Leadership Update from Nexus Partners

In this issue:

Team Development Monthly Update

Avoid the Top 5 Project Management mistakes

Competing for the Future: Why ask Why?

Does your Organisational Culture Support Leadership Capacity?

Quick Giveaway: Leadership Competency Survey

Tips for Successful Negotiating

Prize Winners: Last Ezine draw.

Please feel free to forward this e-mail to your friends and colleagues. We also welcome your feedback, and are open to your suggestions for content. Email us with your thoughts!

Sent the Ezine by a friend? Subscribe online.

Team Development Monthly Update There are four stages of team development. This month we categorise what they are and how to recognise them... Look out for leader strategies for each stage next month. Read more...

Avoid the Top 5 Project Management Mistakes. Project managers who strike trouble mid-way through a project often discover that the cause of their project problems can be traced back to the very beginning. Read more...

Competing for the Future Hamel and Prahalad's classic example of what happens when we accept limitations and established precedents without asking why. Read more...

Developing a Culture to Support Leadership Capacity: It doesn't matter how much training you send your people on - if your organisational culture does not support the development of leadership you may as well save your training budget. Read more...

Quick Giveaway : Leadership Training Needs survey. Use this handy tool to assess leadership capacity or leadership training needs in your team. Read on for details…

Successful Negotiating: Negotiation is an essential part of leadership and performance. These hot tips can give you an edge! Read more...

Prize Winners from the last draw

The Stages of Team Development

There are four stages in the development of all teams: Forming, Storming, Norming and Performing.

Each team moves through all stages one after the other - some spend longer at different stages than others. This month - team behaviours which characterise each stage. Next month, leadership strategies to support your team through the stages and move them towards high peformance.

Forming is shown by:

Team members questioning each other and the leader.
Holding back.
" Wait and see" attitude.
Some people more visible than others.

“Who is in charge here?”
“Who am I - who are they?”

Storming is shown by:

Challenges to the leader.
Some people retreat further.
Differences emerge - conflict ensues.
Power balances shift.
Alliances form within the team.
Team members talk about each other and the leader.

“Who said we had to do it this way?”
“We agreed to do it this way - what is your problem?”
“If you don’t like it - go home.”
“Is this what we are here to do?”

Norming is shown by:

Team members get more information about each other.
People decide if they are committed to the leader.
Some people trust some people.
Some people distrust other people.
Conservatism.
Increased social interaction.
People discover the boundaries and then avoid stepping over them.

“I know what we are meant to be doing.”

Performing is shown by:

Complex and satisfying communication.
Co-operation.
High balanced commitment to other team members, leader, and task.
High trust.
Clear purpose.
Team resolves its own problems.

Contact John Hornblow for more information about Nexus Partners' Team Development programmes. More information is also available online.

Competing for the Future - Why Ask Why? Hamel & Prahalad

Four monkeys were put into a room. In the centre of the room was a tall pole with a bunch of bananas suspended from the top. One particularly hungry monkey eagerly scampered up the pole, intent to retrieve a banana. Just as he reached out to grab a banana, he was hit with a torrent of cold water from an overhead shower. With a squeal, he abandoned the banana and climbed back down the pole. Others attempting the climb each received an equally chilly shower and each scampered down without the prize. After repeated drenchings, the monkeys finally gave up on the bananas.

Next, one of the original four monkeys was taken out of the room, and a new monkey introduced. The new monkey immediately started to climb the pole to get the bananas. Straight away, the other monkeys reached up and yanked the new monkey back down the pole. Before long, this monkey stopped trying to reach the bananas.

One by one, each of the original monkeys was replaced. Each new monkey learned the same lesson: don’t climb the pole.

None of the new monkeys ever made it to the top of the pole. None ever received a cold shower. Not one understood why pole climbing was discouraged, but they all respected the well-established precedent. Even after the shower was removed, no monkey ever ventured up the pole.

If you always do what you've always done, you'll always get what you've always got!

Avoid the Top 5 Project Management Mistakes

What are they?

Insufficient or non-visible senior management support or sponsorship
Selecting the wrong team members or underestimating time commitments
Skipping key steps
Over-defining current processes and focusing on business-as-usual
Using change management processes after it's too late

What can you do?

