for individuals - for teams - for results Team Management Systems Pyramid FastTrack Accreditation

Transcription

1 for individuals - for teams - for results TM TM Team Management Systems Pyramid FastTrack Accreditation

2 Published by Team Management Systems PO Box 1107 Milton, Brisbane, Qld 4064 Australia T: +61 (0) W: E: tms@tms.com.au All rights reserved: no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission of the Publishers.

3 Contents Introduction 04 Opportunities-Obstacles Profile - Technical Information 09 Opportunities-Obstacles - Applications 35 Window on Work Values Profile - Technical Information 61 Window on Work Vaules Profile - Applications 89 Organisational Values Profile - Technical Information 103 Organisational Values Profile - Applications Training Resources CONTENTS CONTENTS

4 Preface Welcome to the Team Management Systems (TMS) Network! This handbook contains information designed to help new TMS Network Members understand the concepts of the TMS family of products. Included in this handbook are guidance notes for the use of the Team Management Systems Profiles, together with copies of the workbooks appropriate for the accreditation you may be attending: Team Management Profile Linking Leader Profile Team Performance Profile QO 2 TM Profile Window on Work Values Profile Organisational Values Profile Strategic Team Development Profile INTRODUCTION We have included a guide to the TMS Network Member Intranet to provide access to the resources you need to run your own TMS workshops immediately after accreditation. The contents page at the front of the handbook should help you locate information quickly and easily. We hope you enjoy using the TMS concepts and we wish you success in your programmes. Yours in TMS Charles Margerison and Dick McCann 4 TEAM MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS

5 TMS Profile Suite A Complete Approach The TMS portfolio of instruments currently consists of seven Profiles, concepts and associated visual models, that form the basis of just about any application covering personal, management, leadership, team and organisational development. The Profiles form an integrated suite and can be used separately or in combination. Team Management Profile Opportunities Obstacles (QO 2 TM ) Profile Values Profiles Work Preferences Team Development, Leadership Development, Communication, Change, Coaching, Conflict Resolution, Project Management Linking Leader Profile Risk - Orientation Change, Innovation, Goal Setting, Risk, Coaching Team Performance Profile Individual & Organisational Values Values Mapping, Coaching, Conflict Resolution, Culture and Climate, Values Alignment Strategic Team Development Profile INTRODUCTION Linking Skills Team Performance High-Performing Teams Leadership Development, Management Development, Performance Management, Stakeholder Feedback (360 ) Team Performance Assessment, Team Purpose Clarification, Project Management, Stakeholder Feedback (360 ) Strategic Planning, Change Management, Team Diagnostics, Team Climate Assessment (360 ) For further information, please contact Team Management Systems on phone +61 (0) or tms@tms.com.au or visit TEAM MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS 5

6 The TMS Story Dr Charles Margerison and Dr Dick McCann share over 50 years of management experience, working with teams and managers internationally. In their own consulting work they identified that there was a need for more work-focused and practical feedback resources to form a basis for discussion around improving personal, team and organisational development - especially at a time when teamwork was becoming the focus of many organisations. When considering this approach, Drs Margerison and McCann asked the question, What makes teams successful? Their research was conducted with the teams they were working with throughout the world and during this research they uncovered nine critical factors: eight Types of Work functions and Linking. Dr Margerison and Dr McCann then set about developing a way to predict which, if any, of the Types of Work functions individuals preferred to do at work. They looked at other popular personality profiles and returned to Carl Jung s personality typing theory, adapting it for the workplace. This led to the development of the Four Measures of Work Preference (RIDO Scales). INTRODUCTION Continuing with their international research, Margerison and McCann found that people who are Extroverted and Creative, for example, in their approach to work, preferred the Promoting work function. They also found that people who are Introverted and Practical for example preferred Inspecting. They found a correlation between the RIDO Scales and the types of work people like to do which resulted in the Margerison-McCann Team Management Wheel. Based on the original models, Team Management Systems (TMS) has developed a suite of instruments over the last 30 years to address a range of human resource challenges. Each is backed by solid research and data to ensure the highest levels of psychometric reliability, validity and utility. Today, TMS offers eight different Profiles; three self-reporting and five 360-degree feedback Profiles. Each of these are shown overleaf. A continued commitment to research and development means that leading edge Profiles, applications, support products and service are added to our range regularly. The TMS Philosophy TMS is committed to providing our clients with a Suite of valid and reliable assessment Profiles that support the development of high performing individuals, teams and leaders, and have positive impacts of business outcomes. Through independent and ongoing research, high-ethical standards, continuous improvement in production and service technology, and excellence in customer service, we are committed to helping people work better together. 6 TEAM MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS

7 Membership of the TMS Network The international TMS Network includes human resource professionals, training and development specialists and others who have been accredited to use one or more of the TMS instruments via an approved route, subject to their acceptance of the ethical guidelines in the Profile information sections. Only an authorised distributor of Margerison-McCann Team Management Systems may grant accreditation.accreditation is achieved by successfully completing an Accreditation Programme either online or face-to-face. Benefits for TMS Network Members Once accredited you: Gain access to the TMS Network Member s Intranet May purchase the TMS materials (according to your accreditation status), including Profiles, or at the relevant Accredited Members rates May purchase the TMS materials (according to your accreditation status), including Profiles, at the relevant Accredited Members rates Will be invited to attend Network events Will receive regular news updates and information Will receive a signed Certificate of Accreditation Have ongoing training support provided by our TMS Mentors The TMS Network also exists to enable members to benefit from each other s experiences in the use of TMS. If you would like to discuss any aspect of TMS applications with another Network Member, please speak initially to your TMS distributor. Many Network Members keep in touch after attending one of the TMS Workshops. INTRODUCTION Responsibilities of TMS Network Members TMS materials and resources must at all times be used in an ethical and responsible manner. Membership of the TMS network is subject to members agreeing to the following: Adhere to the Ethical Guidelines Respect the confidentiality of the TMS Profiles Each Profile should first and foremost be regarded as the property of the individual concerned and its content should not be used or disclosed without permission from the individual Abide by the terms of nay computer software agreement or any contract that may be held by that Network Member s organisation Purchase all materials only from an authorised TMS distributor. None of the TMS materials and models may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or copied in any form or by nay means without the prior written permission of the copyright owners TEAM MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS 7

8 TMS Network Services Profile Service (Network Services): The TMS Network Services for Australia and the Asia Pacific region is located in Brisbane, Australia. Completed hard-copy, fax or e-questionnaires are processed and hard-copy Profiles returned to the facilitator. Further information on using the profile service is available at the TMS Network Member Intranet ( - username and password required) or by contacting TMS via: Phone : +61 (0) Fax: +61 (0) tms@tms.com.au TMS Website TMS has an informative and innovative site which provides a gateway to: INTRODUCTION International discussion group forum for networking online with peers TMS product information Explanation of the TMS models, concepts and applications Case Studies and articles TMS Learning Exchange - a bi-monthly e-journal Network Member Directory Events and workshops Contact details for TMS offices The Institute of Team Management Studies The Institute of Team Management Studies (TMS) is the research arm of TMS worldwide. ITMS was founded to ensure the validity and reliability of all the TMS instruments. ITMS also ensures that both English and foreign language versions of all TMS Questionnaires are tested before commercial release. Extensive testing continues throughout commercial usage to maintain high levels of reliability and validity. ITMS is also responsible for the collection and presentation of data in the comprehensive Research Manual. Other services available to Accredited Network Members include: Specific data analysis, after consultation with ITMS Software Norms Reference Library Joint and independent research projects Publication programme Please contact ITMS for more information at projects@tmsworldwide.com. 8

9 Opportunities-Obstacles Profile Technical Information Contents QO 2 Development Risk-Orientation Subscales The Profile Questionnaire: Measuring Risk-Orientation Norm Data Interpreting the Opportunities-Obstacles Scale Reasons for Using the QO 2 Profile A Tour of the QO OPPORTUNITIES-OBSTACLES PROFILE - TECHNICAL INFORMATION 9

10 QO 2 Development The development of the QO 2 Profile resulted from years of experience in developing the concepts of Work Preferences. Work preferences OPPORTUNITIES-OBSTACLES PROFILE - TECHNICAL INFORMATION Charles Margerison and Dick McCann (1995) developed in the 1980s the work preference model known as the Team Management Wheel. It identified eight key role preferences that described how team members preferred to work in the team environment. The Team Management Profile Questionnaire (Margerison and McCann [ ]), which determines an individual s role preference, is based on four independent scales measuring work preferences. These four scales are summarized below: Figure 1. Work Preference Measures Work preferences are dimensions of individual differences in tendencies to show consistent patterns of relationships, thoughts, feelings and actions in the work environment. Work preferences determine the conditions we set up to allow our mental and psychic processes to flow freely. They guide our behavior, but if we have to work outside them at various times then we can usually cope. Preferences are another name for what we like doing. Often our preferences at work are different from our preferences outside of work. Preferences are usually transparent and are often the first thing we notice in others - He s rather quiet, isn t he? or She never stops talking. Some people prefer to think things through on their own whereas others need to talk out loud to clarify their ideas. Preferences are readily visible to others and are usually the basis of first impressions. They are also subject to a degree of variability dependent upon the situations faced. 10

11 The four work preferences map to form the model known as the Team Management Wheel (Figure 2). People s location on this model are determined from responses to the Team Management Profile Questionnaire (TMPQ). Practical experience with this model showed that people in the same sector (i.e. Creator- Innovator) often showed similar workplace characteristics; however sometimes there were characteristics not easily explained by similar work preferences. Likewise opposites on the Wheel frequently show substantially different approaches to work, but sometimes they had similarities that were not explained by the four scales. In order to increase the utility of the Team Management Systems approach, Dick McCann initiated a research program in 1996 to look for a 5th dimension that could give insights into some of these workplace variations. Background Figure 2. Margerison-McCann Team Management Wheel Over the last 20 years or so the views of many personality psychologists have converged regarding the structure and concepts of personality. Generally, researchers agree that there are five robust factors of personality that can serve as a meaningful taxonomy for classifying personal attributes. A good summary of the various approaches is given by Barrick and Mount (1991). OPPORTUNITIES-OBSTACLES PROFILE - TECHNICAL INFORMATION It is widely agreed that the first dimension is Extroversion/Introversion - most commonly referred to as Extroversion or Surgency. Characteristics frequently associated with it include being sociable, gregarious, assertive, talkative and active. There is also general agreement about the second dimension, which has most frequently been called Emotional Stability, Stability, Emotionality or Neuroticism (McCrae and Costa, 1985; Noller et al, 1987; Norman, 1963; Smith, 1967). Common traits associated with this factor include being anxious, depressed, angry, embarrassed, emotional, worried and insecure. 11

12 The third dimension has generally been interpreted as Agreeableness or Likeability (McCrae and Costa, 1985; Norman, 1963; Smith, 1967). Characteristics often associated with this dimension are being courteous, flexible, trusting, good-natured, cooperative, forgiving, softhearted and tolerant. OPPORTUNITIES-OBSTACLES PROFILE - TECHNICAL INFORMATION The fourth dimension has most frequently been called Conscientiousness or Conscience (McCrae and Costa, 1985; Noller et al, 1987; Norman; 1963), although some researchers have referred to it as Conformity or Dependability or even Will to Achieve. As the variation in labels suggests there is some disagreement in the content of this dimension, although the concepts seem to embrace the ideas of being careful, thorough, responsible, organized and planning-oriented. The last dimension has been the most difficult to identify. It has most frequently been interpreted as Intellect or Intelligence (Borgatta, 1964; Peabody and Goldberg, 1989), or Openness to Experience (McCrae and Costa, 1985) or Culture (Hakel, 1974; Norman, 1963). Digman (1990) points out that it is most likely all of these. Characteristics commonly associated with this dimension include being imaginative, cultured, curious, original, broad-minded, intelligent, and artistically sensitive. Probably the most common five-factor model used in industry is that of the NEO Personality Inventory (McCrae and Costa, 1997). The five factors here are defined as Extroversion, Neuroticism, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, and Open to Experience. This model is not based on any single theory of personality but has been derived from the identification of independent factors that psychometrically describe large data sets. Although no construct validity comparisons have been done between the Team Management Profile Questionnaire and the NEO-PI, it is easy to see how the scales qualitatively relate to the four constructs (E-I, P-C, A-B, S-F). Extroversion obviously relates to the E-I scale; Agreeableness identifies many of the A-B scale characteristics; Open to Experience relates to the P-C scale and Conscientiousness is likely to align with the S-F scale. It is the Neuroticism or Emotional Stability dimension that is not measured by the TMPQ. Neuroticism in the NEO-PI is defined by six characteristics - Anxiety, Angry hostility, Depression, Self-conscientiousness, Impulsiveness, and Vulnerability. Low neuroticism scorers tend to be calm, poised, and emotionally stable. It was this neuroticism or emotional stability scale that was deemed worthy of attention in looking for a suitable 5th dimension to use in conjunction with the TMPQ. 12

13 The Fifth Dimension In the field of management development, terminology is critical to success. Any instrument purporting to look into issues of neuroticism or emotional stability will not be well received and as a result the utility of the instrument, no matter how reliable or valid, will suffer - particularly if a senior executive is the recipient of a high neuroticism score. As a result considerable thought was given to identifying those issues of emotional stability that would have good face validity among a managerial population as well as good utility. To understand the importance of emotional stability at work, the starting point was to look at those issues that applied to a significant percentage of the workforce. The concepts of hypomania and depression and seemed to be useful benchmark points. The symptoms of hypomania are an elevated mood, increased activity, decreased need for sleep, grandiosity, racing thoughts, and the like. Hypomanic episodes differ from manic behavior in that they do not cause significant distress or impair one s work, family, or social life in an obvious way. Hypomanic people tend to be unusually optimistic, have more than ample energy, and need little sleep. Hypomania is a pleasurable state that confers a heightened sense of creativity and power. However, hypomania can subtly impair a person s judgment. Too much confidence and a excessive focus on opportunities can conceal the consequences of decisions. Depression is characterized by an initial increase in pessimism and a developing sense of inadequacy. Obstacles tend to appear, no matter what direction is taken and often the result is no action at all. The development a useful 5th dimension then focused on an area that could be defined within these outlier benchmarks i.e. within the bounds of reasonable emotional stability where no serious pathologies exist. As a result a unidimensional scale was defined as follows: OPPORTUNITIES-OBSTACLES PROFILE - TECHNICAL INFORMATION At one extreme, people can focus most of their energy on Seeing Opportunities. They are always positive when new ideas are presented and will look optimistically at most situations. The downside is the energy they assign to Seeing Obstacles. They don t always see potential difficulties and this can cause them to misjudge situations. 13

14 In the classic book, Pollyanna (Eleanor Porter, 1969) we can see how someone with a focus on opportunities can affect those with a negative view of life. Pollyanna s positive attitude helps Aunt Polly, Mrs. Snow and Mr. Pendleton see the world in a new light and the book is a tonic for anyone who feels at all depressed. Pollyanna s behavior is often described as a naive form of optimism. She believes that things will always turn out for the best and that no matter what happens, there is always something to be glad about. There are never any obstacles, only opportunities! OPPORTUNITIES-OBSTACLES PROFILE - TECHNICAL INFORMATION Pollyanna s attitude to life has led to the coining of a recent psychological term, known as Pollyanna-ism. Pollyanna accepts anything that happens to her by reflecting that things could always have been worse. This noble view of the world is not always an asset in managing a business. The reality of the business world is often summarized, tongue in cheek, by Murphy s Law, If anything can go wrong, it will. Therefore it is important not to sit back and accept fate in a positive way, as Pollyanna does. It is essential for managers to identify all the obstacles that might occur and have an alternative plan of action to implement, should things go wrong. Looking for the problems and pitfalls, and planning to avoid them can help prevent Murphy s Law from happening. Those who suffer from Pollyanna-ism can cause major problems at work. Their enthusiasm and belief in a positive outcome can sometimes lead to decisions that are regretted later. The extreme right-hand side of the Opportunities-Obstacle scale is defined by Pollyanna-ism. It is a normal, often admired characteristic in people, but it has definite disadvantages in the world of management when used to excess. Beyond Pollyanna-ism lies hypomania and beyond that manic behavior. At the other end of the scale, people may focus most of their energy on Seeing Obstacles. When working on a project, they are more likely to put a lot of effort into looking at all the things that might go wrong. When faced with potential opportunities they may well ignore them, presenting cogent arguments to support their view that the risks are too great. The left-hand end of the scale defines someone who puts most of their effort into looking for obstacles, which in the extreme can lead to pessimism - a mood state that affects all of us to varying degrees. However, too much pessimism can lead to apathy and inaction. The benchmark for the left-hand end of the Opportunities-Obstacles scale is the donkey Eeyore, from A.A. Milne s classic book, Winnie-the-Pooh (1926). Eeyore is universally recognized as being gloomy about life and anticipates the worst in most situations. He constantly expects things to go wrong. However, if we were all like Eeyore and saw difficulties in everything we did, then maybe we wouldn t get out of bed in the morning! A focus on seeing the obstacles is very important in the business world as it can prevent serious mistakes from being made. But excessive negativity or Eeyore-ism is something to be avoided at all costs. 14

15 Beyond Eeyore-ism we enter the abnormal part of the scale where clinical depression is defined. All of us suffer at times, from some form of mild depression. It occurs when our plans go wrong: we don t get into the university course we want or we don t get the promotion we desire. What differentiates people is how they deal with this depression. Do they deal with the problems quickly and put the past behind them or do they dwell on their misfortune and become languid and unable to act? Can they learn how to turn the obstacles into opportunities? Eeyore-ism defines the boundary between these two situations. Risk-Orientation The Opportunities-Obstacles 5th dimension as defined above was eventually named the Risk- Orientation scale, once the domain content was developed through the definition of the five subscale components. The scale is usually presented as follows: Figure 3. The Risk-Orientation Scale Those who focus mainly on the opportunities and discount the obstacles, tend to be riskaccepting. Those who see only the obstacles tend to be risk-averse. OPPORTUNITIES-OBSTACLES PROFILE - TECHNICAL INFORMATION 15

16 Risk-Orientation Subscales The overall Opportunities-Obstacles scale was then deconstructed to look for component subscales (Figure 4) that would measure concepts of importance to the workplace. This process took three years to complete and was based on a phenomenological approach (built on Dick McCann s 20 years of experience in management, team and organizational development), combined with confirmatory research from the literature. Eventually five subscales were defined and presented as the Risk-Orientation (QO 2 ) Model. Figure 4. The Risk-Orientation Model OPPORTUNITIES-OBSTACLES PROFILE - TECHNICAL INFORMATION MTG Energy Moving Towards Goals Energy is a form of psychic energy - the energy that gives us the determination, enthusiasm, and resilience to formulate and achieve our goals in life. People with a high MTG Energy are those who see opportunities and are often prepared to take risks to seize them. People with a lower MTG Energy will often see obstacles in the way of any goals they have and when the going gets tough they will give up earlier than those with higher energy. As humans, we are intrinsically goal-oriented. We have short-term goals and long-term goals. Some of us have goals within our reach and others of us set goals well beyond our reach. But we all live our lives by goals. If we don t, we are likely to suffer from apathy, which can lead to hopelessness and depression. There is a class of people who seem to put more energy into achieving their goals, no matter whether these goals are simple or more ambitious. This characteristic can best be described as the energy they harness to move towards future outcomes. In other words, they constantly deploy their energy in a way that moves them towards their goal. Other people, however, may expend their energy in a way that is far less effective. Whatever their goal, they never seem to have the drive and determination to get there. Either their energy is below a certain threshold or it is dissipated by focusing on peripheral issues. It seems that high MTG Energy is acquired through life s experiences. When we are children, goals are either set through our own innate desire to succeed (intrinsic goals) or through the expectations of our parents, school teachers or significant others (extrinsic goals). In many cases 16

17 the extrinsic goals help formulate the intrinsic ones. Whenever we achieve any of these goals we are usually rewarded in some way by prizes, admiration or concessions. Very soon an expectation of succeeding is established; if a goal is set, we will believe we can achieve it and therefore our MTG Energy is developed. If goals are easy to reach, then people s potential is not maximized. They may have an easy and enjoyable time as they readily achieve their goals, but sooner or later will realize that they could have done more with their life. Usually they will have an average MTG Energy, which could easily have been further developed. Some people fear failure and react badly to it with strong feelings of lack of confidence and low self-esteem. To avoid these debilitating characteristics they will often formulate easy goals to bolster their feelings of self-worth. Such people may have an untapped potential that can be released through goal-stretching programs. If the goals lie well beyond someone s capabilities then no amount of rewards, or cajoling can realize those goals. Such people will usually find a reason to give up as soon as they can. Sometimes they see so many obstacles to the goals that have been set that they simply give up before they start. Many of these obstacles are imaginary. Such a pattern encourages a low MTG Energy, no matter what the goal. It is not long before lack of confidence and low esteem set in. Because higher MTG Energy is aligned with seeing and seizing opportunities, organizations often encourage employees to develop it to a high level. However there are situations where too high an MTG Energy can cause problems. Overconfidence can result, causing these people to be blind to serious obstacles that will impede their progress. What level of MTG Energy is maximum, is difficult to predict. It very much depends on the individual, which is why goal-setting programmes need to be personally tailored. Two important ingredients of MTG Energy are determination and persistence. Multi-Pathways People who see opportunities and grab hold of them are those with the capability of multipathway generation. When an obstacle occurs they are able to generate lots of possible pathways and ultimately select one of them that effectively removes the obstacle. People without Multi-Pathway skills tend to follow a single pathway to achieve what they want. Often you may hear them say, There is only one way to do things well and that s the right way. People with a high level of MTG Energy but a low Multi-Pathway capability can succeed in removing obstacles but they need a high level of determination and persistence, otherwise they may give up and turn their attention elsewhere. OPPORTUNITIES-OBSTACLES PROFILE - TECHNICAL INFORMATION The concepts of MTG Energy and Multi-Pathways relate to the ideas of hope. Many writers in the past have suggested that hope is a vague concept and difficult to measure. However Sara Staats (1986) defined hope as the difference between expected positive affect and expected negative affect. Hope is individually based and future referenced. It has both a cognitive component (the expectation of a future event that has some probability of occurring), and an affective component (i.e. the things that we hope for are pleasant events or good outcomes). High-hope people could therefore be expected to be those that focus their energy on Seeing 17

18 Opportunities rather than Seeing Obstacles. OPPORTUNITIES-OBSTACLES PROFILE - TECHNICAL INFORMATION Snyder s (1995) work on hope confirms that the two subscales of MTG Energy and Multi- Pathways are domains worth developing for the Risk-Orientation Scale. As he says, Two necessary components are the cognitive willpower or energy to get moving towards one s goals (this is called the agency component) and the perceived ability to generate routes to get somewhere (this is called the pathways component). Thus in thinking about goals, people perform a cognitive analysis of their agency and pathways. In street language one needs both the will and the way to get somewhere..higher hope therefore reflects an elevated sense of mental energy and pathways for goals. Optimism Optimism is a characteristic that is the basis of positive thinking. It is a psychological resource that gives people a generalized expectancy that they will succeed in their endeavors. Expected success, in turn, gives people the will to expend effort to realize their goals. If they expect failure then they will put less effort into a task and are more likely to give up as soon as an obstacle appears. Optimism is a concept related to hope but most researchers now differentiate between the two. Optimism usually refers to a general disposition of positive affect where there is a general expectation of positive events occurring in life. Hope is a more specific phenomenon that relates to a specific event that is wished for, where there is a cognitive assessment that the event has some definite probability of occurring and ways can be found to make the event a reality. In other words, hope is related to the goal-oriented aspirations of people, in addition to having a positive outcome expectancy. The literature abounds in studies on optimism as a dispositional characteristic (Lightsey, 1996). Many studies have shown that an optimistic outlook on life leads to less incidences of post-partum depression and distress, and greater subjective well-being and life satisfaction. It has also been positively correlated with goal-setting and achievement and negatively with goal-abandonment and resignation to fate. In his book, Optimism: The Biology of Hope, Lionel Tiger (Tiger, 1995) argues cogently that optimism is not an optional characteristic in humans; it is as natural to man as his eyes that see, and as irreplaceable as hair. Through evolution we have developed a species-wide tendency to overestimate moderately, the odds in our favor. Seligman (1991) has spent many years researching the concept of optimism and pessimism through his work on attributional styles. He has found that people with an optimistic attributional style will attribute negative events differently to those with a pessimistic explanatory style. When setbacks occur, pessimists blame themselves. I am just no good or Nobody wants me are phrases that soon flow from the lips of such people. They believe the cause of their misfortune lies within them rather than being due to external or extenuating circumstances. Pessimists also believe that misfortune is long-lasting ( Things will never get better ) or repetitive ( If I have failed once, it will happen again ). It is also global or pervasive, that is, If misfortune befalls me in one 18

