The Power of Shared Language

© Jérôme Rommé - Fotolia.com

I was speaking with a client recently, reviewing our recent work as the organization developed a new strategy for its work.  She was reflecting on one step in the process, a meeting with the staff team where we took stock of all their existing programs in relation to the emerging strategy.

"We have transformed the way we talk with each other about our programs.  Before we had that meeting, we always argued about how to assess and prioritize the programs.  But now we have a shared way of discussing the programs in terms of their impact and profitability.  It is so much easier to discuss these things when we have a shared language!"What my client and her colleagues discovered in our work together is that having a Shared Language among members of a group - whether the group members are part of the same team, work together in one organization, or come from different organizations - is core for developing shared understanding and a shared commitment to the actions that lead to results.

I have seen the issue of Shared Language show up time and again in my work with organizations.  When it is present, it has a strong lubricating effect, smoothing conversation, enabling effective listening, facilitating understanding.

But when it is absent, there can severe negative consequences as people talk past each other, unable to grasp what others are saying.  Time and again, too many people leave meetings feeling frustrated and bemoaning the lack of clarity.  This failure to understand typically shows up in one of two ways:

• We know we don't understand each other, but are not sure how to develop a Shared Language.  I've been in many meetings where technical specialists are meeting with non-specialists, and don't realize that their use of acronyms is deepening confusion rather than enabling understanding.
• We think we understand each other because we are using similar words and acronyms, and don't realize we attach very different meaning to these words.  I've seen this happen when people in related fields use similar words (a recent example was 'accreditation') and misunderstand the different contexts in which the term is used by different members of the group.

Tips for developing a Shared Language

• Check your assumptions - don't assume that everyone in the meeting shares your familiarity with technical terms and processes.  Ask to make sure.
• Speak up - if you hear unfamiliar words or think that some familiar words are being used in a different way, say so.  Allow the meeting to use this opportunity to check their assumptions and review the way they use certain terms.
• Develop a shared 'glossary' - define critical terms and acronyms, and agree on their meaning (even if only for the duration of the meeting).
• Create your own Language - develop terms to describe key processes or steps that everyone in the group can understand.  They can serve the purpose of helping group members reach understanding and make decisions together.

Shared Language is one of four ways that groups can develop shared understanding and commitment to the actions that lead to results.  Contact me to learn about the other three components that help groups have more effective and productive meetings - just like the client I quoted earlier. 


News Flash:

Join me on October 22, 2013 as I speak at the monthly meeting of the Chesapeake Bay Organization Development Network (CBODN) about my experience with groups working on complex, messy and ambiguous issues.  


"Unleashing Results - enabling shared understanding and commitment in groups tackling wicked problems"



I'll be introducing my framework for helping groups work together effectively to make decisions and implement the actions that lead to breakthrough results (This covers the four components I mention in the blog above).  I'll also share and demonstrate some methods you can use in your groups.

You can get more information and register on the CBODN website.

or contact me if you can't make it and would like to receive a summary of these ideas.

Using Managerial Transitions to Build Stronger Teams - Part 4

This blog series looks at how you, as a manager transitioning into a new department or team, can use the opportunity of the transition to foster stronger teams.

The first post served as an introduction to why having stronger teams will help you be more effective as a manager.  We promote the idea of real teams that are aligned with the business goals you are tackling.

The second post introduced 3 team processes that you can use to assess your team and start building it into a stronger, more aligned team.  These activities were:
1) Conduct a Team Assessment
2) Align with the Team Sponsor Expectations
3) Convene a Team Charter Workshop

The third post highlighted 4 more team processes for building your team.  These activities were:
4) Establish Clear Goals and Roles
5) Review and Update Team Processes
6) Working with Remote Staff: Face to Face Workshops
7) Working with Remote Staff: Virtual Workshops

Today's post introduces the final three activities that we will introduce in this series.

8)    Experiential learning/team building

There is a place and role for the traditional ‘team building’ events.  Their purpose is to place the members of the team in a challenging situation, in which they have to solve problems that have a parallel to the sorts of problems they face on a daily basis.  By working on issues in a ‘safe’ context, the team gets to explore how well it did, and can identify lessons to improve how it can approach its ‘real’ work.

© Yuri Arcurs - Fotolia.com

It is advisable to work with a professional facilitator.  In addition to certain activities requiring expert guidance for reasons of safety and security, you will want to engage in activities that will really stretch the team in how it thinks of itself and builds its capacity.  You also want to avoid ‘games’ that might undermine the serious work of building the team into a stronger and more cohesive unit.

