In The Classroom: Berkeley’s Executive Leadership Program

After some deliberation, Team 9 decides to build an 11-inch tower. The builders quickly sort out the blocks again and put their blindfolds on waiting for the game to begin. But not so soon. Jennifer Chatman’s voice booms loud and clear. “Regulators, mess up the blocks please!” says Chatman, a management professor at Haas and faculty director of the BEXL. A collective groan is heard throughout the room, where all the competing teams had — like Team 9 — smartly sorted out the blocks before putting their blindfolds on.

The game begins and the builders start groping around for the right blocks. Clearly, this is tougher than they had thought it would be. The builders of Team 9 try to determine the shape of each block and separate them. Then one by one they start building the tower in a clearing in the middle of the table. “To your right…. A little to the left… Slightly lower… Yes, that’s right. Now place it slowly and carefully,” says the leader, as each builder brings a block close to the tower. Team 9’s final product is an angular, awkward-looking tower, but at least it is standing – a lot of teams ended up with towers that came crashing down just as the five-minute building period got over.

The scoring is done – Team 9 hasn’t done bad at all, but members realize they can do better over the next two rounds. The team goes into a huddle again, discussing what worked and what didn’t and how they can do better this time. “This wasn’t all that tough, was it?” says one builder. “Maybe we can bid higher for the next round.” So they bid for 13 inches. They begin with an uneven base and after a couple of crashes, they end up with only 7.5 inches. Team 5, on the other hand, shocks everyone by building 36 inches. Some more introspection happens and Round 3 comes where there is a twist. The leaders are removed from the scene of action after the strategizing, and the team has to do everything alone. Team 5’s success has created some amount of pressure this time and Team 9 bids for 33 inches, but doesn’t end up coming too close. Most teams, however, do better – double or even triple their Round 1 performance – when the leaders are away.

Beyond all the mirth and the merriment, the objective of the game was simple: to determine what is the unique value-added of a leader? This question would be a constant thread over the next few days at the BEXL program. Chatman helps the teams dissect what really happened during the exercise, and more importantly, how they should shoot to achieve Round 3 performance from Round 1. The tower-building exercise sets the tone for Chatman’s presentation on different leadership styles and how they affect motivation. Just having been through this exercise, participants can identify with the different styles in real-life situations. Interestingly, she puts a lot of emphasis on the “visionary style” of leading because as she later explains, the pre-program survey results revealed that this particular group has very few people who exhibit that style.

Chatman uses a case study from Sears Roebuck to explain how leaders are signal generators. “The point about leadership is that people don’t have access to your mind – why you are doing what you are doing,” says Chatman. “They only have access to your behaviors.” She explains how behavior offers the data points that help people understand what the leader’s priorities are. “Leaders must engage in a mental calculus on how they can add value situation by situation,” says Chatman.

Her next presentation is on using culture as a leadership tool where participants engage in a lively discussion on the culture at Nordstrom (where several participants share their own “Nordstrom story” in which the store’s employees went out of way to please customers), Southwest Airlines and Zappos. This is followed by a peer coaching session and a professional coaching session over dinner off-campus at the Claremont Hotel.

Questions about this article? Email us or leave a comment below.