The Facilitation Diamond

If you're at all interested in teamwork, thinking, creativity, decision-making, or facilitation - you should read "Facilitator's Guide to Participatory Decision-Making" and keep it on your shelf for reference.

The book is full of good stuff, but my favorite tool in the book is the Facilitation Diamond.

Everytime I schedule a group facilitation, I have a pre-meeting with the session sponsor.

In the pre-meeting, I draw the Facilitation Diamond on the white board to show how the session will progress.

At this point, I open my toolbox and we decide which tools will work best.

I use seven (or so) sections to the session:

1. Opening: Go over the agenda. Share the diamond flow. Perhaps a quick exercise.
2. Diverging Activity 1: Present traditional or evolutionary ideas.
3. Diverging Activity 2: Stimulate non-tradition, revolutionary ideas.
4. Transition: A break or a brain-cleansing exercise.
5. Converging Activity 1: To narrow the multitude of ideas to some actionable ones.
6. Converging Activity 2: To chose the best one (or 3 - 5 ideas).
7. Closing: Decide on next actions

I have large posters of the image above that I label with the tools that we'll be using. I hang these as the session agenda. 

It allows everyone to see a map of the energy flow for the day.

Here's a pdf that outlines the method in more detail.

Masters Update - Is it worth it?

Since July, I've been working on my Masters Degree in Adult Education and Training from the University of Phoenix. It's an online degree, which was important to me, given my travel and work schedules.

Three months and three classes have passed, so here's a status report.

I'm going to use Edward de Bono's PMI tool (Plus, Minus, and Interesting) for this report.

Pluses

• Convenience - I don't have to drive to school. All participation is online. The schedule is extremely flexible. I can attend anywhere, anytime.
• Learning becomes a habit. You know the '21 days theory'? Do anything for 21 straight days and it will become a habit. I find online learning to be like that. Participation is required four days a week, but it's easier to log in for about 30 minutes everyday. It then becomes a habit.
• Course Content - The content has been extremely interesting. I'm reading books I would never read (Action Learning), learning concepts I would never learn (ontological humility) and having discussions (text messaging in the classroom) thatI would never have.
• Diversity - I'm getting to interface with a diverse audience of school teachers from all over the US. It's been very interesting to hear their challenges and passions.
• Virtual Teams - I'm learning how to work on a virtual team - a critical skill.
• Forums - I love answering questions in a forum. You have time to think, everyone participates, and you can go back to reread interesting questions and answers.
• Access - to the University online library.

Minuses

• Not Business Focused - While I enjoy the presence of so many school teachers, there are not enough corporate students for my taste. The discussions often end up focusing on school issues.
• Virtual Teams - It can be hard to work on the teams remotely. There have been a couple of frustrating moments when classmates dropped out or didn't do their work. But hey... that's just like 'real life'.

Interesting

• The Teaching Portfolio - We haven't used it yet, so I'm looking forward to seeing how it is applied.
• Adaptation -Seeing how I've adapted to an online environment.
• Presentations? Doing Power Points in an online environment. I'm very close to listing this as a negative, but I'll wait. It seems to be reinforcing the idea that Power Point is a suitable vehicle for emailing communication (hint: It's not!!).
  That idea isn't just wrong... it's dangerous... to business, anyway.

So, do I believe that spending time on this degree is worth it? So far... you bet!!

Connoisseur's Guide To The Mind

In the midst of some fall cleaning this weekend, I dropped off two big boxes of cd's and dvd's at Rasputin Music.

They gave me $311. I spent $215.

Clearly a symbiotic relationship...

It was a good haul, with used copies of

• Jeff Corwin Experience - Season 1
• Jet Li's Fist of Legend
• Dororo
• Bullshit - Season Three
• Paprika
• Ki-duk Kim's The Bow
• Funky Forest
• The Forbidden Kingdom

I also did some sorting in my bookshelf.
While doing so, I came across "The Connoisseur's Guide To The Mind" by Roger C. Schank.

Schank, an artificial intelligence expert and major foodie, explains how we think and remember, by telling us stories about his most memorable meals.

My favorite quote:

"Learning about food means eating it, thinking about what you ate, eating things like what you have already eaten in order to contrast one experience with another, and asking questions to determine other information that may help you make sense of your experiences.
This is how learning works. "

I lead management workshops, so I applied Shanks' theory to management.

"Learning about management means managing people, thinking about the results of managing people, managing people using other tools (or other people) like what you have already used in order to contrast one experience with another, and asking questions to determine other information that may help you make sense of your experiences.
This is how learning works. "

Interestingly, most of us never use this process with eating. We just eat without learning.
Similarly, most of us never use this process with management.

We manage as if it were a mechanical action like eating or sleeping.
And wonder why we don't learn...

A Team? Or a Collection of Stars?

Warning - This is a "Sports as Business Team" Metaphor zone!

Yesterday, the NY Giants played the Seattle Seahawks without their best offensive weapon, Plaxico Burress. They had suspended him for violating team policy.

They then went out and defeated the Seattle Seahawks 44-6, the Giants biggest victory since 1972.

With Burress out, Eli Manning completed passes to eight different receivers.

This is just one case in a continuous series for the Giants. 

