Breakthrough Teams for Breakneck Times - Mallek AbdeRRAHMANE

This publication is designed to provide accurate and authoritative informa-tion in regard to the subject matter covered. It is sold with the understand-ing that the publisher is not engaged in rendering legal, accounting, orother professional service. If legal advice or other expert assistance is re-quired, the services of a competent professional should be sought.

Vice President and Publisher: Cynthia A. ZigmundEditorial Director: Donald J. HullSenior Acquisitions Editor: Jean Iversen CookSenior Project Editor: Trey ThoelckeInterior Design: Lucy JenkinsCover Design: Scott Rattray DesignCover Photo: Beau Regard/MasterfileTypesetting: the dotted i

© 2001 by Lisa Gundry and Laurie LaMantia

Published by Dearborn Trade, a Kaplan Professional Company

All rights reserved. The text of this publication, or any part thereof, maynot be reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permissionfrom the publisher.

Printed in the United States of America

01 02 03 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Gundry, Lisa K., DATE-Breakthrough teams for breakneck times : unlocking the genius of

creative collaboration / Lisa Gundry, Laurie LaMantia.p. cm.

Includes index.ISBN 0-7931-4273-3 (hdbk)1. Teams in the workplace. 2. Industrial management. I. LaMantia,

Laurie. II. Title.HD66 .G86 2001658.4′036—dc21

2001000682

Dearborn Trade books are available at special quantity discounts to use aspremiums and sales promotions, or for use in corporate training programs.For more information, please call the special sales department at 800-621-9621, ext. 4410, or write to Dearborn Financial Publishing, Inc., 155 N.Wacker Drive, Chicago, IL 60606-1719.

Praise for Breakthrough Teams for Breakneck Times

“If committees were the curse of the machine age, creativeteams are the basis for victory in the information age. Break-through Teams for Breakneck Times can help any team reach itsfull potential, by applying the core principles and practicaltools in this useful guidebook.”

—Rosabeth Moss KanterBestselling author of Evolve! Succeeding in the Digital Culture of Tomorrow

“If you believe in the power of teamwork, you will enjoy theten principles in this book. The authors explore the impor-tance of teams in a refreshing way that is relevant in today’sfast-paced world. They touch concepts that are applicable toleaders and teams in any organization.”

—Jack M. GreenbergChairman and CEOMcDonald’s Corporation

“I am placing this in my well-referenced creativity tool kit.This book is loaded with recipes for the team seeking a newlevel of performance and satisfaction. When you mix togetherthe appropriate ingredients (from the book), you are able toprovide the most important meal for the creatively starvedteam—breakfast!”

—Gail TateProject Management DirectorLucent Technologies, Inc.

“Success in today’s knowledge economy requires tapping intothe creative talents of teams. Breakthrough Teams for BreakneckTimes provides managers with simple but innovative tools tooptimize team creativity and performance. These are principlesthat can be applied to project teams assembled together tosolve a problem or deliver a client solution or for permanentteams that want to take their performance to the next level.”

—Heather Bock, Ph.D.Manager, Executive Management Solutions TeamArthur Andersen

“It’s obvious that Laurie and Lisa have practiced innovationin real world business environments as evidenced by theirshort stories and Tools You Can Use applications. As a personwith primary responsibility for strategic development in myorganization, I found myself reading and taking a lot of notes.”

—George BabishVP of Imagineering and Strategic DevelopmentYMCA of Metropolitan Chicago

“It is impossible these days for any organization to survivewithout a dynamic team to nurture and develop any endeavor.This book is a source of inspiration and guidance for the go-getter in all of us.”

—George ZaharoffChairman and Creative DirectorThe Zaharoff Companies

“Collaboration is a thing, collaborating is a process. Collabo-rating implies involvement and commitment with accounta-bility for tactical implementation and results. It should be apositive experience, which brings out the best in people, andthe prerequisite is a positive attitude from all team members.The authors have developed an outstanding set of guidelinesto achieve successful results through collaborating. Startingwith, if we really want collaboration, we need to get over themindset of getting people to do what we want them to do.”

—Tom HoweChairman of the BoardJays Foods

“The authors pave a pathway for team building that allows forcreative collaboration without placing limits on what a teamshould be. This book provides tremendous insight into build-ing breakthrough teams and should be required reading forteam members at all levels.”

—Teresa LovelyManager–Financial ServicesInterlake Material Handling, Inc.

“Collaboration is the essential nature of innovation, and theauthors’ ten principles for creative collaboration are clear andpowerful. Filled with practical tools and guidance, this bookactually gets to the core of working together more effectively.”

—Joyce WycoffCofounder of the InnovationNetwork

DEDICATION

For Peter and Marc, whose love sustains our efforts.

CONTENTS

Foreword ixAcknowledgments xiiiPreface xvii

GETTING INTO A BREAKTHROUGH FRAME OF MIND 1

DREAM TEAMSWhat Makes Them Work? 9

PRINCIPLE ONECome Together for a Meaningful Reason 21

PRINCIPLE TWOCo-Create an Understanding of the Vision 43

PRINCIPLE THREEChoose the Culture You Want 61

PRINCIPLE FOUREngage in Courageous Speech and Action 89

PRINCIPLE FIVECultivate Shared Responsibility and Shared Ownership 107

PRINCIPLE SIXExplore Risk Taking 129

PRINCIPLE SEVENGovern from Within 145

PRINCIPLE EIGHTBuild Resiliency Muscles 171

PRINCIPLE NINEMake Change Happen 193

PRINCIPLE TENPlay and Rejuvenate 213

PUTTING THE PRINCIPLES IN ACTIONWhat You Can Do 227

OUTTAKESSome Parting Thoughts 239

vii

viii Contents

Resources 247Endnotes 253Index 255About the Authors 263

FOREWORD

Jerry Hirshberg

Teams. Teamwork. Teamplay. What do these words im-mediately inspire? Yeah, yeah, we know. Groupthink. Forcedcongeniality. Imposed work styles. Saluting the common de-nominator and submerging yourself in the prevailing consen-sus. Carrying your load for the greater good. Suppressing anyquirky impulses, getting in line and toeing the line, remem-bering always the solemn Star Trek credo, “The needs of themany outweigh the needs of the one.”

Along with such equally abused and overused businessplatitudes as out-of-the-box thinking and customer-driven inno-vation, the mere mention of teamwork promotes an automatictuning out. While the term continues to have positive impli-cations when connected with military leadership, factory work,and competitive sports, it hardly seems to suggest a managementstrategy that fosters intuitive impulses or creative departures.

Yet an examination of the history of breakthrough think-ing reveals that divergent thought can indeed emerge from cer-tain kinds of teams. Even the romantic notion of the solitarygenius laboring in utter isolation is yielding to a more realistic

ix

picture of the myriad ways highly gifted individuals seek out acommunity of interactive relationships for creative ideation.

The authors of this important book have focused onways that collaboration and teamwork can be used to igniterather than snuff out original thought. They have brokenthrough the myth that all teams operate according to thesame basic rules, and have instead generated a fresh set ofstrategies concentrated on an all-important end result: ideas.In so doing they have necessarily broadened and redefinedwhat is generally meant by collaboration, leadership, andsound management practices.

Conventional teams know precisely where they areheaded from the outset, with a clear map of how to get there.They thrive by mastering what has worked in the past. Per-haps the most significant differentiating feature of break-through teams, however, is that they cannot possibly knowthe final form of their labors until they discover it. This placesdiscovery as the prime priority of effective teamwork whenbreakthroughs are needed. The process of discovery requiresa fresh look at everything held sacrosanct in organizationalmanagement, from the role and style of meetings to what ismeant by leadership. Using what has worked in the past sim-ply will not get us to the future.

There is a central and powerful assumption underpin-ning the ten principles introduced by Dr. Gundry and Ms.LaMantia. It is that creative thought is not the sole provinceof a handful of uniquely gifted individuals. I share with the au-thors the belief that all persons given an appropriately con-ceived and supportive environment have the capacity forinnovative thought. This has served as the foundation for myown work both as a creative design executive in industry andas an author of the book I wrote on the subject, The CreativePriority (Harper Business).

x Foreword

This is not to say that we can all be creative geniuses, butthat we are all born with an innate creative capability. It is afundamental human survival and learning instinct. For most ofus the energy of this instinct is highest during our formativeyears, but becomes increasingly eroded by the nature of oureducational institutions and later by the conforming pressuresof our working environments. This has led to the erroneousassumption that, by their very nature, organizations and groupsnecessarily suppress divergent thinking. It needn’t be so.

While ideas are surely born in individual minds, they canbe triggered, enhanced, and transformed by human interac-tion. The pregnant space between minds is where emergingthoughts collide, overlap, contrast, and sometimes juxtaposewith one another to form wholly new concepts and directions,ones that might not have formed in isolation. An instinctiveawareness of the vibrancy of this space is what draws us to shareour notions with select colleagues and friends, to expose thenewly emerging precepts to alien perspectives, and to bouncethem off one another in order to lend them critical perspec-tive. We do this quite freely, away from work, where it is safe.

“One another” is the most significant phrase in the pre-vious paragraph, because it indicates that it is individuals withwhom we are drawn to interact, not the faceless and some-times threatening entity represented by the group. This rec-ognition and focus on the critical importance of individualminds and personalities resonating with each other distinguishesbreakthrough teamwork. The process is not consistently con-sensual or harmonious at every stage, but it is always stimu-lating and challenging. And it does not require checking yourpersonality, personal perspectives, or instincts at the door. In-stead, the working ambiance in such a group thrives on the interaction of a broad variety of approaches, work styles, andphilosophies.

Foreword xi

Awareness that it is not only acceptable, but mandatoryto bring one’s whole and true self to the party is what createsa feeling of security. However, most businesses work to avoidthe perceived messiness and threats of divergent approachesand procedures. They favor a coolly logical, objective, andconsistently aligned mentality in the workplace. But ideationrequires more, and the authors have highlighted the equiva-lent importance of passion, intuition, play (as in playing aroundwith ideas), risk-taking, and even failure. Breakthrough teamscannot be limited to a linear, sequential, dispassionate modeassociated (incorrectly) with the celebrated model of the sci-entific method.

Breakthrough teams require whole-brain thinking andthe full engagement of individual personalities, with all their in-nate passions and idiosyncrasies, working in concert with oneanother. The variety of viewpoints and preferred methodolo-gies are what lend the creative edge to the group. What we arethen led to when following the principles of the breakthroughteam is not the primacy of the group, but the living, breath-ing individuals forming it.

This book will surely help to dispel all the tired, oppres-sive notions conjured up by the term teamwork, and reinvestit with a sense of the vivid creative potential so necessary inthis era of breathtaking change.

Jerry HirshbergPast President and Founding Director, Nissan Design InternationalDel Mar, Californiae-mail: [email protected]

xii Foreword

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Every book is the result of collaboration, and ours is noexception. Considering the topic on which we are writing, wewouldn’t have it any other way. This book grew out of theideas of many people we have worked with, taught, and con-sulted. Our words spring from those ideas, and we are grate-ful to the colleagues, students, clients, family, and friends whoguided us along the journey to creating this book.

In expressing our appreciation we will begin where it allstarted, with Ida Bialik, friend, entrepreneur, national advo-cate of small business owners, who introduced us to one an-other several years ago. Our collaboration culminates in thisbook, and we thank Ida for that long ago call that started it all.

We were able to highlight the ten principles that form thisbook with the experiences of people who allowed us to comeinto their organizational and, in some cases, personal lives tohave a conversation about what collaboration really is. Theygave generously of their time and of their minds, and we expressour heartfelt thanks to all of them. They bring this book to life.In true collaborative fashion, we name them alphabetically:

xiii

Ralph Ardill of Imagination, LTD; Jonathan Booth ofPharmacia; Saul Carliner of Bentley College; Julie Gwaltney,Mary Janninck, Elyse Piper, Peter Secker, and Amy Grau ofEnesco Group, Inc.; Jim Grigoriou of the Davstoc Group;Lea Maurer of Lake Forest High School and formerly of theU.S. National Olympic Swimming Team; Dr. Lynne O’Sheaof A.T. Kearney and DePaul University; Marsha Serlin ofUnited Scrap Metals; Diggi Thomson of Unilever; Tony Wat-son of U.S. Alliance Group; Richard Ybarra of Eureka Com-munities; and Jerry Zelinski of Lucent Technologies.

Their stories reflect inspirational leadership and collab-oration as it exists in a variety of organizations they repre-sent, and they also demonstrate courage by placing their ac-tions in line with their intentions. We are indebted to them for their stories and for giving many of us something to shootfor!

We express our gratitude to Joanna Sprtel Walters, grad-uate student in DePaul’s MBA program, for her help in theresearch and transcription of the interviews for this book. Shecame to us mid-project, and plunged into it with indefatigablespirit. Her capability and generosity in sharing her network ofcontacts brought us together with Admiral Tony Watson andLea Maurer, who are among the collaborative team leadersprofiled in this book. We owe much to Jean Iversen Cook, Senior Acquisitions Editor at Dearborn, who first believed inour message and encouraged us to turn it into this book. Wegratefully acknowledge Trey Thoelcke, our Senior Project Ed-itor, for his skillful help in shaping the final manuscript, andLucy Jenkins for her inspiring interior design.

From Lisa: I wish to thank my colleagues at DePaul, es-pecially the faculty in the Department of Management. I amgrateful to work in such a collaborative climate. Many of youhave profoundly influenced the way that I work, and I have no

xiv Acknowledgments

doubt that it shows in this book. Special thanks to Jill Kickul,Margaret Posig, Ray Coye, David Drehmer, and CharliePrather; to Gerhard Plaschka and Leo V. Ryan for giving cre-ativity a home at DePaul; to the teams in organizations withwhom I have worked, who are trying to make a difference;and to all my students whose questions, stories, and presencein my classroom have taught me so many lessons over the years.To all of you and others whose conversations with me thesepast few months helped me focus and do what matters, I oweheartfelt thanks. To Laurie LaMantia who opened me up towhat creativity could look like in organizations and in my ownlife—thank you for creating these pages with me.

Finally, this book would never have come to be withoutthe unending support and love of my family. To my husbandPeter, thank you for believing in me and for sharing your owncreative spirit, keen perception, and sense of humor that keepsmy academic life sharp—your love and understanding madethis book possible. My sons Dylan and Austin, who daily enactthe creative spirit, are always helping me to grow in ways Inever dreamed. My parents, Helga and Hal, who came to-gether from different parts of the world, helped me realize thevalue of different perspectives, hard work, and finding yourpassion and following it—all of them deserve my love andgratitude. This book is for you.

From Laurie: I would like to begin by thanking my hus-band Marc. Sometimes I find it difficult to put into wordshow grateful I am for all you give me. Your willingness to sup-port me in finding my wings, your compassion, and your loveare wonderful. Thank you for giving me the opportunity tofocus on this book, a long-time dream realized.

I would like to thank the students with whom I have hadthe privilege of sharing ideas and concepts. Every time I standup to teach, I learn so much from you—thank you.

Acknowledgments xv

To the Idea Ladies without whom I would never havehad the opportunity to learn so much about creative collabo-ration and myself. I will always be grateful for IdeaVerse andwhat we created at Lucent. I will forever treasure your men-torship, guidance, love, and friendship my dear friends AngelaJust, Chris Steinberg, and Lari Washburn.

A special thanks to you Angela, for your generous helpreading and editing this book. Creative collaboration is inyour blood.

I would also like to thank all of the teams and profes-sionals with whom I have had the great pleasure of working.So many excellent people teach me every day.

To Lisa Gundry, life’s mystery stirs possibility—you, myfriend, have a big spoon. Thank you for seeing something inme to want to create this book together.

To the GNO bunch, you are my very special pals, whogive me laughter and f-u-n when I need it. Thanks Judy,Lourdes, Michelle, Tammy, and Teresa.

To my MAP team, thank you, thank you, thank you.And to my family, business is in our blood. I remember

hearing company conversations every Saturday morning sinceI was young. Mom and Dad, you gave me a wonderful foun-dation to grow from. Thank you for your love and for pro-viding me so many opportunities to learn. A special thanks tomy wonderful sister, Shari, you are a great person, and to mybrother Ted, who can do anything he puts his mind to.

How do we express our gratitude to the many peoplewho have touched our lives, and generously gave of them-selves so we may grow? It is an impossible task but an impor-tant one. Thank you to the many people who have sharedyour special something to make this book come to life.

xvi Acknowledgments

PREFACE

Do teams work? We are all familiar with the belief thatthe power of people working together provides output thatfar surpasses the efforts of any one individual. So why is itmost of us have never been a part of a dream team? Do theyreally exist? And if they do, how did they get this magical abil-ity? Breakthrough Teams for Breakneck Times explores the dis-tinctive qualities of breakthrough teams, and gives you tools totransform your team into one that makes a difference, whetherbeing more productive and innovative, more in touch withthe needs of your clients or communities, or enriching the pro-fessional and personal lives of the people on the team.

The ideas that grew into the pages of this book havecome out of years of doing the work that matters most to us—helping individuals and teams find within themselves the cre-ativity and breakthrough thinking they possess to make a realdifference. These ideas have become the ten principles youwill find in this book. We have designed them for organiza-tions that desire to become more innovative, and for people

xvii

who want something more meaningful to come out of thework they do.

We all have worked on teams that never seemed to reachthe potential they set for themselves. Somehow, something al-ways went wrong. The goals weren’t clear, people weren’t onthe team for the same reasons, the leader tried to take theteam in a direction that seemed off course, the team becamea playing field for all sorts of conflicts (both personal and pro-fessional) that plummeted morale and motivation. In short,many teams don’t thrive. They barely survive.

So what does a breakthrough team look like? How doesit feel to be part of such a team, to lead or change it into be-coming breakthrough? How do you form a collective vision,decide how you want to operate together, take courageous action and explore risks, heal when conflicts arise, embracechange, and even play and rejuvenate as a team?

The Ten Power Principles in the Book

This book presents ten principles of team collaborationthat lead to breakthrough thinking and better innovation. Wediscuss the power principles behind breakthrough teams: howthey form and envision their goals, how they communicateand reach a collective understanding, how they approachproblems and opportunities, and how they produce faster andmore effectively. One of the key benefits of this book is thatthe ten principles, along with the exercises, creative team tools,and real team scenarios presented, will engage all of the teammembers, stimulating greater creativity and productivity.

The pressure to be successful as a team is present andmounting. We live and work in breakneck times. Product andservice obsolescence rates are on the rise. Every day (or every

xviii Preface

hour in some industries) a new competitor emerges on thescene and tugs at our existing framework. The needs of ourcustomers and clients shift frequently, and in some cases thesevery markets are disappearing, and we must discover newones. In short, we need to move faster.

If we take the time to build a team in the right way, bydoing the right things, we can become breakneck. If, however,we skip over the principles and just get right to work, we mightlook breakneck, but we will just be doing the wrong thingsfaster! Our point is this: If you want your team to be break-through (and this will have a different meaning across busi-nesses, community organizations, and governments), in orderto survive and succeed in this breakneck economy, you willneed to unlock your team’s potential to collaborate creatively.Collaborating is a skill, and it’s not just for when you are tryingto be creative. This book covers fundamental building blocks ofteam interconnectivity that you can use to get your work done.

At the same time, we don’t intend for this to be a recipebook. We cannot give you a formula to make your team morecollaborative, creative, or innovative. We can’t give you therecipe for making a difference. We can give you some guidelinesand ideas. You must put them to use, experiment with them,modify, change, or chuck them as your situation demands. Wewould love to be able to give you a formula: When Trent com-plains then do this, when Trina demands, do this. But we can-not do that with integrity. We are not gurus; we are humanswho have worked with teams and seen a few things, but wetoo are on a discovery path to wholeness and integrity in ourteams, our businesses, our classes, families, and friendships.Everything is changing and we are all constantly learning—what good news.

Dream teams are highlighted throughout the book, draw-ing from the worlds of business and industry, performing arts,

Preface xix

civic and charitable organizations, to showcase a wide spec-trum of collaborative teams. We have not exclusively focusedon amazing stories of breakthroughs or teams making greatdifferences. This would make it seem there are special peopleand teams who have “it” and other teams that never can. Everyteam has a bit of “it”—the magic of breakthroughs, the powerof collaboration, the ability to create and innovate, and the abil-ity to make a difference. Through a process of intention and ap-plication of these principles, every team can have more of “it.”

We hold several beliefs that are reflected throughout thisbook. You can have great impact in your teams; you can be athought leader. You have a choice about the type of teamplayer you will be. Everyone wants to see a better world. There-fore everyone has the potential to be an agent for change. Inthe words of Gandhi, “You must be the change you wish tosee in the world.” The key is finding the things that we havepassion for and letting our passions lead the way to change.We also believe everyone is creative, despite the years we orothers might have spent telling ourselves that we are not verycreative or original.

We believe the role of managers and team leaders con-tinues to evolve. We talk of this new role, but you, as leader/manager need to define this role for yourself. We describe acollaborator as one who paves paths, but you might define itdifferently. However you define it, we have seen a change inthe role of management from owning it all to shared respon-sibility and shared accountability: a shift from me to we, andfrom have to to want to. The language is the message.

We don’t believe that every team is collaborative all thetime. Nor are teams never collaborative. As humans we gothrough cycles—winter when we are resting, spring when weare preparing to bloom, summer when we are in full bloom,and fall when we are reaping the fruits of our labors. Teams

xx Preface

have these cycles too. Try to honor the cycles of your teamand respect the need for rest. We cannot always be in our sum-mer or fall. Seasonality is a basic law of nature; work with itand reap the fruits of the way teams (and life) work.

It is our hope this book becomes a handbook for youand your team. Make notes in the margins and play with theconcepts to make them your own rather than just having apassive read. Unlocking the genius of our teams essentiallymeans we value the genius in ourselves and in other people andthen go about making the most of it. Who knows where thiswill take you? The journey is full of possibilities that can leadto breakthroughs. So let’s get started.

Preface xxi

GETTING INTO A BREAKTHROUGH

FRAME OF MIND

Before we begin our journey through the principles ofcreative collaboration, it is important to get ourselves into abreakthrough frame of mind. Here we learn to lay the foun-dation for breakthrough thinking.

When we break through something, it feels like we havepopped into a new dimension. It’s as if we are lifted up pastthe bounds of what we know and expect to a different realm,a whole new world. We see things we missed; we can createfrom a new way of knowing that was not possible before. It isexciting and amazing. Breakthroughs are like candy; once wehave had the taste of one, we want more and more.

We might even go on a hunt for breakthroughs, expect-ing them, demanding them. Yet, breakthroughs are as myste-rious as the knowledge they bring. What brings them on?How do we plan for them? Can we make them happen? Howdo we make them happen more frequently? Can we create anenvironment that is conducive to breakthroughs? How?

There is a magical quality to breakthroughs, and prepar-ing ourselves and creating the conditions for breakthrough is

1

what this book is about. The magical quality of a break-through does not have to be random. We can create the con-ditions to facilitate this magical quality, and it is much simplerthan we might think. Our thoughts have power, and our wordseven more. When we speak, our words help create the realitywe are experiencing and help shape the reality of our future.Teams have extraordinary power to influence reality becauseof the number of people involved.

If we do not acknowledge the phenomenon of magicand reality creation, then we can never have the breakthroughdiscussion. So if it is breakthroughs we want, we need to ac-knowledge the larger forces at play.

Can we put ourselves in a breakthrough frame of mind?The answer is “Yes, we can,” and here’s how.

1. First, we need to banish the fear of the breakthroughnot happening. Fear creates doubt and worry, andthis works against the very thing we strive to create.When we worry that the breakthrough will not hap-pen, we slow the process way down—so don’t worry.Instead, say “I know there is possibility here. I amopen to something popping up that I did not expect.”

2. The second step is to release our expectations of whatthe breakthrough will look like. Our expectationslimit us from seeing the breakthrough when it hap-pens and they restrict what can be created. When wefixate on one right answer, we close down the field ofinfinite possibility and it is from the field of infinitepossibility that breakthroughs emerge. Locking in onepossibility closes down the creating process. There isnothing wrong with having an idea of what we wouldlike to see happen, but there is a difference between

2 Breakthrough Teams for Breakneck Times

outlining the needs of the team goal and dictating theway the goal must be achieved. This is why strategicplans are now considered too limiting and ineffective.The problem is that the plan has been taken as gospeland when we do not execute according to plan, itseems we have failed. But plans are only good for themoment in time when they were conceived, primarilybecause we are not fortunetellers; we do not knowwhat the future holds.

The same goes for our financial objectives. Itmakes sense to create financial goals, but many timeswe become fixated on meeting those goals and weforget they were targets, wishes. We focus on the num-ber and not what goes into the number or the otherneeds that were boiled down into the number. Both ofthese approaches limit what can be created and narrowthe field of infinite possibilities by force-fitting ourexpectations instead of expanding to the possibilities.

Now that we have released our fear and worry, and wemoved our expectations from one possible outcome, we areready to continue getting ourselves in a breakthrough frameof mind.

3. The next step is to be receptive and open to the pos-sibilities, and continue planting the seeds for break-through. We review the opportunity or problem aswe understand it. It also helps to review any data andinformation we have gathered.

4. Now we can play with possibilities. Begin talking aboutthe envisioned state for the team. Do not be attachedto the future state, but discuss what it could look like.

Getting into a Breakthrough Frame of Mind 3

Make “Wouldn’t it be great if . . .” statements, whichgo a long way toward helping us describe what wewould like to see when this breakthrough occurs.

Be careful to state the optimal outcomes, andspend more time on what we want to see happen,rather than on what we do not want to see happen, be-cause the mind works in a mysterious way: The mindforgets the “not.” It gets lost, and a well-intentionedstatement like, “We do not want to disappoint the cus-tomer” can be heard as “We want to disappoint thecustomer.” Better to modify the statement to “Thecustomer will be thrilled by our product.” It soundssimple, but it works.

Here’s an example of visioning from a breakthroughstate of mind: Pat was envisioning her next career move. Shesaid, “I would like a job where I can work part time and makeat least $50,000 a year.” Now let’s look at this and see whereit can be improved. First, she did not talk of the type of envi-ronment in which she would like to work. What else did shewant? What did she really wish to have happen? With whatkind of people would she like to work? What type of work didshe want to be doing? What talents did she want to grow?

Also she dictated a number, $50,000. This did not leaveopen the possibility for more. A better statement would be, “Iwould like to make enough so that money is not an object”or “to facilitate covering my needs and my desire to start mysinging career.” As for saying she wanted a “part-time job,” itwould have been better to note that she was interested in“freedom from having to be somewhere every day and some-thing that took less time” so she could dedicate more time toher singing career.


Can you notice the difference? In the former statement,Pat did not talk about what she really wanted. She gave a gro-cery list instead of an expansive, open-ended statement ofwhat would facilitate her heart’s desires. The same thing hap-pens in teams; we make our grocery list instead of creatingfrom a possibility mentality.

5. After envisioning the possibilities, just let go. Nowthis is the part where everyone is going to have a sig-nificant problem. What do you mean “just let go”?What about the action plan? What about making some-thing happen? We say we just did. We just plantedour wishes into the sea of infinite possibility; now letthe magic happen. But be on the lookout for thingsto start moving in some direction.

6. Be on the lookout for synchronicities popping up tomove us toward the opportunity or resolve the prob-lem. Then take action. The answers and options willstart to come from many places (books, news, ourchildren), but we must be attentive to them. Go withthe flow of what is coming to the team. What seemsbad might be exactly what is needed to move forwardtoward the desired reality.

Learning to use this process to get into a breakthroughstate of mind might seem strange at first—all new things are.With diligence and a little effort, though, our teams are lay-ing the groundwork for breakthrough thinking and action.

The following page contains a summary of the break-through process for you to copy for the entire team and hangat your desks as a reminder of what you can do to make a difference.


“Magic is the ability to create something that is

honest and full of wonder. In a nutshell, as kids we used our

special gifts to create constant magic. If only we could do

that again for our customers, colleagues, employees, and

shareholders.”1

—Dr. Alan Gregerman, Lessons from the Sandbox


Getting into a Breakthrough Frame of Mind

Use this process to prepare the team for breakthroughs.

1. Banish any fear of a breakthrough not happening.

Don’t worry or think of the reasons why a break-

through cannot happen. Focus on a successful out-

come. Say “I know there is possibility here. I am open

to something popping up that I did not expect.”

2. Release your expectations of what the breakthrough

will look like. Stay objective and open to many solu-

tions to your opportunity.

3. Review the opportunity or problem as you under-

stand it. It also helps to review any data and infor-

mation gathered.

4. Talk as a team about the envisioned state. Do not be

attached to the future state, but discuss what it

could look like. Make “Wouldn’t it be great if . . .”

statements. Be careful to state the optimal out-


comes, and spend more time on what you want to

see happen. Don’t discuss downsides or play devil’s

advocate. Give as much information as possible

about the optimal outcome.

5. After envisioning the possibilities, just let go—don’t

action plan, etc.

6. Be alert and on the lookout for synchronicities pop-

ping up to move the team toward the opportunity

or resolve the problem. The answers and options will

start to come from many places (books, news, your

children), but you must be attentive to them. Then

take action.

DREAM TEAMS

What Makes Them Work?

“There is nothing like dreams to create the future.

Utopia today, flesh and blood tomorrow.”—Victor Hugo, Les Miserables

Imagine the possibilities. You are part of a team that setsits vision about what it wants to be and accomplish together.Your fellow team members are recruited not because of theirrelationships with other team members, nor because they tendto think in similar ways, but specifically for the valuable diver-gent perspectives they bring to the team. Your team openlyand honestly communicates about everything and is on a jour-ney as much as it is headed to a particular destination. Ofcourse it meets its goals; in fact, it probably exceeds most of them.

But being part of a dream team is much more than justaccomplishing a task or a project. It is an experience of colle-giality and flow. Being on a dream team is unlike any groupexperience you’ve ever had or will have. Our hometown once

9

boasted one of the world’s best known dream teams, TheChicago Bulls, six-time winners of the NBA Championship.They set Chicago spinning for several years. But dream teamsare not found only on basketball courts. The principles char-acterizing a dream team are spokes in a wheel, and the fol-lowing ten chapters introduce you to these principles, uponwhich you can build a dream team experience. It’s not easy. Infact, to become breakthrough, which we propose is the sinequa non of dream teams, you have to be willing to work ashard as you have ever worked with a group of people. Thecentral point of this book is that you have to take the time toput the team together right if you want to reach that break-through product, project, or service. The ten principles willbreak through to ideas, answers, and solutions. The ten prin-ciples will help you on your journey. They are the key dimen-sions that keep people going in the same direction despiteuncertainty, unfriendly organizational cultures, and evenhuman nature.

Throughout this book we profile teams and team leadersfrom a cross-section of organizations and professional experi-ences. They are teams from manufacturing companies, con-sumer products firms, community service organizations,design firms, high school athletics, and a host of others. Someof these teams exist within traditional, hierarchical settingswhile others exist in independent, entrepreneurial firms. Thepoint is to offer examples from a variety of areas, in the hopethat you will see your team, or what your team can become.

For this introductory chapter we have selected two ex-amples of such teams, to help you envision what is happeningwhen a team reaches this high performance state. Let’s dive infor a look.


Diggi Thomson of Unileveron “The Passion behind Collaboration”

At the time we interviewed him, Diggi Thomson hadbeen with Unilever for eight years, six of them in the UnitedKingdom, marketing fragrances to 16 to 24 year olds. He isMarketing Manager for Salon Selectives where he spear-headed the relaunch of the product line, a turnaround he de-scribes as “the most successful launch in the history of theuniverse.” Diggi’s passion is obvious as he tells the story of abrand that slid from being number two in the market to a dis-appointing number six. The challenge to Diggi and his teamwas clear: How could they get it right again and what wouldbe the formula for success?

The original launch of Salon Selectives in 1987 rapidlyled the product line to number two position in the market-place in 1991 with a 6 percent dollar share of the market. Bythe beginning of 1999, however, the brand had slid to thenumber six position and a 4 percent dollar market share. In2000, they launched a new plan to recapture market share.Their vision was based on the following principles: simplifica-tion, unique copy, new fragrance, new packaging, new pric-ing, and profit. They purposefully created a new advertisingidea and creative platform built on abstraction in order tostimulate the creative thought process of the team members.Key words and phrases were: See it, Do it. These words, en-couraging customers to create the styles they envision (see it)with these products (do it), eventually became the ad line forthe new launch.

Diggi attributes the success of the relaunch to the col-laborative capabilities of his team. “Creativity and collabora-

Dream Teams: What Makes Them Work? 11

tive teambuilding is important, as it allows you to improvethings, leave a tangible mark, and enjoy yourself as well as useyour brain properly.” Salon Selectives broke conventions tobecome breakthrough. Diggi explains, “Most existing brandsanswer how. Salon Selectives addresses the fundamental whyof its products.” The team turned several myths of hair careproducts on their ears: “One myth is that inspirations forlooks come from other people. In fact, inspirations for lookscan come from anywhere. Another myth is that a brand’s roleis to help consumers get the look they want. In fact, Salon Se-lectives’ role is to inspire consumers to think about the lookthey want, as well as to help them get it.”

The 2000 turnaround collaborative effort was comprisedof several different teams all working together. Each team hadto come together to brainstorm and expand the current brand.Without creativity and collaboration, it would have been nearlyimpossible to re-engineer the many components that make upa relaunch of any product or service. Concept, design, productnames, pack copy, advertising, communications plans, mediasell–in, how to get artwork done in two versus six weeks, the trade transition from old to new, and the launch partywere all key elements contributing to the new product’s im-pending success.

We asked Diggi to let us in on how he was able to stim-ulate collaboration among numerous individuals and depart-ments. The following are his reflections and advice on how toachieve real collaboration:

• Question thy assumptions. Thinking errors are usuallyerrors of perception, not logic. Diggi believes that as-sumptions put a subconscious restraint on creativity.You need to ask if your assumptions are valid and showsome proof.


• Set great expectations. The one thing I commonly sayis “Make me nervous” in a positive way. Unless youdo, it certainly won’t be brilliant, and it’s unlikely tomake consumers say “Wow, that’s different, new, andexciting!”

• Great briefs (vision statements) are the basis of theteam’s work. They should be simple, clear, focused, andwrapped in inspiring language. The team brief is ex-tremely important. The brief sets up the task and whatyou hope to accomplish. Bad briefs are vague, withtoo many ideas. Good briefs are clear, single-minded,short, and inspiring. They should harness the brain’sgrappling hooks. In marketing you have to always re-member that people might give you two seconds oftheir time when they are in the shop and there is asmall chance they have seen your ad. You’d better bevery concise about the essence of what you are aboutor forget it. I think the truth in that goes beyondpackaged goods. Diggi adds that he recently heard aquote from Dee Hock, founder of Visa International:“Simple, clear purpose and principles give rise to com-plex and interesting behavior. Complex rules and reg-ulations give rise to simple and stupid behavior.”

• As a team leader, walk the talk, and set the example.Diggi encourages openness and respect for opinions,but people know that idle grousing will not cut it.People on my team buy into the responsibility forthinking about how to get around concerns, not justvoicing them. As a team we are talented people, andwe have a platform to do our best work. Are we goingto step up or step down to it?

• Diversity is smart. Diggi believes that the more interest-ing the input is, the more exciting the output. Diver-


sity of function, thought, experience, race, and na-tionality is a stimulus that provides more jumping offpoints for many more interesting linkages and newthoughts.

• Recognition is fuel. Diggi recounts what team mem-bers experience when their process is going well andthey reach success: That felt good, and I’ll do it again.There is no limit to how much recognition you cangive someone. Publicly and privately recognize all thatdeserve it. Here we have “Walk the Talk” awards thatare given out monthly, and we say something aboutwhat the person has done. For example, “We recognizeJohn for his enthusiasm, demonstration of positive at-titude, diligence, and overall consistent embodimentof Phoenix Team values and vision.”

• Communication is glue. Diggi stresses that if you wantevery member of your team to feel excitement, be-longing, and commitment, then formal and informalcommunication is necessary. He regularly talks thingsup outside the team so people on the team realize theyare being perceived as part of that team and thereforebecome prouder to belong to it.

• Attitude is all. According to Diggi, it’s not who orwhat you are, but your attitude that counts.

• Passion gets results. Diggi claims he learned from a set designer that we have no excuse not going for full-blown greatness.

Diggi does walk his talk. The vision he follows for him-self as team leader and collaborator is manifest in everythingabout him, from the way he tells the story and the respect andpride he holds for his team, to the everyday actions that sym-bolize what’s really important. It’s hardly surprising that all


this creative collaboration takes place in an organizationwhose lobby contains two simulated Chicago street signs: thecorner of Idea Avenue and Innovation Street.

Could this be every dream team’s address? ✴

The following story was told to us by Dr. Lynne O’Shea.She is with A.T. Kearney, the high-value management con-sulting subsidiary of EDS, and an Executive in Residence fac-ulty member for DePaul University’s Kellstadt GraduateSchool of Business. The story illustrates that sometimes dreamteams, in this case a virtual team, can seem the stuff of fantasy.

Dr. Lynne O’Shea“It Was like Camelot.com”

The School for Management and Strategic Studies (SMSS)was only once in time. With folks called “fellows” instead of“knights.” Camelot arose after the fall of the Roman Legion.SMSS came at the end of the Industrial Age, and was, in fact,a merry band of brave-hearted people who were exploring thefrontier of the Information Age. The story begins like this:

In 1981, Richard Farson, president of the Western Be-havioral Sciences Institute (WBSI) in La Jolla, California, rec-ognized that cyberspace had finally created the opportunityfor executives to learn the dramatically changing requirementsof leadership, without having to leave their jobs. He con-ceived a school that would exist in digital space for a decade.The fellows (students) would be taught by a faculty of leadingscholars, corporate officers, and political leaders. Fellows andfaculty alike would have to learn to use computers for com-munication in this new cyber-school. Farson’s dream was sup-ported by reality when, in 1981, the price of Apple computers


came down to about $5,000. Now executives could buythem, making his breakthrough idea of a non-geographically-constrained educational program possible. He would now beable to explore his burning interest in the humanitarian appli-cations of the new on-line conferencing technology.

Farson and the WBSI staff undertook the design and re-cruiting effort that spawned the SMSS. The first executiveperson to sign on was Douglas Strain, chairman and CEO ofElectroScientific Industries. The first class began in 1982, mak-ing it the first program in online distance education. The lastclass (each lasted 2 years) graduated in 1991. I was part of theclass of 1988. Arthurian history, in Britain’s fifth century, re-calls the twelve battles during which King Arthur and hisKnights of the Round Table gained their reputation for invin-cibility. We engaged in twelve dialogues, each for two years.Everyone found the experience so rewarding that after grad-uating, no one wanted to leave. So alumni and previous fac-ulty continued to be a part of this growing community.

