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The Masonic Builders - Founded 2001 - A Society For Masonic Revitalization |
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Quick Links The Masonic Builders Builder Articles, Links & Resources Commitment to Excellence |
COMMITMENT TO EXCELLENCE (CE) 2nd Level Module 3: Book - Good To Great - Questions Note: The following questions are also inserted in the Workbooks provided Lodges participating in CE 2nd Level Module 3 – Questions from Book Reading: Good to Great Collins, James C. (2001). Good to Great. NY: HarperBusiness.. INTRODUCTION Purpose Reading without reflection is relatively ineffective. Reflecting upon theoretical lessons and relating them to an area in which you are currently working and are engaged is more effective. Actually practicing theoretical lessons in the real world is the most effective. The Commitment to Excellence curriculum is designed to accumulatively build leadership and planning skills. Specifically, the 2nd Level of CE focuses on the Lodge’s long-term guidance system or North Star: Mission/Vision/Strategy. Through a systematic program of reading, reflection, and then practical facilitated experiential application, we hope that you will progressively advance and develop as a Masonic leader. As you personally develop as a leader, your applied application in your Lodge will build a better Masonry. You are engaged in a noble effort. The following questions will help you better comprehension of your reading and reflection. Later you will have an opportunity to practically apply these lessons to leadership for your Lodge at CE facilitated workshops. Instructions 1. Pace yourself – Read a minimum of three chapters per week – This will allow you to complete the Book in about one month. This will keep you on the CE timeline. Remember that there are several other Lodges working on the same timeline as you are. 2. Answer the questions appropriate to chapter or topic readings – store them in your CE Workbook 3. Once a week gather with your Lodge CE Team and discuss your answers to the questions. NOTE: An optional activity might be to hold a meeting once per week and answer the questions as a team. Whisper wise Masonic council to those team members tempted not to read assignments and attend these meetings unprepared – and gently remind them that becoming a better leader will positively benefit your Lodge. 4. Keep your original question answers in your own workbook. Make a Xerox copy of your answers and give them to your Lodge CE Team Manager. He will pass them to the Lodge CE Facilitator who will use these as input for your Lodge’s future Facilitation workshop sessions.
GOOD IS THE ENEMY OF GREAT
CHAPTER 1 - GOOD IS THE ENEMY OF GREAT
1. Why is being Good an enemy of becoming Great? Do people get trapped into Comfort Zones and stop striving for excellence?
a. First, answer the question Directly.
b. Second, relate what you learned answering this question to your Lodge.
DISCIPLINED PEOPLE
CHAPTER 2 - Level 5 Leadership
2. Level 5 Leaders – “channel their ego needs away from themselves and into the larger goal of building a great company – they are not rare, charismatic geniuses.” What makes a Level 5 Leader different from the Level 3 and Level 4 Leaders? Why is it important to strive to develop Level 5 Leaders in our organizations?
a. First, answer the question Directly.
b. Second, relate what you learned answering this question to your Lodge.
DISCIPLINED PEOPLE
CHAPTER 3 - First Who…Then What
3. Executives who led transformations to great companies “first got the right people on the bus, the wrong people off the bus and the right people in the right seats and then figured out where to drive it?” How does this emphasis on people first fit with all the management teachings about corporate vision, purpose, mission, and strategic thinking?
a. First, answer the question Directly.
b. Second, relate what you learned answering this question to your Lodge.
DISCIPLINED THOUGHT
CHAPTER 4 - Confront the Brutal Facts (Yet Never Lose Faith)
4. Good to Great companies (G2G) infuse “the entire [decision-making] process with the brutal facts of reality.” They create a climate where the truth is heard. Elaborate on the following: * Lead with questions, not answers * Engage in dialogue and debate, not coercion. * Conduct autopsies, without blame. * Build ‘red flag’ mechanisms.
a. First, answer the question Directly.
b. Second, relate what you learned answering this question to your Lodge.
DISCIPLINED THOUGHT
CHAPTER 5 - The Hedgehog Principle (Simplicity Within the Three Circles)
5. A Hedgehog Concept is a simple, crystalline concept that flows from deep understanding about the intersection of the following three circles: * What you can be the best in the world at – What is your organizational Potential? * What drives your economic engine – What will cause people to give you something of value (participation/loyalty/time) in exchange for what your organization produces – Production. * What you are passionate about – What your organization believes to its innermost depths – Passion.
How does the hedgehog differ from the fox in the way it addresses the complexities of the world?
a. First, answer the question Directly.
b. Second, relate what you learned answering this question to your Lodge.
DISCIPLINED ACTION
CHAPTER 6 - A Culture of Discipline
6. The Good-to-Great companies at their best followed a simple mantra: Anything that does not fit with our Hedgehog Concept, we will not do. The challenge faced by most organizations is not opportunity creation, but opportunity selection. G2G companies and organizations are very careful in selecting the opportunities where they will spend their limited resources. Why is it important to highly focus your resources and not spread them too thinly? What happens when an organizations tries to be all things to everybody?
a. First, answer the question Directly.
b. Second, relate what you learned answering this question to your Lodge. DISCIPLINED ACTION
CHAPTER 7 - Technology Accelerators
7. When used right, technology becomes an accelerator of momentum, not a creator of it. You cannot make good use of technology until you know which technologies are relevant – relevant to the planned direction that your firm has mapped out in steps indicated above and aligned with your organization’s strategic direction. How can technology ignite a transition form good to great? Or can it?
a. First, answer the question Directly.
b. Second, relate what you learned answering this question to your Lodge.
PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER
CHAPTER 8 - The Flywheel and the Doom Loop
8. How does the Flywheel relate to an organization that begins forward momentum under one set of Leaders and sees this momentum toward excellence pursued by future organizational leaders? Explain. Is the Doom Loop the opposite of this? How?
a. First, answer the question Directly.
b. Second, relate what you learned answering this question to your Lodge.
PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER
CHAPTER 9 - From Good to Great to Built to Last
9. Built to Last is a book about Great Companies becoming Enduring Great Companies – It’s about organizations having a solid and long-term strategic direction – a Guiding North Star. Good to Great is a book about an organization first building a solid foundation – the ground upon which to build – a Good company becoming Great and then (through Built to Last Principles) becoming an Enduring Great company.
Should an Good organization first build its foundation (Good to Great Principles) and THEN work on its long-term Mission/Vision/Strategy (Built to Last Principles) OR does it need to apply BOTH SIMULTANEOUSLY? Comment and give justification for your answer.
a. First, answer the question Directly.
b. Second, relate what you learned answering this question to your Lodge.
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