Creating Engaging Environments

Posted on February 7, 2014 by John

This week blogs.cisco.com had a great article on Creating Environments for Better Employee Engagement including some startling statistics on current employee engagement norms.

“In its recent State of the Global Workplace, Gallup reports that only 13% of workers feel engaged by their jobs. On the other end, 63% are disengaged and 24% are actively disengaged. Numbers vary by research study and country, but overall most employees don’t feel passionate about their work, connected to their employers, or that they’re making a difference.”

This statistic is particularly troubling given that we are currently operating in a global environment of perpetual transformation where the rate of change in everything from technology to leadership is such that a dedication to continual growth and education are necessary at all levels to succeed.

So how do we as leaders prevent and in many cases remedy this current employee malady? We turn to those like Google and Southwest Airlines who are getting it right for guidance:

Understand what employees are thinking: Use surveys, online forums, and other feedback mechanisms to give employees a voice – and act on what you learn.
Create an intentional culture: Integrate and articulate values throughout the organization.
Demonstrate appreciation: Recognize employees in big and small ways to create consistent reinforcement and provide examples.
Commit to open, honest communication: Make sure employees know what you expect and encourage communication among and between teams, and with leadership.
Support career path development: Show employees you value their futures by providing mentoring and training opportunities.
Engage in social interactions outside work: Participate in supporting the communities in which you operate — as a community of coworkers.
Communicate the culture: Emphasize the “brand” of your culture both within the organization and externally to customers and partners.

It is up to organizational leaders to create, support and participate in an engaging environment in order to reap the benefits that employee engagement offers; productivity, dedication, passion, buy in etc. So, this week rather than offering a Kingbridge Insight we would like you to produce some insight of your own. As a leader, really and truly examine the environment your employees work in, the environment that you have created, and ask yourself if you believe it is engaging and supportive. If yes, congratulations you are among the select few! (According the studies quoted above). If no, ask yourself how you can change that.

The Dominance Problem

Posted on January 24, 2014 by John

Another classic problem of most meetings is the dominance problem. A few people intimidate others. As a meeting organizer or leader how can you mitigate the negative effects these people can have on potential collaborations?

Sometimes a few loud individuals can dominate your meetings. And that can lead to quiet people (e.g. introverts) not sharing their best ideas. There are lots of ways to manage this psychological dynamic between the louder and quieter people in your meetings. But one such technique is called the Nominal Group Technique (NGT), an alternative to traditional brainstorming. NGT prevents the domination of discussion by a single person, encourages the more passive group members to participate, and results in a set of prioritized solutions or recommendations.

Let’s say your team is trying to make a decision, for example; imagine you’re trying to decide whether to bring your proposal to the CEO now or wait until after the Board meeting. Now, this is a classic situation where a few louder voices could steamroll the rest of the group.

So, as the team leader, what you do is ask everyone to write down their opinion on a sheet of paper. Then you collect those papers and record the opinions on a white board or flip chart and vote. This forces team members who wouldn’t have otherwise spoken up to voice their opinions. It also minimizes the effect of group members who would otherwise dominate the conversation. And yet, everyone still has input, and you get all of the best possible ideas.

You, as team leader, can control each of the member’s voices. You can control their input, the flow, and the tone of it.

Another benefit of the nominal group technique is that it reduces Groupthink because it encourages independent thinking – people don’t get swayed by listening to everyone else’s arguments.

An alternative to the manual recording method for Nominal Group Technique is to utilize a collaborative technology tool such as an audience response application like Turning Point or one of the many smartphone applications or a decision support application like Think Tank.

The Kingbridge Insight this week is to encourage you as a leader, whether of a group or an entire organization to continuously try new techniques for group engagement – the results will speak for themselves. Also, and perhaps more importantly, ask for help if you need it! Consult a professional management consultant or if you are in the Greater Toronto Area give us a call and we can connect you with one of our trusted advisers. There are resources out there to help you reach your goals – tap into them!

