Want To Build Excellent Teams? Try This Efficient Model

Working as a team is how the best organizations operate, yet it can be challenging, especially without a roadmap. The Drexler-Sibbet Team Performance Model provides a step-by-step framework for understanding team development. It’s one of the most efficient models I’ve seen, and I’m happy to share how it works.

First, take a look at the following graphic. It shows you the basic model structure. 

As you can see, there are 7 sequential steps in this model, represented by circles.

1.    Orientation

2.    Trust Building

3.    Goal Clarification

4.    Commitment

5.    Implementation

6.    High Performance

7.    Renewal

Each step has:

·         A question in the circle, which is the question someone on the team is likely to ask.

·         Resolved and Unresolved Traits on either side of the circle. If the resolved traits are demonstrated by the team, then the team can move to the next step. If the unresolved traits are demonstrated, it’s not yet time to move to the next step.

·         Arrows that point to other steps. If a team is facing challenges on a certain step, the arrows will tell the team which step to move to. For example, if a team is challenged on step 4, they would go back to step 3. However, if a team is challenged on step 5, they would go back to step 3, because the arrow from step 5 points to step 3.

A Diagnostic Tool

It’s important to note that while this model is sequential from steps 1-7, building teams is rarely a linear process. So teams may go back and forth through the steps, as the team matures. That’s why this model can be used as a diagnostic tool. For example, if a team is facing challenges, anyone on the team can look at the model to see where the team is stuck, and then know what to do.

A Way To Build Teams From Scratch

In addition, the model can be used as a way to build teams, giving the team lead and the team members a path to building a sustainable team. Steps 1-4 build the team; steps 5-7 maintain the team. Step 4 is known as the crux of the team’s success.

While this looks like a complex process, it is possible to move through these steps quickly. However, if steps are deemed unimportant and skipped, the team will progress more slowly.

I am going to review the entire Drexler-Sibbet model (DS model) over the course of two weeks. In the end, you will be able to use the model on a daily basis on your various teams. This week, we will focus on steps one, two and three.

STEP 1

Orientation – Why am I here?

Orientation is about understanding the purpose of a team and assessing what it will mean to be a member. Team members will need to understand three things:

1.    The reason the team exists

2.    What will be expected of them

3.    How they will benefit from team membership

In a new team, these are individual concerns, because the group is only potentially a team. Often, these concerns are felt at an intuitive level; rarely will a team member ask these three questions. That’s why it’s important to provide time and space to address these questions in the first meeting and repeat the answers in each meeting to reinforce the message. Once the members know the answers to these questions, they will feel more connected and are more likely to participate in achieving the group’s goals.

How do you know when Orientation challenges are resolved? You will see:

·         Purpose

·         Team Identity

·         Membership (What are the rules/agreements we play by)

How do you know when the team is blocked at Orientation? You will see:

·         Uncertainty

·         Disorientation

·         Fear

Remember – repetition is key to saturation and understanding. So keep repeating what you want understood. Say it again and again, to those in the team, and with those you serve.

STEP 2

Trust Building – Who are you?

Trust is a measure of your willingness to work together with others for something important. Teams that know they can depend on the others to work together and accomplish the team’s purpose far exceed teams that do not have this understanding and appreciation of other team members. Because team members have to depend on each other to be successful, trust is essential in direct relation to how much cooperation is needed to get the job done.

In the beginning of a new team, trust involves some risk and uncertainty about dealing with strangers. This is why the key question is “Who are you?” An unstated aspect of this question is wondering, “What will you expect from me?”

So how do you quickly build trust? It depends and it doesn’t have to include trust falls or outdoor ropes courses!

As we evaluate the trustworthiness of potential team members, we generally look at two things about the person: integrity and competency. Most of us start our team building by granting members a moderate to significant amount of trust (depending on our comfort level) from the moment the individual becomes part of the team. As the author Ernest Hemingway reminds us, “The best way to find out if you can trust somebody is to trust them.” Then we increase or decrease that trust based on our continuing experiences with that individual, hopefully achieving consistency and reciprocal trust.

