What Star Trek Can Teach Us About Team Communication

The other day some friends were nostalgically talking about the original Star Trek shows and I received a quick induction into the show's formulaic format. I learned whenever 'an away team' was beamed down onto a planet, the guy in the red shirt wouldn't be around for much longer and that Captain Kirk would very soon be in a real pickle and desperately asking his chief engineer Scott that they either be beamed up post-haste or that they are given more power. Poor Scotty's standard response was always that he needed more time and was giving 'everything he's got... ' you'd think they would have learned by now!

Isn't it funny that although we now have more technology than ever before as a means for communicating, project teams still constantly suffer problems from poor communication. Technologically, we may be able to bounce messages off the moon and talk to space probes on Mars, yet we can find it uncomfortable to have a meaningful and useful conversation with the person sitting next to us.

I'm seeing the need for project teams to work in a much more collaborative way. Projects are impacting more areas across the organisation, so teams are having to reach out to more people. Given the fast pace of working and change, team members need to continually share and exchange ideas to keep each other up-to-date and get problems resolved quickly. That way concerns come to light much earlier, rather than festering until they become a serious problem. This all helps maintain a good pace and momentum for the project, as well as helping the team learn together. This level of collaboration and team working is much easier when there's an openness in the way things are discussed.

Without even realising it, we put up barriers during a conversation, especially when there is a problem to deal with. These barriers appear in lots of different ways, but fall into these three main areas:

Judging - people have a natural tendency to judge; we quickly interpret situations in our own way and form opinions about the situation and the other person - are they in the wrong, or being defensive, is the situation beyond saving? We then start reading in-between-the-lines even more, to reinforce those initial assumptions.

Offering solutions too quickly - having quickly interpreted the situation, our minds jump into solution-mode and of course we want to be helpful, so the temptation is to tell or guide the other person about what should be done.

Ignoring the other's concerns - this is when the focus is moved from the other person's concerns to your own topic or issue. Conversations can end up being just a series of diversions, with no meaningful exchange taking place.

Keeping in mind the time pressures that people are working under, you can see how easy it is to respond in these ways. It's worth making it a priority to focus on how well you and your team interact with one another.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/7115063

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Sponsoring Effective Change for success Management

Are business leaders providing the compelling reasons for the change with sufficient emphasis on the risks of not changing?

Building awareness of the need for change requires the following components to be addressed:

What is the nature of the change and how does the change align with the vision for the organisation?

• Why is the change being made?
• What are the risks of not changing?
• An impact analysis of the change
• What is in it for me?

Emotionally intelligent leaders have a knack of establishing and maintaining credible, mutually satisfying relationship, characterised by positive expectations. The importance of credible relationships cannot be overstated because staff and stakeholder awareness of change depends on multiple factors such as:

• Their view of the current state
• How they perceive the problem
• The credibility of the leader
• Access to misinformation or rumours
• Contestability of the reasons for change

There is a difference between awareness and desire. It is often assumed by business leaders that by building awareness of the need for change, in so doing they have also created desire for the change, and as a result, there is surprise that there is resistance to change. Emotionally intelligent leaders have the capacity to understand other people's feelings and thoughts. They listen well and take account of the perception of others.

Energy goes where attention is given so by giving attention to four factors that contribute to an individual or staff desire to change. The four factors are:

• The nature of the change (what the change is and the impact it will have
• The economic, political, social, technological and environmental context of the change
• The staff personnel situation - mobility, financial security, career aspiration, personal events and past successes within the organisation
• What motivates staff - what drives each of us to change is unique and falls along a broad spectrum of motivators. Personal motivation includes what we value and our internal belief of what we can or cannot achieve

When the awareness of the need for change is broadly achieved and the desire to participate and support the change is established, knowledge is the next building block for realising the change. Knowledge includes:

• Training and education on the skills and behaviours needed to change
• Understanding of new roles and responsibilities associated with the change
• Detailed information on how to use new processes, system and technologies
• Addressing the blocks to change

Several factors can impact on staff ability to implement change, including:

• Psychological blocks
• Physical limitations
• Intellectual capacity
• The time available to develop new skills
• Inadequate personal development
• The availability of resources to support the development of new abilities - often this element is overlooked. The process of developing new skills and abilities is enhanced by the presence of support structure for staff.

Transformational change occur when there are links between the model of awareness, desire, knowledge, ability and reinforcement underpinned by personal development and executive coaching to achieve the outcomes of change.

To Conclude:

Awareness represents a person's understanding of the nature of the change. Why the change is being made and the risk of not changing. Awareness also includes leaders being in tune with their Emotional Intelligence leadership competencies and the ability to enter into positive relationships with other people.

