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Dimension
I XPLORE
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Key
Concept 1 COOPERATION It is not what we achieve as individuals, but how well we combine our efforts that produces the best results
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SNAPSHOT:
Conference in Ubud, 1999 Who Stole the Monkey?Gaia: We
have some great photos of professional adult men possessively cuddling
stuffed monkeys. On one of our team building programs, corporate groups
are asked to rescue and provide for a unique “endangered” animal. We
travel on buses to jungle areas, where teams must negotiate difficult
territory to gather supplies for their animal, and follow the instructions
carefully to ensure its survival. Perhaps not
surprisingly – although no direct instructions are given to compete
against others, the activity inevitably gets very competitive. It’s
quite humorous to observe from a distance the way these people behave when
the suits are taken off and the challenge is on. It’s interesting to see
what extent these people will go to in order to reach the given goal.
They’ll battle each other in huge football scrums and shred the other
teams’ animals to pieces, lying and cheating as much as is necessary to
“win”. One
particular time when we ran the program, the heat was on before the group
even departed from the hotel. We were working with the top sales
performers in the company, and they were all hyped up and ready to go. No
sooner had the group left the briefing room, than an individual from Team
A stole Team B’s monkey and threw it in the rubbish bin. Team B,
however, only discovered their significant loss when the bus arrived at
the given destination. Team B was mortified. The whole day’s activity
was now useless. What the
individual in Team A hadn’t taken into account was the fact that the CEO
of the company was on Team B. And the CEO was furious! At the end of the
program she let it be known that if she found the individual responsible
for committing such a heinous crime, they would be sacked from the
company! A day or so
after the program, a very anxious individual approached us to make a
confession. “Promise you won’t tell?” he pleaded – “… I stole
the monkey.” He explained to us his confusion about the whole episode,
explaining that as the top sales performers, this group had been told they
had to give everything to win contracts, that they had to do all it would
take to get ahead. He had felt that his competitive edge would be
rewarded, and was taken by surprise when he was instead threatened with
dismissal. We assured
him that we had already spoken to the CEO, and had explained that these
activities were designed to provide the opportunity to deal with issues
that arise in the workplace in a more protected environment. The exercise
had revealed the flaws with a competitive focus, and had allowed the group
to consider what standard was ethically acceptable for their company. The
individual kept his job, but he had learnt his lesson the hard way. |
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Beating
competition Andrew: Each
time you enter a group you should be aware of where your completive focus
is, and where it should be. When you talk about “doing whatever it takes
to win” or “the name of the game is climbing the corporate ladder” -
you have chosen a competitive focus. Like a bad ecology, these ideas can
pollute the organisational climate and become self-reinforcing. By focusing
on team development rather than competition you will, paradoxically, end
up having the competitive edge. In “Built to Last”, Collins and Porras
look at the implications for organisations: “Visionary companies focus
primarily on beating themselves. Success and beating competitors comes to
the visionary companies not so much as the end goal, but as a residual
result of relentlessly asking the question: “How can we improve
ourselves to do better tomorrow than we did today?” They go on to
explain that the most successful companies over the last 100 years have
known at the very core what they stand for and why they exist. They
consciously concentrate on building the company not developing great
products. The company is not a vehicle for products, but the products are
seen as a vehicle for the company. These companies exist as a great
companies that produce ‘xyz’ and not the other way round. One of the
most impressive organisations we have worked with is one of the Four
Seasons Resort Hotels. The whole organization, in general, has a strong
value system based on this sort of personal focus. The particular hotel we
worked with was consistently winning top prizes as one of the best resort
hotels in the world – often as the very best of the best. What was their
secret? We found that this hotel has been able to produce outstanding
results because they are always providing opportunities to support and
train staff. We have seen that in our work with the executives in the
organisation, and the same principle can be seen all the way through the
organisation, even in the attitudes of the cleaning staff. The trust and
respect in work teams is outstanding. Just as
individuals can be emotionally hijacked by stress, teams can be hijacked
by an unchecked and unmonitored lust for success at all cost. Core values
and excellence can end up taking a back seat while competition drives the
group along the road at frightening and dangerous speeds. In the end,
it comes down to balance. It is possible to come up with win/win
situations. Winning does not have to be at others’ expense. We must
learn go think outside the box. |
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Collaboration
Case Study
“Sam had pushed to be
get his promotion. He is more concerned about himself than he is about
other people – he wants to look after himself before he looks after
anyone else. There is just no demonstration of a teamwork culture in the
group. How is success measured in your
group? By how well individuals achieve, or by how well individuals work
together to reach a common goal? How can you encourage a
“collaboration culture” in your group? THE 3D
DYNAMIC www.tirian.com
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