Building Distributed Leadership in the
Philadelphia School District
Module: Team Building
Building Distributed Leadership in the
Philadelphia School District
Module: Team Building
With the assistance of James P. Spillane, Spencer T. and Ann W. Olin Professor in Learning and
Organizational Change, and the Northwestern University School of Education and Social Policy.
Module: Team Building
Charles Dwyer
The ideas, graphics and material presented have been prepared with the
guidance of Charles Dwyer. Duplication and distribution of this
presentation is prohibited without express consent.
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Agenda
Lesson 1
What teams are and are not:
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What is a team?
Why use imperatives?
Involuntary Team Membership
What do I want?
Behavior/Performance
Negative Labels
-Break-
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Agenda
Lesson 2
Building and using teams:
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Values
The Power of Words
Case Study
A Personal Example of a Team Building Challenge
The Five Step Model
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Session Protocol
In order to make today’s session beneficial to all participants,
please:
• Show respect for your colleagues and your team.
• Shut down your laptop computers.
• Turn off your cell phones, pagers, Blackberries, and any
other means of external communication.
• Contribute to your team and the class as a whole by
participating constructively in the exercises/activities.
• Ask questions when you wish to.
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Objectives
By the end of this session, you will be better prepared to:
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Analyze individual perceptions of team building.
Discuss what team building is not.
Define what team building is.
Analyze how our actions can positively or negatively impact
on the building teams within the schools.
• Understand human behavior.
• Understand human influence.
• Develop and use techniques for more effective influence.
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Teams and Individuals
Brainstorming Activity
Remember: All teams are ultimately made
up of individuals.
- Charles Dwyer
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Getting Started
Presentation
“It’s not what we don’t know that hurts,
it’s what we know that ain’t so.”
- Will Rogers (1879 – 1935)
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False Imperatives
Presentation
McCabe’s Law: Nobody has to do anything.
- Charles McCabe
We must…
…it’s mandatory
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Imperatives
Paired Discussion
With your team, discuss why we tend to use imperatives.
List the false imperatives others use on you.
List the false imperatives you use on other people.
Why do you think you do that?
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Must we?
Group Discussion
Have you ever been forced to be part of the
team?
• Note those times when you have been
“forced” to join the team.
• Note whether the experience was a
positive one or not.
• If so, what made it positive?
• If not, how could the experience have
been changed to be more positive?
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Shared values?
Group Discussion
Team Building is not about:
• Shared values,
• Common objectives, or
• Mutual interests.
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Getting buy-in?
Presentation
Team Building is not about
getting people to buy in to:
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School goals,
Missions,
Visions,
Core values, etc.
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End and Means
Presentation
We need not agree on ends to cooperate on means.
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What do you want?
Written Exercise
With the group at your table, make
a list of:
• At least one thing each
person hopes to get out of
attending this session.
• At least one thing on each
person’s agenda for his or
her school.
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Patterns of Behavior
Presentation
Team Building is about getting people
to:
• Engage in patterns of behavior and
• Produce performances that result in desired outcomes
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What, exactly, do you want
from team members?
Group Discussion
Think about a team, give an example of unambiguous behavior,
or measurable performance that you want to get from someone
on that team.
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Changing Behavior
Presentation
Team building involves some
individual engaged in some
behavior designed to influence
the behavior of one or more
other individuals.
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The Neurological Argument
Presentation
• Influence ends up in the brain
• Each brain is unique
• Each information process is unique
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Language Used Today
Presentation
“Teams”
“Organizations”
“Committees”
“Task Forces”
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Language Used Today
Presentation
“Family”
“Associates”
“Community”
“Partnership”
“Citizen”
“Comrade”
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Individual Behavior
Presentation
Team building involves some individual engaged in some behavior
designed to influence the behavior of one or more other individuals.
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How do we frame what
we want from others?
Presentation
The left-hand column
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Attitudes
Dispositions
Personality characteristics
Qualities of relationships
The right-hand column
vs.
Behavior
Performance
Observable
Measurable
Quantifiable
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The Left-hand Column
Presentation
Framing what you want from others by describing attitudes,
dispositions, personality characteristics, qualities of relationships
is:
• Vague
• Subjective
• Ambiguous
• Open to widely differing interpretations
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Labels
Written Exercise
Placing a negative label on another
person or group puts a huge, perhaps
insurmountable, psychological obstacle
between them and you in terms of
positive human influence.
“Difficult”
• Make a list of negative labels
you think people use to talk
about you and your group.
• Make a list of negative labels
you use to talk about
individuals, groups, etc.
• At your table compare these
labels.
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Why do we use negative
labels?
Brainstorming Activity
It’s easy.
It’s fun to play “Junior Freud.”
It bonds us with our buddies.
It gives us “wiggle room.”
It makes us feel superior.
“Difficult”
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But, We Want More …
Presentation
We want more than behavior.
• We want validation,
justification and
confirmation of our own
beliefs, values and
feelings.
• We want them to do it
for “our” reasons.
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The Right-hand Column
Presentation
Frame what you want from others by describing desired behavior
and performance.
• Behavior: Describe clear, concrete, observable
unambiguous, specific behaviors (and patterns of behavior)
or
• Performances: Describe measurable, quantifiable
performances.
