A633.9.3.RB_MedleyKim_Polyarchy: Are You Ready for Your Fixer Upper?

Polyarchy: Are You Ready for Your Fixer Upper?

            Obolensky (2010) poses the question, “If polyarchy is fast replacing the old oligarchic assumptions, does this make these old leadership models redundant” (p. 195)? Consider the numerous television shows spanning just as many cable and satellite stations that provide viewers with the seemingly simplistic steps of restoration. Both HGTV and DIY showcase several shows designed to demonstrate how something old can be used as a foundation from which to create a new function and purpose. Fixer Upper and Flip or Flop tell the story of how two married couples, the former living in Waco, Texas and the latter residents of California, adapted when the real estate markets turned south. Many of those who shop for homes want all of the conveniences of new construction; but, often do not have the financial wherewithal. Just as Flipping homes begins with the bones of an older, traditionally constructed home and applies new construction technology and accounts for individuality through accessories such as paint colors, material selections, and specific fixtures. Similarly, older, traditional styles of leadership, “Servant Leadership… ‘Situational Leadership’ and … ‘Task-Team-Individual’ models are dusted off and freshened up by applying “Collins’ ‘Level 5 Leadership’ and Badaracco’s ‘Quiet Leadership’ (Obolensky, 2010, p. 195). Complex Adaptive Leadership provides us with the modern tools from which to modernize tried and true styles. We are able to identify and keep that which we find solid, reinforce weaker areas, and update the models to reflect individuality.

  By looking at “Figure B.1 John Adair’s Leadership Model”, and viewing the center area from Groth’s (2012) perspective, i.e., the center is one’s “core career competency”, the nucleus of leadership for anyone first requires “delivering and overdelivering… what you’ve been hired to do”. The nucleus for each of the married couples from the restoration shows is that of real estate and consistently delivering to their customers. Because both Chip and Joanna Gaines, Fixer Upper, and Tarek and Christina El Moussa, Flip or Flop, had mastered their core competency, each was able to “pursue peripheral projects” (Groth, 2012). The Gaines help potential homeowners realize their designer home, on a show-string budget, and help to revitalize older neighborhoods.  The El Moussas buy distressed properties, foreclosures, short sales, and “flip” the property in order to realize a profit. While each couple had real estate experience, each was pushed “to learn something entirely new” (Groth, 2012). It is through this pursuit of outside projects and the push for new skills that a widening of the core, as shown in “Figure B.2”, is possible as knowledge expands beyond a single leader (Obolensky, 2010, p. 196).

With each house flip, there is a task at hand, with a team tasked with completing the job for an individual. When knowledge is expanded, flexibility and “cross-functional capability” are added to the dynamic of leadership (Obolensky, 2010, p. 196). Imagine older floor plans. Rooms were separated by walls. Today, open concepts are the trend. An open floor plan provides for a feeling of togetherness within a home, as opposed to separate silos. By taking down walls and reinforcing the structure with hidden support beams, families are better able to interact. In the beginning of each show, Joanna Gaines and Christina El Moussa provided the majority of the design elements for the restoration project. As each show has continued, their knowledge has been shared with Chip and Tarek such that each are now comfortable in offering design element suggestions. Much of “Adair’s Functions of Leadership” still apply with both Joanna and Christina in that because they provide the main design, each defines the task, plans, briefs, controls, supports, informs, and reviews each job site (Obolensky, 2010, p. 197). Griffin (2003) states, “people don’t check their individuality at the door”, neither do leaders (p. 113). The style often exhibited by Joanna Gaines is a country-chic while Christina El Moussa designs with modern influences. Each is suited to the customers found in Waco, Texas and Orange County, California. As polyarchic processes are applied, it’s easy to see that while the day-to-day tasks of flipping a home are carried out by the individuals from the various constructions teams; it is primarily Joanna and Christina who ensure the process of restoration (Obolensky, 2010).

