COOPLEXITY Institute 17, Cox´s Ground- OX2 6PX OXFORD -

United Kingdom www.cooplexity.com

September 2013

HIGH PERFORMANCE TEAMS Cooplexity Open Program

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INDEX

1. -SESSION DESCRIPTION

2. -OBJECTIVES

3. -CONTENT OF THE SESSION

4. -METHODOLOGY

5. -RECOMMENDED READINGS

6. -C.V. TEACHER

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SESSIONS

Date: 2013

Duration: 10 weeks with 2 days of attended experiential learning

Teachers: Ricardo Zamora and Edward Gonsalves

SESSION DESCRIPTION

Organizations today have to manage environments of crisis, uncertainty and constant changes. The future becomes blurred, less predictable and insecure. In this complex reality everything is interconnected and interdependent. As a result there are no simple solutions, strategic pathways are neither safe nor obvious; traditional corporate recipes for success do not work. Routes to success cease to be direct, linear, tangible and clearly visible; they are no longer explicit and tend to be tacit.

Companies must be flexible, responsive, agile and quick in order to survive and thrive. Changes must be perceived and anticipated because when a need becomes tangible, it may be too late! Perceptive cognizance, an attention to weak signals and a high state of vigilance are executive capacities that ensure rapid responses and increase likelihoods of success.

As a consequence, interdependency is a critical influence in the formula to obtain results. From this perspective success passes necessarily through team processes rather than the simple aggregation of individual orientations. We need more skilled teams with a wider global vision, able to understand relations and nuances in order to discriminate.

Collaboration as a process of saving resources, taking advantage of opportunities and Improving coordination becomes a key competence to develop.

The working program, based on the Cooplexity model of collaboration (cooperation in complexity), intends to create a framework of knowledge within which you might be better manage such uncertainty and change. It is structured along 10 weeks of activity that begins with an attended, 2-day, experiential seminar. In those 2 days the different areas of analysis are introduced. Thereafter activities will concentrate on developing tasks with a deeper level of analysis and application.

The three key areas to develop in an organization's capital are Entrepreneurship (innovation, opportunity, creativity, proactivity, experimentation and learning), Teamwork (awareness of interdependence, cohesion, collaboration, and team consciousness) and Distributed Leadership (self-coordination and dispersed decision-making as a process of emergence of natural and spontaneous interposed leaders).

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OBJECTIVES

The three key areas to develop of the organization's capital are

Entrepreneurship. Innovation, opportunity, creativity, proactivity, experimentation and learning.

Teamwork. Awareness of interdependence, cohesion, collaboration, team consciousness.

Distributed Leadership. Self-coordination and dispersed decision-making as a process of emergence of natural and spontaneous interposed leaders.

The objective of High Performance Teams program is to develop the following organizational

capacities and competences:

Distributed leadership: To appreciate and act upon recognition of the significant differences between traditional leadership paradigms, based on the individual and the new model of distributed leadership which is based on the executive team function.

High Performance Teams: To build autonomous and self-driven teams that develop initiatives, to make risk-based decisions and that can demonstrate flexibility and diversity in action.

Change management: To identifying the benefits of decision-making based on teams in situations of complexity, interrelationships and constant change.

Decision Making: To identify the guidelines needed to take actions through uncertainty and to reconcile anxieties arising from such decisions.

Synergy: To promoting the optimal distribution of resources through shared use.

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CONTENT OF THE SESSION

Introduction to High-Performance Cultures

How technology and globalization influence the executive decision The risk of treating complex decisions as simple. Long term and systemic implications More than the sum of the parts- a complementary approach to executive teams

The importance of a High Performance Environment

The impossibility of direct intervention in the High Performance Environments An Entrepreneurial Team Learning Perspective- how to build a flexible and adaptive organization Communication as the product outcome of an interactive exchange process rather than a simple information dissemination process

High-Performance Leadership

The new field of Distributed Leadership for today’s high performing executives A fundamental dichotomy in leadership styles: the Entrepreneur versus the Manager The risks of dysfunctional leadership profiles: individualism, simplification, groupthink and perfectionism How does leadership behavior encourage or discourage team performance Measuring risky leadership behaviors through the TEAM 12 test

High-Performance Teams

Teamwork is an emerging pattern of decentralized and spontaneous self-coordination Promoting team consciousness Excessive cohesion is a disadvantage. Teamwork is not an end in itself The group dynamics approach maximizes results through collaboration

High Performance Organization

My weakness is the result of my politics. How am I blind to it? An organization that learns from experience. The importance of failure, errors and mistakes Silver bullets in designing for the “it depends” conundrum. Learning to discriminate

The personal perspective

How to benefit from the anxiety produced by uncertainty We are prisoners of our own mental models Locus of control or how to take the responsibility for our decisions

The Cooplexity model

The knowledge level: Pro-activity oriented to results and relations The teambuilding level: group integration and trust generation The team working level: equal relationship and criterion of action

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METHODOLOGY

The High Performance Teams course is a blended learning program that combines an experiential learning program (attended) with distance learning. The attended session is based on “Synergy” a behavioural simulation that enables participants to transition from a situation of uncertainty to one of complexity. The first stage of uncertainty relates to conditions of change, crisis, chaos, mergers and takeovers, and can include the dynamics of growth, new businesses, and corporate restructuring. The second stage of complexity is related to mature, competitive, globalized, interrelated and interdependent markets.

