The
Collaborative Leader
Primus interes pares
Department of Recreation Administration
Volume 2, Issue 1
California State University, Fresno
September 2010
On the E.D.G.E. by L-Jay Fine
Summer, typically low-key on the E.D.G.E. Challenge Course with few groups choosing to endure the valley
heat in order to jump for a chicken off the Quantum Leap or cross a poison peanut butter pit saw several new
groups taking on the challenge. Fortunately we had a mild summer. In anticipation of next year’s clients, the
E.D.G.E. staff have designed water programs for Summer 2011. For more information on these, contact Ryan
Soares . Read more…
The Collaborative Leadership Project
by L-Jay Fine
In keeping with the theme of re-invention, the Collaborative Leadership Project is finding its feet and is in the
midst of creating a distinctive and valuable training program for the Central Valley. We’ve launched our
website Read more…
Desktop Initiative
Initiative is the term given to experiential problem solving activities traditionally presented to teams for
solving on challenge courses. To challenge you, each newsletter will include a Desktop Initiative. The first
person or team to send in the correct answer will receive grand kudos and recognition in the next edition.
Send your answer to L-Jay Fine at larryf@csufresno.edu. The winner will be announced in the next newsletter.
Read more…
Lessons from IDEO by L-Jay Fine
IDEO is a design firm with much to teach us about collaboration. Founder, David Kelly, is the quintessential
collaborative leader. Relinquishing titles and positions, designers from a variety of disciplines work in ad hoc
teams to solve specific design challenges. Read more…
1
Good teamwork saves lives: Lessons from the Mayo Clinic
Most of us are keenly aware of the importance effective teamwork and communication has in our morale and
ability to achieve greater results. Usually this insight is drawn from our experiences with dysfunctional teams.
Fortunately, most of our trials and tribulations with poor teams have been more time wasters; inconvenient
rather than a matter of life or death. Read more…
Kaizen: Continuous Improvement
One of the most influential management systems introduced last century was the notion of Kaizen which
loosely translated means continuous improvement. Although the concept originated in the U.S. its effective
application was in Japanese manufacturing plants where innovative practices resulted in quality assurance
levels unheard of at that time. Read more…
Resources:
My summer was filled with reading and, although my books of choice may not be typical beach reading
material, I do want to recommend a couple. The first is from renowned author, Malcolm Gladwell, and has
enjoyed time on the bestseller list as the author’s storytelling skills are without equal. Read more…
Full Articles
On the E.D.G.E. by L-Jay Fine
Summer, typically low-key on the E.D.G.E. Challenge Course with few groups choosing to endure the valley
heat in order to jump for a chicken off the Quantum Leap or cross a poison peanut butter pit saw several new
groups taking on the challenge. Fortunately we had a mild summer. In anticipation of next year’s clients, the
E.D.G.E. staff have designed water programs for Summer 2011. For more information on these, contact Ryan
Soares .
Although busier than usual on the course, staff enjoyed some well deserved rest and relaxation. Our manager,
Ryan Soares, climbed the Grand Teton and enjoyed several other adventures not requiring a helicopter rescue
while my family and I traveled to New England for a couple weeks.
We are all ready for another exciting academic year.
Just as New Year’s resolutions offer the promise for a new start or spring provides hope residing in new
growth, for us academics the fall gives us a chance to reinvent ourselves. Few fields allow the tabula rasa
(clean slate) as that of college teaching. Mind you, this is an opportunity; one most of us seldom elect to take
full advantage of, but it’s nice to know it’s there. This issue focuses on those organizations and individuals
who seize the opportunities to reinvent, reinvigorate, and revitalize their programs or even their selves. In
this issue we’ll look at idea development and innovation from Kaizen to IDEO. As we’ll see, change is largely
an iterative process and reinventing oneself doesn’t have to occur in one semester.
2
The Collaborative Leadership Project
by L-Jay Fine
In keeping with the theme of re-invention, the Collaborative Leadership Project is finding its feet and is in the
midst of creating a distinctive and valuable training program for the Central Valley. We’ve launched our
website (Collaborative Leadership Project) and are creating writing teams to update the training modules. In
October we will present at a panel session at the Coalition for Urban and Metropolitan Universities
Conference held at Fresno State.
Desktop Initiative
Initiative is the term given to experiential problem solving activities traditionally presented to teams on
challenge courses. To challenge you, each newsletter will include a Desktop Initiative. The first person or
team to send in the correct answer will win a prize ($25.00 value). Send your answer to L-Jay Fine at
larryf@csufresno.edu. The winner will be announced in the next newsletter.
Last Month’s Desktop Initiative Solution
Here’s an easy one to conclude this year’s challenges: What is the next letter to the following (and why):
OTTFFSS? The answer is E for eight…one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight.
This Month’s Desktop Initiative
Take the following circle and draw four straight lines through it. What is the most number of slices you can
get?
Lessons from IDEO by L-Jay Fine
IDEO is a design firm with much to teach us about collaboration. Founder, David Kelly, is the quintessential
collaborative leader. Relinquishing titles and positions, designers from a variety of disciplines work in ad hoc
teams to solve specific design challenges. I call them designers but their professional lives range from
anthropologists, marketers, artists, to engineers, entrepreneurs and researchers. IDEO’s unique brainstorming
technique fosters input from everyone while keeping the eye on the prize—where execution and prototyping
is essential.
