Week 12 Post 2: Meetings

Today in class Erin and Kyle presented on the topic of organizational meetings and how they are structured. This is a very relevant topic that I am glad they presented on because it allowed me to gain a lot of informative knowledge on the topic. As I go into my internship this summer I know that I will be attending organizational meetings which will definitely be a new experience, so there topic allowed me to get a sense of what to expect in the future. They presented us with a lot of examples as what not to do in a meeting which was very helpful and I will definitely remember these things as I begin attending formal organizational meetings.

There are many different types of business meetings that can occur in an organization. Some of the most common types are informational, motivational, decision-making, and creative.

An informational meeting is pretty straightforward, in that its objective is to introduce new and important information to employees. However it must be information that cannot just be easily understood in an email or presentation that is sent out to all employees. Informational meetings are important because it allows for employees to ask any questions they have about the information immediately. This is an important aspect because if one person has a question it is more than likely that other people may have the same question regarding the information.

A motivational meeting is designed to gain commitment from employees on a certain project and inspire them to succeed. These types of meetings are used when a big project is coming up or when some sort of change is going to occur within the organization that may be difficult to adapt to. In order to motivate employees it is important that the leader or facilitator of the meeting has the ability to appeal to the employees on an emotional level. It is also important to let the employees speak their minds in these types of meetings, this shows to them that they have been heard and that their opinion actually matters.

A decision-making meeting is used in order to solve a problem and make a decision regarding the problem. In these types of meetings it is very important that the participants of the meeting are informed about the problem beforehand, which allows them to come to the meetings with ideas. Once a decision has been made everybody should agree on the decision and have a plan for going forward with the decision. Short-term and long-term planning for the organization or department fall under the category of decision-making meetings.

A creative meeting is used to generate a significant number of original ideas, as well as finding a best idea. Research has shown that group brainstorming is not the most effective means for generating the greatest number of original ideas, which is due to the fact that not everyone can think well on the spot or as a group. These creative meetings are the most successful when participants are given time to brainstorm on their own. This allows them to generate better ideas as well as defend their ideas.

Week 12 Post 1: Crisis Management

On Monday Colleen and I presented on the topic of crisis management. This topic focuses on how an organization or business goes about dealing with a sudden emergency situation that occurs within their organization. A crisis is any event that that leads to an unstable and dangerous situation affecting an individual, group, community or whole society. Crises result in negative changes in security, economic, political, or environmental affairs. This is especially true when they occur abruptly, with little or no warning. Some defining characteristics of a crisis are that; the event is unexpected, it leads to uncertainty, is seen as a threat to important organizational goals, and the event results in a need for change. We found that there are a few different types of crises. A business or professional crisis is any situation that may hurt the integrity of one’s team, department, or organization as a whole. Some examples of this are financial losses or any discriminatory lawsuits against an organization.  A public relations crisis is any situation that may hurt an organization’s image. An example of this type of crisis would a hospital employee who is stealing drugs from the hospital for personal use. The last type of crisis we researched were personal crises which is any situation that may interrupt a manager’s ability to lead. An example of this would be a death in the family or going through a divorce.

I found an article that described key characteristics of good leaders during times of crisis. The list is as follows:

• Don’t allow their emotions to get in the way - Strong-willed leaders can maintain their composure and still express concern and care, but not to the point that their emotions become a distraction

• Don’t take things personally - By doing so, it makes it difficult to maintain your composure and make those around you believe that you have things under control.

• Keep a Positive Mental Attitude - A positive attitude can neutralize chaos and allow a leader to inspire faith in employees.

• Keep Composure - During uncertain times, leaders must remain fearless and project a cool persona that communicates composure to those they lead.

• Respond Decisively - Speak with conviction, confidence and authority – whether they know the answer or not.  With their delivery alone, they give their employees a sense that everything is under control.

• Take Accountability - When leaders assume accountability, they begin to neutralize the problem and seek a solution.

• Communicative - Communicate the appropriate actions to employees in a timely manner.

