Primary Goals - Technical and Leadership Consulting

I create, I have, Be Cause

Ashley Guberman — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 19:09:00 -0700

Have you ever imagined creating a new life for yourself? Maybe that means changing a few key things about your life right now, or maybe it means completely re-inventing who you are. Regardless of the degree, chances are pretty good that you've gone through that mental exercise more than once. Maybe you've even taken a few first steps to make your vision a reality.

Well, where are you today? What really kept you from achieving the greatness you envisioned or hoped for? What were the forces that brought you back to the present, to "reality" as you know it? We all have our answers to those obstacles, but what would be the impact on your life if you could actually create the possibility of something impossible, then bring it to fruition? That is, in a very real and tangible sense, what if you could make the impossible happen in your life, free from the burden of having to know how to make it so?

The key to this kind of transformation actually rests in the tail end of that question... "free from the burden of having to know how to make it sot so." For most of us, we can easily envision truly great things. In the case of children, that's what they envision almost all the time. But then as soon as we start focusing on how to manifest our visions, we encounter one obstacle after another. Our inability to change rests firmly within the three boundaries of I want, I can't have, and because -- the iron triangle of the status-quo.

So let's look at that triangle in depth, and then figure out how to transform it into something useful for us.

I Want...
The key aspect of "wanting" is to desire, and not have. That seems to make sense because if either one of those factors goes away, the want goes with it. Yet if we go back to childhood, or even just look at any young child today, we see that children are brimming over with things that they want - everything from a new fire-truck to a trip to the moon. At some point as we got older, we learned the difference between wants and needs, despite the efforts of Madison avenue to convince us that they are one in the same thing. Regardless, having learned the distinction, many of us also learned to discount our wants unless they really rose to the category of needs.

I Can't Have.
Having learned the difference between needs and wants, we somehow made it not OK to want things. We learned that wants come with a barrage of negative associations, including: distraction, nuisance, selfish, unrealistic, unreasonable, trivial, foolish, or worse. We learned this from a very young age, with the word "no" coming early in our childhood vocabulary. Further, we learned that the sooner we let go of our wants, the happier we would be. That worked for a while, except for two fundamental flaws. First, we still want what we want. Second, having made a life of trying to reduce our wants in an effort to be happy, we inadvertently quashed our zeal for an absolutely fantastic life that really works. We may believe that we don't deserve it, that it won't last, that it's unattainable, or any number of negative things, but the net result is the same: all too often, we operate from a belief that there are things we simply cannot have in our lives. Lastly, try as we might to bring our wants into being, this nagging belief or fear that we cannot have something ultimately acts as a saboteur for our greatest ambitions.

Worse still is that we often place ourselves in a vicious circle: If I want something big and fantastic, I believe that I can't have it. If I believe that I can't have it, then I'm better off not wanting it. So I tell myself that I don't really want it, and in so doing, that almost assures that I won't get it. No matter where you start in that circle, the end result is an ongoing pressure to think and act small compared to what is really possible in our lives.

Because.
Children have no concept of why they can't have the things that they want, nor do they appreciate delayed satisfaction. They also continue to pursue the reasons "why" things are the way that they are, and the reasons "why" they can't have what they want. As adults, we know that there are good reasons to deny a great many childish wants - safety, convenience, cost, difficulty, fear, protection, etc. However, as adults, many of us are still over-applying the notion of "reasons" to limit our own potential. There is a quote attributed to Mark Twain about a cat that sits on a hot stove never sitting on another for as long as it lives. However, nor will it sit on a cold one. The point here is that we have over-learned too many reasons -- reasons that keep us from really striving for greatness in our lives.

Even when there really are good reasons that we cannot have something in our life, how often do we question the reasonableness of our reasons? Seriously, take a look at the reasons that you believe you cannot have something in your life. Now stop and think about whether those reasons are even reasonable. What I mean by that is the possibility that many long-standing reasons we have for the status-quo are actually getting in our way and can be melted away simply by exploring the possibility of being unreasonable. Being unreasonable is not a negative thing. It does not mean insensible, stupid, irrational, illogical, or outlandish. Rather, it simply means not letting our reasons be a barrier to accomplishing greatness.

Being unreasonable can actually be a gateway towards a new way of being, outside the iron triangle of I want, I can't have, and because. Being unreasonable is sometimes required if we are to make the leap into I Have, I Create, and Be Cause, all of which we will look at next.

I Have
First off, coming from a position of "I Have" is not about deluding yourself with positive affirmations of things that you want to be true but which are not yet so. That would still be coming from I Want. Instead, coming from I Have is about noticing, seeing, recognizing, appreciating, feeling, and valuing all of what is presently in your life. There is a significant body of study on the value of appreciation (Appreciative Inquiry) and that whatever we focus on is what we will get more of. So what is it that you already have, that you would like to create more of?

Even in the case of desiring something that is not yet present in your life, what is present is desire. So start there. Look at what resources you have to make your desire a reality. Look at the tools, skills, and abilities that you have to make your desires real. Most importantly, look at who you are being right now, and recognize the incredible power that comes from your ability to choose who you are through the power of making a declaration, and then taking a stand for the fulfillment of your declaration.

I Create
What you have above all is the ability to create. What you create is possibility, and possibility is created through an act of declaration. We all have the ability to make declarations regarding what we stand for, simply as a byproduct of being human. There is no magic involved here. The power to create the life that you desire for yourself stems form your ability to create who you are through an act of declaration and then living into it. The power to create stems from your spoken word, and from your ability to create possibility. Yes, possibility is a noun, and it comes into being and exists only through an act of declaration. If you want to create a fantastic life, your first act of creation is to create the possibility of your life existing the way that you want it to be.

There are two significant barriers people face to creating a fantastic life. The first is that they don't really know what they want because they find themselves stuck in ambivalence, uncertainty, doubt, confusion, paradox, fear, or resistance to exercising their own power to create. After all, if we admit that we have the ability to create the life that we want, then we also have to accept that the life we have right now is a byproduct of what we personally created, rather than a byproduct of external forces acting upon us. It would mean letting go of the status quo and taking responsibility for what we have today. The second barrier is that we have to start living from a position of being the cause of our life, rather than reacting to it.

Be Cause
When you take a stand on whatever it is that is important to you and start acting consistent with that stand, amazing things start to happen. If this sounds fanciful, new age, or far fetched, the biggest reason it sounds that way is because so few of us take a stand for who we are. Truly taking a stand for who you are also entails acting consistent with your declarations, and this is often a source of significant challenge. It's challenging because there are real and tangible implications to the stand you take, and that includes the consequences that would logically follow.

For example, when I take a stand for positive transformation and greater health in the lives of people and organizations, and I act consistent with this declaration, then I have to give up certain common, comfortable, familiar behaviors in my work environment. It means I can't complain about the things that are "wrong" anymore - I have to take action to correct them in order to be consistent with my stand. And if I lack the power to do so, or to find sponsorship or influence above to make it so, then I have to make a choice about whether I am really in the right place.

In more general terms, life will find a way to challenge the stand that you take, forcing you to choose whether you are your stand (being the cause of your own life), or whether your life is the way it is because of external factors over which you have limited control. Note that this is not strictly an either-or scenario. Instead, it exists as a continuum with "because" on one end, and "be cause" on the other. The way we move the fulcrum is through the declarations we make.

I stand for positive transformation and greater health in the lives of people and organizations.

