Brought to you by Jeff Thoren, DVM, ATC  

Much of our leadership occurs in the conversations that we have, both one-on-one and with groups.  The way that we think about these conversations determines our ability to build trust, create commitment, and to learn.

Research shows that many leaders - especially when facing challenging conversations - employ communication strategies that produce unintended consequences and undermine their ability to lead.  The “Facilitative Leader” approach can help you think differently, create better results, and build better relationships.

Here’s this month’s feature ...

Does Your Leadership Reduce Learning?
by Roger Schwarz

Leader to Leader, No. 39, Winter 2006

Highlights from the article:

• In difficult situations - ones in which we feel some potential threat or embarrassment, including situations where we have a high stake in the outcome - virtually all of us operate using a “unilateral control model” (page 42 of the article).  As the name implies, our goal is to control the outcome of the conversation.  We seek to win and not lose, try to minimize the expression of negative feelings, assume that we understand the situation and those who disagree don’t, and act as if our reasoning is foolproof without bothering to test with others whether our assumptions and data are accurate.
    

• Ironically, by trying to control the situation, we contribute to creating consequences that we are trying to avoid.  These include misunderstanding, unproductive conflict, defensiveness, mistrust, limited learning, and reduced quality of work life.
    

• A better alternative is the Facilitative Leader approach which has at its heart the “mutual learning model” (page 44 of the article).  This model relies on an entirely different set of core values, assumptions and related strategies.  As a facilitative leader we temporarily suspend judgment in order to appreciate others’ perspectives.  We assume that other people may see what we miss and vice versa.  We assume that differences are opportunities for learning rather than conflicts to be avoided or contests in which to show that we’re right and others are wrong.  And we assume that people are trying to act with integrity given their situations.
    

• The communication strategies that facilitative leaders use make for excellent guiding principles for group process.  Consider purchasing the short article, Ground Rules for Effective Groups, available through Roger Schwarz & Associates.
    

• It’s difficult to see when we’re using the unilateral control model, even though we all do.  Review some simple ways to answer the question, “Am I acting unilaterally?” on page 46 of the article.  Becoming a facilitative leader means changing how you think so as to change the consequences you help create - for yourself, your team, and your organization.

  
For the full text article, go to ...
http://www.schwarzassociates.com/docs/leadershipLearning.pdf
  

How You Think is How You Lead

Try this one question quiz:  You need your team to agree on a new strategy.  You have strong opinions about the best way to go, but you need everyone’s commitment to make the strategy work, so you want to make sure that the team “buys in”.  But when you and your team are solving a problem together, a number of team members stop sharing different views after you have shared yours.  To address this problem, you (pick one):

1. Assure the team that you value their ideas and that the team’s strength comes from its diverse views.

2. Ask for team members’ views first and share your views last.

3. Offer to leave the room because you sense that some people aren’t speaking their minds.

4. Tell the team as a group what you’ve noticed and why you’re raising the topic, and ask them what is leading them to not share their different views.

5. Talk one-on-one to a team member that you trust and ask what’s going on.

Highly effective leaders use five principles to build results and relationships.  Let’s look at how your quiz answer matches these principles: 

• Curiosity.  Effective leaders are curious about what others are thinking.  They believe that others may see things that they are missing, so they ask genuine questions to learn.   If you chose answers 1 or 3, you’re not asking any questions, so you’re missing the chance to learn why people aren’t speaking up.  The problem will remain - or get reinforced.

• Transparency.  Effective leaders are transparent.  They share what they are thinking - including why they are saying what they are saying and doing what they are doing.  If you chose answers 1 or 2, you’re not being transparent about why you’re assuring them or why you’re sharing your views last.  Other team members won’t learn your true concerns - so the problem won’t get addressed.  And your lack of transparency will lead people to mistrust you.  If you chose answer 3, you’re being partly transparent about why you’re leaving the room, but not completely.  You’re not saying specifically which members you are concerned about, which creates misunderstanding.

• Accountability.  Being accountable means that you feel an obligation to explain your views and actions to others and others have a duty to do the same with you.  This obligation is in the spirit of improving the team’s ability to work together.  If you chose answer 5, you’re being accountable to one person, but not to the team; nor are you asking the team to be accountable to you.  If you’re not being transparent, you can’t be accountable, so answers 1 and 2 don’t meet this principle.  If you chose answer 3, you’re not asking those who have stopped disagreeing with you to explain their thinking.

• Courage.  Leaders who have courage understand that teams can only work together easily when people have the courage to raise the hard issues.  Leaders with courage move directly toward these conflicts and undiscussable issues rather than trying to defuse or avoid them.  This means naming what is happening in the team and working through it.  Only answer 4 demonstrates this courage. 

• Compassion.  When leaders practice compassion, they temporarily suspend judgment about others so they can understand and appreciate others’ perspectives - even when they disagree with others.  This sort of compassion still holds people accountable; it doesn’t try to rescue them or save face for them or yourself.  If you chose answers 1, 2, 3, or 5, you protect yourself, others, or both, and don’t get to the heart of the matter.  That’s more collusion than compassion.  

If you chose answer 4, you’re being courageous by raising a tough issue, curious about what is leading others to be quiet, transparent about your concerns, accountable to the group and vice versa, and doing all of this in a way that suspends judgment so you can learn what is causing the problem, including how you might be contributing to it.

These five principles are not techniques or tools. They require changing how you think so you can change how you lead and get better results and relationships.

Source: Roger Schwarz’ Fundamental Change monthly e-zine.

  
Next Month

Few, if any, forces in human affairs are as powerful as shared vision.  Interestingly, teams and organizations spend an extraordinary amount of time and effort defining and pursuing goals without necessarily ensuring that these goals are linked to each other and support a larger vision.  It’s time we learn how to harness the power of shared vision.

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