A635.6.3.RB_EcoSeagate_LouBeldotti

A635.6.3.RB

EcoSeagate

            For this blog, I have been asked to review the OD Application found on page 274 of my textbook, “An Experiential Approach to Organization Development” by Donald R. Brown and answer the following three questions:

1. Do you see value in the EcoSeagate team development process?
2. Why would something like this be necessary in a high-performing organization?
3. Could your organization benefit from a similar activity?

            According to Seagate’s website, “Seagate is the global leader in data storage solutions, developing amazing products that enable people and businesses around the world to create, share and preserve their most critical memories and business data.

            Over the years the amount of information stored has grown from megabytes all the way to geopbytes, confirming the need to successfully store and access huge amounts of data. As demand for storage technology grows the need for greater efficiency and more advanced capabilities continues to evolve.

            Today data storage is more than just archiving; it’s about providing ways to analyze information, understand patterns and behavior, to re-live experiences and memories. It’s about harnessing stored information for growth and innovation. Seagate is building on its heritage of storage leadership to solve the challenge of getting more out of the living information that’s produced every day. What began with one storage innovation has morphed into many systems and solutions becoming faster, more reliable and expansive. No longer is it just about storing information; it is about accessing and interpreting information quickly, accurately and securely.” (Seagate, 2016)

            In Brown’s text, he lays out the OD Application: EcoSeagate and Team Development, “Seagate Technology, a manufacturer of computer hard drives, each year spends $2 million on one outdoor lab experience. It calls the lab EcoSeagate and it is where the company brings together 200 of its employees from around the world to a team development meeting in the desolate mountains and glaciers of New Zealand, close to where Lord of the Rings was filmed. With such a foreign and intimidating environment, everyone feels off balance and no one has an advantage over anyone else. Prework for the participants is a good deal of physical conditioning and required reading of The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leader- ship Fable .CEO Bill Watkins started EcoSeagate in 2000, soon after becoming president of Seagate. Watkins says, ‘They called it Slavegate. People got fired all the time. The CEO had a grenade on his desk.’ Watkins figured that if he showed the value of teamwork away from work, the participants would transfer the experience back into their work. He says, ‘I learned a lesson a long time ago in the Army. Nobody really wants to die for their god. No one wants to die for their country. Absolutely no one wants to die for money. But people put their lives on the line for the respect of their platoon mates.’ The participants, who are selected from more than 2,000 applicants, consist of a cross-section of the company: top executives, managers, engineers, and factory workers. The 200 participants are split into 40 teams of 5 people. The composition of the teams is made in advance with consideration given to having a mix that includes physical ability, level within the company, sex, nationality, and personality. For five days, the teams go through a variety of competitive events that encourage each team to learn how to work together. EcoSeagate culminates in a 40-kilometer adventure race through a course consisting of biking, climbing, traversing unknown terrain with a vague map, kayaking, traversing canyons on cables, and running. Watkins has not been able to prove or point to quantitative results of EcoSeagate. He has never won his own race and has even come in dead last. Through the years, he has received criticism from stockholders for the event, and though he cannot precisely measure the results, to him there are obvious signs that it is working. ‘The only thing you know for sure,’ he says, ‘is that if you do nothing, then nothing will happen, and nothing will change.’” (Brown, 2011, pg. 274)

            After reading about Seagate and watching the two videos, I can honestly say that I would love to experience this type of team building.

            In the two videos, employees are broken down into teams and are given colored wardrobe and banners and a bird mascot such as the tui which is native to New Zealand.  These teams then participate in competition events such as biking, running, kayaking, scavenger hunt and more.  They are also challenged to overcome their fears by participating in high ropes and rappelling.  After each competition, they gather together and perform tribal chants and dances.  These events help teams develop their teamwork skills, build respect and trust for each other, resolve conflict, become more committed and be accountable for their actions and deeds.

            I certainly see great value in Seagate’s team development program.  However, it must be quantified to show the stakeholders and shareholders that it is viable program and improves the overall performance of the organization increasing the “bottom-line”.

