared vision: Toward effective leadership, relationships, and engagement. Frontiers in Psychology. 6:670. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2015.00670