            

            Once a restoration has been completed, with the exception of bedrooms and bathrooms, the interiors of homes are transformed such that where once individual boxed rooms were housed within a larger exterior boxed frame, one box, that now opens a kitchen to a dining room, family room, and living room, now stands. Likewise, where three circles, intersecting only at “The Leader”, once represented Adair’s Model, once it has been renovated and restored with polyarchic designs, the three circles are now one, indicating a flow from defining the task, planning and briefing, informing and controlling, and supporting and reviewing (Obolensky, 2010). Restoration, like leadership, is not for everyone. Each week, potential homeowners, when shown run-down and abandoned property for Fixer Upper, easily admit they cannot see what the Gaines see. They cannot see beyond the walls; yet, once the final nail is hammered, they are simply amazed how a traditional home has been transformed to meet the needs of homeowners in the 21^st century.

            

            Both Fixer Upper and Flip or Flop have provided numerous real estate agencies, designers, and contractors with a new perspective for older homes. The challenge will be the inventory of such homes. In the absence of affordable inventory, will leaders such as the Gaines and El Moussas contemplate a design that is new construction with the distressed look that provides the character of traditional construction? Resources could include identifying and employing the skills of carpenters and trades who still practice hand-craft construction and/or carpentry. Waco may provide more opportunity to rescue distressed lumber from demolition projects in order to use with new construction. California could be a source of art-deco style and provide the chance to future contractors to learn the skills of the past. Just a Buckingham (2012) tells of Ralph Gonzalez’s Best-Buy success, Chip and Joanna Gaines, along with Tarek and Christina El Moussa, found their “whistle” in the form of rea-estate restoration (p. 88). The concept of flipping a home could be taught to almost anyone; however, the practice, demonstrated by each couple, as turned into a way of life for each. The Gaines personally help first time or repeat home buyers realize their personal dream when faced with a limited budget. The El Moussas took their knowledge of the real estate market and the desire for high end finishes, and expanded their real estate business to a construction and design company. This concept may not work in an area where the housing inventory is low and household incomes are high. Perhaps in looking ahead, each construction entity should consider pursuing projects outside of the company and experimenting with new projects and concepts so that when the housing market enters a time when flipping becomes more difficult, each will be able to compensate.

            

            The beauty of polyarchy is that it helps us dust off those traditional forms of leadership and personalize them in a way we are better able to expand knowledge so the onerous responsibility that once sat squarely on the shoulders of one is now expanded and shared in a way that allows for creativity and communication to occur to insure survival of not only the organization; but, the individual seeking to become a leader. Polyarchy, like flipping houses, helps us to tear down walls, provide support beams, embrace open concepts, apply neutral tones, create functional spaces, and encourage individuality while still preserving the character of leadership models, that while distressed, provide a solid foundation from which to go forward.

References

Buckingham, M. (2012). Leadership Development In the Age of The Algorithm. Harvard

            Business Review, 90(6), 86-94.

Griffin, N.S. (2003). Personalize Your Management Development. Harvard Business Review,

            81(3), 113-119.

Groth, A. (2012, Nov. 27). Everyone Should Use Google’s Original ’70-20-10 Model’ To

            Map Out Their Career. Business Insider. Retrieved from

            http://www.businessinsider.com/kyle-westaway-how-to-manage-your-career-2012-11

Knab, E. (2016). A633.9.3.RB – Polyarchy Reflections. In MSLD 633 Assignments. Retrieved

from https://erau.instructure.com/courses/44431/assignments/683390?module_item_id=2195434

Obolensky, N. (2010). Complex Adaptive Leadership. (2^nd ed.). London, UK: Gower/

            Ashgate.

A633.8.3.RB_MedleyKim_Coaching: Values that Last Generations

Coaching: Values that Last Generations

          It’s perhaps one of the most memorable movie endings. Family, friends, and teammates gather to say good-bye to Gary Bertier, a T.C. Williams High School football player, brought to the forefront of American in one of my favorite movies, Remember the Titans. To this day, that closing scene brings tears to my eyes and a lump to my throat; but, not just because a community lost an amazing athlete; it’s what the community gained, and the difference made, through coaching by Coach Herman Boone and Coach William Yoast.

