Leadership Competency #3
Knowing and Understanding Group Resources
April 2003
What happens when a group of people meets for the first time? An informal process of "getting to know you" always takes place. Standard rituals of introduction take place: "Where do you live? What school do/did you attend? What do you do? Where were you born? Where did you grow up?" People do a lot of quick assessment: "How much can I trust this person?" "Does s/he do things by the book?" "Is this someone I'd like to spend more time with?"
Mastery of Leadership Skills for Professional & Personal Development
ALD’s philosophy of leadership is that leaders can transform organizations, but leadership is not a role belonging solely to the high-ranking officials within the organization. Leadership is manifested in the characteristics and behaviors of people throughout the organization – at all levels. ALD’s purpose is to assist organizations with the mastery of leadership behaviors.
With that in mind, each month we are examining a competency associated with leadership. Whether the leadership is required in an “at work” function, or a community or sports program, basic skills apply. The competencies are in no ranked order; they are merely a set of skills “leaders” at all levels of organizations should master.
Some of the competency narrative is adapted from the work of Bela Banathy, a former chairman of the Leadership Training Committee of the Monterey Bay Area Council, BSA. His theory was based on “leadership development by design”.
At the end of this article we have included recommendations for the ideal ALD resources to further develop the competency discussed in this newsletter. This month we feature the Building Better Business Relationships Workshop. Knowing ourselves, our strengths, what we bring to a team that will complement the group, what we may recognize as limitations, how to work with team members who may be very different in outlook – all of this is part of knowing and understanding the resources of our team. This workshop is a one–day wonder in terms of understanding yourself and others, how to work effectively with others and how to maximize the resources of your group.
We also highlight the Team Dimensions Profile because successful team members don't do the same thing at the same time. They do the right thing at the right time. And while team members work together toward a common goal, individuals still must play their individual roles in the process.
Please Contact ALD for more information on these resources
Leadership Competency #3
Knowing and Understanding Group Resources
This competency enables a leader to:
- Recognize knowledge and use of group resources as a major technique in bringing a group together and creating commitment to common goals – formation of a team
- Recognize that resources are theoretically limitless, and that the leader's (and group's) ability to recognize and utilized diverse resources tremendously affects what the group can accomplish
- Involve more people in active leadership by giving each a part according to his or her resources
- Evaluate the impact the availability of resources has on doing a job and maintaining – and growing - the group
About Group Resources
What happens when a group of people meets for the first time? An informal process of "getting to know you" always takes place. Standard rituals of introduction take place: "Where do you live? What school do/did you attend? What do you do? Where were you born? Where did you grow up?" People do a lot of quick assessment: "How much can I trust this person?" "Does s/he do things by the book?" "Is this someone I'd like to spend more time with?"
Helping Members Learn About Group Resources
This competency enhances the accidental, serendipitous encounter. It provides an informal but recognized stage when these exchanges can be made and acknowledged. The process increases the intensity of the exchanges, promoting honesty and trust. It accelerates the rate at which the group begins to coalesce and develop commitment to a common purpose. Greater productivity and increased quality are the results.
As a leader, it is a good idea to introduce activities that help the individuals in the group to become acquainted with one another's skills, knowledge, and abilities. Showing off an academic transcript or resume is not what we mean. The idea is to challenge the individuals and the group in such a way that they are required to draw on each other for assistance.
For example, challenge a group with a task everyone is not familiar with or experienced in, but relevant to their work. It will be surprising to discover who offers new information or advice – it doesn’t always come from the expected source and other group members can be astounded at the knowledge an unexpected resource possesses.
Getting to Know Individual Resources
Knowing and Using Group Resources is usually introduced as the group is forming, as it is a means to the end of creating group morale and spirit and drawing on strengths within the group.
Types of Resources
Resources are, for our purposes, inexhaustible. We as leaders work primarily through others; we assume that everyone's limits can be expanded, and that no one ever reaches their fullest potential. Resources are also, by our general definition, all-inclusive. They include the tangible and intangible –knowledge, materials, experience - everything is a resource.
On a practical level, there are two types of resources that a leader needs to pay attention to: human and physical resources.
Human Resources
The human spirit's capacity for achievement and innovation is enormous. Yet few if any schools teach what it takes to be successful.
The greatest limit on the ability to think in new ways, to draw on resources within ourselves, is often our own thinking. So it becomes true that getting out of our own way is the greatest challenge we face in our entire lives. We grow up, and when it comes to our thinking, our understanding of success principles, we are often a collection of bad habits well-learned. We limit our access to our internal resources, the ideas, talents, competencies, skills, knowledge and attitudes that can contribute to success.
We’re all familiar with the challenge to “be more innovative, think out of the box”, but we are nevertheless, restricted by what we think may be acceptable, doable and reasonable.