Part of my role as a coach entails working with clients to break free of the iron triangle, to have the lives they want, to create possibility, and to move the fulcrum from "because" to "be cause." On their own, each component is required, but not sufficient for transformation. Only when all three come together do we start to see real significant shifts occurring in our lives. This is serious work. It entails deep introspection, tough questions, hard choices, and often significant changes. It is also incredibly rewarding. When you are ready to break free of your iron triangle, contact me for a free introductory coaching session where we'll talk about your Primary Goals, and how to make them your dominant reality.

Tell a Good Story

Ashley Guberman — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 08:51:00 -0700

For the past several days there have been two girls selling lemon at the top of the street where I live. they have colorful signs and decorations, and from 500 yards away one can see them energetically bouncing around for attention and the hope of making a sale.

Tonight, as i came home from work, a group of about 5 boys of the same age as our young vendors walked passed, taunting and poking fun at the girl's efforts. I saw their interaction from afar, and only learned the details as I got closer, still in my car, pulling up to my mailbox. That's when the girls approached me, not to make a sale, but to say how the young boys had hurt their feelings by saying that they were the Wall-Mart of lemonade stands, and calling them "Republicans."

OK, so it's a pretty liberal neighborhood when the latter statement is intended as an epithet, but in response to the girl's complaint, I asked if the boys had hurt let the boys hurt their feelings.

"But I don't shop at Wall-Mart!" she exclaimed.

"If they say you are the Wall-Mart of lemonade, what does that really mean?"

After a brief pause, the girl admitted "I don't know," with a hint of confusion in her voice.

I told her that "Wall-Mart started out small and became hugely successful because they always focused on delivering value to their customers. So if you really are the Wall-Mart of lemonade, you've got the makings of a very successful young business lady."

"Oh!" She said, with both surprise and a smile on her face.

Because I still had her attention, I continued "So then whether something is an insult or a compliment really depends on the story we tell our self about what it means." She had a pensive look on her face, and I wondered if what I just told her made any sense at her young age.

"Then I should tell myself a good story," she said, followed by offering me a free lemonade.

So did she really understand? In the story I tell myself she did! But as adults, what are the stories we tell ourselves on a regular basis? Do we see and interpret our environment with stories that bring us life, energy, enthusiasm, and foster a sense of potential? Or have we "matured" and "grown wise" and become more cynical (which we tell ourselves is "realistic") about what is actually possible today?

We all have our stories, and we all have good reasons for believing them, based on our life experience. yet how often do we really evaluate if these stories are even true? Yes, of course, they are true for us now, but the beauty of possibility is that as adults we can also start telling ourselves new stories. We have the ability to consciously choose to create a new reality simply by noticing the stories we tell our self, and making a conscious choice about whether those stories really protect us, or if they restrict us in our lives. And if our stories restrict us, then for goodness sakes, tell a new story! Make it a good one -- full of life, power, passion, potential, and all that is possible.

Oh, and the lemonade was delicious.

Angles Within Us

Ashley Guberman — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 04:44:00 -0700

In the movies City of Angels, and Wings of Desire, people going about their lives were often caught up in negative self-talk. The angles, who would hear all this but could not be seen by people, would occasionally come close to a person engaged with their frustrations, anxieties, or fears and the angel would touch that person. Usually, it was a simple gesture, like a hand on the shoulder, but that simple touch was actually touching the lives of those who were negatively engaged.

I have two angles of my own at home now – two infants, still less than a month old. Periodically, they will be in deep sleep, only to startle, fidget, or fuss, beginning with small whimpers, then reaching a crescendo of full blown wailing. But if I notice their fussing early on, before it reaches such an energetic apex, I can put my hand on their head or chest, or bring my cheek to theirs and they usually calm down and return to blissful sleep.

It works the other way around, too. When I find myself engaged with life’s frustrations, I can hold them close to me and everything melts away into love and compassion – for both of them, and for myself.

So what’s actually happening in these moments – the angle’s touch, my hand on the babies’ chest, or their soothing power over me? I suspect that in all cases it is all about open, genuine contact, offered lovingly, without judgment, expectation, or attachment to outcome.
As adults, we experience these moments with each other too, though they are often so few and far between, so rare and utterly unexpected, that we forget that each and every one of us has the power to touch another human being in that way. All of us have within us the capacity to be touched and soothed by that genuine contact, offered by another without judgment, expectation, or attachment to outcome.

Thus, by once again remembering that power and capacity within me, I see the model for who I want to be.

That’s also part of my draw to coaching, and a picture of how I relate to clients – open, making genuine contact, offered lovingly and without judgment, expectation, or attachment. My intention with my clients is that through my “Being,” by coming from that place and making authentic, heartfelt contact, that you reconnect with the angles within you to see more clearly the way to achieve your own Primary Goals in life.

Emergency Maneuvers as a Metaphor for Transformation

Ashley Guberman — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 00:36:00 -0700

Through a rather strange sequence of events, I began thinking about how an emergency maneuvers clinic for paragliding can actually be a metaphor for transformation. This post is partly about flying, partly about life, and partly about professional coaching.

When I started paragliding, I was instantaneously in love with the sport. Literally, within the first 15 seconds of flight, I knew that I was in grave danger of spending $3-5,000 getting deeply into a new passion, and that's exactly what happened.

At some point, however, I encountered some very large turbulence, and it frightened me something fierce. As we know, the air is invisible, but I found myself wanting AWAY from whatever it was that scared me so badly. Except that after 30 seconds, I knew that despite my fear, that I had to learn to deal with that environment if I was ever going to be a better pilot. So I tried returning to where my wing went all haywire, and soon found the turbulence again. This time, being ready meant that I would not be as surprised, but in truth, that did little to make the turbulence any less scary. I experienced an asymmetric collapse or two and my adrenaline was maxed out, so I left. I was willing, eager, and motivated to get past my fear, but at that moment, my fear won out and I returned to lower, more comfortable air.

So here's the first parallel to making a major change in life. Things may be going along as normal, then through circumstance you get an idea to do something new, bold, and adventurous. Perhaps its starting a new business, or revitalizing the one you are in. Perhaps it's changing careers, or changing the dynamics that suck the life out of the one you have. Perhaps it's a renewed sense of personal commitment to taking better care of yourself, or re-connecting with deeper spiritual beliefs. The particulars are entirely unique to each of us, but the commonality is that something happens that triggers the need to make a significant shift in life, and we start out with all the enthusiasm of a new pilot hooked on the passion of flight.

But then we run into more serious challenges with our resolve (turbulence). We get scared, we begin to doubt ourselves, and we question our earlier motives. All too often we turn away from something that not long ago held great promise and meaning for us. That earlier goal may still hold all the appeal of climbing to cloud-base or of traveling to a distant point on a cross-country trip, but between here and there the obstacles suddenly seem too big, our skills too light, or the risks too great. Whether that's actually true or not is hard to say, but the fear is real, and so we turn away from our earlier goals, even if just for a while.

In my case, I recognized the need to take an emergency maneuvers course. I knew what it was, and my peers had all spoken highly of its value. In that course, I experienced things far worse than what I had ever encountered on my own. The fact that most of it was self-imposed through my participation in the course was secondary. The fear was still every bit as real, and the consequences of failure only partly reduced. So although the dangers were still present, I gained the confidence to risk and to try new things from the comfort provided by the safety net of flying over water, from the emergency reserve inside my harness, and from my coach on the radio. With those in place, I performed maneuvers that I would not dare contemplate under different circumstances, and which would have incapacitated me had I run into them "in the wild." As a result, my skills improved and I became a better pilot.

