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| Saturday, 6 March 2004 |
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A guide to the art of shared leadership: Leading and developing teams by Prasanna Perera When successful team leaders discuss their experiences, the common theme is "trust". Only in an atmosphere of mutual trust and respect, can a group of diverse individuals develop into a cohesive, fully functioning team. In the traditional workplace, trust often occupies a low level, on the scale of values. Managers make the decisions and issue directives. As such, they have only to trust workers to do as they're told. Policies, such as requiring employees to punch in and out at work, to bring a medical certificate to verify treatment, are specifically developed to compensate for the lack of trust between managers and employees. Trust By contrast, in a team-oriented workplace, trust is fundamental. A team won't fulfil its promise, unless you can trust the team to follow through on commitments. And you won't fulfil your promise, unless the team can trust you to respect them and their ideas. Expanding trust, will allow the members of a team, to achieve more of their potential as individuals and in turn, greatly contribute to their organisations. From Forming to Performing Like a growing child, a growing and developing team has different needs at different times. During a major organisational change, you may have probably experienced the strong emotions people feel. Anticipation, anger, acceptance and renewed self-confidence, affect both the individual and the team as a whole. Researches have found that those emotions correspond to four phases - ups and downs that every team must go through before it gets. (a) Forming - In this first phase, team members want to know "what's expected of me? What are we supposed to do?" etc. This initial excitement is quickly followed by anxiety. It is at this moment, that the seed of trust must be planted, by helping team members to develop operating guidelines or ground rules, that regulate how the team and you interact. Your behaviour must reflect a genuine concern for others and their feelings. (b) Storming - During this phase, enthusiasm usually gives way to frustration and anger. Everything seems so awkward, with team members struggling to work together. This phase is critical to get through because, what emerges is something different from the some of the parts: the team itself. It is vital that you do not carryout anything, that violates the trust the team has towards you. (c) Norming - With the passage of time, the team gains its balance and enters the tranquil "norming" phase. Team members find standard ways to do routine things and generally make an effort to stay "low key". The main danger now is that team members, may hold back creative ideas for fear of any further conflict. This can be overcome to a great extent by increasing the responsibility and authority the team. Giving team members a new challenge, demonstrates your trust in them. Meeting that challenge strengthens their trust in one another. (d) Performing - Now on to the fourth and final phase, where the team goes about its activities with smooth self-confidence. Given the high level of mutual trust, you can now step back and let the team demonstrate its considerable capabilities. A word of caution: Reaching the performing phase doesn't mean smooth sailing forever. A team can experience a stormy period at any time. So please watch out and take corrective action where required. Transition from Traditional Leadership - Team Leadership What is traditional leadership? It is about directing people. Of course, directing people doesn't require an especially high degree of trust. Moving on to participate leadership this involves people. Usually you ask input from people, prior to making decision that affect their work. This is where mutual trust comes in, i.e. employees have to trust you enough to express their ideas and you have to trust them to live up to their commitments. Finally, team leadership involves building trust and inspiring teamwork. Building substantial trust, permits you to delegate a higher degree of authority, in the knowledge that the team will implement without your direct supervision. ####### Handling illegal questions at job interviews by Ananda Rajapakse Sometimes you must be prepared to answer crazy questions from unprofessional interviewers. I know of a Sri Lankan management consultant who asks young women applicants the question, "do you have a boy friend?" A very confident Yes or No is the best answer to this. He seldom asks similar questions from young men! In my opinion this is an illegal question at a job interview. Most companies do not realize the danger the company is exposed to by having inexperienced and unprofessional interviewers. In Sri Lanka very few job applicants go to courts against the interviewer or the company that employed the interviewer. In USA there are federal and state laws that govern job interviews. In most developed countries and international companies, it is illegal to discriminate against race, colour, religion, sex, age, sexual preference (being gay) or disability. Only a handful of companies in Sri Lanka adhere to these international standards of equal v opportunity employment. However illegal the questions are you've got to answer them if you want the job. To win this game you need to simply answer these questions positively and professionally. This is where your communication skills will help you. Always practice your answers to some of the illegal questions that you feel may come up at the interview. A popular illegal question is "are you single?" or "are you divorced?" Another one is 'if you have to work late how will you get home?" Talk to some of your close friends who have been to interviews and listen to some of their experiences. Many will be shy to divulge as I have heard of very embarrassing questions that have been asked by senior corporate heads at job interviews. We must all work together to discipline the unprofessional interviewers and make our work places safer. Whenever you are faced with an uncomfortable question and you feel it is illegal from your point just remain calm and be positive in your approach. Then look at the concern behind the question. Ask the interviewer to please elaborate why this information is important to the job you have applied for. This will put the brakes on the interviewer to rephrase or move to another question. If you react positively and professionally the interviewer will be shaken by your smartness. Use this window of opportunity to express your commitment to your career and the job you are being interviewed for. Very often it is the male interviewers who pose illegal questions to female job seekers. Six years ago I was a member of a 4-man panel, where a 45+ local interviewer asked a female job applicant "How will your family react to the demands of this job"? The female applicant was smart. She paused and looked him in the eye and said' "my career is very important to me and so is my family. I have strong family support to excel in my career and meet the professional career demands. Could you please elaborate the career demands you have in mind so I could clearly address your concern." She got the job. I was informed last year that now she heads the division in that company and her family is intact. The interviewer is no more in the same company. What I have seen at job interviews is that, most job seekers are so nervous that they hardly show enthusiasm to get the job. Some interviewers like to make the job applicants very uneasy with unprofessional questions that are not related to the job. You need to overcome this challenge by putting on an animated and confident exterior. This is in your body language; your dress, your smile, facial expressions, your mind and all put together. All these display your enthusiasm and confidence in the job. Just keep your enthusiasm up, right through the interview. In most cases your personal interview skills can determine if you will get the job. If you are smart then act very professionally and ask for the job! Next: Questions an applicant can ask at an interview. |
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