(paraphrased from the Forbes article - https://www.forbes.com/sites/glennllopis/2014/01/20/7-ways-leaders-maintain-their-composure-in-difficult-times/#5a7732821573)

I believe that these are certainly important characteristics to have as a leader or manager who has to deal with a crisis in their organization. I will definitely remember these characteristics and try to exemplify them in the future because I know that sooner or later in my career I will be put in a position where I have to manage a crisis.

An example of a good leader during a crisis situation was Mayor Rudy Giuliani, after the 911 attacks on the twin towers in New York City. Giuliani exemplified robust leadership skills during one of the biggest crises in U.S history. After the attacks, Giuliani coordinated the response of various city departments. He also organized the support of state and federal authorities for the World Trade Center site and the restoration of its infrastructure, as well as for city-wide anti-terrorist measures. He made many appearances on live television to acknowledge the public of the crisis as well as ensure them of their safety. Many people say he played a bigger role in making America feel safe after the attacks due to the fact that he responded very swiftly and communicated to the public what was happening. While President Bush was at an elementary school in Florida and took a while to leave the school and address the media on the crisis. Mayor Giuliani was named Time’s Person of the Year in 2001 for his leadership efforts following the 9/11 attacks. Time stated that, “prior to 9/11, the public image of Giuliani had been that of a rigid, self-righteous, ambitious politician. After 9/11, his public image changed to that of a strong man who could be counted on to unite a city in the midst of its greatest crisis”.

Week 11 Post 2: Holacracy

Yesterday in class, Erin and Jason presented on the topic of Holacracy. This was something that I had never heard of before this class, so I was definitely interested to hear what they had to say about the topic. I found out that Holacracy is basically a new and revolutionary way of running an organization. Holacracy gets rid of the management hierarchy that most organizations run on in today’s society. A definition that I found from the Holacracy website says, “Holacracy is a complete, packaged system for self-management in organizations. Holacracy replaces the traditional management hierarchy with a new peer-to-peer “operating system” that increases transparency, accountability, and organizational agility” (http://www.holacracy.org/how-it-works/). Basically it is a system to run an organization in which there are no managers and every employee is seen as equal to one another. Once I learned what it actually was I was definitely interested by also very surprised by the idea. I was wondering how an organization could stay organized and successful without a management system.

In the presentation, they talked a lot about the company Zappos which has implemented the Holacracy management scheme and got rid of the traditional way of management. One of the things we discussed in class was how do problems get resolved if there is no upper management involved to facilitate problem solving. I found an article in Forbes that talks about Zappos and how their transition to Holacracy has gone so far. In the article they talk about how to resolve problems in the workplace. The article said, “If employees have a problem with what is going on, they can flag a “Tension.” The procedure for doing so was clarified as recently as April 10, 2015.” It also went on to describe the procedure used to solve the “tension”.

Taken directly from the Forbes article – (https://www.forbes.com/sites/stevedenning/2015/05/23/is-holacracy-succeeding-at-zappos/#514c914156dc)

How To Use My Tensions Outside Of A Governance Meeting

• When you have a tension for governance, add it to your My Tensions list (found in the blue navigation bar next to My Projects). Type as little or as much as you need for each tension. Save the tension.
• There is also an option as a tactical output called Tension to capture governance tensions.
• Here you can also add an agenda item, the tension, circle, and a proposal if you want.
• Edit the proposal later to be prepared before the meeting. The benefit of this is that you have a way of both tracking tensions and starting proposals outside of meetings.
• Create draft proposals with multiple parts, just like Secretary does during the Governance meeting. Your proposal will be available to select for the next Governance agenda, but you don’t have to add it to the list if you aren’t ready.
• Capture a tension even if you don’t know a starting proposal yet

During The Governance Meeting

• When there is a Governance meeting open, click Join Governance meeting to be able to add your tensions to the agenda. Then click the ‘choose from tensions' link right below where you enter agenda items to add your tension to the list. You get a pop up of agenda items / tensions, and you click to add it to the agenda.
• When Secretary selects your agenda item, those watching via ‘Join Governance’ link will see the proposal, just like when it is entered by Secretary.
• When you click on the agenda item that was added from someone’s My Tensions list pre-populated proposals automatically load in GlassFrog. Edits to any parts of the proposal made before clicking Accept Proposal are saved (so the originally pre-populated proposal is changed if you change or remove anything.
• Once Secretary clicks accept proposal then the agenda item can be 'checked off'.”