          Knab (2016) states that in order “to be an executive coach, it is necessary to know that clients are the first and best expert capable of solving their own problems and achieving their own ambitions”. Hauser (2009) explains how elements of Gestalt OSD, “Schein’s (1999) process consultation, Peterson’s (2006) five necessary conditions for change, and Block’s (1981) flawless consultation process” are foraged to provide the foundation of coaching (p. 8). Gestalt “expands, strengthens, and optimizes the coachee’s leadership capabilities” (Hauser, 2009, p. 9). Insight, motivation, and accountability support and guide coaches through questions that define a starting point, a goal, real-world function, and measurement of learning and success. By adding capabilities, coaching is able to achieve its main objective, changing behavior, by moving individual(s) “from current thinking, behaviors, and performance, to expanded thinking and enhanced performance, toward a more integrated self, sustainable development, and success” (Hauser, 2009, p. 9).

          Remember the Titans, posted by Patruno (2015), takes place in 1971, during the desegregation of the schools in the South. I well remember this time. I was in fifth grade, my parents had just purchased a home across the street from my Pine Crest Elementary School, and the school board had announced to all parents fifth and sixth graders would be bussed to a school in a neighborhood of Sanford, Florida, known as Goldsboro, and mere blocks away from a section of town I avoid to this day. The area was fraught with drug and gang violence then; and, today. The movie captures the emotions of that era. My father and his parents grew up in Virginia; so, I have that sense of history, too. Coach Herman Boone and Coach William Yoast are faced with being the first school in that Virginia district to integrate its football team. If there is one activity that brings a community together, it’s football. Although Yoast is scheduled to be the head coach, the school board brings in Boone thereby replacing a white head coach with a black head coach. To further compound the situation, Boone later learns that at the first sign of “trouble”, one lost game, he can be fired and Yoast will become the head coach (Patruno, 2015). Boone and Yoast face individual hurdles they must overcome. Boone must prove his ability as a black man, against all stereotypes; Yoast must learn he doesn’t have all of the answers and can learn from Boone.

          At the heart of coaching, according to von Hoffman (1999) “is a person’s potential” (p. 4). Coaches provide value, in this case Boone and Yoast provide value, by helping the players, and subsequently the team, “handle problems for themselves”, define issues, expected outcomes, measure results, hold each player accountable, outline the change that must occur, both individually and with the team, if success is to be achieved, commit to coach, focus on the future, and invest in each player (von Hoffman, 1999, p. 4). Players cannot communicate. Boone begins by making defensive and offensive players sit next to each other on the ride to camp, room together according to position, and sit with each player and learn about that player’s family, likes, dislikes, etc., until all players have spoken with one another (Patruno, 2015). It is during this exercise that players Gary Bertier and Julius Campbell begin to address their tensions. Bertier is upset with Campbell as he believes “God-given talent” is wasted on a player who does not care. Campbell, in a display of honest upward communication calls Bertier’s bluff. He asks why Bertier’s friend, an offensive player, refuses to block for Rev, the team’s black quarterback. He tells Bertier he has failed to leader and that his (Campbell’s) attitude is a reflection of that failed leadership (Patruno, 2015). Boone, through coaching, helps the team with “real communication”, defined by Rogers and Roethlisberger (1952) as listening with understanding, when he stops the morning jog at the edge of a field once covered in the color red, not black or white, the blood spilled by 50,000 who lost their lives in the Battle of Gettysburg. He reminds them the fight fought on that field is being fought at the camp, will be fought in the school, and will continue to present itself to these players in their lives (Patruno, 2015). Would Yoast have been able tackle the racial tensions? Would he have had the same ability to be equally tough on all of the players? We see how he coddles Petey Johnson.