19 part of my life, then it will happen to my whole life. These three characteristics of the pessimistic explanatory style for negative events are known as the three Ps - Personal, Permanent and Pervasive. The most common measure of optimism is the Life Orientation Test (Scheier et al, 1994). Dember et al (1989) also have a useful measure where optimism and pessimism are measured separately. An interesting feature of their work is the question they raise about the assumed bipolarity of the scale (Pearson coefficient to -0.57), suggesting that the two scales may sample different but overlapping domains. The domains of both Optimism and Pessimism are well reported and studies appear in a large number of articles. They essentially relate to generalized positive affect and generalized negative affect. For this reason they were added to the domain content of the Risk-Orientation scale. Fault-Finding An important aspect of business management is Potential Obstacle Analysis. Before large sums are spent on future projects, successful organizations will spend a lot of time (and money) in trying to answer three questions: What could possibly go wrong? What assumptions have we made? What might we do to minimize the risk? Some people naturally put effort into these activities, almost without thinking. They have an automatic orientation towards looking for Murphy or being a devil s advocate. It is inherent in their self-definition to always consider what could possibly go wrong. Other people pay scant attention to this and prefer to focus on what will work rather than what could go wrong. This domain content of this subscale endeavors to measure the nature of this focus on Fault- Finding. It definitely taps into the negative affect as well as the negative cognitive domains. Time Focus This subscale was generated from the idea of psychological time, well described by Robert Levine (1997). Although absolute time proceeds at the same pace, psychological time varies. OPPORTUNITIES-OBSTACLES PROFILE - TECHNICAL INFORMATION Tongue in cheek, Einstein once explained the theory of relativity to his secretary, Helen Dukas, so that she could pass it on to reporters and laypersons (Calaprice, 1997): An hour sitting with a pretty girl on a park bench passes like a minute, but a minute sitting on a hot stove seems like an hour. What Einstein was talking about here is psychological time - how we subjectively process time. For some people time moves quickly, for others it moves slowly. Time moves quickly when we are engaged in pleasant experiences (sitting with a nice girl) and slowly when we are experiencing unpleasant situations (a hot stove). Time moves slowly when we are bored and fast when a task is absorbing, challenging or mentally stimulating. The ideas around psychological time are described in more detail in McCann (2002). 19

20 One of the most useful models for understanding time focus in individuals is that of the NLP (neuro-linguistic programming) timelines. Time runs on a continuum from the past to the present to the future. Some people can span the whole timeline giving equal weight to all states, whereas others like to focus on the past, the present, or the future. Future Timelines OPPORTUNITIES-OBSTACLES PROFILE - TECHNICAL INFORMATION Some people s timelines run from front to back. The future is in front of their eyes, the present lies embedded within them and the past is behind them. Most of their energy is directed towards the future and they have little interest or memory of the past. In fact, you may well hear them say, Let s put the past behind us. For them the future is a rosy place, somewhere they want to be. They are full of hope because they know that things will be better than they are now and better than they have been in the past. They can t wait to live in the future and their whole focus is on looking for the opportunities that will help them realize the vision of hope that they so readily conjure up. This orientation to the future relates to the Seeing Opportunities pole of the Risk-Orientation scale. People with very strong Future Timelines (F-time) often blank out the past. Past memories will merge, being telescoped into one small time unit. The present quickly becomes the past and with that go the memories of any unpleasant events. This is, of course, an important ingredient in entrepreneurship. Most entrepreneurs fail at their first attempt, or even their second attempt. A focus on the future or a collapsing memory of the past will allow them to try again. A strong Future Timeline also seems to be associated with faster psychological time. Past Timelines Some people s timelines may be reversed, with the future behind them and the past in front of them. This is the Past Timeline (P-Time) where energy tends to be more focused on identifying obstacles rather than seeing opportunities. These people may long for the good old days when things were much better than they are now. The future is a very uncertain place and likely to be much worse than the current situation. So it is better to stay anchored in the past rather than risk the uncertainty of the future. When faced with a new opportunity, P-time people will look for obstacles to support their inner feeling that life may be better with the devil we know. The ideas of psychological time seemed to give a different slant on the Opportunities-Obstacles concept and so this domain content was added to the other four subscales. 20

21 The Profile Questionnaire: Measuring Risk-Orientation The overall QO 2 score and the five subscales are measured using 50 items that form the basis of the QO 2 Profile Questionnaire. Respondents are asked to decide whether they agree or disagree with a particular item. They next decide how strongly they agree or disagree. For example, item 10 is the statement There are lots of ways to get around obstacles. The respondent then chooses whether they strongly agree, mostly agree, mostly disagree or strongly disagree with this statement. Twenty-nine items are used to measure the Opportunities end of the Opportunities-Obstacles scale and twenty-one are used to measure the Obstacles end. The results are then presented as a unidimensional scale given that research shows these two ends to be strongly negatively correlated. The 50 items also break down into the five subscales. MTG Energy is measured with 8 items, Multi-Pathways with 10 items, Optimism with 14 items, Fault-Finding with 9 items and Time Focus also with 9 items. The scales and subscales for the instrument are fed back to respondents as percentage scores. This represents the percentage of the maximum possible on any of the scales and subscales. The QO 2 is calculated by dividing the opportunities score by the obstacles score. The example below shows that this respondent would be 2.7 times more likely to see the opportunities rather than see the obstacles. A particular QO 2 score is related to the subscales. People with the same overall QO 2 score may have different scores on the subscales, although there is a high probability that the subscale scores will be similar. As an example, if a person scored higher on the future end of the Time Focus scale and lower on MTG Energy then they may have the same QO 2 score as a person who scored lower on Time Focus but higher on MTG Energy. However, their overall approach to Opportunities and Obstacles will be very similar. The reporting of the subscale scores as well as those of the prime scales of Opportunities and Obstacles enables greater individual variation in the QO 2 Profiles. OPPORTUNITIES-OBSTACLES PROFILE - TECHNICAL INFORMATION The QO 2 has a maximum score of

22 Norm Data In interpreting the overall QO 2 score, reference is made to the development sample of 1000 respondents. These respondents were from Canada, USA, UK and Australia and worked in a variety of jobs covering human resources, finance, production and general management. The data are shown below: OPPORTUNITIES-OBSTACLES PROFILE - TECHNICAL INFORMATION The above data show that the median value for QO 2 is around 2.2. This is simply the value where 50% of people (i.e. 500 in this sample) have a higher quotient and 50% have a lower quotient. 25% of people have a ratio above 3 and 25% of people have a ratio below 1.6. Half the sample had a ratio in the range 1.6 to 3.0. This is defined as the area of Opportunities- Obstacles balance. Using this norm information, Pollyanna characteristics are defined as existing in the upper 5% of the sample, which is a QO 2 of greater than 5, and Eeeyore characteristics are defined existing in the lower 5% of the sample, which is a QO 2 of less than 1. To interpret the distribution please note that the percentages to the right of the median point give the percentage of the database with a higher QO 2 whereas the values to the left of the median give the percentage of the database with a lower QO 2. These results are very useful as they show that the measure of central tendency is indicating that in the work situation, there is a tendency for people to put twice as much effort into seeing the opportunities as seeing the obstacles. Many people argue that this is a biological phenomenon in humans where we are designed to look for the opportunities rather than concentrate on the obstacles. This is a fundamental aspect of human nature and an important principle in evolution. Although most people will put more effort into opportunities rather than obstacles (QO 2 >1), the relativities between people will be of primary importance in the workplace. A high QO 2 person will be seen as someone who concentrates only on the opportunities and ignores the potential obstacles. A low QO 2 person will be seen as someone who only sees the obstacles and ignores the opportunities. 22

23 In summary, the development sample norm data can be interpreted as follows: QO 2 Value Characteristics >5 A tendency towards Pollyanna-ism 3-5 Mainly focused on Opportunities 1.6 to 3 Balance between Opportunities and Obstacles 1 to 1.6 Mainly focused on Obstacles <1 A tendency towards Eeyore-ism Interpreting the Opportunities-Obstacles Scale At one extreme, some people will focus most of their energy on Seeing Opportunities. They are always positive when new ideas are presented and will look optimistically at most situations. The downside is the energy they assign to Seeing Obstacles. They don t always see potential difficulties and this can cause them to misjudge situations. In the classic book, Pollyanna (Eleanor Porter, 1969) we can see how someone with a focus on opportunities can affect those with a negative view of life. Pollyanna s positive attitude helps Aunt Polly, Mrs. Snow and Mr. Pendleton see the world in a new light and the book is a tonic for anyone who feels at all depressed. Pollyanna s behavior is often described as a naive form of optimism. She believes that things will always turn out for the best and that no matter what happens, there is always something to be glad about. There are never any obstacles, only opportunities! Pollyanna s attitude to life has led to the coining of a recent psychological term, known as Pollyanna-ism. Pollyanna accepts anything that happens to her by reflecting that things could always have been worse. This noble view of the world is not always an asset in managing a business. The reality of the business world is often summarized, tongue in cheek, by Murphy s Law, If anything can go wrong, it will. Therefore it is important not to sit back and accept fate in a positive way, as Pollyanna does. It is essential for managers to identify all the obstacles that might occur and have an alternative plan of action to implement, should things go wrong. Looking for the problems and pitfalls, and planning to avoid them can help prevent Murphy s Law from happening. OPPORTUNITIES-OBSTACLES PROFILE - TECHNICAL INFORMATION Those who suffer from Pollyanna-ism can cause major problems at work. Their enthusiasm and belief in a positive outcome can sometimes lead to decisions that are regretted later. The extreme right-hand side of the Opportunities-Obstacles scale is defined by Pollyanna-ism. It is a normal, often admired characteristic in people, but it has definite disadvantages in the world of 23

24 management when used to excess. Beyond Pollyanna-ism lies hypomania and beyond that manic behavior. At the other end of the scale, people may focus most of their energy on Seeing Obstacles. When working on a project, they are more likely to put a lot of effort into looking at all the things that might go wrong. When faced with potential opportunities they may well ignore them, presenting cogent arguments to support their view that the risks are too great. OPPORTUNITIES-OBSTACLES PROFILE - TECHNICAL INFORMATION The left-hand end of the scale defines someone who puts most of their effort into looking for obstacles, which in the extreme can lead to pessimism - a mood state that affects all of us to varying degrees. However, too much pessimism can lead to apathy and inaction. The benchmark for the left-hand end of the Opportunities-Obstacles scale is the donkey Eeyore, from A.A. Milne s classic book, Winnie-the-Pooh (1926). Eeyore is universally recognized as being gloomy about life and anticipates the worst in most situations. He constantly expects things to go wrong. However, if we were all like Eeyore and saw difficulties in everything we did, then maybe we wouldn t get out of bed in the morning! A focus on seeing the obstacles is very important in the business world as it can prevent serious mistakes from being made. But excessive negativity or Eeyore-ism is something to be avoided at all costs. Beyond Eeyore-ism we enter the abnormal part of the scale where clinical depression is defined. All of us suffer at times, from some form of mild depression. It occurs when our plans go wrong: we don t get into the university course we want or we don t get the promotion we desire. What differentiates people is how they deal with this depression. Do they deal with the problems quickly and put the past behind them or do they dwell on their misfortune and become languid and unable to act? Can they learn how to turn the obstacles into opportunities? Eeyore-ism defines the boundary between these two situations. Pollyannaism applies to QO 2 scores over 5. Eeyoreism applies to scores below 1. 24

25 Reasons for Using the QO 2 Profile The QO 2 Profile has been designed as a feedback and discussion tool for individuals and teams: Personal/Leadership Development The feedback information allows individuals to understand how they apportion their energy between Seeing Opportunities and Seeing Obstacles. It is their choice to decide how they would like to correct any imbalance. They may wish to increase their MTG Energy, their skills in Multi-Pathway generation, or their abilities to look for potential obstacles. The Personal Development section of the Development Guide which is provided with each Profile can be used as a basis for this process of self-discovery. The QO 2 can also be used as the basis for any Change Program that facilitators might be running. It can help people see why they might be resistant to change and why others embrace it. A useful discussion can ensue on how change acceptors tend to live in the future and ignore potential obstacles, whereas change resistors tend to be present or past-oriented and look for obstacles. The concept of risk is embedded in the QO 2 subscales. The information in the Profile can be used by an accredited facilitator to explore respondents approach to risk - i.e. whether they are more risk-accepting or risk-averse than others they work with. Team Development Team Development activities will allow team members to understand everyone s natural tendency to focus on either opportunities or obstacles. It can help overcome barriers that sometimes occur between those who are more Pollyanna-oriented, and those who are more Eeyore-oriented. It can also help the team to seize the opportunities that come its way, and to fully analyze potential obstacles that might impede its progress. When undertaking a team development process, use the guidelines in the QO 2 Development Guide. Each section should be prioritized and then time spent on those of most importance to the team. More specifically, each of the subscales, MTG Energy, Multi-Pathways, Optimism, Fault-Finding, and Time Focus can also be used as the basis for specific personal or team development applications. OPPORTUNITIES-OBSTACLES PROFILE - TECHNICAL INFORMATION The MTG Energy subscale can be the basis of a goal-setting exercise for individuals or team members. The Multi-Pathways subscale is important in innovation, creativity and problem-solving. Make sure you understand how to use the Multi-Pathways model, explained in The Workplace Wizard. Rarely will anyone use all four thinking modes equally. For example, extroverts often opt for brainstorming sessions when faced with a problem, whereas introverts will go for ILB thinking. A key approach to improving the quality of innovation, creativity and problem-solving is to develop in participants those thinking modes that they use less often. When working with a team 25

26 it is worth choosing a relevant current team problem and then conduct a process where all four thinking modes are used to develop a solution to the problem. The Optimism subscale is an entry point into developing ways for individuals and teams to move themselves up or down on this scale. The chapter on Mood Induction Procedures in The Workplace Wizard will give you some ideas to pass onto participants. Lower scorers need to learn how to elevate their mood and high scorers need to learn when and how their optimism may become a liability. OPPORTUNITIES-OBSTACLES PROFILE - TECHNICAL INFORMATION The Fault-Finding subscale is important to develop in individual and teams that have low scores. Potential Obstacle Analysis is an important technique with such people and the four modes of the Multi-Pathway model can form the basis of this approach. The Time Focus subscale is a diagnostic for people to assess whether their balance is right for them. Understanding the ideas behind psychological time (see The Workplace Wizard) can give them ways to modify how they process time. A Tour of the QO 2 This section describs the graphical, narrative and quantitative parts in detail. Once you understand the mechanics of the Profile you will find it easy to interpret the data and feed back the information to your clients. There is a wealth of information for an individual to consider and your role is to help them understand the implications of the Profile and how it might assist them in personal and/or team development. The QO 2 Profile is divided into a number of different sections: Cover sheet this gives a graphical summary of the scale and subscale scores Overview this gives a summary of the main points relating to the overall QO 2 score The five subscale scores this graphically shows each subscale score and gives a onepage text summary Norm reference data this indicates the median and quartile data for the development reference sample Balancing the QO 2 this gives text advice on areas of potential personal development Percentile norms this graphically gives the percentile data for the development reference sample 26

27 Sample Profile: Cover Sheet The cover sheet shows the Risk-Orientation Model, the respondent s name and a graphic representation of their scores on the overall Opportunities-Obstacles scale. The Risk Orientation Model for the sample Profile is as follows: The QO 2 score of 1.6 appears in the center of the model. The five circles containing numbers indicate the percentage of the maximum score possible for each of the five subscales. MTG Energy is 63%, Multi-Pathways is 67%, Time Focus is 53%, Fault-Finding is 39% and Optimism 64%. These figures can be compared with the norm data on page 9, or with the norm data that appears in the QO 2 Research Manual. At the bottom of the cover sheet is the overall Opportunities-Obstacles scale as follows: OPPORTUNITIES-OBSTACLES PROFILE - TECHNICAL INFORMATION The respondent has scored 60.3% of the maximum possible on the Opportunities scale and 36.9% on the Obstacles scale. Again these figures may be compared with the norm data. 27

28 Sample Profile: Page 1 Page 1 gives an overall summary of the Profile based on the QO 2 score only. It focuses on the balance across the scale and indicates whether the respondent is more risk-accepting or riskaverse. In the sample Profile the relevant text says: OPPORTUNITIES-OBSTACLES PROFILE - TECHNICAL INFORMATION You scored equally strongly on both sides of the QO 2 scale, with a balance between seeing obstacles and seeing opportunities. However, you have scored higher on the Obstacles side of the scale than many other people. This is a valuable strength that is particularly useful in organizations where a strong sense of reality is necessary in the way work is approached. You are particularly valuable in situations where making a wrong decision could end in disaster. Your strong sense of reality can help people to see where their effort should be focused. However, you will also focus on the opportunities that come your way, and are prepared to seize them, provided that you are convinced that any major problems have been considered and thought through. In general you will not like to be in situations that are too risky and will want to consider the downside thoroughly before moving forwards. Higher QO 2 scores will indicate a more risk-accepting approach and lower scores will indicate a more risk-averse approach. The footer to this page and every following page indicates the overall QO 2 value (1.6) so that the reader is reminded of their score. Sample Profile: Page 2 Page 2 starts with a graphic representing the MTG Energy subscale score 63% for the sample Profile. Part of the sample Profile text says: You scored moderately in the range of Moving Towards Goals Energy. While you may set a number of goals for yourself, you will probably have had mixed success in what you have achieved. When things go well, you will probably pursue your goals energetically, but when problems arise, you may stop and wonder what to do. If the barriers seem too great, you may well turn your attention to other things. Often, it is easier to save your energy for another day. For each subscale section of the Profile there are four possible texts that can be generated. These are approximately related to the quartile norm data of the development sample. High subscale scores will generate MTG text 1 and low MTG scores will generate MTG text 4. Midrange scores will generate either MTG text 2 or MTG text 3. The sample Profile shows that MTG text 3 has been chosen. 28

29 MTG text 1 will indicate in part: You scored quite strongly on the Moving Towards Goals Energy subscale. This means that you will expend a considerable amount of energy in trying to achieve the goals that you set for yourself. When problems arise which seem likely to prevent you from attaining your goals, you are likely to push even harder to get where you want to go. You are not the sort of person to give up easily. MTG text 4 will show: You probably wish you could have been more successful in what you have attempted to do over the years. In many of your activities you will display good confidence levels, but in some situations you will lose confidence and this may cause you to be cautious. Some of your problems may well be due to a lack of confidence rather than a lack of ability. If you have encountered a lot of barriers in your life, your determination to succeed may be lower than it used to be. Sometimes when obstacles appear in your path, you may wonder if it is worth finding that extra energy to push through the barriers to achieve what you want. Sample Profile: Pages 3-6 Pages 3-6 follow the same layout and text selection as for page 2, for the remaining four subscales. Page 3 covers the Multi-Pathways information, page 4 - Optimism, page 5 - Fault- Finding, and page 6 Time Focus. Sample Profile: Page 7 Page 7 reports the value of the Hope Index and provides accompanying text. For the sample Profile the Hope Index graphic is: Hope Index OPPORTUNITIES-OBSTACLES PROFILE - TECHNICAL INFORMATION 29

30 The Hope Index is an arithmetic average of the subscale scores of MTG Energy and Multi- Pathways. As the Profile text says: OPPORTUNITIES-OBSTACLES PROFILE - TECHNICAL INFORMATION Hope is best defined as a combination of MTG Energy and Multi-Pathway generation. In other words we need both the will and the way to achieve our goals if we are to develop patterns of high hopes. If we only have the will, then we are vulnerable when obstacles occur. We are unable to generate alternative routes to our goal and therefore need extra energy to pound away in the only way we know. People with lower determination but a higher capability to find a way around a problem can often be more effective in reaching their goals. People with elevated levels of MTG Energy and confidence that a way can be found around problems have the highest hopes. Low-hope people, however, have lower energy available to push towards their goals and will usually follow a single pathway. They may well approach a goal with a negative emotional state, a sense of ambivalence, and a conservative approach to risk. Again, one of four texts can be printed out. The sample Profile text indicates that an index of 65 is in the low to mid-range of the scale when compared to norm data. The purpose of this information is to provide second order feedback relating to the combination of two subscales and to get respondents to reflect on the difference between hope and optimism. Sample Profile: Page 8 Page 8 provides specific feedback on how the respondent handles change. Again one of four possible texts is printed out depending on the change score. The level of change acceptance is related to four of the QO 2 subscales Multi-Pathways, Optimism, Fault-Finding and Time Focus. An arithmetic average of these four subscales is calculated and the appropriate text file generated, roughly based on quartile norm data. As the sample Profile text says: The four subscales of Multi-Pathways, Optimism, Fault-Finding and Time Focus can be combined to give some indication of how you handle change. The calculation shows that you will understand the need for change but will usually need to be convinced that it is absolutely necessary and not simply a sudden notion of someone elsewhere in the organisation. In general, you are against change for the sake of change. You could be uncomfortable with some new initiatives, particularly those that are introduced into the workplace too quickly. Usually, this is because you prefer to work with proven approaches and may be uncomfortable in ambiguous situations. In particular, you will want to see how any changes affect current procedures and processes, and are more comfortable with gradual change, rather than something that is too radical. This is the text for a change score in the low to moderate range. 30

31 Sample Profile: Page 9 Page 9 shows graphically the comparison of respondents scores on Seeing Opportunities and Seeing Obstacles against the development sample norm data. For the sample Profile the graphic is: Comparison With Other People s Scores The median score of the QO 2 TM is 2.2 compared to your 1.6 This indicates that the Obstacles score is close to the median point but that the Opportunities score is significantly lower than the median. Further down the page the subscale median data are shown, together with upper and lower quartile points. An explanation of the quartile figures is also given. Sample Profile: Page 10 From Page 10 onwards the section How to Balance your QO 2 appears. This section runs over several pages and is designed to give respondents some guidance for adapting their QO 2 in various circumstances. The first page (page 10) focuses on Goals, giving advice on how this could be improved. Again one of four texts is printed out, based on the MTG Energy subscale. The sample Profile text for a low to moderate MTG Energy score is generated, for example: OPPORTUNITIES-OBSTACLES PROFILE - TECHNICAL INFORMATION You are a person who may need more energy and persistence to pursue your goals. Because a high MTG Energy is aligned with seeing and seizing opportunities, it is important to develop it to a high level. You may well see the opportunities that come your way, but you may not always seize them. You probably need a significant increase in confidence to give you the determination to succeed in anything you try. 31

32 If text for a high MTG Energy was generated it would have a different slant. Part of such a text would say: Because you put a lot of effort into moving towards your goals, you are a person who is quick to see the opportunities in life. This means that you will be a fairly ambitious person, capable of achieving success in whatever you set your mind to. Most likely you will have high levels of confidence and self-esteem. OPPORTUNITIES-OBSTACLES PROFILE - TECHNICAL INFORMATION You are likely to set yourself challenging goals that will stretch your capabilities, as you are usually confident in your own abilities. However, beware of situations where your high MTG. Energy may cause you to become over confident. If lots of obstacles appear in your path and you find that you are constantly having to push your way through them, it may be a message that you are heading in the wrong direction. Sample Profile: Page 11 Page 11 gives advice on developing Multi-Pathways skills. Again one of four variations of text is generated. All texts refer to the Multi-Pathways Generation Model, which is an excellent model to use to develop skills in this area. Many accredited QO 2 users spend a significant amount of time using the model as a basis for personal and team development. Sample Profile: Page 12 Page 12 gives advice based on the Time Focus subscale. The sample Profile Time Focus score is in the low to moderate range and so advice here focuses on developing an orientation towards the future. Part of the sample Profile says: With a Balanced timeline, you may have some difficulties in imagining the future. Because you may not see what might be, as readily as others, you could have a fear of the unknown. If this is the case you may benefit from exercises that help you to imaginate, to fantasize, to conjure up future possibilities in visual images. Techniques such as creative visualization, free mental image stimulation, and those associated with Introverted Right Brain (IRB) thinking might help you. 32