Faculty and fellows began their discussions face to face,continuing online over the next six months before returningto La Jolla for another residential session. Each month theycovered a major topic relating to a curriculum that dealt withgeopolitics, environment, technology, government relations,management philosophy, and ethics. Remember, this wasmore than a decade before the emergence of the World WideWeb. In the beginning, it required 32 keystrokes just to signon. Our ideas traveled at 3,000 baud. Today’s Internet usersgrow impatient with 56,000 baud. Class sizes varied from threeto twenty-three and included military generals, corporatechieftains, and leading academics living life in the fast lane, en-abled by Web technologies.

For Lynne, however, this was more than non-geograph-ically-constrained education. It was a dream team with partic-


ipants drawn from diverse backgrounds, typing on their key-boards deep in the dark of the night in far-flung ports of call,each enabling the other to fast-forward thoughts and ideasinto implementation.

We asked Lynne what made such a team possible:First, we were first. By that I mean it was the first time

such a diverse group had been pulled together. The excite-ment we felt was exhilarating. Three of our members were astronauts, and when they spoke of seeing “the big blue mar-ble” from space with no artificial boundaries—we felt our experience in SMSS was similar. Second, our thoughts trav-eled in nanoseconds. Suddenly, synchronous communicationcould occur with Jorge Semella’s thoughts suddenly jumpingonto my screen, with Jorge in Caracas and me in Chicago.Third, we overcame not only time, but space. There were nonation-state boundaries in the way. Fourth, we were beingwatched. Teams of psychologists and other social scientistsfollowed our every move to see how we were reacting tobeing in this new information environment. Our classes werewatched over by the psychologists, who saw the heart at workas faculty and fellows struggled with very human issues.

Finally, and this is the defining moment for me, we couldlearn, share, and trust because we were not threatened. In realspace, one may feel threatened by another’s age, background,or tone of voice. In virtual space, you see word-processedthought. You see, in fact, the mind at work. You can sign-onwhen you are ready, rather than being called into a class or ameeting at a time when you may not be at your best. It is allpart of overcoming space or, more accurately, place. The placeother people put you in due to hierarchy or prejudice.

A dream team happens when we connect and do not feeldistant from one another. Sherry Turkle, another MIT cyber-space educator, believes that Internet experiences help us to


develop models of psychological well-being. We are encour-aged to think of ourselves as fluid, emergent, decentralized,and flexible. These words that describe the best of an Internetexperience also define the best of teams. Think of GatewayComputers, especially the word gateway. Think of going fromhere to there unencumbered. Our emerging paradigm is rela-tional, not linear. Web-enabled technology is changing theway we think and talk about ourselves: linking, comparing,and connecting. These too are words for the best of teams.

To believe that your team is doing something important,something that requires you to be brave, first, flexible, or un-encumbered in getting from here to there is to be lifted above(like my astronaut colleagues) boundaries, territories, andthen pettiness, color, age, race, or creed. We believed that washappening in our experience together. All told, some 200 peo-ple came to this virtual space to collaborate and communicate,at the end of the twentieth century, about what the twenty-first century might look like for the planet. They came toovercome—time, space, and place. ✴

“To accomplish great things, we must dream as well

as act.”—Anatole France

These stories took us inside two very different dream teamsthat came together under distinct circumstances and times.But like the many stories of other teams you will encounterthroughout this book, they share some common characteris-tics of teams that perform creative collaboration:

• Individual team members have a clear understandingof their abilities, styles, and potential contributions to


the team. Each member’s role in the team is defined,yet dynamic.

• Dream teams are characterized by multidimensionalstructures, often called networks, hubs, lattices, orwheels. There is a noticeable absence of hierarchy andthe traditional power structures that accompany it.They resemble circles but never pyramids.

• Each team member feels a sense of ownership aboutthe team’s responsibilities, interactions, actions, andconsequences.

• Dream teams are not governed by the myth of collab-oration, in which the ideas and actions of a few (eitherthe most powerful team members or the most persua-sive) become the entire team’s mode of operating.

• Team members place their actions in line with theirwords, without having to be nudged, cajoled, orthreatened by the team leader or other members. Accountability is a priority, responsibility, and corecompetence.

• Dream teams implicitly trust and believe in theirmembers. No second-guessing, Machiavellian behav-ior, or cabals can be found in these teams.

• There is an urgent and meaningful need to be filled bythe team, or the team does not exist.

• The leader’s role moves from owner to collaborator.There is a shift from sole decision maker to shared ac-countability among team members.

• Dream teams are often created by leaders and mem-bers who have spent time on other dream teams. Theywon’t settle for anything less.

The next ten chapters present the principles of creative col-laboration that can take your team to a breakthrough space


and place. Release your team’s creativity from its locked andfully upright position. Let the journey begin . . .

AXIOM . . .

Dream the Possible Team


PRINCIPLE ONE

Come Together for a Meaningful Reason

“When people go to work, they shouldn’t have to

leave their hearts at home.”—Betty Bender

Principle One helps us to focus on the missing ingredi-ent for most teams—the element of passion, the heartfelt rea-son for the team’s being. This magical element fuels a teamforward when they want to give up and enables them to presson to work together when they would rather not deal witheach other. A passionate, meaningful purpose for a team pro-pels it to excellence beyond reason or comprehension, mainlybecause it is the heart at work.

Coming together for a meaningful, heartfelt reason forany team is the bedrock upon which the rest of the team’s ini-tiative and objectives are built. Passion is contagious, and alongwith meaning it provides the magical quality we seek for break-through teams. When teams flounder it is usually because theyare in search of, or have not connected to, the important work

21

they want to contribute. There is nothing more dishearteningand destructive than being assigned a task that is meaninglessto the company and to customers. We have all been a part ofthese teams, which are frustrating to say the least.

How do we tap into this mysterious elixir, the passionand heart that drive teams to excellence? Where does it comefrom? Is it necessary? The answer is simple: Start with a differ-ence in order to make one.

This chapter explores the principle of coming together fora meaningful reason. It highlights the necessary components ofpassion (the desire to make a difference), choice (the freedomto participate or not), diversity (the intent to be well roundedand whole), and fit (the unique contributions of members)when creating a breakthrough team that makes a difference.

Let’s take a look at a team that exemplifies the buildingblocks of choice, passion, diversity, and fit.

Enesco Group, Inc.’s Blue Sky Center for Creativity and Innovation

“Time for a Change”

Imagine a place with infinite possibilities, unlimitedresources, inspirational surroundings, collaborativeresponses, and effective solutions, a place with infinitecapacity. You have the potential to be that place,and we will help you focus clearly on your vision toachieve your ideas and soar beyond the Blue Sky.

So begins the credo developed by the founding team ofEnesco Group Inc’s Blue Sky Center for Creativity and Inno-vation established in 1999 at One Enesco Plaza, just down theroad from the company’s Itasca, Illinois, headquarters. Enesco


Group Inc., a leader in the gift and collectibles industry formore than 40 years, is a producer of fine gifts, collectibles, andhome décor accessories with many product lines, includingthe award-winning Precious Moments® collection.

Created for all associates, the facility consists of a large,open area decorated with the unexpected: bean bag chairs, art-work by associates, sculptures, the Wall of Imagination (a 24-foot wall that gives associates an opportunity to express theircreativity), a fish bowl conference room, a cyberspace com-puter research room, a stereo system, and of course, plenty ofbooks and toys! The idea for the center grew out of a sensethat the time was ripe for a change in the climate of the organization.

Enesco is best known for their creative and inspirationalPrecious Moments figurines. As in many organizations in thebusiness of distributing creative products and services, therewas an underlying notion that innovation was not what charac-terized much of the daily professional lives of most employees.

It was time to do something that would unleash theimaginations of the corporation. The idea for Blue Sky wasthe brainchild of Julie Gwaltney, Director of Marketing, whofelt that such a concept would not be solely for those whowork in creative or product development, but for everyone inthe company. Her enthusiasm attracted colleagues Mary Jan-ninck, Vice President of Product Development, Elyse Piper,Director of Corporation Communications, Amy Grau, Direc-tor of Training and Development, and Pete Secker, SeniorStylist. Together they formed Blue Sky’s founding team.

Key to the success of the team was the notion of choice.Each member chose to be part of this undertaking, realizingfull well that making Blue Sky a reality would involve an addi-tional workload. When they talk about their experience in mak-ing Blue Sky happen, the founding team members talk of the

Principle One: Come Together for a Meaningful Reason 23

passion and excitement this project held for them, and hownatural it was to come together. Each felt pulled in to the team,drawn by the concept and prospect of making a difference inthe company. Elyse Piper explains, “We were driven to the samegoal, and we were committed to succeed.” One of the bene-fits of working on such an extracurricular project was a strongbalance of skills and interests among the team members. Theteam was characterized by an honest and open climate, in whicheveryone felt energized and supported by the positive intentthey hoped to create for the company. The team also knew itsrisks were few, even though they were developing somethingcompletely new. As Mary Janninck noted, “We had nothing tolose.” There was no precedent for the center, and if it didn’twork out, career or personal losses were not very likely. “I’ll takeBlue Sky wherever I go,” she adds, underscoring the team’s be-lief that this project was an experience that changed their lives.

The team found high-level support for their endeavorfrom Jeff Hutsell, then CEO of Enesco. It’s likely that Hut-sell saw the value in providing an outlet for all members of the company to contribute ideas. Phase I of Blue Sky rolledout with two components. One was Process Genesis, in whichworkshops and programs tailored to fit different needsthroughout the corporation were designed to develop andfoster creativity, and also to develop personal, professional,and team-building skills.

The second component was the creation of the Fun Fac-tory. As the Blue Sky team puts it, “Think of the word fun andwhat comes to mind? Being lively, playing, and a source ofmerriment and creativity! Add in the word factory and picturecollaborating with a diverse team of individuals.” The Fun Fac-tory is designed to help teams manufacture creative ideas, withthe goal of generating new ideas and focusing on new prod-uct lines, formats, and solutions. It has worked, with the very


first team who participated in the program yielding impressiverevenues on a new product idea.

The Fun Factory consists of a team of seven to ten peoplewho develop new product ideas. The point, Janninck explains,is to dispel the notion that only people in product develop-ment can come up with new ideas. So each team is given a mis-sion, such as: to create a new $5 product in five days. Each day,the team must achieve a particular objective, and by the endof the week it presents its idea to an audience. While develop-ing a winning idea for a new product is part of Fun Factory’sgoal, even more important is imparting collaborative skills tothe teams that pass through it. As Julie Gwaltney notes, “Eachteam is asked, ‘What did you get out of it?’ And the responseshave been overwhelmingly positive!” Janninck adds, “Peoplewho have been here for 10 or 15 years admit they never knewwhat role some of their co-workers played in the company orthe value they could contribute.” Amy Grau found that takingpart in Fun Factory facilitated understanding of other peo-ple’s jobs. “People were taking it (the process) back to theirown areas. The tangible result for their efforts was an incred-ible and unique experience, which was very stimulating. Theycould see a process form, decisions being made by voting, andsomething happening. They would gel together as a team.”

While the product of Enesco’s Blue Sky team is a crea-tivity center that obviously relies on innovative entrepreneurialminds to build and sustain it, the workings of this collabora-tive team can be generalized to any team that is trying to makea difference in its environment, no matter what the ultimateproduct, service, or goal might be. Each member chose to par-ticipate in the team, to take the time needed outside his or herdaily tasks to devote to the project. Each member then wentout and persuaded additional employees to carry out a part oftheir responsibilities, thereby bringing the passion inherent in


Blue Sky to others in the company. Because the team workingon Blue Sky was diverse, participants were able to make con-nections throughout the company. Trust was never a question.Elyse Piper articulated the feeling held by the team by saying,“There was respect and trust for one another. You knew eachcore team member was sincere, accountable, and would fol-low through or ask for help.” There was a strong sense of fit-ting into the team, a pride of belonging to a group that wastrying to make a difference. To encourage others to discoverthe Blue Sky experience and to participate in its offerings, theteam enticed members of the company with these words:

“Get ready to soar as we embark on this exciting newcorporate adventure and help you find the Blue Sky withinyourself!” Clearly, this team already has. ✴

“If you focus on results, you will never change. If you

focus on change, you will get results.”—Jack Dixon

Where Does Meaning Come From?

As we saw from the Blue Sky team, meaning came fromwanting to contribute something to the company. The teamsaw an opportunity to help everyone in the company appreci-ate their creativity and create new products for the companyto offer. Meaning for this team came when an opportunity forchange met with a passionate idea.

Interestingly enough, meaning can come from anywhere.Usually it is from someone—anyone in the company who seesa problem, situation, or opportunity. A connection is made, aneed identified, a complaint raised that ignites a fire in some-


one to say, “Yeah, that needs to be worked on.” Often, theteam’s igniter is the person who gives a voice to what othersalready notice and feel. This need or opportunity statementmight be enough to create a team around.

Meaning can also come from customer conversations,feedback forms, or company mission statements. There aresome mission statements that are truly heartfelt and meaning-ful. They speak to people’s hearts, much like those of Merckand Co., who are in the business of saving lives, or The BodyShop, who have trade-not-aid and no-testing-on-animals poli-cies. These inspire people and help them connect to the realbusiness of the company. They urge associates to connect tothe higher purpose of the company and inspire them to ideasand innovations that meaningless missions completely miss.

The Enesco Blue Sky credo inspires people beautifully:

“Imagine a place with infinite possibilities, unlimitedresources, inspirational surroundings, collaborativeresponses, and effective solutions, a place with infi-nite capacity. You have the potential to be that place,and we will help you focus clearly on your vision toachieve your ideas and soar beyond the Blue Sky.”

BREAKING THROUGH TO . . .Meaning

• What is the meaningful reason for your team?

• What is the compelling need your team is filling?

• What is your team doing that is going to make a

difference?


Meaning comes in different forms for different people.The key to forming a team around meaning is allowing the teamto come together on its own—as a kind of self-organizing sys-tem where forming feels more like a calling than a demand.

Be Brave of Heart

The opening battle scene of the Oscar-winning movieBraveheart highlights the difference in results when peoplecome together for a heartfelt cause or a meaningful reason.The scene finds three rich Lords who have convened an armyto protect their land holdings. The army of Scottish men re-alizes that they were recruited to fight and possibly lose theirlives to help the Lords keep their land. One by one, the sol-diers begin to leave, deserting the Lords in their quest.

In rides William Wallace (Mel Gibson), a man of purposeand passion. He is the informal leader of a Scottish rebellionagainst the English tyranny. And his reputation for braveryand courage precede him. He rallies the men to fight for theirfreedom and the freedom of their families. He implores themto reflect on lives lived under the tyranny of the English. Free-dom is worth losing their lives for.

The point is not lost. Freedom is a meaningful reason tocome together, not protecting the land holdings of the upperclass. The Scottish army goes on to victory. Connecting totheir higher purpose made all the difference to this team. ✴

“It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what

is essential is invisible to the eye.”—Antoine de Saint-Exupery


The Self-Organizing Team

An article in the Wall Street Journal headlined the poten-tial of self-organizing. It noted “self-organization is rapidly be-coming a very hot idea, the essence of which is that top-downmaster plans aren’t the only way to build something big andlasting. Unorganized assemblies of people can create every-thing from marketplaces to computer systems almost sponta-neously, on the fly, from the bottom up.” It further goes on tonote “self-organizing systems seem to fit the Internet culturevery well. [They don’t] respect traditional hierarchies. It bringsexpertise from the edges of the networks.”1 Self-organizationcan work in corporations or anywhere we are willing to relin-quish control and let people do what they do naturally—create, solve problems, and contribute their talents.

The components that are so exciting about self-organizingsystems are those that are needed for teams that make a dif-ference. People are drawn to the organization because of thework it is doing. They have a choice about connecting to it,and they stay because they fill a need within the organism. Inself-organizing systems, if the task is not worthwhile, it isdropped. When the task is done, the organism disbands.

The Blue Sky team at Enesco was self-organized. Theylooked to be well rounded and sought out members with theright skills and the right mindset. Ultimately, they providedthe company with a valuable resource for helping create newproducts. They were passionate about making changes in thebusiness by contributing a new way to come up with productideas and solutions.


Connect with Passion

Passion is the fuel for innovation. Without passion manyideas would sit languishing on the drawing boards of many in-ventors. Passion, the drive to make a difference, provides thecourage to persist through the implementation of innovation.

Two or three people gathered with passion can outper-form 50 people with none. Look at entrepreneurs. They arepassionate people who have changed markets and taken mar-ket share from their much larger corporate competitors. Why?Because these individuals are engaged at a level that is deeplyimportant to them. What they are doing goes beyond a 9-to-5 job and becomes something with a meaningful life of its own.

Think about the last time you were asked to join a teamor group. How did you feel when you were asked? Were youexcited by what the group was going to be doing, or were youannoyed at being bothered? Did you feel that you were askedbecause no one else wanted to do it? Did you try to think ofan excuse not to join? Or, did you sigh and concede that youwould do it and then hope it would not take up too much ofyour time as you prepared to make the best of it?

The importance of passion cannot be stressed enough.When talking with Enesco and many other teams that havemade a real difference, the word passion is used countlessly. Ifteam members are not engaged on a heartfelt level it is un-likely that they will really make a difference.

“Everyone needs to feel that they are doing some-

thing that counts, even if it can’t be counted.”—Anonymous



BREAKING THROUGH TO . . .Passion and What Really Matters

• What are you personally passionate about?

• What is the team doing that really matters most to you?

• Why are you part of this team or group? (Be honest: if

you had no choice or got cornered into participating, put

it down.)

• What’s intriguing about it? Is there something specific

you are curious about?

Allow for Choice

You may be familiar with Tuckman’s2 model of groupdevelopment that contains five stages through which groupsprogress: forming, storming, norming, performing, and ad-journing. But many teams do not get past the storming stage.They get work done, but often fall short of their goals. Withless than dazzling performance, the group either continues inthis mode of struggling to accomplish their objectives despitein-fighting, lack of shared vision, and members who carry theburden for others who slack, or the group disbands with badfeelings all around. The trouble is, many of these teams reallyfall into the trap of the Three F’s: they form, flounder, andfail. Often this can be attributed to the lack of having a choiceto come together as a team for a meaningful reason.

When people can say yes or no to a team (free and clearof judgment) they are taking responsibility for themselves and

how they are going to contribute. There is a shift from “haveto” to “want to.” Having to do something inherently takesthe fun out of it. Having to do something feels like a chore,and much creative energy is lost in the feeling of choiceless-ness. But when we want to do something it is not a chore.Our energy and vitality engage to make the project a success.That is what we are trying to tap into. If we want to be new,innovative, and better, we need to be willing to let go of proj-ects that are deadening (have to) and replace them with proj-ects that are invigorating (want to). If we can make room forthis seemingly chaotic but essentially natural way to organize,we begin to operate in flow with our work instead of in op-position to it. We will find assigning is replaced with inviting,and the stuck feeling is replaced with respect.

One of the things that helps attract the best membershipis to give potential members the meaningful reason for theteam to exist without dictating all of the objectives and goals.On the one hand, it can be frustrating to enter a group andhave absolutely no idea about what to do and how to do it.This will keep a team in the starting gate indefinitely. On theother, nothing disappoints team members more than discov-ering once they have joined that the team leader and/or a fewmembers have already decided everything. The team as a col-lective needs to co-create the vision and expectations together,such as when and how often the team meets, how responsi-bilities are assigned, and how the team communicates. Muchmore on this will be discussed in Principle Two (Co-Create anUnderstanding of the Vision) and Principle Three (Choosethe Culture You Want).

Even if information is scant, it can be shared to give po-tential members the resources possible to help their decisionto join. In volunteer organizations, this is one of the most


important ingredients to recruiting the right people. Peoplehave complete (in almost all situations) choice over wherethey commit their time and effort. Clearly articulated objec-tives, needs, and reasons for a team go a long way to ensuresuccess in the nonprofit sector and others that utilize a core ofvolunteer teams.

The choice to join the team is not where our choice-making ends. This is just the beginning. Even in situationswhere membership is not a choice, when a manager (or anathletic coach, or a music director, etc.) assigns individuals toteams, people make conscious decisions about how they willparticipate in the team’s work. Every day we make decisionsabout what our intentions are going to be and what we canand will contribute to the team. We make choices about ourbehavior and our role as a team member. As noted in the pref-ace of this book, it is vitally important that each team mem-ber owns the responsibility of his or her power of choice.

Jim Grigoriou“Walking across Oceans”

How do two teams of people who have never met per-sonally, who live on separate continents and who belong todifferent generations form a unified team? Jim Grigoriou, Aus-tralian entrepreneur and innovator, believes the answer lies inensuring that everyone’s personal values and norms are alignedso that critical empathy, and hence connection and trust, willbegin to flourish among all team members. An Australian entrepreneurial company led by a serial entrepreneur had aninterest in a device that required the experience and guidanceof experts who understood the market and sector for the


device in the United States, and with whom this firm couldcollaborate to commercialize the device in the North Ameri-can market.

How do you know when you have found the right peo-ple to partner with, even when 12,000 miles of ocean separateyou and communication is via phone and electronic mail?One’s gut feelings and inner voice can tell us when people’sphilosophies regarding how both business and life should beconducted align harmoniously together, creating the potentialfor a high-performance team.

Jim counsels, “Prior to discussing any possible businessarrangements, personal norms and values should be discussed.Having a similar sense of humor and spirit towards work andlife often help as well. What bound this team across continentswas their desire for the thrill of the chase, the fun we have ex-ploring life and trying to do new things with different people.The compatibility and right chemistry was what enabled thisgroup to form a collaborative team, rather than just a closenetworking group.”

Partners form many entrepreneurial ventures, and Jimasserts that people often know when they have met the rightbusiness partners. Due diligence is needed to validate our gutfeeling or empathy about the people with whom we are con-sidering to be involved. ✴

“Adventures don’t begin until you get into the forest.

That first step is an act of faith.”—Mickey Hart


BREAKING THROUGH TO . . .Choice

• Are you ready to own your power of choice—each and

every day?

• Are you ready to respect other people’s choices?

• What are you going to do to own your choice-making

power?

Build in Diversity

As a self-organizing team, we need to be mindful of theneed for all kinds of diversity, not just the traditional defini-tion of diversity, but also the thinking and feeling style diver-sity. The goal is to create wholeness and well-roundednesswithin the team. A lop-sided team of only financial people oronly extroverts will have difficulty getting things done andwill experience myopia. A commitment to being well-roundedand whole will help the team become an effective, balancedsystem.

When most of us become part of a team, one of the firstthings we want to know is who is on the team. Of course, ifwe recognize names and have friends in the group, we aremore likely to want to join. And why not? We may have al-ready worked with these people, or we might share similarviews or work styles and prefer to work with them. If we enjoyother members’ company, we’ll have a better team experience,right? Well, maybe not.


In the courses we teach, students are required to com-plete some of the coursework in small groups. Not surpris-ingly, when students find this out, it sometimes elicits acollective groan from the class as they recall some not sopleasant group experiences they have had in previous courses.In fact, all of us have had these experiences. We have had tocope with the slackers, the no-shows, the excuses, and all thegarbage that prohibits a team from getting its work done well.

Once students find that teamwork is required, they areoften tempted to sign up and work with students they alreadyknow well. This, they feel, is the proverbial spoonful of sugarthat will help the nasty medicine of group work go down.However, as we caution students, this is a myth. The more weknow people, the more we assume that we think alike. There-fore, we are less likely to question one another’s views, to so-licit contradictory opinions, and to evaluate informationcritically. Also, because we are friends, we are uncomfortableconfronting them when we disagree. It is very important forthe team to think about what kind of people are needed tomake the team well-rounded. Consider the ideal mix of back-ground, experience, thinking style, communication style, andknowledge that the team needs. Teams with diverse thinkingand problem-solving styles are more effective at designing andimplementing change.

“If everybody is thinking alike, then somebody isn’t

thinking.”—General George S. Patton


BREAKING THROUGH TO . . .Diversity

• Is the team well-rounded? What kind of people do you

need in order to make your team well-rounded?

• Are you whole-brained? (Consider assessing this with the

Hermann Brain Dominance Inventory, which classifies

individuals’ thinking modes into integrators, feelers,

organizers, and analyzers.)

• Do you have representatives from necessary parts of the

business?

Look for Fit

The last component of Principle One is looking at the fitthat exists between the team’s goals and values, and those ofeach individual member. We’ve all been appointed to groupsfor which we have no real attachment or commitment. Thepolitical turmoil that can bring a team to failure often beginswith members channeling their efforts into power plays andconflicts instead of the team’s work. These members don’tidentify with the team or feel they really belong to it and theyperceive that their contributions are not valued. Think aboutit: If we don’t really care much about why we are here in thegroup, and don’t care that much about what the group isdoing, then won’t we spend our creative energy in other di-rections? Of course, this leaves the field wide open for mem-bers who wish to use the team to their own advantage.


Some people argue that it does not matter why peoplejoin a team as long as the objectives get met. But everythingis connected, and people’s motivations can have a significantimpact on the success or failure of the team’s endeavors.

HighWire “Using the Wrong Motivation”

A large multinational company, TechCandyCo. (nameshave been changed) was looking for ways to move its tech-nology out into the marketplace faster. In order to reduce itstime to market, it tried an innovative approach: it assembledteams of business and technology employees to act as “in-trapreneurial businesses.” These teams, if successful, wouldbecome spin-off businesses and could stand to make largesums of money. Hence, this new area of the company drewvery ambitious, talented people from all over the company. Italso drew the political animals.

One of the first intrapreneurial experiments, HighWire,was watched with executive interest. Because it was such a vis-ible project, it was able to attract the top research, technical,and business professionals in the company. A fine team ofpeople was assembled. From the start, HighWire was mired inpolitical productization, and slow-emerging market issues.

One significant problem that plagued HighWire was thatit was comprised largely of fast-trackers, associates who wereon the corporate fast track. Their intention in becoming partof the team was to get promoted. Now normally it would beconsidered a good thing having the best working on a proj-ect. The issue was that these associates had to be promotedevery two years or lose their fast-track status. Soon, it becameobvious the main goal of the employee was to get promotedinstead of making the product successful.


Alliances formed, and these groups began to quibble witheach other about who would make the presentation to the ex-ecutives and who would make the strategic decisions for thebusiness. The bigger picture disappeared and the real need—creating businesses for faster time to market—got lost. Career-survival mechanisms were replacing objective business decisions.In the end, the possibilities were squandered. HighWire wasshelved, and the majority of the team left TechCandyCo. ✴

A whole book could be written on the lessons of High-Wire, and probably should be. For now, it suffices to say thatone of the key issues undoing HighWire was the self-servinginterest of key players. Several of the fast-trackers came on theteam just to get visibility and promotion, not necessarily tomake a difference with the project as a whole. They were nota good fit.

“It’s not so much how busy you are, but why you are

busy. The bee is praised; the mosquito is swatted.”—Marie O’Connor

BREAKING THROUGH TO . . .Fit

• What necessary role are you filling on the team?

• If you did not show up, could the team get along without

you?

• Are the members of the team a good fit with one

another?

• What is missing?


TOOL YOU CAN USE . . .Picture This

Do you really know what is meaningful and important

to the members of your team? Often you think you know,

but before you continue with that assumption . . . TRY THIS:

Have each member of your team pull a picture from a

magazine or newspaper that expresses what is meaningful

to that person. Then go around and ask people to share

their picture and explain why they selected it. Ask them, if

they could make a difference, what would it be and how

would they do it?

Or, for a variation, have the team try to guess what

each picture conveys. The pictures serve as useful props to

communicate what team members feel, and this can propel

your team’s progress toward its goals.

“Create your future from your future, not your past.”—Werner Erhard

Unlocking Team Genius with Principle One:Come Together for a Meaningful Reason

• Establish a meaningful reason for your team. This is themost important building block of a truly breakthroughteam that makes a difference.


• Choose to participate on the team because you con-nect to something you find personally meaningful andare passionate about.

• Build your team so it is well-rounded and whole-brained.

• Recruit team members for their fit to the big pictureas well as for their expertise.

AXIOM . . .

Start with a Difference in Order to Make One


PRINCIPLE TWO

Co-Create an Understanding of

the Vision

“Nothing is beneath you if it is in the direction of your

life.”—Ralph Waldo Emerson

Everyone on a team needs to know what the team is aboutand why it exists. What need does it fill? It is hard to believe,but many team members do not collectively understand thepurpose of the team. They are on the team because someoneassigned them or their boss volunteered them. So it’s not dif-ficult to understand why some people don’t seem to formmuch of an attachment to the team. They feel more like spec-tators than players.

When people identify their team’s urgent need and realpurpose, together, they uncover the real value the team willimpart. This is a critical step in ensuring the team is successfuland persists through difficult times. If the team has not donethis step, it exhibits symptoms like passivity (the “whatever”attitude), nonengagement (“I don’t know”), and disconnec-tion (“Not my problem”). Please don’t skip this step!

43

Team members are asked to reflect on what they bring tothe team and what their vision is for accomplishing the pur-pose of the team. It is vital that members participate fully, tak-ing time to mindfully reflect on what is important to them toaccomplish. What they bring to the table provides the foun-dation for collaboration and co-creation. Ultimately there is ashift from “I” to “we,” from “my view” to “our view.”

Creating a Good Team Is Like Creating a Good Soup

We are going to use good soup as a metaphor to discussthe concept of co-creating a shared vision. When we make agood soup, we put in all the ingredients and let them steep to-gether. We take carrots, celery, potatoes, broth, and somespices and let them stew. Every ingredient brings its uniquequalities and characteristics to the pot: carrots—orange andsweet, celery—crunchy and green. Yummy.

Our teams can stew into a wonderful soup also. We beginby bringing our unique perspectives and talents to a team. Weblend them with other team members, and then the team hasto stew.

What usually happens within group visioning sessions isthat one or two people have their vision for the team, andeveryone else is expected to go along with it. This is like a car-rot stew without any other ingredients to make it a healthybroth—not very tasty or inviting. The ones with the vision(boss or team leader) spend a great deal of time getting every-one to go along with it, and some do. Sometimes a vision is noteven articulated by anyone. But the vision is too important toignore or leave to potluck, political maneuvering, or popular-ity. Think of the richness and fulfillment that comes from a


well-made soup. Think of the richness and fulfillment thatcomes from team members contributing all of themselves to-ward a rich and compelling set of actions, and you can beginto see the role of co-creating the vision.

In this chapter, we explore how to co-create a shared vision and purpose that incorporates each member’s uniqueperspectives and abilities, resulting in team cohesion and ef-fectiveness—a good soup. Team members are guided througha process for creating a shared vision that is a synthesis of themembers’ collective visions and expertise.

Creating shared vision is a process of merging and com-bining, then deciding and eliminating. Take the time to bringout all the possibilities and individual visions (diverge), givethem careful thought, combine them, and merge (converge)perspectives before deciding to eliminate any one. It is impor-tant, as a team, to recognize the difference between divergingand converging. Usually when people get together to solve aproblem or come up with ideas for something, a few ideas aretossed out, and then everyone jumps into judging and evalu-ating those ideas. Frustration sets in because none of the ideasis the golden nugget hoped for. And it’s no wonder why.We’ve just prematurely converged, instead of getting all theideas out. Once out, we can work through the list and ask,“How can we make this idea even better?” Save judgment for later.

The same thing should be done when we are developing(or refining) our vision. Everyone comes to the team with dif-ferent perspectives and has something valuable to contribute.Co-creating a shared vision is a great first step to establishingrespect among team members, because we are starting out in-terested and curious about what each other sees as the pur-pose. It is the first real symbolic event that helps set the stagefor an innovative team environment.

Principle Two: Co-Create an Understanding of the Vision 45

Another thing to remember is that as a team stews to-gether, things change and evolve. Be mindful of this fact whenpeople start to get frustrated, when it seems that things keepchanging, or when it seems like the team is shooting at a mov-ing target.

Some teams are hesitant to even do this step, becausethey believe it will commit them to a set of actions foreverafter. That is, they view the vision as something that is set instone, immutable and static. This couldn’t be further from thetruth! Having a vision is what gets the team going and whatkeeps it going under circumstances that are unanticipated andsometimes even crises. The vision that the team constructsnow will probably look different next year or in five years, toreflect internal or external changes to the team. But today theteam needs something to get going, so find the map.

Time for you and time for me,

And time yet for a hundred indecisions,

And for a hundred visions and revisions,

Before the taking of a toast and tea.

—T.S. Eliot from “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”

BREAKING THROUGH TO . . .Envisioning

Constructing your vision is one of the most important

things you will do as a team, so it’s no surprise that it demands

extraordinary attention to the “what can be?” questions:

• What can the organization be?

• What can the people in the team become?


• How can the leader help you get there?

• Has the team taken the time to explore and formulate

where you want to be?

• Is the team on a road that will actually get you where you

need to go?

As the old saying goes, if you don’t know where you’re

going, any road will get you there.

“Only he who can see the invisible can do the

impossible.”—Frank Gaines

The ability of the team to do successful envisioning be-fore it embarks on its tasks is crucial. This is true for teams inall contexts, and perhaps especially so for teams that rely oncore groups of volunteers and leaders to rally around a centralpurpose—a purpose that can help or hinder the very survivalof the nonprofit organization. Here is an example of one in-dividual, Saul Carliner, who has devoted much of his profes-sional life to teaching others the skills they need to effectively(and dynamically!) lead community organizations.

Saul Carliner“The Passion behind Community

Leadership”

Community organizations, whether civic, religious, cul-tural, or professional, rely on the work of volunteers led by peo-ple who, although they are drawn to this work by their passion,may find they lack the fundamental skills needed to lead suc-


cessfully. Saul Carliner is an impassioned leader who has spentmuch of his professional and personal life helping communityleaders nationwide do the important work that they have cometogether for.

An Assistant Professor of English at Bentley College inWaltham, Massachusetts, Saul has spent many years developingworkshops, classes, and materials for community leadershipprograms. He has mentored prospective volunteer leaders, developed a conference that trains and motivates communityvolunteers, and coordinated programs for a business leadershipproject in Atlanta. Most recently, he has developed a compre-hensive curriculum for a training program that supports com-munity members in the transition from an initial volunteer toa community leadership role.

As early as 1993, when he was conducting workshops onstrategic evaluation for the Nonprofit Resource Center in At-lanta, Saul recognized some fundamental issues confrontingvolunteers who work for nonprofit organizations.

He explains, “Volunteers come in and want to make abig impression on people. Yet leadership development pro-grams are scared to death to teach the basics that these newvolunteer leaders need. The volunteers want to get right towork on the issues, but instead get one of two things: either adiscussion of values—which are important but aren’t muchhelp in teaching a novice newsletter editor about compiling aneditorial schedule or mastering a desktop publishing program.Or, they get a data dump (usually several boxes with unor-ganized files) that is equally frustrating. So many volunteersdon’t know what they are doing with their work and time.”

He also warns leaders about setting expectations that aretoo high. A recent study found that 55 percent of members inthese organizations only want to be dues-paying members.Given that fewer than half of the members of community


groups in most instances are not actively involved, how can aleader achieve collaboration with the rest of the membership?

Community leaders have a strong influence on whethertheir organization ever reaches its objectives. Why do some ofthese groups never seem to become truly collaborative? Saulnotes that a pitfall in many civic, religious, and other commu-nity groups is that leaders (or one or more of the members)sometimes force an agenda about something that is importantto them and that is not necessarily related to the stated missionof the organization. They make the assumption that everyoneshares that passion, when it may not be true. So how can lead-ers be sure that there is a shared vision in going forward? Oneof Saul’s recommendations is to bring in an outside facilitator,who will not be seen as representing one particular viewpoint.

Additionally, “leaders should get everyone together inthe same room, and tell them that they will not walk out with-out achieving their goal. Don’t give them the option of notsucceeding.” This builds a mindset of success, he says, that really works. “Use a brainstorming technique. Ask everyonewhat constituency they represent and what they think of theissues.”

“As the leader, I sometimes say nothing to influence aparticular direction.” To build an environment of collabora-tion, it can help to personally invite volunteers, and to helpthem understand what the work is. “Leaders should commu-nicate the bottom line of what they want to achieve, but notthe means of getting there. Leave it up to the volunteers towork together, they’ll form a greater respect for the process.”

Saul reflects that by enabling everyone to say what he orshe thinks, the team finds there is usually not as wide a gap be-tween constituencies as everyone thinks there is. This strategyworked very well for the Minneapolis Jewish Federation, oneorganization with whom Saul has worked. “I was asked to


help the organization rewrite its mission statement and theprocess was an example of collaborative community leader-ship.” They took a few months to come up with the missionstatement. Like other organizations, values alignment was achallenge because their constituencies did not have a uniformattitude about what the organization should be.

What are the risks to leaders of community organiza-tions? “As the top leader, sometimes you’re just a guide. Youdo want to have an idea about how to get the mission ac-complished. But, that’s your private knowledge. You are acoach to teammates working with them to develop their ownplans for implementing programs. When people develop ideason their own, they feel a sense of ownership in the programand are more committed to its success.” Sometimes the ex-pectations that members of these organizations have for theirleaders are unrealistic.

Saul cautions: “Volunteer leaders in the community areexpected to have the tact of a career diplomat, the businesssense of a CEO in a Fortune 500 corporation, and the visionof a prophet!”

However, there are some things that leaders can do toget the skills and knowledge they need to guide these organ-izations effectively. Saul emphasizes that leaders need to startwith the basics: “Know how to run a meeting. Have an agenda,and always end the meeting with a debriefing on how themeeting went. That’s 75 percent of a really successful meet-ing. Give good follow-up, including a record of key decisionsthat were made. Briefly summarize decisions made and the keypoints of view presented in the conversation without provid-ing a verbatim transcription (which people won’t read anddon’t need). Make a list of what the team agreed to and wheneach person agreed to do it. Tell people when they are doinga good job.”


Saul Carliner is taking his passion to the Web. He is cur-rently designing a Web site for community leaders that will con-tain how-to instructions, worksheets, and many other resourcesfor volunteers in each key leadership role in community orga-nizations, such as newsletter editor, membership manager,program manager, and financial officer. Helping people worktogether for a common purpose is the key to the survival ofthese organizations, and with Saul’s vision for leadership de-velopment the communities they serve will also thrive. ✴

“Some people only see what is. They never see what

can be.”—Albert Einstein

The Envisioning Process

Stories such as Saul’s are very motivating and make uswant to get started visioning with our teams. In this next sec-tion, we put these ideas into action by giving you a processany team can use to co-create its vision.