            Team building events in high-performance organizations is paramount.  During my 27-year Army career, team building was part of culture and helped create great organizational cohesiveness and performance.

            In secondary education I could see benefit and this type of practice.  Teachers are just not cohesive.  Each teacher does his or her own thing.  I believe by building a team instead of a group of individuals, education would improve for students and the end result would be an overall culture of teamwork with a common goal.

References

Seagate. (2016). About Seagate. Retrieved from http://www.seagate.com/about-seagate/

Brown, D. R. (2011). An experiential approach to organization development. (8^th Ed). Prentice Hall: Upper Saddle River, NJ

Chao, M. (2008, April 25). Eco Seagate 2008 1/3. [Video File]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zCOfOFMiLtE

Chao, M. (2008, April 26). Eco Seagate 2008 2/3. [Video File]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Etwuap-_Azk&spfreload=10

A635.5.3.RB_VideoDebriefOfTeamMA_LouBeldotti

A635.5.3.RB

Video Debrief of Team MA

            While watching the referenced YouTube video, I was transported back in time.  Not because of the content but because of the video quality, sound, background music and voice over.  I was reminded of the eighth grade and watching 8mm films in class on a projector.  I was so distracting that I actually had to watch the video three times to get the content.

            Frankly, I had very little knowledge about Jobs other than he had founded Apple, he had been forced out of Apple, returned some years later and died of pancreatic cancer.  I honestly do not even remember NeXT. 

            So, I have been asked to discuss how my characteristics would have fit with the makeup and culture of the NeXT startup team. 

            I am a very outgoing individual.  I usually make friends fast.  I enjoy being in-charge but can follow. 

            In the video, a young Steve Jobs comes across as the obvious leader.  Steve pitches his vision for NeXT by, “Steve’s goal is to transform the learning process at the college and graduate school level with a powerful computer and a new kind of software and we decided we wanted to start a company that had a lot to do with education and in particular higher education colleges and universities. So what our vision is, is that there's a revolution in software going on now on college and university campuses and it has to do with providing two types of breakthrough software. One is called simulated learning environments.  It's where you can't give a student in physics a linear accelerator.  You can't give a student, in biology, a five-million-dollar recombinant DNA laboratory but you can simulate those things.  You can simulate them on a very powerful computer and it is it is not possible for students to afford these things. It is not possible for most faculty members to afford these things so if we can take what we do best, which is to find really great technology and pull it down to a price that's affordable to people. If we can do the same thing for this type of computer, which is maybe 10 times as powerful as a personal computer that we did for personal computers, then I think we can make a real difference in the way the learning experience happens in the next five years and that's what we're trying to do.” (Jobs, circa 1985)

            What a dynamic thinker.  Truly a man well before his time.  I would have loved to have been on the NeXT team!

            Jobs was a great entrepreneur.  Personally, I do not have that same entrepreneurial spirit.  I enjoy following those with these great minds and believe that I have the “go-getter” attitude to make the visionary’s vision come true.  I have personally followed great leaders such as Carl Vuono, H. Norman Schwarzkopf, Colin Powell, Gordon Sullivan, Gary Luck, Tommy Franks, George Casey, David Petraeus and Raymond Odierno.  I personally worked directly or indirectly for these four-star General Officers.  As a matter of fact, it was then, Lieutenant General (3-star), Raymond Orierno who personally pinned Master Sergeant Rank on me when I was last promoted. Don’t get me wrong, gentle reader, I do have visions but nothing like Steve Jobs had.  I have not invented a single thing.  I look up to men like Marconi, Edison, Bell, Pullman, Otis, Ford and Jobs.  Their visions have continued to amaze me.  Heck, without them, we wouldn’t have the radio, light bulb, phone, passenger train car, elevator, mass produced automobile and all of those great Apple products!

            In closing, I would have made a great team member on the NeXT start-up team.  I could see their passion and desire as I have always done in everything that I have done.

