8 September 2008
Successful Intentions Newsletter
Hi ,
Team work a bit strained? I hear you!
It turns out the best teams have a high degree of connectivity.
As Director of the Center for Advanced Research (CFAR) in Ann Arbor, Michigan, Dr Marcial Losada developed a unique nonlinear dynamics model of team communication. In one study 60 business teams were classified as high, medium or low performing teams based on profitability, customer satisfaction, and assessments by superiors, peers and subordinates.
Losada found high performing teams had a high degree of interconnected behaviours among participants. In particular, their speech patterns showed a balance between inquiry (exploring and examining a position) and advocacy (arguing in favour of the speaker's viewpoint) without getting "stuck" in one or the other.
They also had a higher ratio of positivity to negativity in their speech patterns, something Losada referred to as "emotional space".
The key to getting teams to perform better, according to Losada, is to:
- Engage in patterns of interaction that reach a high degree of connectivity.
- Strike a dynamic balance between inquiry and advocacy.
- Maintain a dynamic balance between talking about self (strengths and weaknesses within the group) and other (opportunities and threats in the environment outside the group).
- Create "open and expansive" emotional spaces, while avoiding getting stuck in restrictive emotional spaces that close possibilities for effective action.
You can find out how to put this approach into practice for your team here.
, there are no places left for the September 17 - 18 Coaching for WisdomŪ two-day workshop. But you can still register here for the December 12 Coaching for WisdomŪ one-day workshop. This is an introduction to the psychology of wisdom and its application in coaching practice and will be held at the Sydney campus of the Melbourne Business School, Pyrmont.
Keep your intentions clear,
Peter Webb
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