Page 65 - The Green Building Bottom Line The Real Cost of Sustainable Building

44 CHAPTER 2

■ Fear of change within the organization, and an inability for staff members to artic-
ulate those fears in an open and trustful environment.
■ Lack of capacity among all staff members to brainstorm in ways that would facilitate
critical, innovative thinking, without the process being intimidating.
■ Lack of alignment of some staff members with the sustainable direction of the com-
pany, with the prospect of some members of the leadership team leaving the company
as a result.
■ Lack of clear strategic and tactical planning to realize a common vision and to hold
individuals accountable for desired objectives.
■ Confusion as to roles and responsibilities, given the ethos of shared leadership within
the organization.
■ Chronic frustration, among many at the company, of the bar being constantly raised,
with no end in sight. (Such raising of the bar was also occurring in the middle of
projects, making it challenging and costly to keep up with evolving standards.)
■ A sense that the shared leadership ethos was making decision making tedious and in-
efficient and confusing, and confusion about who really got to make which decisions.
■ Presence of significant personnel “noise,” with staff members talking about each
other, not to each other.
While the company was imbued with a strong set of values (shared leadership, a sense
of meaning and purpose, etc.), those values lacked a set of practices and processes so
that they could be effectively deployed. Where is the stick-to-itiveness, the direction, the
team alignment? I thought. After facilitating my first Melaver leadership team meeting,
I had the impression that there was little agreement, only unclear direction, and defi-
nitely no process on bringing team members together to accomplish their goals.
That first meeting also made me aware that something great was happening. I could
tell these people wanted to be pioneers to lead the way as a unique and different com-
pany that wanted to do things right, sustainably. However, people on the team did not
have the skills to communicate effectively, accept each other’s different perspectives, and
handle conflicts. Barriers were keeping this group of people from being all that a team
could be. I wanted to help them figure out who they are and who they want to be, assist
them in behaving professionally with one another, and influence them toward process to
get results. I wanted them to have fun as a fast, innovative-thinking group. I intuitively
knew they could become a real team of people working together to make a difference.
With that assessment in mind, my role was fairly clear, if somewhat daunting:
■ Clarify the design of the organization to ensure better alignment and accountability.
■ Coach the leaders toward personal growth and improved people management skills.
■ Put HR processes into place to facilitate practice of key company values.
■ Develop the individuals into a high-performance team.
■ Support people through change and transition as the company evolved.
■ Facilitate conflict situations to be collectively managed constructively.
■ Enable the staff members to find joy in the purposeful work they were engaged in.
■ Connect the future changes team members would institute to continuity with history.
■ Improve communications internally.