teamwork Archives - UPwords Inc

A Leadership Analogy + A Leadership Challenge

March 29, 2017 by Heidi Frye

As a leader drives the car of leadership, each individual on his/her leadership team acts as a mirror, reflecting what is happening in their segment of the business. Each team member contributes a unique perspective – their view of the surroundings, blindspots, and the vehicle itself. Each of these perspectives contributes to the overall success and safety of the journey. The rearview mirror might be the CFO. The side mirror, Operations. Sitting in the passenger seat might be Sales & Marketing…not exactly a mirror but certainly a unique perspective, with a single-minded focus on the future and the upcoming landscape. A successful trip involves access to, and reliance on, all of a leaders’ mirrors.

Yet, I often find leaders who feel the pressure to drive alone. Not relying on their mirrors. Expecting themselves to have the total view. It’s pressure they put on themselves. Silly, isn’t it…the idea of getting into a car and driving without the use of your mirrors?

Leadership Challenge: Gather your team and head out to your corporate parking lot. Cover all of the mirrors in your car. Drive (slowly!) and attempt to navigate the parking lot…nearly impossible! You’ll find you won’t get too far. It’s too risky. Not safe. Reflect on how many times you instinctively turned to look at your mirrors! Then, roll down your windows – have your team outside the car, walking alongside, providing direction. Let them guide you…as a team. Not one single team member has the total view. It is a combined effort. Trust them to see things you don’t see. Trust them to highlight potential dangers. Trust them to help you navigate.

Trust them to help you drive.

Leveraging Teams

January 27, 2017 by Heidi Frye

I am a first-generation American, and grateful to have “inherited” some wonderfully noteworthy instilled traditional traits from my really fantastic German parents…hard-work ethic, integrity, courage, forthrightness, quality, and…well…self-reliance. I hesitate. This last trait/mindset has mostly worked in my favor…mostly. In my family “pot-luck” was a dirty word…”Heidi, you don’t invite people into your home and then have them bring their own food!”. In theory Mom was right. What was intended as “serving others” (literally!) for me, turned into a “do it on your own” message…equating self-reliance with capability, service, pride, stamina, and even worthiness (ugh!).

I see this trait show up in my leadership clients, so I know I’m not the only one! Maybe you? Are you overboard on “self-reliance”? How are you at delegation? Do you feel some moral code to “do it all yourself”? Delegation is definitely multi-layered (distrust, wanting it done a certain way, losing control, feeling guilty, etc. etc.), so let’s focus on the I-can-do-it-better-on-my-own-loner part of self-reliance. When Mom chose to forego help in favor of making the entire elaborate spread on her own, yes, everything was delicious and fantastic but at what cost? Exhausted hostess, and an aversion to big family gatherings. It was just too much. Not sustainable. Last night I had an experience that showed me how non-leverage-able and non-greatness-oriented this mindset has been. It was an excellent lesson in how to harness the power of many.

I joined 100+ women in a charitable-giving effort called 100 Women Who Care. (btw, there are chapters popping up all over the place, this one was here in MI). Simple concept with a BIG impact and built on not doing it on your own! Imagine the (minimal) impact of your many random $50 donations. THEN imagine the impact of 100+ women simultaneously writing $100 checks for the same charity!!! Voila, $10,000! It’s a quarterly effort of two hours (minimal effort), and $100 individually to raise $10,000+/quarter! Genius, right? Now that is leverage!

It might seem like a stretch but I can’t help but apply this concept to leadership. Essentially we are asking our teams to do the same thing…to leverage the team vs. the individual performances. Subtle but different. Leading your team members to plug into the bigger overarching goal and collecting as a team to make big things happen versus handing in individual performances that hopefully connect at the top is an art. Coming together emotionally and driving toward the bigger goal. Connect as a team first, then connect to the bigger goal. Whatever is preventing you/your team from truly leveraging the team dynamic, inspire around it. Get emotionally rallied. Aristotle’s famous words “the whole is greater than the sum of its parts” has taken on a whole new meaning.

