Strengths: Post #4 - The Four Domains of Teams

The Four Domains of Teams (think of the word SIRE)
1. Strategic Thinking: People with strengths in this domain tend to force the group to look at the big picture and toward the future—what might be. Always reviewing the data and applying what they learn, strategic thinkers move the organization forward—stretching its members to think beyond what is, to the possibilities of the future. People who are strong in this strategic thinking domain possess strengths in such areas as: Context, Futuristic, Ideation, Input, Analytic, Intellection, Learner and Strategic.
2. Influence: People with strengths in this key domain know how to sell or promulgate the team’s ideas both inside and outside the organization. These people are natural persuaders, inspire others to adopt their ideas, and are vital to moving teams forward in communities. Again, not everyone influences the same way. But people with the following domain-area strengths tend to be key influencers: Activator, Command, Communication, Competition, Maximizer, Self Assurance, Significance, and Woo.
3. Relationship Building: Those with strengths in this domain tend to keep groups together. They’re the social glue, the mortar between the foundation building blocks. They know how to create and maintain groups such that the whole is much greater than its parts. Such relationship builders have domain strengths as follows: Adaptability, Developer, Connectedness, Empathy, Includer, Individualization, Positivity, and Relator.
4. Execution: People with strengths in this key domain know how to rally around a goal and get things done. Differing strengths might dictate the style of getting to the goal, but folks who have strengths in this domain area contribute mightily to execution. Here are those strengths: Achiever, Arranger, Belief, Consistency, Deliberative, Discipline, Focus, Responsibility, and Restorative. Take the StrengthsFinder to find yours and read the book for explanations of all of the strengths.

HBR October: Post #7--Coke CEO

Shaking Things Up at Coca-Cola (interview by Adi Ignatius, p. 94).
When CEO Muhtar Kent took over the CEO position at Coke in 2008, he strove to develop a long-term vision and double the business in 10 years—neither of which is a small feat. He also moved toward other supporting issues. For instance, he moved 20% of his media buys to social media, supports sustainable communities, and is pushing Coke to become water neutral…return every gallon of water Coke takes from the earth. Concerning leadership, he contends that CEOs, especially of large companies, have less power than most people think and can only influence people! I find influence a critical element for all CEOs to recognize and practice

Wisdom of Crowds: Post #2--Independence

Independence: We’re all aware of peer pressure. In research, it’s called social proof and has been studied for many years. Whether the experiments were people pointing at the sky (the more people pointing at the sky, the more people stopped and looked up) or whether it’s a rush to buy an iPod because everyone around you is, this gets to the heart of the phenomenon of independence. While groups, especially cascading groups (based on early adopters convincing others to come along for the ride), who move toward iPods or Starbucks often make decent decisions, they’d make far better ones if they decided things as a group—but independently! Often groups make decisions sequentially. Think about how what you say in a group might depend on what your colleague or boss might say and how it could easily influence you. What if you collected data simultaneously and anonymously?

Wisdom of Crowds: Post #1--Overview

The Wisdom of Crowds by James Surowiecki (Anchor Books, 2005). Reviewed by Steve Gladis, Ph.D., July 2011.

Overview: Here’s a question—Who’s smarter than any CEO? Answer—the marketplace. So, does that make product development a crap shoot? Hardly. In fact, long before a product gets developed, CEOs have a built-in marketplace to help them. They’re called employees. In a smart and readable text, New Yorker writer James Surowieki, in the genre of Malcolm Gladwell (Blink, The Tipping Point, & Outliers), gives us hope in the form of a crowd. Here’s the shorthand summary of the book: When the educated guesses of a diverse and informed group—guessing about possible outcomes of uncertain events—are aggregated, a near perfect answer results. Surowiecki supplies us with compelling historical and modern-day examples, including one he conducted in Times Square by asking people to guess how many jelly beans were in a jar. But believe me, his examples get bigger and better when he discusses how companies like Eli Lilly, GM, and Hewlett-Packard have successfully enlisted the wisdom of internal crowds to predict where to invest their money for the future. He even offers the Federal Reserve as an example of how a complex issue can be addressed with a structure that uses internal crowds for collective judgment.
A couple of other key concepts were pointed out by the author. First, if you want such groups to be effective, you have to give the group a method to aggregate the opinions and data of their members. Second, if you engage a group in decision making, allow them to assist in implementing decisions. Too often we task groups and then treat them like they were merely advisors. This is the kind of book that senior officers of a company and board members should read right before strategic planning time and not long after it’s all over. According to the author, wise crowds need to have four elements: 1) independence from each other; 2) diversity in their point of view; 3) decentralization; and 4) a good aggregation method. Briefly, independence keeps groups from falling into an “expert” or power trap; diversity of point of view and opinion allows others to look at the problem from different and often revealing perspectives that provide varying glimpses into complex issues; decentralization points out the need for diverse people to think independently from each other in a way that doesn’t comingle the data; and aggregation ensures a way of collecting those data points while preserving the singularity of it. This week, I’ll talk about each of these four of these constructs that make wise crowds.

