Speaking personally, I love the idea of Outdoor Laboratories and I think that they work on a multitude of levels for team building, team development, and creating team collaboration. Earlier this year, the department that I work for held our annual department retreat and on the last day we went and did a ropes and zip line course. It was amazing to say the least. Even though we did not necessarily need someone to help us get to the next station, we did have to watch “each other’s back” to make sure we didn’t hit them when we were coming in. I don’t think I have heard so much laughter in a group before. We all had a good time and even though only 3 of us finished the entire course, everyone came out a winner. I find that being outside, working together, and being supportive of one another changes a team’s dynamics.
EcoSeagate is a very interesting organization and I think that they services they provide for the public is something that no one can take away. When you push a person or a group of people out of their comfort zones and ask them to work together to solve the problem, the participants don’t always see what they are working towards because it is not just one goal, it is a cluster of goals ranging from the task at hand, to working together as a unit, and trust. The value that I find for EcoSeagate is that they are not just providing a training tool for people but they are giving them skills that they can use both in and out of the workplace. Being in a team and being an effective team player is not a switch a person turns on in the morning but it is a tool they use all the time. I truly believe the EcoSeagate is helping to build on that in their team development processes.
Often high-performing organizations don’t take a minute to think about all the components of their organization. Work will get busy and people will stop valuing the time others put in to their jobs to help assist the whole organization. Also I have found that in high-performance organizations they forget to have fun and working with their fellow colleagues in all departments can be fun. EcoSeagate forces the walls of organizational hierarchy to disappear and now the person isn’t the CEO, he/she is your teammate, your life line, and the person to support you through the mission. I have found that people become less approachable when they get new flashy titles. I can vividly remember telling my previous supervisor that because of whom she is and her job title that her department is afraid to joke with her as a person; her title made her unapproachable. If a high-performing organization wants to maintain their success I believe that it is pivotal that they become a person and not a title.
Embry-Riddle is such an interesting organization and although I think we could benefit from using a company like EcoSeagate I still feel as though we are slightly behind in the times in finding new and exciting ways to infuse team building into the organizational structure. In order to have this type of experience with ERAU it would take a good sales pitch to our President who I think might be less inclined or open to the idea but I know the wave of the future is coming and this might be something to think of incorporating as it would force people to get to know each other.
This is the wave of the future is organizational development and team development. I would love to see more qualitative and quantitative data from these types of organizations because this will change how we learn to trust and work as a team in any type of organization. What is great about this type of development is that it doesn’t require the organization to be huge and powerful; it just requires willing individuals who want to grow and learn from each other. As the generational changes take place in the workplace and more Baby Boomers retire, more Millennial’s will be taking over which (for me) mean more laziness and those who are less enthusiastic about working so if they could experience training opportunities like this it might begin to change how the workplace looks moving towards the future.
Thursday, October 24, 2013
Tuesday, October 8, 2013
A630.9.4.RB_Hiring and Recruiting
This was such a great clip to watch and really interesting. I think I learned more about what is important during the hiring/recruiting just by watching this video than I have in taking business classes. From the information I have learned about in the video, I will be addressing and answering the following five (5) questions in this video blog.
Does Schmidt's description of the Google Culture make sense to you?
I found that the Schmidt’s description of Google’s culture did make sense and it is something to live by. When you are designing a start-up company you want to pick the best people to be in the organization from the ground up and those people have to want to be there. Furthermore, you want to continue to influence the organization with people who continue to promote the organization from within. I think that most hiring and recruiting personnel are always trying to achieve Google’s mindset in that they want to pick people who want to be in organization, who love their jobs, and don’t need to be managed because it’s known that they will do exactly what they are hired to do.
Is this a reasonable way to view the work that most people are doing in your workplace?