How do you know when Trust Building challenges are resolved? You will see:

·         Mutual regard

·         Forthrightness

·         Reliability

How do you know when the team is blocked at Trust Building? You will see:

·         Caution

·         Facade

·         Mistrust

STEP 3

Goal Clarification – What are we doing?

“What are we doing?” is a more specific question than the larger question of purpose asked during Orientation. During this stage of a team’s life, it will need to develop clear understanding of the job that is required, as well as generate agreements about goals and specific deliverables. Sometimes teams have precise charters that specify what they are responsible for accomplishing. More often, they are given a broad mandate and need to make choices about how they will pursue that mandate and translate it into goals.

There is an expression in the Navy that says, “If you are just one degree off, you end up in Madagascar instead of Kenya.” One degree is not a big number, yet the result is vastly off course. How many teams are exactly on the same page about goals? Usually the team roughly knows where to go, yet is fuzzy on the specifics. For example, what is the specific metric being used? When is the deliverable due? How does it align with the bigger purpose?

General, unclear goals are demotivating; clear specific goals are motivating. So how do you set clear goals and metrics? Here are three steps to do so:

·         Ask the team lead and team: What are the meaningful results the team is trying to achieve?

·         Develop clear guidelines on the performance required that will help to deliver meaningful results.

·         Confirm the goals and intended results with others in the organization.

·         Bonus question to ask: What would you have to do differently if you were trying to improve by ten times instead of by ten percent?

Involve your team in adding the detail to these steps. The more they’re involved, the greater their sense of ownership and commitment will be. As a side note, goals shouldn’t be so specific that they don’t allow flexibility to achieve things differently; the context and situation may change over time so be nimble and adaptable.

How do you know when Goal Clarification challenges are resolved? You will see:

·         Explicit assumptions

·         Clear integrated goals

·         Shared vision

How do you know when the team is blocked at Goal Clarification? You will see:

·         Apathy

·         Skepticism

·         Irreverent competition

I hope you’re finding value in the DS model so far. There’s more to come! Next week I’ll cover the remaining steps:

·         STEP 4: Commitment – How will we do it?

·         STEP 5: Implementation – Who does what, when, where?

·         STEP 6: High Performance – WOW!

·         STEP 7: Renewal – Why continue?

Then you’ll have a complete system to use to build amazing teams or diagnose teams that are struggling. Stay tuned!

Have you used a team-building model before? I’d love to hear about your experience with it.

share experiences. Leave a comment below, send us an email, or find us on Twitter.

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A Quick and Creative Way to Solve Problems at Work

Most of us have seen this image before. Some swear it’s a duck, while others swear it is a rabbit. Both are correct! But this exercise gives us a clear example of how individuals naturally see the world differently. And in the work environment, this different way of seeing things, if leveraged, presents a huge advantage.

Seeing the world, and situations, in only one way can interfere with our ability to problem solve. We look at situations in a way that comes naturally and are blind to other perspectives that may increase our ability to solve problems or innovate. Each of us benefits greatly from the perspectives of others at the workplace.

Yet it doesn’t always feel that way. Often times sharing an idea in a meeting is like morphing into a dartboard. You share your idea, and then everyone throws darts at it. You may even try to get the buy-in from coworkers in advance of the meeting to mitigate getting shot down, frustrated—even embarrassed—so quickly.

What if I told you there was an easy and fun way to prevent this kind of meeting? What if you were able to use a simple methodology that instigates participation and positive outcomes to problem solving?

Enter the “Six Thinking Hats,” developed by Edward de Bono. As Freddi Donner explains, the Six Thinking Hats is “a tool for group discussion and individual thinking that involves six colored hats. “Six Thinking Hats”, and the associated idea parallel thinking, provide a means for groups to execute a thinking process in a detailed and cohesive way, which allows them to think together more effectively.”

What Are The Six Thinking Hats?

Here’s a great video explaining what the Six Hats are, and how the method works.

De Bono writes, “Each thinking role is identified with a colored symbolic ‘thinking hat.’ By mentally wearing and switching ‘hats,’ you can easily focus or redirect thoughts, the conversation, or the meeting.”

