Being the Ambassador for the Organization to Your Team | Tools for Team Leadership: Delivering the X-Factor in Team eXcellence

On the other side of the coin, your organization is probably looking to you to promote a positive image of itself to your team. In particular, you are in a prime position to help the team recognize the need for change and the plans the organization has for the future. People tend to resist change. What can you do to help overcome this resistance? Richard Beckhard (Beckhard and Harris 1987) developed this famous formula: C>R when dVf. That is, change will overcome resistance to change when three factors occur simultaneously : (1) there is dissatisfaction with the status quo; (2) there is a vision of what could be or should be; and (3) first steps are being taken that clearly move the organization away from the status quo and toward the vision.

EXERCISE 29

Mental Models: The Arm-Wrestling Exercise

Directions: At a team meeting or training session, have each member pair up with another member and assume the arm-wrestling position. Instruct each pair that they will be given fifteen seconds to see how many victories they can score in that time.

Within most pairs, members will compete and the number of victories will be few or even none. But perhaps some pairs will collaborate. The partners will alternate moving one partner's hand down for a victory and then the other's. Together they may score fifteen, twenty, twenty-five victories in the time allowed. If no pair thinks of doing this, demonstrate the collaborative strategy for them. Point out that the instructions merely called for achieving as many victories as possible.

The participants ' mental model of arm wrestling led them to compete. Those with a different model probably scored much higher. Direct the discussion to how your team's mental model may lead it to compete with other teams within the organization when it really should be exploring a collaborative strategy. Identify what actions could be taken to explore a more collaborative mental model of the use of teams in an organizational setting.

This formula has some very important implications for how you can serve as your organization's ambassador for change to your team. Don't introduce change ideas to your team by trying to sell the vision. There must first be a compelling case made for the need for change. Start by sharing information about the need for change and listening for reasons why the members of your team may be dissatisfied with the status quo. When enough people recognize that they can no longer operate the way they have and still be able to compete in the marketplace , there will be enough energy available for a change effort. Complacency is the enemy of excellence. Be the leader who helps the team feel good about its progress yet stay hungry for getting even better.

Being dissatisfied with the status quo produces energy, but that energy has to be channeled or else it will be burned up with complaining, anger, and/or depression. Leadership must articulate a vision. Mohandas Gandhi once said, "We must become the change we want to see." The vision statement must paint word images so that organizational members can "see" what they want to become. It must answer questions such as, What do we mean by teams? How will teams make a difference? How will they help us address the compelling need for change? and, What will be different about our team-based organization from what we were? The vision does not have to spell out every detail, but it must be clear enough for all to see where they are headed. It cannot be just a "motherhood and apple pie" notion that teams are good and therefore we should all just get along with each other. The vision must help members see the use of teams as a business strategy and structure.

What is your vision of team excellence? Exercise 30 challenges you to articulate your vision. After you have captured your thoughts on teams, see if it is consistent with the "elevator speech" about your team you developed in exercise 14 (p. 94).

EXERCISE 30

Your Vision of Team Excellence

Directions: Have each team member answer the questions below about the team's vision. Then, in a whole-team effort, develop a collective response to each question.

Why is the organization interested in establishing a team concept?
What constitutes a team in this kind of work setting?
What does it take to achieve team excellence?

Even if you have people dissatisfied with how things are currently being handled, and even if they are excited about the vision of team excellence, you still need to draw attention to the steps being taken to make the vision a reality. Many organizations have rallied the troops around some slogan , put up banners in the cafeteria, and given people hats, shirts, or jackets, declaring it now has a team concept, without successfully changing. Actions must be consistent with words. The organization must take visible first steps to demonstrate its commitment. Any inconsistencies and missteps will provide fuel to those members who would rather resist change. While a small percentage of employees may be willing to jump on any innovative bandwagon, the majority will wait to see whether management is serious. The devil is in the details.

Working together on teams may sound appealing but it still involves change, and many people are uncomfortable with change. Leadership may have to do away with work systems and procedures that have been around for years but which now are inconsistent with the vision of a team-based organization. The temptation to regress to the old ways will be strong. People may fall back to these comfortable methods instead of taking the risks necessary to activate the plan for the team approach. As leader, you need to model the new behaviors and encourage people to follow you.

Thus, in order to overcome resistance to moving toward a team concept, it will help if you can develop three strategies based on Beckhard's formula:

Stir up dissatisfaction with the current situation
Establish a compelling vision of what could or should be
Develop and activate a concrete plan and take the steps toward the vision

Peter Senge says that "People don't resist change. They resist being changed." If you are encountering resistance, see what you can do about involving people in these three matters rather than trying to impose change on them. Use exercise 31 to identify three sets of strategies you can use with your people to overcome resistance to the change toward a team-based organization.

EXERCISE 31

Strategies for Overcoming Resistance to Change

Directions: Brainstorm three sets of strategies you might be able to use to help overcome people's resistance to the team-based change effort being considered in your organization. In each category, devise approaches that involve people in brainstorming and planning.

Strategies to overcome resistance by encouraging people to identify their dissatisfactions with the status quo (and thus identifying the need for change):
Strategies to overcome resistance to change through encouraging people to verbalize a vision of what a team-based change effort might be able to do for them and for the organization:
Strategies to overcome resistance to change through encouraging people to identify actions that are moving them from the status quo toward their vision of team-based change: