To know but not to
do is not to know.
Stephen Covey
The
People do not resist
change; they resist
having change
imposed on them.
Fritjof Capra
Collaborative Leader Newsletter
Department of Recreation Administration
California State University, Fresno
Volume 1, Issue 4
March 2010
On the E.D.G.E.: Message from the Manager by Ryan Soares
Spring time is arguably the Central Valley’s most beautiful time of the year. The
foothills are green, the flowers are blooming, and we shed the fog season for
warm days and cool nights. It’s also the time of year when we, at the E.D.G.E.
Challenge Course, start ramping for our busy season. Read more…
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…
Collaborative Learning by L-Jay Fine
The last issue I wrote about collaborative learning resulting from technology. Traditional classroom
instruction lends itself equally well to collaborative learning with the advent of Team Based Learning. This
semester I adopted TBL in two of my classes. Read more…
Team Problem Solving Failures by L-Jay Fine
Last month I had the honor to speak at the First Annual Student Affairs Professional Development
Conference at Fresno State. I was flattered by the invitation because most people aren’t considered an
expert unless living 90 miles away—the old saying: you can’t be a prophet in your own land. Of course I’m
telling myself it had nothing to do with my fee (zilch) or the fact that the state won’t let anyone travel to
conferences. Nonetheless, I wanted to come up with a unique topic and dug deep into my files and
realized that all my years running challenge course programs I’ve been collecting something few people
waste their time with: Problem Solving Failures. Read more…
Name Calling
Dale Carnegie’s famous quote that the sweetest sound a person ever hears is the sound of their own name
has been reason enough to learn names. Sometimes it’s a little ingratiating how often salespeople use
your name; interjecting it in every sentence. Nonetheless, creating familiarity can diffuse tense situations
and instill a sense of connection. Read more…
Resources:
Forbes Leadership : Forbes Magazine has always been on the forefront of business news and commonly
features the musings of CEOs and prognosticators for the extremely wealthy. Read more…
Full Articles
On the E.D.G.E.: Message from the Manager by Ryan Soares
Spring time is arguably the Central Valley’s most beautiful time of the year. The foothills are green, the
flowers are blooming, and we shed the fog season for warm days and cool nights. It’s also the time of year
when we, at the E.D.G.E. Challenge Course, start ramping for our busy season.
Several weeks ago, we kicked off our spring training (RLS 106), where students from a wide range of
majors across campus meet to learn how to facilitate a challenge course. Their training ranges from hands
on skills and safety protocol to successful ways for helping clients transfer learning from their experience
on the course to their everyday lives. They invest several weekends and long evenings learning these skills
and will demonstrate their learning this spring by assisting with our regularly programmed courses. When
you’re out at your next course look for them wearing our E.D.G.E. puzzle t-shirts!
Also this spring, in our continuing effort to be the central valley’s premier leadership and personal
development training program, we have added a new low-element to our course. This element gets teams
focused on communication, problem solving, and having fun! Oh, did I mention there was an alligator too?
A magician never shares his secrets; you’ll have to bring your team out to experience it for yourself!
Lastly, our Professional E.D.G.E program adds more and more clients to its list this spring. On March 12 th
we hosted the California State University, Fresno Chairs retreat. Approximately, 55 department chairs and
administrators from across the campus participated in a day long workshop on teambuilding, collaboration
and, as always, fun. Teams collaborated and competed to win the golden chicken award (see the photo
below). Also, on the list for workshops this spring is the VA Central California Health Care System and a
team of medical students doing their residency at Community Medical Center. To take your professional
groups to the next level contact us for details regarding our Professional E.D.G.E. workshops.
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:
Today’s Desktop Initiative is a cryptex (aka Dan Brown’s DaVinci Code) IWSEKIEANDRNOEVA (hint: after
completing this puzzle my students would believe this to be true; unfortunately none has solved it after
five years).
Answer to last month’s Desktop Initiative:
No, I’m not giving the answer to this one; at least not without a sufficient bribe. I’ve held on to this
challenge for eight years and won’t give it away until it’s solved.
Today’s Desktop Initiative
Draw two concentric circles with a line through it (see below) without picking up your pen or pencil or
crossing lines.
Collaborative Learning by L-Jay Fine
The last issue I wrote about collaborative learning resulting from technology. Traditional classroom
instruction lends itself equally well to collaborative learning with the advent of Team Based Learning. This
semester I adopted Team Based Learning (TBL) in two of my classes. The premise behind TBL is rather
simple: a heterogeneous group of 5-7 students will work throughout the semester on quizzes, problem
based learning and other team assignments. I selected this method for two reasons. First, employers are
expecting entry level applicants to be effective team players. So much of our education system relies on
individual effort where success is largely based on beating out the one sitting next to you—not a great
mindset for collaboration. Secondly, frustrated with students not coming to class prepared by reading the
assigned material, they are given short quizzes every couple of weeks both individually and in teams
specifically on the readings. I no longer lecture on the reading material. Both quizzes contain the same
questions but are scored separately. Team quizzes, as one would expect, are on average significantly
higher than individual scores. The students also rate their peers as part of the final grade based on their
contribution to team assignments. There are some hurdles and a lot of upfront work in designing a course
with TBL but I believe the investment is worth it, particularly in content driven courses with clear learning
objectives. In a sociology course I’m teaching it appears less effective and does not resonate as well with
the students but attendance has been better than past years. Although the jury is still out, I plan on
continuing with this strategy next semester.