Step 1: Personal Reflection

The envisioning process starts with the intent to spendtime individually reflecting on what we see the purpose of theteam to be, what we find meaningful about what the team isgoing to do, and so on. This vital first step gives us time andspace to reflect on what we think is important. Taking time topersonally reflect on what we bring to the table and what wethink needs to be accomplished helps us be more of a con-tributor when we get into the team to work. We are grounded


in our viewpoint, based on our past experiences (organizationsfor which we’ve worked), the positions we hold (VP of Mar-keting, sales director, or fundraiser), and of course all of thepersonal and background information we bring to the table.The goal of the first step is to understand our viewpoint.

Metaphors and visual language are excellent ways to con-vey ideas and concepts—they give us language for things wefeel and see but to which we cannot quite put into words. Inthe case of visioning, the use of metaphor can help others get apicture of what we are seeing—like the “good soup” metaphor.We can all relate to the making and eating of good soup. Theuse of metaphor helps us tap into the universal language ofpicture and experience. It also helps us to tap into our “beyondlogic” knowing—the stuff we know but don’t know we know.Intuition is a good example of this. We’ve used a few exam-ples of metaphors in this chapter to illustrate our points: goodsoup, spring-cleaning our closet, and the vision as a map.

The assignment?It’s five years from now. You are a reporter for the Wall

Street Journal. Write an article about a hot successful teamthat everyone wants to know about. You guessed it; it’s yourteam! Write your story profiling this team.

Your story should answer the following ten questions:

1. What was the opportunity/problem your teamfaced when it started?

2. What needed improvement?3. What obstacles did you and the team overcome?

(What stood in the way of your progress?)4. How did you know you were on the right track?5. What did you become known for?6. What difference did the team make?


7. What where you really passionate about?8. What talents/abilities did you personally want to

contribute?9. What is it like to work on your successful team now?

How do you interact? Can you give an analogy tobest describe the way your team operates today?What about when you started?

10. What is the one piece of advice you wish you hadwhen you started five years ago?

Dream, play, get large, go for broke . . . don’t limit your-self to what the team has accomplished today. This is the timeto get down all your wishes and desires: for the team, foryourself, for your organization, and for your clients and com-munities. Let your only limitations be your own creativity andimagination.

“You are now at a crossroads. This is your opportu-

nity to make the most important decision you will ever

make. Forget your past. Who are you now? Who have you

decided you really are now? Don’t think about who you

have been. Who are you now? Who have you decided to be-

come? Make this decision consciously. Make it carefully.

Make it powerfully.”—Anthony Robbins

Step 2: Convene the Team

Begin by giving everyone a chance to share their storiesor personal reflections (to the level they feel comfortable). Ifthey feel like reading the whole story or fully describing theirmetaphors, make time for that. Note: this process may take a


day or two, but it is worth the time spent. Also take frequentbreaks—every hour take a stretch break or go for a quick walk(no cell phones or voice mail—relax). The goal of the secondstep is to understand each other’s viewpoints. Then we canmeld and merge these perspectives to make the soup of ourcollective vision and purpose.

When a team member is done, try to capture the detailsof their descriptions on flip charts with the following titles:

• Opportunity/problem• Needs improvement• Obstacles• Signs we are on the right track• We will become known for• Difference made• Meaning• Talents• Team operating characteristics• Piece of advice

After this exercise, the team will have vital data. The con-tents are the indicators of how the team will progress towardits goals. Use this important data to evaluate team progress.This data should be used and valued equally along with anyquantitative data collected: return on investment (ROI), eco-nomic value added (EVA), net present value (NPV). Here iswhat the team will have:

• What we are trying to do = Chart “Opportunity/problem”

• What to change = Chart “Needs improvement”• What can trip us up = Chart “Obstacles”


• Data = Chart “Signs we are on the right track”• What we will do = Chart “We will become known for”• Customer needs = Chart “Difference made”• Individual needs = Chart “Personally meaningful”• What we bring to the table as a team = Chart “Per-

sonal talents”• How we will operate = Chart “Team operating char-

acteristics”• What we will keep in mind = Chart “Piece of advice”

Once everyone has had a chance to share his or her sto-ries (visions), take a break. Then come back and talk over eachlist. Go back and refine the lists to make them more compre-hensive (if needed). Try not to eliminate items. Our experi-ence with some teams is that too much time is spent trying to wordsmith a statement. Don’t fall into this trap. Instead,focus your energy on the message behind the statement, andput sticky notes on the vision statement that can be pulled offand changed when needed.

TOOL YOU CAN USE . . .The Elevator Test

The elevator test was created by Geoffrey Moore, from

his book Crossing the Chasm. The elevator test helps you to

think about how you would tell someone about the product

or service you provide (what it is you do) in the time it takes

to get to your floor in an elevator. Your statement should

communicate quickly and clearly the purpose of your

product/service in the following form:


• For . . . (the target customer)

• Who wants . . . (the key need)

• The . . . (name of your product/service)

• That . . . (what do you provide)

• Unlike . . . (competitive product and key benefit)

• Our product . . . (competitive advantage)

“We need to learn to set our course by the stars, not

by the lights of every passing ship.”—Omar Nelson Bradley

Making the Process Work: Setting Some Important Ground Rules

There are some fundamental ground rules that go intothe co-creating vision process. Remember the importance of:

• Valuing the contribution of each member• Trusting that this group of people has something to

give to each other and the whole (trusting the groupwisdom)

• Creating an environment conducive to powerfulteaming

• Listening to one another’s perspectives• Letting go of defending your position• Realizing this is not about coming to consensus—it is

about finding a way that works


Tips for Working through This Process

• Use a “wild card,” or someone unfamiliar with yourteam’s mission. The fresh perspective can be very stimu-lating as well as shocking, because we all take what wedo and what it means for granted. Does someone un-familiar with your mission really know what you mean?

• If the team is large, do this process in subgroups andthen come together and share with the larger team.

• Get an outside facilitator.• If you are going to try to facilitate the team yourself,

verbally change hats from participant to facilitator. Forexample, when you want to say something, alert people:“I am changing hats to facilitator because I want us tonote the time we have left.” Or “I want to change hatsand throw something in as a team member—I feel weneed to include XYZ.” This helps the team to feel youare being a responsible facilitator and not using thepower of the pen to push through your points of view.

Even if the team does not want to do this visioning work,we should do this process just for ourselves. Write up the ar-ticle and create the elevator test statement.

What to Watch Out For

• People who think they have tried something like thisand failed. They will make the case that this is a wasteof time.

• Rushing through this process too quickly. Don’t befooled into thinking this process goes fast. It takestime, but it is worth it.


• Feeling pressured to start working without first co-creating the vision.

• Accepting the vision that you create as the set-in-stonestatements that will carry you forward until the dis-bandment of your team. From time to time questionthe vision, revisit the process, and ask the hard ques-tions about whether the vision is still working for youand your team.

The central point we make throughout this book is thatif we really want to become a breakthrough team, we can’tjust do it at breakneck speed. Don’t cut out the importantwork of building the team, or we will simply do the wrongthings faster and more efficiently! Being breakneck but notbreakthrough is just taking the fast road to failure.

TOOL YOU CAN USE . . .Give Me Five

Have each person do the following:

On an index card, write

• Five things the team should be thinking about or doing

right now.

• Five things that team members can do to help each

other get there.

• Five things that concern each member about the way the

team is doing things.

• Five things each member wants to see happen if the

team does things right.

• Five things we think our customers would say about us.


“No vision and you perish; No Ideal, and you’re lost;

Your heart must ever cherish Some faith at any cost.

Some hope, some dream to cling to, Some rainbow in

the sky,

Some melody to sing to, Some service that is high.”—Harriet Du Autermont

Unlocking Team Genius with Principle Two:Co-Create an Understanding of the Vision

• Take the time to do visioning work.• Be careful not to make your vision the same as your

mission. Here’s the difference:• Mission Statement: What we are good at doing today.• Vision Statement: What we hope to accomplish in

the future. This includes what we are not yet doingthat we had better be doing tomorrow.

• Diverge on all that the team wants to see happen.• Converge to identify:

• Why the team exists• What you want to be• Who you are and how you are going to work

together• What is your desired outcome• How you are going to achieve your objectives• What you need to do

AXIOM . . .

Start with the Right Foundation to Build on Solid Ground


PRINCIPLE THREE

Choose the Culture You Want

“Once in a while it really hits people that they don’t

have to experience the world in the way they have been

told to.”—Alan Keightley

The culture of an organization is its mark of distinction.It’s a complex social process that includes observable and tan-gible elements, such as how people dress and the way officesare decorated; patterns of behavior, such as the degree of in-formality among group members; and implicit values of thegroup, such as professional growth. It is the glue that holdsthe group together. If a culture is strong, each member under-stands what he or she is to do and how to work together.There exists a level of comfort and understanding of what itmeans to belong to the group.

But in many instances culture is taken for granted. Peo-ple come into the team with preconceived notions of how ateam should work together, or the team inherits the culture

61

and operating norms of the larger organization. Most teamsdo not stop to talk about these preconceived notions, or thekind of operating environment they would like to work in.They just get to work. One signal that a team has just inher-ited its culture is that working on the team feels like everyother team to which we belong! There are no differences inthe way people act or what they feel is important for this par-ticular project. The team might just as well be substitutedwith any other. There is no mark of distinction. As you mightexpect, this is anathema for any team, much less any organi-zation that wants to be more innovative.

It is vital for teams to realize that they do not have toadopt ways of operating that do not fit what they are trying todo. We can decide for ourselves what our culture can andshould be. But first, diagnose the one that exists if the teamhas been working for a while.

This chapter introduces the principle of choosing the cul-ture you want. Its focus is helping teams shape their own wayof doing things. Any team can avoid the pitfalls of a weak cul-ture or becoming so entrenched that no one can influence anychange in the way things work. As we begin to think aboutcreating the kind of culture or team environment we want, thefollowing four key points will help us create a collaborativeculture:

1. Don’t just inherit the team culture from the largerorganization—take mindful action to create and choosethe culture. Don’t leave the culture to happenstance.

2. Intend to co-create the culture as a team and not letany one person or manager have a greater say in theculture than the team members.

3. Work to incorporate collaborative team characteris-tics into the team culture.


4. Create a team credo, a set of fundamental beliefs andvalues, that spells out the team values, role expecta-tions, and appropriate behaviors by which the teamagrees to abide.

Don’t just inherit the culture or leave its developmentto chance. Take time to assess what behaviors and character-istics the team has been imbued with from the larger organi-zation. Keep what works and eliminate what doesn’t.

BREAKING THROUGH TO . . .Disinheriting the Old Culture

• Have you chosen your culture? (Hint: How different is it

from previous team cultures to which you’ve belonged?)

• What positive elements of the larger organization culture

have you inherited?

• What negative elements of the larger organization cul-

ture have you inherited?

• What would you like to change, eliminate, or keep from

the larger organization?

• Ask people who are new to your team:

• What do you notice most about this team?

• Does the team remind you of anything?

• Is it similar or different to ones you belonged to before

(in this organization or others)? How?

• What seems interesting to you (that is, weird or unusual)?

• What’s the one thing you would really like to know

about the way we do things?

• What things would you change if you could?

Principle Three: Choose the Culture You Want 63

Intend to Create the Culture as a Team

The culture of a team or an organization is by definitiona shared construct. It is nearly impossible, and also self-defeating, for a leader to decide what the culture should beand then enforce it. It may appear to be what the leader wantson the surface, but if the entire team doesn’t buy into it, it willnever be a strong one.

Participative Manager or Dictator?

Samantha is a manager in new product development ina medical products manufacturing company. She has been withthe company for 14 years, and has assumed leadership of manyproject teams bringing together sales engineers, marketers,designers, and customer service reps. At each project start-up,she shares with the group her vision statement with explicitgoals and objectives for the team. She carefully explains to thegroup at a series of project kick-off meetings exactly wherethey will need to be at each of the milestones. She often bringsin t-shirts, pins, and other accessories communicating theoverall vision of the project. To her credit, she listens to ques-tions and input by team members, many with whom she hasnever worked before, or even met. So far, so good.

As the project gets underway, Samantha regularly con-tacts each team member two to three times a week to checkup on how things are going. The problem is she finds it irre-sistible to tell her team members exactly how they should becarrying out their responsibilities, and she makes sure they doit this way. Before long, many team members find it’s easier tojust do what she wants, even if they could devise a more cre-


ative, effective way of completing their work. Even though theyare asked for input, Samantha ignores it.

Further, the customer service representatives feel thattheir goals for maintaining client relationships are given shortshrift in the team’s overall goals. Before too long, Samantha’sstyle leaves the team feeling alienated, micromanaged, anddissatisfied. As experienced professionals, they feel misplacedwithin this culture. Some go out of their way to avoid her;others resign themselves to the path of least resistance and be-come yes-people until the project ends. A few others sneakaround and get things done the way they believe works best.Many eventually refuse to be assigned to another team headedby Samantha. ✴

While a leader cannot mandate a culture, there is every-thing a leader can do to reinforce and support what the cultureis about. Team leaders and managers are symbolic representa-tions of the culture. If leaders expect honesty and opennessamong team members, they must be honest and open them-selves. If leaders want the team to share information, theymust demonstrate by sharing what they know, intuitively orbased on fact. If leaders expect creativity and unusual ap-proaches to problem solving, they must demonstrate a will-ingness to listen to new ideas and respect nontraditional ideasand approaches. The culture disintegrates quickly when lipservice is paid to values and norms, while the leader makes itclear that something else is more desirable.

The late W.L. Gore, founder of W.L. Gore Associates, Inc.(known for GORE-TEX® fabrics) used to urge managers tothrow out their traditional, hierarchical organizational struc-tures in favor of what he called the informal organization.People, he was fond of saying, delight in going around the for-


mal way of doing things. They will find the most efficient way,and stick to that, even if the formal chart dictates that theyshould go another route. Acknowledge the organization thatoperates informally, Gore maintained, and you have the mosteffective and innovative organization design.

The team must own how it goes about its work. Valuesand goals set by one person are less likely to get the buy-in ofthe majority. Bringing different perspectives into the team willincrease the chance that you will get creative, spontaneous,and fresh ideas. You can’t collaborate if you don’t set up theculture to collaborate. This means that the goals and actionsemerging from the team are team-based, not imposed fromoutside or above the team.

“Conform and be dull.”—J. Frank Doble

BREAKING THROUGH TO . . .Co-Creating the Culture

• Is the team leader or manager setting the culture for

your team? How?

• Has the team had conversations about what you value

and how you act together?

• If you asked each team member to describe the team

culture in one or two sentences, would everyone’s re-

sponse be the same?


Work to Incorporate Collaborative TeamCharacteristics into the Culture

When we are interested in building a culture for creativecollaboration, we become aware of the characteristics of sucha culture. These characteristics are a bit different than our tra-ditional corporate environments. Interestingly enough, thecharacteristics that make a culture collaborative are also thosethat make it healthy, fun, enjoyable, and respectful. The meanscreate the end. We feel like we are building toward something,where the means are supporting the end and the end is sup-porting the means. Let’s take a look at a meeting at ProTechto see how a collaborative team operates.

ProTech“A Model Collaborative Team Culture”

It’s a Tuesday morning at ProTech Enterprises (a pseu-donym), and a group of six is gathered at a small conferencetable on the second floor of the art deco building it occupies.Voices are animated as the six people converse. Occasionally,one member of the group jumps up in response to what an-other person said, walks over to a white board on the wall, anddraws a picture or writes a brief phrase. Laughter emanatesfrom the room. Noticeably absent are stacks of paper, brief-cases, or portfolios. Present are colored markers on the table,assorted props, including pieces of the product, a wind-up toy,and a book of poster prints brought in by members of thegroup. The group seems engrossed in what each person is say-ing, and hardly seems to notice when the team leader enters theroom and sits down at the table. They acknowledge her with a


warm greeting, but continue their conversation as before.About ten minutes later, one person asks the leader a ques-tion. Before answering, the leader asks the rest of the groupwhether any of them have ideas or input related to the ques-tion. Another member of the group speaks for a couple min-utes, and then the leader begins to talk. A few minutes later,laughter again erupts among the entire group. The leader getsup and leaves the conference room for a previously commit-ted meeting. The group resumes its conversation, this timegoing around one by one as each person adds a thought or anidea to the conversation.

To an outsider observing this gathering, this team can becharacterized by several qualities: the team members seem tobe really listening to one another. They are paying attentionto one another; no one has his or her head buried in notes,charts, binders, or other distracting papers. In fact, no one iswriting much of anything individually. Whenever the groupwants to capture a thought or an idea, someone gets up anddraws or writes it on the white board for all to see. Did younotice that toys were present in the room? What happenedwhen the team leader walked in? The team did not adjustwhat it was doing or pause in its conversation. How did theleader interact with the group? Not much like a traditionalmanager. In fact, if you didn’t know she was the leader, youlikely would have thought she was a team member who stoppedin for a few minutes to chat. We also see that the conversationdoes not seem to be carried on mainly by one or two mem-bers. Everyone participates. ✴


“A hundred times every day I remind myself that my

inner and outer life depend on the labors of other men, liv-

ing and dead, and that I must exert myself in order to give in

the same measure as I have received and am still receiving.”—Albert Einstein

The intention to integrate collaborative characteristicsinto our culture helps create an environment for creativity andinnovation. The characteristics of a collaborative culture arethe same characteristics we find ourselves wishing for everytime we say, “I don’t like the way we operate together, whycan’t it be more like. . . .” We know what the characteristicsare; the answers are inside of our teammates and ourselves—pull them out. The story above illustrates only a small samplingof the characteristics we crave in our teams and organizations.The respectful interactions, laughter, play, genuine listening,appreciation of each other, desire to tap into the group intel-ligence, joy, collegiality, effectiveness, integrity, support, ser-vice, and empowerment all result from a belief that these arepossible and then action to make them a reality.

For the rest of this section, we discuss additional charac-teristics and behaviors that a team can incorporate into theircredo to foster a collaborative environment. When we committo integrating these behaviors into our daily interactions, wesupport the team in becoming respectful and effective. Thesebehaviors are especially powerful when mindfully applied inmeetings. They help create a safe space, making it possible todiscuss difficult topics or bring up the “elephant in the room”that is impeding team progress. Members know they will notbe attacked because everyone is committed to self-regulationand responsible participation.


TOOL YOU CAN USE . . .Mind Dump

Have you ever sat through a meeting and realized at

the end that you do not have the faintest notion of what

went on or what was decided? You were off thinking of the

gazillion things you had to do, so you were never really

present.

TRY THIS . . . before you start your meetings, ask

everyone to take a moment and drain their brains. Take out

a piece of paper and get down all the things you have on

your mind that you need to do . . . everything, from “pick up

a gallon of milk” to “call Frank about the presentation.” Then

put the paper into your pocket. This helps you know you

have a list of your thoughts in a safe place and now you can

pay attention.

The following is a sampling of collaborating behaviorswe can incorporate in our daily routine. Ultimately, as we be-come more and more committed to listening, communicat-ing, and collaborating, our team environment transforms.

• Agree that what is said in the room stays in the room• Be a responsible participant• Detach from the outcome• Be open to possibilities• Listen with an ear of curiosity versus animosity• Listen generously


• Have a we versus me mentality• Help one another• Eliminate killer phrases• Slow down the conversation• Evaluate judiciously• Stay objective• Think systemically

Agree That What Is Said in the Room Stays in the Room

This also means respectable, responsible recollection whenreporting to others who were not in the room. Things said inthe context of the meeting (especially when brainstorming)may seem out of place in the context of everyday work, wherethe nonattending receiver has not experienced the details ofthe situation and conversation.

Be a Responsible Participant

This involves being as honest and forthcoming as wecan, in as objective a manner as possible. It means not accus-ing others, speaking when we have something meaningful tocontribute, and remaining silent when we don’t. Rememberthe higher point of the meeting (it is not to make us look elo-quent or smart).

Detach from the Outcome

No one can predict the future, but in fact that is what weare trying to do when we expect a certain outcome. What is,


is. Here we let go of our expectations about what should bedone and allow the group wisdom to create what can be done.The adage to remember is “We don’t always get what we want,but we (the team) get what we need.” Things unfold for a rea-son—we might not be privy to it just yet. Trust there is a largeruniversal process at play working with the team to create whatis needed.

Be Open to Possibilities

The beauty of a team is that the collective creation isgreater than the output of any one person, or “The whole isgreater than the sum of its parts.” Therefore, as participantswe need to be open to ideas and outcomes that we did not expect. By being open to possibilities, we make room forbreakthroughs.

Listen with an Ear of Curiosity versus Animosity

Listen to someone as if you have never heard her before—as someone with something important to say. If she is a re-sponsible participant, she will not be speaking when she doesnot have something valuable to contribute.

Listening also means hearing subtle messages someone istrying to offer. In a meeting between radio personality peers,one of the junior announcers was speaking with veteran an-nouncers. Jeff was speaking of some of the fears he had aboutthe job. The veterans brushed him off by saying “You can doit, don’t worry.” But this did nothing to help Jeff. Better forthe veterans to have listened and heard his concerns and thenresponded with “How can we help?” or “Is there anything wecan share?”


We are not gladiators. Meetings are not a space for spar-ring and debating (which seem to mark the tone of many meet-ings) but an opportunity to get things done and resolve issues.

TOOL YOU CAN USE . . .Space Out

You’re trying to focus, really. It’s just that listening

takes lots of concentration and sometimes your mind wan-

ders while someone is talking, or the speaker says some-

thing that gives you an idea and you are off in your own

thoughts and not paying attention any longer. Instead of

spacing out, and missing the rest of what the speaker is

saying . . .

TRY THIS . . . draw a line down the right side of your

note page. Let this be the space where you keep track of

the “out” thoughts that popped into your mind while listen-

ing to the speaker. These out thoughts can contain nuggets

of gold or they just might be reminders like “Don’t forget to

pick up dinner.” Either way, keeping track of the ideas and

things that popped into your mind in a special space on

your paper frees you to concentrate on the meeting at

hand.

Listen Generously

Much of the time, we listen with an ear toward assessingif the other person is on board with our agenda or point. Thisis not generous listening. Generous listening means we set


aside our agenda, needs, and expectations to try to hear whatthe other person is saying—not what we are interpreting orhearing through our personal filters, but what the person re-ally intends to communicate.

Inevitably, there are times when individuals feel verystrongly about something they know or see. If they are prac-ticing courageous action, they will keep bringing the topic upand people might be getting a bit annoyed. Here, the teamneeds to take time out and listen to the person. Get curious, askopen-ended questions (not defensive questions), and let theperson talk until he feels heard. In all likelihood, the team willbenefit greatly from listening to the person, and the personwill feel he has given what he needed to give to the team.

Have a We versus Me Mentality

Every team member would do well to remember theThree Musketeers’ model: “One for all and all for one.” Everymember is important and vital to the whole. When one fails,the whole is lesser for it. Create a sense of interconnectednessby encouraging one another. When there is success, collec-tively share in what was accomplished through the team ef-forts. When there is failure, rally to find a fix versus findingsomeone to blame.

Help One Another

The collective is the team. It is not “us against them” or“me against her.” Collaboration is connectedness resulting ineffectiveness. If we don’t have the intention to help out ourteammates then we are not supporting one another, which results in a lack of teamwork. We can help each other by sup-


porting a team member when he is making a point, contribut-ing our own knowledge or following up on his point. We alsohelp when we respect the speaker by listening generously andnot whispering side comments. Sometimes, we help by coura-geously asking team members who are not monitoring theirspeech or taking too much air-time, to please be mindful ofour credo (discussed in the next section of this chapter).

Eliminate Killer Phrases

These are the things we say either in jest or in seriousnessthat shut down possibilities and ideas. Comments like “Thatwill never work,” “We already tried that,” “We don’t have themoney,” “Yeah, right,” or the ever blunt “That’s the stupid-est thing I’ve ever heard,” indicate to people that they shouldnot take risks or say anything that is not extremely well thoughtout. Some teams will adamantly say they value respect, open-ness, and risk-taking, but then when a new idea is raised, it’streated much in the same way our immune systems treat a for-eign body, like a virus or bacteria—it’s annihilated! By moni-toring our speech, we wisely contribute to a respectful workenvironment.

Slow Down the Conversation

The average meeting conversation goes at the speed oflight. The conversations are fast and furious. The problemwith this speed is people who are comfortable with fast-paceddiscussions excel—but others just get left out. The fast pace ofconversation can also leave out people of different cultures.

Slowing down the conversation helps people be betterlisteners—because they are not listening with one ear and try-


ing to figure out how to get in their point with the other. Ithelps them be better participants—because they can decide ifwhat they have to say is important enough to verbalize. Andit helps them be better collaborators—because they know theyhave the time later to make their point. Now they can attendto the point of the current speaker.

Evaluate Judiciously

Webster’s definition of judgment is assessment. When wejudge we are listening to what someone is saying and assess-ing if it fits within our frame of reference. When we judge, wecould be evaluating what someone is saying to see if we agree,or we might just be looking for fault in what she is saying toshoot down her logic.

Judgment must be used with great care. Team membersare there for their unique contributions. If we are judging tosee if they think like us, we are missing the richness of havingthem as team members.

We need to be conscious of how we are listening. Are wereally listening, or are we judging? Listening means we are try-ing to understand the person’s point without putting ouroverlay on it. Judging is okay, bouncing what we think off ofwhat they think, but then we need to use this assessment tobuild on the ideas and concepts, not tear them down.

Stay Objective

Once our idea is put out into the group, it needs to be-come part of the collective. We need to find the courage to


not be so attached to our ideas that they have to be executedexactly as we conceived them. A benefit of being on a team isthat the group can build on an idea to make it richer and moreeffective. The group also needs to have restraint so that it doesnot totally erode the idea or embellish it to the point that theoriginal concept is lost.

When we are attached to our ideas and ways of doingthings, we push and push and push. If the team has taken thetime to listen and has genuinely tried to incorporate our ideasand concepts, then it is time for us to stop and reflect. Am Ibalancing me in light of the we? Is it time for this idea or that?Am I pushing at the expense of the greater plan for my ownpersonal satisfaction and gain? Am I taking the whole into ac-count? I have heard from the whole and have seen them work-ing to listen and incorporate my thoughts. Perhaps it’s timefor me to respect the we and balance my needs with the needsof the collective.

Think Systemically

System thinking is making decisions that take the wholesystem into account. System thinking is different from justlooking at the consequences of an action, because sometimesthe consequences are not assessed from the bigger picture.Systemic decision making is choosing actions that have con-sidered the needs and issues of the larger system, not on theIQ or clout of the person offering them. On a personal level,we shift from my needs, my ideas, my way, to what is best forthe whole. How do we evolve the ideas so that they optimizeour goals, and work for our system?


BREAKING THROUGH TO . . .Incorporating Collaborative Characteristics

• What is collaborative to you?

• What is collaborative to your team?

• How will you know when you’re operating

collaboratively?

• What other collaborative characteristics and behaviors

do you think are important to a breakthrough team?

Determine the Team Credo Together

We go about making creative collaboration a reality bydefining what we value, and then deciding how we are goingto operate together based on our values. A culture is foundedon values, which are the bedrock of the team’s interactions.Taking the time to discuss these values provides a team withthe groundwork for building successful products, creatingnew market plans, and accomplishing any other business endeavor.

The team’s credo is composed of two components: astatement of values and a list of operating guidelines. Thecredo spells out the values, role expectations, and appropriatebehaviors by which the team agrees to abide. This does notmean that the team is restricted to a prescribed set of actions,limiting creativity and flexibility. It does mean that team mem-bers have set up their organization together—each memberhaving a clear picture of what the team is about (PrincipleTwo: Co-creating the Vision).


The list of operating guidelines describes how teammembers will conduct themselves. It is a set of interaction prin-ciples describing how they will operate together. Ideally, princi-ples are a direct reflection of the values.

Why is a credo needed? Close your eyes and think aboutthe last time you were gathered with a group of people. Whathappened? Typically, four different people come in with fourdifferent agendas, or one person is generating ideas while theother is shooting them down with statements like: “That’llnever work,” or “The boss will never go for it.” Yes, but whatabout . . . ? What bubblehead thought that one up? We’venever done it this way before,” and on and on.

These phrases and other frustrating behaviors can reallyhurt the morale of the team, but they are very much a part ofteam culture for many of us. A team credo along with thecommunication processes and team governing guidelines dis-cussed in Principle Seven (Govern from Within) will help teamsovercome these troublesome habits.

Ultimately, the credo is additional qualitative data for theteam to use when “e-valuating” itself (a process we will dis-cuss later in this chapter). The process of developing a credowill enable the team to feel they are contributing value onmany levels. When team members feel they are doing valuablework, the success or failure of the endeavor does not becomethe only measure of contribution or progress.

Creating the Team Credo

Step One: Personal Exploration of Values and Operating Behaviors

Begin by asking everyone to spend some time in the quietof their own space and think about what is important to them.


You probably have a good start because of the work you havedone with co-creating the vision work (Principle Two). In thisstep people determine what is important personally, interper-sonally, business-wise, and customer-wise—anything is fairgame. Once you have personally explored what is important,prioritize your list.

Personal Reflections

• It is important to me that as a team we . . .• When it comes to teamwork, I really value . . .• When it comes to customer satisfaction, I really

value . . .• In difficult times, I really value . . .• Important values I think we need to hold as a team

are . . .• I think it is important we all agree to . . .• One thing that I am most frustrated by in teams is . . .• In team meetings, I think it is important we . . .• I want to be a part of a team that operates like . . .

Remember to review your thoughts about collaborative char-acteristics and eradicating cultural holdovers from the largerorganization.

Step Two: Create a Statement of Values

Once people have had personal reflection time, gather theteam members and have the discussion of what is important—what do we value? Give everyone time to share their personalreflections. Don’t skimp on this part of the process. Take thetime to diverge and hear all possible values from each person.Then the team can converge (select) the master list of values.


The discussion of values can be quite revealing becauseit gets down to fundamentals. Many times what people valueis not even included in the qualitative and quantitative datagathered to assess performance. This discussion will yield aset of values as unique as the people on the team. As everyteam is different, so will be its set of values. What we haveseen over and over is that a team usually comes up with a setof values that is very practical and sensible, while being mean-ingful and deep. The values range from trust, honesty, doinggood, and having free time to meeting commitments, gettingrepeat customers, providing a needed service, and makingmoney.

Step Three: Create the List of Operating Guidelines

Here the team creates a list of any and all possible oper-ating guidelines. These are the operating principles you agreeto hold when working together, in meetings, one-on-one,with customers, or with the rest of the organization. Give your-selves permission to diverge on all of the possibilities beforeconverging on the master list everyone agrees to.

At this stage do not worry how to measure the values, justtake the time to have heartfelt conversation. Also remember,these are not written in stone; as a team evolves and changes,the values and operating guidelines change and evolve too.However, this list will get you off to a great start. In the endof this process, the team will have constructed a list of valuesand guidelines that it agrees it will monitor and work to up-hold—this is your team credo.

Remember, as the team gets to know each other and theday to day routine sets in, be ready to change and modify the


credo. It needs to be a living, organic document—not some-thing that we stick on a 3x5 card and shove into a file folder.

Here are some ideas for keeping your credo alive andmemorable:

• Make and distribute posters (that the team has de-signed, of course).

• Celebrate team members that do something special tolive the credo (and publish it in a newsletter or otherelectronic announcements). The key to reinforcing aculture is to make heroes of people who embody it.

• And, as the team gets more comfortable with one an-other, use Koosh Balls®, paper wads, or squirt guns togently remind someone when they breach the cove-nants of the credo.

E-valuation—How Are We Doing on What We Value?

As the team owns its goals, so too, must it own its evalua-tion of them.

What we want to create is an “e-valuation”1 system thatvalues what really matters—to the team, to the company, to the customers. E-valuation flows from valuation, thus thereason for developing a credo. The credo gives us data for e-valuation.

A collaborative team needs a system that gives teammembers feedback on how they are doing—individually andcollectively, while counting what really counts. It answers thequestion “How are we doing on what we value?”

Commit to having monthly or quarterly discussions onhow everyone feels the team is doing against the values. Now


is the time to value how we are doing on what we value. Here,a silent ballot is a good idea. Each person takes the values andassigns a number from 1 to 5 (with 5 signifying “We are doinga great job putting this value into action” and 1 being “Needslots of work”). Someone tabulates the totals and shows theoverall results. This provides an overview of the team percep-tion of how things are going.

Note: Each person should also rate herself privately sothat she is taking personal responsibility for her actions andcontributions.

You might want to adjourn after this and say to every-one—“We see the results, we are committed to these values sowe will find ways to make changes and keep getting better. Wetrust we will work this.” Or you can work some values in thatmeeting. Commit to working with only one or two of the val-ues per meeting. Work with the one that got the highest markand the one that got the lowest mark. Begin with the one thatgot the highest—“How can we do even better on this one?”Then the lowest—“What is one thing we can do to improvethis one?”

“If an organization wishes to benefit from its own

creative potential, it must be prepared to value the vagaries

of the immeasurable as well as the certainties of the

measurable.”—Gordon MacKenzie, Orbiting the Giant Hairball

A Note on Rewards

Evaluation leads us to the notion of rewards. Long un-derstood as a critical piece of team management, nothing can


obliterate the culture for collaborative teamwork more thanan inadequate or inappropriate reward system.

Nothing undermines collaboration and team play likecertain types of rewards. Mostly because traditional rewardsare still given for individual effort rather than team effort andthey are given from someone (a manager) to someone on theteam, creating the perception that the team member’s per-formance met with the manager’s expectations.

Alfie Kohn, in his book Punished by Rewards2 makes thecase that rewards, or pay-for-performance, undermines crea-tivity and possibility. Primarily because the pay-for-performancesystem creates a limiting system, where the receiver is tryingto figure out what the reward giver expects—therefore under-mining out-o-box thinking and doing for fear of not meetingexpectations. Pay-for-performance creates a kind of “Pavlov’sdog” scenario, where the motivation to do something comesfrom something external, which does nothing to increase in-ternal motivation and drive.

We are not recommending that you chuck the rewardsystem you have, nor do we want to get into a long-windeddiscussion of the merits of any system. We do want to high-light concepts that foster and encourage collaboration versusdiscouraging it. It is a matter of moving motivation from re-wards (external motivation) to values (internal motivation). Itis also a matter of including some type of team reward alongwith the usual individual ones. This can go a long way towardeliminating that universal frustration felt when performanceevaluation time rolls along and individual efforts are singledout at the expense of teamwork (despite what we said at thestart about teamwork). No wonder the excitement aboutworking on yet another team quickly flies out the window.

One more point about rewards: If a monetary or othertype of reward is to be given, the lump should be given to the


entire team. Then, everyone on the team should agree onhow it will be disseminated. It might be based on the team’scollective perception of each individual’s contribution to thevalues (discussed previously), it might be based on contribu-tion, or it might be equally disseminated. Whatever the plan,it should be discussed at the beginning of the project or wellin advance of compensation time.

“Creativity flows in the direction of rewards.”—Harold McAlindon

The following exercise was described to us by Kim Mol-dofsky, founder of Positive Impact, Inc.3 We have used it as anicebreaker for teams who are meeting for the first time, ingroups of executives or faculty who come together from dif-ferent parts of the organization, for groups of high-schoolersattending an entrepreneurship camp, and in our MBA classes.People love it, and it serves as stage-setting to getting the kindof culture you want for your team.

TOOL YOU CAN USE . . .The Five Finger Contract

When you bring a group of people together for the first

time, or even when you are about to start a new project:

TRY THIS . . .

Have the team stand in a circle, so that each person

can spread his or her arms and reach another person. Ask

everyone to hold up one hand (left or right—it doesn’t mat-


ter). Have everyone make a fist, then go through the follow-

ing five steps:

1. “We’re going to pledge the five finger contract to each

other. Everyone raise their pinkie (little) finger. This finger

represents safety. Just as we want to protect everyone’s

physical safety, we also want to ensure emotional safety.

What are some ways we can do that? (Pause, and wait for

a couple of suggestions, like “Let’s not embarrass each

other, or make fun of other people”.)

2. Next say, “Now hold out your ring finger” (everyone will

have two fingers extended). “This finger represents com-

mitment. How might we show commitment to each

other?” Again, ask for suggestions.

3. “The middle finger represents respect” (or, you can ask

people what it means when someone “gives them the

finger” to show your point). “How can we pledge respect

to one another?” Here people will offer such ideas as,

“Don’t belittle others’ opinions” and “trust one another.”

4. “The pointer finger stands for accountability. Before we

point it at other people, we have to turn it in on our-

selves. What are some ways we can be accountable to

each other?” Here people might offer ideas such as,

“Show up!” and “Do what you say you will do.”

5. “Finally, the thumb represents ‘thumbs up’ for a good

time! We want to have fun.”

Now that everyone is standing with their five fingers raised:

“We’ll go around the circle and pledge the contract to each

other. Everyone will ‘high five’ the person standing next to

them while saying his or her name.” For example, Lisa turns

to Laurie and slaps her hand in a high five and says, “Lisa.”

Laurie turns to the person standing next to her, high fives


his hand while saying “Laurie,” and so on. Go around the cir-

cle. Everyone will have fun with this exercise, and you’ll have

set the tone for how the team expects every person to act.

“Act boldly and unseen forces will come to your aid.”—Dorothea Brande

Unlocking Team Genius with Principle Three:Choose the Culture You Want

• Don’t accept the culture as it’s handed to you.• Take the time to decide together your values and

operating principles. Make these your team credo.• E-valuate: Judge your team’s progress based on your

values and a system view of what’s important, not juston short-term numbers.

AXIOM . . .

Choose the Culture You Want and Then Live It


PRINCIPLE FOUR

Engage in CourageousSpeech and Action

“I’m not afraid to die. I just don’t want to be there

when it happens.”—Woody Allen

Why a chapter on courage? Because teamwork is coura-geous work. We are connecting to people and learning abouteach other. There are so many layers of interaction at play thatgetting the work done seems to end up being the least of ourworries.

This principle explores the personal responsibility each ofus shares as a contributing team member. It is vital that eachteam member makes a commitment to courageous speech andaction by (1) making a commitment to spend time under-standing their personal internal compass and guide posts, andthen (2) committing to act upon these on behalf of them-selves and the team.

89

It’s about Integrity

Courageous speech and action does not mean saving ba-bies from burning buildings. Courageous speech and action ishighly personal and very individual. What is courageous forone might not be courageous for another. The key is to be in-ternally driven and define what is your personal compass andfollow that—following your heart and internal compass is integrity.

What is the difference between acting with integrity andacting with courage? Acting with integrity is taking actionsthat are in alignment with our internal compass and personalconvictions, codes of conduct, and self-determined values. Act-ing with courage is acting with integrity even when it mightnot be vogue to do so.

