No More Boring, Bad Meetings

July 5, 2011 By 1 Comment

Be honest … are you guilty of leading boring or bad meetings?  I know I have been even though I should know better.  Many years ago now, the brilliant (and much younger!) John Cleese dramatized his meeting sins in a now famous training video:

  1. failing to prepare himself
  2. failing to inform others of what a meeting was about
  3. failing to plan the agenda
  4. failing to control the discussion
  5. failing to record the decisions

This shortened YouTube version of the original 30 minute training video, Meetings, Bloody Meetings, is worth a watch.

A more recent and complementary take on this topic is Patrick Lencioni’s fable Death by Meeting.  Lencioni suggests that most meetings are bad because they lack drama, context and purpose.  Given that the majority of important work needs to get done in meetings, he suggests team leaders become more accountable and address it in the following ways:

  1. Take a lesson from the movies.  Hollywood movie makers know that they need to introduce some confict or high interest into the movie within the first 10 minutes. Likewise, leaders should put the most controversial or engaging topic at the beginning of their meetings.
  2. Schedule more meetings! Seems counterintuitive but Lencioni suggests that most leaders try to put every type of task or purpose into one meeting (probably to get away from spending too much time in meetings!) and in so doing, almost doom their meeting from the get go.  He suggests teams set up four types of meetings:
  • Daily Check-in – as its name implies a quick 5-10 mins “how are things going?” Avoid the temptation to spill over into the next two or this meeting won’t work!
  • Weekly Tactical – This meeting should be no longer than one hour, and deal with the discussion and resolution of issues that affect the team’s short term and tactical objectives.  The team should quickly decide which items should be discussed in this meeting and avoid the temptation to spill over into strategic issues.  For this to work, the team needs to be crystal clear on its priorities in order to spend its time on the right issues.
  • Monthly Strategic – This is the meeting for discussion of topics that will have a long term impact on the business. These meetings should be longer and include time for exploration, brainstorming and open dialogue. Limit discussion to a few topics and allow 1-2 hours for each topic.
  • Quarterly Off-site Review – As the name implies these meetings are for people to step away from the day to day business, take a time out and reflect upon the entire big picture – how the team is doing, morale, engagement, the company’s strategy, trends affecting the business and so on.  These reviews can last anywhere from half a day to two days.

In our work with many teams, we see a few patterns. One is the team that has a difficult time discussing strategy even when they are in a strategy meeting.  This can be because people on the team lack expertise or the tools to discuss strategy. Two is the type of team who, as Lencioni suggests, tries to accomplish every task at every meeting. Three is the team that doesn’t ever take time away for an off-site review or retreat because they don’t have time. Ironically, the less time they spend on these types of off-sites the more time they spend frittering their time away on the wrong kinds of things and/or getting into interpersonal conflict.

What strategies have you used to ensure folks look forward to meetings instead of dreading them?

This blog is based on the 9 of Spades, When to Meet and When to Work, taken from our Teamwork Explorer. Written by Tammy.

When to Meet, When to Work

Filed Under: Leadership, teams Tagged With: , , ,

Are Mobile Phones Derailing Difficult Conversations?

June 21, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Photo thanks to the Next Web

Photo thanks to the Next Web

The idea that Blackberry usage can actually lower your IQ and curb creativity has been around for a few years now.   Linda Stone calls this continuous partial attention and suggests that people engage in it because they don’t want to miss anything.  I think the reverse is sometimes true – people will use their Blackberries TO MISS something.

I became aware of this a few years ago while working with an executive team. The team was comprised of executives from two different companies and they were going through a challenging merger.  Whenever certain topics would surface, the CEO would grab her notebook and write furiously. The CFO soon followed by becoming completely preoccupied with his Blackberry. After watching this for half a day, I commented on it and asked whether this pattern of behavior meant anything.  Turns out it did and the conversation that unfolded led to some great insights for the team and a request that the team “be present” with each other at meetings from then on.

What role do mobile devices play on your team?   Do team members engage in any other distractions (like writing in a notebook, thinking about tonight’s dinner, cracking a joke) when uncomfortable or unpleasant conversations come up?  What would it mean to “be present” on your team and how might that enhance your team effectiveness and creativity?

This blog is based on the 9 of Hearts, Be Present, taken from our Teamwork Explorer. Written by Tammy.

