Creating Productive Organizations

Manual and Facilitator's Guide

Elizabeth A. Smith

• Publisher: CRC Press
• Year: 2021
• Print ISBN:
  9781884015878
• eBook ISBN:
  9781000673296
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Human Resource Management
• Index: Business

Creating Productive Organizations is an interactive manual that challenges and encourages readers to assess and develop a clear vision of their areas of competence and interest in order to enhance productivity. This facilitator's guide offers solutions and addresses the challenges associated with motivating team members.

1
GETTING STARTED

PURPOSE

Spend time discussing the topic of “visioning” and its unique role in order to help participants:

• Determine their strengths, not necessarily their limitations
• Examine their current jobs and focus on their careers
• Develop and discuss their organizations’ vision and mission statements
• Perform the visualization exercise
• Explore the premises that underlie and the benefits of networking

INTRODUCTION

Participants will have experienced the ups and downs of the economy, a competitive marketplace, customer demands, and business and management practices. There is no need to rehash “where they have been,” unless there are major lessons to be learned.

Senge⁴ discusses the concept of mental models, which are deeply ingrained assumptions, or generalities. Mental models are pictures of images which focus on how people understand the world and how they take action. For instance, Royal Dutch/Shell was one of the first organizations to turn the mirror inward and look at the inner workings of their company.²

In moving through this manual, participants will:

1. Vision their previously hidden mental model
2. Think about their vision
3. Write down major variables in their vision
4. Gradually transform their vision into a mental model, or personal equation for knowledge, to be used in subsequent chapters

Unless these four points are discussed in Chapter 1, participants may not realize the true direction and focus of the manual. Participants must be reminded that the manual is a guide to stimulate their thinking. The manual is a catalyst to spark their thinking beyond normal work activities. “You get out what you put in” may seem trite, but the sentiment behind it may need to be expressed.

DEVELOP A CLEAR VISION

The following are descriptive statements about visions:

1. A vision is the vehicle for advancing to a larger story.
2. A vision is an ongoing process. Visions are dynamic. They are not necessarily exactly the same at two different points in time. Visioning and developing a vision is a continuing process.
3. A visions can appear in a “burst from the blue” or as a creative insight. On the other hand, vision is often the result of methodical thinking, careful planning, and a fairly long incubation period.
4. Visions are not linear, but rather are three-dimensional holograms that change and evolve before our eyes.
5. Visions may float between conscious and unconscious thoughts. Visions need to be viewed from the outside looking in and from the inside looking out.
6. Both negative and positive visions need to coexist. The person visioning must be able to differentiate positive and negative visions.
7. Superordinate goals can take the form of a vision or mission statement. The standard dictionary definition of superordinate goal is “…a universal proposition, or something of a higher degree or rank.”
8. Visions grow in the feedback-feedforward relationship between the world in the mind and the present potential. They thrive on the tension or difference between these two relationships.
9. Good leaders are visionaries who plan for, and in some cases anticipate, the future. They are designers, teachers, and stewards who encourage people to build visions, to learn, to grow, and to continuously expand their capabilities.

DEVELOP A VISION STATEMENT FOR THE ORGANIZATION

Developing a vision statement for the organization can be an additional exercise. Participants may wish to clarify whether they are going to write separate or combined vision and mission statements. This activity can be done individually or in groups.

Vision Statements

Senge⁴ indicates that a vision statement is a shared image of what we want the enterprise to become, as expressed in terms of success in the eyes of its customers or others whose approval can affect its destiny. Leaders make this determination by looking to the future. Vision statements often imply some noble purpose or high value and point to something particularly worthwhile.

Mission Statements

Senge’s⁴ mission statement is a simple, compelling statement about how the enterprise must do business. The critical values to which people in the enterprise commit their energies are described. These values are basic to the accomplishment of the mission and the fulfillment of the vision. Customers and what the customers are to receive are defined. Value to the customers is specified, including any special means needed to create value for them in order to keep their business.

A vision statement for the organization is a statement of a person’s vision for the enterprise. It is also what the person wants the enterprise to aspire to or become. The vision is something a person can see in his or her mind’s eye. It is a mental picture that includes the enterprise’s environment, its basic operations, its standard of excellence, and possibly a brief description of customers.