BREAKING THROUGH TO . . .Actions of Integrity

• What is your code of conduct?

• Do you believe you take courageous action?

• Can you honestly say people see you as a person of

integrity?

• When do you find it most difficult to act with courage?

“When a defining moment comes along, you can do

one of two things. Define the moment, or let the moment

define you.”—From the movie Tin Cup


TOOLS YOU CAN USE . . .Clue Please

So you have an inkling that you are unaware in some

area of your life. You realize that there are things you don’t

know and wonder how to find out more about them. Before

you continue on clueless . . .

TRY THIS . . .

Pull a picture out of a magazine—any picture. Pick

one that “sparkles” to you. Then use your nondominant

hand to write yourself a message. Ask the picture to speak

to you or ask the subject of the picture to give you a mes-

sage. Write this message with your nondominant hand. It

will be weird, but you will probably get something really

meaty and helpful.

OR TRY THIS . . .

Take a question that is stumping you and let your non-

logical brain answer it. Take a statement like “I find it most

difficult to act with courage when . . .” and write yourself a

message using your nondominant hand. You might be sur-

prised by what you find out.

“The best way out is always through.”—Robert Frost

Principle Four: Engage in Courageous Speech and Action 91

Our Actions Shout Who We Are

Courage is something that comes from deep inside of us.It is an inner strength and personal integrity that shines like abeacon for all to see. A boss had a poster in her office whichread “I cannot hear what you are saying because who you areis shouting so loudly at me.” Who we are shouts to people,telling them what we are made of. Who we are is not definedby how we dress or the job we have. It is defined by the waywe conduct ourselves on a day-to-day basis. If pictures areworth a thousand words then courageous actions are worth amillion bucks.

What are you shouting at your team members? Are yousaying you are a hard worker but are constantly taking off ahalf-hour early three times a week for this or that very impor-tant reason? Do you keep your commitments, or is there al-ways some reason you cannot? Do you say you hate wastingresources but spend the company money on wasteful trips?We have all been around people who say one thing and do an-other. This is a very expensive trait—acting incongruently un-dermines our credibility and perceived personal worth.

“Courage is the first of human qualities because it is

the quality which guarantees all others.”—Winston Churchill

Action Accounting

Steven Covey talks about building our “emotional bankaccount”—this is the concept of action over time. When we act


with integrity over and over and are consistent with our com-mitments our actions establish the type of person we are. Theanalogy Covey uses is that we build an emotional bank ac-count where acting with integrity and considerate behaviormake deposits into our account. This account can be drawnupon in those inevitable times when we make a mistake orhave a lapse in judgment. The bigger the mistake is, the largerthe withdrawal.

Spending time understanding our personal code of con-duct and how we want to conduct ourselves in all parts of ourlife (when people are looking and when they are not) helpssignificantly reduce the number of withdrawals.

BREAKING THROUGH TO . . .Healthy Accounting

• Are your actions congruous with your speech?

• Do you make daily contributions in the emotional bank

accounts you hold with all the people in your life?

• What actions in your life continuously cause you to make

withdrawals on your emotional bank accounts?

“Remember, people will judge you by your actions,

not your intentions. You may have a heart of gold, but so

does a hard-boiled egg.”—Anonymous


Courageous Actions in Our Teams

The following is a sampling of the times when coura-geous speech and action make deposits into our team bank ac-count and build our confidence. These actions shout goodthings about us to our team members.

We cannot cover all of the times courageous speech andaction are needed, so use this as a starter list and add to it asyou and the team see fit.

When we are forming together as a team and we aregetting to know one another, sharing our hopes anddreams, when we are doing our visioning work—we need to be courageous to say what we see andwhat we want to have happen. We also need to becourageous to put our expectations on hold whileothers speak their vision. Opening up to our fellowteam members can be very difficult—especially ifwe have been hurt in a team situation in the past.

If we don’t share what we see and want, our teammates willnot be able to take our viewpoints into consideration. We arenot contributing fully and therefore a piece of the puzzle ismissing. People are not mind readers. When we give the teamthe benefit of our perspective we give important necessary information.

When we are called on to trust our teammates andtheir abilities. We cannot control everything. It isscary to need others to accomplish something. Wecan do our best to influence and communicate, butthere comes a point when we have to let go andtrust in the collective. This can be very courageous


for many. Additionally, saying what you mean anddoing what you say does wonders for building trustamong team members.

If we don’t trust, people become defensive. They are constantlytrying to justify and prove their value. This is energy wasted.For every thought that goes toward proof and defense is athought lost that could have been applied to problem solvingand invention.

When we need to speak truthfully. In order to speakthe truth, we need to take time to reflect on howwe feel and what we are seeing. Personal reflectionand listening to our intuition is an important firststep in courageous speech. Next, we need to speakfrom our personal point of view (using “I” state-ments). Here, we provide our truth in nonjudgmen-tal, objective statements. This is an artform and takesmuch practice, but with dedication on your part,speaking your truth can become a great gift to many.

There are also times when we find we need totalk about the unspeakable or things that are get-ting in the way of progress but which no one wantsto address. These “unspeakables” might be stiflingteam progress and will continue to do so until some-one speaks up. Telling our truth and speaking upversus keeping the peace helps to contribute to aneffective work environment.

If we don’t speak our truth and instead go with the flow, weare withholding vital information, which can result in seriousconsequences for the team and for us. It may lead the teamdown a wasteful path. In addition, when we do not muster the


courage to speak our truth we send a destructive message toour subconscious that we are not courageous. Thus we erodeour self-worth.

When we need to act with integrity in spite of peer pressure to fudge numbers or engage in othersmoke-and-mirrors behavior. My father used to sayhe could sleep at night because his actions did notkeep him up worrying. Use this litmus test alongwith your internal code of conduct to do the un-popular but right thing.

If we don’t stay our course, we are easily manipulated andpushed around. Being weak-willed, we are an easy target forpeople with unhealthy agendas. In the end, people are ac-countable for their actions.

When we keep our promises even though we wouldrather be out playing golf. Or when we work hardeven though the people around us don’t. Be yourown personal barometer, set your standards notbased on external stimuli but based on your inter-nally determined standards.

If we don’t keep our promises, we make withdrawals from ourteam bank account and undermine our credibility. We jeopar-dize the careers and goals of the people of the team. Every per-son is vital because they are doing something necessary. Whenthey do not uphold their commitments the system suffers.

When we need to address a problem or issue di-rectly with a particular team member. Going to theperson we are having difficulty with instead of


going to “big-daddy boss” is mature behavior. Find-ing the courage to address the person in an objec-tive way, without confronting, and being curiousinstead of accusatory is very wise.

If we don’t treat our colleagues with respect, we under-mine the interpersonal bond. There is nothing worse than beingblind-sided by a boss reprimanding you for something youwere not really aware of, because your colleague did not havethe courage to discuss it with you first. However, if a col-league does have the courage to speak their truth to you, donot get defensive and angry. They are giving you information.Try to take it in that vein and thank them for the courage togive you valuable feedback.

When we are challenged to return to working theold way versus this new collaborative way. We willbe questioned about how this stuff could actuallywork—no traditional team leader responsibilities,shared responsibility, choice, self-regulating—baloney, they will say. Traditional individualistic andbureaucratic ways are how we are used to working;they are familiar and comfortable. But choosing tocollaborate and use the concepts and tools in thisbook is quite different. It is like we are using avastly different set of mental muscles: trust overcontrol, collaboration over hierarchy, co-creationover one vision, choice over mandates, communica-tion over expectation, and courage over indiffer-ence. Others might be threatened by these new waysor are not ready for them, and they might make youfeel you are being unrealistic that these kinds ofthings could work in business. But don’t let their


fears and unwillingness to change stop you fromthis necessary business evolution.

If we don’t change the way we do business, we will be miss-ing out on the most valuable resource any company has: thetalent, creativity and wisdom inside of each and every personin its employ.

When we employ “we-mentality” over “me-mental-ity.” Collaboration means we have made a commit-ment to work together for a greater good. We needto put our ego on hold and our need to look brightand talented on the back burner for the team tomake progress. We need to think of the whole withthe same level of importance as ourselves. We haveall experienced times when someone talks too longor engages in self-aggrandizing behavior that takesthe wind out of the team’s sails.

If we don’t make the transition from me to we mentality, ourteams will always be plagued by the need for one-upmanshipand self-preservation. The energy spent in internal joustingcould have better been spent meeting project deadlines andserving customers.

When we need to own our actions versus finding ascapegoat to blame. “No excuses sir” is the responseof a cadet at West Point to a charge from an officer.Own your actions and their consequences.1

If we don’t own our actions, we end up defending and blam-ing. Defending and blaming are energy suckers which createan unhealthy team environment.


When we value what is valuable and use new data tocount what counts. Traditional data does not al-ways give us the whole picture. It gives us a sense ofhow we are doing financially but not much else.When we courageously look for qualitative data, weare taking a broader, systemic view to evaluatingour progress. Data like how are we doing with re-spect to our credo, or creating a team environmentthat supports unlocking talents and passions. Wemight be pushed for the traditional data, but notstopping there and looking for and valuing all thedata is important to business transformation.

If we don’t look for and value nontraditional data we miss outon valuable information about our progress and accomplish-ments as a team, as individuals, and as a company. This addi-tional data helps us value the process as much as the product.Valuing how we work as much as what we have accomplishedmakes it much easier to facilitate constant change, renewal,and progress.

When we need to be open and continually learning,and not have the answers all the time.

If we aren’t open to learning, we become closed-minded andstale. We start to smell like a musty closet in need of somefresh air. The fresh air is growth and new input. Don’t let theneed to be expert in your field keep you from the fresh air ofchange, growth, learning, and new experiences.

When we need to contribute our uniqueness andpassion. You are huge—you contain multitudes(Walt Whitman). You are huge and are here to con-


tribute your special talents and unique gifts. It mightnot seem there is opportunity for you to do it whereyou work, but if you are there—there is a reason.Never hide your light under a bushel basket.

If we don’t contribute our gifts and talents they begin to at-rophy and wither. We start to lose track of them, and beforewe know it, we think we do not have anything of value togive. This is not true. Keep your passions and uniqueness aliveby tapping into them and applying them every day!

When we treat our managers as equals and co-creators, not overfocusing on their opinions, expec-tations, and ideas. Managers are people too. Theyhave an important role to play, but so do you. Giv-ing your power away to your manager is destructiveand not collaborative. Participate fully.

If we don’t contribute as an equal, we create imbalance in thesystem. Businesses need adults owning their power of choiceand responsibility. Giving away your power of discernmentand truth to your boss is very unhealthy and unwise.

BREAKING THROUGH TO . . .More Courageous Action

• Other courageous actions you need to take are . . .

• Courageous actions your team needs to take are . . .


“You must do the thing you think you cannot do.”—Eleanor Roosevelt

People who have built their own businesses often re-count the courage they drew from within themselves to face ahost of psychological, financial, and even physical risks. Fullytrusting those you have hired, acting with integrity, meetingchallenges, and cultivating a “we-mentality” are just some ofthe courageous behaviors observable in the entrepreneurwhose story is told below. Finding the courage to do the rightthings is not only for the early days of a new venture wheneverything is new and untried. In fact, the drive to survive andgive something back can be carried on in the company’s phi-losophy for decades, spilling over from the way changes areapproached to the difference that the business can make in thelarger community. Here’s how Marsha Serlin’s entrepreneur-ial philosophy led to business and community innovations.

Marsha Serlin“Courageous Entrepreneurial Leadership

in Action”

Marsha Serlin is the founder and president of UnitedScrap Metals, located in Cicero, Illinois. She established thefirm in 1978 as an independent, privately held scrap metal re-cycler. Marsha grew the business from an initial $200 invest-ment to one of metropolitan Chicago’s largest and fastestgrowing full-service recyclers. United is recognized as an en-ergetic and innovative company in the scrap metal industry. Asan entrepreneur, she has had the opportunity to take her or-ganization through many changes. During a bear market in


the industry, for example, everything seemed to be going inthe wrong direction. To motivate her organization to embracechange, she recalls telling them:

“Staying and learning how to fix this company will belike getting your MBA, focusing on profitability and the bottomline. We were able to put together a board of directors and getthe help we needed to fix our problems. Our entire industrywas on the verge of collapse. By enlisting the help of betterleaders than me, and people who understood how to profes-sionally manage the company, United Scrap Metals was ableto survive. We were able to evolve from the experience. I tookmanagers and told them that they would learn something thatthey’d never learned before, and they would never have to re-peat the performance because they’d get so good at it!”

Marsha’s efforts have paid off extraordinarily: In 1996,United was named the National Small Business Subcontractorof the Year. Also in 1996, it was judged by Arthur Andersento be the Best Business Practices Enterprise for Customer Sat-isfaction. Marsha herself was selected as a finalist for Ernst &Young’s 1997 Entrepreneur of the Year Award and receivedthe 1997 Grant Thorton Executive Woman of the YearAward. In 1998, United was given the Outstanding RecyclingBusiness Award by the Illinois Recycling Association.

We asked Marsha how she inspires people to change whenshe thinks they’re drowning? She responds, “Through leader-ship and knowing that you are not the only one who knowsthe answers. My managers are the experts in their fields, andI allow them to be that without micromanaging them. Every-one thinks he or she can fix things, but sometimes, they don’thave the right answers. The management team is very excitedabout all of the changes that have taken place, that they areresponsible for the results of the company. Everyone contrib-utes and everyone shares. Leadership is by example.”


Marsha’s leadership style was formed through her earlyexperiences building the company. “In the beginning it wassurvival. I had three other jobs and occupations. It was a mat-ter of doing whatever I could to get money for my family. It was always about the money and bottom line. I would buy metal and sell it the next day. I drove the trucks, did thebookkeeping, and was involved in virtually every part of thebusiness.”

She founded the company in 1978, and in 1981 movedto Cicero. She opened the retail center there. The companyprovided good community service, and through that she saysshe learned much about community and the people that weremost unfortunate. The company made a contribution to soci-ety. People could pay for their room for a night with the cansthey collected. When it got cold, Marsha would pay for somelocals in a hotel, who were her poorest customers. Today, as aleader in her community, she feels it’s important to give backto those who are less fortunate. She has developed communityprograms and is an active participant in charitable organiza-tions. “I feel it’s my responsibility and I try to get other com-panies in the community to give back. It’s not a question ofwhether you should, but rather it’s the right thing to do. Youdon’t have to talk about it. Just get the job done! Never saythat you can’t do something. There are too many excuses inour lives. Too many women feel there are limited opportuni-ties. If I hadn’t had the experience of having no money, Iwouldn’t have realized all of the things that I have accom-plished. I don’t feel I have any great gift, or that I’m excep-tional. My life has made it possible for me to go as far as I’vegone.”

Marsha believes that risk-taking is a very important com-ponent of action for change: “We’re all so afraid to risk andfail. It’s the fear of failure that drives me everyday. It motivates


me and keeps me moving so I don’t take anything for granted.Through this journey, I never thought there was anything Ireally couldn’t do.” She reflects that she is now considered the go-to person: “If you want to get something done, seeMarsha.” She counsels others to always think about how youcan do it better, and that you can empower others to do agreat job.

“Things become what you believe. Self-reaffirmation isvery important. It’s not about whether you are an A student;the world is run by C students who are used to failure, andaren’t used to the A. They know how to deal with adversity.They are flexible and try harder. Some of our great leaders arenot necessarily the people that got the best grades. The mostsuccessful people are the ones that have had to focus on get-ting the job done and are the most persistent. Find the op-portunity in each setback, and make certain that you gobeyond what people expect.”

Indeed Marsha Serlin has gone beyond expectations. Herbusiness has reached exceptional performance and growth,and she gives back to the community through programming,collaborating with other businesses, and mentoring youngwomen. By helping others to find their courage to embracerisks and take action, she hopes they’ll become better at tap-ping the resources of other people for mutual benefit. ✴

“Creative achievement is the boldest achievement of

the mind, an adventure that takes its hero simultaneously to

the rim of knowledge and the limits of propriety. Its pleasure

is not the comfort of the safe harbor, but the thrill of the

reaching sail.”—Robert Grudin, The Grace of Great Things


Unlocking Team Genius with Principle Four:Engage in Courageous Speech and Action

• Align your convictions and values so that you act with integrity.

• Determine your intentions before you act so your re-sults meet expectations.

• Take an audit of your action accounting: are you over-drawn? Where could you use some deposits?

• Conduct an audit of the team’s actions. How often doyou really speak truthfully, trust one another, keep thepromises you make to the team, and address problemsdirectly?

AXIOM . . .

Courageous Action Is Empowering Behavior


PRINCIPLE FIVE

Cultivate Shared Responsibility and

Shared Ownership

“Two are better than one—when the two are working

as one.”—Coach K.1

The essence of Principle Five, cultivate shared responsibil-ity, is that dream teams have more of an entrepreneurial mind-set than bureaucratic ones. The team collectively owns theoutcome. You would never hear “It’s not my job” from a teammember who has embraced shared ownership, nor would youfind one person doing the lion’s share of the work.

When teams embrace shared ownership, everyone feels re-sponsible for meeting objectives and executing the vision. Teammembers act like owners of a business, sharing responsibility,taking risks to make the project a success. The team leaders ormanagers do not shoulder the majority of the pressure for suc-cess or the pain of failure—nor do they reap the majority ofthe rewards. Shared means shared—shared responsibility, sharedaccountability, shared upsides, shared downsides, and shareddecision making.

107

In this chapter, we will discuss the entrepreneurial be-haviors and actions team members are embracing (risk taking,ownership, independent thinking, and system thinking) andwill highlight the bureaucratic behaviors and mindsets thatlimit the team’s effectiveness while eating away at its collabo-rative fiber.

Cultivate an Entrepreneurial Mindset

How many teams within large organizations really viewthemselves as small business owners? How many are given thelatitude to do what it takes to make their business successful?How many take the risk to create the latitude to operate as asmall business within the larger business? As team members,we need to rise above the corporate traditions to emerge as apowerful collective. We need to take control of our destiny byacting like owners of a business, not just some person hired todo a job. If we want a breakthrough team, this is an impor-tant principle to embrace.

Solidify as a Team by Acting Like a Business

Essentially every team needs to think of itself as a living,breathing entity with purpose. The benefit of the team ap-proaching its purpose as a business enables it to have a mind-set different from traditional teams. Instead of wasting valuabletime trying to figure out what they should be doing, team mem-bers create their own destiny by deciding what they want tobe doing. While others are stuck in bureaucratic red tape, theyare rising above it to get things done and make things happen.


“When we have begun to take charge of our lives, to

own ourselves, there is no longer any need to ask permission

of someone.”—George O’Neil

Solidstate“A Team That Acted Like a Business

within a Business”

Solidstate (a pseudonym), a small team inside a largeFortune 100 company, was funded to facilitate change withinthe associates of the company. An executive funded the teamto make change happen.

Traditionally, a team would go about this task by spend-ing lots of time with the executive to understand what hewanted to see happen. They would have regular updates withthe executive to make sure they were on track and wouldmake adjustments accordingly. Also, the team would probablyuse the executive’s name freely to garner credibility and getcompliance. But that is not exactly what this team did. In-stead, they approached their task as one would approach start-ing a business, looking to the executive as an advisor, amember of their board of directors.

From the start, Solidstate had a “we are starting our ownbusiness” mentality. They created a mission statement andbrand identity. They even had business cards made up withthe business name in the look and feel of their brand. Theyapproached the company associates not as other employees,but as customers. Every internal associate was a potential cus-tomer and was treated as such.

Principle Five: Cultivate Shared Responsibility and Shared Ownership 109

Solidstate did not go around telling associates that theyneeded to change or that Solidstate was there to facilitate thatchange in the name of the executive. Solidstate saw themselvesas support for associates. Solidstate became the helpful handsin the company, where teams and individuals could go for help,ideas, training, and the latest in change management.

Solidstate was very successful growing their business. Afterthe first year, they had connected to over 1,000 associates inthe company. They had delivered over 200 different change-stimulating events and sessions. They were on their way to be-coming an internal resource that facilitated change, but theydid it in a way that was respectful of the company associates,giving associates the choice to use the services rather thanforcing them to use the services as mandated by the executive.They had an entrepreneurial mindset from the very begin-ning, and it facilitated their success. ✴

Cultivate Owner Mentality

If we have joined the team for a meaningful reason, weare there because we want to be. But working on somethingwe are interested in is only part of success. Taking ownershipand responsibility is really what is needed. We realize this isour business and we are going to act like it, doing what weneed to do to move forward.

This mindset is fundamentally different than that of tra-ditional teams. Usually, traditional teams come together andmeet and meet and meet. There are one or two people therewith real passion, and the rest are there for varying reasons,from coercion to “apple-polishing.” These teams rarely makea difference. The entrepreneurial mindset is replaced with “Tellme what my action item is so I can get on to my real work.”


It seems that in corporate America we send conflictingmessages about how much empowerment and proactivity wereally want people to take. On one hand, we want people totake responsibility and be proactive, but on the other, we wantthis proactivity to fit within certain guidelines; e.g., doingwhat the boss wants.

Teams that have entrepreneurial mindsets act as if this is their business and take risks to make the endeavor a suc-cess. If they are passionate about what they are doing, theymight seem like rogues because they act out of the norm toget things done—but isn’t this what is needed? We want pas-sionate people working smart towards making the businesssuccessful.

Provide a Needed Service to the Organization/Customers That Is the Best It Can Possibly Be

Entrepreneurs believe that the services or products theyprovide are the best around. They go into business knowingthey can provide a product or service as no one else can. Theysee a need and go fill it.

To approach the project with anything less than themindset of “They need what we’ve got!” or “This will be thebest we have ever done!” or “We’re going to kick some ass!”is to miss out on the passion a team needs to be successful.How many teams approach what they are doing with this type of passion? How many teams believe they are providinga necessary service or that they are filling a need? Moreover,how many take pride in the service they are giving? Using thecollective creativity and ingenuity to provide people some-thing that is valuable is a worthwhile use of a team’s time andenergy—tap into it.


Don’t Ask for Permission

Find ways around conventional time-consuming processesto be successful. Entrepreneurs are known for breaking anyrules that stand in the way of realizing their vision. Teams thathave embraced an entrepreneurial mindset are ready to takerisks to succeed. Many teams fall prey to the “We have alwaysdone it this way” mentality of the company. They get boggeddown in the quagmire of the bureaucracy: getting approvals,presenting to layer upon layer of management, focusing inter-nally rather than on customers. Their energy gets spent deal-ing with bureaucratic red tape versus creating what is needed.

Taking Ownership with HighSpeed

A new product introduction team was charged with mov-ing their product, HighSpeed, out into the marketplace. Thecorporate system they worked within had a process of court-ing the sales teams to get them to agree to sell the new prod-uct. If the sales teams did not think the product had promise,they would not pick it up. This process fell short when newfledging products could not promise very high current-yearrevenue or direct application to the current customer base.

HighSpeed was not picked up. The new product teamwas frustrated and voiced their complaints that the system wasnot supportive of bringing new innovative products out. Butinstead of throwing their hands up and giving up, this teamwent out and hired commissioned salespeople, essentially risk-sharing with them. This team had an entrepreneurial mindset.They worked around the traditional corporate processes tomake progress. They went from begging salespeople who had


many other products to push, to having a dedicated salesforce. Their sales doubled the next year.

“A creative culture cannot flourish in an autocratic

environment.”—John Kao, Jamming

TOOLS YOU CAN USE . . .Idea Interview

Why is it that some people get their ideas implemented

and others don’t? Are the ones who take the most air time

getting their ideas through? Do you have an idea but won-

der if you should even bother? Before you just chuck it . . .

TRY THIS . . . Ask someone to interview you about the

idea in the next team meeting. They assume the role of re-

porter doing a news story and attempt to get all the facts

(as many as you have). They need to get an understanding

of the history of the opportunity, your background, what

brought you to the idea, what your vision of the future of

the idea is, etc. Now that the idea has had a full hearing it

might garner some energy. Modification: If you are not

comfortable being interviewed in front of the team . . .

TRY THIS . . . describe your idea to a colleague in as

much detail as you can give and then ask your colleague to

present it to the group. The key here is your colleague

needs to present it as if it were their idea. This will give your

idea fresh perspective and will give you at least one other

person who has tried on the idea.


Let’s take a look at a leader who supports corporate venture teams in developing their entrepreneurial mindset every day—Jerry Zielinski.

Jerry Zielinski“Paving the Way for Entrepreneurship

at Lucent Technologies”

Jerry’s passion is corporate venturing. Be it acquisitions,joint ventures, or new corporate ventures he has done themall over his 30-year tenure for Lucent Technologies/AT&T.Jerry is a master at guiding new venture teams to developtheir business savvy and entrepreneurial muscle. It seems hisapproach for success is simple—combine a business plan withmilestones that gauge progress with the intention to approachevery team/venture differently based on the specifics of whatthe team is and what it is trying to accomplish. Every ventureis unique and requires him to work with it in a way that theteam needs versus a corporate defined standard or formula.Instead of trying to change that team into what he might ini-tially feel it should be, he lets it grow and evolve into what itneeds to be. He offers guidance and wisdom but never forcesor demands compliance. “Every person should have a toler-ance for ambiguity as part of their job description.” He de-scribes his mindset as one of walking into a new room. Eachnew room (new venture team) has a unique environment cre-ated by the team and what it is trying to accomplish. He as-sesses his role anew every day by asking himself “What is it theteam needs of me today?” This is because every day his rolechanges. Some days the team needs him to be a filter, sharingwith them what the corporation needs, but not overwhelmingthem in the process. Some days the team needs a buffer, keep-


ing the needs of the corporation at bay while the team fo-cuses. Other days the team needs a translator, conveying theirmission and vision to corporate managers in the common lan-guage of the company leadership.

There is a difference between corporate projects and in-trapreneurship. Corporate projects, especially those that areextensions of the current business, are more straightforward,needing little or no change to current processes. There is morecomfort, and the tasks tend to be better defined and basedmore on fact. Team member roles have more definition. Forthe intrapreneur, little is fact and most decisions are based onassumptions which are continually subject to change as thenew project unfolds. Ambiguity is an everyday reality, androles change as the business needs change.

Every venture is different, and the way it operates is dif-ferent. Jerry sees his role as part bridge, balancing the needsof the core business (Lucent) with the realities of the new ven-ture. In every case, Jerry works with the team to find uniquemeasures of success that match the team’s mission to the com-pany’s needs. For some teams a measure of success might benew acquisition prospects in the pipeline, but for others itmight be new clients. Jerry adds, “Don’t judge an artist bycraftsman’s standards or critique a craftsman from an art critic’sperspective.” The measures of success are based on what makessense for the team, their current reality, and their future, aswell as the expectations and needs of the larger organizationthey feed.

He also actively finds ways to be a respected member ofthe team with a necessary role, contributing something theteam needs. For some teams it’s a business strategy; for oth-ers it is translating what the team is passionate about into cor-porate objectives; for others it might be negotiation strategies.Whatever the case, he provides a valuable contribution and is


always considered a vital co-creating member of the team,even though usually he is not formally a full-time member.

When asked for his advice on developing collaborativeentrepreneurial teams, he gives the following:

• Recognize a team for what it is and what it is trying toaccomplish to achieve multiplier effect, and then oneplus one will be greater than two.

• Let the tasks evolve as the whole team works to achieveits goal

• Value what the team values and then find value foryourself (e.g., This is what I am proud of)

What should we be on the look out for? “Avoid over-defining expectations, saying this is exactly what I expect at atime too far into the future. Don’t walk into a situation witha formula—‘You do this and I’ll do this.’ It gets you the samerate of progress for current projects but discourages new think-ing. Formulas limit innovation.” ✴

When a team is passionate about what it is doing, theteam will roll. There are things the managers/leaders can doto facilitate the team’s success:

• Pave the way for the team• Keep corporate antibodies at bay• Participate as a co-creator

Pave the Way

It is a lucky team indeed that can focus on their task andnot have to do dog-and-pony shows and/or deal with the


corporate political bureaucracy. Luckier yet is a team who hasa leader who understands what the team is trying to accom-plish and facilitates getting the support, resources, and timethe team needs. This leader is paving the way for their success.She is carving out space and buying the team a precious resource—time to focus.

Keep Corporate Antibodies at Bay

Every company has them, the people, processes, andpolicies that stand in the way of innovation, creativity, andchange. They come in to eliminate things that don’t seem tofit into the system. There are always going to be people whodo not really understand what the team is doing or will notlike how the team is going about accomplishing its goals. Aleader who understands the entrepreneurial approach of ateam will find ways to keep these antibodies away. These lead-ers are able to speak the language of the antibody. The leaderis able to describe the team and its purpose in a way that theantibody can relate to. This leader also has found high-levelallies who are sympathetic to the team’s cause and uses the al-lies’ names as one would use a “Get out of jail free” card inMonopoly. A leader who paves the way might know short cutsin getting through the red tape. (Authors’ note: we cannotwait for the day when this is not needed, but it would be re-miss of us not to acknowledge our current political reality.)

BUT . . . you do not have to be a political animal to pavethe way for a team. Sometimes the best thing you can do isbelieve in the team and genuinely embrace what it is doing.Then speak from your heart about the purpose of the team—people will get it. The leader’s belief in the team goes a longway towards helping others believe in the team too.


Participate as a Co-creator

There is nothing more affirming than to have a leaderparticipate with the team as an equal. When a manager con-tributes her talents and time as part of the team it is a won-derful thing. And as we have seen, the leader gets to shift frombeing responsible for everything to balanced ownership andbalanced contribution.

It is also here where a leader can participate in the teamgoals—not in an authoritative way, but in a collaborative wayto move the team forward. Collaborating as a member of theteam can help you as the leader to feel genuinely connected tothe team. This will make it easier to pave the way, and keepantibodies at bay.

BREAKING THROUGH TO . . .An Entrepreneurial Mindset

• As a team, do you have an identity?

• How can you solidify into a unit?

• Who are your customers? What do they wish they had?

• Do you feel like owners of your business? Do you have

owner mentality?

• Do you feel like the owner of a business your team is cre-

ating? Why or why not?

• How can your team cultivate more of an owner mentality?

• Are you doing something you feel is needed? Are you

doing the best work you can?

• As a team, are you providing a needed “kick ass” service/

product?

• Where do you get stuck by convention?


• What risks are you willing to take to make a difference?

• Is the team getting stuck by convention? How can you

break out of the box?

• What bureaucracy is the team trapped by? How can you

work around it, over it, through it?

“Problems cannot be solved by thinking within the

framework in which the problems were created.”—Albert Einstein

Cultivating Shared Responsibility

Let’s begin with a case study to illustrate the cultivationof shared responsibility.

Shake’em Up, Inc.“A Futile Exercise in Mandating Change”

Shake’em Up (a pseudonym) had been doing thingsthe same way for several years. They saw their market shareeroding and customers not coming back. They knew some-thing needed to be done. So they hired a change managementconsulting group to come in and help shake things up.

The change management group was told (by corporate)about the current processes and procedures each division wasusing to support and maintain customers. The consultants werethen instructed to come up with new processes to retain cur-rent customers. After the consultant spent a great deal of timeworking on the new procedures and had the approval of corpo-rate, they began to roll out the new processes to the divisions.


But the division personnel did not want to hear of thesenew processes. They were not consulted and felt their pro-cesses were just fine. Even though they were being told bycorporate and the consultants that things had to change, theybalked. The division managers, in essence, told the consultantsthey would not be using the new processes because the pro-cesses did not apply to their division.

Corporate and the consultants regrouped. They decidedto put together a task force comprised of a representative teamof people from across the company who understood each di-vision’s processes. This task force would cull out the best ofwhat each division did well and create a metaprocess that alldivisions agreed they would implement. ✴

Let’s analyze this story and see what we can learn.First let’s be quite blunt here—if we really want collabo-

ration, we need to get over the mindset of getting people to dowhat we want them to do. At Shake’em Up, corporate expectedpeople to do what they wanted them to do. This type of mind-set undermines shared responsibility. It makes one responsibleand the rest servants to one person’s (or entity’s) objectives.People are not machines; they have brains and want to be re-spected as intelligent, capable contributors.

Next, the divisions were angry that the processes werepushed on them. People in the divisions were not consultedor valued about what they knew and what they did well. Thusthey did not feel they were part of the change process or thatthey had a voice in the changes.

This brings us to the next aspect of creating shared re-sponsibility—team members need to know they have a say in whatis going to happen and how it happens. People don’t have to al-ways get their way, but they need to be heard and respected.

As managers, we need to be open to people sharing theirconcerns and issues. We also need to be ready to let the objec-


tives be modified so that the team members feel they have par-ticipated. If we do not create an atmosphere for this to happen,we ultimately end up paying a very high price: being respon-sible for something that is not fully our responsibility—theteam’s output. The team’s output is the team’s responsibility,so make it clear that is what is expected. Allow the team tostruggle with all the issues and aspects of the objective untilthey feel connected to it and own it.

A third aspect of cultivating shared responsibility is choice.People need to feel they have a choice in doing the things they areasked to do. They need to feel respected, and they need to knowthey can say no and not be penalized. When we assume peo-ple will do something and do it our way, we disrespect them.Ignoring someone’s basic right to choose is disrespectful. Eventhough not outwardly obvious, over time disrespect under-mines the overall organizational environment, creating powerstruggles and rifts instead of collaboration and cohesiveness.

Fourth, shared responsibility is much easier when Princi-ple One is adhered to—come together for a meaningful rea-son. When the team has a meaningful reason for being, peoplewill be intrinsically motivated (internally driven) to be respon-sible for their actions. They care about what the team is outto accomplish and care that the task at hand is done right.Shake’em Up would have been better served by spending sometime with the divisions understanding the cause of the marketshare erosion and ascertaining the meaningful reason (the realneed) for the changes.

And lastly, corporate had a need for speed. They wantedto roll out the change processes quickly. The result was frus-tration, disrespect, unused output, and one year of lost time,efforts, and money—and no collaboration. Ultimately, every-one had to go back to the beginning and lay the foundation,communicate about what was needed by corporate, and whatwas and was not working in the field.


The lesson here is clear, take the time to cultivate sharedresponsibility and shared ownership. At Shake’em Up, the needfor speed usurped the need to build shared responsibility andshared ownership—ultimately costing millions of dollars intime and money.

This underscores one of the basic precepts of this book—working at breakneck speed before we have done the break-through work is expensive and demoralizing. In short, it is thewrong way to proceed.

Shared responsibility is cultivated. It grows from the in-tention to have collaboration and to have the best of the bestfrom people. Often, it seems cultivating shared responsibilitytakes too much time or isn’t fast enough—better to just tellpeople what to do and save all that time of talking and inte-grating different opinions. But sometimes we just have to startslow to get faster later. In the beginning, when we are layingthe ground work for change or collaboration, we have to put intime to make it grow. What we put our attention to thrives,and what we take our attention from withers.

Put in the time up front; we can make fast progress laterbecause the foundation is there and it is solid.

BREAKING THROUGH TO . . .Shared Responsibility

• Does the team feel it has a choice in what it is being asked

to do?

• Do you feel you have a choice in doing the things you are

asked to do?

• Do you feel you have a say in what is going to happen?

• Does the team feel it has a say in what is going to happen?


“We have a Bill of Rights. What we need is a Bill of

Responsibilities.”—Bill Maher

Personal Responsibility—Owning Our Role inthe Team

Personal responsibility is about us: our actions and ourchoices. It is the internal motivation that guides how we willconduct ourselves. As team members, we are responsible forour output.

Jenna: Owning Her Role?

Jenna is a salesperson in a small business. She has beenwith the company since its early years and therefore has sen-iority. She is a nice woman, affable and interesting. Now incharge of some of the larger company accounts, Jenna is de-manding more. She wants more money and more respect—because she feels she is shouldering the bulk of the accounts.

The way the company system is set up, ten other peoplesupport Jenna. The support staff fields incoming inquiries,sends out brochures and supplemental information, and per-forms a large host of other support activities that enable Jennaand the other salespeople to do their job.

But Jenna does not see that, she assumes only she is crit-ical to the whole and has the attitude to show it. She expectsthat she is to have veto power over policies and procedures be-cause of her status—she wants to be the top dog.

The truth is, upon review Jenna’s sales performance is notstellar. She has not brought in the majority of new accounts,


nor has she been instrumental in increasing the company mar-ket share. In essence, Jenna’s reality does not match her men-tal mythology.

Jenna’s manager is frustrated. “Jenna’s superior attitudeis unfounded. She does not acknowledge the fact that thereare ten other people supporting her in her job. Nor is she will-ing to acknowledge the reality of her performance. I haveshowed her the facts, and we have set performance standardsthat she has not met, but still she persists. The bottom line isshe will not be here next month.” ✴

Jenna is teaching us many things here. Let’s look at herbehavior and actions and not how her boss is handling the sit-uation. Many of us want to say it is her boss’s responsibility toget her in line, but we beg to differ. It is only her boss’s re-sponsibility to inform her of how he sees her performancebased on the business and team objectives. Jenna is responsi-ble for making the changes within herself. Jenna is responsi-ble for herself and her actions.

What are some things we can learn from Jenna and re-sponsibility as a team member?

Jenna is not acknowledging the team effort that isgoing into making her job possible. If it were notfor the ten support people, Jenna would not be ableto focus on her job. She would be running aroundlike crazy. She has a traditional belief that supportor administrative jobs are not as important as thebread-winner job. This attitude is deadly, becausenot valuing the efforts of other team members is asure-fire way to lose their support. It is deadly tothe business, because if the support team decided to


“go on virtual strike” to sabotage Jenna, the cus-tomers and business would suffer also.

Point: Administrative jobs are as important tothe whole as sales, executive, and management jobs.Work to see them as equally important and con-tributing to the fabric of the business.

BREAKING THROUGH TO . . .System Thinking

• Who are all the people you are dependent on to get your

job done? Are they and their jobs less important than

yours? Why?

• What happens when they are not around?

• Do you see administrative jobs as important to the whole

as sales, executive, and management jobs?

Jenna is not taking responsibility for her perform-ance. She is not looking objectively at the situation,and she is not willing to do the hard work of look-ing at herself critically. She is unwilling to makechanges in herself even though she has been toldher performance is not meeting the expected stan-dard. Yet she persists, secure in the perceived fact thatshe is indispensable.

Point—We need to have the courage to lookobjectively at our attitudes and our performance.Do not blame others or the system; own your rolein what is taking place.


BREAKING THROUGH TO . . .Objectivity

• Are you looking objectively at yourself? Your attitudes?

Your performance?

• Where could you use some adjustment? Some help?

• What is your role in creating your situation at work? Are

there any places you are not taking responsibility?