Moving back to major changes in life, where does one go to find the personal or professional development equivalent of an emergency maneuvers course? To whom does one turn upon recognizing the need to learn new responses to present and future dangers in one's career or life? How does one find the support and coaching to navigate through or around major turbulence rather than having its presence disproportionally limit or control one's options to fly through life? In a nutshell, this is precisely the service that I provide through personal and professional coaching. I help people focus on achieving their primary goals in life, whatever they may be.

My background is in adventure education (outward bound), psychology (B.A.), and applied behavioral science (M.A.). I've worked with the King County Crisis line, and the King County Dispute Resolution Center (mediation work). I work with clients by meeting them wherever they are in life and charting a path towards personal achievement, accountability, and authenticity. The lenses I typically look through focus on play, relationships, creativity, teaching and learning. If you or someone you know is interested in making significant progress toward achieving their primary goals, then contact me for a free introductory coaching session to see for yourself the value that professional coaching can create for you.

Vision, Cookeis, and Marshmallows

Ashley Guberman — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 17:32:00 -0700

At first glance, it's hard to see any connection between the vision one may have for a corporation, department or one's self, and Cookies or Marshmallows. I have to admit, it was a strange set of circumstances that tied these three together, but it actually makes for an interesting story.

Earlier this evening, myself and two of my peers were in a training session for some volunteer work. On the corner of the supervisor's desk was a box of Girl Scout cookies (Thin Mint), and a paper plate with two large chocolate chip cookies. This training lasted well over two hours, and took place during what would normally be dinner time. My peers and I were silent about the cookies, paying appropriate attention to what we needed to learn. Yet I would be lying if I said those cookies were not a distraction. Eventually, one of us spoke up and asked "Are you going to eat those cookies? Because if not, you've got to take them out of sight before I do them grave harm."

As soon as she spoke up, we all laughed upon realizing that the three of us had been thinking the same thing. We were all dealing with a mix of desire, hunger, distraction, and self control. It just so happened that one of us eventually spoke up because it became too hard to focus. It was at that moment that I knew what dogs must go through when their owners put cookies on their noses and tell them to "stay."

It's the ability to delay gratification that brings me to Marshmallows. In the 1960's, a psychologist named Walter Mischel studied delayed gratification in 4-year-old children by placing them in a room with a marshmallow and leaving them alone to see what happened. He told them that they could eat the marshmallow, but that if they waited until he got back, they could have two of them. The story describes in great detail the level of pain and anguish on the children's faces as they devise ways of delaying their desire to simply eat the marshmallow. One key factor in a child's ability to to delay gratification was their ability to focus on the second marshmallow - the vision. Also, even for those that were initially unable to delay gratification, it was found that by teaching them certain visualization techniques, that increased their ability to wait longer before they succumbed to the power of the marshmallow.

Now, at last, we come back to the notion of vision. As a general rule, we can safely assume that people want good things from their work and their life. Those might include success, bonuses, promotions, pride, accomplishment, satisfaction, achievement, realizing lofty goals, or any number of other motivational factors (marshmallows). Further, to win most of these benefits one has to overcome a number obstacles, such as time, effort, challenges, competition, politics, ambiguity, uncertainty, fears, pressures and demands (delays). So maybe if the marshmallow experiment has anything to teach us as adults, it is that a clear vision for the future goes a long way towards increasing our ability to endure delays and challenges in our quest for satisfaction.

So how about you -- either personally, or within your company -- do you have a clear and motivating vision for your future sufficient to overcome the real-life obstacles that will invariably come between you and success? Take this test to find out. Then contact Primary Goals and we'll walk through the building blocks of creating a vision that will get you all the marshmallows you want.

The Quest for "Healthy" Organizations

Ashley Guberman — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 14:58:00 -0700

Whether we do it consciously or not, all of us pay attention to the health of our environments, especially the organizations where we work. Depending on one's role within an organization, our assessment may range from a casual gut-check of what it feels like to work there to a detailed set of Key Performance Indicators that are actively being managed. In the case of a publicly traded company the metrics and reporting take on an added level of importance, perhaps accentuating some measures (cash flow, ROI, etc.) at the expense of others (morale, turnover, commitment).

Part of the challenge with "organizational health" is that, unlike financial terms, it is not defined in a consistent manner between organizations. Even within a single office or department, there can be differing notions of what health really means depending on what is important to whom. Yet while conversations about how to do things better, faster, or cheaper are common in most companies, as are discussions about headcounts, seldom is there much open dialog about what "health" actually means. Instead, the topic of health comes up most often when it is percieved to be missing - when people percieve something to be unhealthy.

As part of my theory of practice, "health" within an organization is comprised of many things, some of which include:

Effective communication between various levels of the organization.

An ability to engage in productive conflict to arive at better decisions and generate appropriate buy-in.

High levels of trust and mutual accountability.

Flexible rather than rigid decision making styles, allowing adaptation to the demands of the situation.

A deliberate focus on teaching and learning at all levels for the purpose of continual improvement (Kaizen)

A clear definition of what is valued within the organization and celebration of successes.

An ability to manage ever increasing change at multiple levels.

A clearly articulated vision for the future with effots directed towards achieving that vision aligned between departments.

More important to organizational health than any single item that I might list is that the conversation about health actually take place within your organization. Sometimes, people assume that having an off-site with senior management to create a new mission statement, or to define the vision for the next three years serves the same purpose as a discussion on health. While it may be the case in rare instances, the important part about "health" discussions is that health has a significantly larger focus on how people within the organization are going to achieve the mission and strive to make the vision real down at the level of interpersonal interactions. Health has a greater focus on how people relate to each other, and often has a considerable overlap with what is commonly called "culture."

So let's assume that you want to engage all or parts of your organization in a dialog about health. We can even assume that your organization has been around for a while and that it has a well established culture. Some aspects of that culture may be beneficial, while others exert a tax on productivity and effectiveness. Some common questions about how to discuss health might include:

Where would we start?

What would that conversation look like?

Who should be involved in these conversations?

How do we generate the level of trust required to even engage this topic in a meaningful way?

How will we manage the diversity of ideas that are likely to surface, especially in cases where some views of health are diametrically opposed to others?

How will we decide what constitutes health in the face of these differences?

Once we get greater clarity on what health means for us, how do we go about addressing entrenched ways of being that differ from our stated ideals?

How do we tie any notion of "health" back to more concrete metrics like ROI with greater external visibility?

These are not trivial matters, yet uncertainty about the answers need not be a barrier to taking the first steps towards defining health within your organization. An Organizational Development consultant can be of great value here by working with senior management to define an initial framework for how issues of health can best be addressed within your organization. Together, we can then plan how to most effectively involve the broadest set of people possible. The numbers really depend on whether you are trying to address health on a departmental level, within senior management, or corporate wide.

Strategies will differ, of course, but the most important factor in addressing organizational health is that somebody with appropriate authority to bring about change take the lead in starting the dialog about why health is important, and how this "soft" or intangible aspect of organizational life singificantly impacts the bottom line.

In cases when you personally see the costs of poor organizational health, but lack the sponsorship to lead the dialog yourself, making the connection between health and your company's bottom-line goals becomes all the more important as you advocate your goals and seek appropriate sponsorship for these discussions higher up. Here too, an OD coach can help you strategize the best ways to tie issues of organizational health back to the primary goals that your supervisors are trying to accomplish.