Be Present

Filed Under: communication, Leadership, teams Tagged With: , ,

It’s Time for the Adult to Take Over

June 14, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Sandbox with thanks to lowlmagination

Sandbox with thanks to lowlmagination

“I feel like I’m playing in the sandbox with a bunch of misbehaving kids,” lamented Pat, a very successful CEO of a large company.  She was a collaborative leader who involved her executives in decision making, but the team was under stress and acting like a group of little kids in the sandbox.

“Perhaps it’s time for the adult to take over,” I suggested which led to a fascinating conversation about the challenges of being a collaborative leader.  I had learned this from IDEO, a very successful design company, whose innovation teams are very collaborative, creative and emergent, and also, at the right times, directed by a few of the “self appointed adults” to complete certain tasks to ensure that they don’t spin off into complete chaos.

You know it’s time for the team leader to be the “adult” and take over when:

  1. Problem solving processes have run their course and you need to move forward. Some teams can get into “ideaphoria” and resist closure because they are not confident about their ability to deliver.  The team leader needs to force closure on the team and help the team with its confidence.
  2. Timelines are critical and short and there is no time for collaboration. The team leader needs to provide the plan and delegate to get the task done.
  3. Some (or all) team members do not have the skills.  The team leader needs to provide direction and suggestions about how to tackle the problem at hand.
  4. The team is not functioning well as a team. Once again, the team leader needs to provide direction and suggestions or delegation of tasks to get things done.
  5. If a team is under extreme stress, the leader needs to help the team take a time out, regroup and get back on track.
  6. If there has been a major emergency or catastrophe that is likely to cause chaos, confusion, or strong emotions, the leader needs to step in and provide stability and direction for the team.

The key to switching between a collaborative and autocratic style is to let your team members know, ideally before, but certainly at the time, why you are using this particular style.  If you don’t, you risk breaking trust with team members. If you are on a team where there is no formal leader, have the conversation about who the “adults” will be in the above situations. It will save your team time and heartache.

What style do you use?  Are there times when you’ve used a more autocratic style?

This blog is based on the 10 of Clubs, Autocratic, taken from our Teamwork Explorer. Written by Tammy.

Autocratic Decision Making

Filed Under: decision making, Leadership, teams Tagged With: , , ,

What do Cartoon Thought Bubbles Have to do with Teams?

June 7, 2011 By Leave a Comment
The Implications of Thought Bubbles

Thought Bubbles in Action on a Team

“I feel like Switzerland and I just want to bash their heads together.”  Sarah was exasperated with two members of her team and was telling me how tired she was of listening to their stories and how awkward team meetings were becoming.

“What would happen if you told them that? Perhaps not about bashing their heads together but about how you feel? How might that change things for you and your team?” It had never occurred to Sarah to do this and there was quite a long silence. By the end of our conversation she realized how her silence had been contributing to keeping the unhealthy dynamic between her two colleagues going. She also realized that there was some risk in actually letting them in on her “real” thoughts, but that the potential gains could outweigh the risks.

It’s pretty common for people not to reveal their true thoughts in team situations. Sometimes it relates to being conflict avoidant, sometimes to groupthink, sometimes to an overly “politically correct” culture on the team, and sometimes to fear of being vulnerable all of which are demonstrated in the cartoon above.  Whatever the case, if you find yourself going over situations long after they’re over and feeling unsettled, it may be time for you to examine the role that your “thought bubbles” are playing.  Here’s one of my own examples and how I dealt with it:

I’ve worked with many co-facilitators over the years to deliver various training programs and inevitably the program has some sort of evaluation form. Most times the form lists each person’s name and then asks for an individual rating of each person. This has always bothered me in that if we are working as a team and co-delivering a program, I think we should be rated as a team, not individuals. Inevitably, if rated individually, one member’s ratings will always be the lowest and one member’s ratings will always be the highest. It sets up a competitive and uncomfortable dynamic. So, I have been dealing with this for years and finally (sometimes I am a slow learner too!) I followed the 4 steps I recommend to others:

  1. What role have your thoughts and feelings in your thought bubble played in the situation unfolding as it has? Whenever the topic of evaluation comes up on a team, I get uncomfortable and a bit cranky and end up not participating meaningfully and saying things like “I hate evaluations … we get feedback along the way so what’s the point?” I end up having a conversation that doesn’t really capture my true thoughts and probably frustates my team members.
  2. What are the risks and opportunities of sharing your thought bubble? The risk is that someone might disagree with my suggestion to do a team rating and think that I am insecure about my own abilities, that the real reason I want a team rating is so I don’t end up at the bottom. The opportunity is that at least I can be more honest and authentic about why the topic of evaluation bothers me and perhaps even have my team agree with a team rating.
  3. What would need to change in order for you to share your thought bubble? I just need to be more confident about my own opinion, that I have given the matter some thought and that it’s not a suggestion I make lightly. The other thing that needs to change is to bring up the topic when we have time to more fully discuss it instead of at the last minute during a program.
  4. What’s a small step you can take to bring more of your thought bubble to team conversations? I can suggest that the next time we do a program that we add the evaluation form to our initial planning sessions.  I can also then preface my comments with “I’ve been thinking about this a lot and was wondering if we could …?

