Characteristics of Personal Mastery and Effective Team Learning - Term Paper Example

Characteristics of Personal Mastery and Effective Team Learning Personal Mastery Personal mastery is an expedition to achieve an improved self. It refers to the continuous improvement in any and every Endeavour you involve in. It is an ingoing voyage for learning. The disciple to personal mastery always looks for opportunities to increase his knowledge and gain experience. Personal mastery is all about being satisfied with personal and professional life. The ones trying to achieve personal mastery are always watchful and attentive of the ideas and knowledge which might be overlooked by others. Self understanding is a prerequisite in order to achieve personal mastery. We must be aware of our strengths and weaknesses and should work tirelessly on minimizing those weaknesses, rather than just living with them for life. Discipline also is a very important requirement for personal mastery. There is a need to be persistent in our efforts for gaining personal mastery. This self discipline should arise out of internal motivation; it should not be out of someone else’s wish. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs describes self actualization as the highest order of need (Clutterbuck 2007). Personal mastery helps the individuals fulfill the need of self actualization. Individuals who seek personal mastery engage into systems thinking because they look at a holistic view. Self confidence is one very important trait of people who have achieved personal mastery. They are aware of their strengths and flaws and tirelessly work towards reducing them. But, achieving personal mastery is not trouble-free or effortless. The ones who aim to achieve personal mastery should be committed to bring an improvement in everything they do. They should be dedicated, committed and focused towards their personal and professional growth. Such people should not be guided by emotions, but by logic. A logical approach of dealing with every obstacle and being patient while solving the problems are true characteristics of people serious about achieving personal mastery. Personal mastery is a sign of true development and is recognized as one of the five learning disciplines. The outcome of achieving personal mastery is the trust people have on you. And trust is the biggest adhesive that keeps relationships together. People not just listen to you, but believe in what you do. Achieving perusal mastery is surely a leadership quality and depicts true maturity. Neuro Linguistics Programming suggests a technique of increasing our motivation to achieve personal mastery. In this approach, the indiciduals need to keep the “end in mind “(Philip Lionel Ramsey 1994). This means that if we think about the outcome of our continued commitment, about the happiness which we will feel when we achieve what we are seeking, we will be automatically motivated internally to stick to that commitment of ours. Previously, organizations had limited growth because the management did not focus on the weaknesses of the employees. These organizations had no human element. Their approaches to management were not democratic at all. The suggestions of the people where not taken into consideration while making decisions. Employees were considered as a cost rather than an investment and hence there was no focus on development of the employees (Way 1999). The only focus was on achieving the monetary benefits. Such organizations lost in the long run because the employees were not internally motivated to work for such firms. Nowadays, many organizations have “Personal Mastery” programmers in order to get the best out of their employees (Meyer 1999). The Learning Organizations are the ones where personal and professional growth of employees is encouraged by asking them to come up with new thinking skills, new thought management techniques. Such organizations believe that organizations cannot even think of learning until and unless their employees learn. Reflection on the decisions is supported by these organizations. This is because personal mastery of individuals depends on the fact whether they can reflect on their flaws and acknowledge the fact that they had gone wrong and also are they committed to work on these flaws. Reflection makes an individual self aware. . 1.1 Personal Reflection On reflecting on what I learnt through the seminars on Personal Mastery and Team learning, I find a change in my approach. Previously, I was more driven by “personality ethic”. I used to care more about the marks I score in a particular subject and not on whether I derived any learning from that subject. But, after undergoing these seminars, when I set out to achieve personal mastery, I now find myself to be more driven by the “character ethic”. Now what matters to me whether actual learning has taken place? I believe this is a start in my Endeavour to achieve growth and development in whatever I do. I have now understood that appearance is not what is important, what matters are whether one possesses a true character. 1.2 Personal Mastery: Help in Effective Leadership Personal mastery provides personal control to the individuals. This makes them better leaders. This is because personal control helps the individuals to not get threatened or intimidated by the pressures of the situation at hand and think logically however complex the problem may be. Personal Mastery makes an individual trustworthy, develops patience in him and makes him committed to the vision. These are the qualities of a true effective leader. Often it has been seen that leaders are not open to criticism. Individuals who have achieved personal mastery on the other hand take criticism as an opportunity to improve upon their flaws (Morgen 2005). 