If you are ready to begin the dialog about what health really means in your organization, or if you are looking for guidance or coaching in how to make a business case for why organizational health matters, then contct Primary Goals. Together, we can make a difference.

Don't Read This!

Ashley Guberman — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 11:15:00 -0800

Too late... you already read the title, didn't you? Well, there's actually a deeper point here and it involves reading the signs within our organizations.

The peculiar thing about learning to read is that once we know how, it becomes very difficult to look at printed words without actually reading them. It's one of the reasons billboards and newspaper headlines work. We see letters, and we read words and ideas almost without thinking.

However, for the vast number of Americans looking at a foreign language such as the Japanese phrase below, the story is a bit different. We may be able to look at the signs, symbols, or characters quite intently, and perhaps even reproduce them if we are careful. But when we see the image on the screen, or on paper, it simply fails to register with meaning.

これを読んではいけない

But what if I told you that there was another "language" being spoken in organizations all over the globe, and that despite its full structure and rich meaning, that it is still as foreign to most of us as that Japanese phrase above?

What I'm referring to are the patterns and practices of group dynamics and organizational behavior that take place in companies everywhere. The amazing thing about these behaviors is that they take place right under our noses, and in most cases we are actually participating in these behaviors ourselves. Yet more often than not, we still fail to see the deeper meaning that people are making as they try to understand their immediate world around them.

In some ways, it's akin to trying to see the forest through the trees because each person within a group sees and acts out the expectations of their individual role. At the same time, however, there are larger patterns that repeatedly and systematically emerge which all too often sap an organization of it's productivity, drive, efficiency, health, and direction. Would you like the ability to read these signals more rapidly and reliably? Would you like the ability use this information to make more effective decisions within your organization? I bet you would!

Admittedly, comparing the ability to read organizational behavior to reading Japanese is a bit far fetched, mainly because these behaviors are more familiar to us than Japanese. Further, many managers have either learned or been taught various skills to make reading the organizational tea-leaves a bit less cryptic. And yet, even with these foundational skills, organizations still encounter the same myriad of problem behaviors that allow them to get "stuck" in ineffective practices. Why is it that merely being in possession of these fundamental skills is not enough to bring about the corresponding change in organizational behaviors?

Let me explain by way of a story.

Recently, I was traveling on the island of Oahu, where most of the street-signs have Hawaiian names. Despite the fact that the signs used the roman alphabet, I still found them hard to read. While driving, my navigator told me that we were looking for the "Kalanianoale Highway" on the left. I was zipping along the road and a distant road-sign came into view. I knew what to look for, yet the word was so foreign to me that even while staring right at the sign, I still didn't recognize the pattern in the letters. By the time I sounded it out and recognized the sign, it was too late -- I had already missed my turn-off.

Something similar happens in organizations, even when people "know" the signs that they are looking for. When we are looking for signs of health and we find ourselves in a healthy organization, we are happy and productive, but often fail to pay much attention to the navigation that got us there. Practices like Appreciative Inquiry, on the other hand, have us focus on how we got there so that we get there more often.

On the other extreme, when we experience symptoms of a dysfunctional organization, that is akin to having just missed our turn-off (or many of them), and the next exit on the freeway is not for many miles. Even when we can point to one or more recent wrong turns, we may already be so far off track that nothing short of stopping to ask for directions will put us back on track again. Even then, what we really need is not better directions, but greater skill in reading the signs so that we make fewer wrong turns in the first place.

That's where an Organizational Development consultant really shines -- by teaching you to read the signs so you get lost less often. A good OD practitioner is like installing a GPS system inside your management team. This is because once you learn to read the recurring signs and patterns of organizaational behavior, it is almost as difficult to ignore them as it is to look at a headline without reading it. This does not mean that you have to act on all of the signs that you see, but it does mean that you will have a greater ability to choose your route based on the added information that will become available to you.

When you are ready to learn more about the language of organizational development and to uncover the hidden meaning behind the recurring patterns you experience in your organization, contact Primary Goals. The language is much easier to learn than you might think, and a new tools can open up an expanded world of communication within your organization.

Theory of Practice – Conflict

Ashley Guberman — Sun, 18 Jan 2009 09:06:00 -0800

Conflict can arise for any number of reasons, and there exists a number of advanced tools for measuring one's conflict style. Some relevant instruments and models include:

Likewise, once in a conflict situation, there are also several models for how to approach managing the situation more effectively. Some of those models include:

And an outstanding "Difficult Conversations Checklist" to help assess on whether the conflict is over "what happened", how people feel, or if the conflict goes deeper towards people's sense of identity.

Difficult Conversations Checklist

In terms of the lenses that I use when looking at a client organization, conflict falls into a breakdown of either relationships or the creation of value, if not both.

This is hardly intended as a new theory of conflict. Instead, my intent is to demonstrate how an unavoidable aspect of modern life fits within the framework that I use when working with a client organization.

In a healthy organization, all 5 points on the model are taking place within the system. People are creating value, given whatever metrics are relevant for the organization. People are actively engaged in both teaching and learning in order to increase the efficiency and effectiveness with wich value is being created. They are also learning about each other, and thus they are building relationships that make the rest of these tasks go more smoothly. This, in turn, tends to make the working environment more enjoyable (playing).

In a workplace conflict situation, the "Creating" point represents the business objectives that people are working to fulfill. If two people (or two departments) have objectives that are in opposition to each other, then that opposition is going to play out within the system. The most likely case would be in terms of a breakdown in certain relationships. However, it could just as easiliy work the other way around. A breakdown in relationships can manifest as greater difficulty creating value and meeting objectives.

Note that there is often a strong desire to attribute some cause to the source of conflict in the hopes of finding a solution. The caution here is that we often attribute a more simplistic cause to the situation (such as blaming an individual), rather than recognizing deeper contributing factors. For example, see the Waterline Model (Harrison, Short, Scherer), which recommends looking first to structural issues, then group issues, then interpersonal, and finally interpersonal sources.

The Waterline Model

In terms of the lenses that I typically use in a conflict environment, if the source is either competing objectives or a relationship issue, then avenues with a high probability of addressing the conflict rest on the other points of the star.

In the case of competing objectives that play out as workplace conflict, by raising awarness of the different objectives (learning), the parties are often able to remove themselves from the personalizing-aspect of the conflict and solicit greater alignment from above. They can see that they are each trying to maximize different objectives, rather than seeking to thwart the other person individually. Even without support or re-alignment from above, the parties can often come up with creative ways to address both objectives once they learn what parameters each are working under. Similarly, learning more about each other will contribute to their relationship, and a stronger relationship is also likely to increase their creativity towards finding a solution.

In other cases, learning by the parties may have to come from outside by teaching them specific skills. These can include conflict exploration skills, technical skills, management skills, or any set of specific behaviors with the intent of changing how the parties work together.

One key to remember with any teaching/training exercise is that there are actually three key elements required before one can see a change in performance. First is the desire on the part of the learner to use the newly acquired skill or knowledge. Second is an ability to integrate this information to change previous behaviors. Those two factors alone are a common focus in the "Skill vs. Will" matrix.