Currently the way business runs at my workplace is not how Schmidt runs his organization but I would like to think that my department runs very similarly. I am blessed to work in a small department that is filled with people who actually loves what they do and when we come to work we don’t need to be managed we just need to be left alone to do our craft. My direct supervisor doesn’t believe in micromanaging. He understands that we are all designers and he you want us to generate the best work we have to be given a task and then left to fulfill the requirements and then some. I know that for me I manage a full university program (BS in Transportation), along with all the Campus Director Training modules and two smaller programs (Physics/Weather). If my boss was constantly telling me how to do my job I would no longer be a designer I would be a robot doing what I was told with no creativity. I find that for me and many other employees, when you allow for them to be creative, their productivity levels skyrocket and it in turn makes the working environment a better place for all.
As a leader, does it take courage to have and to implement this point of view?
I think making any type of change to a person or organizations point of view a reality takes a lot of courage. Schmidt stated that most of the interview processes were up to 15 or more and even then that employee might not get hired which to me would scare me away from the organization even if I was selected (Schmidt, 2011). So it takes courage from both sides; the new hire and the organization. Organizations need to hire for a multitude of reasons but I think that a good way to screen out people is not by excessive interviews but instead to see how their personalities match with the others in that department or team they will be working it. You don’t just want the best of the best who don’t talk to one another but you want and need the best who also like working with each other day in and day out. I know that when I was hired for this job one of the questions during the interview was how would I get to know my fellow colleagues and how would I fit in and in short my answer was I would be me and slowly get to know each person. I am not the type to throw myself at people because I have a strong personality so I like it when people warm up to me and then we can begin to build a working relationship. Unfortunately with my team we are all individual designers so sometimes we don’t have time to socialize or see eye to eye so we implemented a Party Planning Committee to help with those times where we don’t have many interactions with one another.
Could this approach backfire?
Any approach could backfire; nothing is 100% fail proof. I think that this type of environment works for Google and I think it could work for many organizations but it was take such a change that the culture shock alone could ruin the organization. I believe if any organization wanted to implement this type of culture into their existing organization, the best way to go about making those changes would be to pilot this culture in a new department (possible a new department within organization that is in the beginning stages of hiring). You don’t want to disrupt a successful organization with this type of culture change if it’s unnecessary.
What can you take away from this exercise to immediately use in your career?
There are many different things I can take away from this exercise. I believe that if I am ever on a hiring committee I would use what I have learned from this video in those situations.
References
Schmidt, E. (2011, May). [interview]. Eric schmidt on business culture, technology, and social issues., Retrieved from http://www.mckinsey.com/insights/strategy/eric_schmidt_on_business_culture_technology_and_social_issues
Does Schmidt's description of the Google Culture make sense to you?
I found that the Schmidt’s description of Google’s culture did make sense and it is something to live by. When you are designing a start-up company you want to pick the best people to be in the organization from the ground up and those people have to want to be there. Furthermore, you want to continue to influence the organization with people who continue to promote the organization from within. I think that most hiring and recruiting personnel are always trying to achieve Google’s mindset in that they want to pick people who want to be in organization, who love their jobs, and don’t need to be managed because it’s known that they will do exactly what they are hired to do.
Is this a reasonable way to view the work that most people are doing in your workplace?
Currently the way business runs at my workplace is not how Schmidt runs his organization but I would like to think that my department runs very similarly. I am blessed to work in a small department that is filled with people who actually loves what they do and when we come to work we don’t need to be managed we just need to be left alone to do our craft. My direct supervisor doesn’t believe in micromanaging. He understands that we are all designers and he you want us to generate the best work we have to be given a task and then left to fulfill the requirements and then some. I know that for me I manage a full university program (BS in Transportation), along with all the Campus Director Training modules and two smaller programs (Physics/Weather). If my boss was constantly telling me how to do my job I would no longer be a designer I would be a robot doing what I was told with no creativity. I find that for me and many other employees, when you allow for them to be creative, their productivity levels skyrocket and it in turn makes the working environment a better place for all.
As a leader, does it take courage to have and to implement this point of view?