I believe that this is a pretty long process and could ultimately take away from the productivity of the organization as a whole. I think they should schedule weekly meetings in which the employees can discuss their problems and try to find solution as a group.

Week 11 Post 1: Ethics

At its simplest, ethics is a system of moral principles. They affect how people make decisions and lead their lives. Ethics is concerned with what is good for individuals and society and is also described as moral philosophy. The term is derived from the Greek word “ethos” which can mean custom, habit, character or disposition. Ethics is useful in almost every setting. If ethical theories are to be useful in practice, they need to affect the way human beings behave. Some philosophers think that ethics does do this. They argue that if a person realizes that it would be morally good to do something then it would be irrational for that person not to do it. But humans often behave irrationally, they follow their 'gut instinct' even when their head suggests a different course of action. However, ethics does provide good tools for thinking about moral issues.

In an organization, a code of ethics is a set of principles that guide the organization in its programs, policies and decisions for the business. The ethical philosophy an organization uses to conduct business can affect the reputation, productivity and bottom line of the business. A professional code of ethics sets a standard for which each member of the profession can be expected to meet. It is a promise to act in a manner that protects the public’s well-being. The code of ethics informs the public what to expect of one’s doctor, lawyer, accountant, or property manager.

 Leaders and employees adhering to a code of ethics create an ethical organizational culture. The leaders of a business may create an ethical culture by exhibiting the type of behavior they'd like to see in employees. The organization can reinforce ethical behavior by rewarding employees who exhibit the values and integrity that coincides with the company code of ethics and disciplining those who make the wrong choices. A positive and healthy corporate culture improves the morale among workers in the organization, which may increase productivity and employee retention, which in turn has financial benefits for the organization. Higher levels of productivity improve the efficiency in the company, while increasing employee retention reduces the cost of replacing employees.

Ethics is a very important aspect in healthcare and the concerns of medical ethics are considered the most important and consequential in human life. Part of the importance of medical ethics comes from the fact that members of the medical and health care professions are granted powers and privileges that are not granted to non-members. Surgeons and doctors have the right and duty to cut open the human body if they are convinced that by doing so they can improve or aid the health of the person being cut open. Medical professionals sometimes have the responsibility to determine or decide who is to live and who will die. They can prescribe powerful drugs and chemicals that could be poisonous or otherwise harmful if improperly administered. They make decisions about the use and allocation of large amounts of money and scarce resources. They decide how patient care is to be delivered, which patient should get which resources, how much and what patients should and will be told about their situation, what kind of doctor-patient interaction will occur, and whether the information given to them by patients will be kept confidential, and it is not how and to whom it will be shared.

Week 10 Post 2: Organizational Culture

Organizational culture is a system of shared assumptions, values, and beliefs, which governs how people behave in organizations. These shared values have a strong influence on the people in the organization and dictate how they dress, act, and perform their jobs. There has been a lot of debate to what organizational culture really means. There is a universal consensus that organizational culture does in fact exist, and that it plays an important role in shaping behaviors in organizations.

I found an article on The Harvard Business Review, in which the author created a discussion board on LinkedIn and asked people to post what they thought organizational culture was/meant.

Some of the responses are as follows: (taken directly from the HBR article - https://hbr.org/2013/05/what-is-organizational-culture)

- “Culture is how organizations ‘do things’.” — Robbie Katanga

- “Organizational culture defines a jointly shared description of an organization from within.” — Bruce Perron

- “Organizational culture is civilization in the workplace.” — Alan Adler

- “Culture is the organization’s immune system.” — Michael Watkins

- “Organizational culture is shaped by the main culture of the society we live in, albeit with greater emphasis on particular parts of it.” — Elizabeth Skringar

- “It over simplifies the situation in large organizations to assume there is only one culture… and it’s risky for new leaders to ignore the sub-cultures.” — Rolf Winkler

- “An organization is a living culture… that can adapt to the reality as fast as possible.” — Abdi Osman Jama

The response that I found the most interesting was the one that said culture is the organization’s immune system. I found it interesting because I would never have thought of it like that. However after reading how the author explained it, it made a lot of sense to me.