2. Effective Team Learning Team spirit is one important aspect of these learning organizations. A team may be defined as any group of people who require each other’s help in accomplishing results. A team not necessarily needs to stay in the same place. In the present era of globalization, the teams are scattered across the world, but stay in touch and communicate regularly (Larry K. Michaelsen 2008). This is because these organizations appreciate the development of shared teach i.e. the employees help each other in all possible ways in due course of development. Such organizations give the employees the autonomy to experiment with different styles and strategies which they think are helpful in their development. Willingness to rethink, to inquire and to listen is some other characteristics of these organizations. The organizational settings of such organizations are a positive force which fuels the development of individuals. Personal Mastery and learning in groups are important aspects of learning organizations. The employees in such organizations have a shared vision and all of them work together to realize those visions. All the management decisions are ultimately learning processes. Successful management is all about making informed decisions. This is done by firstly observing the situation at hand and making oneself aware with the current happenings .The situation is then assessed by all means. This involves studying in detail the pros and cons of taking the decision, a cost benefit analysis of the situation is done. After this, decisions are made by the managers. The managers then act on the decisions. Reflection is another important part of the process wherein the managers reflect on their decision as to whether the decisions taken by them were right or wrong based on the feedback obtained (David K. Gosser 2001). The Learning Wheel discussed in seminars is what successful managers follow. And they also strive to keep the wheel moving because this is the mark of a true leader. Effective management involves listening to the stakeholders while making a decision. All the parties who are going to be affected by the decision need to be heard and taken care of. Many a times the stakeholders are not able to express their problems because of some or the other reasons, it is the task of the managers to find out the cause of problems through continuous inquiry. There should of course be an element of empathy while doing the inquiry. Members of successful teams have a high degree of emotional intelligence. They are aware of the emotions of others and take others views and opinions into account while taking decisions. Empathetic listening is very important to make the employees feel involved in the working of the organization. The employees feel that the management takes care of them and this feeling makes them internally motivated to work for the betterment of the organization. While being a part of some team, or while trying to take a decision, it is important to put yourself in somebody else’s shoes. This is the core of a successful team approach. If at all we are able to understand for what reasons the other person is bent on taken a particular decision, this will minimize the conflicts in the team. We must understand that in a team, it’s not the individual success that matters, what matters is the success of the entire team. Effective team outcomes can be achieved only when the members of the team try to understand the opinions of the other group members, rather than judging them. Also, the members of the team should encourage the rest of the members to participate. This will result in an optimized team output. Also, punitive thinking makes sure that the group’s approach are harmonized and this ultimately leads to team success because the thinking and energies of all the team members are channeled towards a common goal. Also, in an effective team, the members of the team clear any underlying assumptions that might exist so as to avoid any conflicts later on. Previously, it was a common belief that teams should be formed with members who are from the same background and culture. It was thought that this reduces conflicts occurring among the team members. But, nowadays, organizations appreciate and encourage diversity. Diversity in thinking styles, backgrounds, education and culture ensures that the team members would have different perspectives. This will give the team an opportunity to examine the problems from different dimensions. Successful working in teams happens through effective communication among the group members. In most organizations, very low quality of conversation exists between the group members. Effective communication can take place only when we respect the feelings and opinions of the other members of the team. Also, attentively listening to your group members makes a lot of difference. The seminar beautifully pointed out the presence of discussions rather than dialogues in most organizations. In discussions, problems take a back seat and human egos take the front seat. Dialogues on the other hand make sure all the opinions are fully explored in order to come up with the best solution. 