I think making any type of change to a person or organizations point of view a reality takes a lot of courage. Schmidt stated that most of the interview processes were up to 15 or more and even then that employee might not get hired which to me would scare me away from the organization even if I was selected (Schmidt, 2011). So it takes courage from both sides; the new hire and the organization. Organizations need to hire for a multitude of reasons but I think that a good way to screen out people is not by excessive interviews but instead to see how their personalities match with the others in that department or team they will be working it. You don’t just want the best of the best who don’t talk to one another but you want and need the best who also like working with each other day in and day out. I know that when I was hired for this job one of the questions during the interview was how would I get to know my fellow colleagues and how would I fit in and in short my answer was I would be me and slowly get to know each person. I am not the type to throw myself at people because I have a strong personality so I like it when people warm up to me and then we can begin to build a working relationship. Unfortunately with my team we are all individual designers so sometimes we don’t have time to socialize or see eye to eye so we implemented a Party Planning Committee to help with those times where we don’t have many interactions with one another.
Could this approach backfire?
Any approach could backfire; nothing is 100% fail proof. I think that this type of environment works for Google and I think it could work for many organizations but it was take such a change that the culture shock alone could ruin the organization. I believe if any organization wanted to implement this type of culture into their existing organization, the best way to go about making those changes would be to pilot this culture in a new department (possible a new department within organization that is in the beginning stages of hiring). You don’t want to disrupt a successful organization with this type of culture change if it’s unnecessary.
What can you take away from this exercise to immediately use in your career?
There are many different things I can take away from this exercise. I believe that if I am ever on a hiring committee I would use what I have learned from this video in those situations.
References
Schmidt, E. (2011, May). [interview]. Eric schmidt on business culture, technology, and social issues., Retrieved from http://www.mckinsey.com/insights/strategy/eric_schmidt_on_business_culture_technology_and_social_issues
Tuesday, October 1, 2013
A630.8.4.RB_Build a Tower, Build a Team
Who would have thought that a simple experiment which included a marshmallow, pasta, string, and tape could tell so much about kindergarteners and recent graduates of businesses colleges? In this video blog analysis I will be answering and addressing the following five (5) questions below:
Do you agree with Tom Wujec's analysis of why kindergarteners perform better on the Spaghetti Challenge than MBA students?
I don’t think I could agree more with Wujec’s analysis. I am currently in the College of Business (even though I am not studying to get my MBA) and I know that we are often taught the right way to do things and it can be hard to see things outside of the box whereas with kindergarteners, their minds haven’t been filled with rights and wrongs by other people’s standards. Now I am not implying that all MBA students leave their programs with a sense of close-mindedness but I am saying that as adults we tend to lose the ability to see things for what they really are often leading to more complicated situations than are necessary. Children have neither inhibitions nor are they trying to over analyze a project, instead they are trying to have fun with the tools given to them. Each child brings a new idea to the table they also are not afraid to dive in continuously use the trial and error method regardless if their ideas look silly to others, to them its genius each time (Wujec, 2010).
Can you think of any other reasons why kids might perform better?
Children don’t over think things. Children often jump right in and try whereas adults we want to sit back and think about the best way to approach the problem. Where would we be if we always thought about what the right way to do something was and where would we be if we didn’t? The act of trying and experimenting is what has led to amazing inventions and allowed for the human race to evolve. Children naturally have the ability to do that and for some reason we, adults, push children in the opposite direction.
In your view, why do CEOs with an executive assistant perform better than a group of CEOs alone?
Being on the top doesn’t mean you do all the dirty work but instead oversee the operations where as their assistants are in the “thick of things” working with others and seeing situations from many different perspectives. I know that when I was an executive assistant I often knew more about what was going on than my boss and it was an interesting dynamic. I also had the ability to slow her down when things got chaotic and she would come to be for those types of moments as well. I think for this type of experiment, the assistants help to bring a sense of calmness to the situation for the CEOs which allows them to stop and look at the situation from a bigger perspective than just as a problem they have to fix right that very minute.
If you were asked to facilitate a process intervention workshop, how could you relate the video to process intervention skills?