The author said, “Culture is a form of protection that has evolved from situational pressures. It prevents “wrong thinking” and “wrong people” from entering the organization in the first place. It says that organizational culture functions much like the human immune system in preventing viruses and bacteria from taking hold and damaging the body. The problem, of course, is that organizational immune systems also can attack agents of needed change, and this has important implications for on-boarding and integrating people into organizations.” (https://hbr.org/2013/05/what-is-organizational-culture)

I found another article that said the most important thing about culture is that it’s the only sustainable point of difference for any organization. Anyone can copy a company’s strategy, but nobody can copy their culture. I agree with this statement and believe that an organization’s culture can have an immense influence on why employees want to work for your organization. I also believe that the culture plays a big role in employee satisfaction.

Week 10 Post 1: Team Leaders and Performance

Since the third section of our class is focused on “Many” or teams and teamwork in the workplace, I was interested in what is considered as being a good team leader. I found an article by EY in which they discuss what they believe are four key attributes to being a team leader in their organization. EY is one of the largest and most well-known finance companies in the world.

It is obvious that strong leadership is a prerequisite for any high-performance team. It is also particularly important in dynamic situations, such as when the roles and responsibilities of the team may be shifting and there may be a need to adapt the organization’s responses accordingly. There are certainly a numerous amount of professionals in today’s society who encompass the ideal characteristics of modern day team leadership, however finding the individuals that fit your organization is not easy.

EY discusses four main attribute of successful team leaders, which are: (tken directly from EY's website - http://www.ey.com/gl/en/issues/talent-management/four-attributes-of-effective-team-leaders)

1. Provide clear direction and leadership: This requires constant dialog, particularly if the team is distributed across geographies and functions. With teams now spread far and wide, regular contact should be actively planned and prioritized. But while structure is important, companies also need to ensure that processes are not too rigid.
2. Create an open and inclusive team culture: Effective leaders of high-performance teams encourage members to voice views and ideas. Leadership in a team setting is much less about command and control, and more about getting the most out of a diverse and experienced group of individuals.
3. Empower: Old-style command-and-control leadership models are not fit for purpose in a high-performance team setting. Although they lay the groundwork for team activities, effective leaders also know when to get out of the way, and empower team members to be autonomous and make their own day-to-day decisions.
4. Develop and coach: Workplace surveys consistently demonstrate the potential impact of the manager on an employee’s attitude towards their work. Without the leader’s constant encouragement, individual demoralization can quickly infect the team.

I agree that these are certainly 4 key attributes to have today in order to be a successful team leader, however they are not the only characteristics of a good team leader.

EY also discusses three broad characteristics of a high performing team: (taken directly from EY's website - http://www.ey.com/gl/en/issues/talent-management/characteristics-of-high-performance-teams)

• A shared vision: With a clear goal in mind for the team as a whole, individual members are able to establish a clear line of sight between their specific day-to-day responsibilities and the broader, long-term objectives of the business.
• The right mix: Dealing with today’s complex business problems requires companies to think more broadly about team composition. Today, technology and globalization have encouraged companies to look further afield by recruiting members from different organizational functions and geographical regions of the world.
• Commitment to quality and results: High-performance teams have a shared commitment to quality and results. They focus on achieving the highest standards and the best outcome, and are aligned behind achieving this goal.

Week 9 Post 2: The importance of Listening

Listening is a very important aspect of being able to communicate with others. The importance of listening extends far beyond academic and professional settings. Understanding how to practice good communication even in your day to day life, among friends, family, and significant others, is important for a number of reasons: fostering good self-esteem, maximizing productivity and getting better grades in school, improving relationships, and even becoming a better speaker. Studies have also shown that speaking raises blood pressure, however listening actually lowers blood pressure.

The listening process involves 5 different steps: (taken directly from the Communication Blog - http://tcbdevito.blogspot.com/2011/04/communication-strategies-listening.html)

1.      Receiving - The first stage in the process of listening is receiving the message. At this stage you listen not only to what is said (verbally and nonverbally) but also to what is omitted. You receive, for example, your boss’s summary of your accomplishments as well as the omission of your shortcomings or, perhaps, vice versa. 

