A631.9.2.RB- Video Debrief of Team MA

There is a video of Steve Jobs brainstorming with his new team at NeXT Inc., which was an interesting look into a brilliant mind at work. In the beginning, the atmosphere during the first thirty days of the startup company seemed friendly, energized and cohesive in their new collective creative mission to launch a new product. Only ninety days in and I could feel the tension from this side of my very handy and portable iPad screen. This may perhaps be the nature of a startup company where the inevitable pressure kicks in and the days are dreadful and grueling until you make it or break it. The NeXT team projected having a product to unveil in eighteen months, and after six months together they may not be on target to meet their goals and the consternation starts to set in. Steve Jobs was visibly distressed, pacing, interrupting and irritable. The ideas were not going anywhere; the wheels were starting to spin. While I like the idea of building something new, I do not think I would be well suited for this type of organization. According to my NextSteps Research Management Assessment (MA), I would do best in a large, rapid growth venture business environment; there would be more disadvantages than advantages to having me on this start up team. 

As per my MA, my leadership style is tailored toward being a confident, introverted strategic leader. 

Strategic leaders exhibit a process-oriented leadership approach.  People who are skilled at planning strategies, discovering patterns, devising and systematizing projects or prototypes, and excel in focusing on achieving visionary goals are often strategic leaders.  This leader likes to encourage innovation, prefers persuasion as a means of motivating people, and would probably work well with creative groups with their conceptual, yet results- oriented approach to leadership. 

While I do like to gravitate toward creativity, particularly in product inventiveness, there are other factors that I believe would weigh too heavily on me where I did not feel the freedom and space to think from a peaceful place. Although my MA indicates there is nothing I love more than a challenge and problem solving I know that I have to feel good to perform well. 

My preference is toward team dynamics; however, I have a strong desire to be appreciated and although it was a team environment, my definition of team is not a group of individuals that have their own planetary system complete with a shining star.  Jobs’ style seems quite domineering and likely it would have rubbed me the wrong way, especially if I was being spoken over and dismissed mid-sentence. It is hard to predict how I would have reacted under his thumb but it would have gone one of two ways. I would either wither away internally each day like a shrinking violet until I disappeared completely or I would have exploded all over him in an epic battle of wit and will. Since I am polite and generally kind it would probably be the former and not the latter. 

There are other personality attributes that I have that are all wrong for NeXT, Inc. such as not being the type of person that would do well in a startup company. I have a strong need for structure, conservative goal ambitiousness, and a low desire for personal risk. While I do not think working in a computer start up would physically endanger me, my sensibilities are not aligned to putting my own eggs into a new, uncertain basket that may render me without employment or a paycheck if the project is a bust. Surely this could happen at any company at any time, but I feel the risk is too great for a startup to be my full-time gig. I already do not sound like Steve Jobs material. 

I have a desire for challenges, understand business risk, have a problem solving drive, and have the urge to invent products, but that is just not enough to draw me to the NeXT team. I would have been a terrible fit for them, and it would have been a horrible fit for me. Steve Jobs was wonderful, brilliant, but not for me. I am satisfied appreciating his work and legacy from afar. 

A631.8.4.RB- Reflective Analysis

Never have I learned of four letters more beautiful to me that truly serve as a key to unlocking a new world of understanding of me than “INFJ”. I have never taken the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) test before, though I kind of guessed which of each category I fall under prior to taking the test. Little did I know that there was a deep pool of information that describes me so perfectly from one of the sixteen personality types. INFJ means (I)ntrovert, I(N)tuitive, (F)eeling, (J)udging. Apparently there are even scores for how intensely you fit under each area. I am moderately introverted (56%), moderately intuitive (50%), slightly feeling (13%), and moderately judging at (33%). (Though I felt the need to take the test many times to see which answers influenced changes in the results.) Naturally for me, I wanted to dive in to every resource on the internet to go through with a fine tooth comb to learn more. What is so deeply important to me about this is that I feel more connected to who I am by having an explanation rather than just feeling that I am very different than most people I have met. In almost every resource I have come across it makes specific mention that INFJ is the rarest type with estimates of around 1-2% of the population deriving this representation. This makes sense, I suppose, because I do not meet a lot of people like me at all. I really thought for thirty years now that it must be who I am, which is so very different, or how my unusual circumstances growing up affected me. Undoubtedly they did affect me, but perhaps maybe in a positive way, in a way that I did not expect or understand. 

