A630.2.4.RB - 21st Century Enlightenment

I think that this video was labeled "21st Century Enlightenment" because it describes ideas and actions that can and should be taking place in order for this world to make a smooth transition into a new era of thinking. The ideas and ways of thinking that have been used in the past, both in a personal and professional setting, may not work and do not create the effect that we want or expect going into the future. 

If we want to live differently, such as living with different principles, values, morals, standards, we have to change the way we think. These areas in which we will live differently need different priorities, they need different value, we need to deem them important, not important, or somewhat important. The word that comes to mind for me is open mindedness, our ability to think outside the box, at different points of view that are not considered normal or traditional. 

I think what Taylor is saying is to create an open mind toward different ideas, those that we have not tried before or are looked at as being strange by societies, organizations, family, etc. Often times these ideas turn out being beneficial, even though the thought of trying them was treacherous. My organization has one norm that they feel is effective, although not very orthodox. The senior leadership likes to put managers in very uncomfortable situations to help them with their leadership development. They know our weakness from regular developmental meetings and relationships, so they use these to put you outside of your comfort zone, whether you succeed or not it's good for development as a leader. I find it effective, but in the moment it seems cruel. 

I agree that we should be looking toward empathy, not away from it. Is this not a trait that we wish all of us would possess? What good comes from degradation? I think it's a good idea but not possible in a society where differences of opinion, values, character, morals, are so broad. Some people could care less degrading people, while others would gasp at the idea of it. I think empathy is something we should all work on displaying and using in everyday life.

I think the biggest take away from this video is that being open minded, accepting differences, and training yourself to think outside of the box is crucial to personal and professional survival in the future. Organizations are seeking individuals with the ability to think differently, act differently, in such a way that they lead others to do the same through results. It's not easy, but it's worth it. 

A630.1.4.RB - Board of Directors

In my experience, it is possible for an organization to become stagnant and not allow change from the power and authority of a few individuals in that organization. 

In my current organization, I was leading the #1 performing team in the building in regards to productivity, and our department was ranked #3 in the entire pyramid of distribution centers for Target. One of my team members came up with an idea to increase productivity even more in our department, enough so to take us to the #1 spot in a few months. The idea was a strong one, however, it would require everyone on our team to work a little bit harder and work outside of their comfort zones for these few months in order for us to gain the top spot. After communicating the idea to the team, everyone was on board except for 2 individuals who seemed very negative about the change because they wanted our routine to stay the same, and because they were not willing to put in the extra work needed to increase productivity. After talking with them one-on-one about the new initiative, I found out that they did not care enough about the organization or the rest of the team to work harder. Not only that, they thought that even if they worked harder the goal was still unattainable. This disappointed the rest of the team, but they eventually talked the 2 individuals into adopting the new initiative, despite the chance of failure. Productivity increased throughout those 6 weeks, but not enough to take the #1 spot from the other building. On a positive note, this idea was beneficial because it enabled the team to work together toward a common goal and test themselves and their abilities in their roles. They had fun with it and were proud of the work they accomplished. They changed a process for the betterment of the organization and team, and that process is still in effect today. 

I think that it is common, but not necessary, for an organization to have its power players, visionaries, and pessimists. I think an organization will always have them, but ultimately good employees are attracted to those that lead effectively, create good ideas for the betterment of the team, and communicate those ideas to the team in a way that keeps them engaged and interested. I have worked with both positive and negative employees in regard to organizational change, and I enjoy the challenges and brain power involved with this change. 

A520.9.5.RB - Power

In my organization, it is very important to develop and use personal sources of influence and power to lead team members. I believe that my strongest sources of influence stem from my expertise and personal attraction. I enjoy becoming an expert with the technical details of my job and the jobs of those who I lead, and I gain this knowledge to build trust, respect, and credibility from my team. The more I know about the “business” aspect of my team’s job duties, the more I can lead them to make good decisions, and the less I have to tell them what to do because they trust I am using my knowledge of their job to make these decisions. Personal attraction is also a strength of mine, as this comes from my relationship building skills. I build relationships with my team so that we work with one another, not them for me. I know them and connect with them on a personal level enough so that the majority of our conversations revolve around personal matters and subjects. By doing this it makes it easy to have a difficult conversation regarding work, along with building trust and friendship.

