Don’t Read This if You’re a Procrastinator!

February 15, 2012 By Leave a Comment

I am a very skillful procrastinator and this video is a brilliant and funny study of it! Procrastination strikes all of us at times and strikes all the time for some of us 😉 I fall into the latter category and have spent many years discovering techniques to move from procrastination to execution! I was excited when my brilliant husband developed a 2 x 2 matrix to guide some of his coachees (and himself as I think he also falls into the latter category … how is it we ever get anything done????)

Procrastination Matrix

The idea is quite simple … we will do the things we enjoy and most likely procrastinate over the things we don’t enjoy or find difficult.  We will also use the things we enjoy doing in order to avoid doing the things we don’t!

Ideally a good portion of our work falls into the top left quadrant – urgent and enjoy doing – as we are most likely tapping into our strengths in that particular quadrant. I would put a majority of my work here – I love designing leadership programs, facilitating and coaching. I also love researching things on the Internet and, while occasionally related to my work, more often it’s not urgent.  I don’t like organizing files or paperwork (bottom right for me) and I also struggle to write blogs and do general marketing (top right).

The trick is to limit yourself from doing the bottom left (red X) while moving the top right over to the left. So, when I set aside a morning to blog, I don’t turn on my email program and reward myself when I do write a blog (like check my email, go to Amazon and check out some books, read my favorite book, watch my favorite TV program).  These are what I would call external or behavioral attempts to deal with my procrastination.

There are also internal ones which basically involve changing the way we think about things, so instead of fearing marketing or blogging, I need to think about them differently, addressing my fears and making them fun.  In the last few years, we have offered free half day seminars to our local clients and would be clients, sponsored meet and mingles, award ceremonies, and given away half day workshops at charity silent auctions. We love doing these things and they have helped us build our business.

I have also discovered one last insight … I procrastinate when I think a project is too big or too hard or beyond my skills. In those instances, I have started to ask myself one question, “What’s one step I can take right now to address my fears and move me closer to my goal?”

And with that last thought and for those of you who did watch John’s Kelly’s procrastination video … I think there’s a cup of tea I need to make!

This blog is based on the 4 of Spades, Procrastination, taken from our Teamwork Explorer. Written by Tammy.

Filed Under: Leadership, teams, Uncategorized Tagged With: , ,

6 Ways to Develop your Creativity

February 8, 2012 By Leave a Comment


Ordinarily, I don’t embed 20 minute videos into my blog posts, but this is one of my all time favorite videos, full stop. That it’s about how we lose our creativity as we age is profound and that Sir Ken Robinson is so funny makes it poignant and memorable.  That I stumbled across it after we had developed our own framework for creativity and that he so wonderfully reinforces our message is exciting. If you don’t have time to view his video but want tips now, here are our 6 ways to develop your creativity, based around the acronym CREATE.

  1. C – Critic – Creativity cannot take hold in an environment of judging or criticizing. Many of us struggle with an inner critic, basically any internal message we send ourselves about what we can’t do — this includes messages that we aren’t creative! Similarly, we have external critics, judgments we place on others that create an environment where new ideas or risks are discouraged. Creativity needs a supportive, open environment where wild ideas and unconventional approaches flourish. Tame your critic by replacing judgment with curiosity.
  2. R – Risk – Our most important inventions come from someone who was willing to take a risk to be different. People’s openness to risk depends upon many factors — nature of the risk, who’s involved, impact of the risk and overall personality factors.  We also tend to overestimate what we have and underestimate what we might gain by taking a risk. The next time you want to do something different, write down everything you currently have in one column and what you might gain from the risk in a second column. What are you overestimating in the first column?  What might you be underestimating in the second column?
  3. E – Energy – Creative people have paid attention to their natural body rhythms and are deliberate about not only when they are most energetic, but also which environments most facilitate their creativity. Become more aware of the times and environments that are low energy for you and do something to shift that energy.  Take a walk, dance to disco music (works for me every time!), do something different from your usual routines (sit with a different person at lunch, read your newspaper at a different time) and declutter your desk or office.
  4. A – Alternatives – Much has been written about creativity and a majority of it focuses on different ways to generate alternatives. Creative people are great at brainstorming. They can think of different ways to approach a challenge and utilize a number of tools to stimulate ideas. An easy way to explore alternatives is to choose a random word or object and then apply the characteristics of that to whatever challenge/problem you are facing.  Try this nifty little online tool for inspiration.
  5. T – Time – Creative people devote regular time to developing their own creativity. Take an honest and fearless look at where you spend your time and trim out those activities that eat up your time but don’t challenge you creatively (like watching TV!). Take yourself on a monthly date and do something highly creative and outside your comfort zone like visiting an art gallery, taking a pottery or art class, going to the theatre, learning how to woodwork, etc.  Do this on your own so you don’t have to worry about your partner, but can explore your own creativity.
  6. E – Execute – Ensure that your good ideas don’t go wasted. Creative people who are good at executing experience success. A great way to move closer to execution rather than procrastination is to simply take one step at a time.  Many times we can be overwhelmed by a big project … just make a commitment to take one step a day towards it.