Jenna is not taking responsibility for her owngrowth. Because of her performance mythology sheis not willing to use the processes and procedures inplace. Nor is she willing to take training to improveherself and her situation.

Point—Always be on the lookout to become abetter person and contributor. Get as much trainingand education as you can.

BREAKING THROUGH TO . . .Growth

• Are you taking responsibility for your personal growth?

• What are areas that you would like to grow in?

• What education or training would enable you to be a

better contributor in your current job?


Jenna is not listening to what her manager is tryingto show her. She is protecting her erroneous beliefsand is not open to the learning that is being offeredto her.

Point—Listen when others are trying to tellyou something. Sometimes we do not want to hearthe feedback we are getting because it does not meshwith our internal beliefs—or we do not respect thesource. But if someone is taking the time to give usfeedback, take it in and listen. It is worth hearingand doing something with.

BREAKING THROUGH TO . . .More Growth

• Do you listen when others are trying to tell you something?

• Do you really value feedback?

TOOL YOU CAN USE . . .Mind-Meld

Has your team ever been stuck giving the same old

answers to pressing, recurring problems?

TRY THIS . . . ask everyone to think of a character: their

mother, Bill Gates, Madonna, Forrest Gump. Then ask team

members to “mind-meld” with that character, taking on the

persona of that character and becoming that person. Now

pose the problem again, but this time people give ideas


based on what they think their character would say.

Madonna might give you a no-nonsense answer that you

would have never dreamed of.

“Responsibility is what awaits outside the Eden of

creativity.”—Nadine Gordimer

Unlocking Team Genius with Principle Five:Cultivate Shared Responsibility and SharedOwnership

• Treat your team like a business. Act like entrepreneurs.• Don’t get stymied by tradition. Break away from the

way things have always been and question precedent;create a new way of operating.

• Be self-determining and take control of your actions.

AXIOM . . .

Act Like a Business to Stay in Business


PRINCIPLE SIX

Explore Risk Taking

“If you stay put, you won’t stay around. You have to

keep innovating, keep generating fresh ideas. Without risks,

you cannot grow.”—Josie Natori, The Natori Company

One of the most frequent struggles teams experience isovercoming the barriers and obstacles that get in the way ofmeeting objectives and achieving the vision. Striking down orworking through these barriers requires risk. Our colleagueCharles W. Prather calls risk taking “the great wall of innova-tion,” because the failure to put something into action, to dosomething new, can often be attributed to the fear of takingrisks. Risks are what stop most good ideas (and idea genera-tors) in their tracks.

Risks separate passion from action.When we think back to a time in our lives when we didn’t

follow our intuition, when we held back from saying or doingsomething we knew would work or be right for us, it can prob-ably be traced to our fear of risk.

129

In this chapter, we will explore what keeps teams fromtaking risks that can lead to breakthrough results. The first stepis to define the fear, and then to tackle what matters most—both of which are important aspects of creating a climate of ex-perimentation, where risk taking becomes the modus operandirather than an unusual occurrence.

Define the Fear

Often teams are reluctant to face down the fears of tak-ing risks because the risks seem amorphous and difficult toname. But naming the aspects of the risk that are causing con-cern is the first step in breaking it down into manageablepieces, thus helping to mitigate the risk. Chances are, it justappears larger than life.

“Omne ignotum pro magnifico est”—we have great no-tions of everything unknown to us (from Tacitus, Agricola).

Remember learning to ride a bike? Do you recall yourthoughts? Or maybe you’ve recently taught your child to ridea bike and vividly recall what they said! “Only two wheels. Ineed balance. The bike is so big. I will fall.” Being able to ridethe two-wheeler seemed impossible. We were frightened to doit, but usually with the helping hands of mom or dad we got upthere and rode. The more we rode the better and better we got.

Before we learned how to do it, we were frightened—buthow many of us are frightened of getting on a bike now? Thatwhich we have not experienced or done before seems to be in-surmountably difficult, maybe impossible. Much of risk takinghas this component working on us. So what about the risk seemsimpossible to overcome? What do we feel we just can’t do?

Another fear nested in risk taking is that of dire conse-quences—we fear the worst will happen. We might fail to meet


the targeted goal, and we will lose money. Or we will make amistake, or worse, a dumb mistake that is caught and ridiculedby others. But if we can get those fears out on the table, we canwork to overcome them.

Get down the worst-case scenarios and list all the direconsequences of taking the risk. Sometimes just the act of writ-ing the fears down on paper and seeing them dissolves them.

TOOL YOU CAN USE . . .Worst Case Scenario

Fear is just another excuse to be jolted out of sleep

with another “worst possible result imaginable” on your

new product rollout. Before you consider prescription sleep-

ing pills . . .

TRY THIS . . .

Take a sheet of paper and put the following phrase in

the middle of it: “Wouldn’t it be awful if . . .”

Then write anything you can think of that could hap-

pen if you took the action you are contemplating. Next,

classify them.

• Which seem very likely to happen?

• Which seem more remote?

• Which ones are pure fantasy?

Sorting out the risks helps you put each in perspec-

tive, and then you can work on reducing the risk for only

the ones that are likely to happen. Chances are, your list will

be much shorter than you think!

Principle Six: Explore Risk Taking 131

TOOL YOU CAN USE . . .“But Why”?

“Why” is not just a three-letter word your toddler asks

incessantly; it is also an inquiry that can shed some light on

your risky situation. Asking why can give you some insight

on what is really holding you back and help you to see

whether the attributes of the risk are really what you think

they are.

TRY THIS . . .

Construct a “Why?” chart. This tool is known as root cause

analysis. Here’s an example:

Problem: We’re having trouble moving forward on this

project.

Why? Because two team members haven’t done what

they were supposed to do by today.

Why didn’t they do it? They didn’t finish their discussion

with the vendors.

Why didn’t they finish their discussion? They said they

didn’t know the right questions to ask.

Why didn’t they ask the right questions? We didn’t finish

discussing what information we need from the vendors.

Action: Schedule time to formulate questions.

You can see that asking a nested “why” of yourself or

the team at least three times can help you dig deeper into

the real problem. The risk of not completing the project in

time can be greatly reduced, now that you know you have

to turn your attention to figuring out the information you

need from vendors. You can see that other solutions, such

as pressuring people to speed up or calling the vendors


yourself would have only compounded the problem and

added to your risk!

The definition of risk is the possibility of loss or danger.Something is at stake, making the concept of taking a risk feelvery serious. The losses can range from worrying about losingour job or not closing the deal to not knowing what will hap-pen for certain or losing our image with the team. Again, nam-ing what we could potentially lose helps us see what is reallyat stake. What are we willing to live with and what is an un-acceptable loss?

There is a concept in negotiations called BATNA (thebest alternative we have to a negotiated agreement).1 In pre-paring for any negotiation, we need to have assessed the worstacceptable outcome and our bottom lines. But more impor-tantly we need to understand what will we do in the event ofnot coming to an agreement. The concept of a BATNA helpsus know our fallback plan. So too in risk taking: What will wedo if we do not take the risk? What will we have to continueto live with? What losses are we able to deal with?

“Obstacles are those frightful things you see when

you take your eyes off your goal.”—Henry Ford

Is There Really Resistance?

Fears also come in the form of resistance. Sometimes weare up for the risk, but we have some resistance to certain as-pects of it. Try identifying where the resistance is coming from.


BREAKING THROUGH TO . . .Identifying Resistance

Sometimes resistance is coming from not understanding

the situation fully.

• Is there more information or data that can be gathered to

help shed light on the situation?

• Are there other experts or people who have been in a

similar situation that could help or give some advice?

Sometimes resistance comes from knowing you will have a

negative effect on other stakeholders (other teams, other

managers, customers, your neighborhood or community).

• Talk with the other stakeholders and give them a heads-

up as to what you are thinking. This will help them pre-

pare and give you valuable feedback about the risk you

are about to undertake.

Sometimes we have constructed imagined risks that are not

really issues.

• Separate real risk issues from imagined risk issues by

communicating honestly and listening with respect, then

going through and naming the fears and obstacles.

Other times we do not feel connected to the team’s pur-

pose or goals and therefore do not feel strongly about risk-

ing anything for the team or what it is doing.


In all cases, there is truth in resistance. The members ofour team have good reason for their resistance. Therefore, it isimportant to stop and take the time to listen to the concerns ofeach team member. They might know something we don’t. Sopay attention to their resistance and listen one another’s rea-sons. Then we can work together to overcome them. The bot-tom line is communication, and our collective intelligence willbe a great resource in taking an effective, well-executed risk.

Here is the story of Olympic gold medalist and swimcoach Lea Maurer, and how she turned around a swim teamby getting the members to embrace risk and giving them thepermission to fail. Here is what happened.

Lea Maurer“Teaching Risk”

As an athlete, Lea Maurer has a global perspective. Leawas always exposed to the highest level. Even if she wasn’t atthe highest level yet, she was never afraid to dream that big.She never wanted to feel like a big fish in a small pond. Thepeople to whom she was exposed and who helped to train heralways moved the bar higher for her to keep striving for more.Lea was never satisfied with merely achieving her goals, butwas able to continually redefine them to strive to reach herown personal best and take it as far as it would go. And go shedid, all the way to the Olympic games: Lea won a bronze medalin the 100 meter backstroke and a gold in the medley relay.

Lea describes what it felt like to be a part of the U.S.Olympic Team in Barcelona:

“The entire experience was as close to utopia as I’ve everfelt. Instead of looking at big moments in my life during thismonumental step, I was able to look at the little things in


everyday life as if they were snapshots flashing before my eyes.In Barcelona, my life flashed before me one snapshot at a time.It was a time that I will treasure forever.”

So how does she see her role as coach and leader to herswimming students at Lake Forest High School in Illinois?

Lea responds, “To be an optimistic dreamer and to teachthem that they can achieve their goals. Each one of us hasgifts—with a lot of hard work and dedication, we can reachour potential and see goals turn into accomplishments. We canbe good, all-around people—whether that’s in the pool, aca-demics or just life.”

“I tell them to go forth with alacrity, speed, and enthu-siasm, and be brave. Have the courage to put yourself on theline and don’t be afraid of failure! Know that you’ll be in asupportive environment that fosters growth and allows you tofail, pick yourself up, and learn from it!”

What advice would Lea give to aspiring mentors andleaders? “Show your human side. Let kids realize that even thepeople that they emulate and place on pedestals are human.They have fears and doubts and even problems. When askingsomeone to do things, practice what you preach. If you expectpeople to treat you with respect and integrity, then you mustalso treat them with respect and integrity.”

Lea hopes to make a difference in the lives of kids sheteaches and coaches by instilling good values, confidence intheir ability to do things in life, and encouraging them to cele-brate their efforts and allow themselves to feel empowered byit even if they’ve merely come close. She wants to teach themto be ambitious with their goals. Evaluate yourself and look atyour own personal strengths and weaknesses.

When she first started coaching, she had all of her swim-mers sit around in a circle and rate how they thought they didthat practice. She was amazed that 95 percent of them rated


themselves as a 10. This was a striking indication of their innersatisfaction with their performance and their inability to dreambigger and expect more out of themselves. The swimmer’sgoal times were only tenths of a second faster as opposed toseconds faster. She wanted them to reach deeper and to dareto go further. So many of her students were afraid of failure.She had to change that mindset and get them to believe inthemselves. She wanted them to thrive on the competition forcompetition’s sake. She had to institute a philosophical changein their inner belief of what they were capable of and just howfar they could go. And she was successful. A little at a time,the women’s team came around.

Lea touches directly on the notion of taking risks andwhat can be gained when she states, “Recognize that failure isa part of success.” Some of the biggest failures have led to evenbigger success stories. She recounts an inspirational story:

“Last winter, the Lake Forest High School’s men’s swim-ming team was in rough shape. They actually looked like theBad News Bears. The team was very young and inexperienced—they had just graduated over eight seniors the year before.There were even snickers on the pool deck: ‘How did you getthese thugs to swim?’ That was the beginning of the season.

“I began by doing drills and teaching them the funda-mentals, quickly. The most important thing that I instilled inthat men’s team was that they needed to continually strive toimprove and have fun—the rest would just fall into place.

“After each race, the inexperienced swimmers would ask,‘Coach, what can I do better?’ Each meet was another step inthe right direction. After a lot of hard work, they were able toqualify several swimmers for the Illinois High School State Meet.

“The beginning of the state meet didn’t go so well. Inthe first couple of events, the swimmers turned in disappoint-ing performances. It was beginning to bring down the rest of


the team. I took the team and called a time out. I paused themomentum of the meet and took them all aside. I remindedthem that it was just a 25-yard pool—the same thing that theyalways swam in. I reminded them to focus on having fun andgetting the job done. I didn’t even mention to the team thatthey were in the hunt for a trophy.

“The team was able to turn things around. The swimmersdidn’t focus on the trophy, but rather on what I had taughtthem. The team was able to get third in the 100 fly, seventhin the 200, third in the 500, second in the 100 backstroke andsixth in the 400 free relay, clinching third place and a trophy.

“This was a defining moment not only for the youngswimmers but also for me. This young team began as a groupof individuals (and really nonswimmers—some of the keyteam members were football players in the off-season and justhappened to try swimming) and finished the season as a teamof swimmers.” ✴

Lea Maurer’s story is uplifting. One of the direct conse-quences of her coaching gifts is that she is preparing these kidsto embrace the risks they face, in the pool or elsewhere in theirlives, and find the courage to do what it takes to reach theirgoals. Even if they don’t get there the first time, the habit willbe set.

BREAKING THROUGH TO . . .Dealing with Fears

• What about taking this risk seems overwhelming and im-

possible (larger than life)?


• What is/are the worst thing(s) that could happen if you

and the team took this risk?

• What is at stake? What could the team lose? What are

you willing to live with? What is unacceptable?

• What effect will the risk taking have on other teams, de-

partments, or on the customer?

• What is your alternative to taking the risks? What is your

risk BATNA?

Being risk-embracing does not mean throwing cautionto the wind or just taking risk for risk’s sake. Nor does it meanfollowing our own call to the detriment of the company orother people and teams. It means deciding, together, what wewill do as it relates to the system as a whole. Embracing riskmeans we are able to look at our fears and the areas that arecausing our resistance and work to overcome them eitherthrough action or a mental shift.

Once we have a list of fears and concerns, we can work toovercome them. By tackling what matters most with respectto the risk and to the concerns voiced, we begin to make therisk more manageable and real.

“Opportunity always knocks at the least opportune

moment.”—Ducharme’s Precept

Create a Climate of Exploration

A climate of exploration unlocks the genius of creativecollaboration because people are playing with possibilities ver-


sus fearing the consequences of mistakes. In fact, most com-mercial successes occur at the third stage of development (itvery much does take three strikes ’til you’re out). But mostteams in organizations aren’t allowed (or don’t permit them-selves) more than one good college try. Becoming risk-embracing means learning from the mistake and making itbetter. It means trying again and again. It’s no surprise thatmany breakthrough ideas, and thus highly profitable productsand services, came out of teams with a climate of exploration.An organization with a climate of exploration operates differ-ently than a company whose associates must be right.

“The problem is not how to get new innovative

thoughts into your mind, but how to get the old ones out.”

—Dee Hock, Founder of Visa

Feel the Difference between “What If, Inc.”and “Get It Right, Co.”

What follows are two stories of fictional companies. Theymean to contrast the differences between a company environ-ment that encourages exploration and risk taking and one thatis more concerned with getting it right.

What If, Inc.

At What If, Inc. people can play with possibilities. Theyare experimenting with what can be, and they do not get boggeddown by expectations and having to get things exactly right atthe start. They are in a learning mode everyday, applying whatthey know to see what they can create. Mistakes are consid-


ered options that did not work the expected way. But every-one is well aware of the 3M glue that did not work as expectedand became the famous Post-It® note glue. The world is theiroyster, and they are not sure what will come out of their ex-periments but that is okay, because every experiment leads tomore learning and more inquiry. What If, Inc. employees be-lieve in exploration and know that experimentation givesthem permission and space to try new things and have a “let’ssee” mentality. They know in what direction they are headedand have freedom to sail the best course to get there.

Get It Right, Co.

Down the road at Get It Right, Co. there are experts work-ing to get it right. They know everything about their jobs, andthey are considered gurus. They have the answers, and theyhave a reputation to protect. At Get It Right people know thereare two approaches to everything: right and wrong. If they getit wrong there are dire consequences. They feel the “Tyrannyof the OR”2—having to choose between two things you are notsure of and making one right. Everything is black or white—no room for gray or play here. Mistakes are bad, hopefullyburied not to be found. Thus, mistakes are never discussed orused as the valuable learning that they are. At Get It Right, Co.people are stressed out. In fact, during the Y2K conversion, adepartment head was heard saying to the project team leader“If you mess this conversion up, it’s your job.” The threat affected the entire department’s activities, and many decidedto leave Get It Right, Co. Having to get it right the first timehas them afraid to take any risks, thus censoring all kinds ofpossibilities. They are given directions and are expected to ex-ecute flawlessly.


This might seem a bit strong, but the point should bemade that risk taking requires an organizational environmentwilling to explore and learn.

“Let go of your attachment to being right, and

suddenly your mind is more open. You’re able to benefit

from the unique viewpoints of others without being crippled

by your own judgment.”—Ralph Marston

BREAKING THROUGH TO . . .A Climate for Risk Taking

• Is your team “What If, Inc.” or “Get It Right, Co.”? What

makes it so?

• How can you create a climate of experimentation?

• What characteristics and behaviors are necessary for a cli-

mate of experimentation?

• How can your team learn from what you do well?

• What can you do to mine the learning from mistakes?

How could you redefine the term mistake?

“Chance is always powerful. Let your hook be always

cast. In the pool where you least expect it, there will be a

fish.”—Ovid


Unlocking Team Genius with Principle Six:Explore Risk Taking

• Look at risk taking as exploration versus expectation.• Give yourself permission to fail.• Break down the risk into manageable pieces.• Tackle what matters most one step at a time.

AXIOM . . .

Without Risks, You Cannot Grow


PRINCIPLE SEVEN

Govern from Within

“In union there is strength.”—Aesop

Take charge of your destiny.Collaborative teams take the responsibility of governing

themselves. The team works to create standards and ways ofoperating that enable them to act like a small business withinthe larger business. Not only do they take responsibility fortheir actions and outcomes, but they monitor and regulatethemselves and their performance—they govern themselves asa team.

Taking the initiative to govern from within helps theteam become self-determining and self-directed. It is not atthe whim and caprice of outside forces. Investing in a solidfoundation of comprehensive governing skills such as col-laborative decision making, problem solving, brainstorming,meeting management, and other team-management tools, theteam becomes a well-run entity.

145

This chapter begins by going inside an organization,Imagination, Ltd., where teams govern from within by creatinga methodology for teamwork. It then discusses a collaborativedecision-making process that engages every team member andtaps into the collective wisdom. We will see that in order forteams to effectively govern themselves, they need to learn theskills and processes that facilitate team collaboration. Next, aholistic learning curriculum is outlined which, if adopted, willenable any team to evolve collaboratively. Finally, each teammember is asked to commit to self-governance. When mem-bers of a team commit to manage themselves, they make acommitment to doing significant introspective work. This waythey move toward self-understanding and personal growth.

Governing from within begins with a full commitmentfrom everyone to want to be collaborative—to be team players.It also demands a healthy curiosity to really understand otherpeople’s ways of operating. Here is the story of how team-work works at Imagination, Ltd., an organization that placesas much importance on the ways in which its teams collabo-rate as it does on achieving innovative business solutions.

Doing “Inspiring Work That Works”Teamwork at Imagination, Ltd.

Imagination is a 22-year old design and communicationsfirm headquartered in London. Its name speaks of its com-mitment to creative, multidisciplinary collaboration among adiverse group of professionals who come together to designand deliver innovative projects. Some of these projects includethe lighting for Disney’s two cruise ships, Magic and Wonder,two sizable exhibits for Britain’s Millennium Dome, and a


“world class, world first” brand centre for Guinness in Dublin,Ireland. Imagination’s projects include all varieties of designwork, from graphic design to new product introductions. RalphArdill is Imagination’s Director of Marketing and StrategicPlanning. He shared with us his philosophy of teamwork, andthe key factors to which Imagination attributes its success. Thecore of the teamwork process at Imagination involves meetingand iterating as one through all the steps in the process, ratherthan having each member of the team doing one step of theprocess independently. This is a significant difference from theway most teams get things done, and it keeps things from slip-ping through cracks.

Prior to coming to Imagination, Ralph worked in a man-agement consulting firm and the fashion and music industriesin work environments he describes as ranging from anarchicto very formalized. From these experiences, he derived onetruism: “Teamwork to an individual is like change. You haveto want to do it; you have to want to be in a team. This is seenin team sports versus solo sports. When you drill down intoproblems within teams, you come across people who are notteam players, who shouldn’t be in teams. They are real mav-ericks. And then lots of time gets spent encouraging them tobe more of a team player.”

Ralph believes that it is “a healthy curiosity and a willing-ness to understand and communicate with other people thatmakes teams work.” He explains: “Graphic designers can beat one extreme, never wanting to work for a company andwanting to spend their whole time designing typeface. Thegraphic designer who fits in here at Imagination is one who,rather than retreating into the subject, is very interested in tak-ing the subject into other areas. When we interview graphicdesigners, if one is talking about how he stays home design-

Principle Seven: Govern from Within 147

ing digital typefaces, and another is fascinated about the po-tential of graphics online or projected onto buildings, guesswhom we hire? We hire the naturally curious collaborator.”

“Some people may have never been stimulated in theirprevious work, and don’t know it’s what they want. But theydo have a healthy curiosity. This is just like traveling. Somepeople can be dropped anywhere with a passport and a back-pack and are able to find their way to a hostel and a bar. Theywill survive and thrive. There are others you could drop in thenext state, and they’ll panic. Some things you just can’t teach.Some people are exploratory. Underpinning all of Imagina-tion’s teams is that we’re all pretty curious about what eachother does. Curiosity enables each member to develop a min-imum level of understanding of each other’s roles that youneed to get a job done properly.”

How then, does having a healthy curiosity translate intoa better project for a team? Ralph poses the following exam-ple: “If you’re an architect and you have a healthy curiosityabout film, then you start to learn about the film process andwhat it takes to make a film. Similarly, the filmmaker will un-derstand that it takes five years to make a building. This un-derstanding can help any project as the steps from concept todelivery are navigated.

“I look for collaborators whose natural instinct is to becurious. I can then use that curiosity in a project. It’s the entryticket. I don’t need an architect to know how to make a film,but if an architect understands the basic process, they developa respect (for the other aspects of the project), and out of thatrespect comes trust, and then the team-building.”

Ralph advises teams to develop a risk-relishing culture.Put a team of people together who have a healthy curiosity ofone another and turn it into communication and understand-ing of one another.


The culture of Imagination has been described as an artcollage, a medieval round table, an idea factory, and an ArabBazaar. Ralph notes that when new people come in, they aresurprised by the lack of formal systems. Of course there arebasic systems (financial, for example) that are in place, but thereis not one way of doing projects. “We are a risk-relishing com-pany that encourages freedom of speech. You’ve got to be ableto ask for help, and to know your limitations.”

How does Ralph Ardill view his own role at Imagination?“I could get a phone call now, and I could pull 20 people to-gether in the morning and we’d be off on a project. I see myselfas project conductor, coaching a team along. The leadershipemerges in different ways. We don’t assign a leader to a project.The writer or technical director may take the lead. It’s not a situ-ation where if you have the job title then you run the projects.”

Imagination has little hierarchy. There are no job titleson business cards. “We live for ideas. People come here to de-velop their personal portfolios of projects. We are a project-focused company. We turn everything into projects. We haveour own special way, an Imagination way of doing things.”

Ralph’s belief that teamwork is the work of Imaginationis reflected deeply in his statement, “The hardest thing to de-sign is not the solution, but the team structure and its meth-odology.” He refers to the company’s story and spread in FastCompany’s April 2000 issue and how the article affected peo-ple. He says that people read it and think, “Wow, I want to dothat.” The pictures in the story seduce people. But it’s onlyhalf the story. “I want to tell them that the reason that solu-tion or result happened is because we spent as much time atthe front end, thinking of the design of the team and theprocess, as we did designing the solutions.”

Ralph notes there are hundreds of businesses that all havethe same ideas out there. He recalls, “When I was in college,


the mantra that we learned was, ‘The medium is the message.’Now, it’s the methodology that is the message. The way yougo about doing something often says more about you thanwhat it is you do. It’s the difference between delivering a vi-sion and failing. It’s as creative to design the methodologyand process for the project team as it is to design buildingsand sculpture.”

The focus on the process starts with the way briefs (theclient need or project mission statement) are constructed.Ralph notes that a brief “can come from the boss or a client.There are three ways to look at it: as a set of instructions, as abarrier, or as a symptom. Many of us are used to getting in-structions. But, when you go off and simply do what you’retold, you get resentment (thus the brief turns into a barrier).Creative people want white paper (information). So whetherit’s a one-liner or one page, I tell people to have a read, thenask, ‘Why the brief? Why is it written?’ It’s like a runny nose,a symptom of a cause. When you get to the cause you get toa completely different project. A lot of breakthrough workcomes through a brief that might be given by a client, thatwe’ve deconstructed to get to the real problem.”

This approach helps to avoid the traditional, linear pro-cess that bogs down most teams. For example, in some orga-nizations, teams or individuals become adept at throwing theproject over the wall. “The account people meet the client andbring back the brief. They give it to the strategic guys whoturn it into agency briefs. Then it’s given to the creative direc-tor who gives it to the team, and then it gets handed back tothe account people who bring it back to the client, who thensays, ‘We don’t like red. Can we have green?’ and back it goesthrough the line. It’s a very de-motivating way to work.”

Ralph cautions that a pitfall for many teams lies in themovement from one project phase to another: “It all falls


down where the interface is. These are the weak links. Whenyou move from concept to detailed design, from design to pro-duction, or from production to delivery. Whatever the process,there are stages, and the joints between the stages are wherethings fall apart, due to lack of understanding and lack ofcommunication.

“Our response at Imagination is to assemble the mini-mum number of people to take responsibility for the concep-tion and delivery of the solution to the problem. We’re like afamily. We bring everybody together: the designers, the pro-duction, financial, and client servers, and until everybodyaround the table is happy, we don’t move onto the next stepof the project.”

Another pitfall Ralph mentions that many teams in otherorganizations face when they proceed in a linear fashion is thateveryone (separated by area) does their work in isolation, andthen six months later the technical production person comesaround at the back end and says it can’t be done. This is whythe methodology is so critical to collaboration. Getting every-one on board early is a major factor in the ability to innovate.Ralph feels that when people get things late, they are not primedto be entrepreneurial.

Ralph characterizes Imagination as doing “inspiring workthat works.” He reflects: “We do inspirational work, but notif it doesn’t deliver. Companies can do inspirational work thatdoesn’t work, or they can do work that works but that’s notinspirational. Either way you don’t have a business. You eitherbecome an artist, or you become a commodity.”

His advice for how to create teams that do inspiringwork that works? “Instill in people a strong desire to do workthat works, and take responsibility and ownership not just foryour bit, but be part of the whole process and feel ownershipin the success of what we’re doing.” Imagination is known for


hiring and training project site staff or even putting their ownstaff at a customer location to make the project work, as theydid for the Journey Zone inside Britain’s Millennium Dome.

Ralph agrees that it seems simple in principle. “It’s notdifficult to get different people together with different skillsets and say this is what we want to do by this time next year,and how are we going to do it? Most people love to work likethat. When people complain at home to their husbands orwives it’s because there’s no way for them to grow, and aftera while that desire gets kicked out of them. Their improvisa-tional and social skills are fine in the evening, and then thenext day in the office they are so different. They’ve becometwo-dimensional.

“There’s a bizarre desire of companies to control, tomicromanage and have everything in its place and in a box.Shake your business and allow it to become a bit random. Allyou’re doing is acknowledging what’s happening in the realworld, and it’s a good thing to give out to your employees.”

Ralph concedes that sometimes “when you think of allthe people working with you, all the projects, all the big namesand budgets, you just freeze. But when you can think of your-self as the conductor, someone with whom orchestra membersare capable of playing without, you see yourself in a differentrole. The conductor sets the tempo and rhythm and providesmotivation to keep it moving along, providing focus.

“I’m often asked, ‘How do you arbitrate? How do yousettle disagreements? Who calls the shots?’ I’ve found thatrarely do three or four people disagree. Common sense pre-vails when they understand each other’s jobs. When everybodydisagrees about the right way to move forward, that says tome there’s a lot of ignorance in the room. At Imagination, itfeels like a family. We have arguments, but we want to collab-orate and make the effort to build the relationships. To deliver


their ambitions, our people have to rely on integrating a ho-listic team. What they want to do requires teamwork. We tellour clients that consumers today have a quest for timeless val-ues. Many people fear buying anything because when they getit home it’s redundant. There’s a new product on the shelf.We look for things that are timeless. There’s an emphasis onvalues, on community and family, and people look for that intheir place of work.” ✴

Imagination realizes the importance of making collabo-ration a priority. They spend a significant amount of time hiringcurious collaborators, and focusing on assembling end-to-endteams that learn and communicate together from the start.The processes and procedures the team uses are given as muchfocus and up-front planning as the output and ultimate solu-tion. Imagination is an excellent example of a company wholays the groundwork for collaboration before jumping in tosolve the problem.

One significant aspect of laying the groundwork for col-laboration is learning and using team-collaborating processes.These processes support the team in governing itself fromwithin.

Collaborative Decision Making

Decision-making processes are critical to governing fromwithin. The traditional decision-making process (where the bossdecides in a vacuum) is not how collaborative teams make de-cisions. Processes need to be reflective of collective responsi-bility and shared ownership. As we saw in Imagination, Ltd.,people who belong to successful collaborative teams have adesire to take part in the whole process, to feel ownership in


what the team is doing. Team decision processes must firstand foremost be objective—taking personalities and powerplays out, and incorporating a view toward the whole as theprimary criterion.

In this section, we are going to describe a collaborativedecision-making process that supports a respectful team envi-ronment. This process helps to engage every team memberand tap into the group wisdom, instead of allowing one per-son to make the decision. A sense of ownership emerges amongall members because they have input into what the team willdo. Finally, it provides the entire team with information anddata regarding decisions that are made.

Collaborative Decision-Making Process

What follows are the steps a team can use to work througha decision. It is not necessary to make all decisions this way,but it definitely should be used for decisions that affect theentire team. Another use for this process is when team mem-bers, responsible for certain areas of the project, want to get a sense of what the team thinks before they make the final decision. In any case, it is important to use this process andhave the team get very good at it. Practice it, so when the bigdecisions are needed, the team is ready and comfortable withthe process.

1. Begin with someone bringing up a topic for which adecision or plan of action is needed.

2. Then the person who brings up the topic describes allhe or she knows about the issues, background, ur-gent need(s), long-term impact, etc.


3. Next, others who have information describe what theyknow about the issue, putting as much informationon the table as possible to aid assessment of the realissue/problem/opportunity the team is dealing with.

4. After all of the information is out, the team devisesthe opportunity/problem statement that needs a de-cision. Here, take the time to make sure you haveidentified what the problem/opportunity really is be-fore proceeding. Try to put these statements in how-to language. How to fix . . . ? How to solve . . . ?How to change . . . ?

5. Now look at the statement. Is it representative of thecore problem that needs to be solved, or is it solvinga symptom? Re-create the statement so it is more re-flective of the decision that really needs to be made.

6. Once the team feels the statement is accurate, look at itagain. But this time, look at it from the perspective thatthis is something for the team to deal with. Disassociateit from who brought up the issue and whose respon-sibility it is—it is now to be owned by the group. Thisis the most important step because the team is nowgoing to focus on the issue, not on who brought itup or who needs a resolution. The team now owns theproblem/opportunity collectively, not any one person.

7. Take a moment to review the team credo and oper-ating guidelines. Also reread “Getting into a Break-through Frame of Mind” at the beginning of thebook.

8. Brainstorm ways to solve the problem. Come up with(diverge) as many alternatives before choosing (con-verging) one way. Think, “We could do . . .” or “Wecould do . . .” Combine, remove, and modify ideas to


come up with the list of possible alternatives. Oncethe alternatives have been prepared . . .

9. Vote. Here the team votes on which idea(s) they feelwould best address the problem/opportunity. Votingis an objective way to determine the actions to takebecause it summons the group intelligence. This helpsthe group objectively see which ideas/actions havethe most interest.

Note that many times a silent vote is best, usinga ballot to vote on each option. Use a 1 to 3 scalewhere 1 equals “Yes, let’s do it,” 2 equals “Maybebut not now,” and 3 equals “No way.” Total the re-sults. The team goes with the majority and now has asense of where the group energy is for the idea.

In cases where a specific team member or sub-group is making the final decision, the vote does nothave to be the final say; it is one way to poll the groupto determine where it stands. Then use that informa-tion to move forward and make the final decision.

Some helpful hints for working with this process:

• It helps to have an objective ear listen to the problemand help ascertain if that is really the problem. Whenwe are part of the team, getting to the real problemalone is difficult because we are so close to it. An ob-jective ear can help us see what we are too close toview accurately.

• Be patient with the team. Many times we do not under-stand the problem until we have examined severaldead-end solutions. This is not failure; it is just moreinformation.


• It also helps to have an outside facilitator guiding theteam through the process. By focusing on process, thefacilitator frees the team to focus on the objective. Itis very difficult to lead our team through a process andalso actively participate in it. Two hats are sometimesone too many to wear well. Choose which role youprefer to hold, and don’t alternate between the two.

• Sleep on it. If the team is deeply fatigued or at thebrink of insanity, agree to take a break, or better yet,adjourn early and go for a run, take a nap, do anythingbut think about that problem one more minute. Giveeveryone’s brain space to incubate and work on theproblem in back-burner mode.

• Realize that frustration, anger, and dissonant feelingscan be signals that a breakthrough is imminent. Try tostay as objective as possible. Avoid finger pointing andtrying to make someone or something the reason forthe frustration. Take a step back and ask, “Why are wefrustrated? What about this problem is causing ouranger?”

A group decision-making process facilitates collaborationby involving everyone in key decisions. Use a collaborativeprocess that allows the team to explore alternatives and get agauge of the group wisdom behind the decision before mak-ing team-affecting decisions.

“Creativity is like driving a car at night. You never see

further than your headlights, but you can make the whole

trip that way.”—E. L. Doctorow


Comprehensive Skill Building

A self-governing team understands the importance ofgrowth. They are on the lookout for training and experiencesthat enhance and nurture the team and its members, con-tributing to feelings of competence and self-assuredness.Breakthrough teams take the time to learn and grow together,nurturing their interconnectivity and growing their commu-nication and collaborating skills to foster their effectiveness. Ifwe do not take the time to learn the skills of collaboration, wewill continue to flounder with mediocre team performance.

A very important aspect of skill building is that it is well-rounded. In many organizations, there is budget only for tech-nical training or direct work-related experiences and seminars.This is too bad, because we are more than talking heads. In thewords of Walt Whitman, “We are large, we contain multitudes.”As people and as a team, we need experiences that nurture our“multitudes,” through growing our entire person: right andleft brain, mind, body, and spirit. In this way we develop all ofour capabilities, not just those in our primary work area.

Why should a team dedicate budget to such seeminglyunrelated training? Because breakthroughs come from makingunexpected connections! Feeding ourselves new experiencesand information is the way we yeast the process.

Whole Team Skill Building

Here we discuss the skills and training the team and eachmember needs in addition to their technical training to feelwell-rounded and whole. The Resources section at the end ofthis book gives suggestions for classes and experiences in thefollowing areas:


Personal Exploration

Knowing ourselves is a good place to start. It is impor-tant for every team member to understand and value his orher preferences for thinking, feeling, and doing. Encouragingself-awareness, risk taking, and a sense of responsibility are thecriteria for selecting courses in this area. Taking time to dopersonal exploration is an excellent way to learn to trust ourgifts, creative spirit, and intuition. Take experiences like per-sonal visioning and understanding your life-purpose.

BREAKING THROUGH TO . . .Personal Exploration

• What classes can you take to help you understand your

personal learning style, the way your brain works, and

your vision for your life? What experiences can you take

to enhance your professional growth, personal leader-

ship, and mindfulness practice?

• What experience can the team take together that will en-

hance your appreciation of each other’s operating styles?

Consider taking the Hermann Brain Dominance Inventory

or playing the Diversity Game® to see how well you know

the strengths of each team member. (See the Resources

section of this book for more ideas.)

Creativity and Innovation Enhancement

We are all creative, and we all have ideas. The trick is tolearn ways to access and enhance our creativity more easily.


Learning the skills and techniques that keep individual andteam ideas flowing is important. A common understanding ofprocesses and associated language builds a shared collabora-tive culture. While a discussion of comprehensive ways to un-lock creativity is beyond the scope of this book, there arevaluable books, articles, instruments, and other materials thatcan help you here. Again, some of our favorites can be foundin the Resources section.

BREAKING THROUGH TO . . .Creativity and Innovation

• What experiences would you like to take to stimulate

your creativity and help you feel rejuvenated and

invigorated?

• What experience could the team take together that

would stimulate your creativity? Take an “idea excursion”

to an art museum or a park. Be sure to read Principle Ten

(Play and Rejuvenate) to get more ideas about unlocking

your creativity.

Breakthrough Experiences

Surprising insights can arise when we take time to stepoutside our ordinary realm. Breakthrough experiences can in-crease our openness to new ideas and help us make unex-pected connections to support our personal and professionalgrowth. Try taking at least one class that is not work-related


or related to your industry domain. As a team, when we ex-perience breakthrough experiences together, we learn to getcomfortable with one another and to play together. Look forexperiences that are rejuvenating, invigorating, and creativelystimulating.

BREAKING THROUGH TO . . .New Possibilities

• What experience can you take that is outside of the do-

main of the work you do?

• What experience can the team take together that will be

different, creatively stimulating, and/or rejuvenating?

Communication and Collaboration Processes

Finding offerings that stimulate collaboration are a mustto keeping our teams growing and enlivened. Conscientiouslylearning and using good communication processes givesstructure and effectiveness to team interactions, while provid-ing balance and shared participation. Look for offerings thatnurture respect, deeper listening, communication, and a senseof community among team members. Collaborative processesthat teach problem solving, idea assessment, decision making,meeting effectiveness, and other team-governing skills are ex-cellent investments.


BREAKING THROUGH TO . . .Collaborating Skills

• What classes would you like to take to enhance your per-

sonal collaborating skills?

• What skills does the team want to learn to enhance their

collaborating and communicating?

• What do you need to learn to act more like a business

within a business?

• What processes does the team need to add/eliminate to

support governing from within?