2.      Understanding - The second stage of listening is understanding the message. That is, after receiving the message, you process it and try extract the meaning from the message that the speaker wants you to come away with.

3.      Remembering - The third stage of listening is remembering the message. It would little help to you if you received and understood the message but didn’t remember it. If you want to remember what someone says or the names of various people, this information needs to pass from your short-term memory (for example the memory you use to remember a phone number just long enough to write it down) into long-term memory (or relatively permanent memory).

4.      Evaluating - Once you’ve received, understood, and have the message in memory, you need to evaluate it. After all, not all messages are equal, some are lies, and some are truths. Some can be significant and some can be trivial. Some are constructive, and on the other hand some are destructive.

5.      Responding - After you evaluate the message, you’re likely to respond in some way. And, of course, a speaker expects a response. This step shows the speaker that you were actually listening to what they were saying rather than just daydreaming. This is particularly important in a work setting, especially if your boss or somebody of upper management is the speaker.

Week 9 Post 1: Difficult Conversations

Difficult conversations are a thing that nobody wants to have, however it is almost guaranteed that you are going to engage in one no matter what field you work in, especially healthcare. Some sources of difficult conversations as a leader could be delivering bad news, discussing a sensitive or political topic, or talking about a project that was unsuccessful. These types of conversations cause stress and anxiety, however it is important that you address the topic and engage in the difficult conversation rather than avoiding it.

I found an article in the Harvard Business Review that gives 7 tips on how to deal with difficult conversations. The 7 tips are as follows: (taken directly from https://hbr.org/2009/03/7-tips-for-difficult-conversat) 

1. Keep your goals realistic. You can’t ever eliminate the stress you’ll feel around telling your supplier you’re cutting back, but you can reduce it. Spend your energy on preparation – focus on developing your specific script.
2. Give bad news upfront. Tough messages should be simply and clearly stated in the first sentence.
3. Adopt the “And Stance”. Take control of the conversation by pre-empting distractions, objections and blame by using “and”. “I know you worked all night, and I know you want to do well, and I know you just joined the company, and I know the graphics people sometimes get the data wrong, and I know I could have been clearer in my directions to you….” And, and, and.
4. Get out of the “blame frame.” Each person involved in the situation has a different objective story about what happened. Your goal is not to judge who’s right and wrong, it’s to manage to better outcomes in the future.
5. Paraphrase. To create clarity and to let people know you’re genuinely listening, summarize what they’re telling you — and ask them to do the same.
6. Be prepared for bad reactions. Finger-pointing, denial, arguments and tears are all possible outcomes of tough conversations. You cannot control the other person’s reactions, but you can anticipate them, and be emotionally ready.
7. Pretend it’s 3 months or 10 years from now. Put the difficult conversation in perspective by thinking about the future. The conversations that are hardest right now will seem less daunting.

I believe that these are definitely useful tips in order to make difficult conversations easier and less anxiety filled. I will certainly keep these points of advice in mind for when I have to engage in a difficult conversation in the future. 

Week 8 Post 2: Checkers vs. Chess

While I was exploring the Harvard Business Review, I came across an article that caught my attention. The article was titled, “What Great Managers Do” by Marcus Buckingham. The author conducted research by using a study of 80,000 managers, the survey asked various questions regarding the manager’s management styles. Buckingham said that he found an abundance of different management styles, however he said there was one quality that truly sets great managers apart from the rest. This is that great managers discover what is unique about each person and then capitalize on it. He says that verge managers play checkers while great managers play chess. He goes on to explain that in checkers all the pieces are uniform and move in the same way and are ultimately interchangeable. In chess, there are many different pieces and each type of piece moves in a different way. You can’t play if you don’t know how each piece moves, but more importantly you won’t win if you don’t think carefully about how you move the pieces. In the business world great managers know and value the unique abilities and even the irregularities of their employees, and they learn how best to integrate them into a coordinated plan of attack. Capitalizing on a person’s uniqueness also builds a stronger sense of team. By taking the time to understand what makes each employee tick, a great manager shows that he or she sees their people for who they are. This personal investment not only motivates individuals but also galvanizes the entire team. To take great managing from theory to practice, the author says, you must know three things about a person: their strengths, the triggers that activate those strengths, and how they learn. By asking the right questions, squeezing the right triggers, and becoming aware of your employees’ learning styles, you will discover what motivates each person to excel. I believe this was a very educational article for future managers like myself and fellow classmates, and I will always remember the Checkers vs. Chess analogy.