Such team building processes can be integrated with other Team Learning Activities, such as Team Charter meetings or Goal and Roles workshops.

9)    Service Learning

A less common team development event is to participate in a service learning program.  The team visits a community where it can contribute something that will benefit the community (such as the team’s labor to help construct houses or rehabilitate schools and clinics).  In exchange, the team members engage in meaningful work that is valued by their hosts. 

The Service Learning experience provides the team with a memorable experience – not only are bonds within the team strengthened, but links between your organization and the wider communities are built.

10)    Immersion Programs

An immersion program is an opportunity for members of the team to spend time with local families and communities.  Such programs have been used by a growing number of companies, especially those with a global market, as a way for their staff to have a deeper appreciation of the context in which people live in a particular country, and to experience the multiple versatile ways in which people develop resilient ways of dealing with daily challenges.

One way members of a team can participate in such an immersion experience is to spend a weekend staying in a poor community, hosted by local families (the visit may well be coordinated through an NGO or community organization with ties in the area).   Team members participate in the regular daily activities of their hosts.  At the end of the weekend, the team and their hosts can gather to reflect on the experience.

While a team does not spend time during the Immersion Program discussing its purpose and goals, the visit can play a significant role in a common experience that binds team members together.


We have now introduced 10 different activities that you can use and adapt to help your team become more effective.  Some of them can work well as stand-alone activities, while others will have more impact if they are paired with other activities.  Some of the discussions can be handled by the team working by itself, while other activities will benefit greatly from the support of a professional facilitator.

Contact us to learn more about how one of our professional facilitators can work with you, or to find out how to be connected to someone in our broader network of professional facilitators around the world.

Using Managerial Transitions to Build Stronger Teams - Part 3

This blog series looks at how you, as a manager transitioning into a new department or team, can use the opportunity of the transition to foster stronger teams.

The first post served as an introduction to why having stronger teams will help you be more effective as a manager.  We promote the idea of real teams that are aligned with the business goals you are tackling.

The second post introduced 3 team processes that you can use to assess your team and start building it into a stronger, more aligned team.  These activities were:
1) Conduct a Team Assessment
2) Align with the Team Sponsor Expectations
3) Convene a Team Charter Workshop

Today's post introduces the next four activities with which your team might engage in the process of becoming a real team.

© iceteaimages - Fotolia.com

As a reminder - a number of these activities can fruitfully be combined with others.  Many of the activities will benefit from professional facilitation, and you should engage a suitably experienced professional facilitator for this (contact us for information on how to find professional facilitators around the world).

4.    Establish Clear Goals and Roles

While a shared team purpose is important, it is also critical that the team have specific and challenging Team Goals.  These are goals towards which the whole team contributes.

A powerful technique is to create a "Line of Sight Chart."  This can mobilize the team's focus by visualizing how their work will lead to sustained change, or results. Similar to a Results Chain, this chart reveals the Means–to–End logic by which the Goals are linked to deliver results.

Once the team has identified clear and shared Goals, you can develop a plan or a ‘Road Map’ for how they will be achieved.  This ‘Road Map’ focuses on the major steps in reaching the goals, and considers the time and resources required.

The Goals and the ‘Road Map’ make it much easier for the team to discuss Roles.  It will become more evident how the work will be divided, with named individuals, working in interaction with others, responsible for specific aspects of the plan.

5.    Review and Update Team Processes

While you, as the new manager, have been taking a fresh look at the team's existing processes, other team members may not have looked critically at how the team operates.  Starting with the current business situation, the team should consider how well the current team processes (such as team meetings, decision-making processes, leadership styles, and participant roles) are aligned with the requirements for acting effectively. 

The outcome of this review process will be that the current processes are validated as appropriate, or you have identified and agreed on necessary changes. The benefits of this review is for the team to be clear as to why it does things in a particular way.

6.    Working with Remote Staff: Face to Face Workshops

You may well have staff working in remote locations from where you are based.  Though you, as the manager, will have the opportunity to travel and meet them in their work places, this does not benefit the team.  Multiple research studies have established beyond a doubt that effective virtual teams are characterized by solid relationships among team members, and these result from team members spending time together working through purpose, goals, roles and team processes.

It is important to make the investment in building a coherent and strong team, despite the cost of bringing the entire team to one location.  And these in-person meetings need to be repeated periodically (at least once a year) to allow team bonds to endure and strengthen.  These periodic meetings will also provide an opportunity to integrate any new members who have joined the team since its last face-to-face meeting.  By using a professional facilitator to design and run the meeting, the manager is able to engage as a participant.