• Where does the breakdown in collaboration occur in

your team? Remember at Imagination, Ltd. it sometimes

happened at the interface, where projects move from

one stage to another. Where does it happen in your

team, and what can help you bridge the gap?

• What other skills does the team need to learn to facilitate

better communication and cohesiveness?

Mind-Body Connecting

Find offerings that stimulate and support a healthy mind-body connection as part of a wholesome curriculum. Theseexperiences help us feel healthy and strong and can rangefrom taking a class on healthy cooking to bringing in a yogainstructor once a week.


BREAKING THROUGH TO . . .A Strong Mind-Body Connection

• What body intelligence experience can you take this

year?

• What can you do as a team to enhance your health and

physical well-being?

“Learning is not attained by chance. It must be

sought for with ardor and attended to with diligence.”—Abigail Adams

Commit to Self-Governance

A team is truly powerful when each individual teammember takes the responsibility to self-regulate—doing theirpersonal work to be a strong, mindful contributor and re-sponsible participant. A healthy collaborative team has mem-bers that act with integrity. Team members engage in a gooddeal of introspection to have a clear understanding of theirstrengths, weaknesses, talents, and personal operating styles.Thus, they are self-determining and internally directed.

Not only do members take responsibility for their actionsand outcomes, they govern themselves by monitoring theirbehavior and adhering to the co-created credo (developed inPrinciple Three, Choose the Culture You Want).


For some, this might seem obvious (of course we needto know and govern ourselves), but for others this might be arevelation. (You mean I personally make a difference in howthe team operates and functions?)

By managing ourselves, we mindfully create an environ-ment that supports the behaviors we wish to increase. Some-times we don’t realize how our actions create our environment,and we send subtle messages about how the business is to operate. Let’s take a look at Sam and his company:

Setting the Tone by Planting Weeds

Sam is the CEO/lead entrepreneur of a start-up Inter-net company. He prides himself on listening to people and theirideas. But he also rapidly fires questions at them to assess ifthey have thought their point through. This is in the mannerof, “If you are going to say something you better have thoughtit through and be able to defend your point.” But Sam’s styleis antithetical to collaboration. Some ideas are just seed ideasthat are put out there. Learning to build on one another’sideas and grow an idea is the point. Let’s not take baby ideasand stomp on them before they have had time to germinate.

Sam does not realize that his style is sending a very clearmessage about how things get done in the company. He iscreating a warfare environment of attack and defense. And ithas trickled down to effect other areas of the company ofwhich he was unaware. The “attack and defend” approach wasused in software reviews. A software developer had to endurehours of defending his code to reviewers who attacked howand why he created the code the way he did.

If the environment were more collaborative, the “we”mentality would take over and the whole team would feel they


were ultimately responsible for the code and would approachthe review differently.

Sam’s style was setting the long-term tone for the entirecompany in ways he did not even realize. The environmentSam was creating worked against collaboration. It made peo-ple defend their opinions and ideas at any cost. Openness wasgone because people were protective, thus reducing their will-ingness to play with ideas and concepts. ✴

“The trouble with the rat race is that even if you win,

you’re still a rat.”—Lily Tomlin

Committing to governing ourselves in meetings and otherinteractions helps cultivate the kind of team environment thatencourages mindful interaction and effectiveness. It creates asense of safety within people, and when people feel safe, theircreativity flows and their willingness to take risks grows.

TOOL YOU CAN USE . . .The Buddy System

Here you go again. You want to go to a great new

class. But then you end up being the only one who under-

stands the ideas presented in the training. Wouldn’t it be

great if there were others on the team who had the same

experience as you? Before you go it alone . . .

TRY THIS . . . Engage the buddy system. Ask a col-

league to attend the training with you. This gives you


another set of eyes and ears to take in what is going on.

You can then support one another when you get back and

report to the team what you have learned.

BREAKING THROUGH TO . . .Self-Governance

Try going through the following list of questions once

a quarter or so to see if you are on track:

• Am I growing?

• Am I doing my best?

• Am I upholding our team values and commitments?

• Am I contributing fully?

• Am I curious and open to possibilities?

• Am I finding ways to get the job done?

• Am I proactive?

• Am I courageous in speech and action?

• Am I passionate about something?

• Am I proactively getting what I need to do the job?

• Do I have owner mentality?

• Am I monitoring my speech and judgments?

“Nothing strengthens judgment and quickens the

conscience like individual responsibility.”—Elizabeth Cady Stanton


Commit to Self-Understanding and Personal Growth

It is critical that team members are contributing them-selves—their uniqueness, talents, and creativity. Part of beingable to contribute our talents is to know what they are. Some ofus are aware of certain technical talents: Frank is great with fi-nancials and Shelly thinks strategically. But there is more to Frankand Shelly than we know, and maybe more than they know.

It is in our best interest to be interested in ourselves. Per-sonal exploration and growth is vital to healthy team func-tioning. How many of us neglect ourselves and our need forgrowth? We become automatons, business robots, workingand doing our job, but shriveling inside. Ultimately this causesburnout and declining self-esteem. But by making a commit-ment to self-understanding and personal growth we can alle-viate this trouble. When we are taking care of ourselves, weare able to care about what the team is doing. Don’t neglectthe most vital aspect of team performance—you.

A Journey of Self-Discovery

Joe has been with his company for 20 years. He has astrong technical base, combined with a desire to help teamsapply quality processes. He has been in the quality field forover 15 years. During that time he has developed a deepknowledge of quality processes, but the best thing about Joeis he can boil them down to simple, understandable tidbits forthe average person to understand. “It’s about sharing whatyou have learned so that others can benefit from it. Find waysto share what you know. That’s quality in a nutshell.”


Joe realizes that in any team it comes down to people:people interacting and people being themselves. It was onlyafter taking several classes exploring his creativity that Joe re-alized it was okay to be himself at work, that who he was wasjust fine. This was a revelation for him. He has been on a jour-ney of personal growth and reflection for years. He takes re-sponsibility for his actions and reactions in teams and he isactively pursuing his passions. He says, “I am taking responsi-bility for the only one I really have responsibility for—myself.”

Joe is an excellent example of someone on a personalpath of discovery and growth, willing to do intense personalwork to be a more effective, fully functioning adult in hisworkplace and in the world. ✴

BREAKING THROUGH TO . . .Self-Understanding

• Reflections on your unique contribution:

• I am passionate about . . .

• I feel strongly about . . .

• I feel I came to earth to . . .

• I am really good at . . .

• I feel my strengths are . . .

• Reflections on your personal operating style:

• The role I usually play in a group is . . .

• It is a stretch for me to . . .

• I really excel at . . .

• Reflections on your personal blind spots:

• I really get angry about . . .

• I hate it when . . .


• My hot buttons are . . .

• I am weak when it comes to . . .

• Reflections on your role as team member:

• As a part of this team, it is important to me that . . .

• I want to contribute . . .

• I can help with . . .

• I feel responsible for . . .

• I usually approach a problem by . . .

• I have a habit of . . .

Each team member is such an important part of the mix.It is vital that we each govern ourselves. When we know andrespect ourselves deeply, we can participate fully.

“Music is your own experience, your thoughts, your

wisdom. If you don’t live it, it won’t come out of your horn.”—Charlie Parker

Unlocking Team Genius with Principle Seven:Govern from Within

• Determine your personal behaviors and you will oper-ate and stick to them.

• Show a healthy curiosity about the way other peoplethink and what they know.

• Conscientiously listen and communicate to build col-legiality and respect.

• Understand your gifts, talents, and operating style soyou can fully contribute to any team.


• Take personal responsibility and ownership, with aneye to the whole.

• Be a mindful contributor.

AXIOM . . .

All for One and One for All


PRINCIPLE EIGHT

Build Resiliency Muscles

“Don’t give up too soon, but when it’s time, don’t

hang on too long.”—Morrie, from Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom1

This chapter looks at how to use setbacks and problemsto propel the team on to better performance. Teams that haveweathered storms grow because of them. Healing a sick teamtakes courage and patience. It requires openness, communica-tion, objectivity, and listening. Most of all it takes a willing-ness to address issues that have probably been swept under thecarpet long ago. Sickness is an opportunity; healing is a chancefor change.

Teams can build their resilience by developing new men-tal muscles. The muscles of detachment, learning, and collab-oration can be strengthened to enable a team to heal themselvesin the “24-hour flu” stage rather than waiting until more dras-tic intervention is needed.

171

Healing Is an Art

Healing a sick or hurting team is an art for which thereare no formulas or pills. The art of healing uses the tools ofopenness, communication, objectivity, listening, and a will-ingness to try to heal using means that might seem uncon-ventional or downright uncomfortable.

Healing is the act of becoming whole again as a team,and becoming resilient is the act of working to stay whole and healthy. A benefit of going through the healing process isthat it builds the team’s resiliency. Members know they canweather storms together and come out on the other sidestronger.

Healing does not necessarily mean trying to cure the teamby ourselves. We may need to get help because the mindset(s)that created the situation might not be the one(s) able to re-solve the situation. In many cultures, people are discouragedfrom getting outside help because they do not want others toknow they are not well (don’t want to air their dirty laundryor be perceived as weak). They hide their hurts, and thereforethe problems get worse. Don’t let this happen to your team.

At the first sign of problems, we need to stop and workto resolve them. Usually it is not the one or two little injus-tices that bother us, but the accumulation of these infractions.Decide which ones are worth dealing with so they do notsnowball into a catastrophic problem. Again this is an art.What to deal with and what to let slide? Each person is differ-ent, but the best way to know is when we get a lump in ourthroat, a ping in our gut, or some other physical reaction tosomething that has happened. These are the signals that thisis where the opportunities are.


Move toward Wholeness

Wholeness is the goal for any person, team, or organiza-tion. When we are whole we are healthy and emotionally sound.Interestingly enough, in this state of wholeness we are bal-anced and, some believe, impervious to disease. It is when webecome out of balance that there is sickness; we are hurting aspeople and as a team.

Wholeness is the act of working to integrate all parts andaspects of us into our work. It is also the act of noncompart-mentalization. All things are connected, and if one part orperson is hurting, the whole is lesser for it. The fundamentalpoint of this chapter is around the intent for wholeness. Do wewant our team to be effective? Can we work at our highestproductivity when we have injured parts of the team?

When we seek wholeness, integrity of the whole, we findsome things that we let slide in the past that we can no longeroverlook. We realize that, left to fester, these things will causerips and tears in the fabric of our team and eventually undothe team and its efforts.

When we have the intention for wholeness we do not letthis happen. We take courageous action to bring up difficulttopics, have difficult conversations, and say what we see. Wespeak our truth, not in a blaming, judgmental way, but in aninformative manner. “This is what I see. This is my perspec-tive, and I am open to other perspectives.”

Can we have resilience without truth? Can we have ef-fectiveness without wholeness? Can we have impact withoutcourage? A sick team is a team calling for wholeness. It is awake-up call to find a way to change the system for cohesionand inclusion.

Principle Eight: Build Resiliency Muscles 173

BREAKING THROUGH TO . . .Wholeness

• Where/when does the team put things in compartments

to the detriment of the whole?

• What do you let slide?

• What does the team let slide that you feel is troublesome?

• What does the team need to be more balanced and

whole?

Treat Sickness as a Sign

In every team, there comes a time when we feel we arenot making progress. We might be bogged down with hurt orangry feelings. We might even go so far as to say the team issick. But sickness is a sign that something wants healing andsomething needs to change. Sickness can be a gift to any teamwilling to see it in the light of a need for change.

The term sick is meant to describe situations and times ina team’s life cycle when there are unhealthy feelings and actionsgoing on. These unhealthy signs are coalitions, infighting, in-effective communication and decision making, frustration, orfighting about something that is not the problem. Use thesesigns as signals to stop and do some healing work.

As we become more and more familiar with one another,we might be tempted to think we know all about each other,or we might be tempted to think we know what someone isgoing to say. All of us have witnessed times when a team mem-ber is virtually shut out because we think we know what he is


going to say. In times of team stress, we need to see and hearpeople anew.

BREA\KING THROUGH TO . . .Seeing the Signs

• What does a colleague do that makes you feel angry,

frustrated, or taken advantage of?

• What can you do, within yourself, about that? What is

your responsibility in that interaction?

• What signals and signs do you see within your team that

lead you to believe the team has issues?

• What is the message conveyed by these signs?

Intend to Try to Heal

The main goal of self-healing is willingness, an intentionto try to heal. The process of trying to heal and the integrityof trying are what matters. People sense the willingness togenuinely want to heal as a team. The needed results/changesmay only show themselves once we have gone through thehealing process. We cannot know what the outcome will beuntil it presents itself.

Be careful not to get stuck in the assumption that heal-ing means we are going to get back to the way things were—healing means change. Once the team is healed it will not goback to doing and being what it was prior to the stressful times.If sickness is a sign that there is a need for change, healing isa change in the team. If the team does not change, they have


not made progress towards healing. If we go back to the waythings were, we have not really healed. Thus, we will be backfor another round in the healing process, because the sicknesswill have gotten more acutely painful.

The most important thing we need to do is let go of ourexpectations about what healing must look like. Healing orchange will take a form that we might not expect. For someteams, some of the members might need to move on. For oth-ers a new strategic direction might be needed or new decision-making processes implemented. Whatever the solution, it evolvesfrom a process of unfolding and communication between teammembers: co-creating changes that lead to healing.

Remember, the longer we wait to deal with a problem, theworse it gets and the harder it is to solve.

SMT—An Opportunity for Change

A self-managed team (SMT) inside a large corporationhad spent a great deal of time together implementing their vi-sion. They came together for a meaningful reason they werevery passionate about. They shared responsibility and foundways to govern themselves. Much of the time they showedtremendous courage in dealing with the corporation and cus-tomers they served. And over time, SMT members had becomevery familiar with each other’s operating styles, which helpedcreate an environment in which everyone thrived. They werea very effective collaborative team that made a difference.

But things were changing—they were not feeling as chal-lenged or as passionate about what they were doing. They haddone what they came together to do and were at a crossroads.Some team members wanted to go in different directions fromother team members. Frustration and anxiety became a sig-


nificant part of their days. They did not know what to do, andthe ways they used to deal with issues such as these in the pastwere not working to alleviate the problems. They were sick.

They were willing to try various methods for healing.They worked with outside facilitators to help them define newdirections. They agreed to use a new decision-making process,and they learned some new communication tools. All of thiswas very helpful.

But some realities were not confronted. For example, itwas not certain whether all of the members of the team stillwanted or needed to be part of the team. Another problemwas that the team was moving into a new phase of life andneeded the right approach for this new phase. Was it differentpeople? An updated mission?

In the end, the team lost some members, and then itsfunding, and finally disbanded. It is important to note thatthis is not a negative ending. The team had several good yearsof very important contributions. Remember we talked ofbeing open to various outcomes. Being able to see the out-come as it is, not just as we wish it were, is an important les-son and part of healing and resilience. ✴

“Most people see the world as they are—not as it is.”

—Anna, from the movie Anna and The King

So here are some things any team can do to begin healing:

• Engage an outside facilitator or team-healing specialist.Don’t be the doctor and patient at the same time.Finding a professional trained in the art of group heal-ing is well worth the time and money. This person isthe objective resource who can help the team unearth


the real issue(s) and move through a renovationprocess.

• Try a deep communication tool. A very powerful toolfor getting to the heart of something is dialogue. “Indialogue, a group can explore complex difficult issuesfrom many points of view. Individuals suspend theirassumptions but they communicate their assumptionsfreely. The result is a free exploration that brings tothe surface the full depth of people’s experience andthought, and yet can move beyond their individualviews. People are not trying to win in a dialogue. Andif done following the basic ground rules, dialoguehelps individuals gain insights that simply could notbe achieved individually or in discussion.”2

• Engage in active listening (focusing).3 Sometimes peo-ple have different takes on what is going on. Focusingis a tool that can help someone understand what she isfeeling and seeing. This intense tool can be used mind-fully to help someone get clarity on her issues.

• Speak from an “I” perspective. A classic tool of com-munication is using nonblaming language. Using “Ifeel, I see” language versus “You did, you’re the prob-lem” language can help keep the conversation objec-tive and effective.

All of these tools can be used to help heal a team that isgoing through difficult times. They can also be used on anongoing basis to build up a team’s resiliency muscles. In thenext part of this chapter we are going to highlight the charac-teristics of resilient teams and the muscles they can proactivelybuild.


BREAKING THROUGH TO . . .Healing

• The thing we need to work on that is eating at the fabric

of our team is . . .

• Are we sick? If so, do we have a cold, the flu, or pneumo-

nia? As the team healer, I would prescribe ________ to

help us heal.

Building a Resilient Team

We have heard the old adage “An ounce of prevention isworth a pound of cure.” Healing a team is needed when ourteam has broken down and needs a cure. But if we work tokeep our team healthy, we will not need “the pound of cure.”Breakthrough teams consciously work to keep healthy bylearning the skills needed for resiliency.

Becoming resilient as a team shows we are committed todeveloping certain characteristics or mental muscles, as we willcall them, to fortify our ability to bounce back in the midst ofchallenge and change. This bounce-back ability can be proac-tively nurtured in preparation for the inevitable tough timesevery team faces.

Webster’s Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary defines re-silience as “the capability of a strained body (team) to recoverits size and shape after deformation. The ability to recoverfrom or adjust easily in misfortune or change.”


People find out what they are made of when they haveto deal with adversity. Likewise, we find what our team is madeof in trying times, because the stress of the situation bringsout the coping mechanisms the team has developed. Are peo-ple communicating? Are they being courageous or conten-tious? Are they sharing and working together to solve problems,or is one stuck figuring it out, with the others commiserating,worrying, or stepping back?

Cultivating the characteristics of resilience is like prepar-ing for a marathon. There is much preparation and musclebuilding that goes on prior to running in the race. This is alsotrue of a team that is resilient—they have been doing the work,building their interaction muscles in preparation for the race,preparing for the change/stress that requires them to expendtheir bounce-back ability.

Every team must take time to build a set of mental mus-cles that help them to communicate and effectively operatetogether. These mental muscles are important in day-to-dayinteractions and become especially critical in times of teamstress, change, and uncertainty. The following is a sample setof mental muscles that can help our team become resilient,and of course, more collaborative in the process.

Proactivity Muscle

The proactivity muscle has its roots in the entrepreneur-ial mindset cultivated in Principle Five—shared ownership.Here the members of the team are actively working to movein the directions of the goals and objectives. They are notwaiting around for marching orders, nor are they passive par-ticipants. They are ready and able to go when it’s time tochange.


Internal Motivation Muscle

This muscle draws on the understanding of what theteam is out to accomplish, and flexes with internal drive toweather storms and get done what it set out to do. Externalforces have a harder time shaking the team’s foundation.Everyone is very focused and cannot be distracted. The teamis internally motivated, thus governing from within. Each per-son on the team is taking care of himself and is driven from asense of internal direction.

Possibility Muscle

An attitude of “We can and we will” builds this muscle.People are practicing “What if?” and “How can we?” approachesthat prepare them to tackle problems. The language of possibil-ity makes the team look and feel very different than traditionalteams who usually practice “limitation mentality,” recognizableby statements such as “We already tried that,” “It will neverwork,” or wisecracks that shut down ideas and play. Anything ispossible, and when a team takes this to heart, they can create areality for themselves that is tailor-made for learning and growth.

TOOL YOU CAN USE . . .Smart Talk

So your team is caught up in “not possible” thinking

and not using their minds constructively? Coming up with

all of the reasons why something will not work is a waste of

good brain cells. Before you waste any more . . .


TRY THIS . . .

Take a sheet of paper and draw a line down the center.

On the left side write down all of the reasons why this will

not work. Then on the right side reverse your “no can do”

statements into possibility statements, or “can do” statements.

For example:

CAN’T DO Talk/Stifling Talk CAN DO Talk/Smart Talk

The executives won’t go for it. The executives will go for it

and this is how we are

going to make it so . . .

We will not figure out what We will decide what we

they want. want to do.

We will run into overwhelm- We will not run into resist-

ing resistance. ance we cannot over-

come. How do we

leverage resistance?

We have a problem here. There are no problems

without solutions; let’s

find them.

We are going to run into Obstacles are only obsta-

obstacles. cles if you think of them

as obstacles—otherwise

they are opportunities.

We cannot make a mistake. Mistakes offer great infor-

mation about what does

not work.

Once you have filled up the page, tear or cut the page in

half down the center line you drew. Take the stifling talk

and tear it up, or better yet, burn it. Keep the right side as a

reminder of your “can do” attitude.


The “We Mentality” Muscle

Remember “One for all and all for one”? Teams devel-oping their “we mentality” muscle are on the lookout forways to help each other, talk supportively about each other,and believe that the team as a whole needs to succeed. A senseof connectedness through a “we” versus “me” mentality helpscreate solidarity and helps members build a tough skin to nottake things so personally. We move beyond ourselves to ahigher place of operation; our interconnectivity and interde-pendence build strong bonds.

Reflective Muscle

It seems there is an unquestioned assumption that busi-ness is about action. Sometimes when change and troublesarise the best thing we can do is to stop and reflect on what isgoing on. Sometimes it is okay to do nothing—letting solu-tions reveal themselves to us. Developing a reflective musclemeans we are willing to do nothing, or do something notwork related to get some perspective. This courageous actionis not the usual approach of “do something” or “take action.”Typically atrophied, this muscle can save us countless wastedhours doing something versus the right thing.

Collaborative Muscle

Interestingly enough, collaboration does not seem thatnatural. We need to want to collaborate with someone andput our efforts into learning how to collaborate. A commit-ment to this muscle means a commitment to learning to worktogether to build all of the other muscles. Working effectively


with others is not easy—if it were there would be no need forthis book. Building collaborative muscles provides the team witha collective strength that bolsters the team through tough times.

Detachment Muscle

Sometimes we are so attached to our way of thinking, wehave the “my way or the highway” syndrome, and we closeour minds to alternatives. When we are attached to our pointof view or overly invested in a certain way of doing things, wecannot see the larger picture, nor can we hear others and theirpoints of view. Building the detachment muscle is difficult be-cause many times we do not even realize we are attached tosome way of looking at something or some way of doingsomething. Detachment is a deep habit developed slowly overmany years. But detachment or freedom from bias gives us thegift of objectivity. And objectivity gives us the gift of possibil-ity. The muscle of detachment provides the seedbed for inno-vation and breakthrough thinking.

Listening Muscle

In tough times, it is difficult to hear others and our-selves. When we are stressed, we shift into reaction and “painrelief” mode. In this mode, we are not really interested in thehigher forms of interaction and communication. This is whyit is vital to cultivate the listening muscle before times ofstress, because it is in times of stress that we most need tocommunicate and hear with thoughtful attention.

Listening means we are engaging some of the previousmuscles, detaching from our thoughts long enough to hearanother’s, and we are stopping to reflect upon what they are


saying. We may also need to invoke the curiosity muscle to getclarification and build on others’ thoughts. The key to effec-tive communication is developing the listening muscle, or asSteven Covey would say, “Seek first to understand, then to beunderstood.”4

TOOL YOU CAN USE . . .What’s That About?!

Your teammates have much to teach you—about

yourself. When you have an emotional reaction to someone,

you have an opportunity to learn. So before you miss out on

the learning . . .

TRY THIS . . .

When someone on your team triggers some emotion

in you (whether positive or negative) it is a signal to stop.

When you have a spare, private moment stop and ask your-

self “What was that about? What brought on that emotion?”

Anger, frustration, hurt—try to name the emotion accu-

rately. Then get quiet and listen to what you are trying to

learn. It might be helpful to write yourself a letter and tell

yourself a story about the emotion and what brought it on.

Inquiry (Curiosity) Muscle

A building block of creative thinking is a curious mind.Keep this muscle conditioned by asking things like: How didthat happen? What made that reaction? How did we lose thatcustomer? The muscle of curiosity helps us delve into things


and break them apart to learn about them. Feel the differencebetween the curiosity muscle and the interrogator muscle.Curiosity has an air of uncertainty and play. It gives us per-mission to sniff and touch that which we might not usuallysniff and touch. Traditionally in business, we take an interro-gator approach. How did that happen? Who screwed up? Findout and fix it. But use of the inquiry muscle helps us move tonew ways and have less need to protect and hold onto our oldways. Building this muscle helps us be interested in seeingwhat happens next, versus holding our breath and batteningdown the hatches for the worst.

TOOL YOU CAN USE . . .Be Curious, Not Furious5

So Sally has just said something that makes you

crazy—again. “What is she thinking? How could she be so

dense? I don’t know if I can stand this much longer.” Before

you blow your cool . . .

TRY THIS . . .

The next time Sally goes on in a direction you find

ridiculous, get curious. What is she thinking? Assume she

must have a good reason for her comments. She is a valu-

able member of the team, so there might be a nugget of

wisdom in there. Ask probing questions like, “What brought

you to that idea?” or “What problem did you uncover?” Or

invite more discussion: “Tell me more.” Be careful not to put

Sally on the defensive with questions or accusatory tones

like “What are you thinking?” Be genuinely interested in

what she is trying to convey. By probing a little deeper, you


might just find something the team needs to know or do. At

the very least, Sally will feel respected and listened to—not

a bad outcome, huh!?

Learning Muscle

A willingness to learn is paramount to resilience. Whenour formal education ends, it seems the learning muscle atro-phies because the need to have an area of expertise is so strong.We get rewards and promotions based on being an expert inour field. And if we are considered an expert, we must knowmuch about our area of expertise. This need to know under-mines the need to learn. Now that sounds wrong. If we needto know—then by necessity we need to learn it. But oncesomething is learned, some feel they are done. Building thelife-long learning muscle asks us to have the courage to bewilling to learn many things, including things that are in ourarea of expertise. A well-shaped learning muscle means notfeeling threatened, but interested in expanding our knowledgeeven in our expert areas.

Well-Rounded Muscle

A desire to be well-rounded and whole is important toeach member of a team. We need experiences that not onlydevelop our rational and logical mind; we also need ones thatdevelop our creativity, our imagination, our intuition, ouremotional intelligence, and our bodies. Breakthrough teamsmake room for and even invite experiences that might seemodd—but encourage each team member to be all they can be.Look for skill building in these areas:


• Personal exploration and self-actualization, where eachteam member can understand and value their prefer-ences for thinking, feeling, and doing

• Reading outside our field to increase openness to newideas and help make unexpected connections

• Stimulating collaboration to nurture respect, deeperlistening, communication, and a sense of communityamong team members

• Mind-body connecting to support a healthy mind-body relationship

• Creativity and innovation enhancement to learn waysto access and enhance our creativity more easily andcreate a common understanding of processes and as-sociated language within our team

“I/Thou” Muscle

In his book The Soul of a Business,6 Tom Chappell out-lines a very important concept that will help anyone on a teamovercome the urge to attack another member. He notes aconcept by Martin Buber known as the “I/Thou” relation-ship. Its essence is that we can look at someone in one of twoways: either in an “I/It” relationship or in an “I/Thou” rela-tionship. When we see someone in an I/It relationship, we seethem as an object, an It, a thing we want to get to execute ouragendas. In an I/It relationship, others are an extension ofour will. In an I/Thou relationship, we see another person asan independent being, almost beloved, one whom we respectand want to support. The other person is not an extension ofus. Working to see others as a beloved “Thou” versus an ob-jectified “It” helps us treat them very differently. We see themas people in and of themselves, with hopes and dreams. We


learn to respect them and their life journey independent ofour needs and expectations.

Respect Muscle

The only person we can change is ourselves. Building ina respectful relationship means we work to not control othersor force them to change to meet our expectations, but toallow them to be who they are following their life path. Thisis not to say we do not have our boundaries, but a cornerstoneof respect is accepting someone exactly as he is.

Time Muscle

This is a muscle we build to take time to rejuvenate, makechanges, and re-envision, especially when we don’t think wehave time. It is when we are under the most pressure that wecan benefit from taking time to step back and try to see theforest for the trees. Jerry Hirshberg, former President of Nis-san Design International, took his team to see a movie in themiddle of struggling to meet a deadline. Upper managementwas not pleased and reminded him they were under a dead-line. Jerry responded that it was precisely because they wereunder a deadline that they went to see the movie.7 Sometimeswe need a break, while other times we need to stop and takeaccount of where we are and see if we are still headed in theright direction.

Sometimes we need to take a moment to mourn, when ateam member leaves or some other change takes place. Beingable to take time to communicate, have fun, or just breatheand have a moment’s peace is a muscle every team needs todevelop.


Trust Muscle

How can we build trust in someone we are working with?What do we need in the relationship to bring us to trust some-one? Are we trustworthy? Are we fair to others? Building themuscle of trust asks us to be more careful about how we con-duct our interactions with each other. Are we supportive, non-accusatory, truthful, and free of political agendas? Do we takeadvantage of the good will of others? These trigger the devel-opment or atrophy of the trust muscle.

Play and Celebration Muscle

Incorporating play and enjoyment into our work is vital.The problem is, we let play and celebration fall to the bottomof our to-do list, easily forgetting about them, never quitegetting around to them. The muscle of play also reminds usto fool around with new concepts and ideas, exploring themand testing them, and not holding onto our view. Remem-bering to play and celebrate keeps our team vibrant, and goesa long way to raising our own personal satisfaction with ourlives inside and outside of work.

BREAKING THROUGH TO . . .Resilience

• The muscles the team needs to develop are . . .

• The muscles I need to develop personally are . . .

• Other muscles it would be beneficial to develop are . . .

• What resilience-building mental muscles can the team

add to its credo (statement of values)?


“Without a struggle, there can be no progress.”—Frederick Douglass

Unlocking Team Genius with Principle Eight:Building Resiliency Muscles

• Use team sickness as a signal that healing is neededand change necessary.

• Resist the temptation to have the team return to the“way it was.” It needs to move forward to new waysof operating.

• Don’t sweep troubles under the carpet; the longer youwait to deal with problems the worse they get and theharder they are to solve.

• Build your team’s resilience by using muscles of de-tachment, listening, trust, and others that can be usedin difficult times.

AXIOM . . .

Exercise Your Collaborative Mental Muscles


PRINCIPLE NINE

Make Change Happen

“We live in a moment of history when change is so

speeded up that we begin to see the present only when it is

already disappearing.”—R.D. Laing, The Politics of Experience

Anyone who has been in a group knows change can bedifficult. It took quite a bit to get where we are. People startto understand how things work, how to act, and how to react.Even unhealthy teams don’t want to change their behavior.They are comfortable despite the uncomfortable situation.They know what to expect and what to do. But change wemust, because no change means no growth, and no growthmeans stagnation or even failure.

In this chapter, we explore building change into a corecompetence of the team. To do this, we become proactiveabout change, making it happen and practicing change on aregular basis. In this way it becomes our mode of operatinginstead of something we do reactively. When we begin to viewchange as an opportunity rather than a threat, we are able to

193

make it part of our skill set. With the intention to make changepart of every day, the old axioms of “If it ain’t broke, don’t fixit,” “Leave well enough alone,” and “Don’t change for change’ssake” are all mantras we need to bury. They don’t fit any more;they are like old tight jeans from ten years ago. They are con-stricting and binding in all the wrong places. Turn them intorags and let’s design some new sleek-fitting Lycra trousers forthe future that allow us flexibility and freedom of movement.

“Change is the constant, the signal for rebirth, the

egg of the phoenix.”—Christina Baldwin

Build “Change-Ability” into a Core Competency:Practice Changing

A core competency is a skill or talent that our team pos-sesses that is a competitive advantage. Usually it is defined assomething tangible that our organization can do that com-petitors have a hard time emulating. Principle Nine: MakeChange Happen is about making an intangible, the ability tochange or “change-ability,” into a core competence. Can wedo that? Yes. How? By practicing changing, and by changingfor growth’s sake.

Interior decorating magazines profile designers who arealways changing the interior of their rooms. They get tired ofthe look they created for last season and do something tomake the room look and feel different. They stimulate freshthought, fresh feelings, and a sense of newness by changingthe color of the room, the layout of the furniture, or by some-thing as simple as adding a throw rug or leopard print pillow.


They have developed the urge to be innovative throughchange (and yes, it is in their best interest to keep stimulatingour urge to buy). But aren’t sales the ultimate goal for manyof us also? Sometimes change is drastic, and other times it issubtle and simple. This is how we build “change-ability” into acore competence—by practicing changing, every day if possible.

Practicing change might come in simple forms:

• Sit in a different chair every meeting.• Make a pact to try something you have never tried

once a month (from painting pottery to going for amassage).

• Read magazines you never read (like Flyfishing or Red Herring).

• Have meetings at the zoo or an art museum.• Invite your mother, friend, or anyone unfamiliar with

your work (a “wild card”) to a meeting and ask themto contribute ideas.

• Try a mini-internship. Become a marketer for a weekif you are an engineer, or think like an engineer for aweek if you are a marketer.

• Get out and talk to customers. Live a day in their life.• Host a video lunch and watch best practices videos from

other companies, especially ones not in your field.• Try saying “Yes and” instead of “yes, but . . .”.• Look for positives versus negatives.• Learn new skills (technical and nontechnical).• Have “Scan the Environment” day where you discuss

trends and happenings in the environment that couldimpact your business or ideas for your business.

• Go to a conference of your profession or industry, andwhen you come back host a “brown bag” lunch to re-port on the latest and greatest findings.

Principle Nine: Make Change Happen 195

• Call up an organization you’ve heard or read aboutthat is doing something intriguing. Ask if you can visitand learn something about what they’re doing.

• Join a new group of people that come together to dis-cuss some issue or topic that interests you. Have anentrepreneurial think tank, comprised of teams ofpeople from different organizations who get togetherquarterly around a theme.

• Bring a new décor to your work area. Add something(art, inspirational messages, color, toys, etc.) to makeyour workspace stimulating.

• Don’t just read the above suggestions. Pick one (orseven!) and get out and do them—today.

BREAKING THROUGH TO . . .Practicing Change

• What other simple things can your team do to develop

change-ability into a core competence?

• What other simple changes would bring freshness to

your team?

TOOL YOU CAN USE . . .A Room with a View

So the team has assembled in the same conference

room you always meet in, with Harry sitting in the same

seat every time. It seems nothing fresh comes out of this set


up. Before you resign yourself to one more same-old, same-

old meeting . . .

TRY THIS . . .

When you are planning on doing idea generation or

you are trying to deal with an issue that you have not been

able to resolve, consider taking the team to a nontraditional

place. Get a room at the local park district, meet at a coffee

shop or local book store, or just move to a different confer-

ence room—anything that shakes things up a bit. A new

environment might encourage new approaches.

Change also might need to be in more drastic forms, in-cluding some of these:

• Removing some of the cubical walls and moving desksand tables around to change your seating arrangements.

• Reinventing the direction/purpose of the team. Itmight be time to revisit the team’s vision statement.

• Changing office buildings. What departments or otherteams could you benefit from by proximity?

• Reorganizing the department structure. Does your cur-rent structure really reflect how you work? Or is itsome archaic arrangement of lines and boxes that every-one has all but abandoned? Try drawing your team’s(or organization’s) structure so that it reflects howeveryone really gets things done.

• Redesigning the physical working environment. Doesyour workplace have any similarity to your home? Whynot? How could you make it more home-like? Con-sider alternative (comfortable) seating, use of color,and bringing in natural objects whenever possible.


• Looking for a whole new customer set. Who mightneed what you have that doesn’t even know it yet?Stretch beyond who you currently serve and thinkway outside the segment: How about the animal king-dom? Schools? The military? Teenagers? Retirees?

BREAKING THROUGH TO . . .Reinvention

• What drastic changes does your team need to make?

• What drastic changes would be refreshing for your team?

“There is nothing like returning to a place that re-

mains unchanged to find the ways in which you yourself

have altered.”—Nelson Mandela, A Long Walk to Freedom

Here is the story of one leader who helped his team buildchange-ability into a core competence. As we will see, thishelped them take foothold on the path toward innovation andchange.

Jonathan Booth“Envisioning and Leading Strategic

Change at Pharmacia”

Jonathan Booth is a leader who has successfully blendeda colorful set of life experiences, drawing on the worlds of


automotive engineering, business school, the inner city, andcorporate America to create an innovative, team-centered lead-ership style. He is a Senior Director of Pharmaceutical Tech-nical Operations Finance. A native of Detroit, Michigan, hebegan working for General Motors at the age of 16 and laterattended General Motors Institute, where he received a Bach-elor of Mechanical Engineering. He later earned master’s de-grees in Mechanical Engineering and Business Administrationfrom the University of Michigan and Northwestern’s KelloggGraduate School of Management, respectively. In spite of hiseducational background, Jonathan felt he was viewed as anengineer with an MBA versus a businessperson with a techni-cal background. After several years at GM, he joined a foodsmanufacturing company as a Senior Financial Analyst. Hisfirst team-building experience came in 1995, when he led Ac-tivity Based Costing, and was named a senior manager of thisarea. This experience led to his current position at MonsantoCorporation.

Ironically, Jonathan has never had the opportunity topick his own team. Instead, he has always had to turn arounddifferent teams—“opportunity work” that most people wouldnot touch. Instead of having difficulty with the challenge,Jonathan rose to meet it and developed a niche in turningaround troubled teams. When Jonathan reported to his newposition, the organization chart showed three directors re-porting directly to him. Jonathan was directly responsible for70 people in the United States and indirectly for ten individ-uals from other countries.

He perceived that in everyone’s mind, a “black box” ex-isted where nobody understood what went on or how it wenton. Jonathan recounts walking into a very difficult situation,in which his team lacked direction and motivation. Specifi-cally, many of the team members did not want to work there.


The equipment was outdated and morale was low due to a re-cent reduction in force. Two of the directors working forJonathan were older, more experienced, and very skeptical ofthe changes that he wanted to bring about and of his abilityto turn the group around. “Everyone wondered why I wasthere,” Jonathan acknowledges.

“The very first thing you need to do is to size up the sit-uation,” he advises. This skill was intuitive to Jonathan, drawnfrom his youth spent in the 1970s on the East Side of Detroit,which he describes as a fairly rough neighborhood with one ofthe largest gangs. He describes how his days consisted of“getting by, avoiding drive-by shootings, and trying to survivewithout having to participate. So you learn very quickly ifyou’re determined to be very innovative and creative.” Becauseof this experience, “I always tell people that fear is not a mo-tivator for me, but instead I am motivated by a pat on theback for a good job.” It formed his perspective on “gettingalong and trying to understand people and breaking throughtheir personal combination lock—truly trying to learn whatmakes them tick. My motivation then was survival. Now, Iwant to do well and see others do well.”