33 Sample Profile: Page 13 Page 13 generates feedback relating to how respondents handle obstacles. A combined score on Fault-Finding and Optimism is calculated and one of four texts chosen by reference to norm data. For the sample Profile, the text (moderate to high obstacle-focused) says: When situations go wrong, we can attribute the cause to ourselves or to external events. Opportunity-oriented people often attribute problems to external events whereas obstacle-oriented people sometimes blame setbacks on their own inadequacies. If you do tend to blame yourself when things go wrong, it may affect your willingness to take risks and explore opportunities that come your way. When this occurs, try to look instead at external events as the cause of the problem. Problems are rarely entirely caused by our own actions. External events constantly occur, over which we have no control. Try to identify these events. It will help you to become more positive. Whereas the text for a low focus on obstacles would say: When situations go wrong, you could benefit from analyzing in detail why this happened. You may have a tendency to dismiss setbacks as isolated incidents, but it is often the case that their underlying causes are part of a recurring pattern. First of all, consider whether the obstacles genuinely could not have been predicted or whether, with a more cautious approach, they might have been avoided. Sample Profile: Page 14 Page 14 contains percentile norm information relating to the development sample of 1000 respondents. This information is presented as a graphic: Norm Data Comparison Chart OPPORTUNITIES-OBSTACLES PROFILE - TECHNICAL INFORMATION Using this information, respondents can position their score within the sample development group. For the sample Profile QO 2 score of 1.6, the above graphic shows that about 70% of the development sample had a higher QO 2 than the respondent. 33

34 Notes NOTES 34

35 Opportunities-Obstacles Profile Applications Contents OPPORTUNITIES-OBSTACLES PROFILE - APPLICATIONS Overview of a TMS Invervention Pulling it all Together A Sample Programme Case Studies A Team on the Edge of Gloominess Challenging Change Careering into Management Five Dimensional Opposites

36 Overview of a TMS Intervention Planning Administration Preparation Debriefing & Plenarising Developing & Follow-up Consult Plan Intro Logistics Prep Follow-up Next steps OPPORTUNITIES-OBSTACLES PROFILE - APPLICATIONS What questions would you ask your clients here? Planning Administration How would you explain the process to learners? How would you design the session and present the concepts? Consultation - What, Why, Who, How, When, Scope Planning - Formal Statement of Understanding Intro, Objectives, Expectations, Issues, Admin Logistics - Profile Questionnaires to Facilitator 2 weeks 2 weeks 2 hrs 1 week How would you help learners keep TMS on the agenda? Logistics - Profile Questionnaires to TMS 1 week Preparation Preparation - Further Consultation, Technical Support, Programme Refinement, Develop Materials 2 weeks Debriefing & Plenarising Determine Priorities & Plans Debrief QO2 Profile Follow-up - Further Consultation, 1-on-1 Support Coaching, Planning next steps 1 day 1 month Developing & Follow Up Review & Progress Check Next Steps - Ongoing Support, Additional Programmes, Team led 1/2 day Ongoing 36

37 Pulling it all Together The simple approach outlined below will guide you in your planning for Profile feedback sessions. The following framework reflects five basic steps that take you from initial preparation to final action results: Step 1: Pinpointing the Business Objective Step 1: Pinpointing the Business Objective Step 2: Setting the Scene Step 3: Preparation Step 4: Feeding Back the Profile Content Step 5: Getting Commitment to Action The first thing is to identify a specific business objective or problem. For example, managing change successfully by developing greater self-awareness and enhancing capability in leading change, and relating to others. OPPORTUNITIES-OBSTACLES PROFILE - APPLICATIONS The QO 2 Profile measures a person s approach to risk but also gives great insights into the many components that contribute to an individual s risk profile. All participants will receive their own copy of the Profile and Development Guide. Make sure you are completely familiar with the content of the Development Guide which you will receive upon completion of your own QO 2 Profile Questionnaire. The QO 2 is an ideal instrument to launch a change initiative. It helps explain why some people embrace the opportunity of change whereas others only see the obstacles. Low QO 2 people may require more time to understand and appreciate the benefits than high QO 2 people. This knowledge is invaluable for planning change workshops. If you are working with a team whose work preferences lie in a narrow band on the Team Management Wheel (say Concluder-Producer and Thruster-Organizer) then suggest the use of the QO 2. It may just provide the discrimination you need. 37

38 Step 2: Setting the Scene This part of the process involves preparing people to complete profile questionnaires. Respondents need to complete the profile questionnaires in as honest and considered a way as possible. To do that, they need to understand exactly what the profile questionnaire measures and why it is being used. Clear and positive communication is vital. You need to: OPPORTUNITIES-OBSTACLES PROFILE - APPLICATIONS Explain what the QO 2 Profile measures. Show a sample Profile so people know what to expect. Take the time to explain the method of completion of the profile questionnaires (the on-line EPQ site or paper-based) and emphasise the confidential nature of the feedback. You may also like to review the Ethical Guidelines for the QO 2 Profile. Present the O 2 Model and concepts underpinning the Profile. Step 3: Preparation If possible, have the Profile processed a few days in advance of the debrief session, so you can read through the report in detail. Keep in mind that high QO 2 people see the opportunities but not always the obstacles, so usually they are not too worried about having high scores. Low QO 2 people tend to see obstacles rather than opportunities and therefore may see problems about having a low QO 2. If you have participants with low QO 2 scores, be sure to present this in a positive light. Step 4: Feeding Back the Profile Content Whether working one-on-one or in a group, briefly show a sample Profile and demonstrate its relevant sections so as to enable people to read and understand the Profile. Then give them their Profile. Always allow plenty of time for reading and absorbing the information. This may involve taking the Profile away to read in-depth and returning at a later date to discuss the data. 1. When introducing the concepts of the QO 2 we recommend following the Personal Development section of the Development Guide. It is best to give an overview of the instrument and use the PowerPoint slide show to discuss the key points behind each subscale. 2. If introducing the QO 2 to a group of participants it can be useful to introduce each subscale using an appropriate music track. For example, the ideas of personal best behind MTG Energy are encapsulated in Tina Turner s hit Simply the Best. The ideas behind Optimism are the basis for Eric Idle s song Always Look on the Bright Side of Life. 3. After participants have read their Profile take them through the Development Guide, subscale by subscale, asking them to complete each Worksheet. Facilitate a discussion after the completion of each section. 38

39 4. Each subscale can be used as the basis for a comprehensive development initiative - either in a one-to-one coaching mode or in a group learning setting (you may like to read the E-book Stumbling Blocks or Stepping Stones - Dealing with Risk at Work for some ideas on how to do this). 5. No matter what score participants may receive on the Multi-Pathways scale they will benefit from the ideas in the Multi-Pathways Generation Model. Rarely is everyone competent in all quadrants of this model. 6. If you are explaining MIPs (Mood Induction Procedures) in your workshops, then give out some unexpected gifts. Those who receive a gift will experience mood elevation whereas those who miss out may feel a little disappointed. Debriefing this helps people understand the effects of MIPs. 7. Optimism is the subscale that is most likely to change with time. You could explore ways that people move up and down this scale. Mood induction procedures will move people on this scale. It is worth pointing out that the giving of an unexpected gift is the best way to temporarily elevate someone s mood. The ideas of ruminating and positive imaging could also be dealt with. 8. Fault-Finding is an important subscale. Make sure that people understand that this is not a negative concept. Without Potential Obstacle Analysis, risky projects are bound to fail. 9. Measurement of the Time Focus subscale is based on the ideas of timelines. However you should explain that Time Focus is part of a more comprehensive concept known as Psychological Time. This is dealt with in more detail in the book The Workplace Wizard. It is often worth relating the ideas of fast psychological time to increased stress. 10. Once the QO 2 ideas are understood at the individual level, they should be revisited at the team level, if you are working with a team. One good way to do this is by writing the following sentence on a flipchart or whiteboard: We don t like their sound. Groups of guitars are on the way out. This was Decca Records comment when they rejected the Beatles in Ask team members, How could this happen? Follow with, Have you as a team turned down any opportunities lately? If the answer is yes ask them to give the reasons for any rejections, what made them so sure that their decision was correct, and whether they really explored all the Opportunities and Obstacles as they might have. OPPORTUNITIES-OBSTACLES PROFILE - APPLICATIONS Step 5: Getting Commitment to Action Remember, the Profile is simply information! Having something tangible coming out of the process is essential. Summarise points from earlier discussions. It is important to decide on appropriate actions points to take and to agree on a date for review. The Development Guide is provided for this purpose. 39

40 A Sample Programme There are many ways to use the QO 2 Profile with individuals and teams. Your TMS Master Trainer can help you with application designs. Below is a synopsis of typical designs that are commonly used. It represents a starting point and should be viewed as an example for considering your own programs, in light of your own approach and your client needs. These designs refer to a number of workshop case studies and to various PowerPoint slides. These are available in this Accreditation Handbook or from the Network Member s Intranet Site. For Self Rater: OPPORTUNITIES-OBSTACLES PROFILE - APPLICATIONS Dear (Participant s name), I m writing to introduce myself and begin the process for collecting some data to discuss at the (Program title) later this month. My name is (your name) and I m (your position). At the session, I ll be hoping to (your objectives for the session). I ll be discussing a report called the QO 2 TM Profile which measures the energy we apply to seeing the opportunities or the obstacles, or the balance we apply between the two. Your QO 2 TM Profile will be based on your individual response to a short (10-15 minute) questionnaire. Soon you will receive an automatically generated from TMSProfiles.com. This will direct you to a website where you can complete the questionnaire and receive more comprehensive instructions if you need them. Please keep in mind that there are no right or wrong answers. If you have any questions or if there is anything you d like to discuss, please don t hesitate to get in touch with me via (contact ) or phone (contact phone). With thanks, (Facilitator s details) 40

41 Session Plan Suggestions Introductory Personal Development Session The 2 hour Introductory Personal Development session assumes that the QO 2 Profile Questionnaires have been completed and the results are available to be distributed during the program. Time Activity Resources 5 minutes Set the scene for the QO 2 by briefly explaining the Pyramid of Workplace Behavior. 5 minutes Read The Wizards story as a way of introducing the half-full, half-empty glass concept. 10 minutes General discussion on the meaning of the story. Develop the ideas using the indicated PowerPoint Slides. 45 minutes Overview of the QO 2 theory, explaining the concepts, continuum and the five subscales. 20 minutes Hand out the QO 2 Profiles and allow time for reading. Participants complete the first page of the Personal Development section of the Development Guide. PowerPoint Slides - Workshop Resources - PowerPoint Slide PowerPoint Slides - Development Guide for each participant - PowerPoint Slides - Stumbling Blocks or Stepping Stones E-book - QO 2 Profile - Development Guide OPPORTUNITIES-OBSTACLES PROFILE - APPLICATIONS 20 minutes Group discussion on the results. 20 minutes Plenary discussion including either Case Study: A Day at the Office. - Profiles and Development Guide - Workshop Resources 41

42 Supplementary Personal Development Session The Supplementary Personal Development (half-day) session concentrates on the five subscales of the QO 2, allowing participants to go further into the underlying concepts. The Development Guide is the focal point for this session. Time Activity Resources OPPORTUNITIES-OBSTACLES PROFILE - APPLICATIONS 40 minutes Use the QO 2 Personal Development section of the Development Guide. MTG Energy - introduce this subscale by using the Giraffe Stretch Goals story in Stumbling Blocks or Stepping Stones to illustrate stretch goals. Next, read The Spider story to explain the persistence element of MTG Energy. Ask participants to discuss their conclusions in groups. 40 minutes Multi-Pathways - explain the concepts of the four modes of thinking. Examine each quadrant in more detail. Use the Why- Why diagram and APO diagram to explain one way of looking at ILB Thinking. Explain the scenario of Polly s gym so that you can use the PowerPoint slides as an example. (refer to Stumbling Blocks or Stepping Stones for additional information). Explain IRB Thinking using Polly s Visual Mind Map as an example. Indicate that background music can be useful in stimulating this type of thinking. Show PowerPoint slides. Play some examples of suitable music. Summarize ERB Thinking explaining the process of brainstorming. Summarize ELB Thinking emphasizing the nature of the analytical process. - Profiles - Development Guide - PowerPoint Slides - Stumbling Blocks or Stepping Stones E-book - PowerPoint Slides - Music - Development Guide - Stumbling Blocks or Stepping Stones E-book Finally, ask participants to complete the Multi-Pathway worksheet in the Development Guide and get them to discuss their conclusions in groups. 40 Minutes Optimism - overview of theory. Use the text of Stumbling Blocks or Stepping Stones or The Workplace Wizard as a basis for explaining Optimism in more detail. Mention Tiger s work and also Martin Seligman s research. Explain that Optimism as a scale does show some variation depending upon moods, which leads into the theory of Mood Induction Procedures (MIPs). Use the text of The Workplace Wizard to explain the various MIPs. Mention that gift-giving is one of the most effective ways to elevate a person s mood. - PowerPoint Slides - Music - Stumbling Blocks or Stepping Stones E-book 42

43 Time Activity Resources It is usually a good idea to precede this with an activity where someone is given a small gift unexpectedly. This can then be used as a case example for discussion. Now introduce the four-quadrant music model. Play various examples of music from each quadrant. Now explain rumination and why it leads to negative mood induction. Ask participants to share any examples they have of the effects of rumination. Explain the benefits of positive-imaging using the text from Stumbling Blocks or Stepping Stones or The Workplace Wizard. If there is time you could select a participant prepared to give an example of an area where they would like to be more optimistic. Then you could run, as a case study, a positive-imaging induction process. Ask participants to complete the Optimism worksheet in the Development Guide. Allow some time for discussion. 40 minutes Fault-Finding - One way to introduce this concept is to use the example of Polly s potential purchase of a building to house her new gym. Set the background scene and ask two participants to read the dialog: A Gym for all Reasons. Facilitate a discussion around how Ned and Polly might score on this scale. Now introduce the concepts of Potential Obstacle Analysis (POA), giving the two examples of Internal and External Obstacle Analysis. Explain the introverted and extroverted ways of using Potential Obstacle Analysis. Ask participants to complete the first seven parts of the Fault- Finding worksheet and then discuss their findings in groups. - PowerPoint Slides - Development Guide - Workshop Resources OPPORTUNITIES-OBSTACLES PROFILE - APPLICATIONS The second aspect of Fault-Finding covers people faultfinding. Ask two participants to enact Dialog: Change of Direction, and then facilitate a group discussion to bring out the faults that low QO 2 people see in high QO 2 people and vice versa. Show PowerPoint slides. If your group has previously been exposed to the Team Management Wheel, then it is useful to extend the people Fault-Finding concepts to the Wheel. Show PowerPoint slides. Ask people to complete the last section of the Fault-Finding worksheet and discuss the characteristics in people that annoy them. Finish off this session with the concept of pacing. Show PowerPoint slides. (Refer to Development Guide pages 38-39) 43

44 Cont. Time Activity Resources 30 minutes Time Focus - introduce the concept of Psychological Time using the text in Stumbling Blocks or Stepping Stones or The Workplace Wizard. - Stumbling Blocks or Stepping Stones E-book - PowerPoint Slides Explain the three types of Timelines. OPPORTUNITIES-OBSTACLES PROFILE - APPLICATIONS Ask participants to complete the Time Focus worksheet in their Development Guide. Now ask them to spend 15 minutes in groups discussing how a different Time Focus drives behavior. Facilitate a plenary discussion on how various people view time. 15 minutes Summarize all five subscales again and ask participants to meet in groups, to discuss what action they are going to take with their new knowledge. Facilitate a short plenary session sharing and comparing the information. 5 minutes If this is the end of the workshop, finish by reading the Wizard s Epilogue. Notes - PowerPoint Slides - Workshop Resources 44

45 Advanced Sessions on Personal Development There are a number of advanced development sessions, which may be used to extend the concepts of the QO 2. Three examples are listed below. If you would like more advice on advanced sessions, please contact your QO 2 distributor. MTG Energy The concepts of MTG Energy may be used as the basis for Life and Career Goal Planning. The ideas for this are explained fully in The Workplace Wizard. Participants should be given a blank MTG Energy Journal and a process used which covers the areas of Life Purpose Goals, Career Purpose Goals, Life Values, Work Preferences, Short Term Goals, Intermediate Goals, and a Skills Audit. The format used by Ned Yuill in entering his reflections in his journal should be used in a fourhour session with participants. Multi-Pathways The Multi-Pathways model can be used with a real obstacle to help a group of people work their way around a problem. Firstly, the obstacle is clearly defined and then the four stages of thinking (ILB, IRB, ERB and ELB) are used in sequence to identify possible pathways. About four hours should be allocated for such a session. If you would like more advice on this advanced session, please contact your QO 2 distributor. Fault-Finding The Potential Obstacles Analysis procedure can be used on a real project with a group. Firstly, the introverted approach is used to draw up both internal and external Potential Obstacle Analysis maps, and then the group undertakes inverse brainstorming. About four hours is required for such a session. If you would like more advice on this advanced session, please contact your QO 2 distributor. OPPORTUNITIES-OBSTACLES PROFILE - APPLICATIONS 45

46 Team Development Session This session is designed to follow on from either the Introductory Personal Development session or the Supplementary Personal Development session. The Team Development section of the Development Guide forms the basis of this session. Time Activity Resources OPPORTUNITIES-OBSTACLES PROFILE - APPLICATIONS 20 minutes Start off the Team Development session with either Dialog: Superb Software, or Dialog: Change of Direction. The first dialog is a conversation between two Pollyannas and the second dialog 2 is a conversation between two Eeyores. It is more interactive if you ask two people to take the roles and enact the conversation. Ask the team to discuss the case, using the prompt questions as a guideline. 30 minutes Now ask team members to complete the first page of the Team Development section in the Development Guide, entering in the names of team members, their QO 2 scores and any comments they would like to make. Continue to fill in the second page, finishing with the question, Discuss with your team or work group the strengths and weaknesses of your group assessment. Now facilitate a session in which the team decides how well it deals with Opportunities and Obstacles. 30 minutes Continue with the Development Guide asking the team to discuss each of the questions posed under the heading, Now consider the following questions. This is a fairly open session designed to get an agreement on any changes the team might make to improve the way it works. - Workshop Resources - Development Guide - Development Guide Finish off this session by summarizing the action plan for improvement that the team has agreed to. 30 minutes If there are a wide range of QO 2 scores in the group it may be worthwhile running a session under the title Communicating with other team members. Show the pacing PowerPoint slides and use the Development Guide Communication worksheet for team members to develop different ways of communicating with one another. 5 minutes If this is the end of the workshop, finish by reading the Wizards Epilogue - PowerPoint Slides - Workshop Resources 46

47 One Day Team Management Profile and QO2 Profile workshop This session plan assumes that the QO 2 Profile Questionnaires and Team Management Profile Questionnaires have been completed and the results are available to be distributed during the program. It is a session in which the full five dimensions of the human psyche in the workplace are dealt with. Time Activity Resources 90 minutes Introductions. Read The Horse team story to introduce the Team Management Systems concepts. Explain the concepts of the Types of Work Wheel, Four Work Preference Measures, and the Theory of Preference; build the Team Management Wheel. 20 minutes Hand out Team Management Profiles and allow participants time for reading. 20 minutes Plenary session to discuss Team Management Profiles and to record the learning and points made. 60 minutes Depending on the group (either individuals or a team), this session should develop the Team Management Systems concept of valuing difference e.g. plotting a team on the Wheel and discussing weaknesses, career journeys and transferring learning back into the workplace. - Aesops Management Fables - Magnetic coloured Wheel pieces OR Team Management Profile PowerPoint Slides - Team Management Profile for each participant - Magnetic coloured Wheel pieces OR Team Management Systems PowerPoint Slides 5 minutes Finish with The Geese team story. - Aesops Management Fables OPPORTUNITIES-OBSTACLES PROFILE - APPLICATIONS Break for Lunch 5 minutes Read The Wizards story. - Workshop Resources 45 minutes Overview of the QO 2 theory, explaining the concepts, continuum and the five subscales. 30 minutes Hand out QO 2 Profiles and allow time for reading. Follow with group discussion of results. If an intact team, share the results on a flipchart or whiteboard. - Development Guide - PowerPoint Slides - QO 2 Profile for each participant 47

48 Cont. Time Activity Resources 120 minutes Use the Personal Development section of the QO 2 Development Guide with the participants. - QO 2 Profiles and Development Guide OR With an intact team, follow the Team Development session outlined previously. OPPORTUNITIES-OBSTACLES PROFILE - APPLICATIONS 60 minutes This session should concentrate on pacing. Show the Do s and Don ts for the Team Management Roles and then follow with the PowerPoint slides containing the high and low QO 2 data. 15 minutes Final plenary session for the group. Finish by reading The Wizards Epilogue. Case Studies - Team Management Pacing PowerPoint Slides - QO 2 PowerPoint Slides - Workshop Resources The QO 2 is a unique instrument. It can be used independently or in conjunction with other instruments. Below are a few situations in which the QO 2 has been used. A Team on the Edge of Gloominess A UK consultant, Robert, had conducted some successful interventions with the Team Management Profiles in a large organisation in the north of England. The HR manager was impressed with his work and wanted him to continue developing the teams. The HR manager wanted to move the teams forward and encourage them to use their skills and ideas. Robert was the first consultant in the UK to be accredited in the QO 2 so he decided that this would be the best instrument he could use. No-one had any prior knowledge of the QO 2 and it would give him the opportunity to show the teams a different perspective on their teamwork. He began with the agency team whose members were suffering from stress and losing momentum. The team consisted of people mainly in the Organising and Exploring sectors of the Team Management Wheel. They had mainly Creative work preferences and were full of ideas, but seemed to lack the commitment to see them through to fruition. Robert designed a two-day programme for them, which would give enough time to analyse the data, but also to put in place some action plans. 48

49 Day One Time Guidelines Resources 90 minutes SWOT analysis. Put up four pieces of flip chart paper around the walls headed Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. Team members to visit each chart and put down their opinions about their team. - Flip chart paper and pens Each chart to be analysed by the group and discussed. Key points identified and written up. Morning Break 60 minutes COPS analysis. This analysis is carried out in the same way. This time the four charts are headed up Culture, Organisation, People and Systems and the team is asked to comment on each. Each chart is then analysed and discussed. The key points written up. 30 minutes The last analysis involves the team discussing their vision for the future and how they would like to see their team performing. Lunch Break 60 minutes The key points and the team s vision are revisited to identify the main obstacles. Once agreement is reached on the obstacles, then they are analysed in a Why-Why diagram, resulting in a list which will be available for later analysis. Preliminary discussions to be encouraged to find ways around the presenting obstacles. 30 minutes Introduce the QO 2. Give an overview of the concepts and the instrument. - Flip chart paper and pens - Flip chart paper - Flip chart paper - Stumbling Blocks or Stepping Stones E-book OPPORTUNITIES-OBSTACLES PROFILE - APPLICATIONS Afternoon Break 30 minutes Hand out the Profiles and allow time for reading - QO 2 Profiles and Development Guide 60 minutes Using the Development Guide Page 17 begin to share the Profile results - QO 2 Profiles and Development Guide 49

50 Robert s first day centred around a SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) analysis, a COPS (culture, organisation, people and systems) analysis and the team s vision for how they would like to be. This was all done with flip-chart lists and discussions. Together they identified the problem areas, the main ones being poor communication. They analysed this with a QO 2 Why-Why diagram and came up with five possible causes: OPPORTUNITIES-OBSTACLES PROFILE - APPLICATIONS Workload Time Willingness Opportunity Habits They then looked at possible pathways around these obstacles and eventually generated the following possible pathways: Install answering machines Improve meetings with time limits agreed Working lunches to catch up Surgery hour Review of work processes When the team was asked what prevented them from improving communications, they gave three reasons: More conflict may result Don t have time Will it be worth it? At this point Robert decided that he would use a QO 2 concept to analyse the last point with a Potential Obstacle Analysis from the Fault-finding sub-scale. The main potential obstacle to their plans for improved communication came out as lack of commitment and low energy! This agency team knew the problems and could identify possible solutions but lacked the drive to implement them as they could always foresee more obstacles in the way. This is when the QO 2 concepts and profiles were introduced. Robert used stories and music to illustrate and anchor the important sub-scales theory thoroughly, before handing out their Profiles. There were 7 team members and their highest QO 2 was 2.0 and their lowest was 1.1, which gave a team median of

