We have all at
some point or another, experience or witnessed a team that is truly successful
at building and maintaining sustainable change.
Intentional change, on a team level, is a “multilevel phenomenon” that
requires a strong understanding of how these levels function between each other
(Boyatzis, 2010). Whether team development is happening within an organization
or on a sports team, in order to maintain sustained and desired change, the
team needs to develop and maintain a shared vision, team identity, and multiple
levels of resonant leadership (Boyatzis, 2010). The balance between positive
and negative emotions also play a significant role in the success and ability
to change because positive attractors pull team members toward their shared
purpose or vision, allowing them to experience hope as a group and focus on the
possibilities, while negative attractors add balance by encouraging team
members to reflect and explore alternative ways of taking action (Akrivou,
Boyatzis, McLeod, 2006). The balance
between positive and negative attractors, as well as the continued repetition
of the group process, can be understood when looking at the success of the
Olympic US Women’s Soccer team in contrast to the US Dream Team in men’s
basketball during 2000 and 2004.
To understand intentional change on
a team level, the US Women’s Olympic Soccer team is a great example of success
when intentional change is understood and reflected within the identity of the
team. Currently, the US Women’s Team is
undergoing a transition, where veteran players who represented the core of the
team will be retiring and replacing them is a whole new set of talent and skill
that will continue to renew the team and maintain a sustainable change
effort. The US Women’s Soccer team has
managed to maintain it’s success and relevancy within a society that doesn’t
hold soccer, as a sport, to much regard like football or basketball. Soccer in America, especially women’s, had to
force their way in and it did so through the dynamic team structure that led
them to success. When reading through
multiple difference responses and interview of both young and retired players,
a common pattern begins to form. The
pattern reflects the attitude and core values that are still central to the
team dynamics. Each player always
reflected back to moments where they credited their desire to “do your job for
the team” and the idea of “playing for each other” (Howard, 2011). The team
spirit and group connection bloomed from the early beginnings of women’s soccer
in America. The women’s soccer team in
the 1990’s represented the potential of change efforts in building and
developing women’s sports. The players
on this team had the luck of playing with each other for years, as they were
the first professional women’s soccer team in America. Because of this tight knit group of players,
they were able to go through the intentional change process several times, each
time allowing them to maintain and strengthen their core identity, continue to
work toward and mold their desired future, which all continued to fuel the shared
feeling of hope as their emotional, motivational driver (Akrivous, et al.,
2006). As the first professional women’s
soccer team, they had an emergent awareness of shared hope that continued to
motivate them to achieve more and reach their ideal purpose. The team had
played together extensively before the Olympics, giving them an opportunity to
work through the “spiral of intentional change”, giving them a progressively greater
depth and positive impact on the group members (Akrivous, et al., 2006). The time they spent together and the work
that they achieved together led the group to “increase group consciousness,
salience, and a shared understanding of the group’s core identity, vision, and
purpose” (Akrivous, et al., 2006). These
continued cycles allowed the team to become highly self-aware of not only
themselves, but also their changing environment. Being the first women’s professional soccer
team, they were facing new and unexpected situations from worries about filling
the stands to maintaining sustained success to prove that women’s sports can be
competitive and exciting. These transitioned
into key aspects of the group identity and defining their purpose both as a
sports team, and as a symbol for women’s success in sports.
On the flip side, the US Men’s
Basketball team, also referred to as a the “Dream Team”, saw complete failure
in 2000 and 2004 Olympics. It’s interesting to think about these two teams and
the different dynamics and outside forces that are placed on them. On one hand you have the Women’s Soccer team,
pretty unimportant to the American public when looking at basketball. The Men’s Basketball team was made up of
professional sports players that were representing the best of their
sport. While basketball is hugely
popular in America, the growth of the sport elsewhere around the world is
smaller, mostly inspired to start after seeing the success in America. The players on this team according to many
where “hastily assembled units of NBA players with little cohesion or grasp of
the international game” (Zinser, 2006). The lack of group cohesion and a shared
vision for the future made it difficult for the team to rely on each other and play
in a dynamic way. Many of these reasons
can stem from the culture that surrounds both basketball and soccer.
When looking at basketball, the
popularity of the sport is obvious.
There are teams at every school, college, and many different levels of
professional programs. The development into these systems causes a disconnect
between the individual as a player and the team dynamic. Each player has multiple different reasons,
values, and beliefs for why they are playing.
This makes it difficult to integrate all these players into a team
system. In women’s soccer, the sport was
in it’s early stages and women and girls around the country were all out to prove
something. There was no final “dream”
for soccer other than the Olympics, as professional women’s soccer leagues have
struggled to maintain relevancy in America, as well as the rest of the
world. These differences in the
environment deeply impact the motivational drivers between the individuals and
their relationship to the team. The US
Men’s Basketball team, once a dominate force in the sport, is now facing stiff
competition as countries around the world have started to develop and focus
their development system for talent to focus on a common goal; reaching the
Olympics. Intentional change on a team
level can only be sustainable and effective if the members within that team
find balance and cohesion between their shared visions and motivators. Without these shared foundations, sustainable
intentional change becomes difficult, if not impossible.
References
Akrivou, K., Boyatzis, R. E., & Mcleod, P. L. (2006).
The evolving group: Towards a prescriptive theory of intentional group
development. Journal of Mgmt Development Journal of Management Development,
25(7), 689-706.
Boyatzis, R. (2010). Coaching Teams for Sustained, Desired
Change. In The Coaching Kaleidoscope: Insights from the inside (pp.
168-181). Palgrave Macmillan.
Boyatzis, R. E., & McKee, A. (2005). Resonant
Leadership: Renewing yourself and connecting with others through mindfulness,
hope, and compassion. Boston: Harvard Business School Press.
Howard, J. (2011, June 26). 12 years later, still the best.
Retrieved February 13, 2016, from
http://espn.go.com/espn/commentary/news/story?page=howard-110623
Zinser, L. (2006). Failure in Athens Echoes as U.S. Retools
Its Game. Retrieved February 13, 2016, from http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/24/sports/basketball/24hoops.html?n=Top/News/Sports/Olympics
2004/Basketball
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