Desire represents the willingness to support and engage in a change. Desire is ultimately about taking responsibility and it is about personal choice to support and participate in the change. Desire is strengthened by Personal review:

• What is happening within my personal inner environment to facilitate the change
• If I understand the need for change, am I willing to change?

Knowledge represents the information, training and education necessary to successfully achieve the outcomes of the change. Knowledge includes information about behaviours, systems and processes, tool to enable the change, clarity of job roles and responsibilities. Knowledge of personal insights regarding:

• Feelings about the change to change
• Personal styles, team role and partnership skills?
• Personal preferences - How am I linking with others?
• Knowledge of personal roles and and responsibilities including personal mindset of how one will show up in the role

Ability represents the realisation or execution of the change. Ability is taking action, turning knowledge into action that secures successful outcomes. Ability is achieved when capabilites are employed to implement the change at the required performance levels. Ability draws on required skills and coaching behaviours to achieve performance outcomes

Reinforcement to sustain the change reviewing what constitutes success including personal and professional appraisal, personal resilience, change mastery and staying power. Reinforcement represents those internal and external factors that sustain a change.

Accountability for continued performance is one of the strongest forms of reinforcement

Change is reinforced when recognition and rewards are meaningful to staff. Many project teams overlook the potential of celebrating small successes. When changes are new and when the difficulties of changing are at the greatest height, opportunities present themselves for celebration. If peer pressure is opposing the change, the resulting negative consequences become a barrier to change.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/7114895

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Future of Leadership of Business Management

According to Abraham Maslow, Peter Drucker's management principles accurately apply to the leaders who have evolved and are at the top of human development. These leaders have met all of their requirements in life and their needs are fulfilled. The strategies purported by Peter Drucker neatly fit the lifestyle of the prototypical leader.

Applying Peter Drucker's principles to leadership is an effective way to operate with efficiency and success. However, these tactics are only effective for a small minority of leaders.

Today, leadership is not based on old-school principles of preformatted industry giants with similar executive knowhow who replace each other with symmetry. Rather, the leadership role has embraced different styles and types of individuals that compliment the change in society at large. Tomorrow's leadership will continue to diversify and change in lockstep with the ever adapting economy. The knowledge economy has shifted responsibilities of leadership to a new breed of self-starters and entrepreneurs who do not possess the skills required from a leader who fits into Peter Drucker's leadership principles.

Employees are more informed, consumers are more informed, the media keeps leaders honest, and the distance between yesterday and today is vast. Differentiated leaders will be the norm, and differentiation will be the requirement for continued economic success. The leadership dynamics have changed in some places, and will change in most places in the near future.

Leadership is not an isolated position as it once was, but rather, an all-inclusive "lead from the center" task that requires more interpersonal sophistication and greater self-awareness than ever before.

The landscape of leadership is not a "one size fits all" equation and all the gimmicks such as the top five qualities list will not suffice for enhanced effective leadership. Rather, leadership is simpler than it may appear. Leadership is at times scripted because people are still sensitive, but the old playbook has evolved into a more advanced scheme.

The power distance has decreased which has exposed the leadership position to increased scrutiny. The generational gap once highly guarded at the leadership position has been removed and the unassuming are taking the leadership reins. These young guns are not the prototypical leader of the past. They have to fill the leadership role with effectiveness in order for success because the leadership position is a critical component to the operations of the business.

The younger leader has to meet the leadership demand with attentiveness and ingenuity that requires a set of prior needs to be met that comes with experience. The time has not been amassed to produce the life satisfaction needed to bring desired competence to the leadership position. Regardless, the leadership task needs to be met and alternative methods need to be addressed to compensate for the lack of life experience. These are weaknesses that need to be developed into competence and designed strengths need to be maximized and leveraged to achieve leadership success.

Implementing techniques to facilitate the learning sequence using a shortcut method is the ideal approach for today's young leader. A bold prediction follows: The leaders of today will surpass the leaders of yesterday because there are more weapons available for development, there is more openness for accepting failure, and the leadership role has expanded to include those from any race, creed, or color. The talent that is allowed to develop today is far and wide. The internal competition will fuel results and the inclusion will empower the once excluded into our super leaders of the future.

Keith Lawrence Miller, President and Certified Executive Coach specializes in Executive Leadership Coaching & Consulting, Behavioral Change - Career Coaching and is an Assessment Specialist (360 Multi-Rater Feedback, EQ-I, ESCI, Strengths-Based, DISC, and much more)

His education is at the graduate level from Columbia University with strengths in Leadership, Coaching, Change, & Consultation - He is Certified in Emotional Intelligence, Cultural Intelligence, & Social Intelligence from Columbia University and is an ICF Certified and Associate Credentialed Professional Coach.

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