The National Conference Has Helped My Career
By Michel Deschapelles
Note
to readers: This article written by an Associate of the Washington-Baltimore
Center addresses his attendance and learning at the AKRI National
Conference. The author’s experience and learning, however,
may also suggest what is available to participants at other group
relations conferences, residential and non-residential.
Working as a
professional manager, I constantly face the problem of business
not working the way it is intended to. However, as a pseudo-intellectual,
I though that pursuing academic studies would help me better understand
why this is so. My technical training (B.S. in Engineering and an
M.S. in Information Technology) taught me that technology is never
an impediment to making things work. I then pursued an MBA and learned
that there are no commercial binding constraints either. Yet, no
distilled theme emerged as the pivot to lead a business to differentiate
success from failure. Then in 1998, I attended AK Rice’s National
Conference and came across the concepts of how group dynamics are
so tied to leadership success.
After the Conference,
I returned to my job as Marketing Manager for a telecommunication
manufacturer. My typical work scenario entails working on teams
proposing new technologies in excess of $100 million to telephone
companies. Buyers solicit bids and recommendations from competing
vendors and our firm, as a vendor, then responds by trying to sell
our ideas to the telecom operator. My role was to help sell our
equipment by producing marketing messages, brochures, and presentation
stories expounding how great our products were. Since telecom products
are large, complex and expensive, groups govern everything that
happens long the way, both on the vendor’s as well as on the
buyer’s side. Meetings, consensus and authority play a very
important role in every decision. With my learnings from AK Rice
I decided to try to apply Group concepts in a conscious and systematic
way as follows:
Decrease the
Anxiety:
Having experienced Small Group trying to escape anxiety with Bion’s
three modalities (dependency, fight/flight, & pairing), I learned
about the wrong way to address these underlying anxiety currents.
Our clients constantly face difficult decisions full of anxiety
(i.e. Is this the right technology for tomorrow?). I discovered
that the way to get the client to buy was not by telling them how
great we were but instead by somehow proactively decreasing their
perceived anxiety. I did this by clearly identifying the variables
that cause anxiety to the client; then, overtly surfacing them;
and finally, explaining how this proposed solution addresses the
problems. I consciously crafted stories that presented the theme
of “we have the solution to your anxiety”. Suddenly,
clients fell in a comfort zone and wanted to hear more about our
products.
Revel in Anxiety:
Large Group let me experience anxiety in its full force. It presents
unbounded chaos, uncertainty, and ambiguity. However, my thinking
was that if I could learn to withstand and revel in this experience
I would be better prepared to endure the lower strength chaos of
the work environment. In other words, train yourself to endure higher
levels of stress so that you can function effectively under lower
ones. It seems to work. At the office, I find myself acting as a
non-anxious presence at times when the environmental chaos in troubling
my colleagues. Because of that, I find that people come more often
to inquire on my opinions and help reassure them. In a sense, I
have become a pillar of informal leadership to some. Although I
try to do this consciously, it is not always possible and at times,
I too become the cause of cascading anxiety onto others!
Self-Authorize
Yourself:
The Leadership Learning Track taught me about how to rise and assume
my own authority. However, complex hierarchical organizations rely
heavily on the determined authority structure and the currency of
meetings is based on your title. Learning that self-authorization
is the key to leadership, helped me speak up about my point of view
in several occasions when I believed that the authority structure
was in error. Everyone seemed amazed at my gall! I had not been
authorized to offer my opinion in that manner. Yet the senior leaders
realized that I was not attacking them (as a counter-dependent would
do) but instead that I had the best interests of the business in
mind. Somehow, my comments were analyzed under a new light and much
credit was given to this perspective. Peers tell me that they wonder
at how I get away with some of the things I say. I tell them to
self-authorize themselves, but they have no idea what I’m
talking about.
Group-as-a-Whole
Talking:
As evident in Small Group, people at times speak for the group instead
of voicing individual sentiments. Although I find this is very difficult
to decipher, I tried to take this back to work. When I could identify
Group-as-a-whole happening in a meeting, instead of addressing an
individual view, I would address group themes. To my surprise, my
comments were much better received than in my pre-AK Rice days.
I was able to address the issues of concern even when hidden below
a lot of noise. Meeting became shorter, more productive and I was
included in more important/strategic meetings. Suddenly, I looked
like I was saying very intelligent things!
Overt the Covert:
Hidden intentions, secrets, special relationships are prevalent
at work as they are at AK Rice. Yet “outing” the hidden
agenda does not seem as popular task at work as it is in the Conference.
Using the persistent mindset from the Conferences, I conscientiously
dig and peal the onion until the true motives can be discovered.
As I had already discovered at AK Rice, no one gets upset by TRUTH
(not always true!) and groups function better without secrets. My
motto has become open, honest and direct communication.
Manage the Four
Boundaries:
The first time I attended the Conference and heard people talking
a lot about boundaries and I had no idea what is was all about.
Only after the second National Conference did I have an inkling
of what was meant. Returning to work and seeing how the Internet
is creating havoc inside a telecom company helped me understand
this concept even further. Although I applied these concepts to
my direct reports, the whole extended team was so confused in this
new world that it was without purpose and very demoralized. Suddenly
I found myself lecturing to my boss that she needed to manage/clarify
the four boundaries (task, time, territory & role). She sat
in amazement of the clarity by which I took a complex problem and
was able to figure out the pressure point in the system. Later that
week I heard several presentations by her and her boss delineating
the four boundaries for more impactful results to the overall business.
Terms of Engagement
across Boundaries:
The IE taught me a lot about how to engage with other groups. This
large and complex multi-national firm is managed by having many
sub-groups with defined roles. Having learned that one needs to
understand the boundary region, the terms of engagement, and currency
used in the different groups, I approached the boundary negotiation
with a different mindset than my colleagues. Results immediately
followed. I was able to get more cooperation across boundaries and
thus became more effective. This also helped me extend my informal
network across the company.
I work with
very talented and competent people. However as groups go, this one
is no different. While I have observed many politically astute professionals
maneuver around the complexity of this organization by playing well
the authority structure, I have tried to take a different approach.
I have tried to use the learnings from AK Rice to become more effective
and lead those that I work with to focus on THE WORK. Results have
been very tangible to my professional career. My productivity improved
which quickly lead to my promotion to Senior Manager. I again attended
the National Conference in 1999 and I was again promoted, this time
to Director of Sales. I find that these conferences offer a solid
background to learn how to apply group dynamics concepts to the
real world. I believe that part, if not much, of my success is due
to my being able to see more clearly what is going on in the Group.
Being able to navigate the complexity of a business has taught me
that understanding Group is pivotal to the difference between success
and failure. It goes without saying that I’m planning to attend
the 2000 National Conference once again.
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Michel
Deschapelles lives in Miami, Florida
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