ICT at the Team Level

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Using the concepts within ICT focused on the team level, reflect on why the Olympic US Women’s Soccer team won so often and the US Dream Team basketball men’s team did so poorly in 2000 and 2004?

The United States (US) is known to field stellar teams for the Olympics in both women’s soccer and men’s basketball. Much of this can be attributed to the quality of talent and excellent coaching each sport possesses. So how has the US women’s soccer team achieved the success they have had on recent years while the US men’s basketball team have struggled to live up to standard established by the infamous “Dream Team” of the 1990’s? This topic will be explored as it relates to the Intentional Change Theory (ICT) at the team level.

Group development for any team is crucial. Team dynamics and the way it establishes its identity is in large part how it leaders shape the learning/training environment. Moreover, through the course of a team’s life, many experiences and events reveal the certain team patterns; this is especially true as it relates to the ICT. According to Akrivou and Boyatzis (2006), “Although each iteration is characterized by a similar cycle of discovery, over time, there is a shift to distinct patterns in a way which makes group development appear unique for each group” (p. 697). The five discoveries involved include: 

1. Emergence of shared ideal, vision, or dream
2. Exploration of norms, paradoxes, challenges, and gaps
3. The group’s learning agenda
4. Group experimentation and practice
5. Resonant Relationships (Akrivou & Boyatzis, 2006, p. 699-701)

When viewed through this context, the US women’s national soccer team has enjoyed global success by winning four gold medals and one silver in recent Olympic games and set records for winning streaks and goals scored (Ussoccer.com, 2016). While the popularity of US women’s soccer team has grown significantly over the past decades, many of the players do not demand the same main-stream attention as other sports. This factor may contribute to the US women’s soccer team’s unity and shared vision for success. For example, many players were developed and nurtured through soccer programs and leagues that feed into the US soccer national team, which has led to its premier status (Litterer, 2011). This process has provided the conditions for players and coaches to develop and experience the five discoveries as noted above.

While the men’s basketball Dream Team of 2000 and 2004 may have been filled with talent, factors of individualism and lack of developmental time may have prevented it from living up to expectations. The US men’s national/Olympic mainly consist of superstars in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Thus, they typically are the center of their team’s attention and have numerous sponsorships. As such, many of these superstars expect to carry their teams on their back and learn to value individual performance. The 2004 Olympic team, According to Brad Raun (2012), “This team had talent, but it was severely lacking in guard play.  Iverson (2.5 assists per game) and Marbury (3.4 apg) were score-first point guards that did little to get teammates involved” (par. 5). Furthermore, the assembled for the 2004 games had less than a month to prepare and work with each other. According to Carmelo Anthony "In '04, we had two weeks to put that team together, go to Greece and play and try to win a gold medal," he continues, "We had a weird group of guys on that team, guys that didn't know each other, guys that were young and coming into the league, and it didn't work" (as cited in Bontemps, 2016, par. 5). It becomes clear that even with a team full of talent, without the group development through ICT, any team may fail to achieve its goal.

Reference

Akrivou, K., Boyatzis, B., & McLeod, P. (2006) "The evolving group: towards a prescriptive theory of intentional group development", Journal of Management Development, Vol. 25 Issue: 7, pp.689-706, https://doi.org/10.1108/02621710610678490

Bontemps, T. (2016, July 21). Born from the fires of 2004 failures, Team USA Basketball now built to last. Chicago Tribune. Retrieved from http://www.chicagotribune.com/

Litterer, D. (2011, August 17). Women’s Soccer History in the USA: An Overview. Retrieved from http://homepages.sover.net/~spectrum/womensoverview.html

Raun, B. (2012, June 24). From Dream Team to Nightmare: Ranking the USA Basketball Teams. Bleacher Report. Retrieved from http://bleacherreport.com/

Women’s National Team. (2016, August 05). A History of the U.S. WNT at the Olympic Games. Retrieved from http://www.ussoccer.com/stories/2016/08/05/19/54/160805-wnt-a-history-of-the-usa-at-the-olympic-games

Tipping Points of Emotional Intelligence

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In your reflection blog, share instances where you have experienced a tipping point at work. When you experienced the tipping point, describe how positive or negative emotional attractors played a role in it.

• What was the situation?
• What did you do?
• What was the result?
• What would you do differently?