As the session progresses, both organizational-level and personal-level needs are diagnosed. Initial competences tend to focus on either exploration, flexibility, the ability to influence, or learning. This is complemented by a subsequent focus on more relational competences including team dynamics, such as, motivation, communication, cooperation, shared leadership, delegation and coordination.

Experimentation through Gaming and Simulation is a highly effective, attractive, motivating and proven learning methodology, with constant changes of rhythm, which encourages constructive interactions and sustainable, participant ownership. Our program designs reflect our belief in the idea of serious play and its causal link to executive performance.

After the experiential learning session, a whole period of analysis and application is undertaken by participants using the learning platform. A number of readings, exercises, tests, videos and external links are used as the basic content for this part of the program. Web 2.0 learning tools, including blogs and online forums, support and encourage the sharing of ideas and experiences. Social software is also used to generate a learning community.

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RECOMMENDED READINGS

Introductory readings

Ancona, D., & Bresman, H. (2007, June 26). X-Teams: Distributed Leadership in Action. Harvard Business Review.

Argyris, C. (1991, Mayo 1). Teaching Smart People How to Learn. Harvard Business Review. Snowden, D. J., & Boone, M. E. (2007, November 1). A Leaders’s Framework for Decision Making.

Harvard Business Review.

Compulsory reading

Zamora Enciso, R. (2011). Cooplexity: A model of collaboration in complexity for management in times of uncertainty and change. Lulu.com.

Cooplexity presents a model of cooperation, collaboration in complexity and it’s the result of over ten years of research and five of data collection. Rigorously, three levels of acting are presented, its implications, its key factors and the catalysts that will enable its appearance. The reader will find here guidelines to facilitate the emergence of collaborative behavior and a series of findings that challenge traditional concepts of teamwork and leadership as they are understood nowadays

Apart of the pdf and epub formats available as a content of the course there is also the possibility to by a hard copy at http://stores.lulu.com/RicardoZamora

Subsequent readings

Busenitz, L. W., & Barney, J. B. (1997). Differences between entrepreneurs and managers in large organizations: Biases and heuristics in strategic decision-making. Journal of Business Venturing, 12(1), 9-30.

Carron, A. V., & Brawley, L. R. (2000). Cohesion: Conceptual and Measurement Issues. Small Group Research, 31(1), 89-106.

Crant, J. M. (2000). Proactive Behavior in Organizations. Journal of Management, 26(3), 435-462. Day, D., Gronn, P., & Salas, E. (2004). Leadership capacity in teams. The Leadership Quarterly,

15(6), 857-880. Gronn, P. (2002). Distributed leadership as a unit of analysis. The Leadership Quarterly, 13, 423-

451. Hosmer, L. T. (1995). Trust: The Connecting Link between Organizational Theory and Philosophical

Ethics. The Academy of Management Review, 20, 379-403. Mathieu, J., Maynard, M. T., Rapp, T., & Gilson, L. (2008). Team Effectiveness 1997-2007: A

Review of Recent Advancements and a Glimpse into the Future. Journal of Management, 34(3), 410-476.

Optional readings:

During the course some extra readings could be recommended. They are not compulsory but highly connected with specific issues on which it is interesting to deeper.

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CV TEACHERS

Ricardo Zamora

Ricardo Zamora is Bachelor of Science in Business and a Masters in Business Management from ESADE (Top 10 European and International Business Schools).

He is founder of the Cooplexity Institute of Oxford and Managing Director of Training Games, an executive training consultancy that specialises in conceiving and developing unique training solutions through games and simulation.

He is associate professor at the Department of Business Policy at ESADE Business School since year 2000. Currently collaborating at the Executive MBA and with some Executive Education programs.

Zamora has specialized in the development of systemic competences and applies this program in large corporations with complex interrelationships. He has taught seminars in countries such as Argentina, China, Italy, Mexico, Spain, UK and USA.

Large and multinational companies such as Arbora & Ausonia (Procter & Gamble), Grupo Santander, Deutsche Bank, Lafarge, Heineken, Red Eléctrica, Nestlé, Dannon, BBVA, BDF-Beiersdorf, HP, Akzo Nobel, Unilever, BASF or Solvay are some of Zamora’s customers.

He is Member of the ESADE's Leadership Development Research Centre focused on effective leadership and emotional and social competencies (Glead).

The graduate dissertation titled “The Teamwork, a Valuable Resource in Complex Environments” was graded as outstanding Summa Cum Laude.

He is member of NASAGA (North American Simulation and Gaming Association) and the System Dynamics Society.

Edward Gonsalves

Edward Gonsalves BSc, M.Sc, M.Ed.

Edward is Pathway Director and Lecturer on the MBA and MA in Entrepreneurship Programs at the European Business School, London. and at the Barcelona Management Institute.

He is an Affiliate Professor at Toulouse Business School , Barcelona Campus

Edward is Founding member of the Barcelona Entrepreneurship City Group.

He holds a number of directorships, advises, consults and publishes in the area of Strategic and Entrepreneurial Learning. His current research focuses on Organizational Learning and the Role of Play in Corporate Learning and Human Capital Management.

Edward is the learning facilitator on the Park Royal Partnership 'Entrepreneurial Mentoring Program' for Small & Medium Size enterprises and he is a lead adviser to the GBP15m London Carnival Village capital Project.

He has publications include C.W.J.A., Gonsalves, E. (2008). Entrepreneurial Resource, Organizational Learning and Strategy-Making: Linking Theory and Empirical Design.