51 This immediately gave the team the answer to the situation in which they continually found themselves. They were a team of people who were excellent at identifying all the obstacles associated with their projects. They tended to come up with ideas or solutions, but then convinced themselves and each other that they wouldn t work, by highlighting all the insurmountable problems. In QO 2 terms they tended to operate towards the obstacles end of the scale and consequently called themselves the team on the edge of gloominess Time Guidelines Resources 180 minutes Pages of the QO 2 Development Guide - Music - Development Guides - Stumbling Blocks or Stepping Stones E-book Lunch Break 180 minutes Pages of the QO 2 Development Guide - Music - Development Guides - Stumbling Blocks or Stepping Stones E-book They worked hard together on the second day to develop their team to recognise opportunities and follow them through to the end. Robert took them through the personal development section of the QO 2 guide and then onto the team development section, always stressing the need to identify obstacles but not allow them to be a stumbling block. The metaphor of turning a stumbling block into a stepping stone was used. The second day finished with both personal and team action plans to improve their communication and workload. These plans had three columns. The first identified the plan, the second, who was responsible for seeing it through and the final column the date for a review. OPPORTUNITIES-OBSTACLES PROFILE - APPLICATIONS After the workshop, Robert received feedback from the team members who all said this was the best workshop they had ever attended. Realising they were a group with tendencies to Eeyoreism was sufficient to jolt them out of their gloom. 51

52 Challenging Change A public sector organisation was faced with privatisation. The changes required to work processes, responsibilities and accountability were enormous. The reorganisation meant staff losses in some areas and recruitment in others. The whole organisation was in turmoil. The new management team was finding its feet while the rest of the staff waited for direction. There were some old procedures in place but new guidelines were being issued daily. OPPORTUNITIES-OBSTACLES PROFILE - APPLICATIONS The senior management team was made up of new managers from private enterprise and managers who had worked in the old government organisation. The team was experiencing severe problems as they came to terms with privatisation. They all seemed to be pulling in different directions. The HR manager, a member of the senior management team, realised that until they could work out their differences and perform to a high standard, the organisation would never succeed in the private sector. He approached the team and proposed a development programme to help them work together and put in place an action plan for the future. Some of the members took a great deal of convincing that it was necessary. Some of the arguments ranged around their experience in management and how they had been on several programmes with diagnostic instruments, which never worked back in the real world. Eventually they agreed to a week-end workshop at a hotel on the coast. It would be a businesslike intervention with no outdoor exercises and games. They wanted proper discussions, leading to meaningful outcomes. A consultant, Margaret, was chosen to facilitate the week-end. Margaret had plenty of experience in both the public and private sectors. She suggested that both the Team Management Profile Questionnaire and the QO 2 be used, but that the former should be administered in a half-day introductory session the week prior to time away. 52

53 Half-Day Introductory Session Time Guidelines Resources 60 minutes Introduce the Types of Work Wheel and ask participants to comment on which functions their team does well and which they feel need improvement. Use the Personal Discovery workbook for the personal snapshot exercise. - Magnetic Wheel set - Personal Discovery Worksbook Discussion on differences of personal effectiveness and enjoyment and the spread around the team. 30 mintures Work preference measures and exercise. Build the Team Management Wheel with an overview of the eight roles. Morning Break - Personal Discovery Workbook 30 minutes Hand-out the Profiles and allow time for reading. - Personal Profiles 45 minutes Discussion of the Profiles and the work preference exercise. Complete Page 14 of the Personal Discovery Workbook and discuss. HOMEWORK: Read the different Profiles in the group; read their own Profile in depth; and read the Personal Discovery Workbook to the end. - Personal Profiles - Personal Discovery Workbook Margaret used the outline above and despite some initial resistance to yet another instrument, the session was successful. There were 8 members of the team and the majority fell into the Organising sector of the Team Management Wheel. The Profile results were as follows: ICAS x 2 ECAS x 4 IPAS x 1 ECBF x 1 OPPORTUNITIES-OBSTACLES PROFILE - APPLICATIONS Their scepticism faded as soon as they read their Profiles. One of the managers already had a Team Management Profile from a previous programme a few years ago and was interested to find that she had moved from Thruster-Organiser to Assessor-Developer. She attributed this change to the fact that now she was in senior management and found that she was involved in future visioning and strategic planning, which she really enjoyed. Previously, she had been on the receiving end of the planning rather than involved in its formulation. All the managers felt comfortable with their Profiles and promised to exchange reports with team members who had a different role preference. 53

54 The discussions that were generated in the final half-an-hour were the most beneficial of the morning. They looked at their earlier estimation of their team performance on the Types of Work Wheel and were surprised to see that their work preferences confirmed the results. They had identified that Advising, Maintaining and Inspecting were virtually ignored. In fact, they realised that they had put some pricing and policies in place and had never checked on competitors pricing. They had merely used their old-pricing structure and just modified it. Margaret reminded them to read the differing Profiles before they met again at the week-end. She asked them to think about their individual work preferences and how they might affect interactions with one another. OPPORTUNITIES-OBSTACLES PROFILE - APPLICATIONS Day One Time Guidelines Resources 30 minutes Revisit the Team Management Profiles and discuss their discoveries of the different Profiles and also what they had learnt about themselves from their own Profiles. 30 mintues Revisit the Types of Work Wheel and discuss its use in meetings, project management and planning. - Team Management Profiles - Magnetic Wheel set 30 minutes Using the Chris and Pat dialogue, introduce the concept of pacing. - Games TMS People Play Morning Break 90 minutes Revisit the 4 work preference measures and plot each team member on all four measures. Note the many similarities. Introduce the O 2 scale and the concepts behind it including the five sub-scales. Lunch Break - Magnetic Work Preference Measures 90 minutes Hand out the Profiles and allow time for reading. Analyse the results and discuss the differences. - QO 2 Profiles Add the fifth scale to the 4 work preference measures and plot the results along the continuum. Generate a discussion on the 5 scales and the ramifications of the similarities and differences. Afternoon Break 90 minutes Begin the personal development section of the Development Guide. Ensure that each sub-scale is covered adequately and enough time is allowed to assess differing percentages and the outcomes. - Personal Profiles - Development Guides HOMEWORK: re-read QO 2 Profiles 54

55 The first day of the programme elicited much more information. The managers had all had time to think about their work preferences and most of them had read at least one other Profile. When they arrived at the beachside hotel in casual clothes, they were in a lighter frame of mind, ready to settle back and learn. Team Member Major Role Preference Work Preference Scores E - I P - C A - B S - F QO 2 Scores A Thruster-Organiser I5 C21 A4 S2 3.1 B Thruster-Organiser I2 C6 A16 S C Creator-Innovator E14 C4 B8 F2 1.6 D Assessor-Developer E12 C11 A6 S E Assessor-Developer E3 C18 A24 S F Conculder-Producer I8 P5 A21 S G Assessor-Developer E7 C18 A11 S2 1.7 H Assessor-Developer E10 C10 A19 S7 3.5 The profile results on the Team Management Wheel were heavily skewed to one sector of the Wheel. It wasn t until the individual scores were taken into account and plotted onto the continuums that more differences became apparent. The discussions began around team member C who had preferences in the Creator-Innovator role and differed from the others on two measures. He was the only team member with Beliefs and Flexible preferences. His related role of Reporter-Adviser was very apparent in his behaviour, as he was the networker for the team and knew many people in the industry. He loved gathering information and talking to people but he rarely passed any of it on. He would come up with ideas and toss them around at meetings, but few ever became a reality. Team member F was the Concluder-Producer for the team and he felt that he was often left with all the finishing off. He liked the world of ideas too, but he couldn t bear to see them wasted. OPPORTUNITIES-OBSTACLES PROFILE - APPLICATIONS Team members E, D,G and H were all outer-wheel Assessor-Developers. These were the four members who had the most difficulty working together, despite their similar preferences. Team members A and B, inner-wheel Thruster-Organisers, worked well together but shared little with the rest of the team. They preferred to work on their own but would consult each other on occasions. They would assess ideas and make decisions which they presented to the others at meetings. However the QO 2 results gave a whole different picture and the scores were quite diverse. Their scores ranged from 1.4 to 4.2 From here the discussions changed direction. They had learned the importance of valuing each other s work preferences but now they had another aspect to deal with. Once they had read their own Profiles and plotted their scores on the O 2 continuum, they began to realise some of 55

56 the reasons for their disagreements. Three of the team focussed mainly on the obstacles of the change, while two of the team focussed mainly on the opportunities. The three in the middle could see both sides but felt more inclined to go with caution rather than risk. The two, inner-wheel, Thruster-Organisers now knew why they worked so well together. They had similar work preferences but quite different QO 2 scores. They had used this knowledge of each other without realising it. Whenever A was working on something she always ran it past B as a matter of course, as B was so good at seeing where problems could arise. Their motto between themselves was always, Forewarned is forearmed. OPPORTUNITIES-OBSTACLES PROFILE - APPLICATIONS Team member C realised why his ideas never came to fruition. He had lots of ideas but always managed to talk himself out of them, deciding that they probably wouldn t work. The four Assessor-Developers had scores ranging from 1.7 to 4.2. This appeared to be the basis of the conflict and the reason they could never agree. Two wanted to always use caution whereas the others wanted to branch out and take a few risks. Nothing ventured, nothing gained was the way they felt about the change that was needed. At times the discussions became a little heated but they eventually agreed that their team needed some strategies in place to overcome their lack of preferences in certain areas. They also needed to deal with the pervasive feeling that some team members were viewed as negative and seen to be unreasonably blocking progress. Day Two Time Guidelines Resources 90 minutes Return to the personal development section in the Development Guide and continue to go through the five subscales in depth. Morning Break - Personal Profiles - Development Guides 90 minutes Continue with the personal development section - Personal Profiles - Development Guides Lunch Break 90 minutes Begin the Team development section - Personal Profiles - Development Guides Afternoon Break 60 minutes Complete the Team development section 30 minutues Finalise the workshop by revisiting the work completed and ensuring that action plans are well documented and everyone knows their roles, responsibilities and accountabilities. Implement steps to revisit the actions plans regularly so progress continues. Make a further appointment for a halfday session to evaluate the development and make any amendments to the agreed strategy. 56

57 Margaret continued to monitor their progress for a number of months. The team took a while to come to terms with their new knowledge of one another but at the end of three months, their teamwork had improved. Main Learning Points The team had learnt to hold valuable meetings. They laid down strict ground rules. They implemented regular meetings with time limits and agendas given out prior to the meetings, so everyone could be prepared. They used the Types of Work Wheel to audit all their projects. All the team members had new responsibilities so that all the work functions were covered. Team member C, in particular, was called upon to use his skills to gather information for the team and report it regularly. They used the QO 2 concepts of Multi-pathway generation and Fault-finding techniques, which added a new dimension to their skills in problem solving and project management. They had a Team Management Wheel on the office wall with their names written in their major and related roles, to remind them of everyone s work preferences. Their QO 2 scores were recorded on the O 2 scale to remind them about keeping a balance when looking at opportunities. They wrote remember to look for Murphy on the bottom of their O 2 plot. Careering Into Management Marie Hughes had no idea what to do with her career. She had reached a level in the organisation from where there were a number of possible options for advancement. She could stay on and take a sideways move into another area, to gain experience for a path into management. She could leave and take up a new path in a different organisation. Or she could stay where she was and perhaps return to study. OPPORTUNITIES-OBSTACLES PROFILE - APPLICATIONS She had been at this point for a number of months. She had looked at several new positions and also investigated what courses she could take to help her move up the organisation. She decided to go to the human resources manager to see what sideways moves were available and what they entailed. She wanted to have all the options in front of her so she could decide which path to take. Management seemed like the way to head for and many of her colleagues were hoping to achieve management status. The human resources manager persuaded her to see a career counsellor before she decided on her final course of action. At the age of 30 it was an excellent time for Marie to do some long term planning. The counsellor, Jean, arranged an appointment for the following week. She gave Marie two questionnaires to complete and asked her to return them as soon as possible. 57

58 She stressed that there were no right or wrong answers and just to go with her first thoughts. The questionnaires were the Team Management Profile Questionnaire and the QO 2 Profile Questionnaire. When Marie went to her appointment the following week, Jean had the results and talked her through the feedback. Marie was a Concluder-Producer with a QO 2 score of 1.8. After the initial consultation she asked Marie to go away and think about the Profiles and read them thoroughly. Jean also asked Marie to read through the Personal Discovery Workbook and Part One of the QO 2 Development Guide, before she returned the next week. OPPORTUNITIES-OBSTACLES PROFILE - APPLICATIONS As Marie completed all the reading, she began to see why she had disliked some tasks whereas others she could not wait to start. Both Profiles seemed to describe her accurately and she was looking forward to returning to see Jean, as she had a lot of questions she wanted to ask. ******* Jean answered all Marie s questions about the Profiles and put her mind at rest about being labelled by having received these results. Jean explained that having work preferences in the Concluder-Producer role would help Marie choose a challenging job which she could enjoy. Her balanced QO 2 score would ensure that she looked at the opportunities but also focused strongly on the possible obstacles which may occur. Jean took Marie slowly through the personal development section of the QO 2 Development Guide. She spent extra time with Marie to help her set up some long-term and short-term goals which aligned with her work preferences, personal values and also her vision for her future. For this she used the chapter in The Half-Empty Chalice on MTG energy. At the end of the session Marie was asked to spend some time planning her life purpose goals and then breaking those down into a skills audit and plans for ten years hence, five years, three years and the next 12 months. It took Marie many hours of thought, but eventually she came up with a plan which not only motivated her but excited her at the prospect of what she might achieve. She was positive that she had been heading in the wrong direction. She had been on a career path which would lead to a management role. When she really thought about it, that was the last thing she wanted. She now knew that her ideal job would be as a personal assistant to a senior manager or CEO. She much preferred a support role, enjoyed being needed for smoothing the way, and getting plans into motion. She liked working for one person and knew that her strengths in always being able to see a job that needed doing, being reliable, and being able to anticipate problems, would make her indispensable to a busy executive. This way she could still enjoy working in the management arena and being privy to the workings of an organisation. Her skills audit showed that she would need to update her word-processing skills and add in a greater knowledge of database management and spreadsheets. Once she had set her long-term plans she began to think about the next few months. She decided she needed a whole change of wardrobe and perhaps even a new hairstyle to start this new phase in her life. 58

59 When she returned to Jean the following week, Jean was amazed at the transformation in Marie. Marie enthusiastically explained her plans and with only a few minor suggestions, Jean approved of Marie s plan and told her so. Within three months, Marie had attended the computer skills courses, restyled her hair and was busy sending out CVs to prospective employers. It was only two weeks later that Marie landed the job of her dreams. Her new motivation, in addition to her excellent work record, had turned her into an ideal employee. Marie wrote to Jean and told her that she had given her Profiles to her new boss to read as she felt they described her so accurately. The insight into her own behaviour had given her the knowledge she needed to shape a career for herself. Her Profiles had given her permission to enjoy seeing projects through to the end and always having plans B, C and D ready, just in case! Five Dimensional Opposites A TMS consultant, Jan, was asked by a charitable organisation to help in the mediation between two key employees. It was decided that each should complete a Team Management Profile Questionnaire and receive individual feedback on the results. Having heard an overview of the problems, it was no surprise to Jan when the results of the Team Management Profile Questionnaires showed there was an Assessor-Developer and an Upholder-Maintainer involved in the conflict. Jan met them individually and was asked to leave the actual mediation to their CEO. Jan s first meeting was with the Assessor-Developer, Alex, who was a positive and friendly person, quite serious but with a pleasant sense of humour. Jan took time to explain the eight functions of work and the importance of each, touching briefly on the four work preference measures and then building the Team Management Wheel. Jan went through the Assessor-Developer Profile and explained the major points. She also gave a brief overview of the other roles on the Wheel and encouraged Alex to read her Profile and the Personal Discovery workbook. OPPORTUNITIES-OBSTACLES PROFILE - APPLICATIONS Jan explained to Alex that ECAS was a role preference of many CEOs. Information gathering was oriented to possible new ideas and the extroversion ensured that time would be taken to communicate the organisational vision. The AS combination brought in the action factor. At this point, without mentioning the other employee s work preferences, Jan gave lots of examples of opposites on the Wheel experiencing difficulties, and how to overcome them. Jan and Alex enjoyed their meeting and Alex promised to read all the materials supplied while it was fresh in her mind.the meeting had been pretty snappy, plenty of dot points and had gone exactly to the allotted time. Two days later Jan met with the Upholder-Maintainer, Mary. Another lovely person, again quite serious, but friendly with a ready smile. Jan followed a similar path with the same supporting materials. 59

60 This time, Jan explained that the IPBF was a rare role preference in large organisations, but in the business of care and support to the community, it was much more prevalent. She highlighted the people side of the role preference and the flexibility to deal with the here and now situations of their business. The upholding and maintaining of the values and standards of care were obviously paramount in Mary s working and private life. Having been a nurse, a missionary and now with a degree in psychology, this role preference was very strong. The session with Mary went well over the time allocation and many discussions had centred around Mary s feelings on certain issues. OPPORTUNITIES-OBSTACLES PROFILE - APPLICATIONS It was the case of the irresistible force meets the immovable object. Alex looked after a section which had a large number of employees spread throughout the state and controlled a tight budget. Mary was in overall charge of the human services area. Jan was very concerned about this case and could see that it would be difficult to resolve the conflict. A few days later, she rang the CEO and asked how the mediation meeting had gone. He told her that they loved their Profiles and felt they were uniquely theirs. They had agreed to try and work together better and had made a few promises to each other. Alex had promised not to make rushed decisions, give more lead time for discussions and to make appointments with Mary. Mary had promised to pay attention to deadlines, give Alex her monthly figures on time and to consider new systems. Weeks later there was still conflict raging between Alex and Mary. The CEO and Mary were convinced that Alex was in the wrong business. Jan was sure there was more to their conflict than was apparent on the surface. They were both competent people who gave 100% to their work and to the organisation. She asked the CEO if she could administer the QO 2 to both Mary and Alex to determine if this might unearth the reason for their continuing feud. Jan was pleased when both of them agreed to complete the QO 2 Profile Questionnaire. The results were just as Jan had expected. Mary had a score of 1.4 and Alex had a score of 2.8. Here was another major reason why these two people found it difficult to work together. Not only did they have different work preferences, but their views on the opportunities and obstacles had almost an opposite focus. Jan rang the CEO and asked for permission to feedback the profiles to Alex and Mary together this time, as she was sure that she could help them resolve some of their problems. The CEO agreed and a date was arranged for the meeting. Jan had spent hours carefully planning this two-hour meeting and was excited at the prospect of helping these two talented women. Two days before the meeting, the CEO rang to say that Alex had resigned. She had decided to accept a job in a large international company. The CEO expressed his relief and reiterated that he had always felt that Alex was in the wrong job despite her expertise. Jan was disappointed and she still wonders whether Alex was happier in the corporate world or whether the conflict had made the decision for her. Did she jump back into the more analytical world of the future or was she pushed from the beliefs and the ways of the past? 60

61 Window on Work Values Profile Technical Information Contents Values Research The McCann Workplace Behaviour Pyramid The Window on Work Values Model Brief Descriptions of the Eight Core Value Types Measuring Work Values Reasons for Using the Window on Work Values Profile Choosing Who Should Complete the Questionnaires Reliability Validity Validity Mapping The Window on Work Values Profile Tour WINDOW ON WORK VALUES PROFILE - TECHNICAL INFORMATION 61

62 Values Research Rokeach Values Survey WINDOW ON WORK VALUES PROFILE - TECHNICAL INFORMATION Modern-day thinking about values has been largely influenced by the work of Milton Rokeach (1973; 1979). He defined the value concept as an enduring belief that a specific mode of conduct or end-state of existence is personally or socially preferable to an opposite or converse mode of conduct or end-state of existence. He developed an instrument to measure personal and social values. This Rokeach Values Survey (RVS) has been a popular tool for many research studies investigating the structure of value domains. The RVS distinguishes two kinds of values: instrumental, referring to modes of conduct and reflecting behavioural characteristics that are seen as socially desirable, and terminal, referring to end states of existence or ultimate modes of living which have been idealised. For example, an exciting life and freedom are examples of terminal values, whereas ambitious and helpful are examples of instrumental values. Subsequent work by Schwartz (1992) suggests that it is unnecessary to distinguish between these two concepts and that only a single form - either terminal or instrumental - is needed to accurately measure values. Debats Work Debats (1998) initiated a study to empirically investigate the structure of human values. Its aim was to evaluate the coherence between the 36 values as specified by the RVS. It was hypothesised that human values do not exist in isolation but cluster in some coherent fashion to values domains with more specific meanings. Debats research approach was inspired by Feather (1991) who revealed from an analysis of the RVS instrumental values the existence of three value domains that were largely consistent with the motivational domains as described by Schwartz and Bilsky (1987): self-directed competence, restrictive conformity and pro-social concern. Within the intercorrelations of the terminal values, Feather discriminated five value domains: positive affiliation, universal prosocial, mature accomplishment, comfort/ stimulation and security/ salvation. The Debats study was carried out on a sample of 109 clients, as part of a wider study to determine the impact of values on the process and outcome of psychotherapy. The results of this study are summarised in Figure 1. 62

63 Figure 1: Debats analysis of the Rokeach Values Survey Scales (Major & Sub) Rokeach Values Terminal Values Life without Inner and Outer Conflicts Pleasure, national security, inner harmony, happiness, a comfortable life, salvation Universal Prosocial Mature Accomplishment Positive Affiliation Individual Self-definition Self-directed Competence Restrictive Conformity Prosocial Concern Instrumental values Equality, a world at peace, a world of beauty A sense of accomplishment, social recognition, self-respect, wisdom True friendship, mature love An exciting life, freedom, (negative correlation with family security) Broad-minded, independent, courageous, imaginative, logical Polite, clean, ambitious, self-controlled, capable, obedient Forgiving, helpful, responsible, honest, loving, cheerful, (negative with intellectual) Debats study showed the existence of eight factors that were derived from the principal components analysis of the 36 RVS values. These eight factors accounted for substantial variances within the intercorrelations for the terminal and instrumental RVS values. Schwartz Values Survey Schwartz (1994) developed a typology of values as conscious goals relating to three universal requirements with which all individuals and societies must cope: needs of individuals as biological organisms; requisites of coordinated social interaction; and requirements for the smooth functioning and survival of groups. WINDOW ON WORK VALUES PROFILE - TECHNICAL INFORMATION Ten motivationally distinct types of values were derived from these three universal requirements. They are: Power Achievement Hedonism Stimulation Self-direction Universalisn Benevolence Tradition Confirmity Security 63

64 The relationship between these value types pointed to two higher-order factors that Schwartz called Self-Enhancement - Self-Transcendence, and Openness to Change - Conservation. Schwartz model was based on his Schwartz Values Survey (SVS) which measured the responses of over 9000 people from 20 countries worldwide. Respondents were asked to rate 56 values as a guiding principle in my life. His survey included 30 of the values from the Rokeach Survey, and the SVS has therefore, become the gold standard assessment instrument for measuring individual values. WINDOW ON WORK VALUES PROFILE - TECHNICAL INFORMATION Cross-cultural Structures The two most important values constructs appearing in cross-cultural studies are those of Individualism and Collectivism. Triandis (1995) has drawn together much of the literature describing these important cross-cultural constructs. The defining attributes of Individualism and Collectivism suggested by Triandis are: 1. Collectivists define themselves as parts or aspects of a group; Individualists focus on selfconcepts that are autonomous from groups. They also have personal goals that overlap with the goals of their in-groups, and if there is a discrepancy between the two sets of goals, they consider it obvious that the group goals should have priority over their personal goals. Individualists have personal goals that may or may not overlap with the goals of their ingroups, and if there is a discrepancy between the two sets of goals, they consider it obvious that their personal goals should have priority over the group. 2. Among Collectivists, social behaviour is best predicted from norms and perceived duties and obligations (Miller, 1994). Among Individualists, social behaviour is best predicted from attitudes and other such internal processes as well as contracts made by the individual. 3. Among Collectivists, relationships are of the greatest importance, and even if the costs of these relationships exceed the benefits, individuals tend to stay with the relationship. Among Individualists when the costs exceed the benefits, the relationship is often dropped (Kim, Triandis, Kagitcibasi & Yoon, 1994). 64

