Matthew Richter posts daily comments in LinkedIn—well, almost daily. You can follow him and join the conversation by going to http://linkedin.com/in/matthew-richter-0738b84.
For the benefit of our readers, we decide to compile and reprint some of his provocative pieces from the past. Let us know what you think.
Team Resilience
As a manager or a leader, supporting individuals is, of course, essential. But it is equally, if not more, important to manage the environment to ensure team members don't get overwhelmed or too stressed in the first place. As managers, we absolutely can manage the environment and its external factors that can lead one to feel overwhelmed. Here are several tips to better manage the work environment to mitigate stressful situations.
Ensure that team members understand the policies, principles, processes, and guidelines for how they should do their jobs. Provide clear expectations, set clear goals with measurable metrics that help define success. Connect these process and deliverables to a higher organizational purpose and vision. Make sure their responsibilities and their roles are properly established. Any failure with any of these items can undermine the very structure that supports how a team can work. At a minimum, missing communication can create discomfort. At the other extreme, misunderstandings or ignorance can lead to failed outcomes. Get the house in order and be sure you communicate and discuss everything listed above.
Along the lines of providing the right information required for team members to successfully work, you also have to ensure they have the requisite knowledge and skills to apply that information. Be sure they have the necessary training, job aids, manuals, and other workflow support. Be sure they have on-the-job coaching and learning. Support mentoring. Debrief and conduct postmortems so folks can learn from their mistakes and successes. Be sure to provide effective feedback and even practice opportunities. Repeat: Foster learning.
Now make sure the incentives and reinforcements on the job are supportive and don't undermine the work. Rewards can undermine the more intrinsic value team members may find in their job. At the same time, if that intrinsic desire to complete tasks isn't present, rewards may help. In other words, you have to be thoughtful, strategic, and fully aware of the how the incentives in your environment affect the team. Compensation models and recognition programs can often promote behaviors and performance you don't want. So can their absence. Team members need to see how their work aligns to each other and to the overall strategy of the organization. Be clear how the motivational factors in your work environment influence and affect behavior.
Finally, be sure team members have the tools and resources necessary to do their work. They have to be the right tools and they have to function. Nothing can cause more stress than equipment or tools intended to facilitate workflow that don't do so. The time required to get the work done must also be reasonable and taken into account against other tasks and deliverables. And your team needs access to you and others to guide, advise, provide feedback, and direct.
Useful Lectures
Who says a good lecture isn't useful?
I love a good lecture. But I remember that a lecture has its purpose and no more so.
Lectures are content repositories. They are one of many media for disseminating content.
Like all forms of content, assuming the information soaks in via osmosis is a poor assumption. We have to do something with that content for it to transfer to long-term memory and get applied in our activities.
But perhaps we have demonized the poor lecture too much in the name of advocating for greater learner activity (of which I am not saying otherwise). It's just that the well-delivered lecture can be a thing of beauty... a story that both captivates and informs.
I have been re-watching the old BBC series, Connections with science journalist and historian, James Burke. What strikes me is that it is essentially one big lecture. There's Burke... he is the only one who talks throughout the series. The images do move, but you could argue they are simply media-laden PowerPoints. By the way, it's super! And still mostly relevant after 40+ year.
We enjoy good lectures. They are important tools. But they are not the only tools for learning. And we need to marry them to activities that support our objectives. In other words, the good lecture is a resource. It's a reference. It's the content.
Now, what can we do with it? That is the next part of the design.
The Art of Debate
The art of rhetoric and the art of the educated disagreement.
Sadly, these valued skills are becoming much less valued or even practiced.
When presented with a position, you should ask yourself about its merits and flaws. You should look at those flaws to explore if they completely undermine the position in the first place.
Why?
Because we learn how to take better positions and enhance those positions from an exploration of what doesn't work or is wrong.
Scientists, academics, and researchers, when doing their jobs well, don't look for confirmation. They look for evidence they are wrong. Why? Because in science, it is impossible to prove something is absolutely true when there is always a possibly that something is wrong. So, by looking for the wrong, we learn if we are more likely right. Not absolutely right, but more likely so. And when proven wrong, we can move on to the next iteration. We evolve and grow. Or, we toss and start over from a different position. Either way, we learn.
When I make an assertion, my mentors often attack! With free abandon. Sivasailam Thiagarajan has destroyed many, many of my arguments through a well-constructed critical thinking process. Will Thalheimer has shared replicated research I was unaware of indicating my premise was incorrect, or at least not well-founded. And others throughout my career and education. It is through being challenged and questioned-- my ideas are attacked and put to the test that I have improved and learned.
Too often we look for affirmation. Too often we want confirmation. Too often we conflate debate and argument with a personal attack rather than discourse. Too often our ego is contingent on being the smart one in the room. Or, having the position everyone accepts. But we can learn more from having our thoughts and ideas and positions put through the wringer.
Sure, being wrong can stink! But, being right only in your own mind, because no one challenges you, can lead to potentially bad outcomes.
Embrace the debate. Embrace the dialogue. Embrace the discourse.
Now... attack!