• Two years ago, their top running back Tiki Barber retired. Everyone wondered how the Giants would recover, but they replaced him with three running backs and never missed him. 
• At mid-season, All-pro tight end Jeremy Shockey was injured and the team got better, eventually winning the Super Bowl.
• This year, future Hall-of-Fame end Michael Strahan retired and the Giants only All-Pro, Osi Umineyora was injured. The Giants have continued to be 4-0 so far.
• Now, Burress goes out. And the beat goes on...

What does all this mean from a management perspective?

I don't know for sure, but I'd like to propose a few lessons.

1. No Excuses - Whatever you might say about Giants Coach Tom Coughlin (and plenty of people have had plenty to say), he's a 'no excuse' guy. You play with what you have. This attitude is a lot more constructive than 'woe is me'.
2. No One is Bigger than the Team - Coughlin and the Giants are very explicit about this. No one is bigger than the team. How often have you thought, "We can't make it without him/her"? You're probably wrong.
3. Others will Rise to the Occasion - One risk of having stars is that everyone else becomes observers. Then, when they're needed, they're conditioned to just stand around watching.

It's an interesting thing to watch. Each time a star goes down, the Giants get better. 

The talent doesn't get better, but the chemistry does...

How about you? Have you got a team? Or a collection of stars?

Could your team be better with less stars?

Book Review: "Overcoming the Five Dysfunctions of a Team – A Field Guide" by Patrick Lencioni

I’m on record as hating, wait, no… make that HATING management books that are written as ‘fables’, ‘parables’, ‘novelettes’, or that look remotely like children’s books.

My skeptic-meter goes straight to red when I see books like “Whale Done”, “Who Moved My Cheese”, “The Offsite ”, “Our Iceberg is Melting”, or any of Patrick Lencioni’s ‘Leadership Fables’ in the business section of my favorite bookstore.

Obviously, that’s my problem, as many love the story format. By not reading these books there’s a risk that I’ll miss out on some good ideas.

In the case of “The Five Dysfunctions of a Team” that’s exactly what happened. I tried to read the book three times, laughed my ass off by the end of page two (and not in a good way), and put the book down. As a result, I missed out on a very useful model.

Fortunately, this Field Guide was released for folks like me.

Title: "Overcoming the Five Dysfunctions of a Team"
Author: Patrick Lencioni
Genre(s): Business, Teams, Training, Facilitation
Summary: to quote the back of the book - "practical guidance for overcoming the Five Dysfunctions"

Favorite Quotes: I'll give you three:

1. “The key ingredient in building trust is not time. It is courage."
2. "Lack of conflict is precisely the cause of one of the biggest problems that meetings have: they are boring."
3. "Peer pressure and the distaste for letting down a colleague will motivate a team player more than any fear of authoritative punishment or rebuke.”

Strengths: The model is clear and intuitive. It resonates. Lencioni gives concrete examples and actions for overcoming the dysfunctions.
Weaknesses: It’s boring, where's the drama? No, I kid… I kid... Seriously - this book is perfect. Pair It with Lencioni’s hugely entertaining DVD and you’ve got a winning workshop for your team.

Conclusion: The ‘Five Dysfunctions’ is one of my (and my clients) favorite workshop tools. This Field Guide delivers the model effectively, with no fat.

Post-it Flags: 21 flags
* Each time I find an interesting quote, model, image, or idea in a book, I mark it with a Post-it flag. The more flags, the more value I found in the book.

Top Five Benefits of a Peer Review

Peer Review

This comic illustrates perfectly what a peer review shouldn't look like.

I'm doing a major redesign on one of our core classes, and it's a normal step for us to request a peer review when we've got something substantial to show.

As I just finished my draft of the 100+ page workbook, I asked the crew for a 1 hour review this morning.

For us, a peer review is informal - taking place in our sofa-furnished brainstorm lab, with post-it notes for everyone.

Here are my top five benefits of a peer review.

1. Everyone gets to know what you're working on - This kills any duplication of effort, consolidates resources, and makes sure you don't end up on anyone's project plan ("I didn't think you were busy").
2. You learn - I got six great suggestions from the team. Things I wouldn't have thought of on my own.
3. You build momentum - Seeing their enthusiasm re-doubled my enthusiasm. After all the work, I was a little burnt-out. Not any more!!
4. Talking brings clarity - I worked on this course in silence for too long. It's really helpful to get words out of your head and into the air, so you can hear how dumb they sound - and then improve them.
5. You get buy-in - No one can tell you later that it sucks, unless they're willing to assume some responsibility.

Now, depending on your team dynamics, all five of these could be potentially frightening.
Fortunately, my team is fairly functional (if you don't count me...), so these are productive sessions.

Do you do peer reviews? Tell us about them...

Mindmapping huesworks

click image to enlarge

Here's a mindmap of huesworks. I created it at bubble.us.
It's a cool, easy site to use.

Row one lists five areas of focus.
I spend most of my days exploring and working in these areas.
This blog will focus on these areas as well.

• MLT - Management, Leadership & Teams
• LT - Learning and Training
• CIT - Creativity, Innovation & Thinking
• DC - DesignComm or Design in Communication
• GC - Global Culture

Row two lists resources and activities that I leverage in my exploration of these areas.
A number of them, like books, occur in all areas.

Finally, row three lists my offerings or outputs in these areas.
You'll find more information about these from the offerings tab at the top of this blog.