February 24 , 2010

Edited and Written by Ira S. Wolfe

Published by Success Performance Solutions. Major Sponsor,

2008 Best Places to Work In Pennsylvania

What's Inside this issue of The TotalView:

1.  Top Talent, Failed Teams

2.  Minimize Workplace Violence

3.  Geeks, Geezers and Googlization

1. Top Talent, Failed Teams

Sometimes, organizations will hand-pick potential team members, focusing on their technical expertise. If they do not also consider what each member brings to the table in terms of personality characteristics, they run the risk of selecting members that are too similar, and thereby limit their success.

Dr. Meredith Belbin is one of the original "gurus" on team building and was one of the developers of a team-typing process.

One aspect of his research was the discovery of 'The Apollo Syndrome', a phenomenon whereby teams of highly capable individuals can, collectively, perform badly. In his study, his expectation was that Apollo teams (those members hand-selected for their analytical minds and high mental ability) were bound to win ability and aptitude tests in team competitions.

However Belbin found the reverse to be true. The Apollo team often finished near the bottom of all the teams in the competition.

He found their failure was due to the way in which the team 'operated'.

They spent too much time in destructive debate; trying to persuade others to support their viewpoint while highlighting the weaknesses in others' ideas.

Team members intended to focus on working along their own thought-lines, regardless of what other team members were doing.

They experienced difficulties in decision-making, with little coherence in the decisions they did make.

The similarities among the team-members often proved to be the downfall of the group, creating competition rather than collaboration.

There were examples of successful Apollo teams though, which were typically characterized by the absence of highly dominant individuals and the presence of a style of leadership that sought to create some structure to the group discussions, maintaining the focus on the intended outcome of the group activities. Therefore he concluded for a team to be successful, there needs to be a blend of team roles, behaviors, and skills.

Successful teams need to have this blending of differences they bring to the table plus the structure and flexibility to support such differences.

Understanding Style Differences (USD) has been developed to provide groups with insights into their potential strengths and weaknesses.

Participants are given the opportunity to view their group's profile and to assess its relative strengths and potential downfalls, viewing each from a strategic perspective. In doing so, they are afforded the opportunity of increasing their interpersonal effectiveness and thereby their team's success.

Each team member receives a personality report and personal development guidebook detailing his/her preferred interpersonal style, work style, and emotional style. The manager receives a group report identifying the strengths and weaknesses of each employees and the impact of individual contributions (or distractions) to the success of the team.

Understanding Style

Differences increases each employee's sense of accountability and responsibility to the team and minimizes the likelihood of miscommunications and personality clashes. USD is perfect for managers who want their new or existing work teams to increase productivity and reduce departmental conflicts, and for managers/supervisors new to their role of leading and coaching others.

Minimize Workplace Violence

Although some industries and occupations seem more predisposed to workplace violence, no work environment is immune.

Incidents have occurred in three-person businesses as well as those employing thousands of workers.In the strange economic times facing American business, a great deal of stress is placed on the employee. Some of these employees may have the ability and deluded reasoning to commit an act of workplace violence.

Downsizing also places pressure on those workers who remain. These employees are required to complete the same work in the same amount of time as the previous full-strength staff. Additional stress comes from wondering who will be cut in the next round of lay-offs.

No company can completely prevent or eliminate workplace violence, but with proper planning and effective programs, the chances of such violent occurrences can be dramatically reduced.

You can also use the CandidClues Attitude Assessment during the application process to measure a number of counter-productive behaviors. One of the many counter-productive behaviors it measures is "Hostility/Aggression".  

For more info... email us.

Geeks, Geezers, and Googlization

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Ira S. Wolfe Copyright 2009 - All Rights Reserved. Reprints and other distribution by permission only.