Teaming to Drive Organizational Change

Debbie Fennell on November 7, 2024

By Teresa Ong

At the League’s 2024 Innovations Conference, Chancellor Lee Lambert from Foothill-De Anza (FHDA) Community College District and Dorothy Sisneros from Thunderbird Leadership Consulting (TLC) presented a session on teaming and context-based coaching as a method for executive leaders to cultivate and sustain high-performing teams. FHDA is actively implementing teaming and context-based coaching as part of its leadership professional development initiatives. This article provides a first-hand narrative of the use of this approach with two college leadership teams.

College Context

FHDA is a two-college district with two college presidents who report to the chancellor. In 2023, the district welcomed a new president at Foothill College followed by a new chancellor, all within a span of five months. Within his first 100 days in office, Chancellor Lambert brought in TLC to facilitate teaming sessions for the new Executive Leadership Team. It was imperative that he quickly grasp the lay of the land and immerse himself as part of the college team. Shortly thereafter, President Whalen at Foothill College invited TLC to do the same with the college-based Senior Leadership Team; she had already been working with the Foothill team for several months and wanted to accelerate their work.

Purpose of Teaming

Generally speaking, a team can be defined as a group of individuals with various expertise working together for a common purpose. Simply putting people together does not, however, equal creating a team, nor does it ensure that the group is effective or high performing. How one builds a team is essential to its success.

Teaming is the intentional shift from leaders thinking as separate and distinct individuals to seeing themselves as members of the organizational team (Stein binder & Sisneros, 2024). A great way of explaining teaming is that it is a verb, not a noun (Harvard Business School, 2012). Teaming is a dynamic set of behaviors as well as a mindset anchored in shared values and expectations. And while teams and their goals may change, teaming does not.

Assessment and Alignment

TLC facilitators worked with FHDA’s chancellor and president to prepare and design sessions that were geared toward understanding each team member and their individual roles, followed by expectation setting. What did members of each team expect from each other? What did they expect from their leaders? Conversely, what did each leader expect from their respective teams? This process sets up team norms and defines how leaders treat each other; the right norms reinforce organizational alignment and create a cohesive culture (Duhigg, 2016).

For the team at Foothill College, this process began in early 2024 with monthly teaming sessions. Over the course of these sessions, the Senior Leadership Team engaged in deep conversations about shared values, individual work, and communication styles and how that might impact others. The team considered and learned how to have confidence in each other’s leadership and in themselves as a team. This does not happen in one or two team-building sessions, but over multiple facilitated gatherings.

Aside from cultural cohesion, another outcome from these sessions is a physical playbook that serves as a guide to which current and future leaders can refer. The playbook guides behavior and expectations and clearly spells out team values. It also presents clear frameworks for responding to difficult situations or new challenges, similar to playbooks used by professional sporting teams. During facilitated sessions, leaders role-play and practice various scenarios in a safe space so that when a situation arises, it is not everyone’s first time figuring out what they ought to be doing. In other words, teaming is to leadership teams as spring training is to baseball players. You have to practice playing together in order to work cohesively and deliver high performance.

Self-Awareness

An important aspect of teaming is for each leader to understand their inherent strengths, communication styles, and motivators. Every leader completed a personality profile and used it to improve their awareness of how their style could be dialed up or down to be more effective. Continuing with the baseball analogy, consider each leader as a pitcher on a baseball team facing a batter. The pitcher can adjust their fastball or curveball depending on which batter they face to garner three strikes. Similarly, a leader might adjust their work style in varying situations to be more effective.

FHDA used Everything DiSC (https://www.everythingdisc.com/).® by Wiley as its personality assessment tool and platform. What was most helpful was the ability to see each leader’s profile and compare how one aligns with others and where areas of tension might arise. The president’s executive assistant was offered the opportunity to take this assessment as her role supported the Senior Leadership Team. The awareness of her own personality coupled with a more granular understanding of the executive leaders she supported greatly improved her efficacy and leadership. This executive assistant is now leading the charge for other administrative assistants to take the assessment to help them excel in their work.

