In
This Issue
Feature

Building
Trust and Cohesiveness in a Leadership Team
by
Deepika Nath
Many
OD practitioners are asked to intervene with groups that
exhibit unproductive team dynamics and are often faced with
a decision of how to intervene. In this case study of a senior
leadership team at a Fortune 100 company, Deepika Nath describes
the application of David Kantor’s human structural
dynamics model. The team involved lacked mutual respect,
trust, and a willingness to listen to and learn from each
other; for this reason, they were ill equipped to work in
a collaborative and productive manner.
In
seeking to address behavioral dysfunction that was hampering
this team’s ability to work effectively and further
a strategic agenda, Nath used an approach that focused not
only on addressing the behavioral manifestation of the dysfunction
in the team, but also at making visible the invisible source
of this dysfunction, that is, the beliefs and mental models
that contributed to the behavior. This two-pronged model
was a powerful approach that resulted in positive outcomes
for the organization and for the team.
Toolbox
Moving from Knower to Learner
by Brian Hinken
Are you producing desired results? If your answer is “No,” congratulations!
You have just taken the first step on the Learner’s Path,
a roadmap for continuous improvement. While there is nothing
wrong with patting ourselves on the back occasionally for knowing
the right answer, the key to creating sustainable results lies
not in the accumulation of information, but in our continual
willingness to question, evaluate, and adjust our actions and
our thinking. When our obsession with knowing prevents us from
inquiring, we short-circuit the learning process and find ourselves
stuck in a knower’s stance.
From
the Headlines
How Does Malcolm Gladwell Spell Success?
by Janice Molloy
Malcolm Gladwell’s new book, Outliers, The Story
of Success,
is all about patterns and how they can reveal counterintuitive
insights—something every systems thinker can appreciate.
In the West, we typically attribute success to individual factors:
a person’s innate intelligence and drive to achieve.
But why do some so-called geniuses rise to the top of their
professions while others fail to have an impact? To answer
this question, Gladwell delves beneath the conventional wisdom
and finds that factors such as a person’s birth month
or year, family background, or even random opportunities play
more of a role in people’s achievement than we previously
thought.
Viewpoint
A or B?
by Kellie Wardman
Sometimes, you simply have to choose. Do I send my child to
this day care or that one? Do I buy this new car or stay with
my old, paid-off clunker? Do I take the new job with higher
pay but a longer commute? Do I stay in this tired relationship
or go out on my own? These are the hardest decisions—when
you have two choices that are equally plausible. The upside
of any tough decision—there’s usually some learning
you will get out of it. Conflict, or choice, can naturally
lead to expansion.
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