To know the road
ahead, ask those
coming back.
Chinese proverb
The
Better to light a
candle than curse
the darkness.
Unknown
Collaborative Leader Newsletter
Department of Recreation Administration
Volume 1, Issue 3
California State University, Fresno
January 2009
On the E.D.G.E.: Message from the Director
Oh, it’s that time of year again: Dust off the stationary bike, renew the gym
membership, and be nice to your relatives. With all the hoopla about New Year’s
Resolutions you were probably hoping this newsletter would skip this annual practice
in self-loathing. Sorry, no can do. However, I’d like to venture into a more proactive
domain, one more fitting a newsletter on collaboration. Read more…
L-Jay Fine, Ph.D.
Professional E.D.G.E. Promotional Video
Fresh off the press: our new Professional E.D.G.E. promotional video. The captioned video can be found
on either YouTube or on the Department of Recreation Administration’s Professional E.D.G.E. website.
Justin Butchert, along with several others, was instrumental in the implementation of this project. I want
to express my sincerest appreciation to all those involved, with what I hope you will agree, is an excellent
overview of our new program.
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…
Last Month’s Desktop Initiative Solution
Last Month’s Desktop Initiative:
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.
The reason I selected such as easy initiative is that I knew your stomachs received all the blood your brains
needed from all the festive dining. More importantly, the implications of this experiment have profound
implications for collaborative leaders. Read more…
Today’s Desktop Initiative
“A miner has a 40 lb. stone that is used for weighing ore on a balance scale. A friend borrows the stone to
weigh ore from a neighboring claim and, while caring for the stone, it gets dropped and broken into 4
pieces. Each piece is a different size and weight, but all weights are exact to the nearest precise pound.
The miner is not disappointed, because the new weights permit ore to be weighted pound by pound from
1 – 40 lbs. What are the 4 stone’s weights?” (Credit will be given for this initiative in next month’s issue)
Elevator Message
Taking advantage of opportunities to get your message across is not only the hallmark of a good
salesperson but is an undergirding trait of a collaborative leader. Several authorities on leadership state
we should be able to articulate our message in under a minute—thus the elevator talk. Read more…
Resources:
Seeking some inspiration, wisdom, or the latest in great ideas, then open your browser Ted.com. These 20
minute (maximum length) videos of today’s top thinkers make for a wonderful afternoon break at the
computer. You can search by topic or speaker. Three recent favorites of mine are three Dans: Dan Ariely,
Dan Pink, and Daniel Buettner’s lectures.
Full Articles
On the E.D.G.E.: Message from the Director
Oh, it’s that time of year again. Dust off the stationary bike, renew the gym membership, and you’re your
commitment to be nice to the relatives. With all the hoopla, from every media outlet imaginable, on
setting New Year’s Resolutions, you were probably hoping this newsletter would skip this annual practice
in self-loathing. Sorry, no can do. However, I’d like to venture into a more proactive domain, one more
fitting a newsletter on collaboration. Let’s face it, most resolutions go unfulfilled. But let us not throw the
proverbial baby out with the bathwater. Indeed, we know that setting goals is critical to one’s professional
development and pivotal to success. Since ‘tis the season for goal setting, let’s look at what else we know
about goals and the ingredients to successful goal setting.
First off, if goals are so important, why do we come up short so often? My wife reminds me that if I want
to purchase exercise equipment I should wait until mid-March and get used stuff on Craigslist. By then,
good intentions have been overcome by a need to cut losses. It appears the reason we often fail is
twofold. First, goals weren’t realistic or important. Secondly, they neglected our emotional self. Kurt
Lewin, renowned social-psychologist reminds us that goals need to be personal. In a collaborative setting
this means that everyone needs buy in. We set goals in collaborative leadership in order to focus the
group’s efforts on a defined purpose. Simply put, goals clarify direction. The best goals are hierarchical
and will go from broad strokes to measurable outcomes. They have a timeline and state the criteria to be
addressed.
To make them realistic, design goals which have measurable outcomes. One way to do this is to consider a
hierarchical design—start broad and work toward specifics. When an architect designs a building s/he
starts with a bubble diagram, an amorphous shape to represent spaces, and then works toward detailed
blueprints. Looking at goals through the lens of a collaborative leader should be approached the same
way. For example, we want a healthier community. Great. Now narrow the focus until you have
achievable parts. Some call this the salami approach. It’s also obvious that time and resources constrain
us. Creating a healthier community may not be realistic. Now you have to reconsider your goals. Here it
is wise to design goals with leveraging in mind. What skill-sets do your members have which could
leverage your strengths and increase outcomes? Should there be more stakeholders involved, thus
allowing further delegation?