https://hbr.org/2005/03/what-great-managers-do

Week 8 Post 1: Mentorship Presentation

On Wednesday in class, Colleen and I presented to the class on the topic of mentorship and its importance in life as well as the workforce. I believe that it was a very educational and useful presentation for the class. They can use the information we presented in the future when they find a mentor or maybe even become a mentor themselves. Professor Bonica was away at a conference, so we used Facetime in order for him to be able to watch our presentation as well as make comments. I thought this was pretty cool because he was in another State but we were still able to conduct our class as if he was in the room.

A mentor is a person or friend who guides a less experienced person by building trust and modeling positive behaviors. An effective mentor understands that his or her role is to be dependable, engaged, authentic, and tuned into the needs of the mentee. A mentee is the person that is advised, counseled, and trained by the mentor. Mentorship is the relationship between the mentor and mentee in which the mentor  helps support and encourage the mentee to manage their own learning in order to maximize their potential, develop their skills, improve their performance and become the person they want to be.

The history of mentoring dates all the way back to Greek mythology, where it originated from Homer’s famous book, The Odyssey. The character Mentor coaches, advises, and counsels Odysseus’s son Telemachus. Mentor prepares Telemachus to take over the family responsibilities while his father Odysseus is away on his journey.

In our presentation we talked about five different types of mentoring, which are: Peer mentoring, Role Model mentoring, Reciprocal mentoring, Reverse mentoring, and Group mentoring.

Peer Mentoring: Individuals already having gone through the same experiences as you are now

• Academic settings
• Employment
• Teams or extracurricular activities
• Goals of the relationship:
• Provide support
• Encourage
• Build confidence and trust

Role Model Mentoring: Mentor relationship in which the mentor is seen as a role model to the mentee

• Mentee looks up to the mentor and seeks to imitate the mentors behaviors
• 5 qualities of the Role Model Mentor:
• Passion and ability to inspire
• Clear set of values
• Focused on well-being of others                                             
• Selfless and accepting of others
• Ability to overcome obstacles
• Similar to Peer Mentoring as it is seen in academic, employment, and team settings.

Reciprocal Mentoring: Alternating roles as mentor and mentee

• Both parties have similar experiences and success but a complementary skill set
• Keys to success:
• Goal setting
• Accountability
• Trust
• Goals of the Relationship
• Share knowledge
• Gain insight

Reverse Mentoring: An initiative in which older executives are paired with and mentored by younger employees on topics such as technology, social media and current trends

• Is primarily seen in Work/Employment settings
• Criteria for Success:
• Defined expectations: Each party needs to be very clear on their expectations
• Willingness to learn: Both parties act in the capacity of a mentor as well as a mentee; so they must both genuinely want to learn from and share with each other
• Trust: Reverse mentoring requires the trust of each party.  The goal is to push one another outside of their comfort zones and try new ways of thinking, working and being
• Transparency: Both parties must be open with their feelings and with what they are thinking.  They must be able to overcome differences in communication style and be open to seeing situations from different angles

Group Mentoring: Multiple individuals acting as mentors and mentees

• Peer Group vs. Team
• Guidance rather than training
• Benefits:
• Multiple viewpoints
• Cross-disciplinary and diverse perspective

Benefits of Mentoring

• Benefits for the Mentee
• Provides impartial advice and encouragement
• Develops a supportive relationship
• Offers professional development
• Results in higher job satisfaction, salaries, and promotion rates
• Benefits for the Mentor
• Allows for growth of leadership capacity
• Can learn valuable lessons from mentees
• Helps strengthen interpersonal relationship skills
• Leads to more personal satisfaction