7.    Working with Remote Staff: Virtual Workshops

There may be times when it is just not possible to bring the whole team together from the different places where members are based.  Or there may be a long delay before the face-to-face meeting can take place.

A good alternative to the face-to-face meeting in such a situation is to convene a Virtual Workshop.  This is not just another virtual meeting, which may be fairly common already for the team.  A Virtual Workshop is a structured and deliberate effort to replicate aspects of a traditional face-to-face meeting in an online environment.  It might involve a series of extended sessions (each one being two to four hours in duration) that tackles an ambitious agenda, such as developing a Team Charter.

A description of a Virtual Workshop is available through this link.  Consultants experienced in virtual workshops can play a critical role in designing and facilitating these workshops for maximum success.


So now you have 7 activities you can use and adapt to help your team become more effective.  The remaining posts in this series will cover further activities for building stronger teams during your managerial transition.

Using Managerial Transitions to Build Stronger Teams - Part 2

This blog series looks at how you, as a manager transitioning into a new department or team, can use the opportunity of the transition to foster stronger teams.

The first post served as an introduction to why having stronger teams will help you be more effective as a manager.  We promote the idea of real teams that are aligned with the business goals you are tackling.

Today's post introduces the first three of a variety of activities with which your team might engage in the process of becoming a real team.

A number of these activities can fruitfully be combined with others.  Many of the activities will benefit from professional facilitation, and you should engage a suitably experienced professional facilitator for this (contact us for information on how to find professional facilitators around the world).

 1.  Conduct a Team Assessment

A good starting point is to conduct a team assessment in order to develop an objective view of how the team is doing.  By using an external consultant, they can work independently and offer an impartial assessment.  A common approach is to interview all the team members to draw out information and perspectives that highlight what the team is doing well, where the team has found common ground in agreement, and areas to which the team needs to pay attention.

While individual interviews are conducted on a confidential basis, the consultant prepares a synthesis of the themes and issues surfaced during the interviews. This synthesis is presented back to the manager and the team in a feedback workshop, which serves as the basis for agreeing on areas of the team that require attention. The consultant can then work with the team to develop appropriate team development processes that enable the team to reach a healthy consensus on areas where they see differences.

A further benefit of having a consultant conduct the team assessment is that they can return periodically (at six monthly or annual intervals) to conduct a "mini – assessment." By interviewing a selected number of team members, or conducting some group interviews, the consultant can provide the team with an update on its progress since previous meetings. This serves as encouragement for the team, as the external perspective helps them track their progress, while also drawing their attention to areas that might require continuing work.

2.  Align with Team Sponsor expectations

The Team Sponsor traditionally is someone outside the team, who mandates the team’s work and is willing to invest their authority, influence and resources to help the team be successful.  So it is important that the team takes the time to align itself with the Sponsor’s expectations for the team.

Rather than attempting to do this through guess-work, you can invite the Sponsor to meet with the team, and to share their expectations first-hand.  A professional facilitator can help members of the team raise questions to better understand how the team can align with these expectations.  The meeting also helps the Sponsor gain a deeper understanding and appreciation for the team’s business situation.

Among the ways of doing this are:

• Interview the Sponsor: write out a list of their expectations on a flipchart during the interview, so they concede that you heard them correctly. Then share this list with the team.
• Create a Poster of Sponsor Expectations: review the e-mails and other communications where the sponsor has communicated their expectations, and write these up in a poster that the team can review in its early meetings.
• Invite the Sponsor to a team meeting: invite the sponsor to come and provide some context and information about their expectations directly to the team. Write these down on a poster so the sponsor sees that you and others heard things correctly.
• Name your Team to Reflect your Purpose: if you have a compelling purpose, consider developing an appropriate name for the team. A name like the "Renewal Team" can help the team and others better understand its purpose then the "Management Team."

3.    Convene a Team Charter Workshop

A Team Charter, or Contract, is a document that sets out, for a team, their purpose, deliverables, resources, the roles of team members and how the team will operate.  By developing this Charter with the team, and making all these elements explicit and agreed, the team has a foundation to which it can refer as it proceeds with its work.  The Charter document can be used at a later stage to help integrate new team members.

A professional facilitator can help you consider different ways of approaching a Team Chartering workshop.  They can range in duration from one to three days.  It can also be done as a series of shorter meetings – such as half-day meetings once a week. 