Skill vs. Will Matrix, Hershey & Blanchard

The third factor is opportunity - unless the environment in which disputants find themselves engaged actually supports using their skill and will towards the creation of new solutions and ways of doing things, then it will be difficult for any amount of learning or desire to produce a significant change in behaviors. For example, I may know how to increase customer satisfaction, and that doing so will take more time with each customer. I may also want to increase customer satisfaction. But if the environment continues to reward me on call volume, or to penalize me for investing more on individual cases, then my opportunities to put my skill and will to good use are going to be limited. This trio of skill, will, and opportunity is covered in greater detail by Blumberg & Pringle:

The Missing Opportunity in Organizational Research

Theory of Practice - Introduction

Ashley Guberman — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 05:47:00 -0800

"There is no theory without practice and no practice without theory"
- Kurt Lewin

In practical terms, what does that really mean?
What does it mean to you and to the goals that you have right now?
What does it mean in the context of the relationship we will create together as we move towards solving the challenges you face today in your work, business, or life?

That’s a pretty powerful and complex set of question. Unpacking them is going to take more than a few blog-postings. From this exploration in words, I hope to give you, the reader, a framework for how I approach my work as a consultant in the service of striving together to achieve your primary goals.

* * *

As a prospective client, of course, you are intensely interested in your primary goals. Perhaps there is a current or future challenge that you are facing. Perhaps you are looking for somebody to help you achieve your deeper purpose, or to reach greater potential within your organization.

My consulting practice centers on the five things that I am passionate about. The reason my passions matter to you as a client is that I do my best work with those whose challenges and objectives are in alignment with my passions. If you do your best work when you are passionate about what you do too, then keep reading.

As you continue reading, you will either see parts of yourself or your organization in these words, else you will come to realize that you are not the type of client with whom I do my best work. Ultimately, that’s what you really want – somebody from whom you know you are getting their best work, and who is competent to deliver on your objectives.

The diagram below describes my passion for working with clients. Ultimately, all factors are weighted equally, as each one supports and relates to the others. While each one of us will be looking at these factors differently, together they form a complete picture of an ideal, healthy working relationship. I’ll dive into the details of the diagram in subsequent posts.

Learning

You want to learn and acquire new skills, viewpoints, process, and understanding that allow you to be more effective towards your measured objectives.
I want to learn the core values and objectives of your organization to be effective. The better and more rapidly that I can understand what’s important to you, the more rapidly we can create value together.

Creating

Whether you create and deliver a product or service, your organization lives and dies through its ability to create value to its customers.
I thrive in environments undergoing significant change by helping you to create process and procedures that simplify complexity by making it more manageable. I live and die through my ability to deliver value to you and your organization.

Teaching

You want the ability to teach each other and retain new knowledge within your organization. This is essential for ensuring that institutional knowledge grows with your business, increasing in value.
I teach skills, process and procedures to help you be more effective towards your measured objectives. Sometimes this involves technical matters, such as software development lifecycle (SDLC). Other times, it is based in increasing the quality of planning, communication, and your ability to work through conflict in order to achieve higher value outcomes.

“Playing”

You are running a business, and at some level, you and your employees need to connect what you do with your passion for why you do it. There needs to be some personal, internal reason that makes the job meaningful, if not genuinely enjoyable.
I am a powerful force for positive change and greater health in organizations. Who I am is integral to what I do, and I genuinely enjoy creating and restoring health within teams by focusing on teaching, learning, creating, and relationships.

Relationships

Nobody is an island in today’s business environment. Your ability to foster and support effective relationships at every level is essential to your ability to survive and thrive in the modern economy.
Typically, one hires a consultant for one of three reasons: as a pair of hands, an expert, or to collaborate. While I can function in any of those roles, I do my best work through building authentic relationships where we jointly focus on how to achieve your primary goal. Together, we will become partners in your success.

SEO: Introduction

Ashley Guberman — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 15:30:00 -0800

The purpose of this series of posts is to answer three questions about various web-based promotion tools.

What are web-based promotion tools?
Why should I care?
How do I use them?

This is not intended as a “how to” guide, though I will provide links to additional information for the more technically inclined. Believe it or not, 90% of web-based promotion is really about making connections -- the technology is secondary. Mind you, these are electronic connections, but they still make a significant impact on how people can find and learn about you n the Internet.

For these posts, I'm going to assume that you already have at least one web-page. For many people, this might not be true (yet), but there are ample ways that you can actually create one, including paying somebody to create one for you. This article focuses on what to do after that first page exists, such that your page or site becomes more visible to the world.

Topics to be covered include:

Search Engine Optimization
Multiple Domain Names
Ad-words
RSS
Blogging
Site-maps
Social networking sites
Social Bookmarking
Re-Captcha (Publishing your E-mail without getting spammed)

SEO: Search Engine Optimiization

Ashley Guberman — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 13:00:00 -0800

What Is It?
SEO is the constellation of behaviors that you perform in an effort to make it easy for your name or website to show up on the top of the list in various search engines.

Why should I care?
If people can't find you on the internet, then no matter how good your web-site is, it is not serving you as a promotional tool for generating business.

How do I optimize for searching?
SEO is not something you can accomplish over-night. Nor is there any single, magic bullet that will make your pages pop to the top of search rankings. Instead, SEO is accomplished as a byproduct of using many of the techniques described in the rest of this article.

However, from a business standpoint, the more connections that you have that point to your website, the more likely that your pages are to be found. In behavioral terms, that means that you should have at least one page on your website dedicated to linking with your peers, friends, or associates, and that you should ask them to do the same. (This is sometimes referred to as Link Love)

If you are LIOS student or graduate and would like to share a link with PrimaryGoals, see the Practitioner Referral page and register yourself.

Other Resources

SEO - Google Ad-words

Ashley Guberman — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 11:00:00 -0800

What Is It?
Google lets you purchase your place in the search results page based on what people are looking for. You choose a few words or phrases, along with how much you are willing to pay to be listed in the results. You only pay if people click the link to your site.

Why should I care?
It is often quite inexpensive, results are nearly instantaneous, and you only pay for results. Basically, Ad-Words makes you an advertiser on the internet, with your website being the product. Once people reach your site, it's up to you to sell them on your services. Note that although this only applies to searches on Google, and that there are a large number of search engines, that Google does have the largest market share. You can also restrict your results to only show up for people in your geographic region so that you don't pay for clicks where you have no interest in working.

How do I use Ad-Words
Full details on Ad-Words can be found here: http://adwords.google.com

SEO - Multiple Domain Names

Ashley Guberman — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 11:00:00 -0800

What Is It?
Domain names are the words you type into your browser to find a website (like http://www.PrimaryGoals.com). They are sold on a first-come, first-served basis from companies like GoDaddy, Register.com, and number of other companies called Registrars. Most commonly, multiple domain names refers to getting the .COM, .NET, .ORG, and both the singular and plural forms of a domain. (Yes, that can be 6 domains or more.)

Why should I care?
Buying multiple domain names increase the chance that somebody who wants to contact you will be successful in their attempts to do so. Imagine that you own YourFantasticSite.com (which was still available when I wrote this). You start building your site to make it valuable. Then, when you are not paying attention, somebody else buys YourFantasticSites.com (with an S at the end). Now, some people that you hope will go to your site will invariably go to the wrong address. How many times have you written down the name of a site, only to realize it needed an S, or you were not sure if it was a .COM or .ORG?

For an even more clear example, many people hoping to find information on the US Whitehouse entered the address for Whitehouse.COM. Unfortunately, the government page is actually at Whitehouse.GOV, and for a long time the .COM address was owned by somebody selling items that were inappropriate for minors.

