Meaningful Partnership at Work How The Workplace Covenant Ensures Mutual Accountability and Success between Leaders and Teams

Why are some work partnerships exceptional while most are not? How can we establish and sustain an enhanced level of cohesion, connection, and collaboration in the most important work relationship, the one between a manager and team? What could remedy the high levels of isolation and anxiety so many feel at work these days? Silver and Franz explore the concept of ‘meaningful partnership’ in the workplace. They present meaningful partnership as a mindset where both leaders and their teams are fully committed to ensuring the support and success of the other. Then, they describe a model called ERTAP, which stands for Empathy, Respect, Trust, Alignment, and Partnership, which is the foundation for meaningful partnership. Finally, they detail a practical yet transformative relationship-building process referred to as the Workplace Covenant. This enables leaders and teams to create mutual commitments with obligatory weight that help them to feel accountable for the success of the relationship and each other. The book includes real client stories that illustrate the dimensions of partnership and the Workplace Covenant process. Silver and Franz also outline other work relationships that can benefit from meaningful partnership, pitfalls to avoid, relevant research, and insights derived from years of consulting experience. This book is a must-read for leaders interested in a better working relationship with their team; for teams who have critical work partnerships with other teams; for individuals who work closely with other individuals and need an exceptional 1:1 partnership; and finally for third-party experts in HR or continuous improvement who are seeking a new powerful way to help clients feel supported and be more successful.

INTRODUCTION Two in a Canoe – A Metaphor of Partnership Big Picture – Why Meaningful Partnership Matters What this Book is About What It is Not About Brief Overview of the Book Goals of this Book Finally, Who Should Read This? Why Conduct The Workplace Covenant? CHAPTER 1: THE NEED FOR MEANINGFUL PARTNERSHIP The Basic Problem in Our Workplace The Manager-Team Relationship is Crucial Customer Relationships Matter, But Manager-Team Relationships Mostly Ignored The Need for Partnership CHAPTER 2: WHAT IS A WORKPLACE COVENANT? The Origin Story: Unstated and Therefore Unmet Expectations The Problem and the Solution This Goes Deeper Than We Thought Improving the Process – A Few Important Lessons Learned What is a Workplace Covenant? The Process in a Nutshell Why is it Called a Workplace Covenant? Will Teams and Managers Adhere to What They Sign? What Do Real Workplace Covenants Look Like? Sample Workplace Covenants CHAPTER 3: A COVENANT STORY Covenant Story #1: Roy - ‘From Great to Superb’ The Initial Session Reviews and Breakthroughs Lessons Learned from Roy and his Staff How Did The Workplace Covenant Session Go? CHAPTER 4: WHAT IS ERTAP? Describe Your Best Team Ever What Do We Mean by ERTAP? How Does ERTAP Develop from Creating and Using a Workplace Covenant? What Happens Over Time Given Workplace Covenants and ERTAP? CHAPTER 5: ANOTHER COVENANT STORY Covenant Story #2: Mick - Breaking Cliques, Improving Trust and Alignment The Initial Session Reviews and Breakthroughs Lessons Learned from Mick and his Staff CHAPTER 6: HOW THE PROCESS WORKS What are the Main Process Steps to Develop and Use a Workplace Covenant? Step 1: Initiate & Create Step 2: Compare & Contrast Step 3: Combine & Refine Team Steps 2 & 3: Compare & Contrast, Combine & Refine Step 4: Confirm & Sign Check/Adjust: Embrace & Integrate, Review & Calibrate, Evaluate & Validate Step 5: Embrace & Integrate Step 6: Review & Calibrate Step 7: Evaluate & Validate CHAPTER 7: SHOW ME THE EVIDENCE Research that Supports Practice Research, ERTAP, and the Workplace Covenant A Summary of the Social Science Literature on ERTAP Empathy & Teamwork - The Research in Brief Respect & Teamwork – The Research in Brief Trust & Teamwork – The Research in Brief Alignment & Teamwork – The Research in Brief Meaningful Partnership & Teamwork – The Research in Brief Our Pilot Study Our Longitudinal Study Conclusion How Did The Workplace Covenant Enhance Meaningful Partnership? CHAPTER 8: COVENANTS IN TIMES OF CRISIS (AND DURING VIRTUAL WORK) Covenant Story #3: Marie - ‘Keeping Together in Tough Times’ The Initial Session Reviews and Breakthroughs Working Virtually Lessons Learned from Marie and her Team CHAPTER 9: OTHER APPLICATIONS FOR WORKPLACE COVENANTS Typical Applications between a Manager and Team Other Useful Applications CHAPTER 10: WHAT COULD GO WRONG? Problems and Predicaments at the Beginning Problems and Predicaments Later On CHAPTER 11: WHEREVER YOU ARE, HOW DO YOU START? Managers and Teams: Getting Started Plan for the Session Do: Conduct the Initial Workplace Covenant Session Check/Adjust: Post-Session Follow-Up with Covenants HR and Third-Party Experts: Quick Suggestions CHAPTER 12: A LAST COVENANT STORY Benefits of The Workplace Covenant? Describing Elephants Covenant Story #4: Julie – From Hurt to Healing Lessons Learned from Julie and her Team CHAPTER 13: FINAL THOUGHTS Back to the Big Picture – Why Partnership Matters Closing Arguments APPENDIX I: SLIDES TO RUN A WORKPLACE COVENANT SESSION APPENDIX II: MEASURING ERTAP Measuring ERTAP: Brief Best Practices REFERENCES INDEX

