David Brooks in his NY Times Opinion Page column on January 17, gave some advice to Amy Chua author of Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother and, in the process, included some very useful insights for those of us responsible for developing managers and leaders. Here's the part of David's advice we all need to be well grounded in:
"Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Carnegie Mellon have found that groups have a high collective intelligence when members of a group are good at reading each others’ emotions — when they take turns speaking, when the inputs from each member are managed fluidly, when they detect each others’ inclinations and strengths.
Participating in a well-functioning group is really hard. It requires the ability to trust people outside your kinship circle, read intonations and moods, understand how the psychological pieces each person brings to the room can and cannot fit together.
This skill set is not taught formally, but it is imparted through arduous experiences."
Coming to the workforce after performing well at school will get you on the first rung of the promotion ladder. Being effective at completing tasks, will keep you employed. Working well in teams, and learning how to manage and lead them is a wholly different competency.
David's indictment of Chua's wimpy coddling of her daughters belongs equally to many managers and leaders who insulate their people from situations where they might fail, situations where they are "not qualified", instead of creating opportunities for them to make it on their own in the organizational equivalent of the school cafeteria.
2 comments:
dear sir, thank you for this nice insight and the posting. as you rightly pointed out, engaging a structured team and keeping them motivated is not easy, the emotion has to be addressed first to make the message or the requirement clear.
Do you have a personal anecdote from your own experience about engaging a team - either when you succeeded or when you fail?
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