The world doesn't
reward perfection. It
rewards productivity.
Unknown
The
Rudeness is a weak
person’s imitation of
strength. Eric Hoffer
Collaborative Leader Newsletter
Department of Recreation Administration
Volume 1, Issue 2
California State University, Fresno
December 2009
On the E.D.G.E.: Message from the Director Season’s Greetings!! As we enter this fog‐laden but festive time of year I’d be remiss in not expressing my heartfelt gratitude to all those who have supported us. Thanks especially to all the E.D.G.E. Staff but also to all the group leaders who invested their time and resources in selecting our program for meeting their training needs. Ryan Soares, E.D.G.E. Course Manager, reports that more courses were booked in October and November than in recent memory. Particularly surprising was the number slated for November. We were fortunate that the weather held out for the most part. Read more… L-Jay Fine, Ph.D.
Desktop Initiative Initiative is the term given to experiential problem solving activities traditionally presented to teams to solve 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. Read more… Matrix Organization: Who is my boss today? A special challenge of a multi‐disciplinary approach to projects comes into play when the lines on an organizational chart become blurred. Who is my boss today? may become the most enduring lament of mid‐level professionals in today’s workplace. Many businesses and organizations have adopted a horizontal, opposed to the traditional vertical, management style. Taking a team approach to projects, where members from several different departments collaborate on well defined business problems, provides a critical advantage to a business by better leveraging employee skill sets—not to mention a higher degree of collaboration and getting employees out to their dreaded silos. Full article… Resources: Collaborative leadership requires on‐going honing of interpersonal skills. Working with a coach would be a preferred method but those of us without the means or time can glean the wisdom from great sages in leadership. Full article… Full Articles
On the E.D.G.E.: Message from the Director Season’s Greetings!! As we enter this fog‐laden but festive time of year I’d be remiss in not expressing my heartfelt gratitude to all those who have supported us. Thanks especially to all the E.D.G.E. Staff but also to all the group leaders who invested their time and resources in selecting our program for meeting their training needs. Ryan Soares, E.D.G.E. Course Manager, reports that more courses were booked in October and November than in recent memory. Particularly surprising was the number slated for November. We were fortunate that the weather held out for the most part. Our staff has consistently delivered top‐notch programs, as noted by the feedback received from many clients. Nonetheless, as history bears witness, resting on one’s laurels is a surefire way to obsolescence. As such, Ryan has reinstituted a group leader evaluation. This evaluation will be the first iteration among many with the plan to use the findings to make on‐going incremental changes to improve delivery of our services. When tackling program changes it is best to focus on one element. Our charge today is to create a seamless program for group leaders from sign‐up to follow‐up. Therefore, we’ll be focusing on the logistical challenges group leaders face when signing up for a program such as communication efficacy, contracts, parking and these peripheral aspects of program delivery. I also want to take this opportunity to thank Dr. Nancy Nisbett. Not only is she a long‐time, valued head facilitator on the E.D.G.E. Challenge Course and colleague in the Department of Recreation Administration but she has also dedicated her keen editing skills toward this publication. Without her assistance this document would lay testament to my inability to write a coherent thought. Thanks again, Nancy. We welcome your feedback and can assure you that your comments will be addressed. Feel free to send your thoughts and concerns to L‐Jay Fine larryf@csufresno.edu or Ryan Soares rsoares@csufresno.edu. Happy Adventures! LJ Desktop Initiative Initiative is the term given to experiential problem solving activities traditionally presented to teams to solve 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 We failed to receive a precisely correct answer from last month’s Desktop Initiative (though one colleague successfully Googled the problem). Nonetheless, Jerry Reid, Director of Riverway Ranch Camp, came the closest so he’ll receive the gift. Congratulations, Jerry! Read more… Last Month’s Desktop Initiative: Light Switches: You have three light switches (all set in the off position) connected to a lone light bulb (also turned off) placed in a distant room. Only one of the switches works (the other two are dead). You will only be permitted to visit this room ONCE. After your visit you must decide which of the switches is the live one. Before you visit, you may arrange the switches anyway you like, but may not open the switch box, may not peek into the room through windows, doors or walls, and may not make similar bypasses. What do you do? The precise answer is: Light Switches: Turn two switches on and wait five minutes before turning one of these two off again. When you check the light, examine it for temperature as well. If the light is on, then the live switch is the one you left on; and if the light is off and cold, then the live switch is the one you left off; but if the light is off and warm then the live switch is the one you originally turned on and then turned off again after five minutes. Thanks to: 101 of the Best Corporate Team‐Building Activities we know! Simon Priest & Karl Rohnke Kendall‐Hunt 2000 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.