How do I purchase multiple domains?
Purchase subsequent domains the same way you bought the first one -- through your registrar.

Note: You can also set up these individual domains to have different starting points within your site, making one page link to another, thus increasing your own link-love. For example, compare PrimaryGoals.com and PrimaryGoals.org.

SEO - Really Simple Syndication

Ashley Guberman — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 10:00:00 -0800

What Is It?
RSS feeds provide a means for people who view your site to be kept informed about updates without having to provide you with any personal information or registration. Sites that provide RSS feeds usually have one of these icons: (Clicking these links should allow you to subscribe to the RSS feed on this site... try it!)

Why should I care?
People subscribe to RSS because they want you to keep in touch with them, while also maintaining their anonymity. Often, people want to know about changes or updates to your site, but they do not want to register or provide you with personal information in order to get it. After all, anytime one provides an E-mail address to a site, one increase the chances of getting more spam. Putting an RSS feed on your site lets people know about updates to your site, thus inviting them to come back again later to see what you just added.

RSS feeds also provide another mechanism by which you can auto-submit changes on your site to a variety of different search engines (see below).

How do I use RSS?
RSS works like an E-mail distribution list in reverse. In a distribution list, people subscribe by giving their E-mail address to the list manager, or joining a group (such as Yahoo or Google groups). Often, everybody on the list can send messages to "the list" and everybody else will get the message, even though no sender knows the address of the other recipients. With RSS, there is a single place where updates are posted, and subscribers configure their E-mail programs to go check that place periodically. Only the site admin can post updates, and nobody knows who else is subscribed.

Other Resources
To put an RSS on your site, all you need to do is put a file on your site in RSS format, then update that file to post new messages.

There are a handful of free and low-cost tools available. I recommend FeedForAll ($40) because it is easy to use, feature-rich, and has a 30-day free trial.

Once you have an RSS feed on your site, you should look at Ping-O-Matic, which will automatically let search engines know that you have a new page.

SEO: Blogging

Ashley Guberman — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 09:00:00 -0800

What Is It?
The definitions for a blog are numerous. In simple terms, most blogs contain a series of web-page, a set of tools for adding to or updating pages, a mechanism for visitors to comment on pages, and an RSS feed.

Why should I care?
If you don't have tools or experience to maintain your own web-pages, blogging sites provide an easy way for you to publish content that anybody can read. Even if you do have a website, blogging tools can make sequential posts and updates easier to manage. They also provide one more place where you can insert links that point back to your primary website.

How do I create a blog?
Go to any of the blog sites found in the Catalog of common blog sites, create an account, and start writing.

SEO: Site Maps

Ashley Guberman — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 08:00:00 -0800

What Is It?
There are two different types of site-maps. The first is a web-page that people look at to get an overview of all the topics and pages on an entire site. This is like a table-of-contents. For example, that menu on the left can also be displayed in a sitemap like this.

That works fine when there are less than 30 pages, but what about when a site contains hundreds of pages (Primarygoals has over 1500 pages). In that case, there is a different kid of site-map that is intended to be read by search engines.

Why should I care?
If you have a significant amount of content, you want to make sure that the search-engines find all of it. The more of your site that is indexed, the greater chance that a search will find a match on your site. Plus, it also allows you to put a search-box on your own site is based on your entire site's content.

How do I create a Site-Map?
If you are only dealing with a handful of pages, create the site-map by hand. If you use a professional web-site development tool (Go Live, Dreamweaver), these may be able to create this kind of map for you. If you want to create the XML sitemap, Google has a tool you can download to create one for you.

Other Resources

Creating and Submitting Sitemaps

SEO: Social Netowrking

Ashley Guberman — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 07:00:00 -0800

What Is It?
Social Networking is the practice of people linking to each other via any number of on-line tools. Common examples include LinkedIn, MySpace, Facebook, Friendster, and a bunch of others.

Why should I care?
By using one or more networking sites, you increase the number of people that you can connect with, either directly or indirectly. However, these sites do not do that much for promoting your own website. The exception is when you our your associates use those tools as an additional source for creating links to your own website. One good example of this is the "Answers" section of LinkedIn. By providing good answers, you can make reference to material found on your own website. Click here for an example.

How do I use Social Networking
Pick a service that you wish to be part of, create an account, and invite your friends. Note that there are two main approaches to using these networking tools. The first approach is to be very selective in who you link with, such that you actually have a connections with or personal knowledge about all of your linked contacts. This approach is more likely to yield "high quality" responses when you search your network for somebody with a particular skill or background.

The second approach favors linking to as many people as possible in an effort to get much greater numbers of people in your network that you might contact. While your breadth of contacts are higher this way, you really have less knowledge about who these people really are.

SEO: Social Bookmarking

Ashley Guberman — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 06:00:00 -0800

What Is It?
Social bookmarking is when you save your bookmarks on a web-page that you can access from anywhere. It is differs from regular bookmarking in your browser, in that the latter are saved on your PC. There are more than 30 social bookmarking sites, with some of the better-known being Digg, Favorites, and DELICIOUS.

Why should I care?
These public sites that store your bookmarks create additional links to your site that search engines can index. If lots of people bookmark your pages publicly, these bookmarks can increase the inbound traffic to your site.

How do I use Social Bookmarking
For the most part, social bookmarking is something that your site visitors use, rather than something that you manage yourself. However, you can make it easier for your visitors who already have bookmarking accounts to add your pages to their own lists. One such example is the "Add This" widget shown here.

If you are new to social bookmarking, please click here for detailed instructions on how to use the bookmarking button above.

Caution: In theory, you could create your own accounts on the bookmarking sites above and create lots of links to your own pages. That could backfire in that it can easily look more like you are screaming for attention rather than that others have found your pages useful. The practice is discouraged.

SEO: Re-CAPTCHA

Ashley Guberman — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 01:00:00 -0800

What Is It?
You may check a more formal definition for CAPTCHA here, but a CAPTCHA tests are those web-pages that make you type what you see in a distorted word picture. Re-Captcha is a free tool that not only lets you mask your E-mail on a web-page, but it also helps translate books for Carnage Melon. To see how, click on my Contact...@Primarygoals.com.

Why should I care?
If your website is intended to generate business contacts, you want a way for your viewers to contact you. But if you put your E-mail address on your website, you will soon be bombarded by spam. G-mail, hotmail, and other free E-mail services do a reasonable job with filtering, but spam is still a never-ending battle. Using a separate address for posting on the web is also just a partial solution. The Re-captcha solution above lets real people see your E-mail address without giving it to automated spammers.

How do I use Re-CAPTCHA?
Go to the re-captcha mailhide site, enter your E-mail address, then use the URL that the site provides in place of posting your E-mail address.

Unsolvable Problems

Ashley Guberman — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 07:27:00 -0700

There are some problems that are impossible to solve. For example, is it more important that we have flexibility in a time of rapid change to deal with customer demands, or that we have greater structures to prevent stupid mistakes?

The question itself is contrived, since we clearly need both structure AND flexibility. Yet within almost every IT and software development shop in the world, the battle between these two forces plays out in a variety of ways.

No matter where one sets the imaginary scale between these two poles, there are going to be challenges from the side that gets less attention. In fact, the very notion of “balance” between these two is also an illusion. Instead, it is a perpetually oscillating system, moving between one and the other based on choices.