References

Jobs, S. (circa 1985). YouTube: Jobs brainstorms with NeXT Team. [Video File]. Retrieved from https://youtu.be/loQhufxiorM

A635.4.3.RB_BuildATowerBuildATeam_LouBeldotti

A635.4.3.RB

Build a Tower, Build a Team

After viewing the TedTalk video, “Build a tower, build a team”, I am asked to reflect on the following questions in a well-written post on my Reflection Blog by answering the following questions:

• Do you agree with Tom Wujec's analysis of why kindergartners perform better on the Spaghetti Challenge than MBA students?

• Can you think of any other reasons why kids might perform better?

• In your view, why do CEOs with an executive assistant perform better than a group of CEOs alone?

• If you were asked to facilitate a process intervention workshop, how could you relate the video to process intervention skills?

• What can you take away from this exercise to immediately use in your career?

            According to Tom Wujec, “Several years ago here at TED, Peter Skillman introduced a design challenge called the marshmallow challenge. And the idea's pretty simple: Teams of four have to build the tallest free-standing structure out of 20 sticks of spaghetti, one yard of tape, one yard of string and a marshmallow. The marshmallow has to be on top. And, though it seems really simple, it's actually pretty hard because it forces people to collaborate very quickly. And so, I thought this was an interesting idea, and I incorporated it into a design workshop. And it was a huge success…So there are a number of people who have a lot more "uh-oh" moments than others, and among the worst are recent graduates of business school.  They lie, they cheat, they get distracted and they produce really lame structures. And of course there are teams that have a lot more "ta-da" structures, and among the best are recent graduates of kindergarten. And it's pretty amazing. As Peter tells us, not only do they produce the tallest structures, but they're the most interesting structures of them all.  So the question you want to ask is: How come? Why? What is it about them? And Peter likes to say that none of the kids spend any time trying to be CEO of Spaghetti, Inc. Right? They don't spend time jockeying for power. But there's another reason as well. And the reason is that business students are trained to find the single right plan, right? And then they execute on it. And then what happens is, when they put the marshmallow on the top, they run out of time and what happens? It's a crisis. Sound familiar? Right. What kindergartners do differently is that they start with the marshmallow, and they build prototypes, successive prototypes, always keeping the marshmallow on top, so they have multiple times to fix when they build prototypes along the way. Designers recognize this type of collaboration as the essence of the iterative process. And with each version, kids get instant feedback about what works and what doesn't work.  (Wujec, 2010).  I agree with Wujec’s analysis of why kindergartners performed better than MBA students.  In addition to his reasons, here’s my take…kids just want to have fun!  They are definitely less competitive at that age and have no hidden agenda.

            During my military career, senior leaders were never without an assistant.  Assistants took care of the busy tasks that allowed the senior leader to more effectively perform his or her tasks.  Assistance would manage the leader’s calendar, correspondence, travel arrangements and other support tasks.  This also has the same effect on civilian CEOs. 

            I thoroughly enjoyed the video and encourage everyone who reads this blog to view it.  I plan on showing the video to my Cadets and actually attempting the challenge.  I want to examine their critical thinking skills and the way they process ideas and concepts as a team.  I may even share it with my Principal to potentially use as an exercise during our next staff meeting. 

References

Wujec, T. (2010, Feb). TED: Build a tower, build a team. [Video File]. Retrieved from http://www.ted.com/talks/tom_wujec_build_a_tower

A635.3.3.RB_50ReasonsNotToChange/TheTribesWeLead_LouBeldotti

A635.3.3.RB

50 reasons not to change/the tribes we lead

I have been asked to view two presentations and reflect on the following questions in a well written post on my Reflection Blog.

• How do you react when you hear colleagues using some of the excuses listed in the 50 Reasons Not to Change graphic?
• Do you ever use any of these excuses yourself?
• How can you overcome the thinking that creates those responses to change efforts?
• Do you agree with Seth Godin’s concept that change is driven by tribes?
• What can you take away from this exercise to immediately use in your career?

Who likes change?  I certainly do not.  It is just good old human nature to resist change and it is so much easier to come up with reasons not to change.  Basically, fear of the unknown.