Leadership Attribute: Serving Others over Individual Motivation [The Raw Leadership Experience™ – Canoe Leadership]

October 26, 2016 by Heidi Frye

Last October, I ended up having an amazing outing with a client company, but that is NOT how it started. The originally scheduled mid-August outing had been rescheduled for October 2nd. Granted, Michigan is beautiful in October, but our outing involved canoes and water. Different perspective. For anyone not familiar with the Midwest, it can be pretty chilly mid-October, and Mother Nature did not disappoint. At 10:00 a.m. 30 leaders gathered to climb into canoes for a 2-hour paddle, to be followed by a (hopefully DRY) debrief. There was a Plan B, but my intuition said this group needed to experience this river on this day to learn the lessons they were supposed to learn on their leadership journey, and below is the first.

#1 of 3-part series

Faces were grim. People were visibly irritated. Standing in the parking lot for the Leadership Canoe Outing kick-off, it was evident the vibe was less than positive. I was determined to stay upbeat despite the group’s mood – it was barely 50 degrees, the wind was pretty kicked up, and teeth were already chattering. I had a brief “what was I thinking?” moment but quickly dismissed it…onward! What was waiting for them was an elaborate customized course I had set up along the river involving stopping points, elaborate instructions, a competitive element, switching canoes, new partners at each stop (the new partner list to be discovered!), and leadership lessons galore.

To my surprise, a few (very high-ranking and competitive!!) leaders took the liberty of looking at the roster in advance, finding their partners, and getting situated at the starting point for a little competitive advantage. “Ready, set, go!” Needless to say, those first-in-the-water leaders were quickly way ahead of the pack! Three canoes in particular were in the lead, fighting it out for the top spot. Paddling furiously. What they had neglected to realize was that there was no “top spot”. Because they would have new partners at the first switch-point (individuals who had not yet arrived!!). They would end up having to stop… wait… and as it turned out… wait some more. The canoer’s in the last-to-arrive canoe ended up being partnered with the leaders in the first-to-arrive canoe! The debrief (and the ensuing aha) was priceless!

The first leaders to arrive at Switch-point #1 talked about how exhilarating it had been to be in the lead… adrenaline pumping, competitive juices flowing, eagerness and anticipation, only to hit a brick wall. When it dawned on them that they would have to switch canoes and partners their momentum was completely gone. Deflated, they sat and waited. And waited. Demotivated. Disheartened. Disappointed. Watching others come and go. And yet, REAL LIFE. It is not uncommon during an exciting run of work-place momentum, to have to stop and wait for others to catch up/get it/get on board. What we do in those moments defines us and our leadership. Fortunately these leaders ultimately made a great choice. I saw them (admirably) switch gears, re-prioritize, and patiently put the needs of the other canoers ahead of their own while they waited – helping stragglers en route – instructing, connecting, cheering, and even getting in the very cold water to pull canoes to shore! But they felt it. They felt how easy it was to let their competitive juices get the better of them, allowing them to forget their followers.

During the debrief, one of my favorite aha’s was that although they had not crossed the finish line first, they stated that they had ultimately won (!!). “Their people” expressed how truly touched and impressed they were by the Servant Leadership these leaders displayed. On that chilly October day, they gained a few more followers…on the river, in a canoe.

[NOTE: The Raw Leadership Experience™ is an immersive leadership learning experience while engaging in a hands-on team-building activity. Studies show that learning is deeper, more meaningful, and longer-lasting when tied to visceral, experiential learning. We create programs to stimulate out-of-the-box thinking, foster higher-level processing, and connections between the activity experience and “real life” leadership.]

Teamwork & leadership lessons while tuggin’ on a rope!

August 24, 2016 by Heidi Frye

dreamstime_tug-of-war

This past weekend I chaperoned my son’s high school Senior Class Retreat, sponsored by the high school’s Leadership Development Program (yes, we are very fortunate to be in a district that considers “leadership” important enough to have its own coordinator!). 250-ish 17 & 18 year olds, at a campground, all weekend, in the rain – ha! Bonding, laughing, getting wet, tears of joy, tears of youthful emotion, fun, frustration, aha’s, and lots of teamwork & leadership lessons.

One of our activities was tug-of-war on the beach. I had given my two student-leaders a heads up that I had a special, no-fail strategy for winning tug-of-war…kind of a brains-over-brawn sort of thing. My really-not-so-strong team from my daughter’s senior class three year prior used the same strategy and took second place out of 15 teams! Here it is…all team members are in sync – pulling on a “PULL-2-3” rhythm, at the same time – releasing and repositioning, at the same time. Fail safe swaying in unison. Major might!

