teamwork let you cross valleys : POM Lesson 6.

Objective: Learn about importance of teamwork and its constituting elements with the help of a valley crossing exercise.

The valley crossing exercise was performed in order to demonstrate the importance of team work. Team work involves many facets some of them being communication, coordination, interdependence,  trust, support, contribution from members and cohesion between members.

the exercise: Valley Crossing

The activity involved 3 persons crossing a valley with the support of the rod. The distance between two ends of the cliff was more than 1 step but less than 2 steps. The activity was to be performed in such a way, that at any instance of time during the crossing of valley, not more than 1 member was at risk, i.e. if one person was at risk during the act of valley crossing, the other two members would take up that person’s weight. In this way the inter-dependency between the members was tightly coupled which is one of the most facets of team work.

It is also to be noted that when one of the persons is at risk, that person has to trust the other two persons to ensure that the objective is achieved. In this way, during the entire exercise, all the persons are at equal risk and need confidence and trust between the members to achieve the objective. 

 Three wise men Crossing the valley  - Detailed task process

earlier we learnt about de-skilling (breaking an element into small small processes and thus precluding the need for expertise) and its far reaching impact. in the same manner, if we apply the process of de-skilling to this problem we can break it into 9 steps. the pictorial representation of the process flow is as follows:

based on the step per step situation, we can draw following inferences:

Persons	First Person	Second Person	Third person
Steps
1	Safe	Safe	Safe
2	Half Risky
3	Full Risky
4	Half Risky	Half Risky
5		Full Risky
6		Half Risky	Half Risky
7			Full Risky
8			Half Risky
9	Safe	Safe	Safe

• Safe - Both the legs of the person have full support
• Half Risky – One leg in the air and the other leg has support
• Full risky - Both the legs are in the air without any support
• Half risky – One leg is in the air and the other leg has support
• Safe - Both the legs have full support

Lessons Learnt

Responsibility

When a team is assigned a work or has to achieve an objective, each member of the team should be responsible enough to complete their portion of the task. If even one member of the team is not responsible to complete their portion, then the entire objective is at a risk and can lead to harsh consequences.

Communication

During the process of performing a task, there needs to be effective communication between the group members for two main reasons.

The first reason can be to know the status of the work performed so that the percentage task completion of the task can be gauged  The second reason can be related to the clarity of the task between the members. If even one member interprets the task incorrectly, the whole objective of the group is put at stake.

Confidence and Trust

The organization cannot be successful if there is no element of trust in it. As in the case of valley exercise, persons can take the risk to cross the valley only since they trust the other two. Similarly for the organization to be successful, managers and workers have to follow the Theory X which tells the people or managers have trust on the other people or employees for the job to be completed effectively.

Innovation

When the team members have gelled , then innovation is something that comes on its own. A good team always has a good number of people who come up with innovative ideas all the time.

 Clear goals The goals were clear, defined and each member in the team fully understood the gravity of the problem.  

after all, as it is said:

One man alone can be pretty dumb sometimes, but for real bonafide stupidity, there ain't nothing can beat teamwork.

We shall discuss more about organization management principle in future. please write your comments and suggestion.

setting SMART goals - POM Lesson 4.

Objective:

Today's objective is to understand the importance on setting goals and the things we must keep in mind while setting ourselves SMART goals.

"Success can't be a pleasant surprise,

It has to be Planned.

setting a SMART goal is the first step to it. "

Dr. Edwin Locke, who began goal setting research in the 1960’s revealed an inductive relationship between goal setting and improved production performance. Goal setting involves the conscious process of establishing levels of performance in order to obtain desirable outcomes. If individuals or teams find that their current performance is not achieving desired goals, they typically become motivated to increase effort or change their strategy.Setting a goal should include setting a structure that directs actions and behaviors which improve the unsatisfactory performance.  Setting a goal serves us in the following ways:

1. When an individual or team can focus attention on behaviors that will accomplish a goal, they also divert attention away from behaviors that will not achieve the goal. 
2. Goals energize people to expend more effort based upon the effort that is required to reach a certain goal. 
3. Goals also lead to a persistent pursuit of reaching the goal by providing a purpose for that pursuit.

How to set a Goal:

A smartly set goal leads to excellence. when you set a specific and measurable; challenging yet realistic goal for yourself and go for it with full devotion, its then you come face to face with the depth of potential. take some time out to watch this thrilling video.

now lets try to associate the video with the following characteristics that a goal must have. 

i am quite sure that you must have related the video with the five S.M.A.R.T. points which are mentioned in the above picture in several ways. here is some supplement to it.

A goal must be specific and measurable. It should answer the who, what, when, where, why, and how of the expectations of the goal. A goal to just jump higher is too general. Instead, an example of a specific goal would be to improve high jump by three inches.

They should be set high enough to encourage high performance but low enough to be attainable.  setting goals that are too high not only jeopardizes motivation and commitment but also can create a culture of corruption, dishonesty, and cutting corners.

The goal must be challenging, yet realistic. Lowering the bar for a high jumper could not realistically increase motivation nor enhance performance. Similarly, setting a goal to raise the bar ten feet is not a realistic or attainable goal and would therefore not positively affect motivation or performance. 

In order for goals to positively affect motivation and performance, goals must be time-related. For the high jumper, he may set a time within three months which may provide a realistic time frame to meet his goal. But again, time lines should be arranged such that it will keep the goal challenging yet achievable.

the goal.

So friends next time when you set a goal for yourself, be SMART about it. please keep reading for management GYAN and give your valuable feedback.