Smart Leaders, Smarter Teams: How You and Your Team Get Unstuck to Get Results
Roger Schwarz
Jossey-Bass/A Wiley Imprint (2013)

“Sticks in a bundle are unbreakable.” Kenyan Proverb

The last time I checked, Amazon offers 52,820 books for sale in the category “business teams.” Ironically and paradoxically, we now know a great deal about effectively selecting and leading members of what become high-impact teams and yet most teams either fail or fall far below original (perhaps unrealisitc) expectations. Why? Reasons vary but, more often than not, cultural resistance – especially to change initiatives – proves insurmountable. In Leading Change, James O’Toole suggests that such resistance is usually the result of what he so aptly characterizes as “the ideology of comfort and the tyranny of custom.”

In this volume, Roger Schwarz shares everything he has learned — from decades of experience — about how to help readers and their teams “get unstuck to get results”…high-impact results. More specifically, he introduces what he characterizes as the “Unilateral Central Mindset” that many team leaders adopt and exemplify. Its values: Be right; Minimize expressions of negative feelings; Act rational; and Win, don’t lose. Its assumptions: I understand the situation and those who disagree don’t; I am right, those who disagree are wrong; I have pure motives, those who disagree have questionable values; I am not contributing to the problem; and My feelings and behavior are justified. Those who possess this mindset are obviously advocates of the Command and Control approach to leadership.

What do to do? Schwarz recommends the “Mutual Learning Approach.” Its values: Transparent Curiosity, Informed Accountability Choice, and Compassion. Its assumptions: I have information but so do other people; Each of us sees things that others don’t; Others may disagree with me and still have pure motives; I may be contributing to the problem; and Differences are opportunities for learning. Those who possess this mindset are presumably advocates for leadership that combines authenticity, intellectual curiosity, humility, and transparency; moreover, it demonstrates highly developed emotional intelligence, moral courage, and integrative decision-making and problem-solving skills.

Whatever their size and nature may be, all organizations need such leadership at all levels and in all areas of the given enterprise. In this context, I am reminded of Tom Davenport’s latest book, Judgment Calls, in which he and co-author Brooke Manville offer “an antidote for the Great Man theory of decision making and organizational performance”: [begin italics] organizational judgment [end italics]. That is, “the collective capacity to make good calls and wise moves when the need for them exceeds the scope of any single leader’s direct control.”

These are among the dozens of passages in Schwarz’s book that caught my eye, also shared to suggest the scope of his coverage:

o Why Leaders Stay Stuck (Pages 6-8)
o Changing an Unproductive Mindset (9-17)
o Why Unilateral Control Gets Results You’re Trying to Avoid (26-31)
o Unilateral Control Behavior (33-35)
o Values of the Mutual Learning Mindset (49-67)
o Extending Mutual Learning to the Whole Team (81-85)
o Behavior 5: Focus on Interests, Not Positions (109-115)
o Behavior 8: Discuss Undiscussable Issues (131-140)
o Watch Your Mindset as You Design [a Team] (144-147)
o Team Structure (153-159)
o Team Process (159-164)
o Team Context (165-175)
o Giving Feedback (184-188)
o Beginning the Team Journey (216-222)

I appreciate Schwarz’s skillful use of several reader-friendly devices that include an extensively annotated “Contents” section, Figures (e.g. 2.1, “Core Values and Assumptions of the Unilateral Control Mindset” and 5.3, “Lowering Your Ladder of Inference”), and brief insights throughout the narrative (what I call “business nuggets”) such as “When you operate from the mutual learning mindset and you’re working with people who see things differently from the way you do, the essence of the mindset is simple: I understand some things. So do you. Let’s learn and move forward together.” (Page 23) and “Mutually learning teams expect that when the team makes a decision, everyone agrees to support it through their actions and their voices. Mutual learning teams also encourage members to share their concerns with their direct reports.” (Page 196) Readers will also appreciate summaries of key points at the conclusion of most chapters. These and other devices permit seamless transitions in the narrative flow and will facilitate, indeed expedite re=frequent review of material later.

There are no head-snapping revelations, nor does Roger Schwarz make any such claim. What he does offer are rock-solid information, insights, and counsel that I can be of incalculable value to individuals but also to project teams and (especially) to those who lead them. Bravo!