A520.7.3.RB - Importance of Having a Coach and Mentor

Coaches and mentors have played an integral part of shaping who I am today.  Without them I would have been wandering through life aimlessly searching for answers to important questions.  I had many questions about life in general and about the direction I was supposed to go as an adolescent.  One person in particular helped me with my curiosity and guidance.  My Uncle was a man who I admired personally and professionally for everything he did.  I observed how he was a charismatic man who worked hard and was the best father and husband a man could be.  He was my mentor.  He was and still is a man who I consider one of the most important mentors in my life.  Another person who had a lasting impact on me was coach Buffalino.  He was my football coach through my entire high school years. He was an interesting man who worked as a high school teacher by day and a coached football after school.  I say interesting because he could be kind and gentle one minute and yelling and screaming like a military drill instructor the next.  But this man was not only a football genius, he was dedicated.  Some may say too dedicated because he spent hours upon hours coaching football players, sometimes at the expense of neglecting his own family.  He did not just teach me skills on the football field; he taught me how hard work really does pay off.  I witnessed how thousands of hours on the practice field eventually led to our team winning the Pennsylvania State Championship.  Talent and skill were obviously ingredients to our success, but without coach Buffalino, we never would have accomplished our goal.

Whether on a football field or life in general, coaches and mentors are keys to achieving objectives.  This is no different for the professional who wants to have a successful career because finding a great mentor and/or coach can mean the difference between being limited or limitless.  I know there are times I sell myself short professionally because I do not think I have the ability to advance into certain positions.  However, I am often reminded how I would be a great fit for these leadership positions by coworkers.  They are like my coaches because they see my potential when I have self-doubt.  Coaches can help create a specific plan catered to professional development.  I would look to a coach if I wanted to improve my skills for a particular goal or enhance my career.  Coaches are great teachers and “companies report that coaching has the biggest positive impact on micro-level outcomes such as developing future leaders and improving leadership behaviors and individual employees’ performance” (McDermott et. al., 2007, p. 32).  Having a mentor in an organization can make professional development much easier.  Mentors are experienced employees who typically have a detailed understanding of how the organization works.  I can compare having a mentor to having a treasure map.  Which would be easier, finding a treasure chest on an island with or without a map?  With a map of course.  The same goes for working in an organization.  Everyone has a different idea of what their treasure is in their career, but having a mentor will help give direction down the right path to find it.  I am a big believer of not “reinventing the wheel”.  Why would I want to go through the complications of trying to figure something out when someone has already figured it out?  I wouldn’t.  The mentor concept is similar to the answer of that question and seems quite simple to me.  For example, I find someone who I see in a position where I would like to be in my career, they become my mentor, and I follow their path.  Yes, I know I have oversimplified the process, but that would be the best case scenario in a perfect world.  Coaching and mentoring are both important to my professional success.  Incorporating them into my career goals can only increase my odds and help guide me down the career path I envision.       


Reference:

McDermott, M., Levenson, A., & Newton, S. (2007). What coaching can and cannot do for your organization. HR. Human Resources Planning, 30(2).

A520.6.5.RB - Team Roles

I have always enjoyed being part of a work team throughout my career.  I initially have my own thoughts when faced with accomplishing tasks and objectives; however, I always maintain an open mind to listen to other team member’s perspectives and ideas.  Whetten and Cameron suggest, “work teams face two main challenges: accomplishing the task that has been assigned and building unity and collaboration among the team members” (Whetten & Cameron, 2011, p. 512).  These challenges are faced by roles of team members in two forms: task-facilitating roles and relationship-building roles.  

One of the keys to a high-performing team is to “have a balance between task-oriented roles and relationship-building roles” (Whetten & Cameron, 2011, p. 515).  Individually, I would not say I always the exhibit task-facilitating role or always exhibit the relationship-building role.  I consider myself to have a fair balance between both roles when part of a team and take on either role depending on the situation and team dynamics.  I tend to gravitate toward the relationship-building role when a team is first established.  However, I find myself taking on the task-facilitating role when progress toward goal accomplishment is slow or when no one else is helping the team move toward task accomplishment (2011).

I am also inclined to use my strengths such as information giving, process analyzing, urging, and information seeking towards the team’s objective.  On the other hand, I really enjoy assisting in the cohesion and collaboration aspect of being part of a team through my relationship-building role.  I find great satisfaction in supporting, harmonizing, developing, consensus building, and empathizing with my team members.  I think these actions come more naturally to me because they are more in line with my personality.  Despite being some of my greatest attributes, I do find some of these qualities can become counterproductive.  For example, when team members are in disagreement and a high level of tension exists, I may focus too much on fixing the tension and avoid finding the best solution to their differences.  Additionally, I can sometimes find myself exhibiting unproductive behavior or “blocking roles” (2011).  I can use my analytical nature to benefit the team when it comes to processes and information.  Regardless, I sometimes find myself overanalyzing and focusing on trivial issues, which result in wasted time and energy.   

Reference:

Whetten, D. A., & Cameron, K. S. (2011).  Developing Management Skills (8^th ed.)  Upper Saddle River, NJ:  Prentice Hall.

