Essential Question 10
Essential Question 10: Explain and give examples to argue why the following statement is true or false: “Get the right people on your team, and get the wrong ones off.”
Starting on page 77 of Leading in a culture of change, Fullman writes an example about two different departments in the same school. The English department had a strong community of teachers who shared lessons and assignments, helped new teachers, and had positive attitudes about their jobs and their students. In contrast, the social studies department kept their resources to themselves and were bitter about their jobs and negative about their students. This example made me think the statement about is true because I'd much rather surround myself with people like those on the English team.
However, upon further reading I think the statement could also be false because if you only work with the "right people" there may be no one to challenge the team and ultimately push the team to grow. Fullman says, "All successful organizations in a culture of change have been found to a certain extent to seek diversity of employees, ideas, and experiences while simultaneously establishing mechanisms for sorting out, reconciling, and acting on new patterns (see Lewin & Regine, 2000, and Pascale et al., 2000). This is why I and others have said that investing only in like-minded innovators is not necessarily a good thing. They become more like-minded and more unlike the rest of the organization while missing valuable new clues about the future." (Fullman, 2001, p. 86)
So in the end, I believe there isn't a correct answer to the question. It is important to have strong relationships in collaborative groups, but you should not cast out a person if they do not fit the mold of the rest of the group because they may be just the thing that is needed to allow the team to soar to new heights.
Resource:
Fullan, M. (2001). Leading in a culture of change. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Starting on page 77 of Leading in a culture of change, Fullman writes an example about two different departments in the same school. The English department had a strong community of teachers who shared lessons and assignments, helped new teachers, and had positive attitudes about their jobs and their students. In contrast, the social studies department kept their resources to themselves and were bitter about their jobs and negative about their students. This example made me think the statement about is true because I'd much rather surround myself with people like those on the English team.
However, upon further reading I think the statement could also be false because if you only work with the "right people" there may be no one to challenge the team and ultimately push the team to grow. Fullman says, "All successful organizations in a culture of change have been found to a certain extent to seek diversity of employees, ideas, and experiences while simultaneously establishing mechanisms for sorting out, reconciling, and acting on new patterns (see Lewin & Regine, 2000, and Pascale et al., 2000). This is why I and others have said that investing only in like-minded innovators is not necessarily a good thing. They become more like-minded and more unlike the rest of the organization while missing valuable new clues about the future." (Fullman, 2001, p. 86)
So in the end, I believe there isn't a correct answer to the question. It is important to have strong relationships in collaborative groups, but you should not cast out a person if they do not fit the mold of the rest of the group because they may be just the thing that is needed to allow the team to soar to new heights.
Resource:
Fullan, M. (2001). Leading in a culture of change. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
I agree with you. Having some who do not just agree with you can be useful.
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