I would definitely use this process in any intervention workshop because I think it forces people to get the creative juices flowing. I don’t think the word, process, needs to be included, because although it is a process it is also a bridge that allows for people to think about situations differently and open up their minds to different possibilities and outcomes. As adults we want to be the first person to find the right path from the start but it’s this type of intervention that forces us to put being first aside and instead enjoy the learning experiences along the way.
What can you take away from this exercise to immediately use in your career?
Stop trying to fix the problem but attack the problem, get my hands dirty, and learn from each failed attempt until I get it right. The reason kindergarteners excel at this type of experiment is because they don’t think about it, they just start doing what they think is right and when it’s wrong they move on the next possible path. At one point in my life I was the free-spirited person but like many I lost it along the way. I think I need to stop being so hard on myself when I don’t get it right away but also not give up when I don’t get it either. I should always set obtainable goals and when one path fails, I move on to the next and then to the next without stopping to think that way I can make sure I leave my inhibitions at the door and open my mind to something new and exciting.
References
Wujec, T. (2010). Retrieved from http://www.ted.com/talks/tom_wujec_build_a_tower.html
Do you agree with Tom Wujec's analysis of why kindergarteners perform better on the Spaghetti Challenge than MBA students?
I don’t think I could agree more with Wujec’s analysis. I am currently in the College of Business (even though I am not studying to get my MBA) and I know that we are often taught the right way to do things and it can be hard to see things outside of the box whereas with kindergarteners, their minds haven’t been filled with rights and wrongs by other people’s standards. Now I am not implying that all MBA students leave their programs with a sense of close-mindedness but I am saying that as adults we tend to lose the ability to see things for what they really are often leading to more complicated situations than are necessary. Children have neither inhibitions nor are they trying to over analyze a project, instead they are trying to have fun with the tools given to them. Each child brings a new idea to the table they also are not afraid to dive in continuously use the trial and error method regardless if their ideas look silly to others, to them its genius each time (Wujec, 2010).
Can you think of any other reasons why kids might perform better?
Children don’t over think things. Children often jump right in and try whereas adults we want to sit back and think about the best way to approach the problem. Where would we be if we always thought about what the right way to do something was and where would we be if we didn’t? The act of trying and experimenting is what has led to amazing inventions and allowed for the human race to evolve. Children naturally have the ability to do that and for some reason we, adults, push children in the opposite direction.
In your view, why do CEOs with an executive assistant perform better than a group of CEOs alone?
Being on the top doesn’t mean you do all the dirty work but instead oversee the operations where as their assistants are in the “thick of things” working with others and seeing situations from many different perspectives. I know that when I was an executive assistant I often knew more about what was going on than my boss and it was an interesting dynamic. I also had the ability to slow her down when things got chaotic and she would come to be for those types of moments as well. I think for this type of experiment, the assistants help to bring a sense of calmness to the situation for the CEOs which allows them to stop and look at the situation from a bigger perspective than just as a problem they have to fix right that very minute.
If you were asked to facilitate a process intervention workshop, how could you relate the video to process intervention skills?
I would definitely use this process in any intervention workshop because I think it forces people to get the creative juices flowing. I don’t think the word, process, needs to be included, because although it is a process it is also a bridge that allows for people to think about situations differently and open up their minds to different possibilities and outcomes. As adults we want to be the first person to find the right path from the start but it’s this type of intervention that forces us to put being first aside and instead enjoy the learning experiences along the way.
What can you take away from this exercise to immediately use in your career?
Stop trying to fix the problem but attack the problem, get my hands dirty, and learn from each failed attempt until I get it right. The reason kindergarteners excel at this type of experiment is because they don’t think about it, they just start doing what they think is right and when it’s wrong they move on the next possible path. At one point in my life I was the free-spirited person but like many I lost it along the way. I think I need to stop being so hard on myself when I don’t get it right away but also not give up when I don’t get it either. I should always set obtainable goals and when one path fails, I move on to the next and then to the next without stopping to think that way I can make sure I leave my inhibitions at the door and open my mind to something new and exciting.
References
Wujec, T. (2010). Retrieved from http://www.ted.com/talks/tom_wujec_build_a_tower.html
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