The Team Charter typically includes descriptions and agreements of the following components:

• Purpose and Direction - why the team was formed, and what it aims to achieve
• Goals - the specific outcomes the team aims to accomplish.
• Norms and Agreements - the 'how' of team operations - how team members will interact, reach decisions, manage meetings and communications, etc.
• Measures - the indicators that will help the team know how well it is progressing towards it goals.
• Composition and Roles - the team members and specific roles they will play to help the team achieve its purpose.
• Organizational Context - any aspects of the context in which the team is located that should be understood by all team members.

The remaining posts in this series will cover more activities for building stronger teams during your managerial transition.

Using Managerial Transitions to Build Stronger Teams - Part 1

Congratulations - you're now managing the team!  Perhaps you are a new manager, or maybe you've taken on a different managerial role, and you find yourself facing a group - only they are your group, your people, your team...  and they expect you to be their leader.

So if management really is about achieving things through other people, what does that mean when you are leading your team?  How do you go about building the team for which you have just become responsible?

This blog series will explore some practical ways you can go about building your team.  But first, an introduction into why building stronger teams is something that should get your attention from the start of your transition into your new role...

 Becoming an Effective Manager

“Management is responsibility for the performance of the group of people. It's a simple idea... To carry out this responsibility, you must influence others, which means you must make a difference not only in what they do but in the thoughts and feelings that drive their actions.”

Hill and Lineback 
Being the Boss p.14

At the heart of management lies a paradox – while you may now have the responsibility and accountability for being the manager, you can only be successful in your role through the performance of the people that work with you and for you. In their recent book “Being the Boss”, Hill and Lineback identify managing your team as one of only three imperatives that are essential for managers to master (the other two items are Managing Yourself, and Managing Your Network).

How Building Your Team Will Help You Be Successful

 

In today’s work, we face challenges and opportunities that require collective attention.  A manager can no longer afford to manage the people reporting to them on a linear, sequential basis – you have to engage them together, to tackle issues collectively.

© iceteaimages - Fotolia.com

So you will have to face the question - are the people working with you a real team?   Or are they merely a group of people who somehow coordinate their individual efforts?  The latter situation is unlikely to enable the creative work and tough discussions needed to show results on complex issues.

“A team is a group of people who do collective work and are mutually committed to a common team purpose and challenging goals related to that work.”

Hill and Lineback p.137

This definition from Hill and Lineback shares many characteristics with other definitions of real teams, including:

• collective work
• mutual commitment
• a common,  worthwhile purpose
• specific and challenging team goals

By defining and agreeing on the collective work, the team is more easily able to focus its efforts towards specific team goals, while the individual members gain the sense that they are working on something that is worthwhile.  Committed to one another for how they will do this work, real teams exhibit greater self-motivation and stamina to deal with the inevitable setbacks and disappointments.

This also provides a foundation for the team to get very practical on the important matters of:

• its purpose and goals/deliverables
• its roles and processes

Benefits of Common Purpose and Goals

Defining the future fosters commitment within your team by bringing purpose to its work.

Benefits that flow from having a clearly defined future/plan include:

• there is increased commitment when the work of the team is imbued with purpose
• everyone  on the team has a common goal and direction
• everyone on the team is focused on what's important
• being focused on clear goals heightens the team’s trust and influence
• a  common vision of the future reduces conflict
• a clearly defined goal is critical to the success of virtual teams

Clarity on Roles, Processes, and Progress

As the manager, you want to influence the culture of the team by ensuring that:

• there is clarity about individual roles – who does what and how each role contributes to the team's purpose and goals
• there is clarity about how the team does its work  – work systems, practices, and processes
• there is clarity about how team members work together  – the values and practices of collaboration that guide interaction among group members
• there is clarity about progress  – feedback for the team and for individual members about both work results and how well the group is functioning as a team

So we recognize that these are important and necessary things to develop in your teams.

This blog series will provide you with descriptions of a large number of ways in which you can bring about this common purpose and clarity with your teams.

Coaching with OSKAR

I had the opportunity to attend the International Association of Facilitator's North America conference in Halifax, Canada, last week.  In addition to the expected value of networking with fellow professional facilitators, there was also the chance to learn with and from some experienced colleagues.