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Team Building
Presentation
People do what they do in an attempt to
take care of what is important to them…
To serve their values
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Values
Brainstorming Activity
What values should you appeal to in team building?
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Success/achievement
Respect/status/esteem
Fun/enjoyment/relaxation
Sharing/bonding
Altruism/giving
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Identity
Security/safety
Acceptance/approval
Recognition/appreciation
Thanks/gratitude/praise
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How do you build teams?
Presentation
Cooperation is Power
Power is Influence
Influence is Perception
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Perceptions are
Presentation
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Personal
Subjective
Fragile
Idiosyncratic
Arbitrary
Infinitely malleable states
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What do we use to get what
we want from others?
Presentation
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Knowledge
Skill
Experience
Authority
Position
No!
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What do we use to get what
we want from others?
Presentation
• Powerful ideas
• Noble intentions
• Our trustworthiness
No!
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What do we use to get what
we want from others?
Presentation
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The “Right”
Truth
Logic
Reason
Evidence
Fact
Quality
Substance
No!
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Our Behavior
Presentation
We use only the fragments of our behavior as interpreted by
others.
Our behavior:
• Direct and indirect
• Words
• How, when, where
• Gestures, timing, tone
• Language and rhythm
• Modes of communication
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Fragments and Filters
Presentation
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Building the Mosaic of Your
Behavior
Presentation
Mosaic:
• Picture composed of
individual tiles
• We do not often dig into
the barrel
• We skim across the top
Barrels of tiles:
• Packaging of behavior
• Need to dig deeper into the
barrels of tiles
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Our Behavior: Direct and
Indirect
Presentation
Direct
Indirect
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Our Behavior: Modes of
Communication
Presentation
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Our Behavior: Timing
Presentation
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Our Behavior: Words
Presentation
In-service
training
Boring
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The Power of Words
Brainstorming Activity
List 5 powerful words to influence others.
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Words and Meanings
Presentation
Words, the fragile vessels of our meanings, easily lose their way in
the channels of others’ minds.
- Charles Dwyer
Satisfactory
Not good
enough
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Words to Use
Presentation
Their Words
“…”
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Words to Use
Presentation
• Synonyms
• Paraphrases
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Words to Use
Presentation
Imagine …
Because …
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Words to Use
Presentation
Stories
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Stories Exercise
Group Discussion
What are some
examples of good
and bad
storytelling?
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Words Exercise
Case Study
Turn to page 48 of your Participant Guide and review the case
study.
What type of words should Kristin use to convince Paul that he
should use a new textbook?
• What are Paul’s values?
• What values is Kristin trying to serve?
• How can Kristin appeal to Paul’s values?
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Reflection
Paired Discussion
Reflect on an experience in which a team building effort was
particularly challenging. Briefly summarize the experience and
share this with your partner. How did you meet the challenge?
What suggestions does your partner have for meeting such a
challenge?
• Words
• How, when, where
• Gestures, timing, tone
• Language and rhythm
• Modes of communication
• Direct and indirect approaches
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Team Building Is…
Presentation
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Incrementalism
Social Proof
Scarcity
Commitment
Consistency
Liking
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Team Building Is…
Presentation
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Reciprocity
Leveraging coincidence
Actualizing altruism
Long-term investments
Using negative consequences
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Cautions in Using a
Negative Approach
Presentation
• Attempts to escape influence
• Minimum behavior/performance
• Revenge/salvaging self-esteem
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Power and Influence
Presentation
Power/Influence is the ability to get people to perceive
that a given behavior (or performance) is the best
action they can take in the service of their values.
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Relationships
Presentation
Values
R
Perception
Behavior
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Conscious and Subconscious
Behavior
Presentation
Consciousness
Subconsciousness
Skills
Beliefs
Knowledge
Attitudes
Memories
Behaviors
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An Alternative Program
Presentation
Never expect anyone to engage
in a behavior that serves your
values unless you give that
person adequate reason to do
so.
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Types of Behavior
A
X XX
X X X
X X X
Feel Good
Behaviors
B
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X
Presentation
X XX
X X X
X X X
Effective with
Team Behaviors
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The Model
Presentation
1. Capability
• Knowledge of the behavior
• Competence (knowledge and skill)
• Self-confidence
2. Perception of potential value satisfaction
3. Perception of the probability of value satisfaction
4. Perception of cost
5. Perception of risk
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The Continuum of
Influence
Presentation
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Team Building
Presentation
Team building is:
• Focusing on those closest to the threshold of the behaviors
you want.
• Focusing on the informal leaders in the group.
• Offering multiple value satisfactions in exchange for the
desired behaviors and performances.
• Offering multiple protections from perceived costs and risks.
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Five Steps
Paired Discussion
What is the specific, concrete, unambiguous behavior/
performance sought?
Where is this person relevant to the behavior?
Take a team member and walk through the 5 steps.
What techniques/mosaics can be used to move them closer to the
desired behavior?
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Invisible Leadership
Presentation
He/she leads best who leads invisibly.
-The Tao
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Bibliography
Presentation
Several resources have been considered in the development of
this module.
To view the bibliography, see page 9 of your Participant’s Guide.
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Evaluation
Presentation
Your feedback is important.
Please fill out the evaluation form in order to help us improve the
program.
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