Some common polarities within IT include:

Structure and Flexibility
Internal and External focus
Short Term and Long Term
Speed to Market and Quality

This PowerPoint slide deck represents how I made sense of the structure-flexibility polarity, based on the work of Barry Johnson and Polarity Management Associates.

What distinguishes between Coach, Mentor, and Friend?

Ashley Guberman — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 14:13:00 -0700

I’ve been pondering the relationship between a coach, a mentor, and a friend. All three roles overlap in three intertwined circles (Venn diagram), but I'm not sure how.What I’m wondering is the defining characteristics of each role that distinguish it from the others. Is one a subset of the other? Can one be all three? One but not another? It’s easy for me to see things that a coach, mentor, or friend could all do. But what about items that a coach would do that a mentor would not? Is one of the roles predicated on subject-matter expertise? Which one?

I suspect that all of us can come up with examples of relationships that we have had with others where one or more of these roles came into play, and also that a given relationship may focus on different roles over time.

There is also the issue of reciprocity. For example, one party may see mentorship, where the other sees friendship. Again, these are not mutually exclusive.I am interested in your thoughts on the relationships between these roles, as well as any reference sources you might draw upon for how you see these roles.

A diagram of some relationships between these roles can be found here:
http://www.primarygoals.org/diagrams/MentorCoachFriend.html

Useful reference material:

Competence-based training

Ashley Guberman — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 18:37:00 -0700

Marcello Tobar asked about
Competence-based training on LinkedIn:

"Competence-based training is popular nowadays. I wonder if there is enough evidence to state that competence-based training is better for increasing performance of trainees as compared with more traditional training forms (competence understood as a combination of knowledge, skills and attitude). If so, what are key elements to perform successful competence-based training?"

The response from Mr. Lewandowski did an excellent job of identifying most of the key components of various forms of training. An additional resources on training that I have found useful is:
• Training for Impact. How to link training to the business needs and measure the results.
By Cana Gaines Robinson & James C. Robinson

Also, Mr. Fornal was correct in pointing out that beyond the actual training method chosen, that the learning style of the participant is equally important. There is a relatively straight forward instrument called the Kolb Learning Style Inventory (LSI) that focuses on the differences between those who learn from concrete experience (do it), reflective observation (see it), abstract conceptualization (think about it), or active experimentation (trial & error).
Learning Styles Inventory

Prior to embarking on any significant training endeavor in the corporate environment, it helps to step back and evaluate whether the barriers to effective performance are really about the need for training at all. For example, looking at the “Skill vs. Will” matrix can help the individual responsible for performance to evaluate whether the employees need more direction, guidance, responsibility, or motivation in order to be more effective.
Cf.: Skill vs. Will Matrix

Back to the core question of whether training is the solution at all, you may wish to look at the Blumberg Model, which identifies three primary barriers to effective performance: Capacity (skills, ability, knowledge, training), Willingness, and Opportunity. In that model, “Opportunity” is identified as the most commonly missing component to performance. For example, in a customer service call center, suppose that the operators are failing to resolve customer’s issues. Therefore, additional training is provided to address this problem, but resolution rates are still poor. Then it turns out that the operators know exactly what it would take to resolve customer issues, except that they are rewarded on how quickly they end the call, or the number of calls that they take. Operators may even be penalized for taking more time, even if that is what it would take to resolve the issues. Thus, despite now having the skill and will to resolve customer issues, as well as the competence to do so, if the manager insists on keeping the call volume high even at the expense of quality of service, then the operators lack the opportunity to really make use of the capacity that they now possess. In situations where there are other factors that limit effective performance, no amount of training will address the core problem.
Cf.: Blumberg Model

The short answer to whether there is evidence that competence based training outperforms others types would thus be very difficult prove. The truth is probably that it depends a great deal on the environment, and on whether lack of competence is really the core issue to be addressed.

Distinguishing Thoughts from Feelings

Ashley Guberman — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 17:55:00 -0700

Recently, a question on LinkedIn asked if anybody had met a Telempath, and described what that meant.

Trying to distinguish between thoughts and feelings can be very difficult in English culture because we are very loose with how we use both words through language.

Take a look at this diagram on Meaning Making

We become aware of something through our senses (see, touch, smell, hear, taste).
That triggers both thoughts and emotions at the same time.
We think and evaluate what we sense as part of making meaning of our environment.
We may also have an emotional response to the stimulus.
It gets messy because our emotions influence our thoughts, and vice versa.
Thoughts are in the neocortex of the brain and emotions are in the amigdala, but both are equally real and important.

Then what on earth is a feeling? While perhaps overly simplified, feelings are Mad, Glad, Sad or Afraid. There are hundreds of feeling words, and a brief sample can be found here: Feeling Words

The point is that “feelings” are the combination of our thoughts and our emotions together, both influencing the other. Based on the quote from your question, we could all be considered “telempaths” to some degree. However, the goal is neither to unify our thoughts and emotions, nor to pull them apart from each other. Instead, it is to have a basic awareness of the relation between thoughts and emotions, to recognize how one influences the other, and to be in a position to choose how to act based on whatever is most appropriate in the moment. The goal is to increase our ability to choose our actions rather than being led by instinct alone. That does not mean denying instinct or analyzing every move. Instead, it means increasing the range of responses we are able to make – increasing our response-ability.
http://www.primarygoals.org/Diagrams/Response-ability.html

As a simple exercise to see how mixed up thoughts and feelings are in our language, try listening for the phrase “I feel that…” If you hear the word “that” as a feeling, then chances are pretty good that it’s not a feeling at all, but is rather a thought or opinion. For example, if somebody asks “how do you feel about…” and the response is “I feel THAT we should wait,” then what is the feeling? At the risk of reducing it to mere semantics, feeling words are more likely to be in the form “I am” as in “I am afraid,” or “she was enraged,” or “he was happy”.

I am happy that you asked your question.
I think that both thoughts and emotions are equally important.

Is a lack or fear of conflict really a dysfunction of a team?

Ashley Guberman — Sat, 18 Aug 2007 17:47:00 -0700

"In Patrick Lencioni's book, The Five Dysfunctions of a Team, lack of conflict was identified as one of the 5 reasons why a team can be/is ineffective. Personally I do not have any issue with healthy conflict, so this was not a difficult concept for me to adopt However, many leaders discourage conflict in their teams, thinking that it will cause animosity between teammates, and that it discourages openness and free expression of thought. What is you opinion on this? Is conflict healthy for a team, or not?"

--Question posted by Aaron Criss

Conflict means different things to different people and is highly related to context and the parties involved. There can be fierce disagreement about the best course of action going forward, where the parties are highly animated, voices are raised, and ultimately a decision is made and all agree to abide by it. For some, the raised voices signify the conflict is “unhealthy,” while others see it as passionate engagement over the issues. There can also be calm, thoughtful discussion on the same issue where a decision is made, then people undermine each other because there was no buy-in. For some, this latter appears healthier because the parties were calm.

So the definitions for both “conflict” and “health” are up for grabs here, and people are apt to disagree on both. In my role as a manager, I see conflict, disagreement, playing the devil’s advocate, and commitment as essential to arriving at the best decisions. There’s no way I will ever know all that I need to make a completely informed decision. Without opposing ideas, there’s way too much that I’m blind to. What I watch for in conflict situations is that the communication is effective. Are both sides hearing each other, rather than just talking at each other? Is the disagreement because both sides have differing perspectives and values, or because they don’t fully understand each other? Also, is it clear to the participants what decision-making style is going to be used? For example, if people think they are striving for consensus, the conflict may drag on for quite some time. But if they realize that somebody else (a manager, for example) is actually responsible for a decision and the consequences, then the manager can bring the conflict to an end quicker by being clear about HOW the decision will be made in addition to what is being decided.

