Please make it OK!

Not every team is high performing. Some are chugging along fine, others need some help. Often managers and team leaders don't know what to do to reduce the defensiveness, stop the irrelevant infighting and competition, increase the trust, clarify the roles etc. Sometimes there is a history of not discussing tough issues, running from tough decisions, and not confronting problems when they are small enough to be dealt with fast. Often they reach for an easy fix - an off-site team building / bonding experience. Let's cook together, let's raft together, let's have a scavenger hunt. While these are fun and they attempt to press the "make everything OK button," these interventions don't have a lasting effect, and they even may cause more harm than good.

We offer solutions that really do make a difference. While working together, teams can do some great research on their work processes and self awareness that can lead to significant break throughs in trust, role clariifcation, decision making and implementation. We call this work Action Research. We have two solutions that can make a big difference in how your team works together. They take time and skilled facilitation, but the results reward the work. We use the Drexler Sibbet Team Peformance System and combine it with Element B. It's a powerful combination that directs team members and team leaders to look inside and outside simulaneously. We create new norms of honest communication and forthright speaking that reduce defensiveness and "positon rigidity" and help team members focus on real results.

Sure you can read Forbes or Fast Company tips and tricks on the "five ways to improve your team performance," or you can push the "make everything OK" button for now. When you get serious about rebooting your team. Give us a ring. Our mission is getting your team to experience high performance.

The Human Element!

Imagine if you could reduce or eliminate unproductive workplace behaviors…

• Derailed meetings
• Sloppy decision making
• Irrelevevant competition
• Passive agressiveness
• Blaming and finger-pointing
• Malicious compliance
• Caution, mistrust and facade
• Resistance and dependence

The Human Element is a comprehensive approach for increasing personal awareness and creating an open atmospher where people can solve problems.

Unlike many approaches that address individual, team, and organizational performance from the outside in, The Human Element addresses these issues from the inside out, combining experiential methodology with an integated set of phychometrics. By using effective tools for working through and resolving these issues, people are more apt to enthusiastically implement organizational initiatives and contrribute their full energies and talents. (adapted from Ethan Shutz)

I am happy to announce that McNeil Consulting can bring THE HUMAN ELEMENT to your organization. Contact us for details. In the future we will also be running open public THE sessions!

The HivePad Meeting IBYOD

IBYOD - Stands for: Interactive, Bring Your Own Device. These are meeting where everyone has a voice and a vote. We are raising the bar on audience response. Not only can your participants comment live, they can also rank ideas, vote on priorities, brainstorm in break out groups, contribute by electronic flip charts, and create a team or organization wiki - all at your next meeting.

The meetings are fun, informative, energizing, and creative. And the results from the meeting can be instantly downloaded or shared with those who were not able to attend. Remote participants can also attend. Just be aware of the time differences.

We can also work the data collected at the meeting in real time - bringing a here and now relevance to any discussion. iPads, tablets, android devices, kindle fire, laptops all work. Participants can also participate before, during, and after your meeting.

We design and facilitate. You lead. We can also train your people to do a HivePad meeting. Take a test drive when you are ready. Just leave a comment. We will get right back to you.

Introducing Priority Builder

Setting priorities on a team is often challenging. Let’s say we have ten mission critical initiatives. Most times the team cannot do everything, and certainly not at once. So how do we set the priorities on a team?

We make use of a methodology, process and technology we call Priority Builder. Here is how it works. We identify the initiatives from all of the team members, every single one. Once we have these we do what we call a quick ranking using the Hive. Our goal is to narrow the ten initiatives down to seven. The forced ranking via the hive takes about 10 minutes. We ask the leaders of the Three initiatives who didn’t make the cut to explain to the team the reasons why their cut initiative should be part of the seven. Afterwards we see if there is a group consensus to change out any of the initiatives. In our experience this rarely happens.

Next we take the seven remaining initiatives and put through a “Win Tunnel”  exercise to determine value, causation, sequencing, and disruption. Here is how it works.

The concept of a BCL - A BCL is a Business Case Lite. Each executive takes the time to prepare a business case for their particular initiative. They place their answers in The Hive. The business case must identify:

What - What is AIM of this initiative?
Rationale - Why must we ACT on it?
The presenter must also rate the initiative along three scales using the Multi-Scale tool in the Hive.
    •    Assess VALUE in terms of Mission Critical Returns / Cost
    •    What COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE can we expect?
    •    How DIFFICULT Is this to do?

The HIVE's Discussion Tool is used and attached to each initiative. All team members have access to the Discussion Tool. We set the discussion to be a signed discussion and allow team members to comment on each others comments. Team members are told that this discussion will be open for three days prior to the face to face Priority Setting Meeting.

At the meeting we open up the BCLs, the Multi-Scales and the Discussion. Priorities can easily set after a short discussion. These can become a road map for achieving the initiatives. In our experience we often find ways to change, fund and sequence those initiatives  not initially accepted.

Using Priority Builder saves tremendous time by sharpening the debate, and disciplining the team to make decisions based on real information.

What Is a Process Intervention and How can I make One?

Look at Yesterday's post on the GSA, suppose you were at the table when someone suggested (perhaps even the leader), "We should take the entire organization to Las Vegas this year and really have a blow out. I mean this is going to be the mother of all team building events!" We could party, celebrate, build bicycles for charity and I even know a mind reader."

Suddenly you get an icky feeling in your gut. You are bothered by what has just been said. As you sit you become aware of another feeling, weaker than the first feeling and more subtle. You recognize this as fear. The fear is about speaking up and telling the others what you are feeling. At the same time enthusiastic team mates are talking and saying that going to Vegas would be just about the coolest thing imaginable. You go back and forth listening to your feelings of discomfort and fear and listening to the building excitement of at least half of the group for the Vegas idea.

Bless yourself and your internal barometer. You have created a choice point for yourself. You can make a process intervention; you can state how you are feeling to the others in the group. This process intervention will surely stop the group process going on about choosing to go to Vegas, particularly if you share all of your feelings (discomfort, disgust, and fear). The other choice you have is to remain silent and go along to get along.

Choosing to state your real feelings means playing the "loyal dissenter", although your enthusiastic team members and even the leader might not see you that way. You could be identified by others as playing "Debbie Downer," or even worse, "not a real team player." You must further assert your position by asking if anyone else feels the same as you. In my experience in small groups I have almost always have one other or some others say they feel the same as I do when I make a process intervention. Once others agree you have succeeded in stopping the process and putting the issue on the table along with your position. The ensuing conversation becomes "here and now" and real. Nothing could be better for this team than what you have just done.

One of Yogi Berra's quotes was, "We made too many bad mistakes." Every team makes mistakes. Not every team makes really bad mistakes. Your process intervention can help the team avoid making a really bad mistake. However, if no one speaks up don't worry, CNN will pick up the story and the team will learn the hard way. It's your choice.  

This is one example of a process intervention - the loyal dissenter. There are many other types of interventions which we will discuss in upcoming posts.