I’m pleased to report that I did indeed bring up this topic and that the outcome was positive. It allowed me to be more authentic and it allowed my team members to get to understand my perspective a bit better.

While this was a positive outcome, sometimes your reflections might lead you to conclude that it is simply too risky to share your thought bubble. If this is the case, then you need to find a way to let go of the issue and not let it continue to permeate your thoughts and, therefore, your presence and interaction on the team.  How to do THAT is another blog post …

This blog is based on the 10 of Diamonds, Sharing Thought Bubbles, taken from our Teamwork Explorer.

Sharing Thought Bubbles

Sharing Thought Bubbles

Filed Under: communication, Leadership, Risk, teams, Uncategorized Tagged With: , , , ,

How your Team can Save Time and its Sanity

May 31, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Thanks to Zach Klein through Creative Commons

Thanks to Zach Klein Creative Commons

I was becoming frustrated with our team.  Three days and dozens of emails later we were still no closer to solving the problem.  The problem you ask?  Finding a date for our next meeting! Egads, for a group of reasonably competent, smart people we certainly were limiting our effectiveness by using the wrong technology. In my own experience on teams and from coaching other teams, the two time wasters I see are using email to make decisions (including scheduling meetings!) AND, get ready … emailing Word documents and using track changes to collaboratively work on something.

We’ve learned a lot over the years from virtual team practitioners and writers. Our favorite writers are Duarte and Snyder whose book Mastering Virtual Teams is a must have for anyone who works on a team, whether virtually dispersed or not. It is full of hints, tips and strategies.  A few years ago, we adapted some of their ideas to produce a collaborative task identification tool. We suggest that teams talk about the types of tasks they face and the types of technology they can use. The chart below does not deliberately identify specific technology as technology changes too rapidly for that, but we hope the chart is a useful starting place for teams. After the chart, I’ve listed 6 ways you can save time on your team by using the right technology for the right task.

Collaborative Task Tool

Collaborative Task Tool, Calliope Learning adapted from Duarte and Snyder

Here are 6 of my favorite tools and they all offer free versions:

  1. Meeting Wizard – Stop the email craziness and use this tool to schedule your meetings!
  2. Rypple – Easily get feedback and hand out kudos using this very neat online survey type tool.
  3. Skype – I probably don’t need to mention this one but if you are a virtual team, skype is a must have for real time chats.
  4. Google Docs – is a simple and easily accessible way to share and co-edit documents.
  5. Yammer – is a Facebook type application but more geared towards productivity. You can set up your own private yammer group and use it to communicate and collaborate, share documents, etc. It also has smart phone versions so you can use it from your phone or computer.
  6. Mindmeister – is collaborative mindmapping software for the creative types out there.

I hope this has given your team some ideas! Have you found any cool tools to use?  I would love to hear about them!

Today’s blog comes from our Teamwork Explorer, 10 of Spades card. Posted by Tammy.

Use Appropriate Technology

Use Appropriate Technology

Filed Under: communication, Leadership, teams, Uncategorized

Motivate your team with 2 simple words and 5 strategies

May 24, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Thanks to woodleywonderworks

Thanks to woodleywonderworks

Those readers who know me know that I have become a doting aunt to an adorable 4 year old niece and 2 year old nephew. Given that I have no children, hearing them say please and thank you (and in particular to me when I happen to find that perfect gift!) has been one of my greatest joys in the last few years. It seems to be the most common and universal lesson taught to children.

And it is the most common and universal lesson forgotten in the workplace. We adults start to take ourselves way too seriously, get overly preoccupied with our own stuff, and forget that many people are connected to OUR overall success and pleasure in life.  It’s no surprise that the most common and universal finding on employee engagement surveys is feeling unappreciated.