Resisting the tactic to rush in and immediately begincleaning house, Jonathan decided to wait and give people afresh start with him. His decision to hold back was based onhis lack of a track record with the company. He believed thathis leadership effectiveness was based partly on performanceand partly on people management. In looking back on the in-terviews he held with his immediate group to try and under-stand what they wanted him to do, Jonathan concedes hemade a mistake. “I came in saying this is what we’re going todo, and I have your best interests in mind. I’m going to makesure that you just do tremendous here. I thought that would besomething they would want to hear. Unfortunately, I hadn’t


proven myself yet. They didn’t trust me. The group probablythought, ‘Who is this guy who is going to do these greatthings for me?’” As Jonathan points out, no matter what yourbackground or age is, take the time to listen and learn aboutwhat the group is doing before you start making changes.

Jonathan wanted to move quickly to get the ship on theright course. To help his team prioritize and focus on the rightthings, he brought in a framework to guide them in develop-ing a charter: a pyramid with six levels, each containing a com-ponent of the charter. At the top level is the mission: “Whywe exist.” Next is the vision: “What we ultimately want tobe.” The third level includes the values: “Who we are and howwe work.” Included here are behaviors such as actively solic-iting the ideas of others, viewing differences as assets ratherthan liabilities, and applying creative approaches to generatenew ideas, methods, or techniques to solve business problems.The fourth level of the pyramid consists of objectives: “Whatour desired outcomes are.” The fifth level includes strategies:“How we achieve our objectives,” and the sixth (bottom) levelof the pyramid is built on tactics/actions: “What we need todo.” The charter clearly spells out the shared goals and valuesof the team and specifies the actions necessary to achievingthem. The charter and the leadership style exemplified byJonathan that supports it serve to decrease miscommunicationat the last minute, a pitfall that often stymies organizations asthey try to become breakneck.

How does Jonathan Booth view collaboration? “As si-multaneous engineering where everyone works together inparallel.” Prior to his arrival, team members were not sharinginformation or communicating. He introduced technologicalchanges that enabled all team members to know where every-one else was and what they were working on. He began whatwould become a yearly evolution, in which staff reevaluate


their resumes and career goals, and update them. After a fewmonths, people began to trust him more. Jonathan is thought-ful about his role as leader: “You have a moral obligation todo the right thing by your people, given the fact that you canimpact their livelihood.”

Another change was the introduction of team meetings,which previously were seen as gripe sessions that put a bad tastein people’s mouths. Jonathan began 30-minute round tablemeetings held early in the morning. He now brings in bagels,introduces humor into the meetings, and makes sure he is thelast one to speak, as everyone around the table shares theirthoughts on the team’s progress. Quarterly off-site meetingsare held to draw people into decision making. He also startedbringing in some of his team members to CFO staff meetings,where they would make presentations to upper level manage-ment. “This gave my peers the chance to see what the peoplein my group could do, and it made it easier for them to moveinto other positions, if they desired.”

In describing his approach to leadership, Jonathan recallsthe time he had a cleaning business in which some of his em-ployees were former drug runners. “I had to motivate peoplecreatively. As a leader, the way you make your point is to showpeople that you are willing to do what it takes. There’s a timeto be a leader and a follower, a chief and an Indian. I recog-nize the subject matter experts for what they are, and I ac-knowledge when I don’t know something or make a mistake.

“My first goal was to change the culture and grab theirminds and hearts. People are now interested in getting intomy group. I make goals together with subordinates to estab-lish a vision. I wanted to put together a yearbook to help peo-ple have a sense of who they are talking to, with photos anddiagrams.” Because many members of the team do not residein the same location, the yearbook breaks down the barriers


created by geographical separation and helps people get toknow one another’s capabilities. Crystal, a team member, madeit happen, which he believes really empowered her. He takespride in helping people move to the next level—even if theydon’t immediately get the promotion. “I tell them, ‘You’re stilla winner, and if you really want this and are willing to becomebetter at managing people, you know you can have this job.’”

Coming in as team leader, without having a hand in pick-ing the team, can be a very challenging time. At the start, Jon-athan admitted to feeling exhausted at the end of each day. “Itwas as if I was marching down a football field with land mineson it. I was emotionally drained. I tried to protect the peoplein my group and was willing to take the blame.” He counsels,“Don’t be fearful of doing the right thing, even if the resultsare difficult. Believe that if you are doing the right thing foryour team, you will be taken care of.” Jonathan beams: “Every-one that has worked for me has gone on to be promoted. Iwant my people to be the most sought after people in the in-dustry and to upstage me.”

What does it take to be a successful leader? “There’s aneed for people with management skills training. There is a ten-dency for people to revert back to their old ways when thingsget difficult with deadlines.” The question for any leader is,“How can we still meet the challenges creatively but still keepour culture intact?” While many managers and team leadersemphasize their commitment to their teams, Jonathan Boothembodies the leadership qualities that bring the intention intoaction. It’s in his vision; it is shown by his concern for peo-ple’s career progression and success; and it is in his voice. ✴

“Nothing endures but change.”

—Heraclitus from Diogenes Laertius, Lives of Eminent Philosphers


Becoming Proactive: Change before You Need To

It is always a good idea to address something before itbecomes acute and painful. As we discussed in Principle Eight:Build Resiliency Muscles, sickness is a sign and pain is thestimulant for change. But what if we were proactively chang-ing, thus thwarting the pain? What if we proactively took timeto do a “need for change” assessment before change wasneeded. Sometimes the best thing we can do is take time outand ask ourselves change-stimulating questions.

TOOL YOU CAN USE . . .“Need for Change” Assessment

1. What have you outgrown as a team?

2. Are you personally fulfilled? Do team members feel

fulfilled?

3. What do you wish you had? What does the team need?

4. Is the team still effective? What stands in the way of

being effective? What can you do about that?

5. Look at the things the team does routinely—ask “Is this

still applicable? Do you still need to do this? Can you

make it more effective?”

6. What needs to leave? What don’t you need anymore?

7. Is the team growing? Why or why not?

8. Are you ready for the future?

9. What keeps team members up at night? What are you

most afraid of?

10. Is the team still on the right track? Do you need to modify/

change your strategy/your vision/your objectives?


When “change-ability” is an intended core competence weare not afraid to ask these questions. We welcome them and makethem a part of our daily inquiry. We make time for the ques-tions, the answers, and the implementation. There is no pointasking the questions if we are not willing to take some actiontoward the answers. This usually serves to frustrate even more.

“Live your questions now, and perhaps without

knowing it, you will live along some distant day into your

answers.”—Rainer Maria Rilke

Look for the Signs That Change Is Needed

There are the inevitable times when we get so wrappedup in our work and getting our jobs done that we do not evensee changes on the horizon. The need for change seems tosneak up on us, and only when we are face to face with the symp-toms of the need for change are we alerted to the fact thatsomething must be done. Here are some symptoms that changeand conversations about the need for change are needed:

• Boredom. Individuals or groups can become bored withwhat they are doing. This could be because they arenot challenged or because they are too challenged.They don’t know what to do so they are stymied (andthus become bored). Challenge is necessary for growth.Understanding what is behind the boredom is criticalfor the team to find effective solutions.

• Disengagement or disinterest. Here team members mightshut down or not contribute, but something is up,


and they have mentally checked out. Maybe peoplefeel powerless or they see the team has lost its way.Whatever the reason(s), it is time for the team to starttalking and looking for the areas that need to change.

• Petty fights and arguments. When people fight overpetty things there is usually some deeper, larger issuelurking. They might not be sure what it is or are afraidto speak up about it, but infighting is a symptom of aneed for change.

• Taking the path of least resistance (pseudo-fixes). Hereteams do something (anything) to try to stop the pain. Surely it’s better to do something rather thannothing—or so we think. Peter Senge has said we treatthe symptom instead of eradicating the cause. For ex-ample, if we have a headache (physical symptom) wetake an aspirin (fix to ease the pain). But if the head-ache is caused by neck strain from an improper com-puter workstation, we will keep getting the headacheuntil we fix the workstation (the real reason for ourheadaches).

BREAKING THROUGH TO . . .Change Signals

• What symptoms do you see in your team? (Try to name

the symptom as accurately as possible. Disinterest is dif-

ferent from disengagement. Both need to be addressed

but will probably need different corrective actions.)

• Have you tried to fix these problems before? What

happened?


• If you have not dealt with these symptoms before, what

could the team try now? (Rely on communication to

research and find accurate solutions. Try not to “quick-

fix” any of these symptoms until time is spent under-

standing the cause(s) or problem(s) and exploring

alternative solutions.)

TOOL YOU CAN USE . . .Future Look

The future is unknown and may be a bit scary. But

with a little planning and forethought you can prepare

yourselves for possible futures.

TRY THIS . . .

As a team, begin by articulating

issues/uncertainties/environmental factors you are con-

cerned might affect your business in the future (for the

good and for the bad). Select three or four issues/environ-

mental factors that intrigue the team. Assign two or three

people to each uncertainty to write a story about the future

based on the uncertainty coming to pass. Describe what

you (the team) would do if such a thing were to happen,

how you would react, and how customers would be acting.

What about competitors, or the government? Have each

subteam share their stories and discuss what the team can

do today to prepare for such a future.

The following story illustrates the power of change agentsto shape and propel the cycle of change forward into the future:


Planting Seeds for Change in Eureka Communities

Richard Ybarra is the Director of Eureka Communities,an organization in San Diego, California, that was founded tobring about transformational change in leaders and commu-nities. Richard credits his desire to make a difference in peo-ple’s lives to the inspirational influence of his wife’s family,Cesar and Helen Chavez and their extended relations. CesarEstrada Chavez, who passed away in his sleep in April 1993,became known over a 30-year career as a champion of nonvi-olence in the tradition of Mahatma Gandhi and Dr. MartinLuther King, Jr. Over the years, Chavez influenced and helpedchange politics in a number of places, especially California andhis native Arizona, including the signing of the first agricul-tural agreements in U.S. history. In August 2000, Californiagovernor Gray Davis signed into law a new official state holi-day. He declared March 31st as Cesar E. Chavez Day, to com-memorate the birthday of the internationally acclaimed farmlabor and civil rights leader. Chavez’ wife Helen, their eightchildren, and 30 grandchildren continue his tradition of non-violent social and political work. Chavez truly was the changehe sought, and his legacy is something Richard Ybarra takeswith him into every work environment and professional chal-lenge he faces, including Eureka Communities.

This legacy of “change creating change” is what EurekaCommunities is all about. With locations in several majorAmerican cities, it brings together people who work in bothprofit and non-profit worlds by providing opportunities forthem to collaborate with and learn from one another. Eu-reka’s mission is to bring about transformational change bybuilding citywide networks of community-based, nonprofit


leaders who are positioned to improve life conditions for chil-dren, women, and families. At the core of Eureka is a two-year, on-the-job fellowship, a leadership training program forexecutives of community-based organizations.

In eight short years, Eureka’s community of leaders hasprospered, producing 338 fellows, supported by over 250mentor organizations. Eureka San Diego has graduated 100fellows in the past seven years, each of whom leads a commu-nity organization. These organizations serve nearly one mil-lion people in the San Diego area.

An example of the programs that Richard Ybarra directsinclude the Neighborhood Civic Leadership Program, whichis a six-week training program led by ten individuals who arefellows. It is a civic leadership program for business people fo-cusing on how these leaders can achieve collaboration withintheir respective organizations. Leaders are taught how to keepup the momentum within their teams, have the courage tocommunicate, face ridicule or even danger, and instill com-mitment to the values of their neighborhood organizations.Central to this training is helping the leaders learn how to domore without imposing their own agendas on their group.

Participants leave with collaboration tools, exposure tocontemporary methods of team leadership, and a network ofmentors and fellows who offer support. And as Richard says,“They won’t stop after that!” He describes Eureka San Diego’sprogram as “an avenue to having your own voice and takingit to younger people, to expose youth to what is going on intheir community.”

One story of how Eureka San Diego shapes transforma-tional changes in the communities it serves is that of FellowGale Walker, who was recognized in May 1999 by the SmallBusiness Administration as welfare to work “Entrepreneur ofthe Year.” Gale was lauded for her commitment to improving


the lives of children through her Children of the Rainbow, a 7,000-square-foot child care center in the Logan Heightscommunity.

Change creates change. Through their innovative initia-tives, Eureka Communities plants the seeds for communityimprovement by building collaborative relationships through-out the business and civic communities across the city. Thecycle of social change begun by Chavez lives on through thework of Richard Ybarra and the motivation and hard work ofEureka Fellows to make lasting change. They are rewarded bythe results they achieve and the difference they make in edu-cation, welfare, and well-being within the neighborhoods ofSan Diego. ✴

“If we had no winter, the spring would not be so

pleasant: if we did not sometimes taste of adversity, pros-

perity would not be so welcome.”—Anne Bradstreet, Meditations Divine and Moral (1655)

Change One Bite at a Time

An interesting phenomenon around change is that whenwe begin to look at changing something, we start to see manyother things that need to change. It is similar to remodeling ahouse. We know we want to change the kitchen. It needs a newfloor, but if we are going to change the floor, then the cabi-nets need to be updated. And if we do the cabinets, we shouldget new appliances—oh, what the heck, let’s just redo thecounter tops. And if we change the kitchen, the dining roomwill look terribly outdated—so that needs to change too.Whoa, we just escalated from a $500 new floor to a $10,000


kitchen, a $10,000 dining room, and loads more time, plan-ning, furniture, and fixtures.

This happens in our workplaces too. We finally decide weare going to change our sales process. It has not served us forover a year. So we begin the effort of modifications. When wenotice the marketing materials are a problem—let’s overhaulthem too. But wait, the manufacturing process is not sup-porting sales, so that needs to change. And before we know itwe are reinventing the whole company, or we get so over-whelmed by all that needs to happen we shut down and noth-ing changes. Sound familiar?

There is an old joke that applies here: How do you eatan elephant? Answer: one bite at a time. How many times havewe tried to swallow the elephant whole? No doubt, it’s beentoo many to count. Make the changes in bite-size portions,where we can chew and swallow without choking the teamand ourselves. (Note to elephants: we are speaking metaphor-ically, of course.) When we embark on any effort to change,focus on something and finish it before taking another bite.People will feel better about being able to focus, and theywon’t have indigestion.

BREAKING THROUGH TO . . .Change Management

• What project is the team trying to swallow whole?

• How can you break it down into more manageable pieces?

• What is most important to be tackled now? What can

wait?

• What feedback does the team need before making fur-

ther changes?


“You must be the change you wish to see in the

world.”—Gandhi

Unlocking Team Genius with Principle Nine:Make Change Happen

• Develop change-ability into a core competency.• Prepare for change by scanning the environment and

planning for possible futures.• Practice change as often as possible by challenging the

ways you have always operated.• Be first! Proactively change instead of just reacting to

problems and symptoms.

AXIOM . . .

Change for Growth’s Sake


PRINCIPLE TEN

Play and Rejuvenate

“The number one premise in business is that it need

not be boring or dull. If it is, you’re wasting your life.”—Tom Peters

Don’t Wait to Play

The breakneck pace of business has us believing we haveno time to play, but life is too short not to enjoy our work.Because of the amount of time we spend there, it is importantthat work not only be fulfilling but fun. Did we mention lifeis too short not to play at work?

One of the great myths about work and teamwork is thatwhen we have done what we are supposed to do and havecompleted our real work—then we can have fun! We havebeen taught that play is something we do after the real workgets done. Or worse, that work is not supposed to be fun. Tryto think of all the one-liners that reinforce the message that

213

work is not fun: stop monkeying around, stop horsing around,stop goofing around, stop playing around and get back towork, or one of our favorites—it sounds like you are havingtoo much fun. Can you ever have too much fun?

Play and fun at work are like soothing balm on tired feet.When we can manage a good laugh or a great joke, the laugh-ter breaks the tension and for a moment relaxes our overtaxedheads.

Have you ever noticed when you are at your most cre-ative? Many people say it’s when they are in the shower, run-ning, or in the car. We find the answers to life’s questions inmoments of peacefulness and relaxation or after we have phys-ically exerted ourselves, when we are so drained of energy wecan finally think clearly.

So why is it that if we get our best answers in times ofpeace and relaxation we feel that it’s not acceptable to createthose circumstances in our work and in the environment ofthe workplace?

Principle Ten: Play and Rejuvenate is about just that: intending to make play and rejuvenation part of our everydaywork.

TOOL YOU CAN USE . . .Time Out

Is exhaustion and frustration the mainstay of your

mental corporate diet? Is your body totally tense and your

gray matter twisted into a pretzel? Are you so used to deal-

ing with anxiety that you have anxiety over your anxiety?

Well, before anymore business as usual . . .


TRY THIS . . .

Take a time out. Kids get them all the time when they

are in need of a break—so why not you? Create a sign that

says “Taking a Time Out” and go for a run to clear your

mind, do some yoga, or get a massage. Have a smoothie,

write ten things that you love about your life, help someone

out of a pickle, read a children’s story, go to the park and

swing, or share some jelly beans. You get it—take a play

break and do something fun. If you manage other people,

make sure they take the time to do this also. The payoffs will

be big.

“The secret of genius is to carry the spirit of the child

into old age, which means never losing your enthusiasm.”—Aldous Huxley

Create a Space or Place to Play

Some companies have gone so far as to create a physicalplace to play. A software firm in Chicago has dedicated a roomfor the engineers to relax and play. There is an air-hockey gameand cappuccino machine. The room has high ceilings and asofa. It’s a symbolic place that says, “It’s okay to play.” Thiscompany understands the benefits of a place where people canconnect and do traditional work in a nontraditional way.

Lucent Technologies has dedicated 1,200 square feet ofprecious conference room space to creativity. The place haspurple walls and a floor-to-ceiling white board for mind map-ping and connection making. A full library of books, maga-zines, video and audiotapes give people a place to come, relax,

Principle Ten: Play and Rejuvenate 215

and re-energize. Bean bag chairs and furniture on wheels en-able teams to customize the environment to their needs.

You don’t have to get this elaborate. Maybe you canhave a few Koosh balls, Silly Putty, and Play-Doh in the con-ference room with a scenic beach poster on the back wall. (Ortake a clue from your local dentist who has puppies and inspi-rational sayings on the ceiling of her office.)

The craziest things start to happen when a tear is openedin the corporate veil. People will have fun just playing with theidea of play. Drop a few hints, hand out some gel pens andPlay-Doh, and watch the fun start to ooze out.

“Work tends to be a convergent activity, focusing in

on the task at hand. Play is a divergent activity. It opens out

and is not easy to contain. At Nissan Design International,

we have deliberately made room for it, and it is often diffi-

cult to know when we are using play to work or when we

are simply playing while at work.”—Jerry Hirshberg, The Creative Priority

BREAKING THROUGH TO . . .Play and Fun

• What is the team’s philosophy about play/fun?

• Does the team put off play and fun until the work gets

done?

• Do you have an environment that says, “It’s okay to play”?

• What can the team do to incorporate more play and fun

into your work and workday?


Don’t Let Your Well Run Dry

Hunker down and work harder. That is what we usuallydo when we have to get something done. We “push it, pushit, push it” and drive ourselves mad. But many times we pushand push only to end up the next morning junking all the ef-fort from the night before.

In our MBA classes, in which nearly all students work fulltime while attending school part time, we have noticed thatstudents who work for a certain company always come to classlate, looking like they have been standing in a windstorm andhaven’t slept for a week. Their stories confirm our suspicion:this firm values face time. Some students even tell us storiesabout how people compete with one another in this companyover who comes in earliest and stays latest. Does this organi-zation really believe its people are harnessing their creativityand using their repertoire of skills? Just because people are de-pleting their energy does not mean the organization is gettingproductivity. It doesn’t prove the team is run like a tight shipset up to perform hard and well. It means we are using up amost precious resource—the people.

If you recognize the expectation for face time in yourselfor your team, please put a stop to it now. Don’t squeeze everyounce of energy from people. Create some slack to exploreand have a life. The beauty is you’ll get more than you ex-pected in the form of refreshed strategies and innovative ideasto carry you forward. Isn’t that what we are striving for?

Replenish the Well

Exhaustion is a signal that your internal well has run dry.There is no energy left for living, much less creating any new


things at home or work. When this happens, some peoplekeep dropping their buckets down the well (pushing them-selves) in hopes of getting the last few drops of water. Alas,there is really nothing down there to drink. The wellspring ofvitality is used up. Now there is just dust and drips.

You can keep dropping your pail into your dried-up well,but the drops you get are not going to quench your need fornew ideas, new products, or new strategies. To get break-throughs and innovation you need to fill the well throughplay and rejuvenation. Rejuvenation is the ticket.

So what can we do to rejuvenate and reinvigorate ourteams? Try some of the following ideas.

Rejuvenation Idea 1: “No-Thing”

Sometimes the best thing you can do is no-thing. Do no-thing. Just sit—breathe. Don’t even think. Can we just sit inthe grass and be? Can we sit on a park bench and just watchthe tree branches sway? Probably not—not for more than fiveseconds. This is why eastern philosophy speaks so highly ofmeditation. This practice of clearing and quieting the mind isin an effort to create space in our heads (between our thoughts)for other input. When we are going a mile a minute we are notgetting the benefit of novel thinking. So stop, just stop forone minute and just do no-thing.

Rejuvenation Idea 2: Celebrations

Celebrating is a wonderful way to stop and consciouslynote what has been accomplished. Celebrating sometimesgets short shrift in our high-powered world. We don’t havetime to celebrate. It is too costly. We don’t have time. It’s silly.


Blah, blah, blah. Don’t let the opportunity to celebrate passyou by. One of the most important parts of any project is ac-knowledging its life cycle. Every project has a beginning, mid-dle, and end. Acknowledging the completion or end of anyphase helps us prepare for the next phase; celebrating is a sym-bolic way to signify the end or completion of something.

Celebrating should not be limited to when things end.Learn to celebrate home runs and nice tries. Find ways to rec-ognize well-placed effort.

TOOL YOU CAN USE . . .Seasoning

So here you are on a project that seems like it will go

on perpetually. There is no end in sight—when will you ever

get a break? When can you stop even just for a moment and

catch a breath? Before you see the future as a constant

stream of the same old same old . . .

TRY THIS . . .

Create every project with a beginning, middle, and

end. With large projects create phases or little ends which

represent the cycles of life. Look at each phase of a project

like you look at the seasons of the year. Every project should

have a spring, when we are getting ready to bloom (prepar-

ing, objective setting, exploring, data gathering); a summer,

when we are in full bloom (doing, executing, making things

happen); a fall, when we are bedding down for winter

(wrapping things up, putting finishing touches on); and a

winter, when we are replenishing and resting. Don’t skimp

on winter.


Rejuvenation Idea 3: Laughter and Comic Relief

Playing together and laughing is one of the greatest re-juvenators around. One of the best things about the Internetis you can e-mail jokes. If we use it for nothing more than jok-ing, the Internet is worth its weight in gold. Those great jokesthat get sent round are such great comic relief. Next time youare stuck, frustrated, or cannot think of what to do, pull outa humorous book (Orbiting the Giant Hairball is one of ourfavorites), or go on the Internet and read some jokes. Re-member that Jervis, from the TV smash hit Survivor, surviveduntil close to the end mostly because he provided comic re-lief. It is a necessity.

“He who laughs, lasts.”—Mary Pettibone Poole

Rejuvenation Idea 4: Nature

There is something very rejuvenating about nature,whether it is a nature walk or nature in the office. The needfor natural distractions could well be the reason for the “bringyour pet to work” movement on the rise. We want to havethings that remind us of our home at work—pets are natural.Having pets and plants in the office helps to make it more realand comfortable, as does natural light. Being cooped up in ahermetically sealed building with no windows cuts us off fromthat which nourishes us—the sun.

We can go really wild and bring in a fountain, play a CDof nature sounds, or better yet, get a canary and fish tank. Thepoint is, nature and that which is natural has rejuvenatingpowers that we can bring right into our cubed world.


Rejuvenation Idea 5: Distractions

Distractions help break up the monotony of every day.They are the little things like bringing someone flowers forthe desk or having a spontaneous ice cream social. The key in-gredient is that the distraction is not routine. Spontaneity andnovelty are what give these distractions vitality.

Rejuvenation Idea 6: Sabbaticals

If we have reached the point of complete exhaustion, wemight need a much longer rejuvenation time than a weekendor four days in Vegas. Some people drain their wells so com-pletely that only an extended period of rejuvenation can filltheir well. (This is why making play part of everyday is so im-portant—it might mitigate the probability of a breakdown.)Here sabbaticals are wonderful. A sabbatical can give us neededdown time and help fill our well with fresh clean spring water.This freshness is a result of taking an extended period of timeto rest, travel, and maybe do something different than whatwe do every day. Learning something new invigorates andgives us fresh perspectives. Healthy teams and healthy peoplekeep their wells full. Making time to rejuvenate and play isvital to a functioning, breakthrough team.

BREAKING THROUGH TO . . .Rejuvenation

• Does the team have a space where people can go and

rejuvenate?


• Is it okay to do no-thing sometimes?

• How can the team incorporate more celebrating into work?

• What can you do to celebrate home runs and nice tries?

• What are you going to do to get some comic relief?

• How can you bring nature and the outdoors into work?

• Can you negotiate an extended period of time for a sab-

batical or try something different on your next vacation?

Blue Man Group“A Team That Knows How to Play”

The Blue Man Group is best known for its award-winningtheatrical productions that critics have described as “ground-breaking,” “hilarious,” “visually stunning,” and “musicallypowerful.” The performance features three enigmatic baldand blue characters who take you through a multisensory ex-perience that combines theater, percussive music, art, science,and vaudeville into a form of entertainment like nothing else.

What strikes you most about these guys is that they havegot creative collaboration down cold. The creativity thatbursts out of the show is inspirational, the seamless executionmind-boggling. You cannot tell the difference between thethree men because they are visually the same. But each BlueMan is unique with his own special talent: one can catch marsh-mallows with the speed of a cat; the other can bang a drum toperfection; and the third can fold up into a ball.

Nothing is beyond the scope of this team. They spit, run,and make instruments out of PVC tubing. It seems the worldis just one big playground that they use to create music, dance,and entertainment. The healthy humor and joking that takes


place between the Blue Man Group and people in the audi-ence is well worth the price of admission.

The fun starts immediately after you’re seated, as ushersdistribute long strips of tissue paper which people tie aroundtheir heads—some in big bows holding back hair, others asheadbands. The audience members in the first five rows are is-sued plastic ponchos to protect them from splattering paint,flying food, and other projectiles.

Sitting in the audience you wonder, “What am I doinghere?” But by the end you are completely pulled in and feel-ing free to play along. The transformation of the people, fromwell-dressed urbanites to goofy kids, is wonderful.

If you get a chance, take some time to see the Blue ManGroup.1 Maybe go as a team (great team-building outing),because these guys have teamwork figured out. Afterward,discuss among your team: what does the Blue Man Group dothat we need to do more of? What enables them to work soseamlessly together? What about that creativity? What can wedo to get more of that? ✴

“A man who works with his hands is a laborer, a man

who works with his hands and brain is a craftsman, a man

who works with his hands and brain and heart is an artist.”—Louis Nizer

Getting to Flow

The ultimate goal of any breakthrough team is flow. Thebreakthrough team is in a state where they are working soseamlessly together it is not like work anymore. They are many


merged into one. The lightheartedness of play combined withthe strong foundation of trust and interconnectivity gainedthrough working through the ten principles enables the teamto rise to the next dimension of working together.

We rise above petty difficulties and interpersonal issuesto a place of working where time moves quickly, things getdone effortlessly, and outcomes are greater than could havebeen achieved by only one. A team in flow is a beautiful thing.

The Blue Man Group gives this sensation of flow. We cantell they have done the hard work of learning their skills, theroutines, and interplay with one another, so that when they fi-nally come to the stage, they are operating at a performancelevel that seems magical.

This magical quality, where it seems we have moved be-yond our minds and bodies into a realm of connection withall there is, is the land of breakthroughs. We are able to tapinto understanding and wisdom we did not know we had.When we are in a flow state with our teammates, working to-gether effortlessly, breakthroughs are common.

Becoming a breakthrough team is hard work, and it ismore about letting go of things than learning things: lettinggo of our fears, the worries about what we have to get done,the way we expect things should be, and opening up to whatcould be.

It is very similar to yoga. The practice of yoga has stu-dents working to learn the postures and gain strength so theycan hold the poses. But within every posture, we need to learnnot to push our bodies to the point of pain, but to let go ofthe tension and strain. We breathe into each pose relaxationand release, letting go of the effort. In this state of release, wefind our muscles relax and our bodies give just a bit more.Yoga is the practice of letting go to get in flow, moving gen-tly and smoothly into each posture with beauty and grace.


Think of anything that fills you with this flow feeling:watching a beautiful ballet, listening to a moving piece of music,sitting on a beach where life moves as easily as the tide ebbsand flows, or playing catch with your kids at the park. They allconjure a state of peace and ease. This is the state of being thatour teams can reach. We have worked hard, communicating,trusting, and growing together, so now we can relax and flowwith one another, knowing we are a breakthrough team.

BREAKING THROUGH TO . . .Flow

• Have you ever experienced this state of flow? Describe

what it was like. What did it feel like? What were you

thinking?

• Imagine the team in this flow state. Describe what it is

doing. How are people interacting?

“Genius is nothing more than childhood recovered

at will.”—Charles Baudelaire

Unlocking Team Genius with Principle Ten:Play and Rejuvenate

• Don’t wait to play.• Create an environment or place that says it’s okay to

play.


• Take time to fill the well—rejuvenate.• Enjoy times when your team is functioning so well to-

gether, it is in flow.

AXIOM . . .

Play or Fade Away


PUTTING THE PRINCIPLES IN ACTION

What You Can Do

“Even if you’re on the right track, you’ll get run over if

you just sit there.”—Will Rogers

Change begins one person at a time. To transform ourteams we must be earnest about transforming ourselves.Throughout this book we have talked about many ways to un-lock the genius within your team and within you. Implied inevery principle is the necessity that each individual team mem-ber take responsibility for their actions; that each member, in-cluding you, intends to put these principles into practice.

Breakthrough Basics—What You Can Do

Begin the journey to creative collaboration with internalexploration. Understand what is important and meaningful toyou. When we are clear about our purpose and passions we

227

can communicate these to our fellow team members. We cancome from a place of personal integrity and authority thatdoes not need to be defended or sold. It is just us, the part wehave to give to the team.

Once we are clear about what is important to us, we canthen be open to creating a shared vision with our teammates.Here we practice the muscle of detachment—where we putour expectations and viewpoints on hold to listen to otherteam member’s viewpoints. Even if our team never formallysits down to construct their vision (which the authors hopedoes not happen), taking time to work through the visioningprocess yourself is a worthwhile use of your time and energy.Having an understanding of where you want to head helpsyou weed out distracting dead end options.

Own your power of choice. You have choice in your life;do not take on a victim mentality and don’t let your team either.Choose your culture; choose how you will operate together.Minimally, choose how you will conduct yourself within yourteam. Remember to build a fully funded action bank accountthrough courageous speech and action.

Cultivate an entrepreneurial mindset. Learn to see your-self as the owner of a business and not just another employee.Your team members are owners of their business. How canyou make it more effective, profitable, and customer driven?Entrepreneurs are renowned for their chutzpah and willing-ness to take risks. Cultivate a risk-taking mentality within your-self by looking at things through the lens of an explorer,versus the spectacles of a judge.

An experimentation mentality is only one of many men-tal muscles you can be building every day. Commitment tobuilding your resilience mental muscles will help you thrive inthe new economy. The muscles of respect, detachment, cu-riosity, possibility, “we-mentality,” play, collaboration, proac-


tivity, and celebration will help you and your team becomeopen—creating the possibility for breakthroughs.

“Discovery consists in seeing what everyone else has

seen, and thinking what no one else has thought.”—Albert Szent Gyorgi, 1937 Nobel Prize in Physiology

and Medicine

Now for dessert, for what’s a good meal without dessert?The story of a man who has created a life and philosophy thatexemplifies the principles practiced by breakthrough teams.

Tony Watson“Leadership and Collaboration”

As the Chief Executive Officer of US Alliance Group inWashington, D.C. and New York, following a 31-year careerin uniform, most recently as Rear Admiral in the U.S. Navy,Tony Watson has cultivated some valuable lessons on leader-ship and life. His story reflects a set of deep and varied expe-riences through which he has shaped the lives of many. We hadthe opportunity to have a conversation with him about whatit means to be a collaborative leader. His insights provide anexcellent wrap-up to the presentation of the ten principles forbreakthrough teams. His life is inspiring, his work meaningful.

“First, whenever I think about leadership in its context—it took me a long time to figure this out—but after 31 yearsin uniform (27 active and 4 at the United States Naval Acad-emy) and a course taught by Harvard to senior officials in Na-tional Security for senior leaders in government, I feel that itis something that evolves over time. How do you define when

Putting the Principles in Action: What You Can Do 229

you feel that you’ve reached a point in leadership when youare successful? You are successful when you can turn aroundand look at a group of people and ask of them: ‘Will you fol-low me?’ And, hopefully, the answer will be yes when you askthem to do that. You’ll know when you’ve gotten to that pointwhen a significant number of people in the group will say yes.

“In the distant past, there have been myths and stereo-types that military leaders simply issued ultimatums to getthings done. On the contrary, in today’s military, there isgreater (and necessary) emphasis on collaborative teamwork.It is important that leaders share with their subordinates thereasoning associated with their mission, so they may internal-ize the purpose for which they stand.

“I learned most of the important elements of leadershipwhile I was in the Navy a yard at a time, not football fields ata time. I stumbled here and there, but it was through the dif-ficult times that I learned how to deal with folks. I used tothink that the people from the academy (later in the subma-rine force) who qualified first were the best leaders. I didn’trealize that I had it all wrong until I became CommandingOfficer of the USS Jacksonville. I learned that those who movespeedily along the way and get promoted because they’re smarthaven’t had the time to stop and mature with their troops/team along the way.

“My father taught me a big lesson when I came homefrom the Naval Academy. He pulled me off to the side of ourpublic housing unit in Cabrini Green (in Chicago) and said:‘Tony, you may know more than I know, but you do notknow what I know.’” [Then] Ensign Watson had graduatedfrom the Naval Academy in 1970 in his class of over 1,000midshipmen in an intensely competitive environment. “My father taught me that smart is relative to the task at hand. Whenyou look at that application on teams, whether it’s a ship at


sea or Microsoft, who’s smarter? The captain or the electricianwho stands the watch at the stern of the ship and listens to thewhir of the motor, notices that it sounds different than theday before, and that it needs to be stopped before the bearingburns up? When it comes to that pump, the electrician issmarter.

“I ask children: Who’s smarter? The bus driver or the as-tronaut? What if you were in the bus and it was careeningdown a hill. And the bus driver had a heart attack. Who wouldyou want to take over the wheel? A bus driver, movie star, oran astronaut? The bus driver! Getting there first is not alwaysthe best way to get there. You might not learn as much alongthe way.

“The cooks on ships ultimately control the morale of thecrew. If they have a dirty dining facility, you know that they’renot handling food in a sanitary way. You won’t be happy. Theycan control the morale of the crew. It all folds back into lead-ership experience. As you grow more mature, and are able toaccept positions of greater responsibility with more people,you must recognize the experience that all people bring to thetable. That’s why it’s so important to have an organizationthat is diverse. You learn to accept and capitalize on whatevery person brings to the table.

“I was attending a course taught by Ronald Heifetz atHarvard’s JFK School of Government when the Rodney Kingriot was taking place. I can remember listening to a radio sta-tion during the evening in Boston and I got even more upsetwhen the announcers decided not to talk about it anymore. Ifelt that it was such an important issue that it needed to betalked about nationally. I went to class in the morning and feltso much pressure. The incident really hit home, as I remem-ber growing up in public housing in Chicago with nine or tenpeople in an apartment, 5,000 or 6,000 people jammed into


a building, over 100-degree weather, and no air-conditioning.No matter how difficult things got, people held onto their be-lief that in the final analysis there is justice. There was thissense that the only thing that they had going for them, jus-tice, was no longer there. I identified with the situation, grow-ing up in those environments where everyone was jammed in.

“Throughout the morning in class I heard my classmatescomplaining about how people could possibly be that way.While I absolutely did not condone any of the actions, I hada sense of what the people were feeling and understood howthey could feel that way and the pressure that bore their ac-tions. The professor asked for people’s reactions around theroom. I felt an immense amount of pressure after hearing peo-ple comment about how bad it was and how they couldn’tidentify. When the discussion came to me, I couldn’t talk. Istarted crying. There was so much pressure trying to commu-nicate to people in this air-conditioned, perfectly kept room atHarvard, when across the country people had lost their lastbelief in this country.

“Professor Heifetz had written a book on leadership thatincluded the phenomenon of the silverback gorilla. The malegorilla is the leader of the group, but he holds this positiononly temporarily, as long as he (the leader) can find bananasand protect the group. If the group reaches a condition of in-stability, and they fear that they are not being treated fairly orare not safe, then they assign leadership to another perceivedleader in the group until they feel that they are safe. Peopleare really only given temporary terms of leadership as long asthey are able to deliver the stability that people need. Peoplein positions of leadership must realize the importance of col-laboration. Leadership is a privilege.”

We asked Tony Watson how you could achieve collabo-ration for a common cause and help people focus on the vision


and want to work together, especially when it might mean theultimate sacrifice:

“The important point is that if a leader is to effect that,the vision must be communicated as something that is a sharedvision. It’s difficult to walk into an organization and imposeyour vision on the group, until you spend time to sit downwith the team to let them know what’s important to you andyour value system. Get them to respect the experience thatyou’ve gained. It’s not really about being smart. We all havesomething to bring to the table. Once that foundation is set,you have a much higher probability/chance of people beinginspired to follow you.

“Collaboration is crucial. There is no single answer to allthose questions and I don’t ever want to suggest that mine arethe right answers. The right answers are an integration of derivatives over time through learning. You must practice andcommunicate the fundamentals, whether it’s on a footballteam, a ship, or in a software factory. You talk it through sothat everyone understands his or her piece/role. You reallywon’t know how effective or how well-oiled the team is untilit operates under pressure. Only then will you know the syn-ergy or breakdown of the team. You can have an understand-ing of the process technically, but will not be able to developa sense of your team to see if they are really committed to thevision and if it is shared well enough so that they are willingput their life on the line because they believe in you and yourvalues. That won’t happen unless you have an understandingof the shared vision, and people make that commitment to theshared vision. It’s not necessarily easy to do. It takes the workof creating that shared vision to do that.

“It starts with a vision that is shared. It can’t simply be mandated from someone. To overcome the temptation to not put it off on someone else is a challenge as a leader. The


important element is sharing that vision in such a way thatpeople understand your values first. If they don’t understandyour values first and respect you, there is no real reason to be-lieve in you. For those leaders that work in an organization,they have to spend the time sitting with their team and artic-ulating the issues that are important to them before they ex-pect their people to lay it all on the line.