Here are a list of my favorite resources for creativity:

Happy creating!

This blog is based on the 6 of Spades, Get Creative, taken from our Teamwork Explorer. Written by Tammy.

Filed Under: Creativity, Leadership, teams, Uncategorized Tagged With: , ,

Why Won’t We Call Time-Outs?

February 1, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Bang Head Here

Graphic Calliope Learning - Original Source Unknown

No doubt you’ve seen this poster as it’s been around for years.  It’s a good chuckle as it seems ridiculous and exaggerated, but I caught myself doing the equivalent of banging my head against the wall just last Friday and while I didn’t lose consciousness literally, there certainly was no intelligence in my actions. I continued to spin my wheels, get even more upset,  ruin my day, and not get anything done … just move email messages around into different folders and write out a to do list in half a dozen different places.

I know better!  Had I taken myself on a time-out to my newly created workout room for a bit of wild dancing to disco music, I might have gotten a grip, gotten a perspective, renergized myself, found my groove, reclaimed my day, etc, etc.

When we work with teams in our one week leadership programs, we ask team members to choose the 5 cards from our Teamwork card deck that they think will help them be successful. A number of them choose this particular card, Call Time-Outs, the 2 of diamonds, which suggests:

Many a meeting has become unproductive because people mistakenly believe that all problems can be solved on a timetable and ticked off their list. If your team is spinning its wheels, calling a time-out can help break the tension and give people an opportunity to gather their thoughts. Shift your energy by calling the meeting, going for a walk, sleeping on it, or simply moving to another room.

The trick of course is to use the card!  In my role as a team coach, I observe teams who are spinning their wheels and will wait 20 – 30 minutes before I gently ask “Would you like some feedback?”

“YES” is the resounding answer from everyone on the team.  My first bit of feedback is  … get up out of your chairs, take a walk down the hallway and come back. I then ask people to stand away from their meeting table and “observe themselves as a team” and ask them “what was happening on this team?” and “what does this team need to do?” Inevitably, the team gets itself back on track and knows what it needs to do.

I find this phenomena fascinating. Why won’t we call time-outs? I think there are a number of factors

  1. Initially, our self-awareness skills … the ability to stand back and observe ourselves and others in the moment.
  2. Secondly, our belief system.  In particular, our belief about time and that we don’t have enough of it. Our deeply-rooted belief that we can continue to be effective after hours, days or years (yes years … how many of you have not taken a vacation in years???) of not taking a time-out. Our belief that we SHOULD be able to be totally effective and productive ALL the time, no matter what the circumstance (ok shortcut version … perfectionism).
  3. Finally, our courage to act.  To call a time-out on a team can mean rubbing up against other team member beliefs and anxieties about not having enough time or not being good enough.

And, one final thought, sometimes we just need an outsider to help us. Some of us are toddlers when it comes to recognizing when we are tired and need a time-out.

This blog is based on the 2 of Diamonds, Call Time-Outs, taken from our Teamwork Explorer. Written by Tammy.

Filed Under: Leadership, teams, Uncategorized, Work Life Balance Tagged With: ,

Silo Busting 101

October 25, 2011 By Leave a Comment

 

The Blind Men and the Elephant is an old parable (popularized by John G Saxe’s poem as read in the YouTube video above), and like all great wisdom and insight, stands the test of time. It’s perhaps even more relevant in today’s overly complex world than it was when it was originally told. The basic premise is that 6 blind men each have a hold of a different part of the elephant.  One thinks he is holding a snake (the trunk of an elephant) another a tree trunk (leg), etc. Though each of them might be partly right, they are all wrong about what they are holding.

For me, it’s one of those powerful analogies that I call on whenever I work with teams and organizations who may have become “entrenched” or “siloed” in particular viewpoints and, therefore, aren’t really working well together.  It’s also something I have to remind myself to call upon whenever I have become entrenched as well!

It’s a simple concept. Why is it so difficult to apply? A few reasons occur to me:

  • We are problem solving beings who want quick solutions.
  • Our identities are wrapped up in being right.
  • We are too busy to take the time to fully explore a particular challenge.
  • If we consider other perspectives, we fear we will need to compromise or give up something.
  • We are future oriented and have a difficult time paying attention to present realities.
  • GU – goo – what’s that you ask? It’s Growing Up goo … and it refers to the types of defense mechanisms we develop in childhood based on messages we get from our families, schools, etc
  • Others?

Whatever the case, it’s true that this basic inability to “consider the whole elephant” is at the heart of most miscommunication and a silo mentality. Weisbord and Janoff in Don’t Just Do Something, Stand There! (one of THE best books on leading meetings I’ve ever seen) suggest that exploring the whole elephant (or “getting the whole system in the room”) is necessary in order that people experience that they:

  • live on the same planet, subject to the laws of nature
  • share the same psychological and physical needs

Only when they have experienced this, can people move on to resolve differences and tackle problems.