Perhaps the most important aspect of their process is immersing their design team in the populations that will
be using their products. In order to assess needs they connect with the stakeholders on their turf.
Recognizing that telling clients and customers what they need is an old business model (Apple being the
exception), IDEO reminds us that everyone who has a stake in the decision should be brought to the table for
input.
3
Good teamwork saves lives: Lessons from the Mayo Clinic
Most of us are keenly aware of the importance effective teamwork and communication has in our morale and
ability to achieve greater results. Usually this insight is drawn from our experiences with dysfunctional teams.
Fortunately, most of our trials and tribulations with poor teams have been more time wasters; inconvenient
rather than a matter of life or death. Recent research by Dr. Peter Pronovost sheds light on the true depth in
the importance to effective team work. His research in hospitals found that errors leading to deaths were
largely a result of teamwork failures and an undue reliance on hierarchy. The “I’m right, I’m in charge, move
on” attitude which may have served the medical field well in its nascent stage is a potential killer in today’s
hospitals. Nurses and medical technicians are often the first line of defense for the patient as they are often
more aware of what is happening with their patient. Creating a non-threatening line of communication saves
lives.
The Mayo Clinic exemplifies a medical model striving towards betterment through effective collaboration.
Established in the mid nineteenth century, the founder Dr. William Worrall Mayo envisioned a medical
practice centered on delivering the best medicine at a low cost. His solution for achieving this was to allow
doctors to focus on medicine and avoid the tiresome and time-consuming task of billing. All of his doctors
were (and continue to be) salaried. Included in this model is the charge to constantly improve the health care
process. Today, the Mayo Clinic is known throughout the world as the foremost provider of top-notch health
care based on a systematic, incremental model for constant improvement through the input of everyone from
custodian to surgeon.
Kaizen: Continuous Improvement
One of the most influential management systems introduced last century was the notion of Kaizen which
loosely translated means continuous improvement. Although the concept originated in the U.S. its effective
application was in Japanese manufacturing plants where innovative practices resulted in quality assurance
levels unheard of at that time. Much can be said about the cultural reasons behind the success of Kaizen, the
Japanese tend to focus more on hierarchical systems with an allegiance more to the team than individual, but
its approach to solving problems is quite relevant to collaborative leaders from any and all backgrounds.
The two primary concepts most relevant to collaborative leaders are the bottom-up approach and the
iterative process. Approaching a problem from the bottom-up requires leaders to listen intently to those
individuals who are in place to make suggestions on improvement and rewarding those individuals
accordingly. Too often, as leaders, we dictate what needs to take place. The most successful leaders,
however, spend their time listening. Followers will only provide input if they believe it will lead to change.
The iterative process is less obvious and often more challenging for collaborative leaders. Collaborative
leaders are often visionaries with a strong need to shake things up and make big changes. Nothing wrong with
this approach but Kaizen focuses more on small changes, corrections or improvements. Taking an iterative
approach means seeking input and executing on any and all changes which can better the processes and
outcomes. It means never letting your guard down and always working toward seamless processes and higher
quality.
4
Resources:
My summer was filled with reading and, although my books of choice may not be typical beach reading
material, I do want to recommend a couple. The first is from renowned author, Malcolm Gladwell, and has
enjoyed time on the bestseller list as the author’s storytelling skills are without equal. In The Outliers Malcolm
Gladwell spins several wonderful yarns to support his thesis that excellence is not born in isolation but a result
of a series of fortuitous events. The relevance to collaborative leadership stems from the 10,000 hour
principle. He gives evidence that success emerges after the passionate and exhaustive commitment to
deliberate practice of 10,000 hours toward a specific outcome. The young Beatles had Hamburg, Germany,
and Bill Gates had access to a computer during his high school years (few on this planet had access to a
mainframe computer at that time). Therefore it begs the question: If our goal is to be an effective
collaborative leader, what do we need to do in order to attain the 10,000 hour mark? I would speculate that
continually putting ourselves in leadership situations and reflecting deliberately on our successes and failures
would put us on the right track to be collaborative leader outliers.
Then again, if I put in 10,000 hours writing these newsletters I might stumble onto something brilliant. Don’t
hold your breath….
Group Genius by Keith Sawyer followed a similar train of thought to The Outliers. His thesis was that the
notion of the rugged individual rising in a Horatio Alger rags to riches story, strictly on his or her individual grit
and determination, is largely myth. Sawyer makes a compelling argument that all great innovations were
collaborations. More importantly, there are identifiable ingredients to creating successful collaborative
innovations. The most important lesson from Group Genius stems from how one’s vision and passion is
paramount to the outcome. Throwing resources on a problem seldom results in success. The Wright Brothers
succeeded with little money but were undaunted because their vision captivated them and those who helped.
Two other notions carried through the book: propinquity and openness. How physically close you are to
diverse thinkers and how open everyone is to sharing ideas—even intellectual property—determines
innovation. Remember, rising tides lift all boats—giving away an idea does not mean you lose that idea.
Primus interes pares: Latin for first among equals.
Thanks again to Dr. Nancy Nisbett for her editing prowess.
5