All 3 entries tagged Leadership

Reach a consensus VS argue your case

In the light of Chinese culture, it is better to reach a consensus rather than arguing your cases.

But after the Leadership in actions activity, I realised that an agreement cannot bring us the best outcome at all.

Maybe due to the time limit, I feel that almost in every group talks, we hurry to reach a consensus by voting which seems to be democratic. The topic in our class have no RIGHT or WRONG answers, however, in the real business world, it is unwise to jump into an idea merely depend on democracy.

As a follower, what is the better way to contribute to the team productivity? Nodding you head and say yes keep silent? or challeng others? arguing cases? It seems to be quite difficult to be an effective follower as well. That's why I suggest that one should learn how to be an effective follower before being an effective leader because there is no leadership without followership.

The expected outcome for each team is to find the 'best' solution to a problem, not just simply getting an agreement, which might lead the team on a wrong track. At that point, it is the leader's responsibility to say STOP! Let's....

Looking back on our group talk, I find out that we are always struggling with the time limit. Now usually the team size is 6 or 7 people, each one has 1 minute to say his or her own idea but we are supposed to show our result in 10 ten minutes, which leaves no time to argue or analyse, not even planning at the very beginning!

So I was looking for reference to find out whether there are some relationship between the team size and team performance. Or rather, the root cause is not about the size, it is the way of communicating and processing information?

Lulu Qu : 13 Jan 2020 22:15 |  Tags: Leadership |  Comments (1) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Template of giving feedback

Based on my previous experience of dealing with compliants between different sectors within an organisation, I have made an simple template for giving feedback to the person you observed.

The purpose of giving feedback is to help people improve their performance from different perspectives, instead of imposing suggestions on them. In the light of that, this template is designed for observers to structure their words so that it can be used effectively by those people who were observed.

1. The part Facts takes up half of the page which encourages observers to write down as many facts as possible, which is of great importance for the observee to do self-reflection.

2. I combine the Opinions and Suggestions part together because I find out that people usually make them in one sentence.

3. Brief and warm Tips make it easier for people to pick out the pearls and keep them in mind.

The key point is never ever mix the objective facts with subjective personal opinions, because it makes difficult for us to respond to the feedback rationally, not to mention making the best use of it.

template_for_giving_feedback.docx

Lulu Qu : 09 Jan 2020 18:32 |  Tags: Leadership |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Reflection

Well~ It's quite difficult to stick to my goals-keep writing every day. But I love reflection, which enables me to know How MUCH I know, as well as how LITTLE I know.

But there're so many things and so many Aha moments I wanna to write it down and share with my friends and colleagues at home and abroad.

Teaching & Studying Models I've went through so far:(There is no judgement, only preference)

1. You are supposed to believe what's been told in class, and the school cares about how much you receied in class, and then evaluate you by scoring.

2. Your tutor is a facilitator. They prefer to be critized and challenged by your critical thing. Be sceptical to everything you've been taught. You are not studying for one particular knowledge, rather, you are learning how to learn.

I prefer the latter one, because I was meant to go to bed early by ten yesterday. However, I was surprised that the more I learned, the more I feel thrilled about this topic. I try to make a link between these knowledge or theories with my previous experience. I try to find out WHY I am/was thinking in these ways.

But I don't wanna be a night owl~I wanna be a early bird though. Those peopel I know and admire are used to getting up early in the morning, like two of my former Colleauges Rich and Cai, some brilliant students in Cambridge, Harvard. I am not going to follow their path, but I hope I could make the most of life from the very beginning of the day.

Competition VS Cooperation

As a student here, I don't need to show my capability by competing over others. The course tutor try to reduce any competiton among the class and encourage more cooperation. Quoted from Paul, we all have two ears, two eyes, and one mouth, and make sure you understand others before being understood. Exactly! I cannot agree with him more. I am gonna making more efforts to listening and understanding others because I believe I can learn more from my peers than my tutors under certain circumstances.

When it comes to competition within an organization, say I am the manager of one dept. It's not uncommon that I wanna make my dept stand out in this company. But it's absolutely WRONG! As a part of the whole system( system thinking), my goal should be the success of the whole organization, not my dept. There is no point making a excellent dept, but it's the whole group that matters. What a pity that I didn't know that before attending any meetings with senior managers, now I wanna observe how these managers propose the problems occured in their teams and how do they sort out a solution for the organizational issue. I will ask my colleauges hahaha.

Effective Leadership

I am the lucky one because I've been working with three top managers in Lumi. Compared with other assistants, I have more autonomy and flexibility. In most cases, I was assigned with goals, but specific tasks.

As an effective leader, how do you motivate and inspire, or stimulate your staff? Quoted again from Paul, what we can do is to create a suitable environment for our workers, where they can grow and reach their potentials. For example, we are growing plants. We don't need to select the best seed, but we give them enough sunshine, run, fresh air and fertilizer to help them grow.

How can I be heard as a junior/ How can I make a difference on the organization

One person can never change the whole system, not even the CEO. But you can make a influence on the people around you. Of course, those peole in return will have some impact on you too. Gradually, you two small group will grow into many groups and become bigger and bigger until one day the top manager team will see the change.

Lulu Qu : 15 Oct 2019 18:16 |  Tags: Leadership Management Time |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem