From Thought to Action

In order to act differently, we need insight. It is only once our worldview shifts, even slightly, that we can embrace behaviours that are more conducive to achieve our desired outcomes. I see it all the time, that Aha! moment when a group suddenly understands the situation under another light. What was an issue, a showstopper or a conflict slowly morphs into a possibility that the group can act upon.

The objective of my workshops, seminars or coaching is to help you shift your perspective so that you can act in a way that will help you achieve the desired goal.

My art is to facilitate that path so you can act, making it smoother for you, whilst outlining the milestones towards your goals.

Create a vision and team alignment

I remember a disastrous project review meeting in a large company. Two project managers learnt during that meeting that they had both been working on the same technical subject for a year without knowing the other one was. They had both come to present their solution and project proposal. It happened that both approaches were at complete odds to each other. There was a moment of silent horror and a few beads of sweat on furrowed brows! What a waste of resources! This was a huge potential for turf war and conflict to defend a year’s worth of hard work. Luckily, as the two project managers were smart and could see the common good, they decided to work together and make a common proposal. A vision creates a direction that enables your teams to work towards your desired outcomes. Its purpose is to give meaning to work and management can translate a direction into pragmatic tasks. The vision is what we turn to for guidance when we don’t know.

An example of a team (6-12 participants) vision using Lego® Serious Play®. It represents a detailed desired future state, each brick on the plate having meaning and representing an aspect of it. Team values and other management pillars can be added to facilitate implementation.

A vision can be created in a variety of ways, from a clear top-down one person directive to one co-created with the organisation. The more you involve your teams, the better their understanding and alignment, and hence effective execution. When the vision is decided from above, whatever the reason, it is usually beneficial to get the teams to work on their understanding of that vision and how it translates to their area of expertise. The vision is translated into priorities and concrete projects and actions that will contribute to transitioning from the current situation to the desired state.

A group of participants are listing the actions they need to perform on Post-It® notes as part of a vision workshop. They are at the listing stage; all actions will then be prioritised and linked to available resources.

Once all actions to reach the vision have been listed, these need to be prioritised to take into account resources and dependencies. This is the elaboration of a realistic tactical implementation plan. A common mistake is to want to start everything at once, rapidly loosing momentum. This makes your transformation loose credibility with your teams as nothing happens. The purpose of a Yinsight workshop is to set-up conditions for success and ensure that your transformation continues to make progress. Actions are planned and followed-up on a short cycle basis to ensure that your transformation is alive and kicking. Une matrice de priorisation papier affichée sur le mur

Une matrice de priorisation papier affichée sur le mur

A prioritisation matrix displayed on the wall during the workshop allows all participants to have a global perspective when prioritising actions in time. Resource conflicts and dependencies are also visualised clearly.

Once the steps are complete, your teams know why they are working, what they are working towards and have objectives aligned with the vision. You have created the conditions for every person’s effort to contribute towards achieving your ambitions.

The case for applied theory

Un tableau blanc sur lequel est écrit des explications sur le Lean Manufacturing

As a leader in a transformation, to be successful, you need to understand what you’re doing and why you’re doing it. I often provide insight into what theory we shall use and how we will translate into pragmatic actions.

Seeking external advice, is seeking competences and experience that you don’t have inhouse and a fresh perspective.

My aim is not to drown you in theory, instead, I tailor the knowledge to your needs. As a friend once told me “you read the books, just tell me what I need to know”. I will bring you what you need so that those implementing the actions and understand what they are doing, and why they are doing it in that way. It puts them in a position to engage co-workers, give meaning and participates in the knowledge transfer. It’s the famous saying “Give a man a fish, he’ll eat for a day. Teach him how to fish, he’ll eat for a lifetime”.

The above saying illustrated in Lego® Serious Play®. Using metaphor is a central practice to the Lego® Serious Play® methodology and change management and helps people remember concepts and ideas in the long term. It’s also a way of modifying our worldviews.

Moments for reflection and uptake

Members of a workgroup taking some time to reflect upon what has just emerged from the session and the practical implications for the way forward.

Thought and Action go together. It is important in change and transformation that every person is given the time to understand what is at stake, the objectives, what is required of them and what resources they have. If you want your teams to implement change, they need to process the transformation and make it their own so they can implement in their area of influence and responsibility. When I run a training course and ask the participants if they have understood, I get a genuine response that they have. However back in their real life situations, many then struggle to correlate their learning and its implementation in real life situations. This is why I offer “training with integrated implementation”: each micro learning phase is followed by implementation work between sessions. This gives participants an opportunity to check their understanding, test their training in their daily practice, raise questions for the next training session and better anchor the knowledge transfer.

Meaningful activities

Icebreakers and energizers are necessary to manage participant energy during a workshop. I ensure that each one is inclusive and contributes to the workshop outcomes. We debrief after each one and extract the learning from the activity.

Every activity, no matter how fun, is designed to further the workshop objectives. Each learning is used to highlight some aspect of the group dynamics, beliefs and behaviours. It aims to provide insight into what is done and possible alternative ways of being or doing that are more aligned with reaching the desired outcomes. Each activity is specifically chosen with regard to the goals of the assignment we agreed upon: create the right conditions for a successful brainstorming session, create a behavioural framework, create a safe space to talk, increase authenticity amongst participants, foster more cohesion, reflect upon our ways of doing and being, etc.

Using mediation for easier discussions

Sometimes it can be difficult to talk to each other authentically or express our ideas. Inspiration and prompts help us do that.

Group dynamics are an essential part of my practice. It can be difficult to reduce hierarchy levels, erase all inhibitions in a group, speak openly, especially if there has been a history of conflict or if there are strong personalities in the group. Using mediation exercises creates the conditions for all voices in the room to be heard and for the emergence of wiser solutions based upon enhanced collective thinking.

Imagine a workshop in which all participants are fully engaged, where all voices are heard and considered, and where each idea or perspective can be captured.

I’m thinking of course of the Lego® Serious Play® methodology, and there are many other forms. In creative contexts we can draw, use plasticine, use gamification. I use picture decks for inspiration or spatial games using the position of each participant to provide information. Giving feedback to one another in a fun way can be easier than face to face, and still as rich and impactful. Anything can be invented to increase the effectiveness of the day! My aim is to create a safe space that helps you gain insight, surprises you without upsetting you, allows to experiment without suffering. It’s an investment for you to mobilise your teams or a day or more and the design of your workshop is done so that you can make the most of your time together so that you can grow and learn as a group.

You can’t impose cohesion, only foster it

A team debriefing inside a giant cloth cocoon. I’ll let you discover the feeling of this, and I can guarantee you’ll love it! The learning inside the cocoon is legendary!

Group cohesion is built with time and trust. The greater the alignment and engagement in your team towards a shared goal, the more you will see a fluid implementation. Agreements will be upheld, sharing will be more authentic, differences will be more likely to be accepted and reconciled, a greater cohesion between team members will appear. Team performance is built around this cohesion. It allows for achieving more with less effort and conflict. It sounds trite but an aligned team in which all members feel psychologically and physically safe will give you levels of productivity, energy, and creativity that you haven’t experienced before.

Now that you’ve thought about it, take action!

Contact me to organise your next workshop