According to Dr. Donald R. Brown, “The greater the impact on the existing culture and norms, the greater the amount of resistance that is likely to emerge, and thus the more difficult it will be to implement the change program. On the other hand, an organizational culture that values change and innovation will positively influence the acceptance and support of a change program. GM has for decades been a leading example of having an organizational culture that valued the status quo. Former GM CEO Roger Smith, as long ago as the 1980s, referred to the tens of thousands of managers made complacent by the golden days of GM as the “frozen middle.” For a number of reasons, including a GM culture that did not value change, Smith was not successful in many of the changes he attempted to make.

Organization members may have a psychological resistance to change because they want to avoid uncertainty. Past ways of doing things are well known and predictable, and unwillingness to give up familiar tasks or relationships may cause resistance. Many people feel comfortable doing things the same way as always—they prefer to remain in “the comfort zone.” Douglas Solomon, the chief technology strategist at IDEO, which is a consulting firm specializing in in-novation, believes that companies who are in their comfort zone are not aware of a need to change and are likely to resist change. He says, “There are still people who say, ‘If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.’ And I don’t think these companies are in a good position to really change, because they’re happy with where they are [their comfort zone]. So you have to have a certain degree of discomfort in your business to be willing to make the changes that are necessary.” (Brown, 2011)

            As a secondary educator, I experiences excuses daily.  Everyone from tenured teachers down to young freshmen.  Some of them are exactly as Dr. Watkins describes like “The Union will scream”, “It’s too much trouble to change”, “It can’t be done”, “It’s not my job” (Watkins, n.d.) to things so brazen like, “I don’t want to do it”, I don’t feel like it”, “Who cares” and “That’s stupid”.  Interestingly enough, most teachers have the same mindset.  It is just as Seth Godin describes in his TEDTalk video, “But there is good news around the corner -- really good news. I call it the idea of tribes. What tribes are, is a very simple concept that goes back 50,000 years. It's about leading and connecting people and ideas. And it's something that people have wanted forever. Lots of people are used to having a spiritual tribe, or a church tribe, having a work tribe, having a community tribe. But now, thanks to the internet, thanks to the explosion of mass media, thanks to a lot of other things that are bubbling through our society around the world, tribes are everywhere…What all these people have in common is that they are heretics. That heretics look at the status quo and say, ‘This will not stand. I can't abide this status quo. I am willing to stand up and be counted and move things forward. I see what the status quo is; I don't like it.’ That instead of looking at all the little rules and following each one of them, that instead of being what I call a sheepwalker -- somebody who's half asleep, following instructions, keeping their head down, fitting in -- every once in a while someone stands up and says, ‘Not me.’ Someone stands up and says, ‘This one is important. We need to organize around it.’ And not everyone will. But you don't need everyone. You just need a few people who will look at the rules, realize they make no sense, and realize how much they want to be connected.” (Godin, 2009)

            When faced with the negative, I try to be encouraging.  I try to impart to the “nay-sayers” that it is worth the try even though I have been on the side of the “nay-sayers” over certain required changes.  I, too, have used excuses about not changing things…especially at home.  But that’s another story, altogether.

            I completely agree with Godin’s concept of tribes although I have always referred to them as cliques.  There is strength in numbers.  When like-minded people get together, it is easier to facilitate change.  However, it is also easier to resist change.  I good example of this is the current Presidential race.  Those that do not want change will vote their way and those that want change will vote theirs.  There is three four tribes in this situation.  The Republican Tribe, the Democrat Tribe, the Independent Tribe and the Undecided Tribe. 

            Moving forward, I plan on being more cognitive in recognizing “tribes”, analyzing their like-mindedness to be able to create a course of action that enables me to influence their decision.

References

Godin, S. (2009, February). TEDTalk: The tribes we lead. [Video File]. Retrieved from http://www.ted.com/talks/seth_godin_on_the_tribes_we_lead?language=en

Watkins, D. (n.d.). 50 Reasons not to change. Retrieved from https://prezi.com/z2v2cvo4t9tc/50-reasons-not-to-change/

Brown, D. R. (2011). An experiential approach to organization development. (8^th Ed.). Prentice Hall: Upper Saddle River, NJ