To understand each hat and the associated roles, take a look at the table below.

As a basic example, if you were “wearing” the green hat, you would approach an issue or conversation as creatively as possible. You’d look for possibilities, alternatives, and new ideas.

Yet if you were “wearing” the black hat, you’d look at the same issue or conversation with a keen eye for danger. You’d attempt to ferret-out anything that could go wrong.

Now, you must be prepared to be a little uncomfortable. It’s common to feel uneasy approaching an issue in a way you’re not used to. For example, if you’re someone who informs your own decisions based solely on facts, you may feel awkward or resistant to approaching an issue by expressing your fears, likes, dislikes, loves or hates. After all, you’re a facts person, not an emotions person. But forcing yourself to think from that perspective might surprise you with innovative ideas.

A Basic Example of Using the Six Thinking Hats

Let’s take a look at basic example and run through each of the six hats in action. Let’s say you are the leader at a software development company, which has been steadily growing. While you still feel like a startup, the fact is, you’ve outgrown your office. Employees are sharing desks, the space is crowded and cluttered, and two of the three meeting rooms have had to be converted into offices. This leads to unnecessary tension in the office, and people are starting to complain. You haven’t made the move yet because you know it will significantly increase operational costs.

Let’s approach this problem using the six thinking hats as a guide:

White Hat: What are the facts about this problem?

The basic facts are there are 50 employees (and growing) in an office space that comfortably accommodates 30.

Yellow Hat: What is good about having this problem?

It’s great to be growing! We’ve added amazing talent to the team and we will now be able to accomplish even more as a company. We can expand our current offerings and add new products to grow the business even more.

Black Hat: What is the worst that could happen if we don’t fix this problem?

If we stay in this office, the worst that can happen is expensive attrition. We will lose the great talent that it took us months to find. That will lead to low employee engagement, which leads to poor productivity and even more attrition. We won’t be able to move forward as a business without our talent.

Red Hat: What do I feel about this problem?

I feel conflicted. On one hand, my employees and their needs are the most important thing to me, so seeing them crammed in together makes me feel like I’m disappointing them. On the other hand, I’m hesitant to increase expenses in what feels like a pivotal time in the business. That makes me very nervous.

Green Hat: What are some creative ways to address this situation?

One idea is to have some of our team work from home to free up space in the office. Another possibility would be moving into a shared office space with another startup. This would cut the costs of a larger office space. Also, we could leave this area of town and move to the new burgeoning warehouse district, where rent is cheaper.

Blue Hat: How do you know you are following the six hats method?

I’ve written all of these questions down and written my answers under the designated color for each hat. I can share these notes with my VP and get her feedback.

In the end, this leader decided to create a small task force to investigate the new warehouse district, and possible shared office spaces with the other startups around town. They have a three-week discovery period, after which the team will meet with the heads of each department to vote on the best course of action. They will use the six hats again!

As you can see, this exercise enabled the head of our hypothetical software development company to think through the situation from several perspectives. And by forcing the consideration of different perspectives she may not naturally be drawn to, she achieved “parallel thinking,” which is a more dynamic way to work through a problem.

Let’s move beyond the individual and discuss how to incorporate the Six Thinking Hats method into our workplace. Here is a step-by-step guide.

A Step-By-Step Guide to Incorporating the Six Thinking Hats at Work

1.    To prepare, choose a work challenge and form a small team of 4 or 5 people.

2.    Make sure that your attendees are aware that you will be using this method and that your goal is to fully investigate the situation at hand and develop an execution plan based on the meeting. Therefore, all attendees who can contribute to the facts should plan to bring them to the meeting.

3.    Before the meeting, create an agenda, including a video link from the first lesson in this course, and ask your team to watch this video before the meeting. Ask your participants to be prepared to use this methodology when coming to the meeting.

4.    Make sure it is a safe environment and that no one is “wrong” for adding to the content of the meeting. Even if you do not agree, say, “That’s interesting” or “Let’s note that point of view”.

5.    Be sure to ask one of the participants to record all the points of view.

6.    Be sure to ask one of the participants to record all the points of view.

White Hat: The facts. What do you already know?