2.1 When is Team Learning Required? Teal meaning is required in situation where contributions of some team members goes unnoticed which exponentially decreases their motivation to contribute to team’s success the next time. May a times, teams consist of members who are shy or uncomfortable expressing their opinions or giving suggestions. This might be because these people are tensed about what the others might think in case their suggestions are not good. This is a loss to the entire team, because even if the member had some good suggestion, it went unheard. Thus, there is a need of continuous inquiry from such team members. It is the onus of the entire team to encourage their team members to contribute. Also, a lot of times, personal egos of the team members act as obstacles to the successful functioning of the team. At other times, members are more concerned about their individual successes rather than the success of the entire team. Also, it is necessary to take everybody’s suggestions while making a decisional the stakeholders must clearly understand why the decision is being taken. This will ultimately clarify to these people how can they contribute in implementing the decision successfully.Pille Bunnell and Humberto Maturana in their paper The Biology of Business: Love Expands Intelligence suggest that business problems are not solved through competition, but by collaboration. This paper gives an insight on various business problems solved by the element of collaboration among the team members (Bunnell Volume 1 , Number 2). 2.2 Use of Thinking Hats to reduce Team Conflicts Thinking hats is another important concept which helps a team to analyze a situation and at the same time keeps conflicts to a minimum. This concept talks about the presence of six thinking hats. Yellow hat signifies positive thinking. White hat focuses on true and logical information. Black hat is the devil’s advocate and sees the negative sides of each situation. Red thinking hat is all about feelings and emotions. Blue thinking hat directs the other hats towards taking a decision. Green thinking last is all about suggesting creative solutions to a particular problem. When a team has a situation at hand which needs to be analyzed, the team can start by wearing each hat one by one. After wearing all the hats, the situations’ positive and negative sides are considered by means of yellow and black hats. The feelings of the stakeholders are also taken care of by means of red hat.The entire discussion is based on factual knowledge and makes use of logic due to the aid of white hat. Blue hat makes sure that the decision is taken within time constraints and finally green hat makes sure creative solutions to the problem are figured out. Thus, this exercise ensures that the problem is analyzed from all perspectives and at the same time, no team conflicts take place. This is because through this approach the group members achieve consensus because they listen to each other (DeBono 2010). 2.3 Characteristics of an Effective Team Leader Many organizations have a team leader assigned to the teams who directs the teams towards taking decisions and acting on them. But, being an effective team leader is not an effortless task. A team leader at times has to criticize the members of the team when they are doing something wrong. Effective team leaders should make sure they provide constructive criticism. Both the bad and the good points of the members of the team should be communicated by the team leader. Only communicating the weaknesses to the team members might demotivate them and they might start considering the team leader to be their enemy, even though the team leader did not intentionally do it. Thus, it makes sense to appreciate the team members even for any small good things they do. It is a common saying that positive attitude is contagious. Effective team leaders always stay positive and this pumps up the energy of the team members too (A. B. Larry K. Michaelsen 2001). Another important characteristic which an effective team leader must necessarily possess is listening skills. Being listened to is a very basic human need. When the team leader listens to his team members, they feel cared for. Also, an effective team leader should value the suggestions of the group and should encourage them to be creative and to think out of the box. Lastly, as they say, actions speak louder than words. An effective team leader should walk the talk. The team members look towards their leader for direction. If the leader is positive and self disciplined, the team members will learn from him and will start acting in the same way. Works Cited Bunnell, Humberto Matur ana and Pille. The Biology of Business:Love Expands Intelligence. Volume 1 , Number 2. http://www.solonline.org/attachmentview!/490278/8814187/p58.pdf. Clutterbuck, David. Coaching the Team at Work. Chicago: Nicholas Brealey Publishing, 2007. David K. Gosser, Mark S. Cracolice, J. A. Kampmeier, Vicki Roth. Peer-Led Team Learning: A Guidebook. Chicago: Prentice Hall, 2001. DeBono, Edward. Six Thinking Hats. Chicago: Penguin Books Ltd (UK), 2010. Larry K. Michaelsen, Arletta Bauman Knight, L. Dee Fink. Team-based learning: a transformative use of small groups. Dallas: Greenwood Publishing Group, 2001. Larry K. Michaelsen, Dean X. Parmelee, Kathryn K. McMahon. Team-based learning for health professions education: a guide to using small groups for improving learning. Michigan: Stylus Publishing, LLC, 2008. Meyer, Ivan Henry. Personal mastery: a toolkit for personal growth. San Deigo: Ivan Meyer Consulting Services, 1999. Morgen, Robert. Personal Mastery: Develop Your True Inner Power by Awakening Your Kundalini. Dallas: Lulu.com, 2005. Philip Lionel Ramsey, Massey University. Dept. of Human Resource Management. Personal mastery: enhancing the model. Houston: Dept. of Human Resource Management, Massey University, 1994. Way, Julie T. Personal mastery. Detroit: Highbury, S. Aust, 1999. Read More