“Everyone wants to have a ‘silverback.’ If you were toplot the level of uneasiness, people really want to look tosomeone that they believe in who will keep them safe. In turn,they wouldn’t mind clearing the way for them. Look at Roo-sevelt or Churchill. You wouldn’t go to war or be willing todie if you didn’t believe in what you’re doing.”

When Tony took command of his first submarine, the re-tention rate was 39 percent. When he left the ship 13 monthslater, the retention rate was 92 percent. He spent time withthe food specialists, learning about their lives and what wasimportant to them.

“If people feel that you really care for them, you’ll startbuilding up a bank account. People will respond to you. It’sall about communicating your value systems,” Tony says. Hementions the law of psychological reciprocity: “If someoneshould give you something positive, you are psychologicallycommitted to give something positive back to them.”

He had a friend from his past who came to the ChangeOf Command in 1987 and sat in the audience. After the for-mal ceremony, they went to the reception. His friend toldhim, “It’s not in spite of the fact that you grew up in CabriniGreen that you made it. It’s because of the fact that you camefrom Cabrini Green that you’ve made it!” The integration ofall those experiences makes us all unique. We are all a sum ofour experiences. The good and the bad experiences make usinto who we are.


Joanna Sprtel, now an MBA candidate at DePaul Uni-versity, told us how she first met Admiral Watson:

“I was a plebe at the U.S. Naval Academy, the lowestrung in the chain, while he was third in command of the acad-emy. I was late to class, carrying over 20 pounds of books,when I came upon a group of high-ranking officers. Unsureof how to properly address such a large group of senior offi-cers, I greeted them all with a crisp salute and an enthusiastic‘Good afternoon, gentlemen.’ Then Captain Watson, whocould clearly see that I was nervous, looked at my nametagand said ‘How do you pronounce that, Midshipman FourthClass S . . .? Where are you from?’ When we both realized thatwe had the common denominator of Chicago, an instantbond was created. The fact he took the time out of his day tospeak to a plebe says a lot about the type of leader that he is.That small moment in time changed much of the way I thinkabout things. He never forgot me after that and a very spe-cial friendship/mentorship was developed from that randomafternoon.”

Tony Watson shared a story with us that illustrates justhow creative (and willing to take psychological risks!) he waswhen he served as Deputy Commandant at the U.S. NavalAcademy:

“It was the night before the Army-Navy football game. Iwanted to find some way to stimulate the troops before thegame. We had 4,300 midshipmen eating in the dining hall(this truly must be one of the largest dining facilities in theworld). I suggested to the midshipman in charge of the bri-gade to bring music in the room to get everyone up and doingthe ‘Electric Slide.’ He didn’t believe I could get them to dothat, so I started by asking a few midshipmen to get up andstart dancing. Eventually, I led the entire brigade of midship-men (over 4,000!) in the Electric Slide!”


Today, Tony Watson is bringing people together to formmemories of a different sort. Tony and his wife Sharon createdthe vision for their new company, US Alliance Group, manyyears ago while sitting on a beach in Waikiki, when he was com-manding the Submarine Squadron in Hawaii. He wanted to runan organization that enabled him to open doors for peoplewho might not otherwise have those opportunities.

He explains, “I want to articulate to corporate America thevalue of people with military experience. The military is reallyabout learning how important it is for people to work togetherand collaborate. They know who the ‘silverback’ is in reality andwho it is by appointment, what their strengths and weaknessesare. When they are ready to transition, military personnel areused to working in teams, drug free, and technically adept.”

US Alliance Group is delivering those people to corpo-rate America, just as Tony Watson himself has been deliveringopportunities to countless teams with his inspirational leader-ship style and collaborative vision for accomplishing goals. ✴

“There are no days in life so memorable as those

which vibrated to some stroke of the imagination.”—Ralph Waldo Emerson

In Conclusion

As we have seen in Tony Watson’s story, and those of themany other people, teams, and organizations profiled through-out this book, breakthroughs come about through magic andpreparation. As Joe Poyer said, “Thorough preparation makesits own luck.”


The ten principles can help you increase the probability ofbreakthroughs. Preparedness, and becoming “breakthrough-prone” is your part in it. You can ready yourself for differentpossibilities to emerge. Listen to your intuition and that ofyour team. Most of all, find time for play and rejuvenation inyour work and in your team: as a drained battery is of no useto a car, so too is a drained team bringing no value to the or-ganization. This book has been about preparing our teamsand ourselves, creating the conditions for breakthroughs tohappen. You have started on your journey and we hope thesediscoveries are useful to you as you continue to . . .

Unlock Your Genius



The Ten Principles of Breakthrough Teams

PRINCIPLE ONE: COME TOGETHER FOR A MEANINGFUL

REASON

Axiom: Start with a Difference in Order to Make One

PRINCIPLE TWO: CO-CREATE AN UNDERSTANDING OF

THE VISION

Axiom: Start with the Right Foundation to Build on

Solid Ground

PRINCIPLE THREE: CHOOSE THE CULTURE YOU WANT

Axiom: Choose the Culture You Want and Then Live It

PRINCIPLE FOUR: ENGAGE IN COURAGEOUS SPEECH

AND ACTION

Axiom: Courageous Action Is Empowering Behavior

PRINCIPLE FIVE: CULTIVATE SHARED RESPONSIBILITY

AND SHARED OWNERSHIP

Axiom: Act Like a Business to Stay in Business

PRINCIPLE SIX: EXPLORE RISK TAKING

Axiom: Without Risks, You Cannot Grow

PRINCIPLE SEVEN: GOVERN FROM WITHIN

Axiom: All for One and One for All

PRINCIPLE EIGHT: BUILD RESILIENCY MUSCLES

Axiom: Exercise Your Collaborative Mental Muscles

PRINCIPLE NINE: MAKE CHANGE HAPPEN

Axiom: Change for Growth’s Sake

PRINCIPLE TEN: PLAY AND REJUVENATE

Axiom: Play or Fade Away

OUTTAKES

Some Parting Thoughts

As the credits roll at the end of a film, many directorsshow a series of outtakes. These scenes offer glimpses into themaking of the film, and frequently contain memorable mo-ments of actors speaking directly to the audience. We havecompiled such a series for this book. The ideas in this sectioncontain advice, pearls of wisdom, points of caution, and quipsfrom some of the people we interviewed for this book. Theydo not represent a comprehensive set of everyone’s thoughts,but they are representative of what we have heard over thesemany months. They are no less important than the informa-tion found in the preceding chapters. We leave you with thesethoughts:

Diggi Thomson: “No one has a monopoly on goodideas. I have come to realize that—let others help build it, andencourage others to let you help build theirs. Then it is veryeasy to build around it in all sorts of ways. In a meeting situ-ation, you sense the excitement rising as it builds on that idea

239

and spills out and over and people go away buzzed. At thecore everyone is very clear of the creative engine.”

Jonathan Booth: “Vision sets the common person asidefrom all others.”

Tony Watson: “Mission is what you have to do today.Vision is something you are reaching for. The difference be-tween the mission and the vision helps to chart the course.”

Marsha Serlin: “Don’t be afraid to do the unexpected.Find the opportunity in each setback.”

Ralph Ardill: “The bigger the idea, the bigger the risk.Idea and risk are four-letter words. There are only so manyprojects you can do in your life. The better, more elegant youcan design the process, the more success you will have in yourprojects.”

Jonathan Booth: “Don’t be afraid to put it all on theline. Sometimes you need to just put it all out on the table andtake a risk. If you really believe that you can do something,put your job on the line. Tell them, ‘If after this you are notsatisfied, I’ll leave.’ People either think that you’re crazy . . .or really passionate.”

Lynne O’Shea: “It takes an audience to make a presen-ter or performer outstanding. Likewise with teamwork. It’s acombination of experts, each taking the lead role as neededwith others supporting the effort. Leadership rotates, energyrotates, but vision is shared.”


Diggi Thomson: “Recognition, recognition, recogni-tion—preferably praise in public in front of peers. But if pri-vate praise is all that’s possible, that’s great too! Just becausesomeone is paid to do a job doesn’t mean you don’t have tothank him when he does it well.”

Jonathan Booth: “Do your homework in terms of whattype of people you bring in. It’s not just about the resume. In-terview and take your time to pick the right people.”

Saul Carliner: “The first meeting sets the tone. Leadersmust have an understanding of what each person does in herjob, and how they can help them. Do that work up front.”

Lynne O’Shea: “Teams collaborate when the mission ofthe group is seen as important, where the players are knownfor their integrity and intelligence. Feedback is critical, as is theacknowledgement of each member and their contributions.”

Jerry Zelinski: “Recognize a team for what it is—notwhat you want it to be. You might have to give up a little toget the one-plus-one-equals-ten phenomenon. Let the task orgoal approach as the whole team gets there. Try to under-stand what they [the team] are trying to do.”

Ralph Ardill: Don’t over- or underestimate the link be-fore or after you. Don’t put a ridiculous amount of pressureon someone unwillingly, like asking for something tomorrowafternoon and not realizing there are 15 people who will haveto work all night.”

Outtakes: Some Parting Thoughts 241

Brett Robinson, Customer Business Manager at Uni-lever Home and Personal Care: “People are the scarcest re-source in an organization. If this truth is not embraced, thechances of having a happy, challenged, satisfied team will begreatly reduced. Senior managers too easily focus on performancewithout thinking about what actually fuels this performance.”

An entrepreneur: “Business is an empty vessel—a shellof an idea you fill up with people. The caliber of people, theirtalents, skills, attitudes, and maturity color the contents. Fillthe vessel with mature, collaborative, enlightened people andyou get a different outcome then if you fill it with greedy, im-mature, self-serving people.”

Jonathan Booth: “Measure and articulate what successis. Define it. Give them milestones to grab onto.”

A marketing director: “The word collaboration is sooverused. They say to me, ‘Okay we are going to collaborateon this project. You go out and do all the work and let meknow how things are progressing.’ That’s their definition ofcollaborating.”

Jonathan Booth: “Avoid talking badly about other peo-ple. Do your own investigation about people before you forman opinion about them. You don’t have to lie and say goodthings about people constantly. Avoid negative conversationsabout people. You never know who knows whom in an or-ganization, and it’s not productive to tear people down. Peo-ple can pick up and sense things from body language.”

A marketing manager: “At the pace of business today,you cannot spend all of your time building support one exec-


utive at a time. But they won’t all get in the same room to-gether and talk. Why? Because of turf issues and seniority sta-tus (different management levels in the same room) and allkinds of other factors.”

Lynne O’Shea: “I don’t think ceiling is the word. Thatimplies a vertical, bottom to top. Teams are horizontal, oftenfar-flung. To me, it’s always a matter of time and energy.Whatever we can do to elicit more time and energy, if needed,becomes an axis for collaborative endeavors.”

Diggi Thomson: “If you start recognizing people fordeserved effort, make sure that you recognize ALL who de-served it over time, or understandably they start to get bitter,and it is worse than not doing anything for those people. Agood way to get around this is to ask for nominations from allteam members. Just because you are the leader doesn’t meanyou know or appreciate all the good work that is going on.”

A general manager: “I have my parameters about whatpeople can do within the business. These parameters are basedon fairness: fair to me, fair to everyone else in the business,and integral to the whole. Their behavior cannot damage theintegrity of the whole.”

Diggi Thomson: “Communicate—tell people in coreand extended teams stuff that is going on. You can judge thesensitivity of what can be told, but anything is better thannothing. Among other things it gives a sense of forward mo-tion, a sense of belonging, builds excitement, provides an op-portunity for feedback which makes people feel that theybelong and are listened to, and creates understanding of whythings are happening the way they are.”


Brett Robinson: “Motivation comes from within eachof us. I do not think that any individual can directly motivateanother individual. The power we all possess is the ability toinspire motivation. If we can demonstrate creative thinkingand creative actions, our teams will naturally gravitate towardsthis behavior.”

Diggi Thomson: On brainstorming: A few thoughts tomake them productive, because there are too many meaning-less ones. Know what you are doing: prepare, prepare, prepareto make it as stimulating and focused as possible. Give thebrain a grappling hook and it will stick to the task. During thebrainstorm make sure you build on the nuggets there andthen so they are not left as meaningless words later. Let peo-ple involved know what happened.”

Brett Robinson: “People need to feel valued and intelli-gent. Feeding your team’s creativity is no different. As man-agers we must encourage and train people to feel confident intheir creative abilities and give them 100 percent support touse these skills. This means there are no repercussions forgoing out on a limb to try a new idea or concept, no matterhow zany.”

Saul Carliner: “To heal a sick team, you have to movesome people out. One situationally unhappy person can de-stroy a team. Personal differences and emotions can bogdown the process.”

Lynne O’Shea: “Watch out for the people who don’twant the team to succeed. Get them off the team. Any wayyou can, and soon.”


New venture director: “Avoid going into a team andtelling them this is what I expect from you in the future.Don’t walk into a situation with a formula—the formula getsyou the same rate of success for current and past projects, butno newness and possible betterment in the future.”

Brett Robinson: “‘Hey you on the water skis! That’sright, I am talking to you. You ARE a creative being.’ Most ofus too easily categorize certain types of occupations or per-sonalities as being creative. The trust is that we all possess thiswonderful quality called creativity—we just need to learn tounleash it.”

Lynne O’Shea: “Kennedy first said, ‘We must put a manon the moon.’ Later, he amended it to add, ‘and bring himback safely.’ The mission didn’t have meaning for most untilthat addendum. It was not a victory, even with ‘One smallstep for mankind’—until we brought them back safely. Theleader’s cognitive creation of a safety net for the team mem-bers is critical to eliciting best efforts.”

Emilia Salg (Laurie’s 88-year-old grandmother):“What is the point of living if you cannot do for other people?We are all in this together.”


RESOURCES

The following resources we have found valuable in mov-ing teams and members along their path to creative collabo-ration. They are organized according to the holistic teamlearning curriculum categories:

• Team Communication and Collaboration Processes• Personal Exploration and Self-Actualization• Creativity and Innovation Enhancement• Breakthrough Experiences

Team Communication and Collaboration Processes

Here are some tools and processes we have found thatmove teams forward because they help the team objectivelyfocus on the issue at hand, and not on each other:

247

• Creative Collaboration Certificate is a program of-fered by DePaul University’s Management Develop-ment Center and the Ryan Center for Creativity andInnovation in Creative Collaboration: How to Build a High-Performance Team®. Find out more at <www.depaul.edu/~mdc>.

• Creative Problem Solving ProcessesCritical to any team’s success is how well they

capitalize on opportunities and problem-solve. Learn-ing and using a good problem-solving process, whichusually consists of environmental analysis, data gather-ing, problem definition, generating alternatives, select-ing alternatives, and then action planning can make allthe difference to your team. Look into any of theseprocesses:• Creative Problem Solving. Creative Problem Solv-

ing is a six-step process that helps a team identifyand creatively generate solutions to problems. Re-sources for creative problem solving are available at<www.cef.cpsi.org> (The Creative Education Foun-dation) and <www.cpsb.com>, (The Creative Prob-lem Solving Group Buffalo).

• KnowBrainer™. The KnowBrainer is a pocket-sized tool that contains questions and key wordsthat prompt ideas and steps you through a creativeprocess. Cards focus your thinking and make theprocess fun. Check out <www.solutionpeople.com>to order.

• Six Thinking Hats®. Six Thinking Hats is a prob-lem solving process and effective meeting tool thathelps your team focus and stay on one topic at atime. Check out <www.edwdebono.com>.

248 Resources

• Synectics®. Synectics is also a creative process that issimple to use and really helps a team get out of thebox. Check out <www.smdi.com>. A key point:Due to the breakneck pace of business, teams tendto drive the problem-solving process to the action-planning stage while the other stages are skipped.Skipping the other stages has consequences. An in-correct problem definition could lead to an actionplan that misses the target. Not generating alterna-tive ideas usually produces same old, same old so-lutions that have less-than-optimal results. If at allpossible take the time to at least realize there is aprocess that can be followed. Decide where in theproblem-solving process you are and give yourselfpermission to spend a bit of time working throughthe entire process.

• The Diversity Game is a game based on the HermannBrain Dominance Indicator that helps you and yourteam understand your creative preferences. It is a greatgame to play together. Check out <www.hbdi.com/diversity.html>.

Personal Exploration and Self-Actualization

• Hermann Brain Dominance Indicator (HBDI) is apersonal assessment to understand your thinking andcreating preferences. A great tool for self-discovery.Check out <www.hbdi.com>.

• Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) is another per-sonal assessment that helps you understand your per-sonal operating style.

Resources 249

• Great books for personal exploration:• The Heart Aroused by David Whyte• Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by Steven

Covey• The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron• Your Heart’s Desire by Sonia Choquette• Orbiting the Giant Hairball by Gordon MacKenzie

• Interesting organizations:• Omega Institute, the nations largest holistic educa-

tion and retreat center <www.eomega.org>• The Institute of Noetic Sciences, an organization

dedicated to exploring human potential, spirit, cre-ativity, and peak performance <www.noetic.org>

Creativity and Innovation Enhancement

• Great books:• AHA—10 Ways to Free Your Creative Spirit and

Find Your Great Ideas by Jordan Ayan. Check itout at <www.create-it.com/aha/index.html>.

• The Creative Whack Pack by Roger von Oech is aset of cards to give you creative inspiration. Checkit out at <www.cooper.com/biblio/bib_whack_pack.html>.

• A Whack on the Side of the Head by Roger vonOech is a great book to get your creativity flowing.

• Mindmapping by Joyce Wycoff offers you an excel-lent brain-friendly note-taking and brainstormingtool.

• Wonderful organizations that connect you to bestpractices:

250 Resources

• The Innovation Network is dedicated to buildingcommunities of innovation. Check them out at<www.thinksmart.com>.

• The Center for Creative Leadership (CCL) is an or-ganization dedicated to proving leadership pro-grams for the benefit of society worldwide. Checkthem out at <www.ccl.org>.

• Set-breaking magazines:• Fast Company <www.fastcompany.com>• Business 2.0 <www.business2.com>• Utne Reader <www.utne.com>

Breakthrough Experiences

The following are some ideas to make unexpected con-nections and feed your brain new experiences and fresh per-spectives. Try:

• Watching a movie together and talking about whatconnection people made between the movie and theteam.

• Having an art day where you experiment with paint,clay, and other media to revamp your work chair orgarbage can.

• Inviting everyone to a wine tasting, and trying to de-scribe the wine the way a great connoisseur would.

• Reviewing a new book once a week, presented by adifferent member of the team.

• Taking a field trip to a museum.• Having a family day where the kids come to meetings

with you.

Resources 251

ENDNOTES

Getting into a Breakthrough Frame of Mind

1. Gregerman, Alan, Dr., Lessons from the Sandbox, Con-temporary Books, 2000.

Principle One

1. Wall Street Journal, July 10, 2000, page A1.

2. Tuckman, B.W. “Developmental Sequences in SmallGroups,” Psychological Bulletin, June, 1965: pp. 384–399.

Principle Three

1. We use e-valuation to differentiate between traditionalevaluation (numbers based assessment) and collaborative e-valuation(values based assessment).

2. Kohn, Alfie. Punished by Rewards. Houghton House,1993.

3. Positive Impact, Inc. Skokie, Ill. [email protected]

253

Principle Four

1. Concept extracted from Leading with Heart by Coach K.

Principle Five

1. Krzyzewski, M., & Phillips, D.T. (2000). Leading withthe Heart: Coach K’s Successful Strategies for Basketball, Business,and Life. Warner Books.

Principle Six

1. Fisher, R., and Ury, W. (1981). Getting to Yes,Houghton Mifflin.

2. Concept described in Collins, J.C., & Porras, J. I.(1997). Built to Last: Successful Habits of Visionary Companies.Harperbusiness.

Principle Eight

1. Albom, M. (1997). Tuesdays with Morrie. Doubleday.

2. Senge, P. (1990). The Fifth Discipline. Doubleday.

3. Gendlin, Eugene (1981). Focusing. Bantam Books.

4. Covey, Steven. First Things First.

5. Based on conversations with Leslie Dagostino, internalLucent consultant.

6. Chappell, T. (1993). The Soul of a Business. Bantam Books.

7. Hirshberg, Jerry (1999). The Creative Priority. Harper-Perennial.

Principle Ten

1. See the Blue Man Group in Chicago, New York, Bos-ton, and Las Vegas.

254 Endnotes

INDEX

255

A.T. Kearney, 15Accountability, 19Action(s), 92–101

accounting, 92–93, 105courageous team, 94–100

Adams, Abigail, 163Aesop, 145Albom, Mitch, 171Allen, Woody, 89Ambiguity, 114, 115Anna and The King, 177Apple Computers, 15–16Ardill, Ralph, 147–53Arthur Andersen, 102Assessment, 76Assumptions, questioning, 12Attack and defend approach, 164Attitude, 14

Baldwin, Christina, 194BATNA, 133Baudelaire, Charles, 225Be curious, not furious tool, 186–87Bender, Betty, 21Bentley College, 48Blaming, 98, 178Blue Man Group, 222–24

Blue Sky Center for Creativity andInnovation, 22–26, 27, 29

Body Shop, The, 27Booth, Jonathan, 198–203Boredom, 205Bradley, Omar Nelson, 56Bradstreet, Anne, 210Brainstorming, 49, 71, 155–56Brande, Dorothea, 87Braveheart, 28Breakthrough

experiences, 160–61frame of mind, 1–7teams, 43, 238

Briefs, 13. See also Visioning/visionstatements

Buber, Martin, 188Buddy system tool, 165–66“But why?” tool, 132–33

Carliner, Saul, 47–51Celebrations, 190, 218–19Change, 117, 119–20, 193–212

as core competency, 194–96Eureka Communities and,

208–10healing and, 175–76

Change, continuedJonathan Booth on, 198–203management, 211practicing, 196proactivity, 193, 204reinvention, 198signs showing need for, 205–7

Chappell, Tom, 188Chavez, Cesar, 208Chavez, Helen, 208Chicago Bulls, 10Children of the Rainbow, 210Choice, 22, 23, 31–33, 35, 100, 228Churchill, Winston, 92Climate of exploration, 139–40Clue please tool, 91Code of conduct, 93, 96Collaboration, 11–15, 19, 67–69,

161, 183–84, 201–2collaborating behaviors, 70–71connectedness and, 74–75courage and, 97–98decision making, 146, 153–57entrepreneurial teams and, 116leadership and, 229–36methodology and, 146, 149–51rewards and, 84skills, 162slowing down conversation and,

76Comic relief, 220Communication, 14, 79, 134

and collaborative process, 161–62tool, 178

Community leadership, 47–51organization objectives, 49risks, 50skills and knowledge needed for,

50Connection, 17, 33, 41, 134

mind-body, 162–63 Conversation, slowing down, 75–76Courage, 89–105

action accounting, 92–93entrepreneurs and, 101–4integrity, 90

team actions and, 94–100values and, 99

Covey, Steven, 92–93, 185Creative Priority, The (Hirshberg), 216Creativity

assumptions as restraint on, 12Blue Man Group and, 222–24in climate of exploration, 139–40corporate antibodies and, 117creative collaboration, 67–69and innovation enhancement,

159–60, 188undermined by rewards, 84

Credo, 79–83, 87, 155Crossing the Chasm (Moore), 55Culture, 61–87, 160

collaborating behaviors, 70–77collaborative team characteristics,

67–69creating as a team, 62–63, 64–66disinheriting old culture, 63e-valuation system, 82–83, 87five finger contract tool, 85–87mind dump tool, 70rewards notion, 83–85space out tool, 73team credo, determining, 78–82

Curiosity, 146, 148, 185–86

Davis, Gray, 208Decision making, collaborative, 146,

153–57Defending, 98, 164Destiny. See Governing from withinDetachment, 184, 228Dialogue, 178Disconnection, 43Disengagement/disinterest, 205–6Distance education, online, 16Distractions, 221Diversity, 13–14, 22, 35–37, 41Diversity Game®, 159Dixon, Jack, 26Doble, J. Frank, 66Doctorow, E.L., 157Doubt, 2

256 Index

Douglass, Frederick, 191Dream teams, 9–20

common characteristics of, 18–19connection, 17Diggi Thomson on, 11–15diversity, 17Lynne O’Shea on, 15–18

Du Autermont, Harriet, 59Ducharme’s Precept, 139Due diligence, 34

Economic value added, 54EDS, 15Einstein, Albert, 51, 69, 119Elevator test, 55–56Eliot, T.S., 46Emerson, Ralph Waldo, 43, 236Emotional bank account, 92–93Emotional reactions, 185Encouragement, 74Enesco Group, Inc., 22–26, 27, 29, 30Entrepreneurial mindset, 108, 196,

228Entrepreneurs, 30, 114–16Environment, 164–65

redesigning office, 197Envisioning, 46–47

see also Vision/vision statementsconvening the team, 53–55personal reflection, 51–53

Erhard, Werner, 40Ernst & Young, 102Eureka Communities, 208–10E-valuation, 79, 82–83, 87Exhaustion, 217Expectations, 2–3, 6, 13

avoiding overdefining, 116co-creation of, 32letting go of, 72

Experimentation mentality, 228Exploration

climate of, 139–40personal, 159

Failure, fear of, 103–4Farson, Richard, 15–16

Fast Company, 149Fear(s), 2, 6

dealing with, 138–39defining, 130–33

Feedback, 82Financial objectives/goals, 3Five finger contract tool, 85–87Flow, 223–25Focusing, 178Ford, Henry, 133Formulas, 116Frame of mind, 1–7France, Anatole, 18Frost, Robert, 91Fun Factory, 24–25Future look tool, 207

Gaines, Frank, 47Gandhi, 212Gateway Computers, 18Give me five tool, 58Goals

company vs. individual, 37–38,66

evaluation of, 82–83Gordimer, Nadine, 128Gore, W.L., 65–66Governing from within, 145–70

breakthrough experiences,160–61

collaborative decision making,153–57

committing to, 163–64comprehensive skill building, 158creativity and innovation

enhancement, 159–60Imagination, Ltd. and, 146–53personal exploration, 159whole team skill building, 158

Governing guidelines, 79Grace of Great Things, The (Grudin),

104Grant Thorton Executive Woman of

the Year Award, 102Grau, Amy, 23, 24, 25Gregerman, Alan, 6

Index 257

Grigoriou, Jim, 33–34Group development, Tuckman’s

model of, 31Growth, 126–27

committing to personal, 167risk and, 129

Grudin, Robert, 104Gwaltney, Julie, 23, 25Gyorgi, Albert Szent, 229

Hart, Mickey, 34Healing, 172, 175–77. See also

ResiliencyHeifetz, Ronald, 231–32Heraclitus, 203Hermann Brain Dominance Inventory,

37, 159Hierarchy, 19Hirshberg, Jerry, 189, 216Hock, Dee, 13, 140Hugo, Victor, 9Hutsell, Jeff, 24Huxley, Aldous, 215

Idea interview tool, 113Imagination, Ltd., 146–53, 162Initiative, 21, 145Innovation, 30, 62, 116, 117, 184,

195enhancement of, 159–60, 188risk taking and, 129

Inquiry, 185–86Integrity, 90, 96, 101, 105, 136, 163Interconnectedness, 74Internal exploration, 227Internal motivation, 181Internet culture, self-organizing

systems and, 29Introspection, 146, 163Intuition, 52“I” perspective, 178I/Thou concept, 188–89

Jamming (Kao), 113Janninck, Mary, 23, 24, 25Judgment, 76

Kao, John, 113Keightley, Alan, 61Killer phrases, 75Kohn, Alfie, 84

Laing, R.D., 193Laughter, 220Leadership

advice, 136and collaboration, 229–36culture and, 64–66by example, 101–4facilitating team success, 116–18successful, 203

Learning, and resiliency, 187Les Miserables (Hugo), 9Lessons from the Sandbox (Gregerman),

6Letting go, 5, 7Listening, 184–85

active, 178curiosity vs. animosity, 72–73generously, 73–74identifying resistance and,

134–35judicious evaluation, 76slowing down conversation and,

75–75Lives of Eminent Philosophers, 203Long Walk to Freedom, A (Mandela),

198“Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock,

The,” 46Lucent Technologies, 114, 215

McAlindon, Harold, 85MacKenzie, Gordon, 83Maher, Bill, 123Manager, culture and, 64–66. See also

LeadershipMandela, Nelson, 198Marston, Ralph, 142Maurer, Lea, 135–38Meaningfulness, 21–41, 121

allowing for choice, 31–33being brave of heart, 28

258 Index

diversity and, 35–37Enesco Group, Inc., 22–26, 27fitness between goals and values,

37–38Jim Grigoriou and, 33–34motivation errors, 38–39passion, connecting with, 30–31self-organization and, 28, 29source of meaning, 26–28

Meditations Divine and Moral(Bradstreet), 210

Mental muscles, 180–90, 228Merck and Co., 27Metaphors, 44–45, 52Millennium Dome, 146, 152Mind-body connection, 162–63, 188Mind dump tool, 70Mind meld tool, 127–28Minneapolis Jewish Federation, 49–50Mission statements, 27, 59Mistakes, 140–41, 142 Moldofsky, Kim, 85Moore, Geoffrey, 55Motivation, 38–39

internal, 181for rewards vs. values, 84

Multidimensional structures, 19

Natori, Josie, 129Nature, 220Need

identifying, 43filling, 111, 118

“Need for change” assessment, 204–5Neighborhood Civic Leadership

Program, 209Net present value, 54Nissan Design International, 216Nizer, Louis, 223Nonengagement, 43Nonprofit Resource Center, 48

Objectives, 33Objectivity, 76–77, 126, 156, 184O’Connor, Marie, 39O’Neil, George, 109

Online distance education, 16Openness, 3–4, 72, 99Operating guidelines, 81–82Opportunity

reviewing, 3, 6statement, 27

Orbiting the Giant Hairball(MacKenzie), 83, 220

O’Shea, Lynn, 15–18Outcome, detaching from, 71–72Outside facilitators, 49, 57, 157,

177–78Outstanding Recycling Business

Award, 102Ovid, 142Owner mentality, 110–11, 118Ownership, shared, 107

Parker, Charlie, 169Passion, 14, 21, 22, 30–31, 41, 100

to fill a need, 111risk and, 129

Passivity, 43Path of least resistance, 206Patience, 156Patton, George S., 36Pay-for-performance, 84Personal exploration, 159Personal norms, 33, 34Personal responsibility, 71, 89,

123–25, 159, 163see also Shared responsibility

Perspectives, divergent, 9Peters, Tom, 213Pettiness, 206Pharmaceutical Technical Operations

Finance, 199Picture this tool, 40Piper, Elyse, 23, 24, 26Play and rejuvenation, 190, 213–26

Blue Man Group and, 222–24creating a space for, 215–16getting to flow, 223ideas for, 218–21

Politics of Experience, The (Laing), 193Poole, Mary Pettibone, 220

Index 259

Positive Impact, Inc., 85Possibilities, 139–40, 161, 181

openness to, 3–4, 72undermined by rewards, 84

Power, 100Poyer, Joe, 236Prather, Charles W., 129Precious Moments®, 23Preparedness, 237Proactivity, 180, 193, 204Problem, reviewing, 3, 6Product relaunch, 12Punished by Rewards (Kohn), 84Purpose, understanding, 43, 117

Reaffirmation, 104Reality, creating and influencing, 2Receptiveness, 3Recognition, 14Reflection, personal, 51–53, 80, 183Reinvention, 198Rejuvenation. See Play and rejuvenationResiliency, 171–91

building a resilient team, 179–80collaboration, 183–84detachment, 184healing, 172, 175–76inquiry (curiosity), 185–86internal motivation, 181I/Thou concept, 188–89learning, 187listening, 184–85play and celebration, 190possibility, 181proactivity, 180reflective behavior, 183respect, 189self-managed teams and, 176–78sickness as a sign, 174–75time, 189trust, 190well-roundedness, 187–88“we mentality,” 183wholeness, 173–74

Resistance, 133–35Respect, 97, 136, 189

Responsibility. See Personalresponsibility; Shared responsibility

Return on investment, 54Rewards, 83–85Rilke, Rainer Maria, 205Risk/risk taking, 75, 103–4, 112,

119, 129–43, 148, 159, 228climate of exploration, creating,

139–40definition of, 133fear, 130–33, 138–39fictional case studies, 140–42resistance and, 133–35teaching (Lea Maurer and),

135–38Robbins, Anthony, 53Rogers, Will, 227Room with a view tool, 196–98Roosevelt, Eleanor, 101Root cause analysis, 132

Sabbaticals, 221Saint-Exupery, Antoine de, 28Salon Selectives, 11–12School for Management and Strategic

Studies, 15–17Seasoning tool, 219Secker, Pete, 23Self-awareness, 159Self-discovery, 167–68Self-governance, 146Self-managed team, 175–78Self-organization, 28, 29

diversity and, 35Self-reaffirmation, 104Self-serving interest, 39Self-understanding, 167, 168–69Serlin, Marsha, 101–4Service, relaunch of, 12Shared ownership, 107

owner mentality, 110–11Shared responsibility, 100, 107–28, 145

See also Personal responsibilityapproaching purpose as a

business, 108–10choice and, 121, 122

260 Index

corporate antibodies, 117cultivating, 119–22entrepreneurial mindset, 108,

118–19growth and, 126–27Jerry Zielinski and, 114–16meaningfulness and, 121objectivity and, 126owner mentality, 110–11, 112–13participating as co-creator, 118providing needed service, 111risks, 112system thinking, 125

Sickness, 174–75Skill building, 158, 162Smart talk tool, 181–82Soul of a Business, The (Chappell), 188Space out tool, 73Speech, 89–90, 93, 94–95Spontaneity, 221Sprtel, Joanna, 235Stanton, Elizabeth Cady, 166Strain, Douglas, 16Strategic plans, 3Synchronicities, 5, 7System thinking, 77, 125

Team credo, 78–82, 87,155Team governing guidelines, 79Team leaders, 13, 14, 19Teamwork

methodology for, 146resiliency and, 179–80

Thinking modes, 37Thomson, Diggi, 11–15Time, 189Time out tool, 214–15Tin Cup, 90Tomlin, Lily, 165Trust, 33, 94–95, 190Truth/truthfulness, 95–97, 135Tuckman’s model of group

development, 31Tuesdays with Morrie (Albom), 171Turkle, Sherry, 17–18

Unilever, 11–15Uniqueness, 100United Scrap Metals, 101–3US Alliance Group, 236

Valuesalignment of, 33, 34company vs. individual, 37, 66personal exploration of, 79–80statement of, 80–81team credo and, 78–79, 87understanding, 234

Vision/vision statements, 4, 6–7, 13,43–59, 228, 233–34

co-creating of, 32, 46–47, 59elevator test, 55–56envisioning process, 51–55fresh perspective, 57good soup metaphor, 44–45mission and vision statement

compared, 59process, 45, 56–58purpose, 43Saul Carliner and, 47–51

Visual language, 52Volunteer organizations, 32–33,

47–51

W.L. Gore Associates, Inc., 65Walker, Gale, 209–10Wall Street Journal, 29Watson, Tony, 229–36Web-enabled technology, 18Well-roundedness, 187–88We mentality, 74, 98, 101, 183Western Behavioral Sciences Institute,

15–16Whitman, Walt, 99Wholeness, 173–74Worry, 2, 3, 6Worst case scenario tool, 131Ybarra, Richard, 208–10Yoga, 224Zielinski, Jerry, 114–16

Index 261

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Lisa Gundry, Ph.D.

Lisa Gundry, Professor of Management in the Charles H.Kellstadt Graduate School of Business at DePaul University,teaches courses in Creativity in Business and Entrepreneurship-New Venture Management <www.depaul.edu/~Lgundry>.She is the director and founder of the Leo V. Ryan Center forCreativity and Innovation at DePaul, dedicated to hands-on learning for creative discovery and business innovation. Dr.Gundry was awarded the Innovation in Business EducationAward in 1997, and in 1994, she received the Excellence inTeaching Award at DePaul University. She has written two otherbooks, BluePrints for Innovation, coauthored with Charles W.Prather, and Field Casework: Methods for Consulting to Smalland Start-Up Businesses, coauthored with Aaron Buchko.

She is co-creator of a team collaborating program of-fered at DePaul University’s Management Development Cen-ter. The program provides business associates a certificate in

263

Creative Collaboration—a comprehensive set of experiencesdedicated to unlocking the collective wisdom in teams.

She has also published numerous journal articles, chap-ters in books, and has been interviewed in many media publi-cations, such as The Wall Street Journal, Newsweek, ChicagoTribune, Chicago Sun-Times, Entrepreneurial Woman, andCrain’s Chicago Business. She consults with organizations onissues such as creative problem solving, innovation, and smallbusiness development. She holds a Ph.D. from NorthwesternUniversity. She lives outside Chicago and credits her most cre-ative moments to the inspiration she gets from her family.

Laurie LaMantia, MBA, MS

Laurie LaMantia, owner of Athena & Associates, co-founded and directed IdeaVerse, an award-winning venture atLucent Technologies dedicated to nurturing an environmentfor creativity and innovation. Laurie spent more than sevenyears of her 14-year career with AT&T/Lucent immersed inthe field of creativity and innovation teaching, consulting, anddeveloping programs to ignite the power within people andorganizations.

The most popular offerings of IdeaVerse were the teamofferings. Working with almost 100 teams, helping them withissues ranging from reinventing themselves to creating a col-lective vision has given her a significant understanding of whatgoes into fostering a collaborative team.

Prior to IdeaVerse, Laurie initiated and worked in theentrepreneurial new ventures organization within AT&T. Thisorganization was dedicated to nurturing fledgling internalventure teams in preparation for spin-off.

264 About the Authors

She is the co-creator of a certificate program, CreativeCollaboration, a comprehensive set of experiences dedicatedto unlocking the collective wisdom in teams, offered at De-Paul University in Chicago.

Laurie holds an MBA from Northwestern’s KelloggGraduate School of Management, a Masters in Industrial andOperations Engineering from the University of Michigan, anda Bachelor in Electronic Engineering from DeVry Institute ofTechnology.

Laurie is currently an instructor for DePaul Universityand a corporate consultant. She lives in Lombard, Illinois, withher wonderful husband Marc, and their feisty pair of Pomera-nians, Buttercup and Cosmo.

For more collaborative resources, visit us at <www.creativecollaborationcentral.com>.

About the Authors 265

Breakthrough Teams for Breakneck Times - Mallek AbdeRRAHMANE

Documents

creative teams

project teams

datebreakthrough teams

importance of teams

permanent teams

creative talents of

building breakthrough

team creativity