Unfortunately for everyone in my life, I am now hyper aware of these typings and I try to guess everyone’s type in addition to trying to get them to take the test which can be found accessed at http://www.humanmetrics.com/cgi-win/JTypes2.asp. What I have found the most joy from is starting a conversation about MBTI and familiarizing those unfamiliar with it, which I am surprised how everyone seems to know about this, but I did not. Then I reveal my type. I have known for a long time I am introverted. I just never mentioned it. The shock on my friends and families faces brings me unusual amusement when I start with the first indictor of Extroverted or Introverted. At the same time Extroverted comes out of their mouths and Introverted comes from mine followed by confused faces. I like to describe INFJ’s as introverts who masquerade as extroverts. “They are, in fact, sometimes mistaken for extroverts because they appear so outgoing and are so genuinely interested in people -- a product of the Feeling function they most readily show to the world. On the contrary, INFJs are true introverts, who can only be emotionally intimate and fulfilled with a chosen few from among their long-term friends, family, or obvious "soul mates” (Heiss & Butt, n.d., n.p.). No truer words have been written about me.

Just because someone is introverted does not mean they are shy, which I am not. I think this is a common misconception about introverts. If you brought me on stage right now in front of thousands of people I could easily make up a dance routine or discuss a familiar topic from knowledge or do a question and answer session. (Just do not ask me to do math on a blackboard or I am out of there!) I also engage people quite enthusiastically when I meet strangers or friends. However, the Feeling part of me causes me to give a lot of myself and I feel extremely drained sometimes to exhaustion from social situations. 

While instinctively courting the personal and organizational demands continually made upon them by others, at intervals INFJs will suddenly withdraw into themselves, sometimes shutting out even their intimates. This apparent paradox is a necessary escape valve for them, providing both time to rebuild their depleted resources and a filter to prevent the emotional overload to which they are so susceptible as inherent givers. (Heiss & Butt, n.d., n.p.).

Going home and taking a nap and being secluded is not enough, a dark hole or a rock would be more suitable for recharging. Jokes aside though, sharing this information with the people around me will help them understand me better and let me be more of my authentic self. Typically I do the worrying about making others comfortable and do not necessarily fuss about myself much because it is not a natural need of mine. “As a pattern of behavior, it is perhaps the most confusing aspect of the enigmatic INFJ character to outsiders, and hence the most often misunderstood -- particularly by those who have little experience with this rare type” (Heiss & Butt, n.d., n.p.).

After completing the test a description is provided to explain the typing. If you type in your ‘letters’ in a Google search a lot of information is available including INFJ personality, careers, relationships, and famous people. There was even a prompt for worst career choices. I have been in a couple. An unlikely source was also Pinterest which basically has a whole community of every typing. Now that I have this insight it is absolutely part of my own personal arsenal of fancy life tools that I can use. I love it! “INFJs are distinguished by both their complexity of character and the unusual range and depth of their talents. Strongly humanitarian in outlook, INFJs tend to be idealists, and because of their J preference for closure and completion, they are generally "doers" as well as dreamers” (Heiss & Butt, n.d., n.p.). For my leadership potential and capacity this seems like great fortune has smiled upon me and that I can essentially have the best of both worlds, dreaming and doing. 

Due in part to the unique perspective produced by this alternation between detachment and involvement in the lives of the people around them, INFJs may well have the clearest insights of all the types into the motivations of others, for good and for evil. The most important contributing factor to this uncanny gift, however, are the empathic abilities often found in Fs, which seem to be especially heightened in the INFJ type (possibly by the dominance of the introverted N function). (Heiss & Butt, n.d., n.p.).

I have always felt that I have a great deal of understanding or intuitive awareness of other people almost immediately upon meeting someone and my perception deepens as I know them. People can show one face and hide another. The most generic of circumstances, words, movements, feelings I get from another person helps me build a portfolio of the interworking of that person. I do not trust very easily, but this is something you would not know by being in my presence. Before this typing all I could really say was that I had a feeling. Of course to be polite I give people the benefit of the doubt, but I always instinctively know who to give a wide wake and it does not usually take that long to see that I am well founded in my assessment. This is beneficial in a professional setting because I know who to be extra cautious with my words and phrasing so that it cannot be manipulated against me or who I need to work extra hard at building a relationship with where most people would have difficulty. I think this would beneficial to building a team, to have a sense of someone before working with them. “Accurately suspicious about others' motives, INFJs are not easily led. These are the people that you can rarely fool any of the time. Though affable and sympathetic to most, INFJs are selective about their friends” (Heiss & Butt, n.d., n.p.). 