I was introduced to a new (to me) coaching tool in a session on "Coaching Executive Teams".  The tool comes from the Solutions Focused Therapy movement, which "is a type of talking therapy that is based upon social constructionist philosophy. It focuses on what clients want to achieve through therapy rather than on the problem(s) that made them seek help. The approach does not focus on the past, but instead, focuses on the present and future." (definition from wikipedia)

It is an interesting tool to bring to an organizational setting, as it encourages you to look forward, to solutions, rather than spending your energy tackling the many obstacles you might face. 

In fact, the metaphor that jumps into my mind is that of a rugby player (I'm giving away from roots in Ireland and South Africa here!) - the player with the ball dodges and weaves their way past the defense, looking for the gaps, rather than trying to power their way through obstacles.  This approach can allow for greater progress when you do exploit the gap!

So what is OSKAR?

It is an acronym for:

Outcome

Scale

Know-how

Affirm and Action

Review

Outcome - this is a description of the difference that the coachee wants to see as a result of the coaching.  This is more than just a 'goal', as you can also describe characteristics of the difference.

Scale - the coachee is asked to rate themselves on a scale of 0-10, with 10 being the Outcome has been achieved.

There are a couple of interesting points here.  First, by scaling themselves in this way, the coachee is reminded that they are very unlikely to be at 0, the complete opposite point from the Outcome.  They are some way along the continuum, so they are making some progress towards their desired outcome.

The second point is that the coachee is then asked "What would it take for you to increase your own score by X decimal point?"  As the coachee both chooses how far along they desire to move up the scale, and determine what they will have to do to make that happen, there is a high level of ownership of the actions they identify.

Note that the coach is not giving advice or directing the coachee towards certain actions.  They are helping the coachee by asking questions, and helping them consider just how far they are willing to move this time.

Know-how and Resources - this is an opportunity to ask the coachee to remind themselves of how resourceful they already are, and the resources to which they have access.  By looking to the know-how that has enabled them to reach this far along the continuum, the coachee is reminded what resources they can call on for the next set of steps they are considering.  And they can also identify the resources in the people around them that are available to assist them.

Affirm and Action - the coach has a chance to affirm the positive qualities they have noticed in the coachee, based on their observations in the coaching session.  The coachee also identifies the Actions they will take, the small steps to move themselves further along to the continuum to the point they identified when they did the Scale work.  The next steps should build on what is working, on the know-how they have developed over time.

Review - the focus of follow-up sessions between coach and coachee is not on whether the planned actions were carried out, but on 'what's better?' By assessing whether things are moving in the right direction, the discussion remains 'solutions focused'

I think this is a useful tool, and I intend to incorporate it into my consulting toolkit.  In addition to the solutions focus, which I find very compelling, you can get a lot of value from even a brief use of the tool in a coaching conversation.  When we practiced using the tool in pairs in the conference setting, my coaching partner and I each described getting good value from thoughtful, solutions-focused questions, in less than 10 minutes!




A nice summary of OSKAR is available from the Centre for Solutions Focus at Work.

Tools and Techniques for Data Collection

 So, just how do you know?

In our efforts to develop and put our effort behind worthwhile initiatives, we want to have some confidence that we are working on things that will achieve their results and make a positive difference – in our organizations, in our communities, or in the wider society.

There is obviously a lot that goes into getting this right. One foundational component is to ensure that our efforts are targeted towards "real" needs – that is, needs that can be identified and assessed in as concrete a manner as possible.

Obviously not all needs are concrete, and not all issues lend themselves to being measured in a scientifically valid manner.  Nevertheless, we can collect subjective and qualitative information about the current state of affairs, and use this to inform our discussion about needs, and about where we should put our efforts.

Many resources exist for people interested in this area. A new publication, A Guide to Assessing Needs, does a useful service by compiling almost a dozen different ways to collect information (download it from this link).

Written by a team with a strong interest in performance improvement and educational strategies, the book offers practical information and tips on using the tools, which include:

• Document or Data Review
• Guided Expert Reviews
• Management of Focus Groups
• Interviews
• Dual–Response Surveys
• SWOT+
• World Café (with "Speed Dating" Variation)
• Delphi Technique
• Performance Observations
• Task Analysis (Hierarchical or Sequential, If–Then, and Model–Based)
• Cognitive Task Analysis

The benefit of these techniques is that they provide data that can inform our analysis and decision-making.  This data can validate our hunches and support our gut intuition.  Or it can help us realize and understand where we have misunderstood the issues. even if we disagree with the findings, we have a basis for discussing what appears to be going on in the world around us.

And that is a good thing - for the more we know, the more ready we are to assess the gap between the current situation and our vision for the future.  And this allows us to make well-informed decisions about how to use our time and resources.