Module 6

Building and Leading Resilient Teams Module 6 dated 3-30-2023

Next update summer 2024.

Building and Leading Resilient Teams: Module 6

Module 6: Enhance the organization’s ability to change and compete by supporting organizational learning (part 1).

Organizations that cannot learn are doomed to repeat the same mistakes. Gaining a competitive advantage is hard. Maintaining a competitive advantage is even harder. To survive and compete over time, organizations must be willing and able to learn and change. In fact, without learning, there can be no change. This is true for individuals, teams, and organizations of all types. And just like individuals and teams, when an organization bounces back from adversity, learning is how it adapts and grows. Resilient organizations are learning organizations. In learning organizations, leaders at all levels build and lead resilient teams.

Why build and lead resilient teams?

Collective resilience is the team’s ability to overcome adversity, and then adapt and grow together because of that adversity. Resilient teams are the key to both individual and organizational resilience. Resilient teams are stronger together and they make learning and change possible.

This module consists of two “at home” assignments (6 hours) that must be completed prior to the facilitated discussion (1-3 hours). Completing the preparatory assignments is essential for engaged participation in the facilitated discussion.

Learning Objectives for Support Organizational Learning (Modules 6 and 7)

Assignment 1. Learn the following key terms and ideas. Knowing these key terms and ideas is essential to understanding the concepts that support each leader task in this module. (0.5 hours)

Key Terms and Ideas

Organizational learning is the process of continuously improving and innovating to gain and maintain competitive advantage.
Continuous improvement is making a product, service, or process better (knowledge exploitation).
Innovation is creating a new product, service, or process (knowledge exploration).
Competitive advantage is anything that puts an organization in a favorable position as compared to competitors.
Organizational change is the transition of an organization from its current state to some desired future state.
Vision describes what an organization wants to be in the future.
Mission is what individuals, teams, and companies do day-to-day to accomplish goals and objectives.
Strategy is a roadmap of plans and policies for accomplishing the long-term goals and objectives of an organization.

Assignment 2. Reflect on your unique leader/follower experience with each of the leader tasks and concepts below. Consider ALL the reflection questions, prepare notes, and be ready to discuss during the facilitated discussion. Read some or all of the reading to prompt critical reflection on your leader/follower experience. (5.5 hours)

Note to Students and Instructors: The reading for each leader task is updated routinely. Articles added in the last 30 days are marked (new). Instructors may assign additional reading or relevant videos at their discretion.

Collective resilience is the team’s ability to overcome adversity, and then adapt and grow together because of that adversity. As you work through this module, consider the following question. How does supporting organizational learning build collective resilience?

Leader Tasks and Concepts

1. Analyze organizational learning capacity.

Organizational learning is the process of continuously improving and innovating to gain and maintain competitive advantage. Learning organizations must be good at both continuous improvement and innovation. Organizational learning starts at the team level.

How would you rate your organization’s capacity to learn?

Continuous improvement is making a product, service, or process better (knowledge exploitation). Innovation is creating a new product, service, or process (knowledge exploration).

Have you or your team made a product, service, or process better recently?
Have you or your team created a new product, service, or process recently?

Competitive advantage is anything that puts an organization in a favorable position as compared to competitors. The surest way for an organization to gain and maintain a competitive advantage is to learn and change faster than the competition.

Why is competitive advantage important to a for-profit organization?
Why is competitive advantage important to a non-profit organization?
Is competitive advantage important to a government organization?
Is competitive advantage more important to some government organizations than others? Explain.
Does your organization have a competitive advantage? If so, what is it and how was it developed?

Organizational change is the transition of an organization from its current state to some desired future state. For an organization to change, it must be willing and able to learn. Change is not possible without learning.

How would you rate your organization’s capacity to change?
Does your organization have positions dedicated to change management? If so, are they effective at what they do?

Reading:

Organizational Change is Never Easy – Some Tips to Help

5 Ways to Create More Positive Workplace Changes

Taking Process Improvement Further

Business Process Improvement: Identifying What Needs to be Fixed

Leadership and the Psychology of Culture Change

The Cultural Life Cycle of Organizations

2. Promote a shared vision.

Mission is what individuals, teams, and companies do day-to-day to accomplish goals and objectives. Vision describes what an organization wants to be in the future. A bold and aspirational vision will drive learning and change in an organization.