I am also painstaking self-aware, perhaps way too much in a way that can manifest itself in crippling self-doubt without good reason. “There can sometimes be a "tug-of-war" between NF vision and idealism and the J practicality that urges compromise for the sake of achieving the highest priority goals. And the I and J combination, while perhaps enhancing self-awareness, may make it difficult for INFJs to articulate their deepest and most convoluted feelings” (Heiss & Butt, n.d., n.p.). I see and feel things that are so great and quite intense and sometimes it seems like it transcends even the most complex vocabulary available. This makes it hard for me to get out ideas or feelings and equally difficult to be understood. I think extensively about myself, but also about pretty much everything and anything. Details do not escape me and I think expansively about all possibilities. It is also just as exhausting as being introverted.

Usually self-expression comes more easily to INFJs on paper, as they tend to have strong writing skills. Since in addition they often possess a strong personal charisma, INFJs are generally well-suited to the "inspirational" professions such as teaching (especially in higher education) and religious leadership. Psychology and counseling are other obvious choices, but overall, INFJs can be exceptionally difficult to pigeonhole by their career paths. (Heiss & Butt, n.d., n.p.).

One of my hopes is that as I continue my leadership journey I am able to utilize my writing capabilities in my career. I would like to continue blogging and sharing with others through written word. I think this is something that I have strength in and feel that each time I write it is practice and that I can continue to fine tune this ability by continuing to write. I am unsure if I will always remain in higher education as an advisor; however, teaching has become increasingly interesting to me and this is why being a mentor, coach, or even a career or academic instructor could be a good match. I believe in leadership there is a need for a strong leader to be able to take that role whether it is part of the job description like an actual “teacher” or not. 

I feel extremely proud to be an INFJ and to uncover more information about myself in more concrete terms. This is something I feel I will continue to read about and reflect upon. Having this information can only make me stronger and that is ultimately the goal; to continue to build to be better for yourself and others. I have had jobs in the past that just were not honestly good fits for who I am internally and my core being and I felt the effects of that and it made me feel shame for not being a good enough fit. Now I know that there are better areas for me and what they are. However, while I will never be an accountant (not that I ever tried) I also do not feel limited either. In the list of famous INFJ’s I have very inspiring company that shows that nothing is impossible in terms of becoming a leader that leaves a long-lasting impression. There have been two U.S. Presidents, Martin Van Buren and James Earl "Jimmy" Carter, Martin Luther King, Jr., Nelson Mandela, Mother Teresa of Calcutta, and Gandhi. I am unsure how this list was composed, but no complaints from me. I will try to do my best to make them (or their legacy) proud to share me as their INFJ company.

Reference: Heiss, M. and Butt, J. (n.d.). INFJ Description. Retrieved December 13, 2014, from http://www.humanmetrics.com/personality/infj

A631.7.4.RB- Future of OD

As my time is coming to a conclusion with my first read of the Brown textbook, the final chapter sparks an interesting query concerning the future of Organizational Development (OD) whether it is a fad or a more “long-term contribution to management and organization theory” (p. 425). OD has been around for around sixty years and while it seems like that is enough time that it would no longer be considered the new kid on the block there are some that require convincing about its longevity. The very nature of OD is focused on planned change to improve and strengthen an organization’s ability to survive by changing its problem-solving and renewal processes (Brown, 2011). What makes the naysayers so convinced that OD would not be able to do this for itself?

In my opinion I believe OD is not a trend and will remain viable. As much as I would like to believe change will get bored with itself and eventually come to a standstill, which would certainly be a change in itself, it is an ongoing process set in continual motion. “OD is a growing, developing, and changing field of study.” (p. 424) I would find it highly unlikely that the interventions and strategies currently in practice will be around during the next decade, though. “Just as organizations are in a continuous state of change, so too OD is a continuing process” (p. 420) 

There is no mounting evidence that OD will fail to pull a Madonna act and vogue through the decades. Reinvention will be required. “The field of OD will likely always be in transition if it is to remain relevant” (p. 424) According to Brown OD has already developed and experimented with new ideas and approaches. I know personally that I have changed and will continue to push myself for the remainder of my life to keep growing.  I envision that I will keep learning (something, anything, or everything!) and craving the need to have creative outlets. Some of the things I enjoy now may change and that is okay. Moving on does not automatically label something left behind a fad. With this mentality, all things will change, including organizations. I imagine technology will have a tremendous role in that, but OD will, too. I predict that OD will not race to keep up with the evolution of business, but rather, be the force of development for the new technical and structural advancements.  “The organizations of the future will be different from today’s organization.” (p. 420) 

It will take practitioners that understand the classic principals in which OD was founded combined with the willingness to innovate and push beyond the known to breathe new life into the processes and validate them through empirical research. “While OD builds on its roots, it also discards old ideas and methods that are no longer relevant” (Brown, 2011, p. 425). 