Everything DiSC has had a cascading impact at Foothill. It is a desired practice, not a mandated one. Aside from the administrative assistant team, three other divisions are slated to use this self-­assessment tool to spark conversation. We should soon be able to see DiSC profiles across the college and district. Collectively, this has also resulted in a common language on work styles.

Context-Based Coaching

Context-based coaching, which is very different from typical executive coaching, is a key component to TLC’s teaming process. TLC coaches meet with TLC facilitators who provide context and meaning to the challenges leaders might face. Coaches are aware of the organizational culture and are updated on major issues that might be at the forefront of leaders’ minds. Each college leader works with a coach to build on their strengths and modify behaviors that impact the team or their efficacy. They help leaders build behaviors and perspectives that will enhance the success of the team first, which in turn creates success for the leader (Steinbinder & Sisneros, 2024).

One leader on the chancellor’s executive team describes coaching this way:

Coaching helps me as a leader when I am stuck on something. The coach is someone who understands the organization but is not in the organization. They have the context, dynamics, and know the other team members. Thus, they are able to quickly hone in on the issue. More importantly though, they help you grow as a leader.

Unlike a friend or colleague, a coach will really tell you the hard stuff. It could be a place of discomfort. In my first two sessions, my coach asked me to try something I would normally not do. It was uncomfortable. I was skeptical about it. I thought “really?” But after I reflected more on it, I gave it a try. It was very uncomfortable but it actually helped. That’s valuable. Those are not things we get from other sources.

Practicing Infectious Positivity

Working in higher education can often feel like you are on a losing team given the volatility of state budgets, student demands, and public pressures. Rituals of appreciation and celebration can help leaders to take themselves out of a sea of negativity and fear, and to rethink and reframe ideas and situations. This is similar to the practice of experiencing awe. Recent research suggests multiple psychological benefits to triggering awe on a daily basis, including decreased heart rate and deeper breathing (Reese, 2023). There is a sensation that you are part of something vast, bigger than yourself; it also quiets the negative self-talk. One of the best ways to practice awe is by witnessing the goodness in others.

In the first facilitated session at Foothill College, leaders were initially hesitant to show glee over a family birthday or to commend a colleague for a small gesture. Perhaps it is conventional thinking that leaders should only be wrapped up in serious thoughts, multi-tasking, and making tough decisions about budget cuts or managing difficult personnel. The practice of awe gives leaders permission to share and celebrate with others their moments of joy. Just the 5-10 minutes taken at the beginning of each weekly huddle to share appreciations and celebrations resets the tone and perspective of leaders. Taking the time to notice the goodness in others, to share someone else’s happiness, triggers joy and wonder, and reminds leaders of the good they originally set out to do.

At Foothill College, this practice is currently being deployed beyond facilitated teaming sessions. It is practiced at Instructional Leadership Team and Administrative Leadership Team meetings. This practice of infectious positivity is a daily reminder of each leader’s personal desire to be a force for good in this world. More importantly, though, when the organization can share in one’s own personal joy, leaders can see themselves as part of the organization and not separate and distinct individuals. The culture shift is quite palpable.

Expanding Teaming Efforts

FHDA would like to scale efforts in teaming across the district. We are at a nascent but promising stage. Department teams have heard about it, and there is a groundswell of requests for such facilitation. There are skeptics, of course. Some of the push back received includes privacy concerns (“I don’t want my personality profile on a shared platform”), disbelief in the evidence for teaming (”This isn’t evidence-based”), and general cynicism (”This is academia, not corporate culture”).

To the naysayers, I offer this: Consider the Monday morning email from a colleague that starts with, “Hello team!” Do you cringe and say, ‘What team”? Or when you are at a meeting and no decision can be made, so more people are invited to the next meeting. Or perhaps you’ve been asked to go to a meeting, and you have no idea why you are there. Are you rolling your eyes yet? My personal favorite was being in a meeting whose task it was to understand why we had so many meetings. These are all symptomatic of being a team-in-name only. Work may be completed, and goals may be met, but at a much higher cost. At the core of such an organizational culture is dysfunction because there is no real team.