          Goleman (2000) states, “Leaders set strategy, they motivate, they create a mission, they build a culture”; and, should “get results” (p. 78). Coaching is the vehicle that allows leaders to help players, teams, organizations, and in this case, communities get results. Boone’s coaching began with pre-season camp. By the time the boys return home, they have learned to live and work together. From a group of individuals, a team emerged. Boone’s coaching allows Bertier to come to him, present a problem, and when faced with Buytendijk’s (2010) “fork in the road”, Bertier chooses his team as he benches his friend, the offensive player who purposely misses a block leading to Rev’s injury (Patruno, 2015). The communication that took place within this small group, led “to greater acceptance of others by others, and to attitudes which are more positive and more problem-solving in nature” (Rogers & Roethlisberger, 1952, p. 49). Consider opening scenes of white parents and black parents seated separately in the stands. Because judgmental behavior has given way to upward communication and lateral coaching on the team, that has spread throughout the community. Following Bertier’s devastating car accident, as his mother enters the stadium, not only does she receive a standing ovation, parents are sitting together, no longer segregated (Patruno, 2015). 

          Obolensky (2010) explains coaching is a “pull” approach for leadership. Boone first establishes the strategy of “perfection” for the team. The team picks up this mantle when faced with the possibility of losing the championship. He pulled those boys toward perfection, using a dictatorial leadership style, that held each boy accountable equally, and led to more and more moments where the “clients” could solve “their own problems” (Knab, 2016). Even Lasky realizes his potential of attending college thanks to Boone’s plan for Lasky to bring his grades to him each quarter and tutoring from Rev (Patruno, 2015). Through insight, the Battle of Gettysburg, motivation, three-a-days until each player learned about each other, capabilities, Bertier and Campbell’s “left side, strong side” team leadership, real-world application, facing racial tensions of desegregation, and accountability, setting the same standard for all of the boys, Boone identified where the team was, what he wanted to do, what he would do to achieve, and measured results (Hauser, 2009).

          The movie closes with the grave yard ceremony for Bertier, ten years after the perfect season. That community, facing desegregation, slowly embraced chaos such that they were able to make black and white work every day (Patruno, 2015). Both Boone and Yoast learned from and complemented one another. Stereotypes were voiced, debunked, and eventually became something at which to laugh. More importantly, the coaching that took place then; and, that which I embrace on a regular basis, prepared those young men for the real-world and their futures. As I recall, most of those players realized college football opportunities, including Lasky. Some went on to have careers at broadcast networks and some stayed and worked for the very school system that integrated the football team and school. Coaching is a leader’s ability and passion to let go, help another realize his or her potential, and watch them achieve not only their goal; but, watch them coach the next generation.

References

AnnaMaria Patruno. (2015, Nov. 13). Remember the Titans Movie. [Video file]. Retrieved

            from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CL-1_wEUjPA

Buytendijk. (2010, Sept. – Oct.). Dealing with Dilemmas: Redefining Strategy. Balanced

Scorecard Report Harvard Business Publishing and Palladium Group, Inc., 12 (5), 1-5.

Goleman, D. (2000). Leadership That Gets Results. Harvard Business Review, 78(2),

78-90.

Hauser, L. (2009). Evidence-Based Coaching: A Case Study. OD Practitioner, 41(1), 8-13.

Knab, E. (2016). A633.8.3.RB – How do Coaches Help? In MSLD 633 Assignments. Retrieved

from https://erau.instructure.com/courses/44431/assignments/683372?module_item_id=2195392

Obolensky, N. (2010). Complex Adaptive Leadership. (2^nd ed.). London, UK: Gower/

            Ashgate.

Rogers, C.R., & Roethlisberger, F.J. (1952). Barriers and Gateways to Communication.

            Harvard Business Review, 30(4), 46-52.

Von Hoffman, C. (1999). Coaching: The Ten Killer Myths. Harvard Management Update, 4(1),

            4-5.