65 The McCann Workplace Behaviour Pyramid Working with many teams all over the world in 20 years of being a management consultant convinced Dr. McCann that people will expend a lot of energy to preserve core work values, and to defend them against potential violators. Infringements of people s core work values can lead to terminal conflicts in teams. That is why an understanding of these core values is essential to effective teamwork. Margerison and McCann ( ) developed the Team Management Profile Questionnaire and associated model, the Team Management Wheel, to explain the concept of work preferences. Preferences are another name for what we like doing. They are dimensions of individual differences in tendencies to show consistent patterns of relationships, thoughts, feelings and actions. Preferences determine the conditions we set up to allow our mental and psychic processes to flow freely. They guide our behaviour, but if we have to work outside them at various times then we can usually cope. Although we value our preferences, they are not values. Preferences simply describe what people are like rather than any intention behind their behaviour. Values, however, are deepseated determinants of behaviour and define what people think are important - the goals or motivations that will drive their behaviour. We are more likely to react negatively when our values are violated but are often neutral to the actions flowing from other people s preferences. Although preferences explain many of the behaviours exhibited in teams, they do not adequately explain behaviours emanating from values. In an effort to develop an integrated approach to understanding behaviours within teams, Dr. McCann (McCann, 2002) developed the concept of the Workplace Behaviour Pyramid (Figure 2). This shows the three levels that build a complete picture of the different ways that people approach work. Figure 2: The McCann Workplace Behaviour Pyramid WINDOW ON WORK VALUES PROFILE - TECHNICAL INFORMATION 65

66 WINDOW ON WORK VALUES PROFILE - TECHNICAL INFORMATION Preferences are usually transparent and are often the first thing we notice in others - He s rather quiet, isn t he? or She never stops talking. Some people prefer to think things through on their own whereas others need to talk out loud to clarify their ideas. Preferences are therefore at the apex of the Pyramid because they are readily visible to others and are usually the basis of first impressions. They are also subject to a degree of variability dependent upon the situations faced. The middle layer of the Workplace Behaviour Pyramid addresses the way people approach risk. All through our life we are faced with opportunities and obstacles; they crop up in every project we undertake no matter how much forward planning is undertaken. What determines peoples risk profiles is the different emphasis they place on either seeing the opportunities or seeing the obstacles. Some people treat obstacles as an opportunity to take a new direction whereas others use them as an excuse to give up. Some people treat obstacles as a stumbling block but for others they are stepping-stones to the future. The concepts of risk are addressed by the QO 2 - the Opportunities-Obstacles TM Quotient (McCann, 2000). At the base of the Pyramid are values. These are fundamental concepts or beliefs which people use to guide their behaviour in the workplace. Values will drive our decision-making and cause us to summon up energy to preserve what we believe in. They go beyond specific situations and determine how we view people, behaviour and events. Often major sources of conflict and disillusionment are due to mismatched values. Whereas we are often willing to work on tasks that we dislike, we are much less likely to compromise when our values are under threat. Values are difficult to observe in others, as they are inner concepts often buried in the human psyche and not readily accessible by the conscious mind. When these values are violated then the conscious mind takes over and appropriate behaviour occurs to preserve and defend this attack. 66

67 The Window on Work Values Model Most of the research on values focuses on the non-work domain or on the cross-cultural domain. Where values are applied to the work situation the approach is invariably ad hoc, with random checklists of workplace values such as excellence, honesty, creativity etc. offered (Senge et al, 1994) as a basis for developing a shared-values approach to working together. To give workplace values some theoretical underpinning, Dr. McCann developed the model of the Window on Work Values, by developing the ideas expressed by Rokeach, Schwartz and Triandis and applying them to the workplace. Schwartz (1992, 1994) has generated a conceptual definition of values that incorporates the five main features of values recurrently mentioned in the literature. Values are: concepts or beliefs pertaining to desirable end states or behaviours that transcend specific situations guide selection or evaluation of people, behaviour and events are ordered by importance relative to other values to form a system of value priorities It is this definition of values that form the basis of the Window on Work Values. The primary content aspect is the type of goal or motivational concern that the value expresses. The work of previous researchers suggested that higher-order factors or clusters might be a way to start developing a useful Values Model for the world of work. Preliminary discussions and interviews with participants on management development workshops identified the importance of a factor that focuses on either the Self or the Group. This eventually became the west-east axis of the Window on Work Values. Although many people can do both, the results suggest that most people will have a bias one way or the other. The other higher-order factor suggested was the cluster of values that related to an organisational environment where the focus was on constraints vs. a cluster of values that allowed more organisational freedom. This eventually became the north-south axis of the model, where the focus was on the organisational environment that people value. This two-factor model led to the concept of value types where values would cluster around the two-factor model. The end result was eight value types, which are depicted as windowpanes, rather like those in the rose windows of many European cathedrals. The model was developed to have good structural validity, meaning that value types close to one another in the Window are related whereas those on opposite sides of the Window are unrelated. WINDOW ON WORK VALUES PROFILE - TECHNICAL INFORMATION 67

68 Self Focus vs. Group Focus The Self Focus value types govern the dominance of personal over group goals. The defining motivation for the Self Focus value types are actions that further individual gain and foster a hierarchy of differentiation within an organisation. The Group Focus value types have defining goals where the individual is subordinated to the wishes, needs and goals of the group. WINDOW ON WORK VALUES PROFILE - TECHNICAL INFORMATION The key self-focus value type was identified as Individualism. People high on Individualism will invest energy in being seen as capable, intelligent and highly competent. They will value selfsufficiency and also the rewards that go with being successful. The work behaviours of those high on Individualism will also depend on the organisational environment they value. People who believe that Organisational Constraints (such as rules, regulations and procedures) are necessary for effective work will hold the Authority value type as well, whereas those who desire Organisational Freedom will more likely hold the value type of Independence. Figure 3: The Window on Work Values model 68

69 The key group-focus value type is that of Collectivism. Collectivism emphasises the placing of group goals over personal ones. Those who value this highly will want to put others first, support the underdog and work with loyal people who value harmony. Issues such as truth, integrity and fairness feature high on their list. The generation of group opinions and adherence to them are far more important than personal gain. People who value Collectivism highly will use the power of the group to bring individual recalcitrants into line with group thinking. Work behaviours of people who value Collectivism will depend to a large extent on their desired working environment. Those who also value Organisational Constraint will also hold the value type of Conformity. Those who believe in Organisational Freedom are more likely to value Equality. Organisational Constraint vs. Organisational Freedom Organisational Constraint as a motivational type is derived from the prerequisite for some groups to ensure smooth interaction and group survival, thereby developing a prescriptive set of norms for group members to restrain impulses and inhibit actions that might hurt others. Organisational Freedom, on the other hand, is a motivational type with defining goals of independence of thought and action where individual behaviour is unrestricted and people are free to choose their pathways, unfettered by organisational constraints. As such these two value types are unlikely to be held in the human psyche with equal probability, as the behaviours associated with each are conflicting. The Window on Work Values helps explain why problems exist within any group of people working together. Value types define core frameworks that people hold and for which they are prepared to expend considerable quantities of energy in either promoting or defending. Most people will hold three or four of the values reasonably strongly and because of the structure of the model these values are more likely to be concentrated in one particular section, giving rise to key value patterns which are useful in understanding and predicting individual and group behaviour. WINDOW ON WORK VALUES PROFILE - TECHNICAL INFORMATION 69

70 Brief Descriptions of the Eight Core Value Types Individualism Individualism is the value type which focuses entirely on the self. It comprises values held in high regard in many western countries such as the USA, Australia and the UK. A society that values Individualism will idolize the individual and have many role models to which people aspire. WINDOW ON WORK VALUES PROFILE - TECHNICAL INFORMATION People high on Individualism tend to classify themselves and others by individual characteristics rather than by membership of a particular group. Individualists in the world of work are driven by the need to be successful and competent, and to receive the individual accolades that go with successful performance. Individual incentives such as pay for performance and assessment based on individual targets are the hallmark of Individualism. Very often high-performers, heroes and champions are sought out for special praise. In an organisation valuing Individualism, people are encouraged to achieve alone and take personal responsibility for their decisions. Conducting business alone means that this person is respected by his company and has esteem. A negotiator can commit those who sent him/her and is usually reluctant to go back on an undertaking. The toughest negotiations were probably done within the organisation while preparing for the meeting. An organisation valuing Individualism will have in its senior management structure a collection of individuals striving to do the best for themselves as well as their organisation. In many cases employees are more interested in how their current organisation can benefit their personal career rather than what they can do for the organisation. In other words their involvement with the organisation is more likely to be calculative rather than altruistic. Organisations that value Individualism will emphasize individual initiative and achievement and will reward people who show these characteristics. Promotion is just as likely to come from outside the organisation as inside and will be based on market value. As a result job mobility is likely to be higher than in organisations based on Collectivism where there is much more of a cradle-to-the-grave approach. In summary, the following points apply to those strongly valuing Individualism: Classification through individual characteristics Driven by need to be successful and competent Recognition through personal efforts and personal excellence Continual opportunities to extend own capability Personal responsibility for own decisions 70

71 Collectivism Collectivism is the opposite to Individualism and is a value type that focuses on the importance of the group rather than the self. People who hold these values will usually put others first and want to work in a way that preserves the functioning of the group and the support that goes with it. Collectivists will want to avoid conflict and often go out of their way to promote harmony. Often they will shield those of less ability and actively support any underdogs. For Collectivists the important words are we, us and ours, compared to words such as I, me and mine, which reside in the vocabulary of the Individualist. Individualists will work in a team primarily because it will further their self-interest, whereas collectivists need a team to give them social context, meaning and purpose. The work group is like a family, community or clan that nurtures its members and gives them a sense of belonging. Trades unions are often based on the need for Collectivism within organisations that focus primarily on Individualism. Although many people give lip service to values such as integrity and the truth, these are guiding principles to Collectivists who will want to behave in ways that align with such values. In a collectivist group, consensus is highly valued and group members are reluctant to vote on key issues unless there is an absolute necessity. They much prefer to continue meeting and debating issues until a group decision emerges. This is why decisions in primarily collectivist organisations can take a long time. However once there is agreement, implementation can proceed quickly. Pay-for-performance schemes that reward individuals are less likely to work with work groups that value Collectivism. Where the group is working cohesively, it is far better to construct a group-bonus system where everyone in the group benefits from the group s performance. Many organisations meet the needs of both Individualism and Collectivism by combining individual pay-for-performance systems with a group bonus structure. Negotiations in collectivist organisations are often done with many people from the one organisation involved in the face-to-face discussions. Leaders of delegations are more likely to be valued when they arrive with several colleagues rather than on their own. Whereas lone-ranger negotiators are valued in individualism cultures, they are considered less important if they don t have a team of people helping them. WINDOW ON WORK VALUES PROFILE - TECHNICAL INFORMATION In summary, the following points apply to those strongly valuing Collectivism: Focus on group and teamwork Loyalty to the team and good team relationships paramount Value shared rewards that are based on achievements of team Culture of helping and supporting others Consensus in decision-making prized 71

72 Compliance Compliance is a core value type built around a person s need to work to an agreed set of rules and procedures - the Organisational Constraints. People high on Compliance feel comfortable in knowing what they can and can t do and it is this security that enables them to give of their best. WINDOW ON WORK VALUES PROFILE - TECHNICAL INFORMATION Compliance in the Window on Work Values is midway between Self Focus and Group Focus and if this value type is the strongest one then a person holding it will give equal emphasis to both themselves and the group to which they belong. Usually this is manifested by their need to set an example in being obedient, following the rules, sticking to procedures and being stable. Their desire to also ensure that their group functions well is shown by their tendency to advocate these values when working with others. Therefore if they are in a management position they will expect team members to also comply with the organisational constraints although they will not push this as strongly as someone who holds predominantly the Authority value type. Organisations that value Compliance will usually have a clearly defined strategy and a system of ensuring that detailed business objectives are cascaded throughout the organisation. In most cases performance-evaluation schemes against these targets are designed to ensure the business objectives are delivered. For many of these organisations the basic philosophy may well be that of punishment rather than encouragement. In summary, the following points apply to those strongly valuing Compliance: Plans and objectives cascaded throughout organisation from top-level strategy Performance evaluated against published targets Emphasis on security and stability Clear rules, regulations and procedures that avoid ambiguity Value standardization and repeating best practice 72

73 Empowerment Directly opposite the Compliance value type is Empowerment. A person strongly holding this value type will insist on Organisational Freedom, where they can have the opportunity to contribute to the organisation, unfettered by unnecessary rules and regulations. They will accept the need for business objectives and performance targets but because they hold to the principles of self-reliance and self-accountability they will want to establish their own constraints in order to pursue outputs and outcomes in their own way. The Empowerment value type is midway between a focus on the self and a focus on the group. Consequently a person who scores highest on Empowerment will also value empowerment being passed on to those they manage. As a result they will usually want to work in a way where they can find the best in others and give them personal responsibility. High-scoring Empowerment people are also more likely to value and implement personal development and training programmes for their staff. Organisations that value Empowerment highly can often be identified by their open system of management where there is a readiness to listen to other s ideas, no matter how radical, and a culture where people are encouraged to learn from their mistakes. In summary, the following points apply to those strongly valuing Empowerment: Decisions taken at lowest possible level Flexibility to respond to unique circumstances Encouragement of people to learn through experience Value receiving and passing on responsibility and accountability Each person takes responsibility for overall success of organisation WINDOW ON WORK VALUES PROFILE - TECHNICAL INFORMATION 73

74 Authority The Authority value type comprises a focus on the self, combined with a belief in the need for Organisational Constraints. A strong Authority person will want to work within an organisational hierarchy so that adequate control processes are in place and outputs delivered to maximum quality and minimum cost. They usually believe that people need to be monitored otherwise inefficiencies will creep in. WINDOW ON WORK VALUES PROFILE - TECHNICAL INFORMATION The focus on the self means that they will often want to put themselves first and be seen to be right in front of others. They usually dislike being proved wrong and may react strongly to situations where they are allowed to lose face. Authority people will be ambitious and because they put themselves first they will constantly seek promotion and may therefore have a tendency to be highly mobile. Organisations that hold the Authority value type strongly tend to have a hierarchical system of management where the leader takes charge and organisational structure and accountability are unambiguously enforced. People are less likely to challenge those in senior positions, as there tends to be an acceptance that the leader is always right. Such organisations are often identified by a system of strong line management authority in pursuit of an agreed business plan. In summary, the following points apply to those strongly valuing Authority: Managers accountable for actions of others Clear strong individual leadership Organisational structure and accountability are unambiguously enforced Policy and direction is clearly set and driven by those at the top Acceptance of decisions of senior managers 74

75 Equality The Equality value type comprises a focus on the group, combined with the need for an organisational environment that allows a degree of freedom. Equality people value the group and therefore put emphasis on the need for tolerance and the acceptance of other people s ideas and beliefs. The need for organisational freedom means that they expect to be trusted and will give trust in return, to those people they are managing. To some extent there is an air of altruism about high Equality scorers, as they like to work for the benefit of others and have a willingness to forgive. In an organisation that values Equality there will be a belief that everyone brings value, talent, skill and resources to the organisation, no matter what their job function. People understand that a hierarchy of management is necessary but interactions between those at the top and those more to the bottom tend to be frequent and courteous. There is an openness about such organisations, where equality of opportunity is available to all. In summary, the following points apply to those strongly valuing Equality: Belief that all bring talent to the organisation All contribute to policy and decision-making Open communication and sharing of information Tolerance and willingness to work through differences Fairness and equality of opportunity at all levels Independence The Independence value type is a combination of a focus on the self with the need for an environment that allows Organisational Freedom. In many ways the high Independence person is often seen as a maverick or a loose cannon who values their own creativity and will work with a high degree of self- direction and autonomy. The problem may come when they go off in different directions to those defined by organisational visions or team purposes. High Independence scorers value making their own decisions and doing their own thing. Material rewards are not necessarily key desires. They would rather have a long leash and the freedom to act in any way they thought might be beneficial. They are even likely to continue working in organisations where remuneration is low provided that their independence is ensured. Organisations that value Independence highly are often those where individual creativity and having fun while working are part of the culture. Many of the dot com start-ups, with senior executives under 30 years old, had a culture where this value was upheld. WINDOW ON WORK VALUES PROFILE - TECHNICAL INFORMATION In summary, the following points apply to those strongly valuing Independence: Recognition of value of individual creativity Emphasis on personal autonomy High levels of personal engagement with strategy Self-motivation and personal enjoyment paramount Trusted to set and meet own objectives 75

76 Conformity Conformity is the combination of a focus on the group plus the need for an environment of organisational constraints. People high on the Conformity value type will avoid extremes of action and conform to others expectations of them. Conformity people will not want to stand out from the crowd, but fit into the norms of the group as they need a group in order to give of their best. WINDOW ON WORK VALUES PROFILE - TECHNICAL INFORMATION Whereas Independence people are more likely to challenge the status quo, Conformity people are happy doing what they are told. They are more likely to want to preserve the organisation s traditions and culture and if they hold this value strongly they may have a tendency to oppose change. Organisations that value Conformity often have a culture where there is an emphasis on the past and a reluctance to take risks. The ideals of the founders tend to be preserved and reinforced by a celebration of the past successes. Rewards tend to be given to those who want to conserve past values and in this way a strong solidarity is maintained which, in a rapidly changing environment, could lead to a situation of group think. In summary, the following points apply to those strongly valuing Conformity: Respect for organisation s tradition and values Meeting group/team expectations is important Stability of structures and strategies Avoidance of extremes of action preserves group solidarity Established group culture provides strong bond 76

77 Collaborative Individualism Many people will have a balance across the Individualism-Collectivism sectors of the Window on Work Values Model. This is particularly the case in organisations that encourage and reward individual achievement but at the same time espouse and promote teamwork. In a sense these two approaches could be conflicting and lead to some interesting patterns of behaviour. Look out for the Collaborative Individualism situation which is often represented by a strong score on both Individualism and Collectivism. The person understands the need to work in a team and values the group approach. However they need to beware of a potential tendency to use the group for their own advancement - i.e. their Collectivism score may be there only to support their Individualism score. This can lead to a values paradox as shown below. Figure 4: The Collaborative Individualism Paradox INDIVIDUALISM I need to excel and be recogised for my personal efforts and individual excellence But I can t do this on my own so i need others to held me... COLLECTIVISM We need to work as a team supporting one another, making group decisions and sharing in the rewards WINDOW ON WORK VALUES PROFILE - TECHNICAL INFORMATION But we need to avoid group think and encourage individual excellence so that our group goals are met or exceeded... 77

78 Complying Empowerment WINDOW ON WORK VALUES PROFILE - TECHNICAL INFORMATION Likewise, look out for the possibility of Complying Empowerment where people value both Compliance and Empowerment. This may appear to be a paradox but like the Collaborative Individualism situation it arises from one of the values being espoused (i.e. Empowerment) within a framework where the primary value type is Compliance. Those portraying this combination realize that commitment to the job comes through allowing people to have the responsibility and accountability for their decisions, but deep down they are concerned that mistakes are likely to be made and so they make sure that rigorous plans are in place to be followed with minimal deviation. Likely behaviour is the checking and double-checking of team members work to ensure it is done the right way - but still espousing that everyone is free to make their own decisions. The Complying Empowerment Paradox is as Figure 5. But we don t want mistakes or anarchy, so... Figure 5: The Complying Empowerment Paradox COMPLIANCE People must rigorously follow plans and objectives cascaded from top-level strategy But people work harder when they have freedom to plan their own way of working and flexibility to make decisions, so... EMPOWERMENT Decisions, responsibility and accountability must be taken at the lowest possible level 78

79 Measuring Work Values The Window on Work Values Profile Questionnaire (WoWVPQ) is a 64-item instrument designed to measure the work values of the respondent, in terms of the Window on Work Values Model. A two-pass item approach is used in order to improve discrimination. Respondents are first asked whether the activity or situation is something they value at work (yes or no) and for those items with a yes response they then record to what extent they value this situation or activity, making one of four choices: To a little extent; to some extent; to a great extent; or to a very great extent. The overall responses then form a five-point Likert scale. There are eight questions for each of the eight windowpanes, making a total of 64 questions in all. The scoring for each question ranges from 0 for a No to the first part of the profile questionnaire to 4 for To a Very Great Extent. So the maximum raw score for any windowpane is 32 (4x8). The scores are then converted into raw score percentages representing the percent of the maximum score possible. So, if over eight questions the total were 24, then the raw score would be 75% of the maximum. Next the scores are normalised so that they add up to 100%. The result is a pattern of distribution around the window showing which sectors score higher and which score lower. If the same score occurs in each sector, respondents are saying they regard each of the eight value types equally. While this is theoretically possible, the psychometric data confirms that it is highly unlikely as most people will favour some values more than others, resulting in a hierarchy of work values. It is the hierarchy that is more important rather than the absolute percentage. Decisive respondents will have a more discriminated Profile whereas conservative respondents will have a flatter Profile. WINDOW ON WORK VALUES PROFILE - TECHNICAL INFORMATION 79

80 Reasons for Using the Window on Work Values Profile The Window on Work Values Profile has been designed as a feedback and discussion tool for individuals and teams. It is particularly useful for the following situations: Personal/Executive Development WINDOW ON WORK VALUES PROFILE - TECHNICAL INFORMATION The feedback information allows individuals to understand the core values that drive their behaviour at work. The hierarchy of value types will identify the top two or three value types that will influence their workplace behaviour the most. By identifying how they are likely to react in a variety of situations, they can learn to modify their behaviour to achieve more optimal outcomes - particularly with team members and colleagues. Sharing and comparing the values data with key organisational stakeholders can lead to improved cooperation. Values Alignment The Window on Work Values Profile data can be used to check the alignment between personal work values and organisational values. This is best done using the Organisational Values Profile but can also be done in a qualitative way using a card sort process which is part of the WoWV Licensed Facilitator kit. Team Development Team Development activities will allow team members to share the data on their hierarchy of work values. Often conflicts at work can be traced back to people holding opposing values. Values are the personal standards that individuals use to judge their own behaviour and that of others. Understanding the different values frameworks and learning how to Pace different values sets can improve substantially the interactions among team members. Team Charter The profile questionnaire and the Window on Work Values Model can be used to develop a Team Charter, comprising the Team Purpose and Team Values statements. This process will help team members understand what the team is supposed to do, why it is doing it and how everyone should contribute to the outcomes. When a team agrees on its core values it is easy to deal with conflict situations. Team members can then pull in the same rather than different directions. Without agreed common values, team problems are likely to arise. You can use the Window on Work Values with your client teams to develop a Team Charter which lists the core values that team members agree should be the foundation of how the team works. Behavioural ground rules and actions can then be drawn up to act as guidelines for the way the team works. 80

81 Choosing Who Should Complete the Profile Questionnaire The Window on Work Values Profile Questionnaire is a self-rater instrument and is completed by one person only. It can be administered via the TMS E-PQ (Electronic Profile Questionnaire) system, provided you have your own Facilitator Administration page, or by using a hardcopy puestionnaire. The profile questionnaire is particularly useful as a personal development or executive coaching tool as it identifies the core values that drive individual behaviour. It is often used in conjunction with the other Pyramid of Workplace Behaviour instruments - the Team Management Profile Questionnaire and the QO 2 TM Profile Questionnaire. Reliability Internal consistency Four versions of the profile questionnaire were developed from an initial item pool of more than 100 questions. The fifth version became the commercial version and the following reliability data was recorded. Since the original development sample was analysed, further data has been collected for model validation testing. The larger sample described below includes those respondents recorded during development. Table 2 presents the Cronbach alpha coefficients. The alpha coefficient for Empowerment has increased to 0.69 in this expanded sample. Descriptive data for the worldwide sample are reported in detail in the full TMS Research Manual, included as part of your materials. Table 2: Cronbach alpha coefficients for each value type (n=529) WINDOW ON WORK VALUES PROFILE - TECHNICAL INFORMATION Value Type Cronbach Alpha Coefficient Compliance 0.83 Conformity 0.75 Collectivism 0.71 Equality 0.74 Empowerment 0.69 Independence 0.83 Individualism 0.71 Authority