Today’s Desktop Initiative:
This month’s Desktop Initiative is easy and can be readily located on the internet (it’s a famous experiment),
but has profound implications for innovation and teamwork. Next month, after you all send in your correct
answers, I’ll explain why I selected this activity, and how the research behind the experiment can directly
impact your leadership and management style.
You are given a box of tacks, a candle and some matches. Your task is to attach the burning candle to the
wall without allowing any wax to drip on the wall or table.
Matrix Organization: Who is my boss today? A special challenge of a multi‐disciplinary approach to projects comes into play when the lines on an organizational chart become blurred. Who is my boss today? may become the most enduring lament of mid‐level professionals in today’s workplace. Many businesses and organizations have adopted a horizontal, opposed to the traditional vertical, management style. Taking a team approach to projects, where members from several different departments collaborate on well defined business problems, provides a critical advantage to a business by better leveraging employee skill sets—not to mention a higher degree of collaboration and getting employees out to their dreaded silos. The advantages of this collaborative design far outweigh its drawbacks. For today’s knowledge workers, employing an archaic top‐down management attenuates morale and threatens productivity and innovation. Yet with every new management initiative emerges an unforeseen challenge, an unintended consequence. If you find yourself working among several teams, necessitating several sponsors, who will ultimately oversee your progress? What happens when one project detracts from another, as could result from resource shifts? If you work on both projects, do you risk retribution from the director of the delayed project? These issues need to be resolved in advance as compensation and promotions often hinge on the outcomes. A team leader should initiate a dialogue at the beginning of all projects, even considering this in the vetting process when assembling a new team. Drawing up a stakeholder’s matrix will also make these concerns visible to the entire group. A stakeholder’s matrix entails a grid with one axis depicting an individual’s level of buy‐in and the other showing her/his potential influence of the project’s success. Once these people are identified, team members can prepare questions for the key stakeholders in order to circumvent potential misunderstandings down the line. Getting stakeholders aligned with your project is often a matter of giving them a more global perspective and clear articulation of how they will benefit from your success. Maintaining lines of communication throughout the project will also allay concerns. There are undoubtedly many other techniques available to the collaborative leader for handling the multiple‐agendas posed by a matrix organization—likely to be an on‐going theme in this publication. Do you have any specific strategies that have worked for you? If so, please email them to me and I’ll share with the group. Resources: Collaborative leadership requires on‐going honing of interpersonal skills. Working with a coach would be a preferred method but those of us without the means or time can glean the wisdom from great sages in leadership. Two individuals featured this month are Harvey MacKay and Marshall Goldsmith. Harvey MacKay’s http://www.harveymackay.com/index.cfm simple homespun wisdom‐‐a veritable Mark Twain of the workplace‐‐read weekly in his syndicated column, has inspired me throughout the years with usable and uplifting advice. Each week he shares a story concluded typically with a pun‐inspired moral. Marshall Goldsmith http://marshallgoldsmithlibrary.com/ is a coach to many Fortune 500 CEOs (his book What Got You Here, Won’t Get You There was on the New York Best Sellers list). I had an opportunity to work with him a couple of years ago and have used his material in several of my classes and trainings. His feedforward approach to growth follows a similar philosophy to the E.D.G.E. Challenge Course: solution‐
based development. I bring your attention to his website because he has generously offered the use of any of his materials with the one request that you give him credit. Since intellectual property can be so heavily guarded I appreciate his openness and practice of collaborative leadership. His simple exercise on peer coaching has been the most useful. In this exercise each participant has a clipboard and piece of paper. Each individual selects a goal they will be working on the next year and shares this with a partner (Note: publishing your goal in this fashion increases the chance of success). The partner responds by offering suggestions which the first partner writes down and simply replies “thank you.” Then the roles reverse and they each go their separate ways to find another partner. By the end of this exercise each member has garnered several bits of advice for tackling the goal.