Seth R. Silver, Ed.D., Organizational Consultant Dr. Silver is the principal of Silver Consulting, Inc., an independent consulting practice, where he has worked with over 200 client organizations in health care, higher education, high tech, government, business services, manufacturing and non-profit. His consulting focuses on two key areas: developing and improving leadership; and creating high engagement, high performance workplaces. He provides such services as executive coaching, leadership training, team development, conflict resolution, building effective workplace partnerships, strategic planning, and organizational/team diagnosis. Dr. Silver has developed a unique business process called the Workplace Covenant, which helps parties in any organization to exchange and agree upon reciprocal obligations and expectations so as to ensure trust, feedback and alignment in their relationship. He has recently co-authored a book, entitled Meaningful Partnership at Work: How The Workplace Covenant Ensures Mutual Accountability and Success Between Leaders and Teams, to bring the concept to a wider audience. From 2000 to 2014, Dr. Silver was a part-time Assistant Professor and taught Masters level students in Human Resource Development, teaching first at St. John Fisher College, and then at the Rochester Institute of Technology. Dr. Silver holds a Bachelors degree from the University of Toronto, a Masters degree from Cornell University, and a Doctorate (Ed.D.) from The George Washington University. He has served on the Board of Directors for several non-profit organizations in the Rochester area, and is a citizen of both the US and Canada. Timothy M. Franz, Ph.D., Professor, Consultant and Author Tim Franz is an Industrial and Organizational Psychologist at St. John Fisher College. He is a Professor and Interim Chair of the Department of Psychology and past graduate Program Director of the graduate Human Resource Development program. He works as an organizational consultant through his consulting organization, Franz Consulting and GLI. Prior to his work as a professor, Dr. Franz worked full time as a human resources consultant. He earned his Ph.D. in Social/Organizational Psychology from the University of Illinois at Chicago, his M.A. from the University of Buffalo, and his B.A. from SUNY Oneonta. His areas of expertise include applied research in organizations, individual and team decision making, improving team performance, improving team leadership, and using teams to drive organizational change. Many of his ideas about improving teams are published in his four books, titled Meaningful Partnership at Work: How The Workplace Covenant Ensures Mutual Accountability and Success between Leaders and Teams (August, 2021), Making Team Projects Work: A Resource for High School and College Educators, Making Team Projects Work: A Resource for High School and College Students (September, 2021) and Group Dynamics and Team Interventions: Understanding and Improving Team Performance (2nd edition in 2022). More information about his work can be found at TeamBuildingProcess.com.