82 Validity Structural validity WINDOW ON WORK VALUES PROFILE - TECHNICAL INFORMATION Structural validity relates to the relationship between the various scales and subscales. For continuous models such as the Window on Work Values, good structural validity requires the correlations between one value type and the other seven to vary progressively around the model. Adjacent value types should show moderate correlations that then progressively decrease as the gap between value types increases. Opposite value types should be unrelated or even negatively correlated. This verifies the model s spatial integrity. Selection of scale items and structural validity verification require an iterative research programme. Items for a particular scale or subscale are selected or rejected according to internal consistency requirements, while simultaneously checking that the scale intercorrelations follow the progressive pattern. Items that enhance both the international consistency and the structural validity requirement are accepted. Since the original development sample was analysed, a larger sample has been collected for structural validation testing. The sample on the next page includes those respondents recorded during development. Table 3: Pearson product-moment correlations for each value type (raw scores; n=529) Value Type CP CF CV EQ EM IP IV A CP CF CV EQ EM IP IV 0.54 A 82

83 The following is a plot of the Conformity line. Again the progressive relationship around the model is confirmed. Figure 7: Pearson product-moment correlations against Conformity (n=529) WINDOW ON WORK VALUES PROFILE - TECHNICAL INFORMATION 83

84 Validity Mapping Figure 8: Mapping of terminal and instrumental values onto the Window on Work Values (Combination of data from three validity studies) WINDOW ON WORK VALUES PROFILE - TECHNICAL INFORMATION Personal success Personal rewards Responsibility Power Authority Wealth Ambition Status Influence Capable Intelligent Successful Creativity Freedom Curiosity Autonomy Independence Obedience Stability Order Security Involving others Self-sufficiency Self-accountability Performance targets Business objectives Tradition Respect for hierarchy Moderate Self Discipline Harmony Loyalty Consensus Sharing Cooperation Commitment to group decisions Helpful Integrity Equlaity of opportunity Tolerance Forgiveness Wisdom Broad-minded Two criterion-related validity studies and one construct validity study have been carried out to determine the values components of the eight value types on the Window on Work Values. These are reported in detail in the full Window on Work Values Research Manual, included as part of the Window on Work Values Additional Information CD-ROM. The map above (Figure 8) summarises the significant relationships found between the values studies and the eight value types of the Window on Work Values. Although the listed values appear only once in a chosen windowpane, in most cases they also apply to the adjacent windowpanes, given the structural validity of the Window and the crosscorrelations between adjacent sectors. 84

85 The Window on Work Values Profile Tour: Interpreting the Quantitative and Qualitative Feedback This content section is a tour of the Window on Work Values Profile, describing the graphical, narrative and quantitative parts in detail. Once you understand the mechanics of the Profile you will find it easy to interpret the data and feed back the information to your clients. There is a wealth of information for an individual to consider and your role is to help them understand the implications of the Profile and how it might assist them in personal, team or organisational development. The Window on Work Values Profile is divided into a number of different sections: Cover sheet this gives a graphical summary of the percentage scores for each value type Overview this briefly summarizes the two axes comprising the Window on Work Values Model The value type hierarchy this ranks the value types in order of importance from one to eight Narrative text on all eight value types Page 1: Cover sheet The cover sheet shows the Window on Work Values Model with the percentage scores for the eight value types. If a respondent scores equally in all eight value types they would have 12.5% in each windowpane, indicating they regarded all eight value types equally. Given the structural validity of the model such a score is improbable. More than likely some scores will be above 12.5% and some scores will be below, indicating the different importance attached to each value type. Scores over 16% are generally regarded as high; scores below 8% are generally regarded as low. WINDOW ON WORK VALUES PROFILE - TECHNICAL INFORMATION 85

86 Page 2: Overview Page 2 gives an introduction to the Profile explaining the two key axes of the model: Group Focus and Self Focus as the east-west axis; Organisational Constraint and Organisational Freedom as the north-south axis. Page 3: Value type hierarchy WINDOW ON WORK VALUES PROFILE - TECHNICAL INFORMATION Page 3 shows the hierarchy of value types ranging from the highest (Individualism and Equlaity at 19.3%) to the lowest (Compliance at 2.6%). The values more important to you are those scoring 12.5% or above. The values less important to you are those scoring below 12.5%. This table is important when feeding back the Profile to the respondent. The theory of values hierarchy says that we try to keep some aspects of all the values hierarchy within our decisionmaking framework. When a conflict arises between values then we are more likely to suppress those values held at a lower level. Below are some points to consider when interpreting this hierarchy: Start with the highest value type in this example, we ll use Individualism. The opposing value type is Collectivism. Look for its location in the hierarchy. It is 5th on the list in the group values more important to you. Therefore when a conflict occurs between Individualism and Collectivism the respondent is more likely to give up any Collectivism values that are held. Similarly with Independence The opposing value is Conformity which is 2nd on the list of values less important to you. So again the Independence values are likely to be reinforced at the expense of the Conformity values, when a values conflict looms. Remember it s the hierarchy of value types that is more important than the absolute percentages. Decisive respondents will have a more discriminated Window whereas conservative respondents will have a flatter Profile. 86

87 Pages 4-20: Narrative text This part of the Profile is the narrative, which gives general advice and comments on each of the eight value types. For each sector on the Window there are 16 possible texts that are used to create the report. To determine which text is printed the following algorithm is used: The eight raw scores are first rearranged so that the highest score is graded as 100% and the others proportionally upgraded. For the sample Profile, the following table shows the raw scores and their upgrade. Example of Window on Work Values scoring Value type Raw scores Upgraded scores Individualism 81% 100% Compliance 78% 96% Empowerment 72% 89% Conformity 61% 74% Equality 56% 69% Collectivism 56% 69% Independence 53% 65% Authority 37% 46% To determine which text is printed out the upgraded scores are used. If the score is 75% or over then a strong text file is printed. Between 50-74% a moderate to high text file is printed; between 25-49% a moderate to low text file is printed and less than 25% a low file is printed. Each of these files is modified depending upon the score in the opposite pole of the value pair. As an example, Individualism has a 100% upgraded score, but its opposite pole, Collectivism has 69%. So the file selected for printing will be the one containing strong Individualism text modified by moderate to high Collectivism text. Similarly, the Equality file will have the moderate to high text but suitably modified for a moderate to low score on Authority. The net result is one of 16 text options for each windowpane. WINDOW ON WORK VALUES PROFILE - TECHNICAL INFORMATION This procedure takes account of the different answering patterns of respondents. No matter whether the respondent is decisive or indecisive, the algorithm will calculate which files will be printed out in their strong version and which in their weaker version. In this way everyone will receive a number of strong texts followed by texts that describe those value types with lower scores. 87

88 Notes NOTES 88

89 Window on Work Values Profile Applications Contents Overview of a TMS Intervention Pulling it all Together A Sample Programme Session Plan Suggestions Introducing the WoWV and Debriefing the Profile Example Team Charter WINDOW ON WORK VALUES PROFILE - APPLICATIONS 89

90 Overview of a TMS Intervention Planning Administration Preparation Debriefing Developing & Follow-up Consult Plan Intro Logistics Prep Follow-up Next steps WINDOW ON WORK VALUES PROFILE - APPLICATIONS What questions would you ask your clients here? Planning Administration How would you explain the process to learners? How would you design the session and present the concepts? Consultation - What, Why, Who, How, When, Scope Planning - Formal Statement of Understanding Intro, Objectives, Expectations, Issues, Admin Logistics - Profile Questionnaires to Facilitator 2 weeks 2 weeks 2 hrs 1 week How would you help learners keep TMS on the agenda? Logistics - Profile Questionnaires to TMS 1 week Preparation Preparation - Further Consultation, Technical Support, Programme Refinement, Develop Materials 2 weeks Debriefing Wrap-up, Team Charter, Your Profile, Your Organisation and its values, Theory, Set-up 1 day Follow-up - Further Consultation, 1-on-1 Support Coaching, Planning next steps 1 month Developing & Follow Up Next Modules - Based needs Next Steps - Ongoing Support, Additional Programmes, Team led 1/2 day Ongoing 90

91 Pulling it all Together The simple approach outlined below will guide you in your planning for Profile feedback sessions. While the Window on Work Values Profile and Organisational Profile are related conceptually and in relation to the OVP-WoWV match option, the different applications, processes and feedback data demand different approaches when it comes to using the two instruments. The following framework reflects five basic steps that take you from initial preparation to final action results: Step 1: Pinpointing the Business Objective Step 1: Pinpointing the Business Objective Step 2: Setting the Scene Step 3: Preparation Step 4: Feeding Back the Profile Content Step 5: Getting Commitment to Action The first thing is to identify a specific business objective or problem. The next thing is to identify how the WoWV Profile might help to address this problem or issue. Key points to consider at this stage of the process: WINDOW ON WORK VALUES PROFILE - APPLICATIONS The feedback information allows individuals to understand the core values that drive their behaviour at work. The hierarchy of value types will identify the top two or three value types that will influence their workplace behaviour the most. By identifying how they are likely to react in a variety of situations, they can learn to modify their behaviour to achieve more optimal outcomes - particularly with team members and colleagues. Often conflicts at work can be traced back to people holding opposing values. Values are the personal standards that individuals use to judge their own behaviour and that of others. Understanding the different values frameworks and learning how to Pace different values sets can improve substantially the interactions among team members, as well as organisational stakeholders. 91

92 The outcome for many programmes using the WoWV Profile is a Team Charter, comprising the Team Purpose and Team Values statements. Team Charter lists the core values that team members agree should be the foundation of how the team works. Behavioural ground rules and actions can then be drawn up to act as guidelines for the way the team works. This process will help team members understand what the team is supposed to do, why it is doing it and how everyone should contribute to the outcomes. On the logistics side of things, you will also need to consider what support will be necessary to make the process successful. This includes time to gather, prepare and debrief the data; as well as resources to support subsequent development. WINDOW ON WORK VALUES PROFILE - APPLICATIONS Step 2: Setting the Scene This part of the process involves preparing people to complete profile questionnaires. Respondents need to complete the profile questionnaires in an honest and considered way. To do that, they need to understand exactly what the profile questionnaire measures and why it is being used. Clear and positive communication is vital. You need to: Explain what the Window on Work Values Profile Questionnaire measures. Show a sample Profile so people know what to expect. Take the time to explain the method of completion of the profile questionnaires (the on-line EPQ site or paper-based) and emphasise the confidential nature of the feedback. You may also like to review the Ethical Guidelines for the Window on Work Values Profile. Spend time with your client/s making sure they understand where values sit conceptually is important. It is helpful to position the Values concept within the overall framework of workplace behaviour, by using the Pyramid of Workplace behaviour. Step 3: Preparation Your preparation before debriefing the Window on Work Values Profile is critical. Having the Profile processed a few days in advance of the debrief session is advisable, so you can scan through the reports. You should also think about how to relate the results back to key models and concepts underlying the Profile you are using. 92

93 Here are some tips for working through the Profile: Keep in mind your overall objectives - what action you would like to result from the session and what impact any major differences of opinion could have and how to handle them. Step 4: Feeding Back the Profile Content The Window on Work Values Model must be well understood by clients before giving them their Window on Work Values Profile. The PowerPoint Slides on the Intranet site can be used for this purpose. The Values Mapping diagram on page 89 of this handbook (and on the PowerPoint Slides which can be downloaded from the TMS Network Member s Intranet Site) should be shown after the Window on Work Values Model is explained. This helps participants understand the three levels used to explain values. Level 1: the two axes of Group Focus - Self Focus and Organisational Constraint - Organisational Freedom Level 2: the eight value types Level 3: the component values that cluster into the value types Make sure you understand the difference between a Value and a Preference. Sooner or later someone will ask you about this. Using the Workplace Pyramid is a good way of explaining where values sit conceptually. Show a sample Profile and demonstrate its relevant sections so as to enable people to read and understand the Profile. Once you are confident that the person/s has a good grasp of the concepts, then give them their Profile. Always allow plenty of time for reading and absorbing the information. This may involve taking the Profile away to read in-depth and returning at a later date to discuss the data. All Profiles are provided with a Profile Guide which explains the main concepts behind the Profile. Make sure that this is given out with each Profile. There is often a tendency for people to see only negatives in those parts of the Window on Work Values that are opposite to their core values. Try to encourage everyone to look at the good points of each of the eight value types. A way of doing so can be through looking at the pros and cons of each value type. For instance, with Collectivism, it s good that we value the group, but it could be bad that we have lowest common denominator decisions to ensure consensus. To facilitate a quick understanding of the differing values within a team it is useful to run the Dos and Don ts exercise. Ask participants to complete one sheet of flip chart paper with the key behaviours that support their core value types. The Dos are, Those behaviours that I would like to experience from others and the Don ts are, Those behaviours which break any possible rapport between me and others. Sometime people place undue importance on the percentage allocated to each value type. With this report, the more important feature of the values make-up is the hierarchy, order or relativity, not the absolute values of the numbers on the front page. WINDOW ON WORK VALUES PROFILE - APPLICATIONS 93

94 Step 5: Getting Commitment to Action WINDOW ON WORK VALUES PROFILE - APPLICATIONS Summarise points from earlier discussions. It is important to decide on appropriate actions points to take and to agree on a date for review. In values work the whole concept of the Ecological Check is important as it helps explain why people don t walk the talk. This term can be loosely defined as a broad alignment check. This check should occur at many different levels, e.g. alignment internally, alignment between individual and organisational values, alignment between our team values and those of other teams in the organisation etc. Problems can occur when the personal value types of the senior managers in an organisation are not aligned with the espoused values or values based outcomes that comprise the Organisational Values Statement. An ecological check here can bring out this discrepancy and facilitate a discussion of the inherent problems. You can use the Window on Work Values with your clients to develop a Team Charter. This is a tangible way for the team to manage and uphold values. The Team Charter lists the core values that team members agree should be the foundation of how the team works. Behavioural ground rules and actions can then be drawn up to act as guidelines for the way the team works. Examples of this can be found in the development guide (part of the TMS Licensed Kit), or from the PowerPoint Slides on the Network Member s Intranet Site. Reinforce the idea that those whose personal work values are misaligned with the ideal team values just generated, may be those most likely to violate the ground rules in times of crises or stress (Ecological Check). A Sample Programme This section of the Accreditation Handbook provides an outline of a sample WoWV programme. It represents a starting point and should be viewed as an example for considering your own programmes, in light of your own approach and your client needs. Administration Giving your participant/s the opportunity to discuss profile questionnaire administration is an important part of managing issues and expectations. Some of the concerns you might like to discuss would include: Emotions: How do we feel about embarking on the process? Are we scared, optimistic, anxious etc? Confidentiality: Will I have to share the results? What conflict could this generate? What are the ethical requirements? Maturity: Are we mature enough as a team/organisation to work with this process effectively? Next Steps: What will we do with this data? What actions would we be expecting to see? Will we report back to our raters? 94

95 Although it is optimal to convene the participant/s to discuss the programme and the WoWV, this is not always practical. The following sample provides an example letter that could be sent to respondents. This could accompany hard copies of the questionnaires or ed in advance of activating e-pqs from TMSProfiles.com. Sample Letter Dear [Participant s name], I am writing to introduce myself and begin the process for the [programme Name] being conducted on the [Date] at [location]. My name is [Facilitator s details], I am [role explanation] and I will be [programme involvement e.g. facilitating, co-facilitator, coordinator]. Purpose The purpose of the session is to [primary purpose/objective]. Furthermore, we will spend time addressing [additional objectives]. Window on Work Values Profile As part of this discussion, you will receive your own personalised Window on Work Values Profile. This report tells you about your individual values at work. In order to receive this feedback, you will need to complete the Window on Work Values Questionnaire (WoWVQ). You will receive additional instructions on how to complete the questionnaire in an that will be sent soon from TMSProfiles.com. The questionnaire should only take about 15 minutes to complete. You don t need to feel concerned by the feedback you might receive. This approach has been selected because: it is simple and easy to understand; it provides practical information presented in a positive way and; is based on extensive research. Deadline We would like the results sent back by close of business on [deadline date]. If this is not possible, please get in touch with me as soon as you can so we can make some alternative arrangements. If you have any questions about the questionnaire, the Window on Work Values Profile or any aspects of the [programme name] session, please feel free to contact me, [contact details]. WINDOW ON WORK VALUES PROFILE - APPLICATIONS Further information on the Window on Work Values Profile can be found at Team Management Systems website at I trust you will enjoy and benefit from the Profile and the programme. I look forward to working with you. Sincerely, (Facilitator s details) 95

96 Session Plan Suggestions WoWV can be used in a number of ways in many aspects of individual, team and management development programmes. These workshop formats may be useful as a starting point when presenting your first few programmes using the WoWV Profile. The first session is an introductory session to explain the concepts behind the Profile and feed back the results. The Profile Guide Workbook (standard inclusion with all Profiles) will help all participants analyse the results of their Profile. This session plan is followed by another workshop design where we develop a Team Charter, a behavioural based statement, to help us manage and uphold values. WINDOW ON WORK VALUES PROFILE - APPLICATIONS All suggested materials within the session plans are available from TMS and approved by the TMS authors. Further workshop tips & ideas can be found in the Network Member s section of the TMS Website Introducing the WoWV and Debriefing the Profile A half-day session designed to introduce the WOWV concepts and highlight the implications for each person s Profile results. 30 minutes Welcome and Introductions Values Photographs Exercise - In the Window on Work Values Applications Kit (available from your nearest TMS office) are a set of 64 photographs showing images roughly aligned with the eight Window on Work Values segments. These cards are arranged on tables for participants to view. Ask them to look at the cards and choose two that strike a chord with them - either for better or worse. After they have chosen, ask each participant to show their cards and explain their choice. Some participants will choose cards that remind them of holidays but others will choose cards that highlight some underlying value. After everyone has shown the cards and the discussion is finished, say that people s choice of cards are often based on their underlying values. Maybe you can refer to some of the cards that have been chosen as examples of people s need to be with others (Collectivism) or to be free (Independence) but just mention this as a lead in to the workshop and don t go into too much detail. You may refer to their choice later in the programme once the Window on Work Values Model has been introduced. Often you will find that the images they choose in this introductory session align with their core value types. In discussing people s choices it is useful to start using the language of the Window on Work Values when summarizing their choices or asking questions about their choices. 96

97 What are Values? Exploration of values and their role in the workplace. 15 minutes If you feel comfortable you could ask people to meet in groups to discuss the question, What are Values? This would require you to fully understand what is and what is not a value. Otherwise show the Workplace Behaviour Pyramid and describe the three levels using the PowerPoint slides. The slides will also allow you to explain the difference between values and preferences. 30 minutes 40 minutes 45 minutes Define values and show the various slides. Indicate that work values as mentioned in this programme have a specific definition and are often different from values described in mission and value statements in organisations. The Window on Work Values Model Explain the Window on Work Values Model using the PowerPoint slides. Focus on the characteristics of individual behaviours that support each value type as well as the characteristics of organisations that foster each value type. Personal Window on Work Values Profile Go through an example of a personal Profile holding up a sample for everyone to see. Explain the concepts of a values hierarchy and the position in the hierarchy of opposing value types. Talk about the possibilities of Collaborative Individualism and Complying Empowerment. Hand out the personal Profiles and allow people 20 minutes to read. Duo Discussions of Profiles Assign participants into duos. Each person should have 10 minutes to explain their Profile to their partner. The role of the partner is to act as a coach bringing out any insights that might help the other person. Finally ask the duo to prepare a 5 minute summary of their discussions for presentation to the whole group. It is a good idea to prepare PowerPoint slides of each person s scores prior to the workshop so that these can be projected for easy reference. WINDOW ON WORK VALUES PROFILE - APPLICATIONS 97

98 Example Team Charter High-performing teams need a common purpose and a shared set of values aligned with the organisational vision. These are best created through the development of a Team Charter. This comprises a Team Purpose statement and a Team Values statement. They help everyone understand what the team is supposed to do, why it is doing it and how team members should contribute to the outcomes. If a team does not have such a charter then team members can be pulled in many different directions at once. WINDOW ON WORK VALUES PROFILE - APPLICATIONS Whether teamwork occurs in the context of an orchestra, football team, military unit, family or work team, one principle is universal: teamwork requires commitment from all team members to an energizing and inspirational shared purpose and a common set of values. Team Purpose Statement A Team Purpose is important because it: Helps define boundaries for what is and is not part of the team s work Gives a framework for defining and evaluating the team s success Focuses thinking and creativity Helps determine the important tasks A good purpose statement clearly identifies and defines: The What The Who The How This describes a specific focus for your team and distinguishes your work from that of other teams. Who the team serves: internal and external customers; people who will receive and use what the team produces. How the team serves its customers with an emphasis on the product, customer service and quality: how the team will work together to achieve its goals. In addition, the purpose statement can be extended to include specific outputs and outcomes which may need to be altered from time to time. The Outputs The specific team results delivered to clients or customers. The output statement should include realistic goals and targets which may be needed. The Outcomes The effect of the result on the clients. 98

99 A good purpose statement should be: Clear Understandable Brief Energising Inspirational Team Purpose statements can vary in their layout and content. A possible example is shown below for a manufacturing team. Example of a Team Purpose Statement for a Manufacturing Team of an Engineering Organisation The What Our purpose is to be the safest, most cost effective and reliable manufacturing team on site producing gate valves for water reticulation. The Who We will achieve this by working together to achieve goals which will challenge us. Our customers are both internal and external to our organisation. For both groups customer service will be paramount, to agreed standards of quality. The How We will develop skills to maintain safe practices and we will embrace new technology. To this end all team members will receive 10 days personal development and training per year. We will establish clear guidelines for customer service, production and quality. The Outputs We will meet our budgeted weekly production targets with 365 loss-time accident-free days and reduce incidents by at least 25%. We aim to be within 10% of best practice worldwide. The Outcomes Totally satisfied senior management and internal teams who see us adding value to our organisation. Satisfied external customers who compliment us on our service. WINDOW ON WORK VALUES PROFILE - APPLICATIONS Team Values Statement For a team to function at an optimum level it is important that there is an agreed set of shared values. When a team agrees on its core values it is easy to deal with conflict situations. Team members can then adjust their behaviour and pull in the same rather than different directions. Without agreed common values, problems will definitely arise. The Window on Work Values can be used as a basis for team members to agree an ideal set of value types which will guide team members behaviour. A Team Values Statement should identify behaviours and actions which will ensure that the agreed value types are upheld. Many teams and organisations advocate values such as integrity and openness but only pay lip service to them because they are not developed into behaviours and actions. 99

100 Pacing Values The concept of Pacing is very useful when feeding back the results of a Window on Work Values Profile. Core values determine what we value as legitimate and worthy, and most people will respond to behaviour that aligns with their core values. When people with opposing value types interact, there will be a tendency for both parties to lock into their own model of reality, thus leading to potential conflict. Pacing is a technique to prevent this from happening. It requires both parties to make allowances for the other person s view of the world by attempting to interact with them in ways that respect their values. WINDOW ON WORK VALUES PROFILE - APPLICATIONS The Pacing tips below are suggested approaches to use with people holding the indicated value type strongly. Authority Value Type It is important for them to be seen to be right in front of others, so be careful about challenging them in ways that make them look bad Expect them to have a lower tolerance for people with opposing beliefs and ideas and therefore avoid responding negatively if they oppose you Allow for their ambitions and expect them to take every opportunity to push themselves forward Know that they will respond well to feedback that highlights their prowess in leadership activities Compliance Value Type They will expect people to respect the organisational hierarchy and obey orders They may check up on you regularly to ensure that their orders have been carried out as they specified They will usually insist on following the organisational procedures They value stability and are unlikely to respond well to people who want to change things Conformity Value Type Make allowance for their needs to work within the defined rules and regulations of their organisation Show respect for the hierarchy that may exist within any group Recognize that stability is preferred and avoid rocking the boat unnecessarily Understand their need to avoid extremes of action and to accept the current situation rather than moving to change it 100