Reference: 

Brown, D. R. (2011). An experiential approach to organization development (8th ed.). Boston: Prentice Hall.

A631.6.4.RB- Transformational Strategies

I found the Gallery Furniture case study video to actually be a heartwarming video. It highlighted their transformational strategies and how during a time of crisis they were able to turn the company around, but to me it was more than that. The housing market crashed and sales plummeted. Additionally, another sad turn of events occurred when they suffered a fire that caused the company a massive loss of inventory. From the ashes emerged a leader with a vision to transform and carry the company through the hard times. My favorite part is how it focused on people. This is my bread and butter, everything that I yearn for, a company that does not forget that all we really truly have is each other. They became more customer focused, wanted to provide a better experience that could build a relationship with their clientele, all the while focusing on the people that form the organization. Galley Furniture provided training and incentives, in addition to a wellness program. At the end of the clip Jim McIngvale likens the process to the American dream. It really is though! Investing in people, being part of the fabric of the community, or at least it is what I picture as the American dream. 

Also truly American, in a second video that I watched I found Stanley McChrystal speaking at TED. McChrystal spoke on Army leadership, a role he has had for many decades. The culture of the Army has captured my attention in previous years how each of the members are so engrained and in tune with each aspect of the Army regardless of whether they came up together in basic training or if they are meeting for the first time, which is a powerful testament to what they do. McChrystal accounts his triumphs and tribulations with the biggest call to action in recent history, 9/11 and the post-9/11 world. This unexpected event caused drills and practice to become a reality in a real-time war. His leadership was tested by distance and technology. 

There are several elements in the Brown text (2011) reflect the information from the videos of Jim McIngvale and Stanley McChrystal. The Brown text states that “corporate culture is important because of its relation to organizational effectiveness” (Brown, 2011, p. 403). Both organizations, Gallery Furniture and the Army, are effective because of the culture in which they exist. 

McIngvale determined that he had to make a quick change for the company to become profitable. The Brown text (2011) diagrams a strategy culture matrix to assess the employee’s performance, their strengths and weaknesses, and how to improve in those areas. He envisioned and cultivated a new culture through change management. It was of high importance to ensure that all employees were well trained and would be able to deal with the change. The video shows the use of touch tablets, like an iPad, where technology training was also offered. The learning culture McIngvale created when he decided to found a book on “influencer” training allowed for lasting benefits for the organization, employees, and customers. McIngvale did not dictate the changes, though he could have tried that strategy, instead he created shared values and built consensus versus giving orders. The inclusion of all levels of the organization helped actualize the importance of their goals and values, which set the momentum in place to succeed. Though I would not say that many cultures can touch that of the military in terms of homogeneous culture and strength, I would group Gallery Furniture, once transformed, into a strong culture that that falls under the spectrum of “manage the change.” 

Similarly, the Army culture is deep and fortified in their tradition and values. The Army also has a strong culture that easily translates into organizational effectiveness. McChrystal poignantly discussed the Army Ranger creed, one of nine parts, “I will never leave a fallen comrade to fall into the hands of the enemy”.  McChrystal joked that the vow the Rangers take may be more of a powerful vow than marriage vows.  Every Army Ranger makes this promise to every other Ranger and receives the same promise in return. From what I could ascertain from the video, it seems the Army manages around the culture, a strong culture where there is a strong member commitment to values and a high number of member share the values. This seems reasonable to me since the Army, and other branches of the military, are the epitome of strength, so it would be natural that this is true from the inside out. 

References:

Brown, D. R. (2011). An experiential approach to organization development (8th ed.). Boston: Prentice Hall.

Gallery Furniture: Case Study. (n.d.). Vital Smarts. Retrieved November 23, 2014, from http://www.vitalsmarts.com/casestudies/gallery-furniture/

Stanley McChrystal: Listen, learn ... then lead. (2011). TED: Ideas worth spreading. Retrieved November 23, 2014, from http://www.ted.com/talks/stanley_mcchrystal.htm