I believe that my genuineness and strong ability to connect and build relationships with others helps me embody the characteristics of likeable people, the strongest ones being supporting an open, honest, and loyal relationship, enduring sacrifices if the relationship should demand them, and engaging in social exchanges necessary to sustain a relationship. The majority of my day at work is engaging my team and motivating them to succeed at their job tasks. I do this by building on the relationships that I have already formed with them, engaging and inspiring, and making them feel valued. They know their jobs well enough so that I do not have to watch over them, which comes from the trust that we built with one another.

I think I do a good job of influencing both my team and my leader. I use the same influence techniques with my boss through relationship building and technical knowledge. Our strong friendship and mutual respect for one another allows me to take on projects and make decisions without having my manager involved because he trusts me to make the right one. He also gives me the freedom to guide my own development and those of my team because of his trust in my decision making and ability to help others. I think my boss and I have much of the same characteristics regarding work, influence, and power so we connect real well on a personal and professional level. This makes it fairly easy to be influenced by him and for me to influence him to work the way I want to. My boss does not have to use his positional power to influence me because of our relationship and mutual respect, which also benefits me because of the freedom he allows me in almost every aspect of decision making and leading my team.

A520.7.3.RB - The Importance of Having a Coach and Mentor

I truly believe that all successful people have had mentors and coaches in their life. Mentors act as navigators throughout your career to help you make sound decisions and stay grounded as a professional. Coaches help you develop technical skills and abilities to be able to excel in the workplace and further your career. In my experience, the good coaches and mentors, no matter what capacity they lead you in, are irreplaceable. I will use my own experiences with coaching and mentoring to shed light on the advantages of having one, or being one.

When I first started in my current role with Target I was new to the company, to the retail and distribution worlds, and operations management. I was given a mentor in the first couple of weeks who had been with the organization for 6 years in an operations management role with experience in every department within the distribution center. My mentor essentially helped me become accustomed to the rules, regulations, and atmosphere of the distribution center and the organization. He was very experienced, so he helped me gain a good perspective on the retail industry and also helped me answer tough questions regarding the leadership style used at Target. He helped me set short term goals in my training period and helped me meet these goals. I currently have a new mentor who is in a more senior position, helping me mainly with development and career progression. He helps me work on my leadership weaknesses and helps me accomplish goals associated with my team and the department, along with personal goals. If it wasn’t for these mentors I would be much worse off in my current role. They did and still do an excellent job helping me develop as a leader, as a person, and helping me become acclimated to my new role.

In the same role I was assigned to be the coach/mentor of a new manager in a different department. My main objective was to help him become acclimated to the organization and help develop his technical and leadership skills. We often met with one another to talk about his new role and to assist him with his technical training. I organized developmental and leadership activities to help him with his team. I also served as a guide in which to help steer him to make good decisions. It was very gratifying to see him develop as a person and a leader while gaining the training and skills necessary to be effective and efficient.

Perhaps the biggest advantage of having a mentor or coach is knowing that they are there to help you, develop you, and train you. They are there for you, not someone else or to fulfill their own agenda. It is essentially free knowledge and advice that is there for the taking, as long as you are receptive to what they have to give. 

A520.6.5.RB - Team Roles

I don’t think that there is a more important role a leader could take in the workplace than a relationship-building one. Strong relationships between team members and between their managers are essential to any team, and not just professional ones, personal ones. As part of my routine while I was still training as a manager in my current role, I spent the entire shift building relationships with my team and getting to know them on a personal level before leading them. These relationships make giving feedback easier, make coaching easier, and they allow me to work with my team, rather than the team working for me. They know what do, how to do it, and when to do it and I allow them the freedom to do their jobs as they choose as long as they are meeting expectations set forth by the company.

In meetings and other forums where decision are being made, I take the role of a facilitator where employees feel valued and comfortable speaking. Everyone is on the same level, and I am there to help them with their concerns, their challenges while developing them and helping them succeed. I actively engage my team, whether it be through recognition or through coaching to improve in an area. They know that when I approach them it could be to either talk casually, speak about upcoming work details, or to coach them and help them improve. I facilitate job tasks by removing obstacles for them so that they can successfully do these tasks, and I give them the information, resources, and training to complete them by our standards.

I strongly encourage team members to work problems between themselves to improve their communication and collaboration skills, along with building a positive team culture. I allow the “captains” of different functions to make decisions for their group and to respond to different challenges they may face. This empowers not only the captains to make effective decisions, but also the team members as they become involved in the decision-making process for being the experts in their functions. I only become involved if I absolutely have to because I want each team to work together, to form and improve relationships with one another, and to be able to solve problems by themselves using their knowledge, skills, and training.