The guidelines presented in the manual can stimulate conversation. According to Albrecht,¹ a vision statement can be described as:

1. A focused concept that goes beyond platitudes. It is a value creation premise that people can actually picture as existing.
2. A sense of noble purpose that is really worth doing and that creates value. It makes a contribution, as in making the world a better place and winning people’s commitments.
3. A plausible chance of success that is believed to be realistic and possible. It may not be perfectly attainable but is plausible to strive for.

There may be controversy about combining vision and mission statements. I feel that developing a vision precedes developing a mission statement. The manual conveys that the vision must come first and must stand alone. The vision is the what, and the mission is the how. The mission becomes a way to achieve the vision. Senge⁴ separates vision statements and mission statements. Vision and mission statements are a part of his strategic success model.

There is no need to support or refute thoughts that vision and mission can be combined and that both can be conveyed in the same statement.

Mission statements and an exercise on developing mission statements is presented in Chapter 2.

INDIVIDUAL AND GROUP EXERCISES ON DEVELOPING VISION AND MISSION STATEMENTS

Participants can develop vision and/or mission statements either individually or in assigned or spontaneously developed groups.

1. Individually. Allow a few minutes for each participant to write out the vision statement of his or her organization on a blank sheet of paper. If there is reluctance to share this information, encourage participants to write out a vision statement for a hypothetical successful organization.

Each vision statement can make the rounds of the group and/or room by passing it around in a consistent manner so that everyone sees all the sheets. This should take only ten or more seconds per person, as the object is to get a flavor of the variety of vision statements and not necessarily to reflect on content. Some of the “best” statements can be selected. In some instances, participants will want their names to be acknowledged, while others will prefer (and should be allowed) anonymity.

2. Groups. Participants can work individually to develop at least one version of a vision statement for the same hypothetical organization, such as a computer software company, a manufacturing company…newspaper.

Allow 15 to 20 minutes for groups to pool ideas in order to get the best, most representative, comprehensive statements possible. If there is more than one group, each group spokesperson or representative can read aloud the mission statement developed by his or her group. Another alternative is to write statements on newsprint and post them for all participants to see.

Bring closure to the exercise by stating that the process of visioning is what is most important. If there is a need to separate process (how) from content (what), refer participants to Chapters 4, 8, and 9.

VISUALIZATION EXERCISE

The visualization exercise presented by Kushel³ is titled “Enjoying Managerial Life in the Peak Performance Zone.” This page can be photocopied and either distributed to each participant for use at home or projected onto a screen for the entire group of participants.

ENJOYING MANAGERIAL LIFE IN THE PEAK PERFORMANCE ZONE

1. Find a quiet place and a comfortable chair. Sit down and relax. Breathe deeply several times to release the tension.
2. Imagine you have entered the peak performance zone at work. Everyone is functioning as self-motivated peak performers. Each is highly productive and successful in his or her own right.
3. Visualize you are visiting each one. Congratulate each of them for the great work they are doing.
4. Now imagine that you have these peak performers in your office. You are sharing your feelings of pride regarding their achievements. You state that they can count on you for whatever help they need—materials, coaching, counseling…leadership.
5. Spend a few minutes thinking over what you have said.
6. Now imagine all of your people are continuing to do their very best for themselves and for the company. Think about the pride this brings you.
7. Now say the following to yourself: “Yes, I find that life for me in the peak performance zone is very, very pleasurable, very profitable, and highly satisfying. I am enjoying it to the full. I am enjoying the great success and the many pleasures that go along with being a peak performance manager.”
8. Pause for about thirty seconds, take some more deep breaths, and repeat the following sentence to yourself over and over again: “I find that managing in the peak performance zone provides me with great pleasure and tremendous satisfaction.”

Source: Kushel, Gerald. Reaching the Peak Performance Zone, New York: American Management Association, 1994.

While the exercise may appear a bit idealistic, it illustrates visioning. Much additional information can be obtained by asking the participant...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Preface
• The Author
• 1 Getting Started
• 2 The Constants in Our Lives
• 3 Building a Base for Your Personal Equation
• 4 Setting Up Variables for Your Personal Equation
• 5 Environment, Organizations, and Technology
• 6 Personal and Organizational Productivity
• 7 The Nature of Work
• 8 A Systems View of Work
• 9 Human Factors and Work Processes and Results
• 10 The Core-Unique-Expanding Model
• Appendix