OK...jump over this, run around this, spin on this, backwards over here...

In class this week we had an interesting day of relay races and nerve pinching. So you might ask, what the heck is nerve pinching supposed to mean? Well, it was pretty obvious that most everyone was really getting personal with there choices of players, and lack of ability to get along. But despite all the head butting that was going on, there was a good amount of leadership and planning that helped to make the overall day run pretty smoothly.

The Seven Bases of Power

There are seven bases of power that are talked about in "Managing Teams," this is where "leadersinsipre their team members to do what they want them to do, through some kind of motivation," these include Postion Power, personal power, Excerpt power, Resource Power, Reward power, Coercive Power, and conection power. In position power the power belongs to the leader simply because they hold the job...sometimes this is not appropriate for the situation we had in leadership, its hard to have someone lead simply based on their title because they have not proven thier capabilities or ability to be trusted by their Team. That is where Personal Power comes in, when the leader "earns the respect of the team members because he spends time listening to them and works to meet their needs." This didn't really apply to our activity, but Dr. Patterson actually showed this in his flexibility with the time and how it would be spent on each activity. This is an important type of leadership in ministry because although it is good to be firm and confident in your decisions, it is also good to be flexible with people as life gets in the way.

Expert Power can be valuble in a sitution where knowledge is what brings success. With our obsticle course, it was good to have Brit on our team because of her knowledge of rec staff, just like when we had the late night with handbells, and how important it was to have people who were good with music. Resource power can compliment Expert power if it is not abused, by giving something that the team may need, they have proven their capability for provision. Reward power would be the type that Dr. Patterson holds for his students, he has the ability to offer scholarships and incentives for students to be involved in their school, ministry, and community.

soccer cycle

A day of soccer is so much more than a game; it consists of players, coaches, referees and fans. Each person has a vital role in the game; there is more than a star player that helps to push a team to succeed. Being a team leader can be on the field or in the stands, but it is important to note that "team leadership is not an abdication of responsibility. It is a shared responsibility." (167) On a team and in the business world, it is necessary for the leader to participate in the proposed task in order to encourage the entire team. Like a coach in soccer showing the players how to pass or encouraging them with each goal and or failure to try again. Jarred and Ali did n amazing job last Monday at taking the sport that they loved and carefully teaching, showing and encouraging the class. This was a great way to lead and to teach, and would work well with outside the world of soccer as well.

Although the term "marshmallow manager" sounds catchy it can be a dangerous thing to become. In the book "Leading Self-Directed Work Teams," a marshmallow leader is "a supervisor who acts sticky and sweet; yet they seldom take a stand under pressure and the change their opinion easily to whatever is popular and noncontroversial." This is what needs to be avoided in team leadership, a leader, like Ali and Jarred did, should make a decision as to how the game of soccer should be taught and played and then not change their mind about rules and logistics. When Angela and I had the opportunity to lead, I am afraid that we did not give a clear enough explanation of the rules, which did cause controversy; it is also good to know and lay out all of the rules before the game is played independently by the team.

An important visual in leading self-directed teams is called "The Cycle of SDWT Maturity," there are five terms that this cycle includes, investigation, preparation, implementation, transition, maturation. Each stage was executed when we played soccer last week. The first stage, investigation, is about understanding; our leaders explained the game, the rules and the history so that we could better comprehend the purpose of the sport. Same as if one was designing an ad campaign, it’s important to fully understand the product. Next is preparation, this is about acceptance, asking the question "do you trust me?" Being able to take everyone onto the field or the project fully committed. Implementation involves making it work, once the leader has the trust of the team, they can begin the project or hope to succeed on the field. It will not be easy to keep the team motivated, this is the transition stage, helping o provide the team with motivation and the appropriate skills to succeed. Last stage in the cycle is the Maturation challenges, "it is easy to rest after people make it through the transition stage...unfortunately in todays competitive and turbulent environment, to rest may mean to become stagnant and uncompetitive." So what is the solution? I guess that is what this class is about, figuring out how to lead fully but also reserve energy to keep an activity in full swing at all times.

Kick the square

Last week in Teams class, Angela and I had the opportunity to lead the class in foursquare, extreme foursquare, Kickball, and partner Kickball. Together we were hoping to incorporate ourselves as “role models to followers and serving as a guide and teacher” (pg. 42) hoping that it would encourage the others to participate with the same level excitement that we had. Also, I think both of us realized that it is important to participate in hat ever activity that we asked the others to do, this is all about leading by example and I really think you have a higher level respect from your followers if you can do this.

“Trust and communication are two of the biggest hurdles that many managers face when trying to establish positive relationships with their workers.” (pg. 59) I think that one of the problems that we had on Monday was a lack of agreement between Angela and I, there were times when we would contradict each other, which ultimately confused the people in the class. But, we worked through the confusion and were able to still have a fun time.

When we were playing our games, one of our ideas was to have them play alone, and to also play in pairs. It showed that sometimes even when it is harder to communicate; working together can be more beneficial. In foursquare, having a partner was complicated at first, but as the game went on, having an extra eye and pair of hands helped to keep the game competitive and exciting. In kickball, it was interesting to watch each person depend on their partner to keep up when running the bases.

In the vision of the games, there are 6 C’s to base our leadership on, the vision must be: “Clear, easily understandable, concise, short and specific, connected, compelling, contrasting, and credible.” (MT pg. 73) It has to be challenging and appealing in order to accomplish anything.

In the business world, if there is not a clear vision then their will not be a clear goal. In chapter 6 they talk about “the Rotten Apple,” if one person in a group is disrupting the energy it can plant negative feelings in everyone. This can destroy the objective of the group.

Frisbee Golf is no fun!

