MBA “Survival” Skills

Successfully working in teams Meeting management

Team contracting

Giving/receiving effective feedback

Managing Stress

Time management

High-performing teams have… Common goals and values High performance expectations Support for creativity and innovation Cooperation and coordination Trust

Among team members With external support entities

Successful teams…..

Perform at a very high level, accomplishing their task more effectively than any individual could alone.

Build social relationships among team members. Team members work well together through effective communication, conflict management, and decision-making techniques.

Promote individual growth and development. Team members broaden their skills and knowledge

The quality of team interaction changes over time. Some theories organize these changes into stages Stages reflect the processes teams experience

during a particular time of development

Reasons for understanding team development: Facilitating team effectiveness as the team goes

through a specific stage Determining whether or not a team facilitator

would be helpful for team effectiveness Anticipating issues (such as conflict) and

preparing in advance to manage these issues effectively

Forming Who are we and what is our purpose?

Norming What are the norms and expectations?

What roles will we each perform?

Storming How will we handle disagreements?

Can the team be changed?

Performing How can we foster innovation and creativity?

Adjourning How do we conclude our tasks?

Punctuated Equilibrium Initial patterns develop early (initial meeting) and

endure for the first half of a team’s life

A time of transition at the midpoint of team projects is characterized by:

Abandoning first-half agendas Expression of urgency New contact with organizational context New agreements on the ultimate direction and

purpose of team’s work Second phase concludes with completion of tasks

In your MBA program, you will have many team meetings

How can you make the most of the limited time you have for meetings?

Purpose of meeting? Share information, problem-solving, commitment

building, etc

Participants? Size and composition,

do you have the right people?

Planning for meeting? Agenda distributed in advance to make sure

participants have enough time to prepare Participation?

Timely and complete participation Review agenda, introductions, ground rules,

reports, displays, summarize

Perspective? Evaluate meeting and seek feedback

Always have an Agenda and Plan Everyone is clear on the purpose of

the meeting Needed attendees are there Minutes are taken and distributed

to all who attended. Minutes include: Decisions reached Action items needing follow-up

Who will follow up on each action item?

Open issues – needing resolution in the future

Update project plan if necessary

Why create a team contract?

Characteristics of a good contract: Everyone has input

All agree on contract

Written down, often in the form of a plan, and each team member has a copy

Flexible to accommodate change

How did developing a team contract help Sabre’s teams perform better?

Schedule social time together outside of work. Get to know and trust one another as people

Develop a mutual understanding of what your primary goals are Know individual goals and if they are compatible

with team goals Determine how you are going to accomplish your

goals Create a detailed plan with flexible deadlines,

counting back from the finish date Assign roles and responsibilities based on expertise

and interests Appoint a “plan master” responsible for updating and

monitoring plan progress

Create guidelines for resolving conflict Commit to collaboration toward resolving

differences Give effective feedback!

Develop a reward and punishment system. What kinds of things does your group enjoy? How

can you use those things to reward (and “punish”) group members

Examples: Someone misses a deadline and has to buy the team pizza; celebrate successful completion of a project

May appoint a facilitator This can be a rotating appointment

Begin with the end in mind. What are your goals? What is the deliverable? When are your deadlines?

Use a spreadsheet to plan your project Set preliminary mini-deadlines

Each team member can use the plan to coordinate their parts of the project

Make the plan flexible. Update the plan when assignments or deadlines are

changed

Sample Team Project Plan - MBA 516

Name 10-Oct 13-Oct 16-Oct 19-Oct 22-Oct 25-Oct and so on

Joe

Team

meeting

Library

research

Write up

research

results

Team

meeting

June

Team

meeting

Library

research

Write up

research

results

Team

meeting

Julie

Team

meeting

Interview

Scheduled

with Dr. D.

Write up

notes from

interview

Team

meeting

John

Team

meeting

Distribute

minutes from

meeting

Collect

information for

process paper

Prepare

agenda for

next

meeting

Team

meeting

Distribute

minutes

from

meeting

Collect

information for

process paper

Josie

Team

meeting

Interview

Scheduled

with Dr. D.