101 Collectivism Value Type Be patient, as they will need time to consult with others before agreeing to decisions Spend time building lasting relationships, as they are unlikely to give of their best unless there is a strong bond between you and them Appreciate and praise the work of the whole group wherever possible, rather than singling out individuals Remember that these people never act in a way that causes a member of the team or group to lose face in front of others Equality Value Type They respond best to people who show tolerance They expect people to be treated equally and fairly They do not enjoy conflict and will have reduced motivation and commitment in such circumstances They appreciate people who can show forgiveness Empowerment Value Type They will not enjoy following orders and will prefer to develop their own way of delivering results They will not appreciate people checking up on them to ensure they have complied with orders They will want to be consulted on key issues and to have an input in the decision-making process They work best when they are trusted and given either individual or group responsibility for outcomes Independence Value Type They are people who value freedom of thought and freedom of action They will want to exercise their own creativity and will not respond well to those who restrict them Above all they will want to formulate their own goals and have the autonomy to pursue them They will give of their best when allowed to do their own thing WINDOW ON WORK VALUES PROFILE - APPLICATIONS Individualism Value Type They will want to make decisions on their own without necessarily referring back to the group They will respond well to delegated authority where they are the responsible and accountable person They will constantly look for employment that meets their own individual needs and so their job mobility may be high They usually respond well to pay incentives and recognition that singles them out from the team. 101

102 Notes NOTES 102

103 Organisational Values Profile Technical Information Contents Measuring Organisational Values Grouping of Organisational Values Items Reasons for Using the Organisational Values Profile Choosing Who Should Complete the Profile Questionnaires Tour of the Organisational Values Profile ORGANISATIONAL VALUES PROFILE - TECHNICAL INFORMATION 103

104 Measuring Organistational Values The Organisational Values Profile Questionnaire (OVPQ) is a 32-item multi-rater instrument designed to compare people s perceptions of their organisation s values, using the Window on Work Values Model. Respondents are asked to rate their organisation, indicating to what extent they agree with a particular statement relating to the eight value types. They choose from one of four responses, Strongly Agree, Mostly Agree, Mostly Disagree and Strongly Disagree. ORGANISATIONAL VALUES PROFILE - TECHNICAL INFORMATION Grouping of Organisational Values Items Individualism Question Authority Compliance Items 5 My organisation values individual performance more than team performance 9 Most people in my organisation tend to put themselves before others 21 There is a strong spirit of competitiveness between individuals in my organisation 25 In my organisation individual success is rewarded more than team success Question Items 1 My organisation values a management system where strong control is exerted over employees 10 Senior Management in my organisation is not very tolerant of differing viewpoints 17 People in my organisation are not very tolerant of differing viewpoints 26 I would say that people in management positions in my organisation tend to dominate those who report to them Question Items 7 People in my organisation are bound by rules and regulations 11 Obedience is highly valued in my organisation 23 Managers in my organisation tend to tell people what to do rather than consulting them for their views 27 My organisation expects people to follow orders without question 104

105 Conformity Question Items 4 My organisation values people who don t rock the boat 16 My organisation values those who conform to existing business structures 20 There is a climate of self-restraint in my organisation 32 People in my organisation accept the organisational hierarchy and are unlikely to challenge those in senior positions Collectivism Question Items 12 People in my organisation act to ensure harmony in the workplace 15 People in my organisation tend to put others first 28 Fairness is a principle strongly held within my organisation 31 Loyalty is a guiding principle in the way people in my organisation act Equality Question Items 3 Managers in my organisation treat those who report to them as individuals 6 Tolerance of other people and their ideas is encouraged in my organisation 19 Equal opportunity for all is a guiding principle in my organisation 22 There are good levels of trust between people in my organisation Empowerment Question Items 2 People in my organisation have the freedom to plan their own way of working 14 My organisation values giving responsibility to others 18 By its actions my organisation values self-accountability ORGANISATIONAL VALUES PROFILE - TECHNICAL INFORMATION 30 People in my organisation are encouraged to contribute to decision-making Independence Question Items 8 My organisation encourages people to do their own thing 13 People in my organisation have autonomy and are encouraged to make their own decisions 24 My organisation values independence of thought and action 29 By its actions my organisation values individual creativity in its people 105

106 Reasons for Using the Organisational Values Profile The Organisational Values Profile (OVP) can be used in several ways as indicated in the examples below: ORGANISATIONAL VALUES PROFILE - TECHNICAL INFORMATION Organisational Values Assessment Most organisations have some sort of values statement that expresses the wishes of senior management. In practice, the behaviours exhibited by managers throughout an organisation do not always align with the espoused values. The Organisational Values Profile enables a quick assessment to be made across an organisation of employees values perceptions, in terms of the Window on Work Values Model. A report can be presented to senior management of the various views held throughout the organisation on what is valued and what is not. This information can be compared across business units and against the corporate values statement. This is excellent for comparing values in use against espoused values. Team Values Assessment The results give team members a map of where the team is now, in terms of the values in use. This introduces a common language for the development of ideal team values and how they align with organisational values. Values Alignment Checks Combined with the Window on Work Values Profile, the Organisational Values Profile can be used to produce match data between an individual s personal work values and their assessment of the organisation s values. This can be easily extended to matches between team members and the collective team view of the core values within the organisation. This helps to foster discussions in teams where the individual team member s perceptions of organisational values differ. Organisational Values Statement The Window on Work Values Model can be used as the basis for developing an organisation values statement for an organisation. The statement can be written in terms of the model and this allows a common language to be used throughout the organisation for all values work. When working with a large group a good starting point is to actually use the Organisational Values Profile. Ask the group you are working with to individually complete an Organisational Values Profile Questionnaire (OVPQ), based on the ideal behaviours they would like to see. The results then become the basis for creating the Organisational Values Statement. Where a values statement is already in place the model can be used to reframe the statement in terms of the Window on Work Values Model. 106

107 Choosing Who Should Complete the Profile Questionnaires The OVPQ has been designed as a quick measure of employees perceptions of organisational behaviour that relates to underlying values. It is an ideal way to measure any inconsistencies in the various business units that are the building blocks of organisations. The starting point for measuring organisational values is to define the organisation. Any level of definition is possible from a worldwide organisation down to a regional or local grouping. When working with a team the definition of organisation should be at least one level up from the team you might be working with. There is no limit to the number of respondents taking part in a particular evaluation. However there is a maximum number of separate groupings that are possible. Currently there are five separate grouping defined as; Group A; Group B; Group C; Group D; and, Group E. This enables five separate teams in one business unit to assess the unit s organisational values and then compare and discuss any similarities or differences. If a survey across a whole organisation is required then a number of business unit evaluations would be carried out and a picture of organisational values developed from the bottom up. An assessment of an individual s view of organisational values can also be made if necessary. In this case there would be only one respondent and their perception might then be compared with their own personal work values as measured by the Window on Work Values Profile. Rating Groups The Organisational Values Profile divides raters into five different categories, together with an average of all respondents, known as the All Rater group. Group A Group B Group C Group D Group E All Raters ORGANISATIONAL VALUES PROFILE - TECHNICAL INFORMATION Single Respondent Rating Groups A final consideration is a situation where there is a single respondent in a rating group. In the report, a rater s actual response will be identifiable. Consequently, any rater should be advised if they are the only respondent in a rating group. 107

108 Tour of the Organisational Values Profile This section is a tour of the Organisational Values Profile, describing the graphical, narrative and quantitative parts in detail. Once you understand the mechanics of the Profile you will find it easy to interpret the data and feed back the information to your clients. The OVP is divided into six sections: ORGANISATIONAL VALUES PROFILE - TECHNICAL INFORMATION Window on Work Values Cover Sheet and Introduction Importance ratings and rankings of the various respondent groups, for each organisational value type Net Score Percentage Distributions for each rating group Organisational Value Types Hierarchy of Net Percentage Scores Quantitative data for all respondent groups, for each of the 32 items (optional) Organisational Values/Personal Values Match Data (optional) Window on Work Values Page and Introduction The first page is the Window on Work Values page and this is followed by an introduction to the Window on Work Values Model and a definition of each value type. At the end of the introduction is a summary of the rating groups involved in the generation of the Profile, together with a list of those raters in each grouping. There are five groupings that can be used to report the data Group A, Group B, Group C, Group D and Group E. These groups can be edited to contain any identifier required. Usually the facilitator will specify these groupings and edit the names when sending out questionnaires via the TMS EPQ (electronic profile questionnaire) site. Groups may also be edited within the OVP software and profile questionnaires re-assigned to different groups after completion, if necessary. The sample Profile is set in a fictional manufacturing com[pany, Warren House Plastics. You will see that Group A has been assigned as the Senior Management Team, Group B as Production, Group C as Logistics, and Group D as Corporate Services. There are eight raters from the Senior Management Team, seven from Production, five from Logistics, and five from Corporate Services. The names of all respondents in the Senior Management team (Group A) are listed. Organisational Values Importance Ratings and Rankings (Sample Page 6) There are three columns that contain the following information. Column 1 The eight Organisational Value Types are listed and highlighted on the Window on Work Values Model. 108

109 Column 2 The importance rating is calculated from the response to each item in the Profile Questionnaire. A Strongly Disagree response to an item scores a zero. A Mostly Disagree response scores 1, a Mostly Agree scores 3, and a Strongly Agree scores 4. The neutral score of 2 is implicit half way between Mostly Agree and Mostly Disagree. The response is divided by 4, converted to a percentage and averaged over the four items for each Organisational Value Type. It is averaged again over all respondents in a group to give an overall raw percentage for that group and that Organisational Value Type. Column 3 The Ranking is the Importance Rating percentage in Column 2 put into order of importance from the highest to the lowest. If an Importance Rating is 58% and the Ranking column shows 4 (=), then you know that at least one other Organisational Value Type has the same percentage and is also 4th equal in importance. This is the column that allows you to see if there is a difference in rating between respondents. For example, consider the Individualism results of the sample Profile: Here the Group A respondents have rated Individualism at 69% of the maximum possible. It ranks 8th on the importance ranking list for this group. Group B has scored 83% and considers Individualism to be second in the list of importance. Group C considers it to be 4th in importance with a value of 58%. And Group D with a value of 56% ranks Individualism as 4th on their list. The equal (=) sign in the Ranking column indicates they have another value type of equal ranking. The All Rater figure of 68% is an average of all the raters involved 25 for this report. ORGANISATIONAL VALUES PROFILE - TECHNICAL INFORMATION 109

110 Organisational Value Types Net Score Percentage Distribution (Sample Page 8) ORGANISATIONAL VALUES PROFILE - TECHNICAL INFORMATION The raw scores of the previous pages can be converted into a percentage distribution around the Window on Work Values Model. The resulting value type distributions for the selected rater groups are shown in the diagrams in this section. Here 100 percentage points are distributed around the Window to show the relative importance of each value type. This calculation is made by normalizing the raw percentage score that is by dividing a raw percentage Organisational Value Type score for a particular grouping by the sum of the eight raw scores for that group. The example diagrams below indicate the net percentage scores given by Group A and Group B. The other rating groups are treated similarly. This information gives a snapshot of the differing views of the organisational values. As a guideline, a rating of 16% in any one value type is regarded as a relatively high score, and anything under 8% as a relatively low score. In the sample above you will see that there is a significant relative difference between the Groups ratings of Empowerment, Equality, Authority and Compliance. Any difference over 5% indicates a significant difference in perception of organisational values. In this case Groups A and B are looking at the organisation through different eyes. An obvious next step would be to discuss with key stakeholders the reasons for the differences. 110

111 Organisational Values Hierarchy of Net Percentage Scores (Sample Page 10) In this section the net percentage scores are arranged in order from the highest to the lowest score, for each rating group. The most critical value types are those above 12.5%. Usually these are the top three or four value types in each rating group. This comparison allows you to see whether the rating groups have identified the same top three or four organisational value types. In the sample below, Group A (Senoir Management Team) has rated Equality, Independence and Empowerment as the top three value types in Warren House Plastics. The Production Team (Group B) has rated the top three value types as Authority, Individualism and Conformity. This indicates that the views of each group are totally different. The reasons for this would be explored in follow up discussions. It could be that the Senior Management Group doesn t see the effect that their behaviour is having on some parts of the organisation. Groups C and D have a slightly different perspective. ORGANISATIONAL VALUES PROFILE - TECHNICAL INFORMATION 111

112 Quantitative Report (Sample Page 12) This part of the Profile gives an in-depth analysis of each item for each organisational value type. It is an optional report that will always be included with the Profile unless you request its removal. It shows how the different respondent groups have answered all four items. This enables you to interpret the various responses from individuals within each rating group. An extract from the sample Profile for the Authority Value Type is shown below. ORGANISATIONAL VALUES PROFILE - TECHNICAL INFORMATION Column 1 This column shows the respondent groups. Column 2 Column two shows the number of respondents in each group. This is the column to watch to make sure that all the respondents are answering all the items. Column 3 In this column the responses are averaged for the number of respondents in the group. If there is only one rater in the group, then the data is their actual response. You should make sure that there are always 2 or more respondents per group, unless you have agreed with a respondent that their responses can stand alone in the report. Otherwise no confidentiality for this respondent exists. Column 4 The bar graphs illustrate the average score shown in column 3. It allows visual comparison based on the length of the line. Three groups scored above the neutral result and two groups scored below the neutral mark indicating substantially different views on this item. 112

113 Column 5 The Range of Opinion shows the scores given by the different respondents in each rating group. Possible scores of 0-4 are listed in the heading. The numbers in the column indicate how many people responded and what scores they gave. If there is only one rater in a rating group, the range of opinion is not required as it can be identified from column 4. In the sample extract, for Group B s responses for Item 1, one rater scored 3 and three raters scored 4, giving an average response for the group of There are no scores of 2 as this is the neutral marker and respondents must answer either 0 or 1 for the Disagree response and either 3 or 4 for the Agree response. Organisational Values/Personal Work Values Match (Sample Page 22) The Organisational Value ratings presented earlier in the Profile can be matched to an individual s Window on Work Values Profile scores, to determine the extent of the match between organisational values and personal work values. This information is presented in this section for one or more rating groups and the indicated individual(s). Any number of Window on Work Values Profile scores can be matched to the Organisational Values Profile data. The first Window on Work Values Model (value type net percentages) contains the Organisational Value percentages for the indicated rating group. When a match is chosen, matches can be calculated against any of the rating groups in the Profile, allowing the individual and the facilitator to choose the data that seem most relevant. ORGANISATIONAL VALUES PROFILE - TECHNICAL INFORMATION In the extract a match has been calculated for Fred Goldberg, one of the respondents in the Senior Management Team. The facilitator has chosen to match his personal value types against the organisational value types as assessed by all the respondents in his business unit i.e. the Senior Management Team. His Window on Work Values results are those on the right-hand model. 113

114 The bottom part of this page then shows the match data as indicated below: ORGANISATIONAL VALUES PROFILE - TECHNICAL INFORMATION Each sector of the three-dimensional Window on Work Values Model contains one of three coloured flags. A green flag indicates a high match (80% or greater) between the organisational values (as assessed by the relevant rating group) and the personal work values of the person being matched. An amber flag indicates a moderate match (50-80%) between the organisational values (as assessed by the relevant rating group) and the personal work values of the person being matched. A red flag indicates a low match (<50%) between the organisational values (as assessed by the relevant rating group) and the personal work values of the person being matched. If there is no flag then both the relevant organisational value type and the corresponding personal work value type are not significant (both pertenages nare below 6.5%) In addition, the red and amber flags will contain a down-arrow or an up-arrow. A downarrow indicates that the personal work value is below the corresponding organisational value. In other words, the relevant organisational value would need to be lowered to increase the match. An up-arrow indicates that the personal work value type is above the corresponding organisational value. In other words, the relevant organisational value type would need to be raised to increase the match. 114

115 In interpreting the match data, pay particular attention to the red flags. A down-arrow red flag suggests that the individual being matched may find work more meaningful if the relevant organisational value were lower. An up-arrow suggests that the individual may find work more engaging if the relevant organisational value were higher. For Fred Goldberg s match the results are good. He has a high match on Independence, Equality and Collectivism, moderate matches on Individualism and Empowerment and a low match on Authority and Conformity. He would be better matched if the organisation had lower Authority and Conformity value expectations and higher Individualism and Empowerment values. Facilitator s Report This report is not part of the main report and is generated as a loose leaf. It is produced to give extra data to the facilitator. Below is part of the report for the sample Profile. ORGANISATIONAL VALUES PROFILE - TECHNICAL INFORMATION The Facilitator s Report provides information about how individual raters each perceive the organisational values being evaluated. The numbers are the net percentage scores. The Facilitator s Report can be used to identify the individual responses and allows a more indepth analysis and discussion to take place. However beware of privacy legislation and always seek the approval of the individuals concerned before divulging this information. This report is a useful document to help you interpret the report data and design feedback sessions. 115

116 Notes NOTES 116

117 Organisational Values Profile Applications Contents Overview of a TMS Intervention Pulling it all Together A Sample Programme Session Plan Suggestions Alignment of Personal and Organisational Values Case Studies for the WoWV & OVP Case Study 1: Warren House Plastics (WHP) Ltd. Case Study 2: The Big Cheese s Case Study 3: Organisational Development in the Digital Age Case Study 4: Declining KPI s Case Study 5: Senior Leadership Team Values Programme ORGANISATIONAL VALUES PROFILE - APPLICATIONS 117

118 Overview of a TMS Intervention Planning Administration Preparation Debriefing Developing & Follow-up Consult Plan Intro Logistics Prep Follow-up Next steps ORGANISATIONAL VALUES PROFILE - APPLICATIONS What questions would you ask your clients here? Planning Administration How would you explain the process to learners? How would you design the session and present the concepts? Consultation - What, Why, Who, How, When, Scope Planning - Formal Statement of Understanding Intro, Objectives, Expectations, Issues, Admin Logistics - Profile Questionnaires to Facilitator 2 weeks 2 weeks 2 hrs 1 week How would you help learners keep TMS on the agenda? Logistics - Profile Questionnaires to TMS 1 week Preparation Preparation - Further Consultation, Technical Support, Programme Refinement, Develop Materials 2 weeks Debriefing & Plenarising Wrap-up, Actions, Profiles, Debrief, Theory, Setup Follow-up - Further Consultation, 1-on-1 Support Coaching, Planning next steps 1 day 1 month Developing & Follow Up Next Modules Next Steps - Ongoing Support, Additional Programmes, Team led 1/2 day Ongoing 118

119 Pulling it all Together The simple approach outlined below will guide you in your planning for Profile feedback sessions. While the Window on Work Values Profile and Organisational Profile are related conceptually and in relation to the OVP-WoWV match option, the different applications, processes and feedback data demand different approaches when it comes to using the two instruments. A particular feature of the OVP is that the perceptions of more than one rater can be combined in the same Profile. When working with any kind of feedback instrument, it is important to understand that some people may feel threatened. It is vital to dispel such feelings, as people need to read through the Profiles in the right frame of mind so that they can derive the maximum benefit from them. There is a lot that you can do to help this process by planning how you make Profile information available, and how you enable individuals to explore this information for themselves. The following framework reflects five basic steps that take you from initial preparation to final action results: Step 1: Pinpointing the Business Objective Step 2: Setting the Scene Step 3: Preparation ORGANISATIONAL VALUES PROFILE - APPLICATIONS Step 4: Feeding Back the Profile Content Step 5: Getting Commitment to Action 119

120 Step 1: Pinpointing the Business Objective The first thing is to identify a specific business objective or problem. Is it an Organisationalwide Values Assessment, or a Team Values Assessment? The next thing is to identify how the OVP might help to address this problem or issue. On the logistics side of things, you will also need to consider what support will be necessary to make the process successful. This includes time to gather, prepare and debrief the data; as well as resources to support subsequent development. Step 2: Setting the Scene ORGANISATIONAL VALUES PROFILE - APPLICATIONS This part of the process involves preparing people to complete profile questionnaires. Respondents need to complete the profile questionnaire in as honest and considered a way as possible. To do that, they need to understand exactly what the profile questionnaire measures and why it is being used. Clear and positive communication is vital. You need to: Explain that when people look the organisational values there is very much a subjective element. For example, a person might have one view, supervisors might have a totally different view, and the management team might also see the organisational values differently. In using the OVP if there are differences, people can talk them through, and come to an agreement of the ideal organisational values. All interventions with the OVP should be preceded by a session giving participants a good understanding of the values concepts and explaining how these will be measured. The objectives behind the intervention need to be explained. Ensure that when you assign the OVP Questionnaire for completion that you reinforce the definition of the organisation. All respondents must have a clear understanding of how the organisation is defined i.e. is it the whole organisation or just a branch, section or department? The OVP can be used for single rater purposes - the most common being a match between an individual s personal work values and their perception of the organisational values. A match diagram can help the person concerned to review the alignment between the two value type sets. If using the match data, explain that a low match of organisational values to personal work values for any sector on the Window on Work Values does not relate to individual performance. Present the WoWV Model and concepts underpinning the Profile and how the profile questionnaire relates to them. Show a sample Profile so people know what to expect. Take the time to explain the method of completion of the profile questionnaires (the on-line EPQ site or paper-based) and emphasise the confidential nature of the feedback. You may also like to review the Ethical Guidelines for the OVP. 120

121 Brief the raters: Remind them of the purpose of the intervention; Be honest; Ensure they are clear on the organisation being rated Clarify whose ratings will be confidential (where there is more than one rater in a rating group), and whose will not be confidential (where there is one person in a rating group. Step 3: Preparation Your preparation before debriefing the OVP is critical. Having the Profile processed a few days in advance of the debrief session is advisable, so you can read through the report in detail and are able to extract the key points. You should also think about how to relate the results back to key models and concepts underlying the Profile. Here are some tips for working through the Profile: Go through the Hierarchy of Net Percentage Scores (around page 10 of the profile) for each rating groups assessment of organisational values and make a note of the three or four most critical work values in each set of ratings. Note any major differences between rating groups. Check the column headed Range of Opinion in the Quantitative Report section (starting around page 12). By examining this information carefully you can see whether the individuals in a respondent group hold the same view or whether there are significant differences of opinion. Go through the match ratios. Make a note of any surprises, for example a low match ratio for any of the most important (as identified by respondents) values. The important point to remember is that a low match of organisational values to personal work values for any sector on the Window on Work Values does not relate to individual performance. You also need to keep in mind your overall objectives - what action you would like to result from the session and what impact any major differences of opinion could have and how to handle them. ORGANISATIONAL VALUES PROFILE - APPLICATIONS Step 4: Feeding Back the Profile Content Explain the Profile structure and how the data should be interpreted before giving out the Profiles to participants. Otherwise they will be reading the Profile, rather than listening to your explanation. Then give them time to read their own Profile. This may involve the team taking the Profiles away to read in depth and returning at a later date to discuss the data. All Profiles are provided with a Profile Guide which explains the main concepts behind the Profile. Make sure that this is given out with each Profile. The Profile Guide includes a short action-planning workbook that can help participants formulate plans relating to organisational values data. Participants should be encouraged to record their own views before discussing the results as a group. 121

122 ORGANISATIONAL VALUES PROFILE - APPLICATIONS Differences among rating groups are to be expected. Very often perceptions of organisational values are influenced by the management behaviour of the local business unit. This can lead to vastly different perspectives. Careful selection of the groupings may be necessary to tease out differences that can lead to significant behavioural change as a result of using this Profile. It is possible to rerun a Profile changing the allocation of groups. If you have the software you can do this yourself, otherwise your TMS Office can do this for you. Even if you have processed a multi-rater Profile it is relatively easy to rerun this with just one person in a Group - say Group A. You might want to do this if you a looking at the match between an individual s view of the organisation and their personal work values as measured by the Window on Work Values Profile. A low match of organisational values to personal work values for any sector on the Window on Work Values does not relate to individual performance. If coaching an individual, make this clear to them. You can then help them consider their options. For example, they might: Learn to accept the way people in the organisation behave and adapt their approach to fit in Develop Pacing Skills to develop rapport with others, in order to change other peoples perspectives Develop a set of shared values for their working group that align with their own values, even if these are different from those in the rest of the organisation Move to another part of the organisation where there is a better alignment Look for a career move to an organisation where the values alignment is substantially increased. Step 5: Getting Commitment to Action Remember, the Profile is simply information. Having a tangible outcome from the process is essential. This can be encapsulated in the form of action-plan, allowing people the opportunity to make a choice for themselves about the kind of development strategy that they want to adopt, based on the feedback they have received. In the case of an Organisational Values assessment consider how the data and actions resulting from the feedback will be made available to all involved. It s good practice to make the outcomes and responses known to all who contributed. This is often referred to as closing the feedback loop. Informing raters of actions and insights resulting from multi-rate questionnaires demonstrates that their opinion is valued and their contribution counts. 122