So here are 5 strategies to help you say thank you to your team and keep them engaged and motivated:

  1. Set a goal of saying thank you to at least 1 person a day. Be specific saying what it is they have done and the impact it’s had on you.
  2. At team meetings, monitor your “critical comments” vs your “thank you or appreciative comments”.  Get the balance right!
  3. Write your team’s vision/values on blank business cards. When someone on your team lives a particular value and/or really demonstrates the vision, write a note on the back of it saying thanks (and again be specific!).
  4. Use an electronic greeting card to say thanks if you are working on a virtual team. My favorite is Jacquie Lawson … for $12 a year I can send unlimited animated greeting cards that I can customize for any occasion.
  5. Pay attention to small wins during a long and complex project. Saying thanks to people throughout the project can keep people motivated, engaged and able to handle challenges that do arise.

What strategies have you used to say thank you and motivate your team? I’d love to hear them!

Today’s blog comes from our Teamwork Explorer, 10 of Hearts card.

Say Thanks

Filed Under: communication, Leadership, teams Tagged With: , , ,

What your Team can Learn from JFK

May 17, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Amid much controversy, The Kennedys is now showing in Canada (well, at least the 2 episodes that I have taped on my PVR!). The reviews have certainly been mixed but I simply cannot help myself. I love a good story and I have been especially intrigued by the Kennedys for many years. I watched the episode highlighting the Bay of Pigs on the weekend and was reminded of the work of Irving Janis on groupthink.  Groupthink is a phenomena he coined which describes the tendency of  some really cohesive teams to ignore alternative pespectives and courses of action. The symptoms of groupthink according to Janis are:

    1. Illusion of invulnerability – the team thinks that they can do no wrong or harm.
    2. Collective rationalization – the team discounts alternative views and doesn’t challenge their own assumptions.
    3. Belief in inherent morality – the team thinks they are the moral compass for everyone.
    4. Stereotyped views of out-groups – people or groups with different views are made to be the “enemy”.
    5. Direct pressure on dissenters – anyone who disagrees with the team is greatly pressured to conform.
    6. Self-censorship – people do not express contradictory views.
    7. Illusion of unanimity – silence is assumed to be unanimity.
    8. Self-appointed ‘mindguards’ — stronger team members will filter out contradictory views.

I am especially interested in groupthink because I have been guilty of it myself and relate to the above 8 symptoms.  As someone who values harmony and cohesiveness, I need to work hard at hearing alternative perspectives.  I work on many faculty teams to deliver intensive leadership development programs and in our desire to deliver a high quality learning experience, I think we sometimes filter out feedback that challenges our particular philosophy of leadership.

Some remedies for groupthink include:

    1. The team leaders being aware of their power over the group and holding back on their preferences until other team members have spoken.
    2. The team assigning the role of critical evaluator or devil’s advocate to team members and/or bringing in expert, outside opinions to challenge the team.
    3. The team setting aside regular time to surface and assess their assumptions, as well as surface and consider alternative perspectives.

While the Bay of Pigs was devastating, some have suggested Kennedy learned from that mistake and avoided groupthink during the Cuban Missile Crisis by inviting outside experts to share their viewpoints,  dividing the group up into various sub-groups, and being deliberately absent from the meetings, so as to allow others open expression of viewpoints.

Has your team had a Bay of Pigs disaster?  Which remedies might work for your team?

This blog is based on the Jack of Clubs, Groupthink, taken from our Teamwork Explorer.

Groupthink

Written by Tammy

Filed Under: Leadership, teams Tagged With: , , ,

Do you have the right skills?

April 21, 2011 By Leave a Comment

A fascinating report by the BC Premier’s Technology Council outlines the new skills needed for our knowledge-based society. Among them, creativity, communications, teamwork, personal organization and self-regulation stand out as key skills that can have a profound impact on performance at individual, team and organizational levels.

We’ve been delivering workshops on creativity and innovation for many years now. It’s sometimes the most fun we have at work. We’re finding people are naturally attracted to creativity and innovation but our educational institutions and formal workplaces have somehow subdued a natural talent that is often just waiting to burst out. Check out Ken Robinson’s 2006 ted.com talk if you want to know more.

“Communications is the ability to relate concepts and ideas to others either in person, on the page or through technology” … so says the report. Unfortunately, I fear the PTC has fallen in to the trap of considering communication a one-way street. In our work we’ve found an ability to listen is often the most obvious communication skill that many need to develop. Communication needs to be about sharing ideas and building common understanding, not simply pitching your own thoughts effectively.

We’re so glad to see teamwork on the list. Most of us now work in sufficiently complicated jobs that no one person can achieve anything of real value without the mutual support of others. Once again I worry that our educational institutions are partially to blame for encouraging individual achievement over good team skills.