Note: Facts often get disguised as opinions. If someone states a “fact” that appears to be an opinion, ask the participant (without judgment): “What specific behaviors cause you to think that?” Or “How do you know that?” Listen for the fine line between opinions and fact.

Red Hat: What is your gut feeling about the situation? How do you feel about the situation? (Happy, angry, etc.; all emotions are to be recorded.)

Black Hat: What do we need to look out for?

Yellow Hat: What are the reasons to say yes? What are the benefits and upsides of this situation?

Green Hat: What are other ideas that can be a part of this thinking?

Blue Hat: Make sure all the participants are maintaining the parallel thinking.

These questions should really get the team thinking and spur an active discussion. For fun, if you can access paper (or hats) in the six colors, bring them to the meeting to reinforce the colored thinking. Bandanas would work as well.

If you’ve never tried the Six Thinking Hats method, we are excited for you to do so. As De Bono says, The Six Thinking Hats is “A powerful tool set, which once learned can be applied immediately!” We’d love to hear about your experiences with this method.

Let’s share experiences. Leave a comment below, send us an email, or find us on Twitter.

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Online Learning Increases Employee Engagement: What is Online Learning?

 

In my last post, I discussed why it’s important to incorporate multiple learning styles in a training program. Technology offers to best opportunities to do that. In this post, let’s look at what online learning actually is.

The U.S. Distance Learning Association (USDLA) seems to concur that there is no official, agreed-upon definition of online learning. There is however one commonality among various camps: the integration of instructional media. The USDLA calls out the use of technology infrastructures to make more “effective learning opportunities more accessible to all learners, whatever their age, location, or reason for learning.”

They go on to say, “It includes e-learning, texting, social networking, virtual worlds, game-based learning, and webinars. It’s the Internet. It’s Google. It’s broadband and satellite and cable and wireless. Corporate universities. Virtual universities. Blended learning, mobile learning. It’s using our phones and computers and whatever technology comes next, in new ways.” In other words, online learning is using technology to help students of all ages learn new concepts. We see it all the time with children’s apps to learn spelling, math, music and more.

We’re starting to see online learning more with adult learning as well through Learning Management Systems (LMS), which are often programs that incorporate videos, podcasts and academic information for adult learners. These can be synchronous (the course participants and lecturer all have to be online at the same time) or asynchronous (the course participants can access the information online, at any time).

Learning is Collaborative

Despite the appeal of customization, learning is collaborative and continues to rely on community. Most people think that collaborative learning means face-to-face training. However, online learning allows students to engage in meaningful ways through video, chat, journals or other multimedia options.

A New York Times piece concluded that the “real promise of online education” is the nature by which it can be tailored to suit individual needs.

It’s not just the addition of multimedia, such as video and chat that engages students better; the way multi-media are used in course design may have a strong impact as well. For example, the study shows that interactive video vs. non-interactive video may impact learning more significantly. Interactive video allows students to control the way they absorb information, such as fast-forwarding through a video or watching it multiple times. Are the students able to watch video in any order they wish, or is course content set to prevent any form of deviation? These types of tweaks make training programs more or less effective.

One big advantage of online learning is increased collaboration, which every organization could use. In traditional college classrooms, most students try to engage with each other and form study communities, to help each other learn the material. Online learning makes collaboration easier. For those who normally would not be able to collaborate in person, technology brings a wealth of knowledge to the student’s fingertips, giving access to the best experts and resources in every medium you can imagine.

Being online is already a part of our everyday life; it makes sense to integrate it into one of the most important pillars of our society: education.

Being online is already a part of our everyday life; it makes sense to integrate it into one of the most important pillars of our society: education.

Let’s share experiences. Leave a comment below, send me an email, or find me on Twitter.

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Managing Freelancers: 4 Challenges and How to Face Them

The US freelance workforce is currently 53 million strong, and growing fast. In fact, right now freelancers make up 34% of our national workforce. Sarah Harowitz, executive director of Freelancers Union says, “This is an economic shift on par with the industrial revolution.” Are managers prepared to work with this new type of workforce?