Conversely, teaming is about getting to a space where leaders can disagree, but still commit fully to decisions (Startup Archive, 2023). It is not a rah-rah team-building exercise, but, rather, a paradigm shift. Leaders across the organization have space to disagree, but they do not subsequently second guess that decision, snicker at it, or say “I told you so” when it fails. They move forward and execute the plans just like it is set out in the playbook. When this happens, the organization can begin to tackle more complex problems, and at a much greater speed, instead of simply reaching for the proverbial low-hanging fruit and settling for titanic speed. Many would agree that the problems community college leaders face are much more complicated and volatile than in years past, and that the role of community colleges is more essential now than ever before given the skyrocketing costs of higher education. Imagine if community colleges could pivot quickly and nimbly to deliver student­-centered results. Doing so starts with investing in teams that drive organizational change. Teaming should be every community college executive’s number one priority.

References

Duhigg, C. (2016, February 25). What Google learned from its quest to build the perfect team. The New York Times Magazine. www.nytimes.com/2016/02/28/magazine/what-google-learned-from-its-q­uest-to-build-the-perfect-team.html (http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/28/magazine/what-google-­learned-from-its-quest-to-build-the-perfect-team.html).

Harvard Business School. (2012, April 25). The importance of teaming. Working Knowledge. https://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/the-importance-of-teaming (https://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/the-importance-of-teaming).

Reese, H. (2023, January 3). How a bit of awe can improve your health. The New York Times.

Startup Archive. (2023, December 18). Jeff Bezos explains what it means to disagree and commit [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Afoh23PHVP0 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Afoh23PHVPO).

Steinbinder, A, & Sisneros, D. (2024). Creating a vibrant organization using the dynamic leadership model and a teaming approach. Nursing Administration Quarterly, 48(2), 139-150.

Teresa Ong is Associate Vice President, Workforce and CTE Programs, at Foothill College in Los Altos Hills, California.

Opinions expressed in Leadership Abstracts are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect those of the League for Innovation in the Community College.

Volume: 37, Number: 7 / July 2024 / Leadership Abstracts

Nutrition in the Blue Zones

Debbie Fennell on July 28, 2023

By Autumn Sisneros, MS, RD, LD, CDCES

Blue Zones are regions of the world where people tend to live significantly longer and healthier lives compared to the global average. These regions have been studied by researchers to identify the lifestyle factors that contribute to longevity. These regions include Ikaria in Greece, Okinawa in Japan, Sardinia in Italy, the Nicoya Peninsula in Costa Rica, and Loma Linda, California (yes, even here in our own backyard). While there is no single factor that can fully explain the longevity in Blue Zones, several common characteristics have been identified:

  1. Active Lifestyle: Physical activity is a natural part of daily life in Blue Zones. People engage in regular, low-intensity physical activities such as walking, gardening, and household chores, which help maintain mobility and overall fitness throughout their lives.
  2. Social Engagement: Strong social connections and community support play a vital role in the longevity of Blue Zone residents. People in these areas often have strong bonds with family, friends, and neighbors, which provide emotional support, a sense of purpose, and a feeling of belonging.
  3. Purposeful Life: Having a sense of purpose and meaning in life is another common trait among individuals in Blue Zones. Whether it’s through work, family, or other meaningful activities, having a reason to wake up each day contributes to mental and emotional well-being.
  4. Stress Reduction: Blue Zone cultures often have built-in mechanisms to manage and reduce stress. Whether through daily rituals, prayer, meditation, or simply taking time to relax and enjoy life, stress reduction practices help protect against chronic diseases associated with prolonged stress.
  5. Moderate Alcohol Consumption: In some Blue Zones, moderate alcohol consumption, especially of red wine, is a cultural norm. The key is moderation—typically, one to two servings per day, rather than excessive or binge drinking, which can have detrimental effects on health.
  6. Limited Smoking: Smoking rates tend to be low or non-existent in Blue Zone communities. This factor significantly reduces the risks of various chronic diseases, including cancer, heart disease, and respiratory ailments.

