A630.8.4 - Build a Tower, Build a Team

• Do you agree with Tom Wujec's analysis of why kindergarteners perform better on the Spaghetti Challenge than MBA students?I think he makes two great points - first, MBA students are looking to be in charge. Obviously, they are seeking an advanced degree in management so they are looking to be the manager/leader rather than working to get the task accomplished. In addition, MBA students are seeking the one right answer. There may be multiple good answers out there that can succeed.
• Can you think of any other reasons why kids might perform better?One reason is that the kindergarteners do not feel the pressure to perform and succeed that the MBA students do. Obviously if they are seeking an advanced degree, they are high performers who probably put a lot of pressure on themselves. On the other hand, the  kindergarteners are probably just having fun, and this relax approach allows them to be creative and more effective overall. In addition, there also has been a lot of talk in the news and education lately about school stifling children's creativity; while there is not hard scientific evidence supporting this, there is a lot of anecdotal evidence discussing this possibility (Beuke, 2011). If this is indeed true, then kindergarteners still have their creativity intact before being negatively affected by organized schooling.
• In your view, why do CEOs with an executive assistant perform better than a group of CEOs alone?As Tom states, the admins manage the process and facilitate the employees. They probably are also not interested in being the "leader" so they are willing to do the work that needs to be done. This ensures that while the CEOs may be arguing over whose idea is the "right" idea, that someone is actually taking the time to implement the ideas!
  If you were asked to facilitate a process intervention workshop, how could you relate the video to process intervention skills?
  One of the big lessons is that you do not necessarily need to be the leader or be in charge. It goes back to the old cliche of "there's no 'i' in team". It matters less if YOU are right than if your TEAM does the right thing, and so it's important to remove the personal feelings from these types of situations to ensure that you are doing what is best for the team overall. 

What can you take away from this exercise to immediately use in your career?
As I mentioned above, this was a good reminder that the team is often more important than being "right" or having the "winning" idea within the team. This connects back to some of the process intervention strategies mentioned in the chapter reading - it's important to listen, provide support, and coach (Brown, 2011). These will be much more productive than focusing on finding the one "right" or "best" answer.

References

Beuke, C. (2011, November 5. Does education stifle creativity? Psychology Today. Retrieved from https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/youre-hired/201111/does-education-stifle-creativity
Brown, D. (2011). An experiential appraoch to organization development (8th ed). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.