Team rhythm doesn’t happen right away (LESSON #1), it takes focus, time, and a team effort. The student leader, thinking we would turn-it-around instantaneously, panicked when we didn’t, and shouted “everyone just pull, forget the chant”. Almost instantly, we could feel the rope slip through our hands. Defeat was imminent. Strategy is a commitment (LESSON #2), and usually takes more than 5 seconds to prove itself out. Needless to say we lost. We dropped the rope and one of our teammates shook his head and said very matter-of-factly, “Well, we just didn’t work together as a team!” (as if…”duh, there ya go!”). Yes, exactly. We didn’t work together as a team and we lost. That’s what happens. Teamwork means everyone pulls together, at the same time, in the same direction (LESSON #3). Knocked out of the running, we dejectedly watched the tug-of-war playoffs until it was down to the final two. One team was clearly going to win…after-all they had Mr.-Star-Football-Player-Strong-As-An-Ox guy as their anchor! And then, as if they had been in our huddle, Team Not-So-Strong-Underdogs started chanting “1-2-3-PULL…1-2-3-PULL”!! They found their rhythm! They worked as a team! They grunted, pulled, grunted some more, and chanted their team to a major upset! STRATEGY over Tactical…wins every time (LESSON #4).

I had no idea when I left my daughter’s college campus, I would be so HIGH!

April 24, 2016 by Heidi Frye

Yes, I was HIGH when I left campus…but maybe not for the reasons you’re thinking – lol! I was high because I was hopeful about our future leadership. I was high because of the interest and engagement on this important subject matter. And I was high because I had the honor and privilege of being a guest lecturer at Central Michigan University’s Communication 353 – Team Communication class taught by Adam Barragato!

NOTE – this should be a required course for anyone working in any organization in any capacity!!

My daughter saw the overlap between her course material and my organizational/leadership development work and gave the instructor my contact info. Lo and behold, I found an email from this amazing instructor (go Adam!) in my Inbox. I loved his goal – to turn all his students into Team Ambassadors, and was excited to be a part of their transformation! Most importantly, I was thrilled my daughter was becoming a T.A., as well as finding her inner leader!! The curriculum mirrors programs offered “in Corporate America” and aligns with my own development philosophy and facilitation style, and includes meaty topics – EI/EQ (Emotional Intelligence), culture, team dynamics, perspective, self, conflict resolution, communication, personality typing, etc. etc.

I think of the development process as a “four-tiered cake”:

—Tier 4: Strategic—

-——-Tier 3: Tactical———

———-Tier 2: Team & Others———-

-———————Tier 1: SELF awareness———————

The higher I go in organizations, the more often I find leaders wanting to do (only) “the fun stuff” – strategic decision making – without having done the necessary (not so fun) foundation work (the layer on which great companies are built!!!). Even when they have done the work, I hear top leaders say “oh yah, I did all that a long time ago” as if they are done. Leadership development is a long-term commitment! If the I-did-that-in-the-past-so-I’m-done theory worked, we could all stop working out…after all, we were probably in pretty great shape in our twenties, so we should “done” for the rest of our careers, right? The foundation on which successful companies are built, is made up of STRONG and HEALTHY LEADERSHIP, which has SELF (awareness) and Healthy Team (interactions) as must-haves. What happens when the foundation is weak? …the house/cake falters. Working on “self” feels so remedial and messes with top leaders’ egos. Yet, in every organization (without exception), I’ve seen this issue rear its ugly head in one form or another. The people who are “developing” bump their heads against the leadership-above-them ceiling (even though leaders-up-above believe everything is fine). Leaders, please continue to do the Leadership Workout – self awareness, team dynamics, EQ/EI, perspective, and communication!! Nobody wants you to lose your leadership muscle tone! Leadership FLAB is neither attractive nor inspiring.

Daniel Goleman, the godfather of EQ/EI, challenges us with these four competencies: self awareness; self management; empathy and social awareness; and relationship management. The business case for focusing on EQ/EI is compelling and rich with substantiated examples.

I was so high when I left this college campus because these students are getting exposed to this very important work NOW. Their egos aren’t bumping up against this topic (yet), so they are still open, engaged, and hungry for more development!! The discussion was fun and engaging. As expected with this huge topic, not enough time to cover everything. Fortunately, their instructor gets it, and leads the way. Adam, thank-you for inviting me in to share a “real world” perspective and the importance of this work with two of your sections!!! And to all of the students…thank-you for your participation!