In the Blind Square exercise, the frustration of being a non-new person in our exercise was not being able to share our lessons learned from our previous experience. Non-new people were only allowed to answer questions. Given that the non-new people were not allowed to talk, I thought this was an opportunity for the new people to learn the task and work through their leadership skills. As someone who spends most of the day leading teams at work, the hardest part of being a leader is to allow others to develop. I thought the blind square exercise was an opportunity for people who had not participated in the exercise to develop a solution and lead the group into forming a square. It is very difficult as a leader to stand back when you see someone struggling, but I think it is best to allow people to have the experience and then provide feedback at the end on how things could have been done better.
I don't believe that incentive is required to do a task well. I am motivated through competition. If we were told during the blind square exercise that we should try to beat our previous time, I would be fired up to perform the task. Loyalty and teamwork is normally what motivates me to do a good job. I've worked with my current team at work for the last 3 years and I will always do my best so that I don't let anyone in the team down. I know that they count on me to be the cheerleader of the group and to push them to do their best as well.
The blind square exercise did not represent my core values. I believe in working as a team and doing my best. After reading "Cognitive and Behavioral Strategies for Managing your Emotions," I could have behaved consistently with the emotion I wanted to feel rather than being grumpy because we were performing an exercise I've already participated in the warm heat. If we performed the blind square activity again and I wasn't allowed to talk, I would still try to participate in the exercise to ensure that the group had the best square and formed it as quickly as possible.
I have mixed feelings about letting others struggle so that they gain their own experience. I think it is really tricky to decide when to step in and take the lead and when to let people struggle and find their way themselves.
ReplyDeleteIn several occasions, I have stepped in to "help" people who were struggling to do a certain task, only to learn later that they were terribly offended, because I took over their job. In a way, I have made them feel bad about themselves by letting them know that I knew they were having a hard time in doing something that I could do with ease.
Sometimes my reasons for "jumping in" were to make sure that a rush job got done in time (you can only let someone try to find his way for so long). In other occasions I was simply trying to teach them "the tricks of the trade."
I think there are times one should take the lead, rather than watch people struggle. This is especially true for critical operations, where time lost by struggling may have costly consequences. The real issue is how one does it without hurting others' feelings. If the leader has gained others' trust, his actions are less likely to be interpreted as interference rather than well-meant assistance.