Let’s talk about the four major challenges managers face when working with freelancers, and discuss the most effective ways to handle those challenges.

1. How to Manage Inefficient Communication with Freelance Employees

When it comes to freelancers, you are managing people who could be at their desk, poolside, or writing you from an airplane. Tight communication between the freelancer and manager is needed for this arrangement to work. Let’s take an in-depth look at how inefficient communication can be avoided with freelance employees.

2. How to Create a Positive Collaborative Environment for Freelance and Full-time Employees

Freelancers typically don’t have the opportunity to forge personal relationships with full-time employees, who may have worked together in the same office for years. Learn here how managers can help relieve the anxiety that comes when freelancers and full-time employees try to collaborate.

3. Managing Freelancers? How to Help Freelancers Meet Your Project’s Goals and Make Deadlines

It’s inevitable that you and your freelance employee will be somewhat disconnected. You don’t see them and you don’t know what else they have on their plate. The good news is location doesn’t matter. With the right tools, managers can help their freelance employees meet their goals and hit their deadlines successfully.

4. Four Steps to Maintain Organizational Culture with Freelance Employees

Organizational culture is crucial in creating a workplace where employees can work together as a team and contribute to furthering the company’s values and vision. Maintaining that culture in a shared office space is one thing…but when your freelance staff is scattered all over the country, maybe even the globe, that’s a different story.

Are you a manager who has freelance employees? What have you noticed is most difficult about managing them as opposed to employees you see in the office day-to-day? I’m very interested in your experience.

Let’s share experiences. Leave a comment below, send us an email, or find us on Twitter.

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Changing Perspectives for Effective Solutions

 

Perception is reality. That is, the way we see things constitutes our beliefs about the world around us.

It is so easy to forget that one of the most incredible choices we have is that of our perspectives, or our way of seeing, feeling about and approaching the multitude of dimensions that make up our lives.

We choose our perspectives every minute of every day… how we see, feel and think about every situation that comes our way.

Our perspectives not only affect the way we feel about our life, but more importantly, they define how we deal with and resolve any given situation, sometimes positively and sometimes not.

One of the biggest traps we fall into is believing that there is only one way of looking at something.

This one way so quickly becomes our reality that we lose the ability to see things differently, creating a “that’s just the way it is” mentality.

Well here’s another reality: It is possible to choose a new perspective for any area of your life, commit to actions that keep you in that perspective and begin to watch your life change as a result.

It is not a difficult process; you just have to follow a PICK plan and roll with it.

Perspective. First think about the situation at hand and define your perspective — how do you see it, what do you think and feel about it, and what are the impacts on you?

Give this perspective a name — the “lazy” perspective, or maybe “victim” or “control-freak.”

Inhabit. Try on other perspectives, live in them, inhabit them. Next, make up and write down some other possible perspectives, like the “empowered” perspective, or the “dedicated,” or “cowboy,” or “joyous” perspectives.

Once you have created some, spend time being in each one. Make notes about what you experience in each.

What does your situation look like from that point of view? If you really saw your situation from that perspective, what would be different?

Move to all the different perspectives you have brainstormed and play with experiencing the thoughts and feelings of each one.

Choice. Choose a new way, get clear on how to get there and create your plan. Of all the perspectives you created and played with above, decide which one gets you closest to what you want your life to look like and claim it as a new way of approaching your situation. Next, make a list of things you would have to do to make the perspective become your reality.

These might be actions you take, new thoughts you adopt or things you stop doing or thinking.

Kick it into action. So you’ve created some lists … great. If they stay just lists, they won’t do you a bit of good. Kicking it into action through commitment is the key. Choose three things from the list to commit to. Write them on a Post-it to remind yourself and stick it on your computer.

Finally, who can you ask to help you stay true to your plan? Call that person — now. Explain what you are doing, ask for support and for the person to check in with you to see how it’s going.

Our perspectives are incredibly powerful — so much so that we often claim they are reality. Remember, it’s your choice, and you can choose a new perspective that will.

Let’s share experiences. Leave a comment below, send us an email, or find us on Twitter.

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