Journal Reflections for Modual 4.1 - Policy, Perspectives and Sustainability/Organizational Culture

[Editors note:  The following is a journal entry addressing the CPM course taught by Wendy Holden and John Swannack for module 3.4.]
Reflections from Module 4.1

Looking over my notes, the amount to be remembered from this class was significantly less compared to the other classes.

However, four separate incidents struck me about how much information I have gained in knowledge and application over the past year.


The first thing was reading the “D” case for the Transit Study Case. My course of action was very much in line with what could very reasonably be achieved.

There was a strong undercurrent in the class to see heads roll, but in my opinion that was very much taking newspaper reporting as fact rather than objectively considering all sides of the story.  It also failed to account for how much energy and emotional capital replacing those people would consume.

By comparison,  the one significant additional component I would have added was to utilize this as an opportunity to reinforce a cultural paradigm shift in a proactive way. That would have drawn out some of the cultural and organizational leadership concepts we have covered throughout the CPM curriculum.

Other key concepts drawn from learning over the past year are:

1. Saying “Thank You” from Marshal Goldsmith’s What Got You Here, Won’t Get You There.
2. The importance of communication and over-communication drawing from Larisa Bentsen and Doug Nathan’s work.
3. The need to find alternative stories to explain facts and being very careful in the assumptions one makes. This was first drawn out in Jane Wood’s Supervision Essentials I class and also in the Crucial Conversations material regarding stories we tell ourselves.
4. The “Why would a reasonable, rational, and decent person do what they have done?” question is directly from the Crucial Conversations book and the Supervision Essentials class.
5. The impetus to closely interact with HR about any potential changes, I gained from Cynthia Schaeffer’s class.
6. The need to be proactive in the media is drawn from How to Win Friends and Influence People in the Digital Age.
7. The propensity towards saving Frank Baker’s position is also drawn from the book How to Win Friends and Influence People in the Digital Age. The chapter about mitigating fault concludes with this paragraph:
   

   “On the other hand, when we mitigate fault, we not only save the other person’s psyche, we build confidence and trust into our relationship with that person. Save someone’s face once and your influence with him rises. Save his face every time you can, and there is practically nothing he won’t do for you."

8. Seeking to find mutual purpose with the newspaper reporter also comes from the Crucial Conversations material about finding mutual purpose and Accessing Affinity in the How to Win Friends and Influence People in the Digital Age book.

The next key recognition of things I have learned over the past year came while teaching a Jr. High Sunday School on the book of Proverbs. The topic for the day was Self Control. Supplementing my remarks on the subject, I was able to draw in three aspects of my learning from this year.

1. First, I started the lecture recounting the famous “marshmallow study” at Stanford University that tracked the correlation between achievement in life and one’s ability at 4 years of age to resist eating a marshmallow for 15 minutes.
2. In the discussion about being able to control their anger and keep their tongue from speaking rashly, I brought up the science of how the body reacts to a threat by sending blood to the large muscle groups and away from the brain. To aid self control in these scenarios it is often best to count to ten, thereby allowing the first rush of endorphins to pass. Then present yourself a more complex question such as why might this person be doing this, and in this way activating the brain functions. This material was from Crucial Conversations, Daniel Goleman’s book Emotional Intelligence, and most recently Richard Boyartz Coursera class Inspiring Leadership Through Emotional Intelligence.
3. And finally, an aspect of self control involves being able to accept instruction. So drawing on Marshal Goldsmith’s What Got You Here, Won’t Get You There, I made the point that the only proper response to receiving criticism is to say “Thank You.” Not to defend yourself or question the feedback, but to simply say “Thank You.”

The third realization of the amount of learning I have encountered in the last year was in coming across my Meyers-Briggs personality type.  Stumbling across the following website 16 Personalities - INTJ, I was amazed at how well this characterized my interactions with my fellow CPM cohorts over the past year. Recognizing my personality tendencies has been helpful in gaining a better framework for understanding the strengths and weaknesses of my personal interactions.


A fourth area where the learning from the course has become apparent is in the continued development of the capstone project.

1. A primary issue is the management and leadership issues within the program as exemplified in the motivational aspects of the staff. I was able to share material from the Supervision Essentials I class discussing Hazburg’s satisfiers and dis-satisfiers with the new front line manager as a framework to consider current cultural workplace problems.
2. Second, drawing on Boyartz’s Coursera class and Larisa Benson’s class about drawing out the employee’s motivation to really connect their work to a tangible purpose connecting with intrinsic motivations, I am realizing how important it is to be conjoining the purpose and outcome of the program with the team member's vision.

Specific Items to Remember from the Lectures

I really liked the Level 5 Leader article. Particularly the sections about the humility exhibited by the best leaders.

In the How Great Companies Think Differently article, I took away the tendency towards emotional engagement and a focus on enabling people to rise.