Haste Haste Kat Jayein Raste

“Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success.”

~~Henry Ford 

Time for another management jargon and this time its “3 idiots crossing the valley” (as Prof Mandi calls it).

Time for another management jargon and this time its “3 idiots crossing the valley” (as Prof Mandi calls it).

Valley crossing exercise as illustrated, focuses on TEAMWORK and roles each one of us plays in a team.

Valley crossing is a simple 8 step process where 3 people cross over a valley with the support of a straight pole. And as a manager i have to come up with a plan to make it possible.

Everybody knows that teamwork is one of the major foundations to success. One can only reach so far on his/her own. The beauty of teamwork is that a goal can be reached faster, more efficiently, and the skill sets of each team member can be fully utilized. 

On the other hand, if you choose a team member that needs to be convinced of the desired goal, that already creates difficulty from the start. If the team member’s beliefs do not align with those of the goal, you may or may not have chosen the right team member. One must always remember that the key to achieving a goal collectively is to ensure that you have chosen the right team members.

Team ingredients

1.     Shared vision – What is natural is to have a blurry vision of where the organization is going. The vision is not communicated enough or shared throughout the organization.

What is unnatural yet necessary is to create an inspiring vision for the future that is clear and informs all throughout the organization what the future holds and their role in it. It is shared because it is understood and repeated in numerous ways.

Leaders usually do share the vision but usually not enough or in multiple methods.

Actions: Leaders have to be deliberate and have a plan on how to communicate the vision

• Leaders need to share the vision and tie it into the daily tasks every day in their conversations. 
• People need to be clear what needs to be done and why.
• Leaders need to include others for comments, clarifications or additions. This way they get others “fingerprints” are on it.
• Leaders need to remember involvement = commitment.

      2. Trust among members- What is natural is to rely on your self or your department and not expect much from others.

What is unnatural yet necessary, is to develop an interdependency on others characterized by high trust and risk taking.

Actions: Leaders develop trust by trusting their people.

• Leaders develop trust by being vulnerable and admitting their mistakes.
• Leaders make and keep small promises.
• Leaders set high expectations for their team and encourage risk taking and direct feedback.

Three Idiots Crossing the valley  - Detailed process by me :

Step 1: All safe                                     L1     L2     L3 _______                                        

                                                           R1     R2    R3

Step 2: Person 3 half safe                              L1     L2     L3                                           

                                                           R1    R2     R3

Step 3: Person 3 full unsafe                             L1     L2     L3     

                                                                     R1     R2     R3

Step 4: Person 2 and 3 partially safe                        L1     L2    L3

                                                                    R1     R2     R3

Step 5: Person 2 fully unsafe                                    L1     L2    L3  

                                                                             R1     R2    R3

Step 6: Person 1 and 2 partially safe                                 L1    L2    L3  

                                                                             R1     R2    R3

Step 7: Person 1 fully unsafe                                             L1    L2    L3  

                                                                                      R1    R2   R3

Step 8: Person 1 partially safe                                                   L1    L2    L3 

                                                                                       R1    R2    R3

Step 9: Everyone is safe                                                           L1    L2    L3 

                                                                                              R1    R2   R3

      3.  Established expectations and guidelines – What is natural is to assume that co-workers are on the same page and that they understand the desired results.

What is unnatural yet necessary is to be very deliberate in clarifying reciprocal expectations and establish guidelines fro how to work together effectively.

Actions: To be a team the individuals need to co-create expectations for themselves and feel their input was heard and valued.

• Leaders and the team need to decide on how they are going make decisions, i.e. majority, minority a “tell” or content expert, unanimous or consensus.
• Expectations need to be clarified, leader to the team, team to the leader and team of each other.
• Meeting and team guidelines are established that flow out of the expectations, such as “One conversation at a time,” “Stay focused”, and “Defer judgment.”

     4.  Communication skill and conflict resolution – What is natural is to avoid conflict, jump to rash conclusions and not communicate what you are thinking.

What is unnatural yet necessary is to make your thinking visible, fill in the “white space” for people, identify your assumptions and resolve conflicts.

Actions: The team needs to have specific tools to communicate, otherwise the strongest and most senior voice wins out.

• Part of the expectations should involve communication guidelines
• Most teams need some kind of skill training for communication, like how to listen better, inquiry versus advocacy, summarizing what was said, ladder of inference, left hand column.

Management and leadership action is then directed toward promoting cooperative action among team members. This is done by acting through one or more of five operational variables: positive interdependence,  individual accountability, promotive interaction, social skills, and group processing 

Thus, for the success of any organization Team work is of utmost importance along with a good manager who knows how to distribute the load so that no one feels overloaded.