123 Some possible mechanisms for feeding back data to raters include: a verbal report by a Senior person (e.g. CEO/MD); report back by business unit manager, a report or article in a company newsletter, a general to all involved. Once an action-plan is in place, then regular follow-up will be needed to ensure that the commitment to action is maintained. If possible, a second set of OVPQ s can be completed to measure employees perceptions of organisational behaviour, and what values they reflect, over a suitable elapsed time. Additionally, this data can help you to evaluate the programme in terms of return on investment (ROI). A Sample Programme This section of the Accreditation Handbook provides an outline of a sample OVP programme. It represents a starting point and should be viewed as an example for considering your own programmes, in light of your own approach and your client needs. Administration Giving your participant/s the opportunity to discuss profile questionnaire administration is an important part of managing issues and expectations. Some of the concerns you might like to discuss would include: Emotions: How do we feel about embarking on the process? Are we scared, optimistic, anxious etc? Confidentiality: Who will have access to the data? What conflict could this generate? What are the ethical requirements? Maturity: Are we mature enough as a team/organisation to work with this process effectively? Sampling: How many people do we want to ask? Next Steps: What will we do with this data? What actions would we be expecting to see? Will we report back to our raters? ORGANISATIONAL VALUES PROFILE - APPLICATIONS Although it is optimal to convene the participant/s to discuss a number of issues around the OVP, this is not always practical. The following sample provides an example letter that could be sent to respondents. The letter could be ed in advance of activating e-pqs from TMSProfile.com. 123

124 Sample Letter Dear (Participant s Name), I m writing to introduce myself and begin the process for collecting some data to discuss at the (Programme title) later this month. My name is (your name) and I m (your position). At the session, I ll be hoping to (your role within the session). ORGANISATIONAL VALUES PROFILE - APPLICATIONS I ll be discussing a report called the Organisational Values Profile (OVP). The Organisational Values Profile is a multi-rater instrument used to measure organisational values in terms of the eight value types of the Window on Work Values Model. The perceptions of each rater are aggregated into a single, in-depth Profile. The Organisational Values Profile is very useful to compare the differing views on organisational values from a large number of respondents. I plan to spend (time frame within the programme) helping you make sense of your OVP results, identifying priorities and addressing any next steps you may need to take. Your OVP will be based on your individual response to a short (10-15 minute) questionnaire. Soon you will receive an automatically generated from TMSProfiles.com. This will direct you to a website where you can complete the questionnaire and receive more comprehensive instructions if you need them. Please keep in mind: There are no right or wrong answers the questionnaire is designed to address people s perceptions For the purposes of the questionnaire, we are defining the organisation as (ensure you reinforce the definition of the organisation. i.e. is it the whole organisation or just a branch, section or department) If you have any questions or if there is anything you d like to discuss, please don t hesitate to get in touch with me via (contact ) or phone (contact phone). With thanks, (Facilitator s details) Session Plan Suggestions There are many ways to use the Organisational Values Profile (OVP) with an organisation and with individuals. Your TMS Master Trainer can help you with application designs. On the following page, you will find a synopsis of some designs that are commonly used. 124

125 Introductory Session This session provides an outline of a possible OVP introductory programme. It represents a starting point for working with teams and should be viewed as an example for adapting your own programmes, in the light of your own approach and your client needs. It is a two-hour session aimed at introducing and setting up an organisational values workshop. This design would be particularly useful for a team about to embark on a longer-term learning programme. It is also useful as the first part of a workshop to develop a Team Charter. Purpose: Introduce the programme and explain the business drivers Discuss the programme purpose and aims Clarify objectives and expectations Explain methodology Outline theory of values and the Window on Work Values Model Administer and coordinate profile questionnaires Resources: Slideshow/visuals Any workbooks/handouts Organisational Values Profile Questionnaires Sample reports Time Guidelines Resources 5 minutes - Introduction and Ice-breaker 10 minutes - Session purpose and expectations leading into programme objectives and expectations 10 minutes - Explain and discuss programme drivers - Why are we doing this? - What are the strategic links? - How did we identify the need? etc. Visuals Visuals/Handouts ORGANISATIONAL VALUES PROFILE - APPLICATIONS 20 minutes - Introduce programme - Give an overview of the workshop and how organisational values fit into the design - Discuss timing requirements - Explain methodology/rationale behind using a particular approach (e.g. multirater feedback) NB: If the team or organisation is unfamiliar with using multi-rater feedback, more time would be spent discussing a wide variety of issues or concerns that some respondents may have 125

126 cont. Time Guidelines Resources 30 minutes - Overview and discussion of the Window on Work Values Model 15 minutes - Outline instrument - Show sample OVP - Address issue of Who do we ask? Slideshow Sample Profile 5 minutes - Review, QnA and quick check for understanding or issues ORGANISATIONAL VALUES PROFILE - APPLICATIONS minutes - Outline administration instructions - Explain the TMS-electronic profile questionnaire system and how they will complete the profile questionnaire. 15 minutes - Wrap-up, clarify next session - Time for questions etc Debiefing Session This half day session is the feedback and analysis of the results of the Organisational Values Profile. This Profile requires skilful facilitation but as it relates to perceptions of the organisation in general, it is less threatening. You will need to know what is in the report in some detail in order to guide discussion. Time Guidelines Resources 15 minutes Spend a few minutes reviewing the Window on Work Values Model and allow time for any questions. 15 minutes Using either a sample Profile or slideshows made from a sample Profile, show the group how to read the information contained in the Profile. 30 minutes Hand out the Profiles and allow the team time to read the Profile in full. Be available to answer their interpretation questions. 60 minutes Facilitate the discussion around their perceptions of the results and allow plenty of time for the team to talk over any issues. 45 minutes Split the team into groups to analyse fully a section of the Profile and report back to the team. 45 minutes - Findings from each group and agreed summary. Focus on the differences between each rating group. - You will have a Facilitator s Report with the ratings from each team member. You could share this data with participants, provided everyone gives permission. Slideshow - Sample Profile OR - Slideshow made from sample Profile Organisational Values Profile Flipchart paper Flipchart paper Flipchart paper

127 Alignment of Personal and Organisational Values This session follows on from the previous debriefing session plan and from the session you use to feedback individual Window on Work Value Profiles. If you are running an alignment session you may want to use the OVP-WoWV match option to match personal Window on Work Values data with the Organisational Values Profile data. Another customisable feature of the OVP, is to run a different OVP for each profile containing match data for just them. Time Guidelines Resources 10 minutes Review the OVP data and ask participants to reread their Window on Work Values Profile. 15 minutes - Using either a sample Profile or slideshows made from a sample Profile, show the group how to read the match data at the end of the Profile. Explain the significance of the red, green and amber flags and show them how to identify the relevant importance of the various flags. - Talk about the options possible for low matches in any sector. You may also choose to give them numeric data about their overall match. 20 minutes Hand out the Profiles and allow everyone time to read their Profile in full. Be available to answer their interpretation questions. Each person should have their own unique Profile report containing just their own match data. You will already have decided which rating group(s) to use for the match. 45 minutes Facilitate the discussion around their perceptions of the results and allow plenty of time for the group to talk over the implications. 45 minutes Split the team into duos and ask them to consider what the results mean to them personally. 30 minutes Final summary and agreed follow-up. You could offer supplementary one-on-one coaching sessions if required - Sample Profile OR - Slideshow made from sample Profile Organisational Values Profile Flipchart paper Flipchart paper Flipchart paper ORGANISATIONAL VALUES PROFILE - APPLICATIONS 127

128 Case Studies for the WoWV and OVP Case Study 1: Warren House Plastics (WHP) Ltd. Introduction & Background Warren House Plastics Ltd is Australia s leading manufacturer of crates for plastic bottles. The recent growth in the soft drinks industry had had a positive knock-on effect for packaging suppliers. The company turnover doubled in the two years prior to 2006 and a number of new large-scale contracts were secured. The pace of work had now levelled and it was obvious that there were some problems in the organisation that threatened continued growth. ORGANISATIONAL VALUES PROFILE - APPLICATIONS The CEO, Fred Goldberg, had a good idea of what is right with the organisation and what he wants to improve. He feels it is essential to build a culture of high-performance and engagement to achieve long term objectives such as performance improvements and increased efficiency. Fred asked if Steve Smith, the Human Resources Manager, could help. Steve suggested that to get a broader view, comprehensive information from staff be gathered. Steve advised using the Organisational Values Profile (OVP) as it is a quick measure of employees perceptions of organisational behaviour and how that relates to underlying values. In particular, Steve was interested in identifying whether there were any cases of misalignment between the espoused organisational values and the actual values in practice. CFO Dennis Rigby CEO Fred Goldberg Operations Dir: Sonny Johan Corporate Services Dir: Sonny Johan Production Mgr: Mike Jones Logistics Mgr: Lee Cheng HR Mgr: Steve Smith Finance Mgr: Pete Kellerman 128

129 To ensure anonymity, Steve recommended four groupings: one rating group for the Senior Management Team (SMT); plus randomly selected raters, representing three parts of the business Production, Logistics and Corporate Services. 1. Group A Senior Management Team CFO, Dennis Rigby Operations Director, Sonny Johan Corporate Services Director, Jenny Marcus Production Manager, Mike Jones CEO, Fred Goldberg Logistics Manager, Lee Cheng Human Resources Manager, Steve Smith Finance Manager, Pete Kellerman 2. Group B Production (7 raters) 3. Group C Logistics (5 raters) 4. Group D Corporate Services (5 raters) Exercise: You are in the role of Steve Smith, the Human Resources Manager. You briefed each rater about the purpose of the OVP and they have completed their questionnaires. You now have a copy of the OVP and have arranged a meeting with the SMT tomorrow. What themes may be drawn from the report? What aspects of the report do you think the SMT should focus on as a priority? What thoughts do you have on how the data should be presented to 1. the SMT, 2. the other raters, and 3. the broader organisation? What process did you use to analyse and interpret the data? Where to from here for Warren House Plastics? ORGANISATIONAL VALUES PROFILE - APPLICATIONS Notes 129

130 Notes ORGANISATIONAL VALUES PROFILE - APPLICATIONS 130

131 Case Study 2: The Big Cheese s A good example of the process for generating a Team Values Statement comes from the Cheese Division of a large dairy company. The senior management team used a card-sort technique to identify which of the Window on Work Values sectors they wanted to focus on in developing ideal team values. They identified three important sectors: Empowerment, Independence and Individualism. These value types were then broken down into component values which were used as the basis of behavioural and/or action ground rules. The main values comprising the three above value types are as follows: Empowerment Value Type Checklist values in this cluster are: Finding the best in others Self-accountability Being dependable (e.g. attending meetings fully prepared) Giving and receiving the opportunity to contribute Taking and giving personal responsibility Self-reliance Allowing people to learn from mistakes in a positive way Readiness to listen to anyone s ideas Independence Value Type Checklist values in this cluster are: Encouraging individual creativity Deciding what I do Formulating my own goals Autonomy Freedom of action Doing my own thing Freedom to make own decisions Having fun Variety Excitement Curiosity ORGANISATIONAL VALUES PROFILE - APPLICATIONS 131

132 ORGANISATIONAL VALUES PROFILE - APPLICATIONS Individualism Value Type Checklist values in this cluster are: Curiosity Self-sufficiency Individual competence Setting and delivering challenging targets High individual rewards for excellence Being seen as capable and intelligent Succession planning Self-direction Success Opportunities for personal learning Ambition Team Ground Rules Using these checklists the team members worked in groups and as a whole to break down the more important values into behaviours and actions to support the agreed team value types. The final result was the Team Values Statement shown below. These ground rules then became part of the team s charter and were placed in a prominent position for all team members to see. When disagreements arose in the team then these ground rules helped to resolve the conflict and persuaded team members to modify their behaviour for the benefit of the team. 132

133 TEAM VALUES STATEMENT In terms of the McCann Window on Work Values our team holds most strongly the value types of Empowerment, Independence and Individualism. As such we aim to focus on the needs of our group, working with a high degree of individual freedom to meet organisational expectations. We also support some aspects of the Authority and Equality value types, insofar as there should be equality of opportunity within an agreed framework of line management authority. We encourage team members to meet their own needs while supporting one another to achieve the team goals. In support of the values comprising these value types we agree on the following ground rules that will guide the behaviours and actions in our team: Our team will be fair, tolerant and trusting and be seen by others to have these qualities. We acknowledge that everyone brings value, talent, skill and resources to the team. We support gender and ethnic balance and without compromising on quality will move towards a recruitment policy implementing this. We will develop a clearly defined strategy and cascade detailed business objectives throughout the group. We will use a personal development programme to develop key actions and to obtain buy-in to deliver objectives. Effective and open communication is important to us. We will come to meetings fully prepared. Teambuilding is important to us and we will encourage team development for senior and other teams, using the Team Management Wheel. Full participation is expected by each team member and we accept the right of anyone to make and respond to any respectful challenge. There will be a focus on team goals before personal agendas. We will regularly measure performance against targets and key actions. Within these performance measures managers will have scope in how the actions are delivered. We encourage and respect different ideas. We are open to new ideas and will listen supportively. We support periodic brainstorming sessions. We will help one another. Failures are to be learnt from in a positive way. Personal learning is to be encouraged. We agree to share all our information, for the benefit of the team. Individual rewards are important to us but we recognize the need to establish a system of team rewards. As a group of individuals we expect each person to have a high degree of self-direction and autonomy working within the agreed corporate guidelines. We expect to have challenging targets. We support public recognition of success and will develop ways to implement this. ORGANISATIONAL VALUES PROFILE - APPLICATIONS 133

134 It could be argued that the neglect of value types such as Compliance and Conformity may have some contribution to make towards improved team results. How would you ensure that some features of the Organisational Constraint part of the Window on Work Values were considered in detail before the generation of the final Team Values Charter? ORGANISATIONAL VALUES PROFILE - APPLICATIONS 134

135 Case Study 3: Organisational Development in the Digital Age As we move into the knowledge era marked by rapid change, the rise of the digital age, the increasing speed of communication and the need for knowledge generation, organisational learning has become increasingly vital. Management, Education and Training Consultant, Deborah Nanschild, believes the key to organisational learning begins with the individual, followed by the quality of interaction with the work team. The essential message she conveys through her consulting work is that to thrive in a changing environment, we must all learn to manage ourselves and our relationships with others. Deborah says, This process begins with understanding who we are and how we operate. To facilitate this process with the Australian Public Service (APS), Deborah uses an array of TMS tools, in particular, the Team Management Profile (TMP) and the Window on Work Values (WoWV). Over the last 5 years, Deborah has used the TMP as a team development tool and for aligning the work of teams to business outcomes. Deborah believes the TMP is particularly useful in helping individuals understand their work preferences and the contribution each person makes to the team. It also helps to explain why there can be conflict within a group and gives teams a vehicle for bringing these issues to the fore, by sharing their Profiles with other team members in a positive, non threatening way. She also uses the TMP to address gaps within a team, highlighting weaknesses so that action plans can be developed. Deborah says the media has a strong influence in the public sector which can create a high pressure, often chaotic work environment that eventually burns people out. She says, They are so busy that they often don t know what their colleagues are working on, let alone have an opportunity to reflect on best practice. Deborah says, By using the Team Management Profile, one of these groups deliberately changed the way work was distributed, so that it more closely matched individual preferences. Instead of a silo operation, they reported a greater sense of being part of a team, which resulted in higher work satisfaction and increased collaboration. The Director took more responsibility for managing media inquiries and team members were able to plan time off which was previously impossible without feeling guilty. ORGANISATIONAL VALUES PROFILE - APPLICATIONS Deborah says, The TMP allows a common language to be used within the workplace. When projects are being planned, people s preferences can be considered and actions/tasks can be appropriately allocated. Armed with the insights from their Profile, the team can transfer their knowledge from the workshop back to the workplace, resulting in better project management, more harmonious interactions and greater understanding and awareness of individual preferences and strengths. 135

136 Deborah is also an advocate of the Window on Work Values (WoWV) and sees it as a useful tool when dealing with staff retention. Deborah says, I was first drawn to the Window on Work Values as a tool for dealing with conflict in the workplace. I am accredited in several psychometric instruments, but none of them went to the heart of where the issue lay. I needed a tool to not only surface people s thinking but to surface the subconscious values and beliefs they held which influenced their behaviour. The results were profound. Deborah says In one instance, an individual clearly realised he did not fit his Department s culture of values and decided to leave. From the information he received through his WOWV Profile, he was able to make a wiser choice for employment. He moved to another Department that more closely aligned with his values. ORGANISATIONAL VALUES PROFILE - APPLICATIONS Deborah adds The most rewarding outcome I have experienced is with a team from the Department of Family and Community Services whose major values closely aligned with each other as well as with the department. They developed a Team Values Charter displayed as a wheel so that no single value could be regarded as higher or lower. Deborah says, Their operational decisions are now made according to their value priorities regardless of where they are positioned in the organisation s hierarchy. Their values are prominently displayed in their work area, for example, their computer screensavers scroll through their agreed value statements. Deborah s work has led her to focus her PhD research to examine values-based approaches to leadership development and the implications they hold for organisational change. Deborah says, This is the first time in history where four generations are in the workplace who bring with them potentially different core values and value priorities, an additional facet discovered through using the WoWV Model. To sum up, Deborah says, the TMP and WoWV enable emotionally safe and meaningful dialogue between people through focusing on who they are and how they operate in the workplace. They are tools that facilitate personal growth, teambuilding and organisational learning, which are necessary to thrive in a changing environment. This is an edited excerpt from a Case Study authored by Deborah Nanschild, Deborah Nanschild & Associates. An expanded Case Study of this application is contained within the TMS Case Studies Collection: Third Edition. 136

137 Figure 5. Dept of Family & Community Services Team Vaules Charter ORGANISATIONAL VALUES PROFILE - APPLICATIONS Deborah uses the Window on Work Values Profile in a one-day workshop on personal values alignment. What options would you advocate to someone who has a significant mismatch between their own work values and those of the organisation? Deborah also uses the Window on Work Values as the basis for the development of a team charter. She gives the example of a Team Values Charter Wheel combined with a succinct team values statement. How would you use such a process with your own clients? 137

138 Case Study 4: Declining KPI s ORGANISATIONAL VALUES PROFILE - APPLICATIONS A Middle Manager in a large corporation is experiencing declining performance on many of her leadership KPIs. Although her immediate reports are very happy working with her, she feels she lacks respect from her peers and her Manager. She enjoys working with people and likes the work she does. However, she is considering resigning from her company, saying she feels shackled by a bureaucracy that lacks soul. But on the other hand, she appreciates the security her work affords her. She has approached you seeking help and has completed the WoWVPQ. Her results are provided above. How would you prepare for the feedback session, what would be your strategy and, what issues might you expect to address? 138

139 Notes ORGANISATIONAL VALUES PROFILE - APPLICATIONS 139

140 Case Study 5: Senior Leadership Team Values Programme CB DD HS BD BL LE CM DM Mnfctng Mrktng CFO Ops Lgstcs IS HRD CEO Avg CP CF CV ORGANISATIONAL VALUES PROFILE - APPLICATIONS EQ EM IP IV A : Highest Score for Each Value 18.2: Highest Score for Individual The Senior Leadership team of a well-known national company are interested in developing an effective strategy to position their 87 year-old company for the future. As part of this process, they are interested in where they are coming from as a team. Their individual WoWVP scores are tabled above and their perception of current organisational values and ideal team values are illustrated on the next page. 140

141 Org Values - Agree Org Values - Disagree Org Values - Total Team Values What do you think may be important issues for this team as they develop their strategy? What would you recommend the team do from here? 3 14 ORGANISATIONAL VALUES PROFILE - APPLICATIONS 141

142 Notes NOTES 142

143 TRAINING INTRODUCTION RESOURCES Training Resources Contents Team Management Systems: An Integrated Approach Online Resources TMS Profiles Website Guidelines for the Ethical Use of TMS Materials Your TMS Login Details

144 Team Management Systems: An Integrated Approach TMS provides a world-standard suite of feedback tools that generate and focus thinking and discussion in the workplace. The approach is simple, practical and based on solid research. Our core instruments include self-report feedback for professional and team development as well as multi-rater feedback for performance development. Self-Rater Professional Development Team Management Profile Our core instrument exploring work preferences what tasks we like to focus on and how we go about work. TRAINING INTRODUCTION RESOURCES QO 2 Profile A fifth dimension beyond the TMP, this instrument addresses how we approach risk and provides feedback on five subscales. Values Profiles Values are the principle determinants of our behaviour and these profiles help respondents and organisations make sense of these important drivers in the workplace. 144

145 360 Performance Development Linking Leader Profile Diagnosis of 13 key leadership and team-working skills from a 360º perspective. Team Performance Profile How effectively does our team perform the critical tasks, from an internal and external perspective? TRAINING INTRODUCTION RESOURCES Strategic Team Development Profile What are our team development needs? Where do we start and where do we go from there? The strength of the test, from a practitioner viewpoint, is that the Team Management Profile Questionnaire has a high face validity with managers, the narrative Profile is easy to read and understand, and the information and feedback guidance is excellent. British Psychological Society 145

146 Online Resources Once Accredited, Team Management Systems will provide you with additional tools and resources, tailored to your Accreditation, to assist the learning process and the application of the Profiles. As a part of your Accreditation Pack, you will receive a Welcome to the Network brochure with your login details for the TMS Accreditation Resources Download Website, as well as the Network Member Intranet. Below are some of the resources available on these sites: TMS Accreditation Resources Download Website TRAINING INTRODUCTION RESOURCES TMS Research Manual TMS Case Studies Collection TMS Session Designs E-Books Accreditation Manual Network Member Intranet TMS training support materials, which are updated regularly, such as: session plans workshop tips PowerPoint slideshows videos handouts sample Profiles administration letters Purchase training materials at a 10% discount using the Online Catalogue Free marketing materials to help promote TMS to your clients and key stakeholders Access to the Network Member Directory 146

147 TMS Profiles Website After you have attended the Accreditation, please contact our Network Services team to arrange a time your Facilitator Site Walk-Through. Network Services Contact Details: Phone: +61 (07) tms@tms.com.au TRAINING INTRODUCTION RESOURCES The team will show you how to: Access your personal facilitator site Administer profile questionnaires for your learners Moniter progress of your groups, send reminder s and access E-Profile information Grant learners access to their Online Hub Add Applications, where applicable Set up your About Me section, where you can add a photo, bio and contact details Add your logo to the Site so your learners can immediately identify with your brand 147

148 Guidelines for the Ethical Use of Team Management Systems Materials TMS network members must ensure that TMS Profiles are chosen, administered and debriefed appropriately and accurately. A TMS Profile must be returned to the respondent who completes a self-rate Profile Questionnaire. For multi-rater Profiles, respondents in the Self category (for individual Profiles) or Team category (for group Profiles), must receive a copy of the Profile. TMS Profiles must be accompanied by the corresponding Workbook or Profile Guide. A TMS Profile is the property of either the individual respondent or the group being rated, regardless of who is paying for the Profile. TMS Profiles must be debriefed with the respondent or respondents so they can gain a reasonable understanding of their Profile. TRAINING INTRODUCTION RESOURCES TMS Profile data must not be disclosed without the respondent s permission. Notwithstanding this, the TMS Profile and/or results will be made known to the TMS network member who has administered the Profile Questionnaire TMS Profiles are provided as a guide to how respondents might develop their performance. Interpretations of the results and any consequent action are the responsibility of the TMS network members and the respondent. TMS Profile data cannot be used as the sole criteria for a selection decision. It is the responsibility of the TMS network member to ensure that all TMS Profiles, completed TMS Profile Questionnaires and any identifiable representation of TMS Profile data are kept secure and confidential. TMS network members are bound by the Guidelines for the Use of Team Management Systems Intellectual Property. These guidelines cover the body of work known collectively as Team Management Systems and include all models, Profiles, resources and trademarks internationally. TMS Intellectual Property may only be used in conjunction with the use of TMS Profiles unless prior written permission is given by the copyright holders, Team Management Systems. When using or presenting any TMS models, concepts, instruments or resources, in any medium, credit should be given to the authors, Margerison and McCann and/or Team Management Systems. TMS network members are required to use TMS Materials in a professional way. 148

149 Your TMS Login Details For convenience, please include your access details for the TMS Websites here: Network Member Intranet ( Username: Password: Your Facilitator Site ( Username: Password: Your Facilitator Site, through TMSProfiles.com, will not be activated until you contact our Network Services team for a site walk-through. TRAINING INTRODUCTION RESOURCES 149