Lastly, I also monitor the dialog to make sure it is mostly about the content of the disagreement rather than the personalities engaged in the conflict. When conflicts start getting personal, that’s when I think that it becomes unhealthy.

Superficial Mission Statements

Ashley Guberman — Fri, 31 May 2002 17:40:00 -0700

Recently, I went to a restaurant called Shari's, which is part of a national chain.

On a wall in the lobby was a plaque of their "Mission Statement", made of engraved metal on a wooden background. It said something about dedication to customers, quality food, and employees who care.

So I sat down, and during the meal I asked our server "Do you know what the Mission Statement for Shari's is?"

He didn't even have a clue what I was talking about. I told him it was OK, and that I was just testing a theory that posting the mission on the wall does not help make it real for the employees.

Afterwards, I went up front to pay, and they were more than a little busy. The manager came out from the back to ring us up, and I asked him the same question. He stammered a bit, and quickly asked one of the employees with an armload of food to tell me what the Mission Statement was. Clearly, since he didn't know it, he chose to delegated the task. The employee frowned at him, and kept going with her food.

I kept looking at the manager, who said "uh... hold on.... I should know this, right?" He processed my charge card, then started saying something vaguely in line with the statement... he knew it has something to do with quality food, but that's about all he could get out.

So I asked him "Do you at least know where it is posted?"

"Yeah, we've got that thing up in at least a few places around here. There's one around the corner, I think."

Structure and Flexibility Within IT

Fri, 15 Aug 2008 14:19:57 -0700

All too often within IT organizations, there is a constant pull between the need for speed, agility, and flexibility on one hand, and the need for formal structures, rigorous controls (Sarbanes Oxley), and process on the other.

This is not a problem that can be solved.
There is no "magic amount" of both structure and flexibility.
Instead, it is a polarity to be managed as we try to get the best of both worlds by applying the benefits of both, and knowing when each one is appropriate.

The link is to a PowerPoint presentation on this topic.

Application & System Integration

Thu, 29 May 2008 02:02:31 -0700

Despite the staggering amount of software available today, including enterprise class systems, very few organizations manage to solve all of their needs with just one piece of software.
Primary Goals has experience and expertise integrating a variety of different systems together to create seamless workflows for your organization.

Communication Skills

Wed, 28 May 2008 15:30:52 -0700

Communication skills are simultaneously our greatest asset towards cooperation, and our biggest stumbling block to working effectively together. Often, by focusing on some core principles of effective communication, teams are able to work together more productively.

This page covers the topics of feedback and interpersonal gaps in communication and how Primary Goals can help increase the communication skills in your organization.

Looking at the health of your organization

Wed, 28 May 2008 01:20:51 -0700

Making a diagnosis regarding organizational health is complicated because people with different values and objectives use different criteria for health and effectiveness. Managing the health of an organization requires an understanding of paradox, and that any strength, if taken to extremes, become a liability.

This page presents some common factors in evaluating organizational health based on Beyond Rational Management, by Robert E. Quinn

Action Research & Appreciative Inquiry with Primary Goals

Tue, 27 May 2008 22:14:55 -0700

Action Research and Appreciative Inquiry represent just two of the more formally recognized approaches employed by Primary Goals to make systematic improvements within your organization.
This page covers the basics of what AI and AR are about, and gives an example of how the two methodologies can be used together.

Quality Assurance vs. Test

Mon, 26 May 2008 21:13:12 -0700

QA comes in contact with nearly all aspects of the way a business operates, with the overarching goal of achieving excellence. This page presents some thoughts on the relationship between Quality Assurance, Configuration Management, Testing, Build Processes, and Defect Tracking.

Configuration Management Resources

Thu, 22 May 2008 12:41:18 -0700

Primary Goals (Ashley Guberman) published a set of resources for the configuration of defect tracking tools, including field definitions and best practices for State, Priority, Severity, Issue Type and Symptoms. Also included is a detailed state-transition diagram for an effective SDLC process.

Primary Goals site redesigned

Mon, 19 May 2008 21:12:01 -0700

The Primary Goals site has been completely redesigned, making it more in line with the consulting work that is the focus of the business.

PrimaryGoals.com split into three sites.

Fri, 07 Mar 2008 13:55:30 -0800

The Primary Goals web site was becoming too unwieldy. Therefore, the content has been split into four different sites.

The OD resources are now in their own site, under PrimaryGoals.ORG. Older links will still be supported for a few months.
The personal writings / blog site is now hosted under AshleyGuberman.com.
The rest of the site, relating more to Primary Goals consulting has been left in-place.
Articles pertaining to professional coaching and consulting are now in a blog attached to this site under blog.PrimaryGoals.com

How to promote your own website

Mon, 07 Jan 2008 08:20:16 -0800

The purpose of this article is to answer three questions about various web-based promotion tools.

What are web-based promotion tools?
Why should I care?
How do I use them?

This is not intended as a "how to" guide, though I will provide links to additional information for the more technically inclined. Believe it or not, 90% of web-based promotion is really about making connections -- the technology is secondary. Mind you, these are electronic connections, but they still make a significant impact on how people can find and learn about you n the Internet.

For this article, I’m going to assume that you already have at least one web-page. This article focuses on what to do after that first page exists, such that your page or site becomes more visible to the world.

Topics to be covered include:

Search Engine Optimization
Multiple Domain Names
Ad-words
RSS
Blogging
Site-maps
Social networking sites
Social Bookmarking
Re-Captcha (Publishing your E-mail without getting spammed)

Resources for online/web-based meetings

Sat, 22 Dec 2007 00:24:07 -0800

Ashley Guberman was selected for writing the "best answer" to a question about online/web-based meetings. Her answer provides feature, costs, and URL information on several solutions. Additional services and background information may be found at PrimaryGoals.com

Primary Goals - Technical and Leadership Consulting

I create, I have, Be Cause

Tell a Good Story

Angles Within Us

Emergency Maneuvers as a Metaphor for Transformation

Vision, Cookeis, and Marshmallows

The Quest for "Healthy" Organizations

Don't Read This!

Theory of Practice – Conflict

Theory of Practice - Introduction

SEO: Introduction

SEO: Search Engine Optimiization

SEO - Google Ad-words

SEO - Multiple Domain Names

SEO - Really Simple Syndication

SEO: Blogging

SEO: Site Maps

SEO: Social Netowrking

SEO: Social Bookmarking

SEO: Re-CAPTCHA

Unsolvable Problems

What distinguishes between Coach, Mentor, and Friend?

Competence-based training

Links:

Distinguishing Thoughts from Feelings

Links:

Is a lack or fear of conflict really a dysfunction of a team?

Links:

Superficial Mission Statements

Structure and Flexibility Within IT

Application & System Integration

Communication Skills

Looking at the health of your organization

Action Research & Appreciative Inquiry with Primary Goals

Quality Assurance vs. Test

Configuration Management Resources

Primary Goals site redesigned

PrimaryGoals.com split into three sites.

How to promote your own website

Resources for online/web-based meetings