Tipping points are important factors that affect the intentional change process as it relates to Positive Emotional Attractors (PEA) and Negative Emotional Attractors (NEA) for desired and sustained change or development. Both PEA and NEA play an important role in what Boyatzis, Rochford, and Taylor (2015) identify as distinguishing and pursuing “self” within the change process. According to Boyatzis et al (2015, p.3), “The ideal self is comprised of three main components: (1) an image of a desired future that is (2) emotionally fuelled by hope, and (3) reflects a person’s core identity.” Conversely, “the ought self is someone else’s desire or interpretation of what a person’s ideal self should be (Boyatzis and Akrivou, 2006) (as cited by Boyatzis et al, 2015, p. 3).

Within this context, one distinct situation where I experienced a tipping point occurred while I was deployed and serving as an aide to a senior leader. Nearing the end of our sixteen-month deployment, my boss (senior leader) pulled me into his office and he began discussing options for my required career level professional military education (PME); in this case he was referring to the Military Police Captains Career Course (MPCCC).

In the military, leaders are expected to attend PME that is commensurate to their time (in service) and grade (rank). For me, the next logical step would be to attend the six-month long MPCCC where I would be exposed to MP topics, concepts, and strategies. Having served in a joint environment (during this deployment) and observed my potential for greater responsibility, my boss recommended that I consider attending the Marine Corps Expeditionary Warfare School (EWS) in lieu of the MPCCC. EWS was the Marine Corps’ version of the required PME, which was nine months long and consisted of combined arms doctrine. “Combined Arms are the appropriate combinations of infantry, mobile protected firepower, offensive and defensive fires, engineers, Army aviation, and joint capabilities” (Maneuver Self Study Program, 2014, par. 3). In essence, I would forego a six-month program on topics I was comfortable and well versed on for a more rigorous nine-month program on topics I had little exposure with.

My boss, again having a firm grasp of my work ethic and desire for continued growth, highlighted the importance this course of action would have on my ideal self; thus, PEA. Furthermore, he noted that this experience would be essential as I ascended to higher ranks and responsibilities. That learning my branch (MP) specific competencies was important, attending EWS would provide a greater understanding of military operations (ground, naval, & air) and leadership competencies that would have a greater impact on me holistically. Thus, I began reflecting more on this opportunity and my concept of “self” as it related to ideal self and ought self as noted above. According to Boyatzis et al. (2015, p. 3):

First, while a prevention focus (ought self) might spur a person to action to achieve short-term outcomes, any behavioral change approached from a loss/non-loss situation is unlikely to be maintained in the long term. Ironically, change actually requires a willingness to ‘lose’ a current state in order to move to a new, desired state (ideal self).

After much consideration, I decided to act on my boss’ recommendation and attend EWS with the frame of mind of achieving a greater perspective on the profession of arms and avoiding the comfort of “ought self.” This decision paid off greatly as I was exposed to a higher level of military operations and leadership challenges that I would not have acquired attending the MPCCC. Furthermore, this experience widened my perspective of how MP assets (among other assets) could better leverage operations, thus, setting me apart from many of my peers. This tipping point was a key event in the change process that closed the gap between “real self” and “ideal self.”

References

Boyatzis, R. E., Rochford, K., & Taylor, S. N. (2015). The role of the positive emotional attractor in vision and shared vision: toward effective leadership, relationships, and engagement. Frontiers in Psychology, 6, 670. http://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2015.00670

Maneuver Self Study Program. (2014). United States Army. Retrieved from http://www.benning.army.mil/MSSP/Combined%20Arms%20Operations/

Working with EI: Getting Results!

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Watch the two videos on emotional intelligence by Daniel Goleman.  Goleman describes the four dimensions of EI: self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, and social skill.  Develop a reflection blog that focuses on the four EI dimensions.  Discuss how each of these applies to you, your strengths, areas that you need to develop, and how the dimensions have helped or hindered you in your performance and/or career.

Emotional intelligence (EI) is generally accepted as a key indicator of success for leaders, oppose to IQ. EI consists of four domains, which includes: self-awareness, self-management, social awareness (empathy), and social skill (Goleman, 2012). While many leaders may naturally possess and use one or multiple domains as part of their leadership style, developing and exercising all domains typically increases ones’ overall effectiveness and success. According to Daniel Goleman and Richard Boyatzis (2017), “In order to excel, leaders need to develop a balance of strengths across the suite of EI competencies. When they do that, excellent business results follow” (par. 6).

