Page 81 - The Green Building Bottom Line The Real Cost of Sustainable Building

60 CHAPTER 2

In an organization, interpersonal relations of managers can make the difference
®
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between failure and success. Using the MBTI and FIRO-B with managers and lead-
ers in an organization can bring awareness regarding how others see us and react to
us. By using assessments, we enhance our self-awareness and self-understanding.
Since we all want to be understood, utilizing these instruments creates a language we
can draw upon to explain needs, connect with others, and better understand actions
and behaviors that differ from our own.

TRANSPARENCY AND STRAIGHT TALK

Zero politics. That was (and continues to be) a goal of this green bottom line company.
Have you ever heard of something that wild and unreasonable, a business without the
usual back-of-house politicking going on? Yet that was a clear value to this company.
The logic is simple, if somewhat idealistic: Bring a group of talented, passionate folks
to the table, enable them all to vocalize their individual beliefs and perspectives in a
free and open exchange of ideas, and let the best ideas float to the top, irrespective of
where and from whom they emanated. But from conception to implementation—talk
about a firestorm!
The concept of zero politics, based on ideals of transparency and straight talk, was a
belief lacking a set of clear practices and processes. Everything was shared on the manage-
ment team level: recruiting and hiring, performance issues, development issues, financial
data, even compensation. From the outset, I saw that people were exhausted from trying to
keep up with the day-to-day workload while transitioning into new ways of getting the work
done. Management meetings were long. In an attempt to create an open atmosphere, Martin
used communication processes that were painfully honest and direct. One objective was to
create greater accountability for one’s actions, but there was a general fear of exposure in
this environment. Another objective was to talk about issues directly with the person
involved, as opposed to triangulating issues through a third party. People cringed when the
agenda included time for discussion of behaviors that impacted team members.
This team was close. Some had more honest communications at work than they had
in their personal lives. But this closeness was also an impediment. The effort at hon-
est and direct communication was failing. Each person struggled to receive feedback
from team members without being defensive. Team members felt more comfortable
handling conflict indirectly through a sympathetic listener, than by addressing an issue
directly, head-on. The most difficult part of this process was getting all members to a
high level of comfort and trust with one another.
The first step in ratcheting up this level of trust was to work in smaller increments
than the larger management team. Team members were divided into coaching pairs,
with the objective of creating a safer environment in which to provide one another feed-
back. Pairs were expected to meet on a regular basis and proactively seek out feedback.
A practice that, over time, became standard among coaching pairs was the continues–
starts–stops exercise. The practice calls for directed feedback on what a staff member
needs to continue doing in order to be effective, what he or she needs to start doing in
order to be effective, and what the person must stop doing in order to be an effective