Rationally, goals make a lot of sense but emotionally there are some impediments. Fortunately, in a
collaborative setting, this drawback is easily overcome. This is because, the emotional impediment to goal
setting—namely we all fall back to previous habits--is trumped by the social commitment of publishing
goals. This is why life coaches work well. You publish (tell) your coach your goal. Simply by virtue of
making the goal public, it has an increased chance of success. In a collaborative setting we foster
accountability this way.
Good reading on taming the emotional self associated with goal-setting would come from the work of
psychologist, Jonathan Haidt, and executive coach Marshall Goldsmith.
Several organizations are renown for setting stretch goals for employees. Just like management practice,
there’s potential for a dark side to emerge. GM set a goal of 29% market share back a few years—it took
on a near-cult energy replete with “29” buttons and a whole internal campaign. This myopic focus on one
goal created an environment where all other lofty goals were put on the back burner—namely customer
service, quality vehicles and share-holder value. Now GM is digging out of bankruptcy but has at least
rediscovered its true calling: design, build and sell quality vehicles.
Once again, my deepest appreciation to Dr. Nancy Nisbett for her keen editing skills; without which I
would not have the confidence to send this newsletter out. 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 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
Last Month’s Desktop Initiative:
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.
The reason I selected such as easy initiative is that I knew your stomach’s were getting all the blood your
brain’s needed from all the festive dining we did. Also, the implications of this experiment have profound
meanings to collaborative leaders.
Today’s Desktop Initiative:
The precise answer is:
Scott Miller, from Action Learning Associates, provided the correct answer and received this month’s prize.
Though he had a decided edge in this contest, having worked extensively in leadership development with
Fortune 500 companies throughout the globe, he also is keenly aware of the power of this experiment and
shared some insights. If you try this experiment with others, you’ll note that most people will not initially
come up with this obvious solution but will attempt to melt the candle on the wall or some other way
destined to failure.
This experiment, designed by psychologist Karl Duncker, back in the 1940s and has been repeated in
myriad ways ever since. Dr. Duncker coined the term, functional fixedness, to explain the difficulty we
have with using an object (the box holding tacks) in a new function (box holding the candle): truly, out-ofthe-box thinking.
Left alone, this would be interesting but not particularly relevant to collaborative leadership. Researchers
continued with different versions of the experiment. One experiment gave incentives to one group to
accomplish the task and no incentives for the other. Surprisingly, the group with no incentives was
consistently faster at completing this initiative than those given a reward. Dan Pink has written extensively
on this phenomena and I highly recommend you viewing his short video on TED.com. The moral of the
story is that intrinsic reward trump extrinsic rewards when the problem requires creative thinking. Dan
Pink concludes that autonomy, mastery and purpose should be the guiding principles for leaders to
employ in their teams.
Today’s Desktop Initiative
“A miner has a 40 lb stone that is used for weighing ore on a balance scale. A friend borrows the stone to
weigh ore from a neighboring claim and, while caring for the stone, it gets dropped and broken into 4
pieces. Each piece is a different size and weight, but all weights are exact to the nearest precise pound.
The miner is not disappointed, because the new weights permit ore to be weighted pound by pound from
1 – 40 lbs. What are the 4 stone’s weights?” (Credit will be given for this initiative in next month’s issue)
Elevator Message
Taking advantage of opportunities to get your message across is not only the hallmark of a good
salesperson but is an undergirding trait of a collaborative leader. Several authorities on leadership state
we should be able to articulate our message in under a minute—thus the elevator talk. Time is generally
short in collaborative meetings and your ability to advocate a position, and to be truly heard, hinges on
brevity. Sound bites are difficult to deliver, requiring deliberate thought and practice. As Mark Twain said,
"It usually takes more than three weeks to prepare a good impromptu speech." Some good tips for a
short speech can be found on Toastmasters . Tips for effective sound bites abound. One of my favorites is
the PREP system (anything with a catchy acronym gets my vote). P = point, R = reason, E = example and P
= point (reiterated). Essentially it goes: “the point I want to make is…”; “Why I believe this is important to
be addressed is…”; “An example where we’ve tried this is….”; And therefore, we need to take a look at
(original point).