Let me begin with a sincere thank you for your warm welcome at our January Conference. It was great to meet you and share a little bit of what shaped me as a person as we begin our journey together. Best of all was feeling the student-centered passion that filled the room! Yes, that was your energy.
As part of our journey, over the next five weeks, I will be sharing personal reflections on what shaped me as a leader each week in “The Intercom” employee e-newsletter. I will begin with the importance of trust; then, work my way through – conflict, commitment, accountability, and results. My intention is twofold:
- To offer the College community a sense of what’s important to me as a leader and what I believe is essential for us to realize our mission. I value not only focusing on the ‘what’ of our strategies, but also on the ‘how’ of working together, effectively. The overarching ‘why’ behind all of this is that I truly believe in the transformative power of education for our learners. Simply, we must be doing our best work together, so that in turn, we’re best serving our students.
- To offer us some shared language around teamwork and organization effectiveness, as we seek to face our challenges, leverage our strengths, and realize our aspirations. These are not answers to problems or prescriptions. Rather, they speak to values that when embraced might shape how we work and grow together. Think of them as levers that we might pull on as we seek to develop more effective teams within the College organization. Again, so we might ultimately better serve our mission and the students.
Years ago I was introduced to the team/leadership development model of “The Five Behaviors of a Cohesive Team.” It offers a roadmap that guides teams through a journey to strengthen five areas that are key to productive team dynamics. Simply, the model has informed my leadership practice and I’ve found it to be true to my experience. Think of the behaviors as opportunities and challenges that all teams face as they seek to grow together. The five behaviors are:
- Trust One Another—Members of great teams trust one another on a fundamental, emotional level, and they are comfortable being vulnerable with each other about their weaknesses, mistakes, fears, and behaviors. This is essential because …
- Engage in Constructive Conflict Around Ideas—Members of teams who trust one another are not afraid to engage in conflict around ideas that are key to the organization’s success. They do not hesitate to disagree with, challenge, and question each other, all in the spirit of finding the best answers, discovering the truth, and making great decisions. This is important because…
- Commit to Decisions—Teams that engage in constructive conflict around ideas are able to gain commitment to decisions, even when various members of the team initially disagree. That is because they ensure that all opinions and ideas are put on the table and considered, giving confidence to team members that no stone has been left unturned. This is critical because…
- Hold One Another Accountable—Teams that gain commitment to decisions and standards of performance do not hesitate to hold one another accountable for adhering to those decisions and standards. What’s more, they don’t rely on the team leader as the primary source of accountability. This matters because…
- Focus on Achieving Collective Results—Team members who trust one another, engage in conflict around ideas, gain commitment to decisions, and hold one another accountable are more likely to set aside their individual needs and agendas and focus on achieving collective results.
I look forward to communicating more about my leadership style with you over the coming weeks in the “The Intercom” and in person, as I continue meeting with groups and individuals throughout our College. I also look forward to hearing from you as we work to strengthen our NMC team together.
– Nick Nissley, Ed.D.