And last but not least ……….

  1. Healthy Diet: Blue Zone populations typically consume a plant-based diet rich in fruits, vegetables, whole grains, legumes, and nuts with limited processed foods, saturated fats, and added sugars. See below for a few examples:
    • Legumes: Legumes such as beans, lentils, and chickpeas are a staple in the diets of people in Blue Zones. They are excellent sources of protein, fiber, and various vitamins and minerals.
    • Whole Grains: Whole grains like brown rice, quinoa, and oats are commonly consumed in Blue Zones. They provide sustained energy, fiber, and important nutrients.
    • Healthy Fats: Healthy fats, like those found in avocados, olive oil, and nuts, are a part of the traditional diets in Blue Zones. These fats are rich in monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats, which are beneficial for heart health.
    • Limited Animal Products: While not entirely vegetarian, people in Blue Zones typically consume animal products in small amounts and on rare occasions. Fish is often favored over other meats, and it is consumed in moderation.
    • Balanced Caloric Intake: Blue Zone populations tend to practice mindful eating and avoid overeating. They consume moderate portions of food and practice calorie balance.
    • Herbal Teas: In some Blue Zones, herbal teas made from local plants are consumed regularly. These teas often have medicinal properties and are believed to contribute to overall health and well-being.

It’s important to note that specific dietary practices may vary slightly among different Blue Zones, as they are influenced by local traditions, cultures, and available food sources. Nonetheless, considering the commonalities of the Blue Zones, specifically as it relates to food and nutrition, may help you live your longest and BEST life! Interested in learning more about the Blue Zones and other ways of living a more balanced lifestyle? Join us for our Reflect, Rejuvenate & Thrive event in Cleveland, OH on September 8, 2023. You can find more information and register online at thunderbirdleadership.com/events.

Thunderbird’s Dynamic Leadership Model: Empowering School Leaders for Success

Nathan Bachofsky on June 30, 2023

By Nathan Bachofsky, M.Ed.

As school leaders, the responsibility to shape the educational landscape extends beyond the individual classroom. To navigate the ever-evolving challenges and drive positive change within their institutions, school leaders must embrace the concept of Dynamic Leadership. Dynamic Leadership comprises several crucial elements, including self-awareness, deep listening, curiosity, empathy, and decisiveness. Dynamic Leadership skills are foundational and empower school leaders to foster growth, collaboration and excellence within their schools.

Self-awareness:

  • Do I sense and adjust my emotions based on the situation?
  • Do I respond in a thoughtful way?
  • Do I self-correct to keep communication flowing?

Dynamic school leaders understand the significance of self-awareness in their leadership journey. They possess a deep understanding of their strengths, weaknesses, and values, allowing them to lead authentically. By continuously reflecting on their leadership style and its impact, school leaders can align their actions with their vision and values. Self-awareness enables them to model integrity, build trust, and inspire their staff to strive for excellence. 

Deep Listening:

  • Do I maintain eye contact and face the person(s) directly?
  • Do I adjust the environment and limit distractions?
  • Do I suspend judgment on what’s being said?

Deep listening is a transformative skill that sets dynamic school leaders apart. By engaging in deep listening, leaders create an environment conducive to open dialogue and effective communication. They actively seek out the perspectives of their staff, students, and community members, suspending judgment and valuing diverse viewpoints. Deep listening enables school leaders to identify strengths, challenges, and untapped potential, fostering collaboration and fostering a culture of continuous improvement.

Curiosity:

  • Do I ask questions to stimulate new thinking?
  • Do I make space for new ways of thinking?
  • Do I encourage innovation and respect mistakes?