Made to Stick: Post #6--Emotional

Emotional: Many would contend that ultimately all decisions have emotions at their basis. The car you drive, the house you live in, even the clothes you wear have some foundation in emotions you feel. Conjuring up the right emotion to get someone to do something is thus critical. The authors talk about how hard it is to get a teenager to stop smoking, unless you can get them to resent Big Tobacco. The authors also discovered research that people will give money to individuals, not concepts—not exactly groundbreaking but fascinating in their explanation. The message is simple—make people “feel” a heartfelt emotion if you want them to do something. Mother Teresa said it (and the authors quote her) ‘If I look at the mass, I will never act. If I look at the one, I will.” Thus, appealing to people’s emotions and their identities works.

Made to Stick: Post #4--Concrete

Concrete: Our senses make things real and memorable. The vision of a sweating glass of ice tea on a humid July afternoon is a far more powerful and memorable image than simply saying that it’s hot July afternoon. Our brains are wired to our senses and, therefore, we remember concrete images better than abstractions—such as using the word “currency” vs. “a crisp five dollar bill.” We’ve all heard of Aesop’s Fables. This ancient Greek slave told us memorable stories about universal truths. Remember the Tortoise and the Hare…about how slow and steady wins the race? I’ve personally experienced the value of concreteness that comes from writing business fables—fictionalized case studies that put concepts into action. People love such fables because they get to “see” what the author is talking about. Finally, there’s a fascinating segment in the Made to Stick called “Brown Eyes, Blue Eyes” that describe how a teacher taught a class about prejudice…both effective and powerful.

Best Business Books #8--How to Win Friends...

How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie (originally published in 1936 and republished by Simon and Schuster, 2009). This book is a classic and one that has sold well over 15 million copies over the years. Carnegie makes two big points: First, handle people effectively. Don’t criticize, complain or condemn and give honest and sincere appreciation. Also, Carnegie offers his big second piece of advice: Make people like you: Be genuinely interested in other people, remember people’s names, be a good listener, encourage people to talk about themselves, make the other person feel important, and finally smile! While Carnegie was not a researcher, his basic tenets can be supported by today’s research and by common practice.

Best Business Books #9--How to Win Friends....

How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie (originally published in 1936 and republished by Simon and Schuster, 2009). This book is a classic and one that has sold well over 15 million copies over the years. Carnegie makes two big points: First, handle people effectively. Don’t criticize, complain or condemn and give honest and sincere appreciation. Also, Carnegie offers his big second piece of advice: Make people like you: Be genuinely interested in other people, remember people’s names, be a good listener, encourage people to talk about themselves, make the other person feel important, and finally smile! While Carnegie was not a researcher, his basic tenets can be supported by today’s research and by common practice.

Persuasion: Commitment/Consistency

This is the 2nd in a series of 6 posts from a book review of Yes! 50 Scientifically Proven Ways to be Persuasive.

Commitment/Consistency: Researcher Anthony Greenwald discovered that when people are asked whether they will engage in socially desirable behavior (such as, “Will you vote?”), they usually answer “yes.” Those people who answer yes tend to live up to their promise (remain consistent with their previous commitment) at much higher rates than those never asked. For example at one restaurant (where people notoriously are no shows despite reservations), one manager changed his request from "Please call if you have to cancel" to a direct question: "will you please call if you have to cancel?" People always answered "yes." Just by asking the question and getting people to answer yes, which they are compelled to in such socially desirable situations, the manager dropped his no-show rate from 30% to 10%--a huge revenue booster to be sure. Do you read leadership books?
If so, check out The Journey of the Accidental Leader on Amazon!

How to Be Persuasive

This is the 1st in a series of 6 posts from Yes! 50 Scientifically Proven Ways to be Persuasive.

As a big fan of Dr. Bob Cialdini, I have used his classic book Influence in my courses for many years. Now, he has collaborated with colleagues Noah Goldstein, Ph.D. and Steve Martin (the Ph.D. not the comedian!). The new book, Yes! 50 Scientifically Proven Ways to be Persuasive is an excellent read for any student of the discipline and anyone who wants to improve business. Here are just a few examples:

Reciprocity: In one experiment a social scientist Randy Garner tested the effect of yellow 3M Post-it Notes. He sent out a survey and cover letter three different ways: one set of surveys contained a yellow sticky Post-it on top of the cover letter with a handwritten note requesting completion on the sticky note; one set of surveys had a handwritten request only on the cover letter; the final set of surveys contained only the cover letter and survey, with no personalized note of any sort. The results: 75% survey completion rate for the first group (with the handwritten Post-It note); 48% return rate for the second group (with the handwritten note on the cover letter itself); and 36% with only the cover letter. I just bought more sticky notes!