This is not only true for individuals, but is a characteristic behavior of institutions and organizations as well. Fortunately, this lack is an increasing concern of many leaders and some work is being done to correct this problem.
Drawing on Individual Expertise
In authoritarian environments, individual resources are often ignored. The quality of American automobiles suffered for years because, in part, individuals felt they had little impact on the effort to produce a quality project. When they spotted a defect, the assembly line workers were effectively disabled from contributing even their intelligence, for they had no means to stop the production line and correct the problem. Giving workers the ability to stop the assembly line when a defect was spotted immediately raised the quality of the finished product, while not significantly slowing production.
If a group is to be optimally successful, the resources of all members must be fully utilized. Suppose a factory team gathers to solve a quality control problem--a formed sheet of metal rattles in its place on an assembled product. Does the piece have to be redesigned from scratch? New holes machined? Extra mounting screws added? (What is the most cost-effective solution?)
The best solution may require everyone, including the designer, the machinist, the assembler and the manager, to become involved. Anyone left out--their knowledge, their resources--could make a huge difference in the quality of the decision and people's commitment to it. Different people have a variety of resources to contribute.
Making Resources Available
By the end of the 20th century, American business had recognized that the most effective way to make decisions is to make the information necessary available to those who are in a position to make immediate use of it. Instead of providing a management analyst with time and motion studies on how long it takes a factory worker to make a certain part, or the "best" configuration for an assembly line, along with the current production results, more successful companies are now providing the production worker with that information. The assembly-line workers are then empowered to use their own resources to solve production-line problems, in some cases resulting in vast increases in efficiency.
Of course, Drawing on Individuals Resources and Making Resources Available hold true in non-manufacturing environments as well. People closest to the customer, closest to the problem being addressed have ideas and resources for resolving the issues. But they have to be consulted, they have to be given the skills to be “empowered” to make improvements, to be innovative and to think out of the box.
Physical Resources
Physical resources are made up of the tangible assets found in our environment. While they may at first impression be useful only for a specific purpose, creative leaders can improvise and find multiple ways to use what is available to them.
Because a tangible resource isn't immediately available, do we automatically stop what we are doing? Or do we "make do," improvising? The lesson here is that very often the only limit on our resources is our mind. All of us have moments when we can become James Bond, as he whips off his drugstore shoelaces to save himself from certain death.
In our classes, one activity involves participants in rapid, unexplained changes, forcing them to draw on existing resources to effect change. In over 98% of participants, the physical changes they make to their own appearance are with the items they have on their bodies. Less than 2% of participants reach out and use other resources/materials available in the room. They haven’t been restricted from using those resources except by their own mental limitations – their own restrictive box – and that makes it very hard to think outside the box! It’s easy to say, hard to do.
The flexibility to utilize a resource that no one else perceives is a hallmark of a leader. Creativity, ingenuousness, and the ability to respond to dynamic, fluid situations are essential characteristics of the top-notch leader.
Drawing on Group Resources
Does the leader/manager have to know everyone else's job? Must s/he have the engineer's design capabilities, the machinist's knowledge of material tolerances, the assembler's eye for ease of construction? No. The leader does a better job when s/he finds who does have a skill, knowledge, or ability, and calls on her/him in the proper situation.
Delegating Leadership
Is the de-facto leader solely responsible for knowing everyone else's resources? Again, no. The wise and secure leader is able to delegate, to call on someone with greater expertise, and to turn over control of the situation to the individual with the power to resolve it.
Sharing Leadership
Calling on others has multiple benefits to the group and group members. When individuals are asked to contribute, they feel more involved and committed. If properly motivated and recognized for their contribution, they will feel an increased loyalty to the group and their leader. Drawing on the resources of the group helps build two- and three-deep leadership, building up redundancies within the organization so it can function more effectively, especially in times of stress.
Help your own teams succeed…learn more about your own group members…the ideal resource for knowing and understanding the resources of your group is…
Building Better Business Relationships Workshop - Knowing ourselves, our strengths, what we bring to a team that will complement the group, what we may recognize as limitations, how to work with team members who may be very different in outlook – all of this is part of knowing and understanding the resources of our team. This workshop is a one–day wonder in terms of understanding self and others, how to work effectively with others and how to maximize the resources of a group. |
Visit our web site to learn more about the Building Better Business Relationships Workshop
or contact ALD for additional details.
Other resources to assist you…
Browse our web site for additional valuable resources for maximizing team and group effectiveness – we can recommend the Team Dimensions Profile.
Successful team members don't do the same thing at the same time. They do the right thing at the right time. And while team members work together toward a common goal, individuals still must play their individual roles in the process. As organizations rely more and more on teams to innovate, problem solve, produce, and compete at the speed of change, clearly understanding and capitalizing on individual approaches to group processes is the bottom line on creating high performance teams.
