Month: October 2022

Studies show that one of the most neglected steps of the problem-solving process is Step 6: Evaluate and Follow Up. To help alleviate this, I would like you to share with your colleagues ways that your organization effectively implements evaluation and follow-up.

In my past blogs, I have often shared examples of way my organization does NOT do things well regarding OD topics. For this one however, I have a very positive example. I support as a coach a team that focuses on all things Future of Work. Much of their work involved covid and return to office initiatives.  This small but mighty team of 3 are exception at problem solving, especially Step 6 – Evaluate and Follow Up. For example, my entire company is fully back in the office and for one very large division, this team lead the way with all the details (desks, moves, events, schedules, etc.) It was a ton of tactical work and involved thousands of employees. This team has regular simple surveys going out on a regular basis to gather the sentiments of the employees and then she does monthly Focus Groups to ensure that what was shared quantitatively is also the qualitative result. She is an excellent communicator, sharing with all the stakeholders and senior leadership team. She is an example for all. These two simple events help her and the division ensure that we are meeting the employees where they are and how we can learn from this difficult event of post-covid.

I am currently coaching a Project Specialist and the team on a technology change re-boot. The original change, nearly two years ago, was greatly unsuccessful. The re-boot is underway about a month now, and the team still has minimal movement.

1. Using Lencioni’s model, which of the dysfunction characteristics were evident? Explain. Avoidance of accountability
: The need to avoid interpersonal discomfort prevents team members from holding one another accountable. – When this change process was thought to have been complete, nearly a year ago, the team fizzled and the original direct owner of the change got a new role and was never replaced. As the department rallied and gather new hands to re-boot this change, true lack of accountability and ownership has been a very big issue. There is no “senior voice” for decision making, guidance and holding timelines accountable. It has caused much stress and frustration for the team and is beginning to greatly disengage them.
2. Was the team able to overcome the dysfunction? No – at least not yet. Decision making is a very big concern, as some decisions need to be made and the project leaders are asking many for guidance. What has been happening is more moments of “venting” and sharing frustrations. Without a “head” of the team, no one seems to be held accountable for anything and roles and responsibilities are not defined well.
3. What was the resulting performance of the team (successful or unsuccessful)? Only about a month in, I am directly coaching the Project Specialist of the many branches of this change process re-boot. I am using my own experiences with working with senior leaders who have sat in a similar lead role. Although she is not the full lead, I am helping her think about the right questions to ask, the right people to partner with and spotlight some of the gaps that may be ahead. I am hopeful that we will see some improvement, however without a senior leader truly sponsoring this work, we may very well hit another wall and fizzle again.

In Simon Sinek’s TED talk “Why Good Leaders Make You Feel Safe,” he states the following:

You see, if the conditions are wrong, we are forced to expend our own time and energy to protect ourselves from each other, and that inherently weakens the organization. When we feel safe inside the organization, we will naturally combine our talents and our strengths and work tirelessly to face the dangers outside and seize the opportunities.

How does this statement above (and Sinek’s discussion) affect your approach to team leadership and facilitation? Will you lead/facilitate differently? Explain. I have always been a big fan of Simon Sinek and his candor around leadership being a choice, not a rank. Sinek is a huge advocate, as seen from the statement above for safety, sometimes referred to as psychological safety. I have been a people leader for over ten years of my career and this is top priority for me. Trust, safety, authentic self and positivity are all themes that I try my best to lead with and the team environment I try to create. When you take the time and get to know EACH person on you team, and then create a TEAM environment with these areas of focus, extraordinary results and relationships can be created. I have had multiple distinguished years when all these pieces come together well – they were the best.

In my opinion, what is more difficult, is jumping into a facilitation or coaching session with colleagues that are new to us, that we do not quite know yet. Perhaps they may know “of” you, but they may be skeptical and a bit more closed early on. I do thrive on that challenge though. I often lead workshops for Learning and Development and find that creating a tone, using careful words, being genuine and vulnerable, can really help set that stage for a safe environment where all people can learn and grow.

Last piece, if you are a fan of Simon Sinek, he and Adam Grant were recently on a two part podcast with Brene’ Brown – Dare To Lead is the podcast name and I believe it is only on Spotify. It is an outstanding listen as they reflect on their learnings about the future of work, post-covid.

What do you believe you do best? Why do you believe as you do? What are your key strengths, and what leads you to believe that they are strengths? This is a very hard question. I believe what I do best, especially in the workplace, is my ability to coach and develop others. I have been a people leader for many of my years during my career and was often a leader in my school settings. I care very deeply about my relationships and I absolutely love helping people work through their struggles, help them see their own strengths and being a part of their life journey. I believe coaching and developing others is a strength as I am often rewarded and recognized at my workplace, and even sometimes in outside life, as a strength and gift I share with others. Leadership is funny like this as well. Every so often, someone that I once led will come back to see me, many years later. Perhaps I gave them some direct feedback or played a role in their early career. I had no idea then, but they share with me how incredibly impactful my coaching and feedback was for them. Getting awards and recognition is nice, but when someone goes out of there way to find you to say thank you in that type of circumstance, those are the strengths and moment of engagement you never let go of – never. It is what makes the “hard” so “good.”

WOW!!  This was an incredible Ted Talk! I was completely moved by Margaret Heffernan’s gift of storytelling and by the important message and encouragement of disagreeing. This topic is very relevant in my workplace right now as I recently led a group workshop on Conflict Resolution. I was quite surprised to hear from so many of the participants that they often fall into the “avoidance” behavior and tend to shy away from work conflict and disagreeing. There were a lot of examples of trying to please the other person, solely to avoid the potential for a disagreement. I was shocked by this reaction from so many as we are often encouraged and expected to be “candid” in our roles. In fact, it is a part of our Performance Management Standard. I also appreciated that Heffernan spotlighted the important to gather multiple view points, thought leadership and ensuring differing styles at the table. The enrichment, the debate, the impact, can be so much greater when we “dare to disagree.” It is way easier to find that “echo chamber” to satisfy the ego or fear of debate.

Many years ago, I presented a plan to senior leadership for a dashboard transformation in a sales division I was supporting. It was a dramatic shift, very much “out of the box” thinking, but I felt it was necessary to rock the boat a bit, use the voices of the crew as my source and go in hoping for gold, but ready to accept silver. It was a two hour session, and the debate was fierce. It got loud and I often had to re-direct and re-center the team. To say their were disagreements, is an understatement.  Throughout the entire session, I thought I was failing BIG TIME. When we ended, no decisions made, but with a promise that a decision would be made after a few days of continued thought, I felt like I might cry. As we were getting up to leave the session, one of the Principal’s said out loud, “That was awesome Lynda! So well done! Outstanding!” I was stunned! And I was honest. I asked him why and shared with him that all that disagreeing and loud debate worried me greatly. He then shared a wonderful insight that I will carry with me forever. “Be wary of a quiet room. If it is quiet, your work likely fell flat and the group is not engaged. When you have debate, discussion and people challenging each other, creativity, problem solving and better work is often the outcome.” A very powerful moment in my career for me.

As a devil’s advocate to Heffernan’s message, I would challenge her and others on the perception of a woman daring to disagree. In the Conflict Resolution session I shared above, all 26 participants were women. Why? Why did no men sign up for this session? Why are women internally struggling more with the disagreement? How can we overcome this fear? How can men better support that woman may more personally internalize the debate or disagreement? Some insightful questions that I am trying to uncover in my workplace.  And I plan to share this video with the group as well. I think it will resonate with them.