So this week in class, we had the opportunity to play an exciting game of Frisbee golf. To be honest, I was not too excited about throwing a Frisbee all around campus. But, if anything, I discovered that no matter how much you don't want to do something, it will always be there and there is no avoiding it. In the book "Self-Directed Work Teams" there is a section that talks about Theory X and Theory Y which compare management Assumptions, theory X saying that most people and lazy and controlled, need to be motivated, and not very smart. While theory Y says that people like to work, they have self-control, they are smart, and they want to do a good job. The difference is that the employees will most likely agree with theory Y, seeing as it shows trust where theory X sees the employees as sheep. In our game, we had to decide if as a team, we were going to motivate each other, or end up playing babysitter.

In the book, "Leading self-directed Work Teams" Fisher talks about how our "thinking affects our behavior." Unless our opinions of people or the game change, we will be stuck in a bad attitude. During Frisbee golf, there were many of us who took the game seriously and were truly interested in winning. While some of us, including me came in with a bad attitude and therefore put forth minimal effort. Something I learned is that is the whole team is not giving 100% then no one can win. Same in the business world, the whole team need to be a part of the game.

"Expert power comes from perceptions of expertise or knowledge." In Frisbee golf, there was really no purpose in my leadership seeing as I have no skill in the game, however, David and Ethan knew exactly how to play and therefore held an understandable authority. In leadership positions, it is vital to know when it is appropriate to lead and when to step back.

Take 1..Take 2

In "Mind your Business" I was reading about Heresy and Blanchard’s situational leadership. They talk about how different kinds of people require different levels leadership and involvement. On Monday in my team’s class Sara and Ryan asked us to break up into small groups and each record a portion of a commercial. Following the Situational Leadership theory, they were able to delegate the task, and let us perform according to our abilities. The task was like a game, so it did not require a whole lot of urgency, besides a time constraint, and the maturity level of each member was high enough that Sara and Ryan were not holding anyone’s hand.

Another article in "Mind Your Business" talks about an exercise called "Lost on the Moon" in which a group decides what would be the most essential items if someone was stuck on the moon. Thinking about creating that commercial, we had to decide as an entire class what were the most vital facts to be included in the video and then in our small groups we needed to again break it down. If I was leading a group in he corporate world, it is just as essential to know the direction that I'm heading, and what the project I am working on requires. The difficult part is trying to get everyone your working with to agree what the most vital parts of Leadership are, which was what are commercial was themed around.

One of the best things about Monday and making the commercial was that I really think we all felt pretty sure of what the goal was and how to put the project into action. In the book, "Managing Teams" one of the cautions that Lawrence Holpp gives managers is how important it is to "move slowly with teams." He talks about "planning your objectives, goals, structures, needs, and potential problems." In our discussion of the "how" and "what" our commercial was going to be, Ethan Lunn played an essential devils advocate by pointing out a problem he had with the basic format. I really do think that if no one disagrees, it’s like the "going to town" example, that we will just let it happen.

Overall, I really did enjoy this activity, I think that in leadership there are going to be many times that we, as leaders, will find ourselves all being called to work together to create, direct, follow and serve. And as simple as making a commercial may seem, it really did test each of us as individuals on how and where we were to fit into the task.

Ultimate Frisbee is more than a game of skill...I guess.

For my leadership class we are reading this book called "Leading Self-Directed Work Teams" I find it fascinating that all the ideas in this book seem to slip their way into every action that we perform throughout any activity. In the book, there is a section in chapter six that talks about how critical meetings and training are for a team. Last Monday in class it seems like we spent a whole lot of time playing the game with little preparation and absolutely no game plan. I guess the assumption is that "hey, we're college students, we know how this works," when honestly I had no idea how the game was truly played.

I think it can be quiet overwhelming for a team, if their leader stands up in front of a group and reads an internet "how to" print out of the game plan and then sends them out full force. Even though this was just a game of Frisbee, I can imagine what a disaster this would have been if it was a business project, or even more dramatically a strategy on the battlefield. Sure we would have a few guys who knew how to shoot a gun, some who could map out a target route, but if there is no training, are we not setting them up for a slaughter? So if the game we "learned" on Monday was real life, we would have been screwed. (To put it in the nicest terms)

With a little more training, and if the history had been relevant, this may have been a beneficial day of leadership. But I guess, since I learned something, then it was beneficial. I think I am just beginning to get what this class is about, it's more than the actual three ours of sports, but a day to relate to the rest of our lives, in the work force and in the symbolic and literal battle field. Figuring out how to take leadership, break it down, level the playing field, and figure out what the games are really about.

snoooooooooooooop Step with the five P's

Last Monday in our team’s class, Katrina and Laura lead an unusual day of rhythm. We followed the idea of “stepping” and had to create a routine using our hands, feet, and mouths. The purpose was well rounded; we were a project, task-based team that was overall self-managed. We had to work together to create this team with very little dictation from either Katrina or Laura. The difficulty was the place; each person was randomly selected to perform a different motion, a few for the mouth, a few for the hands and a few for the feet. The problem was that most of us lacked the ability to perform fully in the area assigned. But overall we pulled together and formulated a plan to be as efficient as possible. Luckily there was hardly any power struggle for so many leaders to have to work together, each of us did well keeping an open mind and using creativity.

One idea on Chapter two of our Managing Teams book discusses using small work groups within each team in order to better balance out the leadership and creativity. It says that if this is done successfully then they can operate with little supervision, which I believe that we accomplished.

Looking at idea of social facilitation, our team had to be considerate of the abilities of each member when choosing the moves and positioning of each person. For example, for those who really lacked hand coordination, it was necessary that we create a steady beat for them to follow, the same idea with the mouth, and those who could beat box separate from others who can not carry a tune. Over it was an interesting and building experience, each week we seem to get to know our own strengths along with the other leaders around us.