John Abele: Medical Devices to Conference Centre – The Connection

Posted on December 13, 2013 by Lisa

John Abele, co-founder of Boston Scientific spent the better part of 4 decades pioneering the field of less invasive medicine. With the undeniable success of Boston Scientific John has since pursued philanthropic endeavors including promoting science literacy for children and projects in social innovation. John also purchased The Kingbridge Conference Centre & Institute in Ontario, Canada.

So, why a conference centre? It seems an unlikely progression, medical devices to meetings, but for John the link is clear. The current edition of Briefings Magazine published by The Korn/Ferry Institute features an article by accomplished author Glenn Rifkin exploring this very connection – “Growth Through Collaboration: John Abele’s Vision”.

The article highlights how after years of working to convince often ego driven medical professionals and a bureaucratic medical industry to make change and ‘try something new’ that the key to success was collaborative approaches featuring innovative meeting techniques. One of the most notable outcomes of these efforts is the still widely used Live Demonstration Course.

(Full article here)

In the following video John summarizes in his own words his vision for The Kingbridge Conference Centre & Institute and it’s roots in his experience with Boston Scientific.

Why Purchase a Conference Centre? from Kingbridge Conference Centre on Vimeo.

When Planning a Meeting, Place Matters: V-Blog

Posted on November 29, 2013 by John

Why does place matter? from Kingbridge Conference Centre on Vimeo.

What is the benefit of offsite meetings? V-blog

Posted on November 14, 2013 by John

What is the benefit of offsite meetings? from Kingbridge Conference Centre on Vimeo.

Gaining Influence

Posted on August 19, 2013 by Lisa

As a functional manager it is one thing to know that you have the information and potentially the answers to some of your organizations issues, it is quite another to influence senior or corporate management’s decisions.

In the most recent issue of the Harvard Business Review researchers Anette Mikes, Assistant Professor at Harvard Business Review along with Matthew Hall, London School of Economics and Yuval Millo, University of Leicester wrote “How Experts Gain Influence” about the findings of their 5 year study on gaining influence in an organization.

They found that in order to increase their impact, functional leaders should develop four specific competencies:

1. Trailblazing: finding new opportunities to use your expertise
This particular mode of influence involves uncovering previously unidentified issues or challenges that may prevent the organization from achieving its goals or initiatives.

2. Toolmaking: developing and deploying tools that embody and spread expertise
Basically, come up with succinct but simple tools, such as reports or visual models that can be employed cross-functionally for greater visibility, understanding and ultimately consideration.

3. Teamwork: using personal interaction to take in others’ expertise and convince people of the relevance of your own
This competency draws heavily on harnessing collective intelligence across the organization and as a result creating inclusiveness and buy in. For example, if you were creating a reporting tool (see toolmaking) great influence and support will be gained by engaging other functional managers in the design.

4. Translation: personally helping decision makers understand complex content
Keep it simple! Use your own expertise to interpret information into a usable format and actively engage yourself in the explanation.

Although these four competences identified by Mikes, Hall and Millo may seem basic and perhaps have an air of common sense, execution is often hindered by the same barriers we see to collaboration such as ego and hidden agendas. As such, this weeks Kingbridge Insight is to suggest that if you struggle with attaining influence as a functional ‘expert’ perhaps the solution is self reflection – are you allowing your personal behavioural barriers prevent you from demonstrating the competencies required to be influential in your organization?

Collaboration in Hockey?

Posted on July 8, 2013 by John

I don’t know whether it’s happened before, but for the Chicago Blackhawks, winner of the Hockey Stanley Cup, to take out an ad in the Boston Globe to thank their losing opponents, the Bruins, along with the Boston fans and the city itself for their welcome and sportsmanship, was certainly unusual.

In a sport where the joke is that it’s a fight and occasionally a game breaks out, this example of classy behavior is frankly rather inspiring. Yes, it is self serving, particularly after the strike and loss of the early part of the season, but it’s a great reminder that professional sports are entertainment and enormously influential on the culture of our society. Winning comes from skill, discipline, teamwork (and a little bit of luck), but sportsmanship builds the fan base and close games fill the stadiums and TV.

