Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Leadership Articles
78 Journal of Leadership & Organizational Studies 17(1)
I always try to talk to the players four or five times
a year. I’ll have a meeting where we talk about where
we are, what we need to do.—Rod Thorn
Walk the Talk
The third major theme endorsed by all participants, Walk
the Talk, alludes to the method used to implement the plan
that allowed each organization to progress towards the
vision of its leader. Stated simply, this is ‘how’ the organization
found success and how a leader demonstrated his
espoused values. Schein (1983) suggested that the five principals
of organizational culture are modeled through leaders’
focus and how leaders react to critical events. Data
supported this assertion, as leaders discussed their involvement
in both daily events and critical organizational
decisions.
You know, you say it and say it, but it’s how you do
it. You can say things and not really carry it out, you
know what I mean? So we try to do it both ways. We
try to say our goal is to win, and we’re going to do
whatever it takes, and then do it.—Dan Rooney
Once again, this theme was often articulated through
stories that reflected a passion for their jobs and an awareness
of how their actions were scrutinized by those they
were tasked to lead.
When I was GM here, I might get home at 11 at
night, but at 8:15 I was here, why? Because the
people here in this department, I wanted to show
them, hey, I want them dedicated. It’s not fair for
me to stroll in at 10:00 but they have to be here at
8:30. No. But that’s what you do, you lead by
example.—Bill Stoneman
Walk the Talk encompasses four subthemes, including
day to day, obstacles to change, critical events, and artifact
impact.
Day to day. Three leaders repetitively acted on a daily
basis to communicate their message and perpetuate the
plan. The manner in which the leader handled non-critical
decisions was also important. Furthermore, it was crucial to
maintain an attention to detail.
One of the keys to the success has definitely been an
attention to detail. It’s not like you say, here’s a
weight room, or here’s a training table. What are you
surrounding it with? Exactly what is the equipment?
What is the rehab mechanism? Do we have everything
you can have to get a human being to heal? And
can we do better?- Jeffrey Lurie
Obstacles to change. The integrity of the leader’s vision/
plan must be upheld despite organizational barriers that had
previously been used as excuses. It was important for executives
to view these as challenges to be overcome rather
than legitimate reasons for failure. Examples included a
team’s perceived small market status, lack of a fan base and
a harsh economic environment. Some of the same physical
symptoms of a negative culture identified in the negative
environment subtheme, including dilapidated facilities or a
lack of a practice facility, were acknowledged with the
caveat that they were no longer a legitimate reason for poor
performance.
What I tried to do was to, to change the culture to the
degree that we are going to win, it has nothing to do
with where we’re located, we can sell tickets, we can
be successful here.—Rod Thorn
One critical component of obstacles to change was
media and fan pressure. All participants explicitly stated
that the media could be a powerful force and would attempt
to derail the organization’s focus in a quest for the next big
story. Both media and fans were sometimes critical of an
organization’s actions, or inaction, as each group craved the
“quick fix”. It was necessary for leaders and organizational
members to ignore this pressure, stay true to their values
and remain focused on the larger plan.
There’s gonna be a lot of public criticism, and there’s
gonna be a lot of back biting, and there’s gonna be a
lot of second-guessing, and you just have to ride that
out. You just have to stick your chin into the wind and
ride it out.—Bill Polian
If you really want to run a successful organization,
a lot of the outside world wants a quick fix and will
always go for the quick fix, however they perceive
that to be.—Jeffrey Lurie
Critical events. Five of six participants relayed examples
of important events that they presided over. Each was a
value-driven decision that relayed to the organization that
either new values existed or old behaviors would not be
tolerated. Examples were wide-ranging, and included
changes in the front office, on the field, and with the coaching
staff.