A520.5.3.RB - Forrester's Empowerment

Empowerment means to enable, help develop a sense of self-confidence, help people overcome feelings of powerlessness, energize people to take action, and to mobilize intrinsic motivation to accomplish a task (Whetten & Cameron, 2011, p. 445).  According to Forrester, empowerment is an “exacting involvement that implies the freedom and the ability to make decisions and commitments, not just suggest them or be part of making them” (Forrester, 2000, p. 67).  Empowerment is usually mentioned at some point when discussing how to achieve organizational success.  However, the challenge for an organization lies within finding ways to foster empowerment.  Conversely, an organization may have good intentions of integrating empowerment techniques, but end up failing by incorporating methods which ultimately destroy it.  Some believe empowerment may even be overrated based on how organizations struggle with making it work to their advantage.  Forrester suggests “that the shortfalls in empowerment that many organizations have experienced are more about implementation than flawed conception; and there are ways to correct what has been limiting the success of organizations” (Forrester, 2000, p. 67).    

Forrester’s article, “Empowerment: Rejuvenating a potent idea” delves into examples of some common mistakes organizations make when trying to introduce empowerment and offers suggestions on more effective options.  These empowerment errors include (1) impulsive empowerment mandates, (2) overreliance on a narrow psychological concept, (3) one-size-fits-all empowerment, (4) negligence of the needs of power sharers, (5) piecemeal approaches, and (6) distortions of accountability.  Like Forrester, Whetten & Cameron identified empowerment roadblocks.  They have recognized three broad inhibitors to accomplishing empowerment:  attitudes about subordinates, personal insecurities, and need for control.  There are way organizations can succeed in empowering their employees, despite the challenges organizations face in trying to attain it.  The strategies Forrester recommends to achieve empowerment include (1) enlarging power, (2) be sure of what you want to do, (3) differentiate among employees, (4) support power shares, (5) building fitting systems, and (6) focus on results.  

Whetten & Cameron take a similar approach to accomplish empowerment and claim there are five dimensions of empowerment which include: “skillful empowerment means producing (1) a sense of self-efficacy, (2) a sense of self-determination, (3) a sense of personal consequence, (4) a sense of meaning, and (5) a sense of trust”.  Additionally, Whetten & Cameron go into greater depth in discussing the nine prescriptions for fostering empowerment and how each relates to the five dimensions.  These prescriptions for empowerment include: articulating a clear vision and values, fostering personal mastery experiences, modeling, providing support, emotional arousal, providing information, providing resources, connecting to outcomes, and creating confidence (2011).  Empowerment is a valuable strategy to incorporate for organization success as evidenced through the examples of Forrester and Whetten & Cameron.  However, it is up to the organization to exercise these strategies, dimensions, and prescriptions while simultaneously avoiding using the wrong tactics to destroy empowerment.   

References:

Forrester, R. (2000). Empowerment: Rejuvenating a potent idea. The Academy of Management Executive, 14(3), 67-80. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com.ezproxy.libproxy.db.erau.edu/docview/210518384?accountid=27203

Whetten, D. A., & Cameron, K. S. (2011).  Developing Management Skills (8^th ed.)  Upper Saddle River, NJ:  Prentice Hall.

A520.4.3.RB - Motivation Beyond Money

I believe it is common for most working adults to consider their salary to be one of the most important factors when it comes to their occupation.  However, Andy Mulholland believes the three most important reasons we work are to "perform interesting work, to expand skill sets, and most importantly, to be recognized" (Mulholland, 2011) and valued (value me for what I can do and how I can work for you).  Money is an important factor, but as I have learned from my experience, it is not the most important.  Around five years ago, I left a position with a very generous salary for a position in which I earned considerably less.  I have no regrets and that experience taught me how money truly is not everything.  I have also found I need to enjoy what I do to be motivated.  I have been fortunate to enjoy most of the jobs I have performed, but there were a few jobs I was less than thrilled to do.  Being interested in what I do keeps me engaged and refreshed because not only do I like what I do, I actually want to perform at a high level.  Expanding my skill sets is also an important motivator.  The desire to expand my skill sets helps me feel like I am avoiding stagnation and prepares me for growth.  I know improving my skills will make me better at what I am currently doing and lead to opportunity.  As Mulholland mentioned, it is important to be recognized and valued by the organization you work for (2011).  I could not agree more.  Sometimes a simple “great job” from my supervisor is all it takes to help keep me motivated.  Conversely, if I never hear anything about my performance, I can sometimes feel like I am working hard for no reason.  It is a horrible feeling when I know I have executed significant achievements, yet I am the only one who notices.  

One of the most important motivators is the people around me.  I have been in organizations where the coworkers can make a job be either fun and exciting or dreadful and stale.  I used to have a job where I hated going to work because I knew I had to deal with an individual who was confrontational and difficult no matter the circumstance.  I tried many avenues of communication to make things more cohesive without success.  Currently, y coworkers are part of the reason I love going to work every day.  We are more like a family than just someone we work with.  Someone can usually tell if another is stressed or having a bad day and they will genuinely be concerned and try to help in any way they can.  Another factor that motivates me is my supervisor.  I have had many supervisors throughout my career and they have the ability to make a job feel like it is the best job on earth or they can make a job a living hell.  Fortunately, I have only had a couple supervisors make my job feel like the latter.  It is wonderful to have a supervisor who cares about me as a person and my performance.  A supervisor who is the opposite of a micro-manager and who empowers me to handle my job with little to no interference unless I ask for guidance.  Finally, I believe another motivator in any job is gratification.  There is nothing like the feeling of accomplishment in performing my job.  Knowing I can make a difference and impact the quality of my organization provides me incredible satisfaction.  This just goes to show that money is usually an important motivator for job performance, however, it is not typically the most important motivator.

Reference:

Mulholland, Andy. (2011). The three things we work for (money isn't one of them).  Retrieved from http://library.books24x7.com.ezproxy.libproxy.db.erau.edu/bookshelf.asp