Curiosity plays a vital role in dynamic school leadership by stimulating new thinking, creating space for innovative ideas, and respecting mistakes. Effective leaders ask thought-provoking questions, embrace diverse perspectives, and foster an inclusive environment that encourages innovation. They understand that mistakes are opportunities for growth and learning. Cultivating curiosity empowers school leaders to inspire creativity, challenge the status quo, and drive positive change within their institutions.

Empathy:

  • Do I connect first before focusing on the output or results?
  • Do I listen and acknowledge the feelings of the other person?
  • Do I support others with caring and compassion?

Empathy is a fundamental attribute of dynamic leadership. Effective school leaders recognize the diverse needs and perspectives of their staff, students, and community members. By cultivating empathy, leaders create an inclusive and supportive environment, fostering trust and collaboration. They actively listen, understand the challenges faced by others, and make informed decisions that prioritize the well-being and success of all stakeholders.

Decisiveness:

  • Do I gather information that leads to great decisions?
  • Do I make course corrections as new information is presented?
  • Do I engage and trust others’ input in decisions?

In an educational landscape characterized by complexity and rapid change, decisive leadership is essential. Dynamic school leaders make informed decisions by considering multiple perspectives, analyzing data, and staying abreast of research-based practices. They embrace innovation and change while staying focused on their school’s mission and vision. Decisiveness inspires confidence, providing clear direction and purpose, and driving collective progress toward organizational goals.

For school leaders, embracing dynamic leadership is crucial to fostering success, growth, and collaboration within their institutions. The components of self-awareness, deep listening, curiosity, empathy, and decisiveness provide a strong foundation for effective leadership. By cultivating these attributes, school leaders can navigate challenges, inspire their staff, and create a vibrant educational community. Embracing dynamic leadership requires continuous self-reflection, learning, and collaboration. Together, let’s embark on this journey, empowering ourselves and our schools to thrive in an ever-changing educational landscape.

For more information on how Thunderbird Leadership supports educational leaders and leadership teams, please visit THUNDERBIRDLEADERSHIP.COM or email info@thunderbirdleadership.com 

Moving Forward: Healing and Innovating Schools

Nathan Bachofsky on May 13, 2022

Just the other day, I was sitting in a meeting with a team of teachers and administrators. The theme of our school year has been centered around courage, and we were discussing ways in which we can celebrate this at our end of the year faculty/staff convocation. As we discussed how we wanted to honor the staff after the immense challenge of teaching during this pandemic, it hit me. In all this time since the pandemic started, we had never truly taken the time to reflect on how these past two years affected our faculty and staff. Schools have much to process after dealing with the trauma of this disruption to everyday life and work. I have spent the past 8 months speaking with teachers and administrators from around the country from diverse schools and backgrounds to process the effects of the pandemic and political climate on schools. 

As I reflect on my own work as a teacher and leader and from the conversations with other professionals in education, I decided to attempt to answer the questions: How can we begin the process of healing and start the conversations needed to move our schools from a space of disruption to innovation?  Below are some considerations and a call to action for all superintendents, school boards, and those in school leadership positions. 

 

Pause and Process

Before we can move forward, we have to pause, check-in, and take inventory of our emotions, thoughts and feelings. Teachers, administrators, and staff have been in crisis mode since March 2020, and many haven’t left that space.  We immediately pivoted to teaching online, using new technology, and trying to also meet the social-emotional needs of our students, while taking care of our own families. Before we can move forward at all, I’d charge schools to create space for teachers, administrators, and staff to process everything we’ve been through. Bring in mental health professionals from outside the organization to guide these often difficult conversations. School leaders don’t need to have all the answers, but they can create space in team meetings to demonstrate deep listening and empathy. With the nationwide need for more social-emotional learning in schools for students, how might a social-emotional support program look for the adults in the building? No time is wasted when faculty and staff can pause and reflect on thoughts and feelings. Through the sharing of each others’ stories we can begin to see the commonality in our experiences and begin the process of healing and moving forward. 