More importantly, and the Kingbridge Insight for today is that sportsmanship sends a message to the fans and community at large that respect for your opponent and collaboration in behavior and rules is what makes our society work.

Getting Ahead by Giving

Posted on April 25, 2013 by Lisa

I am enjoying reading the book, Give and Take by Adam Grant. He is taking on the “greed is good” mentality of some CEOs and business executives, hoping to shape the leaders of tomorrow by teaching them it’s possible to give and still get ahead.

Adam Grant, is one of the youngest and most popular Professors at the University of Pennsylvania Wharton’s School of Business. He is challenging the traditional alpha style of business and is examining the surprising forces that shape why some people rise to the top of the success ladder while others sink to the bottom. In professional interactions, it turns out that most people operate either as takers, matchers or givers. Takers strive to get as much as possible from others while matchers aim to trade evenly. Givers are the rare breed of people who contribute to others without expecting anything in return. Students at the University are flocking to his classes intrigued to learn more.

As he challenges the cultural wisdom that only the strong and self interested survive, his research shows that even though there are many takers at the top of organizations it is the givers that stay on top longer. This is primarily due to them putting the team’s interest ahead of their own. When this is done the teams will reward the leader by greater status and promotions. In today’s world where there is so much complexity and need for teams to work together across the globe it becomes even more important for leaders to learn new skills, behaviours and techniques that will help them take on the role of givers who are comfortable designing successful collaborative exchanges.

Here is a short video from the Today Show where they interview Adam Grant,

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

This week’s “Kingbridge Knowledge Gift”, comes from our Collaboration Institute Strategic Partner, Charles Holmes who has a great technique that can be used to create bridges between individuals when the team has strong differing perspectives.

(Exercise) – Take a flipchart page, fold it in half and then draw a picture on one side that represents your perspective of what is occurring with the issue or within the organization. Then on the other half of the page, draw your desired state of how you envision things looking. Then share the images with others and they share verbally what they see in what you have drawn. After sharing with a few people, ask those who want to share “What did you learn, from what others shared about what they saw in your drawing?”

Skepticisim vs. Cynicism

Posted on July 25, 2011 by John

Often the line between skepticism and cynicism is a blurry one or not differentiated at all. When working in a group on an issue or problem, skepticism can be constructive and helpful in creating understanding and teasing out potential issues by asking the right questions. Cynicism on the other hand is poisonous and creates an impervious barrier to new ideas or potential solutions. In other words, skepticism is open to explanation and new ideas. Cynicism is closed minded and not open to change.

Many people don’t have a clear understanding of the difference between skepticism and cynicism and as such may believe that by being cynical they are merely exercising their right to disagree when in fact their cynicism has the potential to infect other members of the group, destroy the group dynamic and an opportunity to collaborate and innovate towards a solution.

Sometimes a group leader will try to control the cynics by requesting that there be no criticism. That can be just as bad in the other direction. It’s important to create an environment where everybody is accountable and open to new ideas in addition to feeling comfortable questioning and being questioned. Constructive criticism is best expressed in the form of questions. Sometimes self-criticism from the leader can set the example for others to follow.

Cynicism has the power to eliminate hope and dis-empower people, but with a small shift in attitude cynics can become skeptics and skeptics can evolve to problem solvers.

Bringing Minds Together

Posted on July 4, 2011 by John

I recently had the opportunity to contribute and article to the Harvard Business Review for a special issue focused on collaboration. I was somewhat amused by the fact that when I asked if authors would have the opportunity to discuss their work and integrate some thoughts that this wasn’t possible – ironic perhaps considering the focus of the issue.

The link below contains the article abstract. If you wish to obtain a full copy of the issue the directions to do so are included. Otherwise, a limited number of complimentary copies are available if you contact institute@kingbridgecentre.com

http://hbr.org/product/bringing-minds-together/an/R1107F-PDF-ENG?Ntt=r1107f

Kingbridge Conference Centre and Institute

Open Minds and Expand Thinking "The paradox of real collaboration is that it is not about getting the best minds together – it's about creating a New Mind Set."

Category Archives: Group Dynamics