1. Designate one or more members of senior management as change sponsors. Ensure they visibly support the change, and are available to speak to staff about it.

2. Choose team members who:

Are creative and open minded
Are good team players and work well together
Are respected by peers and other staff
Have sufficient time available to commit to the project

3. All projects include four main stages: Definition, Planning, Implementation and Evaluation. Before embarking on a project, ensure you, and your project team, have a full understanding of the components of each stage as they will be applied to your project.

4. Document only business processes that are within the scope of the project, and limit this to a high-level overview - avoid weeks and weeks of process-definition work! Focus on understanding the business purpose, the key inputs and outputs and the core activities that occur within the process.

5. The later in the project you begin change management activities, the more difficult the task of managing the change becomes. It is easier to prevent resistance than fix it! If you define and plan properly, and have a visible change sponsor, this issue should not arise.

Need help with or information about Project Management training? Contact Anne McLaughlin. Need assistance or advice on managing change processes, or training for your organisation's leaders in leading change? Contact John Mawdsley or John Hornblow.

Supporting Leadership Capacity in Your Organisation

It doesn't matter how much training you send your people on - if your organisational culture does not support the development of leadership you may as well save your training budget. Organisations who successfully develop and nurture leadership capacity at all levels share best practice characteristics:

Leadership capacity is recognised as a strategic business imperative
Executives take accountability for ensuring leadership capacity within the organisation
Organisations focus on succession management for critical positions and retention of key talent to meet leadership capacity needs
Leadership development is based on an integrated approach involving an aligned array of development strategies (eg coaching, assessment, learning, experience)
Leadership capacity is embedded in HR practices/processes (eg performance management, employee survey process etc)

The Pillars for Nurturing Leadership Capacity within your Organisation

Vision: The extent to which learning is part of the vision of the organisation
Infrastructure: The systems and procedures in place to support learning
Culture: How the culture in the organisation supports learning
Learning Dynamics: The extent to which learning is at the core of how the organisation operates
Training Investment: The extent to which the organisation supports learning by investing in formal development and training for all employees

This is a snippet from Anne McLaughlin's executive briefing "Building a Performance Culture". Fuller summary notes will be available shortly. Please register to receive your copy, or contact Anne to talk further about Leadership Capacity.

Quick Giveaway - Leadership Competency Survey

Click here to download your FREE copy of our brief Leadership Competency survey - or email us with Leadership Survey in the subject line, and your contact details in the message.

You can use this handy tool to assess leadership capacity or leadership training needs for yourself or in your team.

We'd be happy to talk to you about the results, or analyse them for you if you wish. Please contact John Mawdsley for more information or to discuss your leadership needs.

Nexus Partners also has a full Training Needs Analysis product. This can be used to assess current or anticipated organisational skill gaps, and is a valuable succession planning tool. It can also be used to create personal development plans for staff members. Check out more info online, or contact John Mawdsley phone 09 448 5575.

Tips for Successful Negotiation

Resourcefulness: In negotiations, you must deal with uncertainty and constantly changing information.

Be prepared to “think on your feet”
Apply creative thinking - brainstorm solutions "outside the square"
Confidence - in yourself and in your position/ knowledge/ proposal

Patience: Entering a negotiation looking for a ‘quick fix’ is likely to end in dissatisfaction!

Be persistent
Effective questioning
Active listening

Determination: It is important to be able to stand your ground in negotiations, otherwise you can be pushed into making far more concessions than you intend.

Clear understanding of own proposal, and your reasoning behind it
Be assertive
Use a problem solving approach
Understand your own power in the situation
Knowledge of strategy and tactics

Above all this, the successful negotiator is thoroughly prepared. Knowing your staff member (or manager), their needs, wants and the impact your product or proposal can have for them is key.

Want more information? Contact John Mawdsley to find out how Nexus Partners' Negotiation Skills training can help you.

Prize Winners from the Last E-zine

Last month, we gave away two copies of Life Matters: Creating a Dynamic Balance of Work, Family, Time & Money by A. Roger Merrill & Rebecca Merrill.

Prize winners were:

Shane Crawford from Central Otago District Council
Viv Moule from Hawkes Bay Regional Council

Congratulations!