An organization operating in the twenty-first century is different from one that operated during the Industrial Revolution. Today's focus is on optimizing human potential; people are the enablers of most aspects of intangible value. People develop relationships with suppliers, customers, distributors, and other third parties through which work is executed. In Reflective Leaders and High-Performance Organizations, authors Nick Shepherd and Peter Smyth take an integrated view of organizational performance that blends a focus on both outcomes and relationships. Reflective Leaders and High-Performance Organizations suggests a framework for developing and applying an improved approach to organizational leadership and management. In addition to philosophy and conceptual approaches, it presents tested practical tools and direction. It also delivers case studies of organizations that have applied Shepherd's and Smyth's ideas and realized measurable improvements in the day-to-day activities of the organization, along with measurably improved outcomes from the organizational activity. Using over twenty years of practical consulting experience as well as careers in management, Shepherd and Smyth demonstrate how effective leaders can maintain a focus on organizational tasks and outcomes and do this while building and enhancing human relationships.
Reflective Leaders and High-Performance Organizations
How Effective Leaders Balance Task and Relationship to Build High-Performing OrganizationsBy NICK A. SHEPHERD PETER J. SMYTHiUniverse, Inc.
Copyright © 2012 Nick A. Shepherd and Peter J. Smyth
All right reserved.ISBN: 978-1-4620-2365-3Contents
Acknowledgments..................................................................ixForeword.........................................................................xiiiChapter 1 Introduction...........................................................1Chapter 2 "Partners in Success": Why Task and Relationship?......................17Chapter 3 The Changing Face of "Task"............................................30Chapter 4 Shared Values: Foundation for Relationships............................43Chapter 5 Leadership and a Values-Based Organization.............................60Chapter 6 Making It Real: A Relationship-Based Organization......................78Chapter 7 Effective Integration of Task and Relationship.........................113Chapter 8 Knowing It's Real: Building and Using Measurements.....................151Chapter 9 Task and Relationship in Practice: Case Studies........................157Chapter 10 Organizational Theory and Leadership..................................182Appendices: Examples and Templates...............................................197Background on the Authors........................................................199Bibliography.....................................................................223
Chapter One
Introduction
Effective leadership has evolved as a key factor in building successful organizations. This book has come about because of our desire to help organizations realize their potential. What does this mean? Every organization seeks to "optimize" its potential and to create its own "competitive advantage." Why is it, then, that so many potentially successful organizations fall below expectations? Running an organization is not rocket science, in spite of the literally millions of books designed to help individuals and organizations improve what they are doing. Our society spends billions of dollars on developing software systems and sending people on training programs; future leaders are exposed to intensive levels of education, often spending time away from families on MBA programs designed to help them perform more effectively. Why is it, then, that all of these investments so often fail to deliver the desired outcomes?
We believe our approach offers an alternative; in creating this book, we have taken an integrated view of organizational performance that blends a focus on both outcomes (the need to get results) and relationships (the need to create interdependent, cooperative, and collaborative cultures). We have also taken into account something that someone suggested many years ago. We were having a discussion with a client on the difference between training and education, and before we could respond, our two teenage daughters came home from school and said, "Dad, today we had sex education." About two weeks later, they came home and said, "Dad, today we had sex training." What was the difference? Education helps us understand why things happen, whereas training helps us learn new skills and knowledge and apply them.
There has been a lot of scientific research on how adults learn, and the key to this is typically that there must be a connection between the real world in which people live and the new ideas and knowledge that are being taught. Of course, the experience of moving through this learning must be enjoyable, and there might even need to be an emotional connection for the information to be retained and ultimately applied. We present first the "education" piece as we try to establish a context for our ideas based on the changes many of us experience in real life. Hopefully, we will create some "head nodding" as readers connect with the day-to-day challenges that they face and the experiences that have formed their individual history.
Once we have created this context, we will suggest a framework for developing and applying an improved approach to organizational leadership and management; through applying these approaches, we believe that readers will start to develop the "Ah ha" moment, when the simplicity of our ideas begins to crystallize. We will not just provide philosophy and conceptual approaches; we will also add practical tools and direction that our clients have used to put our methods into practice. Finally, we will present a number of case studies of organizations that we have worked with; these case studies show how to apply our ideas and also demonstrate measurable improvements in the day-to-day activities of the organization plus measurably improved outcomes from the organizational activity. A key to our approach is the recognition that while working in a positive environment is more fun, to succeed, the outcome of good working relationships must be greater success in task execution.
Each of us brings a very different background to both this book and to our clients. Peter has established himself as a leading practitioner in the field of humanistic counseling psychology and group work; he puts this extensive practical experience to use in both his clinical practice (The Counseling Institute), where he practices relational psychotherapy, and in his organizational work (from health care to manufacturing organizations) with boards, senior executives, management and leadership teams, and individual employees. Peter's doctoral dissertation on narcissism and attachment has a direct relationship to the issues that we discuss, and his extensive experience in the mental health field, along with his studies and practice in the areas of clinical social work and humanistic psychology, all provide a solid theoretical and technical background for understanding human behavior, and guess what? Organizations are, in fact, collections of people!
"An organization is where a group of different individuals with different talents comes together for the intention of achieving a common purpose."
Given that people form the foundation of any organization, it follows that understanding human behavior and enhancing the ability of people to work together must be a core competitive advantage of a successful organization.
Nick, on the other hand, comes from the "other side of the tracks"; in this partnership, Nick's background in finance and accounting, as well as his in-depth experience in several other areas, provides a very practical, results-oriented focus to the work that we do. Nick spent over twenty years in accounting, with increasing levels of responsibility; he rose to become the vice president of finance and administration of a privately owned industrial distribution business, and as an outcome of this role, he spent three years as the organization's president. He also spent six years as the vice president of finance of the Canadian subsidiary of a major US-based technology multi-national. Add to this his early experience in the retailing business and in the engineering areas of the entertainment and hotel business, plus the past twenty years as a management consultant, and his focus is definitely on the tangible aspects of getting the job done.
Peter and Nick came together over twenty years ago through a mutual friend in the consulting business. First impressions were, naturally, based on perceptions. Nick viewed Peter as dealing with the "soft stuff," while Peter viewed Nick as a "black and...
