W1.1_Lilly_Tuckman Update

Problem Statement

Day 1 (one) of the AACE Certification Preparation Course was a very nice Monday morning with a heavy traffic jam. It was also the day we begin to get to know the program, the expectation of outcomes, and the people joining the program and will be working in one team, many new things to absorb, to learn and to adapt. Having the honor to work with people having a lot of expertise, experience, knowledge in one team, brought another observation to my mind; our being at that day definitely because of a good reason with a ‘big’ goal that makes us open ourselves to meet our own expectations beyond our needs, which one of them is successfully get the certification of our choice.

Alternative Solutions

This situation bring the team to work very hard and during the five days of the Preparation Course, of course under our mentor’s guidance, bringing the most possible that can be delivered within given short period of time and shifting our goal to short term goal, the goal of meeting our customer’s expectation.

After the fifth day and with lots of discussions and brainstorming, the team was able to bring the first complete draft of deliverables ready for approval by our customer.

All that observation was personal of course, thus it is necessary to have a kind of measurement method to assess the team behavior to date. It was recommended by our Mentor to do assessment using the Tuckman’s Forming-Storming- Norming -Performing-Model by filling out the Questionnaires containing statements about teamwork by Donald Clark.

The Tuckman’s Forming-Storming Model is an elegant and helpful explanation of team development and behavior and explains that as the team develops maturity and ability, relationships establish, and the leader changes leadership style.

Figure 1: Tuckman’s Forming-Storming Model

Selection Criteria

After filling out the questionnaires based on my subjective observation, the scores are:

Stage 1 – Forming Stage : 26

Stage 2 – Storming Stage : 24

Stage 3 – Norming Stage : 29

Stage 4 – Performing Stage : 29

The highest score is 29 for both Norming and Performing Stage, and according to Donald Clark, the team is in the Performing Stage. Indeed we have performed to bring the first and important outcome, which is the first draft of program deliverables. However, since the scores among the stages have considerably small differences, the situation may also be that we have no clear perception of the way the team operates, according to Donald Clark.

Analysis and Comparison of Alternatives

Taking the Situational Leadership^® Model from Hersey & Blanchard’s Situational Leadership^® Model and considering that the team has just begun to work together on the given tasks, this situation brought the team to the Team Development Level I – Enthusiastic Beginner with Low Competence and High Commitment.

Figure 2: Hersey & Blanchard’s Situational Leadership^® Model

Selection of the preferred alternatives

According to Harsey and Blanchard’s Model, the needs of a team in the Development Level I are:

• Hands-on training
• Action plans—direction about how, when and with whom
• Timelines
• Priorities
• Boundaries, limits on authority and responsibility
• Frequent feedback on results

This lead to the Directive Leadership behavior, to an extent to which a leader:

• Tells the team what to do, when and how to do it
• Spells out the leader and team roles
• Closely supervises performance

Performance Monitoring & Post Evaluation of Results

In conclusion to the assessment result and taking the Situational Leadership^® Model from Hersey & Blanchard’s Situational Leadership^® Model:

1. The Team was able to perform to deliver the customer’s requirement
2. The Team Members have the knowledge and experience as well as high competence in their expertise areas but not yet in the AACE Certification point of view, since we may not have a clear perception on how the team operates.
3. The Team has showed a high commitment in order to meet their own expectation.
4. The Team Development Level I as Enthusiastic Beginner is really a good start to reveal the situation of “we don’t know what we don’t know” and come to the next phase of the learning process.

References:

1. Tuckman, B. (1965). Bruce Tuckman forming storming norming performing team development model. Retrieved from Web site: http://www.businessballs.com/tuckmanformingstormingnormingperforming.htm
   
2. Donald Clark Questionnaires. Retrieved from : http://www.lx.nhs.uk/kms/Trafford/Trafford%202006%20-%202007/PPI%20Forum%20South%20Manchester%20University%20Hospital/Donald%20Clark%27s%20Tuckman%20Questionnaire.pdf
   
3. Hersey & Blanchard’s Situational Leadership^® Model, Retrieved from Web Site : http://leadershipchamps.wordpress.com/2008/03/26/variations-in-situational-leadership/