Team Problem Solving Failures by L-Jay Fine
Last month I had the privilege to speak at the First Annual Student Affairs Professional Development
Conference at Fresno State. I was flattered by the invitation because most people aren’t considered an
expert unless living 90 miles away—the old saying: you can’t be a prophet in your own land. Of course I’m
telling myself the invitation had nothing to do with my fee (zilch) or policy (the fact that the state won’t let
anyone travel to conferences). Nonetheless, I was honored and wanted to come up with a unique topic. I
dug deep into my files and realized that all my years running challenge course programs I’ve been
collecting something few people waste their time with: Problem Solving Failures.
Some people collect stamps, some cars, others, baseball cards. Me, I collect reasons people fail at
problems solving. I guess that’s why I don’t get invited to many parties. In fact, this is one of the few
venues I get to share my collection. Here are a few of my favorites. None of these is original, just part of
the collection. If you have others, please share. I’m sure I have room in my collection for a few more,
though my wife claims they are taking up too much space.
Stamping on Green Shoots: “Can’t be done” “Too expensive” “We tried that before.” These are the cries
of naysayers. Quite often when we assemble a group, as one of my colleagues so eloquently put it: “you
often get a room full of editors and no writers.” That’s fine as long as the idea is not shot down without a
chance to take root. What happens when an idea is not allowed an opportunity to gestate, the potential
for a creative and synergistic solution is lost?. Collaborative leaders are reluctant to accept either/or
scenarios and seek third alternatives. Sometimes these alternatives are compromises but giving an idea an
opportunity to get some traction will often proffer a win/win solution.
Tyranny of Task Pursuit: Also referred to as the opiate of action or commission bias, the tyranny of task
pursuit has groups choosing action over inaction. On the surface this might seem a logical and productive
use of the team’s time and effort. However, remember the purpose behind creating a collaborative: to
use the collective wisdom and creativity in tackling (or to tackle) problems no single discipline or individual
could solve. This requires a lot of psychic energy and being stymied by the problem might lead some to
choose to act without an effective plan or proper considerations such as a stakeholder’s matrix or a clear
identification of the problem. We all fall in this trap for a simple reason: motivation is directly tied to
progress. Lack of progress is, subsequently, demotivating. When your collaborative jumps into a task
head-on with little forethought, it would be wise to have them step back and review their motivations. On
the other hand, when a collaborative becomes stuck, don’t get too discouraged. This is a common phase
and, with a little leadership, this can usher in some highly creative solutions.
Hiccup Thinking: We’re all very busy people and given the opportunity to make a quick and easy decision,
we are all too often guilty of going down the path of least resistance. The trouble emerges when we jump
to assumptions. As economic behaviorists have demonstrated quite keenly in the past several years,
people are not as rational as we’d like to consider ourselves. As such, we need to be well informed and
work toward? solutions which are evidence based. Hiccup thinking is identified as the errors made in our
communication and the lack of support material to back our positions. An advantage of an effective team
with diverse views and openness to robust conversation is that this tendency is less likely to occur.
Name Calling
Dale Carnegie’s famous quote that the sweetest sound a person ever hears is the sound of their own name
has been reason enough to learn names. Sometimes it’s a little ingratiating how often salespeople use
your name; interjecting it in every sentence. Nonetheless, creating familiarity can diffuse tense situations
and instill a sense of connection. Now research suggests that learning and using names may provide a
significant tool in team member commitment. The following HBR blog tells of a study showing that when a
surgical team introduces themselves at the beginning of a procedure, compared to those who don’t, they
enjoy a marked decrease in surgical errors and complications. Using a team member’s name has been
shown to increase buy-in and commitment to your tasks. Incorrectly using a person’s name or neglecting
to refer to someone by name will actually decrease commitment to the collective task—essentially people
turn-off when their name is mispronounced, forgotten, or not used. So to those who insist on calling me
“Larry”, I would thank you by calling me by my proper name, L-Jay….(just kidding).
Resources:
Forbes Leadership : Forbes Magazine has always been on the forefront of business news and commonly
features the musings of CEOs and prognosticators for the extremely wealthy. The on-line feature Forbes
Leadership is more readily accessible and applicable to us mere mortals down in the trenches (I
know…academia is hardly the “trenches”). Articles are similar to the Harvard Business Review blogs and
offer some handy advice on leading. One such article by Sangeeth Varghese explores the psychology of
leadership in Leadership Is Something You Decide To Do.