Has your organization published a mission and/or vision statement on its website?
Does your organization’s vision statement describe a future that it is trying to achieve?

Promoting a shared vision helps to align the efforts of people and teams across the organization. Shared vision helps keep people and teams in the organization headed in the same direction.

Do you and your team have a good understanding of your organization’s vision?
How does the organization’s vision affect what you and your team do day-to-day to accomplish goals and objectives?

Promoting a shared vision includes explaining the purpose or “why” behind the vision. Organizations are better at learning and change when people believe in the organization’s purpose and “buy into” the vision. The daily actions of leaders, especially senior leaders, must be consistent with the organization’s vision.

What is the purpose that drives your organization toward its vision?
Do you believe in your organization’s purpose and vision?
Are you able to promote the organization’s vision? If not, why not?
Are the actions of senior leaders in your organization consistent with the organization’s vision?
Do senior leaders believe in the organization’s purpose and vision?

Organizations realize their visions by building a great culture and executing on sound strategy. Culture is the shared assumptions, values, and beliefs that govern how people behave across the organization.

How would describe the culture of your organization? What do the people in your organization collectively value and believe in?
Does the culture in your organization help or hinder execution of strategy? Explain.
Does the culture in your organization help or hinder learning and change? Explain.

Culture sets the conditions for strategy to be effective. Strategy is a roadmap of plans and policies for accomplishing the long-term goals and objectives of an organization.

Are you and your team confident that your organization’s strategy for reaching long-term goals and objectives is working? If not, why not?
How does learning support an organization’s ability to execute strategy?

The plans and policies developed to achieve long-term goals and objectives (strategy) are more likely to succeed when people in the organization collectively value learning and believe that change is possible (culture).

Do the people in your organization value learning? If not, why not?
Do you and your team value learning? If so, how is that value expressed at work?
Does your organization have policies that support a culture of learning? What are some examples of those policies?
Do people believe that change is possible in your organization? If not, why not?
Do you and your team believe that change is possible in your organization? If not, why not?

Reading:

Vision and Mission

Shared Vision: A Development Tool for Organizational Learning

4 Steps to Creating a Shared Vision that Will Energize Your Team

New CEO Study Describes “Culture” as Fundamental to Success

The Links Between Organizational Culture and Effectiveness

Establishing an Organizational Culture Through the Net

Facilitated discussion. Be prepared to discuss your experience with each of the leader tasks and concepts above. The facilitated discussion is the key to successful learning because it ensures you have a thorough understanding of applicable factual (what), conceptual (why), and procedural (how) knowledge relevant to each leader task.

Note about certification exams. Front-line supervisors that sit for the Resilience-Building Leadership Professional (RBLP) certification exam are assessed on the leader tasks covered in Modules 1-3 only. Middle managers that sit for the Resilience-Building Leadership Professional Coach (RBLP-C) certification exam are assessed on the leader tasks covered in Modules 1-5 only. Senior leaders that sit for the Resilience-Building Leadership Professional Trainer (RBLP-T) certification exam are assessed on the leader tasks covered in Modules 1-7.

Resilience-Building Leader Program, Inc. owns the copyright to this curriculum and licenses the curriculum to Authorized Education Partners (AEP), Authorized Training Partners (ATP), and Authorized Learning and Development Partners (AL&DP) on a royalty-free, no-fee basis for their use in providing education and training programs to students and customers. The license permits the AEP or ATP to re-publish and distribute the curriculum materials to students, customers, faculty, and staff, so long as the copyright notices included in the materials are kept intact and not removed or altered. An AEP or ATP may modify and alter the materials within the spirit of the content of the materials as they see fit. According to this license, an AEP or ATP may not sell the materials. By using, publishing, and/or distributing the curriculum, you agree to this license.

Resilience-Building Leader Program, Inc. also licenses the curriculum to current Resilience-Building Leadership Professional Trainer (RBLP-T) certification holders on a royalty-free, no-fee basis for their use in providing one-on-one training only at no cost for up to five family, friends, or coworkers per calendar year. This license strictly prohibits the re-publishing, modification, or alteration of the curriculum materials. According to this license, the RBLP-T certification holder may not sell the materials. By using and/or distributing the curriculum, you agree to this license.

“RBLP”, “Resilience-Building Leadership Professional”, “Learn More. Lead Better.”, and the RBLP shield logo are registered trademarks of Resilience-Building Leader Program, Inc.