Of the four domains of EI, I believe that self-awareness and self-management are areas that I have enjoyed the most success with. On the other hand, social awareness (empathy) and social skill are the two areas I have identified as present, but needing additional development. As I highlight each domain below, I will include how these domains have been strengths or a part of my weaknesses.

Self-Awareness

Self-awareness is the area that allows us to know what we are feeling and why we are feeling it (Goleman, 2012). This is extremely important when we experience negative emotions that have the potential of impacting our behaviors, decision making, and those around us. By knowing and understanding the source of negative feelings (or emotions), we are better able to limit its consequences. For example, some time ago, I was chosen to lead a new initiative for my organization that involved input from key leaders at various levels. Over the course of eight months, the key leaders and I met regularly to discuss planning, resources, logistics, and manpower. Countless hours had been invested by the time we approached the designated start date. Prior to initiating the program, a handful of new folks joined the committee and had to play catch up on our progress. I distinctively recall during one meeting, one of the new individuals to the committee began discussing shortages of essential equipment that had already been identified and a plan was in place to fill the shortages. As I was sitting there listening to this person discuss their observation, I immediately felt irritated because they were talking about “step three” while we were on “step thirty.” I became aware of my displeasure and realized that they were just trying to contribute. By knowing and understanding where my feeling of irritation was stemming from, I was able to limit the effects of my irritation and focus instead on moving forward with our progress.

Self-Management

Self-management is having the ability to effectively deal with negative or distressing emotions and finding ways to become optimistic (Goleman, 2012). For example, during my time in the military, leaders were expected to attend military balls. Personally, I never really enjoyed the atmosphere of large social/professional gatherings. I understood that these functions celebrated traditions and promoted esprit de corps, what always crossed my mind was either how much productive work I could be getting done or how much time I could have spent with my family outside of the work environment. Nevertheless, knowing that those I led would be required to attend as I was, I had to make a conscience effort to not let my negative feeling about attending affect others. In fact, I would always make it a point to go around and ensure that my folks (subordinates) were having a good time. In essence, instead of feeling negative about the situation (self-management), I chose to use the situation as a leader to ensure their well-being and to make their time fun.

Social Awareness (Empathy)

Social awareness or empathy is having the ability to know what someone else if feeling (Goleman, 2012). As I noted above, this one area I feel could use more development. While this domain is present, being an achievement/task oriented person, this aspect tends to require focus and effort on my part. For example, I have a stepson that has been diagnosed with ADHD and needs more redirection and reminders than the typical eight-year-old. “ADHD is a biological condition that makes it hard for many children to sit still and concentrate” (Morin, n.d., par. 3). There are many occasions when either my wife or I ask our son to do simple tasks (put something away, clean up after himself, pay attention) and he shows difficulty completing them. As with any parent, sometimes our initial reaction is to correct him instead of using known ADHD recommended approaches. Needless to say, this constant reaction to correct can potentially cause misunderstandings and disconnection. Thus, after much reflection and trying to see the situation from his point of view (empathy), I began to research ADHD and employ different recommended strategies that align with our son’s attention and impulsiveness. Because I was able to take a step back and empathize with our son’s situation, I believe we as a family have able to accomplish effective communication and understanding, which has further led to harmony.

Social Skill

Social skill (or relationship management) how we interact and bring all the domains together when working with others (Goleman, 2012). Relationships and our interactions account for a lot when in a leadership role. Moreover, over time and leadership levels, I have gained more appreciation for developing and nurturing meaningful relationships as my influence has widened. As an introvert, I typically insert myself when and where needed. However, sometime as a leader, it is just important to be visible and vocal on matters that those we lead deem important. Thus, in order to become a more effective and influential leader, I have learned to make time to interact with other beyond business of the day. This, I have found, creates better lines of communication and team work.

References

Goleman, D. (2012). Daniel Goleman Introduces Emotional Intelligence. Big Think. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y7m9eNoB3NU

Goleman, D. and Boyatzis, R. (2017, February 6). Emotional Intelligence Has 12 Elements. Which do you need to work on? Harvard Business Review. Retrieved from https://hbr.org/

Morin, A. (n.d.) Re: Understanding ADHD. [Blog post]. Retrieved from https://www.understood.org/en/learning-attention-issues/child-learning-disabilities/add-adhd/understanding-adhd