The specific event that turned us around was trading
Marbury for Kidd. Marbury was the face of that franchise,
he was much younger than Kidd, at the time
we did it it was a very controversial trade, because a
lot of people felt, ‘why are you trading this great
young talent for an older guy with problems?’—Rod
Thorn
Downloaded from jlo.sagepub.com at Assumption Uni. of Thailand on October 26, 2010
I always try to talk to the players four or five times
a year. I’ll have a meeting where we talk about where
we are, what we need to do.—Rod Thorn
Walk the Talk
The third major theme endorsed by all participants, Walk
the Talk, alludes to the method used to implement the plan
that allowed each organization to progress towards the
vision of its leader. Stated simply, this is ‘how’ the organization
found success and how a leader demonstrated his
espoused values. Schein (1983) suggested that the five principals
of organizational culture are modeled through leaders’
focus and how leaders react to critical events. Data
supported this assertion, as leaders discussed their involvement
in both daily events and critical organizational
decisions.
You know, you say it and say it, but it’s how you do
it. You can say things and not really carry it out, you
know what I mean? So we try to do it both ways. We
try to say our goal is to win, and we’re going to do
whatever it takes, and then do it.—Dan Rooney
Once again, this theme was often articulated through
stories that reflected a passion for their jobs and an awareness
of how their actions were scrutinized by those they
were tasked to lead.
When I was GM here, I might get home at 11 at
night, but at 8:15 I was here, why? Because the
people here in this department, I wanted to show
them, hey, I want them dedicated. It’s not fair for
me to stroll in at 10:00 but they have to be here at
8:30. No. But that’s what you do, you lead by
example.—Bill Stoneman
Walk the Talk encompasses four subthemes, including
day to day, obstacles to change, critical events, and artifact
impact.
Day to day. Three leaders repetitively acted on a daily
basis to communicate their message and perpetuate the
plan. The manner in which the leader handled non-critical
decisions was also important. Furthermore, it was crucial to
maintain an attention to detail.
One of the keys to the success has definitely been an
attention to detail. It’s not like you say, here’s a
weight room, or here’s a training table. What are you
surrounding it with? Exactly what is the equipment?
What is the rehab mechanism? Do we have everything
you can have to get a human being to heal? And
can we do better?- Jeffrey Lurie
Obstacles to change. The integrity of the leader’s vision/
plan must be upheld despite organizational barriers that had
previously been used as excuses. It was important for executives
to view these as challenges to be overcome rather
than legitimate reasons for failure. Examples included a
team’s perceived small market status, lack of a fan base and
a harsh economic environment. Some of the same physical
symptoms of a negative culture identified in the negative
environment subtheme, including dilapidated facilities or a
lack of a practice facility, were acknowledged with the
caveat that they were no longer a legitimate reason for poor
performance.
What I tried to do was to, to change the culture to the
degree that we are going to win, it has nothing to do
with where we’re located, we can sell tickets, we can
be successful here.—Rod Thorn
One critical component of obstacles to change was
media and fan pressure. All participants explicitly stated
that the media could be a powerful force and would attempt
to derail the organization’s focus in a quest for the next big
story. Both media and fans were sometimes critical of an
organization’s actions, or inaction, as each group craved the
“quick fix”. It was necessary for leaders and organizational
members to ignore this pressure, stay true to their values
and remain focused on the larger plan.
There’s gonna be a lot of public criticism, and there’s
gonna be a lot of back biting, and there’s gonna be a
lot of second-guessing, and you just have to ride that
out. You just have to stick your chin into the wind and
ride it out.—Bill Polian
If you really want to run a successful organization,
a lot of the outside world wants a quick fix and will
always go for the quick fix, however they perceive
that to be.—Jeffrey Lurie
Critical events. Five of six participants relayed examples
of important events that they presided over. Each was a
value-driven decision that relayed to the organization that
either new values existed or old behaviors would not be
tolerated. Examples were wide-ranging, and included
changes in the front office, on the field, and with the coaching
staff.
The specific event that turned us around was trading
Marbury for Kidd. Marbury was the face of that franchise,
he was much younger than Kidd, at the time
we did it it was a very controversial trade, because a
lot of people felt, ‘why are you trading this great
young talent for an older guy with problems?’—Rod
Thorn
Downloaded from jlo.sagepub.com at Assumption Uni. of Thailand on October 26, 2010
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