The relationships I have with my team members make it easier to facilitate tasks and empower them to make decisions as a team. I trust them that they will make the right decision, and if not, learn from the bad ones. They trust that I will support their decisions and help them improve and learn if a bad one is made. Relationships create trust, which in turn create a pleasant and strong atmosphere conducive to learning, development, and high performance. They help by making team members feel valued and appreciated for what they contribute to the organization.

A520.5.3.RB - Forrestor's Empowerment

In Forrestor’s article he explains six ways in which organizations and their leaders have managed to give empowerment a bad name, including precipitous empowerment mandates, overreliance on a narrow psychological concept of empowerment, one-size-fits-all empowerment, neglecting the needs of power sharers, a piece-meal approach, and distortions of accountability.

Precipitous empowerment mandates revolve around organizations removing or implementing new stages of responsibility for employees without sufficient time to allow employees to become adjusted. When talking about overreliance on a narrow psychological concept of empowerment, this concept is when organizations attempt to tell employees what they are, what they could be, what they want or need when it comes to their job. This may create a false sense of power and responsibility. The one-size-fits-all approach to empowerment is fairly self-explanatory. It explains the fact that not all employees respond to the same empowerment techniques. Neglecting the needs of power sharers is about organizations trying too hard to empower front-line managers while neglecting the ones in the middle. Middle level managers have more responsibility and have more influence on those below them, so why are they often left out of the plan? Organizations often try piece-meal approaches or cookie-cutter approaches to empowerment and get results opposite the ones that they wanted. Organizations need tailored, creative ways to empower employees because it is something that needs to be taken seriously due to the consequences. Distortions of accountability relates to employees being given greater responsibilities with the same amount of accountability as employees with lesser responsibilities. These employees cannot be protected from the consequences of their actions.

On the other end of the spectrum, the article explains six ways to potentially save organizations from these pitfalls, which include enlarging power, being sure of what you want to do, differentiate among employees, support power sharers, build fitting systems, and focus on results. These somewhat align with the five dimensions mentioned in the text, Developing Management Skills, which can be expanded upon. Self-efficacy deals with a person having the competence and ability to perform a task. Each employee must be trained appropriately and have the ability to do the jobs that are delegated to them. The second dimension, self-determination, relates to employees having a choice in what tasks they do and don’t do. The third dimension, which is personal consequence, is related to the results of the task they take on. Basically, effort produces results and no one will be there to correct mistakes. The fourth dimension, meaning, revolves around employees having tasks that give them a purpose. They are able to produce goals from their jobs and do them successfully because they align with the employee’s standards and ideals. The final dimension, trust, is perhaps the most important as it allows employees to complete tasks because they trust they will be treated fairly and valued as people. 

A520.4.3.RB - Motivation Beyond Money

Andy does a fine job of outlining these motivators that people like me respond to, which are interesting work, recognition, and the expansion of one’s skill set. If the work that someone is doing does not interest them, how can you keep them engaged enough to do it every day and excel at it? It’s nearly impossible, and for me having an interesting job is a rather big motivator. Along with it being interesting comes challenge, excitement, and achievement, all of which allow me to continue to do it day in and day out.

Recognition, which is arguably the most important one, is crucial for me. I consider myself to be an over achiever, and because of that I enjoy being recognized for my efforts, my contributions to the organization. And who doesn’t? Every employee, no matter the level in the organization, wants to know their true value by being recognized. It’s part of the big picture concept where employees want to see their contributions and hear about them from leadership.

The expansion of one’s skill set is also a no-brainer. Organizations need highly trained, intelligent people working for them, and with this comes training programs for different specializations and areas of focus for organizations. Leaders are often selected for promotions within the company, but not without some sort of training and advancement of skills. I enjoy learning new job skills, new trades, and furthering my education, basically anything that makes me better at what I do.

Additionally, I have other motivators, one of them being goal setting, both from my manager and myself. I establish long and short term goals that allow me to accomplish different tasks in my professional life, but I also like it when my manager does the same for me. I enjoy the challenge, and it often results in me discovering a new talent or skill that I possess.

The second motivator is feedback, both positive and negative. Just as much as I enjoy hearing everything that I am doing well at, I also like to hear what areas I could improve on. This makes me a stronger leader and helps me with personal and professional development.

A third motivator is my peers at work. Who I work with has a lot to do with my general demeanor at work. I enjoy working with friends, not co-workers, so building relationships with my peers is essential. I feed off of their positive energy and excitement, as they do me, and bouncing ideas off of them and collaborating is fun, effective, and good for development and relationship building.