 

Teachers and School Leaders Need Support

If you haven’t been paying attention, I have some troubling news. Teachers and administrators are leaving the profession in droves. Teacher burnout is worse than ever as evidenced by the teacher shortage that has been highlighted in the news. We need brave leaders and policy makers to advocate for our school systems that are quite literally under attack. We have officially come to a crossroads in which the passion for changing lives no longer balances out the poor policies and working conditions that are squeezing the joy and heart from a profession so near and dear to many. Many states and local school districts are still running schools in the same way that they have been for decades. We forge on advocating for fair teacher pay, reduced standardized-testing, fair and equitable access to education, and all other vitally important issues facing our field that deserve the forefront of our attention. While we work to advocate for these tough issues, we can still adjust our organizational practices and lead schools into a space of growth and innovation. 

 

Every Voice Matters

 Once we begin to process our past and current realities, it’s time to collaboratively build the future of our schools and districts and steer toward new possibilities. Take this crucial time to invite all stakeholders to the table to share their vision for the school or district moving forward. Organize your conversations with stakeholders around the following questions: 

  • What issues did the pandemic and our current social-political climate shine a light on in your district/school/organization? 
  • What new practices/lessons from teaching during the pandemic are we holding on to? 
  • What practices & policies are no longer serving us? 

It’s important that everyone has a voice in this process. This conversation can occur with the greater school community as whole, or it may happen at the department/team level. Streamlined communication and transparency in sharing the results of these conversations is a vital step in the process of moving forward towards change.

 

Real Change Takes Time

Once new opportunities and directions are revealed and identified through these discussions, it’s time to create actionable steps towards change. It’s helpful to bring in an outside organization to help facilitate the discussion and strategic planning so that school leaders can be fully present and part of these important conversations. Having a separate, unbiased set of ears to synthesize the discussions and support the steps forward is vital to the process. 

Change can make us uncomfortable at first. Showing up with honesty, openness, and good intention nurtures growth and makes way for new possibilities. As we learned in preschool from the story of the tortoise and the hare, slow and steady really does win the race. Any changes and decisions that are made must be approached through the lens of “why.” I’m always reminded by a colorful magnet on my classroom white board that, “Great things take time.” It’s so true – real, quality change, when done correctly, is slow, methodical, and purposeful. Be patient in the implementation stage of the process, remain open to feedback, and make adjustments accordingly.

 

Leadership at All Levels

Everyone has the ability to be a leader no matter what role they possess in the organization. The stakes are too high and the work is too great in education for administrators to call all the shots. To truly change the culture of a school and empower its community, the top down approach must be dismantled and a shared, collaborative approach to leadership must be embraced. Not all teachers and staff have formal leadership training, but by nurturing the skills of self-awareness, deep listening, empathy, curiosity, and decisiveness, a new and positive culture and climate can emerge. When we approach leadership as a shared practice, we can suddenly make time for the tasks, projects, and practices that are more impactful. All of a sudden, principals can be more visible, teachers can have meaningful collaboration, and all stakeholders can feel heard and involved. 

 

Moving Schools from Disruption to Innovation

After 12 impactful years of service in public and private schools as an educator and leader, I am answering the call to support schools in moving forward and achieving dynamic outcomes. I decided to leave my classroom position and team up with Thunderbird Leadership to support schools on their journey toward healing and innovation. The Disruption to Innovation in Schools program through Thunderbird puts relationships and teaming first. Founded in the principles of Caring Leadership, our programming builds a culture of self-awareness, deep listening skills, empathy, curiosity, and decisiveness in both administrators and staff. This is a time for districts to step back and refocus on the people and relationships that make learning happen. When we do, morale improves, teams are more efficient, and students have a more supportive environment to thrive. Thunderbird truly partners with schools to ignite teams and environments that excel through leadership coaching, teaming, community building, and various professional development topics to promote Caring Leadership in your school. Reach out by email (nbachofsky@thunderbirdleadership.com) to find out how we can help transform your school and join this movement!