"Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and he feeds himself for life."
THE PROBLEM
Most of us believe the foundation of all education is to foster independence, creativity and self-determination. With the same goal, the empowerment movement has been the touchstone of modern business for the last 20 years. Simultaneously, each new wave of employees have been seeking and demanding greater flexibility and meaning in their work. Accelerating change all across the business landscape has further complicated matters by necessitating constant re creation of each company in order to remain competitive. The sum of this confluence of events is that the only sustainable competitive advantage may be a truly empowered work force that is motivated to reinvent their organization. (The Fifth Discipline by Peter Senge).
Since every manager knows that hiring and developing a work force that is willing and able to direct their maximum energies to achieve the goals is imperative, why have so many failed? All of us know that mediocrity is not a competitive edge, so why are so many seemingly well-trained leaders mired in the "barely adequate" category? In talking with these under-performing managers, the attribution of causality is usually an identification of limitations.
For some these limitations are created by the corporate or business environment, i.e., not enough resources, rigid systems, poor performance by others, unclear goals, market conditions, etc. Others focus on their own or their team limitations, i.e., a lack of industry knowledge, poor training in systems and procedures, or a lack of leadership capabilities. In all these discussions, not one ever said, "I really don't have a clue about the fundamental process of building outstanding teamwork".
Instead of attempting to identify the illusive core traits of the super leaders, it may be much more helpful to focus on producing a 10% increase in leadership productivity across your organization. For most industries, this will give you an immediate competitive edge that others will find hard to emulate. How can this 10% gain be achieved? By instilling in teams an understanding of human needs and by using a powerful team process that drives performance.
THE SOLUTION: CREATING ORGANIZATIONAL ENERGY
Each of us can quickly sense organizational and team energy. Spend a few hours in the midst of any team and we walk away with a clear impression of the members' passion, intensity and involvement. Sometimes energy expresses itself as a crackling electrical current that seems to run through the team's activities. On other teams, energy manifests itself as a quiet intensity that feels sustained and powerful. At the opposite end, the feeling engendered is a dull listlessness or a passive lethargy. Whether high or low, this energy is contagious. Our own excitement, involvement and passion increase with exposure to a high-energy group. Most of us are drawn to these teams because we want to participate. It feels great. On the other hand, low-energy groups bore us and, at times, repel us because of their seeming disconnected purposelessness. All of us would like to know how we can create greater energy on our teams.
To read the full paper...