Write up

notes from

interview

Team

meeting

Note: You can add notes at the bottom to spell out who is working

on what components, in mini teams, etc.

Definition of feedback:

Communication regarding observations

about individual and group performance

made in a way that maintains good

performance and improves poor

performance

Can be both positive and negative

Effective feedback is…

Immediate

Given as soon as possible after observation is made.

Direct

Given face-to-face and verbally

Attainable

Given for performance that can be improved

Given for skills that the individual has the skill,

ability, and resources to perform at the desired level

Be DESCRIPTIVE Communicate performance

observations in a descriptive manner so that everyone knows exactly what the desired behavior should be.

Be SPECIFIC Provide descriptions of specific

observations rather than general ones.

An MBA program is stressful!

Juggling many obligations and interests can cause stress You must master the art of

multitasking!

There are techniques that can help

Time Stressors Change Uncertainty Being responsible without control Feeling overwhelmed or inadequate

Encounter Stressors Conflict

Situational Stressors

Anticipatory Stressors

Enactive Strategies: Eliminate stressors

Reactive Strategies: Learn temporary coping

mechanisms

Proactive Strategies: Resiliency

Preferred strategy!!!

Key is BALANCE! Make time for play Set time limits on work Playing can make you more creative!

Ideas on the trail Brain chemistry

More time does not equal better work! Efficiency better than quantity

What is the ideal balance for you?

How do you determine that your life is “out” of balance and needs to be changed?

Accept the fact that your life may include out of balance times ….but over time, too much out of balance and you get:

Sick

Ineffective

Burned-out

Unhappy

For some, divorced and lonely

Develop a Time Management Plan Prioritize and organize

Exercise! Anything you like that gets you moving and your

endorphins flowing

Relaxation and meditation Schedule relaxation time

Social interaction Spending time with family and friends may reduce stress

Whatever works for you!

What do we mean when we say we “…don’t have enough time?” or that “other people have

more time?”

What is the definition of “time” anyhow?

What is meant by “managing time?”

A metric we use to understand the relationship among events

A linear flow or stream from past to future We can ride the current, or paddle a little to

steer

Measured or measurable intervals. A resource that is limited and finite. Why do these intervals seem to go by faster as

we age?

We can’t alter the flow of time

We can manage events in time (paddle and steer through the flow)

We decide: What happens or doesn’t

happen

The relative order of happenings

The quality of what happens

Our approach to what happens

Strategy I : Know where your time is

going and why Strategy II: Know your specific “time

consumers” (i.e. inefficient users of time)

Prioritizing your short and long-term goals (your mission)

Covey’s four quadrants of time allocation:

Urgent and Important

Not Urgent and Important

Urgent and Not Important

Not Urgent and Not Important

Be in touch with your priority system

Try different methods

Choose the one that works best for you

Ask:

What is the most important thing for me to be doing right now?

How will what I am doing help me to achieve my goals and mission?

Economic value of time.

How much is your time “worth” in terms of economic opportunity costs?

Personal value of activities

How much is your time “worth” in terms of your values (i.e. opportunity costs relating to personal values)?

Time management data log This exercise is common to all time

management programs

These data inform you of your priorities as you actually act on them

The point of this exercise: You need to know where your time is going

before you set out to change your time management approach

A B C system Evaluate tasks in terms of:

A – must do – important and urgent B – important but not yet urgent C – Can do if you have extra time

List needed actions, then assign priorities

NOTE: The more “B”s you get done, the fewer “A”s you will have

in the future Remember Gresham’s Law :

Scheduled events take priority over unscheduled events

Build protected time (“white space”) Make sure to schedule leisure time

Delegate what you can

Limit involvement in activities that are not helping you achieve what you want (and are not consistent with your mission statement)

Do emergency scheduling

Work from a prioritized “to do” list

Say “NO!”

If you are going to say no….

Say no immediately

Give a reason consistent with the refusal

Provide an alternative for the other person

if possible

July 21st class session

Summarize your mission statement

Summarize the strengths you feel that you bring to this program

Discuss the areas you would like to work on improving this year and beyond

Give support, ideas and resources to each other!