Adding EQ to the IQ is something we discuss a lot at Calliope. All of our clients are smart, but IQ alone does not guarantee success. Research has shown clearly that Emotional Intelligence (or EQ) has a profound impact on an individual’s capacity to be successful both at work and personally. The most popular framework for understanding EQ, developed by Dan Goleman, divides EQ into self-awareness, self-management, social awareness and relationship management. We see clear overlap between the domains of self-awareness/self-management and the critical skills of personal organization and self-regulation.

You can get the full report from:

http://www.gov.bc.ca/premier/attachments/PTC_vision for_education.pdf

We’d love to know what you think?

Dave Whittington, Calliope Learning, 2011

Filed Under: Creativity, Leadership, teams Tagged With: , , , ,

Wisdom of Crowds

April 19, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Today’s Teamwork Explorer Tip is the Queen of Clubs (decision making) – Wisdom of Crowds. (Need to know more about our approach to teamwork?) See our Teamwork Explorer blog post.)

Wisdom of Crowds

Queen of Clubs – Wisdom of Crowds

One of the reasons we work in teams is to have input on an issue from various different perspectives. In Wisdom of Crowds, James Surowiecki, suggests that optimum solutions are found when all these diverse opinions are incorporated into the decision.

How do you ensure that you hear all voices on the team, even the unpopular ones? Obviously this is very much dependent on the nature of the team, and there’s no one right answer. However, my work with teams suggests that some of the best ways to elicit diverse opinions would include setting clear ground rules that encourage the non-judgmental sharing of ideas. You also have to ask the right questions. Sometimes team members can have valuable input, but fail to share it because they don’t think it’s been asked for, or that it will add value. “Does anyone have anything else to share (no matter how crazy it may sound) regarding this issue?” or something similar is a great question to ask before moving to decision making.

Of course, the next big challenge, once all the diverse opinions are shared, is to incorporate them into a decision. The Jelly Beans in the Jar example is very straightforward.  Fill a glass jar with jelly beans and ask people to guess how many there are.  Then calculate the mean of the answers. I’ve tested this with several groups and the mean is almost always the best answer in the room.

It gets more complex of course when the problem at hand is something more realistic that the team really needs to move forward on. An approach I find useful when opinions are so diverse (perhaps even contradictory) that they can’t be incorporated into a single solution, is scrap the idea that there is one best solution. Once teams start looking for multiple, good, potential solutions, rather than the one best solution, they can move forward with testing prototypes rather getting stuck in what is often called “analysis paralysis”.

Finally a word of caution. Not all decisions lend themselves to a Wisdom of Crowds approach. The decision about which decision making approach is the most appropriate, is of course, the most important decision!

Curious about the rest of the tips and want to know all about them now? Find out more!

Posted by Dave

Filed Under: Leadership, teams, Uncategorized Tagged With: , , ,

Painting Leadership Patience

October 1, 2009 By Leave a Comment

As you know from following our blog, we just recently moved. What usually follows a move is painting and in the last six weeks I have painted (with some help from Dave!) 2 bathrooms, a kitchen and three bedrooms!

Those of you who know me might know that I am patience challenged. Dave would say I am downright impatient and he’s probably right. Even though my long years of study of adult education exposed me to the characteristics of a good learner (open mindedness, risk taking, patience, etc) and I was under the impression I was one … lo and behold that is not always the case.

Which I discovered in spades through my painting experience. I just hate prepping the room, taping and painting around the edges. I like the rolling of the walls as it’s fast and you can see instant progress. When you are prepping the room or taping baseboards or painting an edge along the ceiling, it’s slow and it looks like you’re not getting anything done.  So true to my nature, I tried to rush that process … bad mistake as it then took me twice as long to wipe off the extra paint on the baseboard, and I ended up making a mess of things overall.

So how does this relate to leadership? Well, many of our coaching clients (high tech or otherwise) are fairly high achievers who like to get things done. Many of them are like me … patience challenged! Leadership is a lot like painting to me … if you spend careful time and patience laying out the boundaries of whatever you are doing (for yourself and others), you can really make progress when you get to the walls (walls are whatever task you want to accomplish). But if you try to hurry through those all important boundary and relationship building activities (like initiating change, bringing on new people, setting a new direction, etc), you will spend more time trying to “fix” the mistakes you made along the way.

So the next time you are trying to rush through relationship building, think painting and think patience.  The walls will come later and you will see progress!

Tammy

Filed Under: Leadership Tagged With: , , ,
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