How can you do this in your organization? Here are a few things to consider based on some of Weisbord and Janoff’s ideas:

  1. Be willing to take the time to understand the issue/challenge BEFORE jumping to a solution or an action plan. This bit of patience is perhaps the hardest first step of all.
  2. Get the whole system in the room. If you want to silo bust, you need to bring people from each silo into the room together!
  3. Do regular roundtables or check-ins on topics as part of your meetings. Encourage all perspectives are heard by surfacing different perspectives yourself.
  4. Draw a mindmap of challenges with all stakeholders in the room before you try to resolve an issue.
  5. If your team is having trouble speaking freely, have each person brainstorm their challenges or perspectives, one idea per post it note. Post these notes on the wall, talk about them and then theme and name them. Then, discuss specific solutions.
  6. Engage in teambuilding activities that help you see each other as people.  When teams (and people across teams) start to drift apart, they often start to see each other as “positions” and the “enemy” and not people. Do things together that force you to have conversations that are not about work (like cooking together, bowling, golfing, etc)

 Do you have any other strategies for exploring the whole elephant? I would love to hear them!

This blog is based on the 8 of Diamonds, The Blind Men and the Elephant, taken from our Teamwork Explorer. Written by Tammy.

Filed Under: communication, Leadership, teams, Uncategorized Tagged With: , ,

What do Cartoon Thought Bubbles Have to do with Teams?

June 7, 2011 By Leave a Comment
The Implications of Thought Bubbles

Thought Bubbles in Action on a Team

“I feel like Switzerland and I just want to bash their heads together.”  Sarah was exasperated with two members of her team and was telling me how tired she was of listening to their stories and how awkward team meetings were becoming.

“What would happen if you told them that? Perhaps not about bashing their heads together but about how you feel? How might that change things for you and your team?” It had never occurred to Sarah to do this and there was quite a long silence. By the end of our conversation she realized how her silence had been contributing to keeping the unhealthy dynamic between her two colleagues going. She also realized that there was some risk in actually letting them in on her “real” thoughts, but that the potential gains could outweigh the risks.

It’s pretty common for people not to reveal their true thoughts in team situations. Sometimes it relates to being conflict avoidant, sometimes to groupthink, sometimes to an overly “politically correct” culture on the team, and sometimes to fear of being vulnerable all of which are demonstrated in the cartoon above.  Whatever the case, if you find yourself going over situations long after they’re over and feeling unsettled, it may be time for you to examine the role that your “thought bubbles” are playing.  Here’s one of my own examples and how I dealt with it:

I’ve worked with many co-facilitators over the years to deliver various training programs and inevitably the program has some sort of evaluation form. Most times the form lists each person’s name and then asks for an individual rating of each person. This has always bothered me in that if we are working as a team and co-delivering a program, I think we should be rated as a team, not individuals. Inevitably, if rated individually, one member’s ratings will always be the lowest and one member’s ratings will always be the highest. It sets up a competitive and uncomfortable dynamic. So, I have been dealing with this for years and finally (sometimes I am a slow learner too!) I followed the 4 steps I recommend to others:

  1. What role have your thoughts and feelings in your thought bubble played in the situation unfolding as it has? Whenever the topic of evaluation comes up on a team, I get uncomfortable and a bit cranky and end up not participating meaningfully and saying things like “I hate evaluations … we get feedback along the way so what’s the point?” I end up having a conversation that doesn’t really capture my true thoughts and probably frustates my team members.
  2. What are the risks and opportunities of sharing your thought bubble? The risk is that someone might disagree with my suggestion to do a team rating and think that I am insecure about my own abilities, that the real reason I want a team rating is so I don’t end up at the bottom. The opportunity is that at least I can be more honest and authentic about why the topic of evaluation bothers me and perhaps even have my team agree with a team rating.
  3. What would need to change in order for you to share your thought bubble? I just need to be more confident about my own opinion, that I have given the matter some thought and that it’s not a suggestion I make lightly. The other thing that needs to change is to bring up the topic when we have time to more fully discuss it instead of at the last minute during a program.
  4. What’s a small step you can take to bring more of your thought bubble to team conversations? I can suggest that the next time we do a program that we add the evaluation form to our initial planning sessions.  I can also then preface my comments with “I’ve been thinking about this a lot and was wondering if we could …?

I’m pleased to report that I did indeed bring up this topic and that the outcome was positive. It allowed me to be more authentic and it allowed my team members to get to understand my perspective a bit better.

While this was a positive outcome, sometimes your reflections might lead you to conclude that it is simply too risky to share your thought bubble. If this is the case, then you need to find a way to let go of the issue and not let it continue to permeate your thoughts and, therefore, your presence and interaction on the team.  How to do THAT is another blog post …

This blog is based on the 10 of Diamonds, Sharing Thought Bubbles, taken from our Teamwork Explorer.

Sharing Thought Bubbles

Sharing Thought Bubbles

Filed Under: communication, Leadership, Risk, teams, Uncategorized Tagged With: , , , ,

How your Team can Save Time and its Sanity

May 31, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Thanks to Zach Klein through Creative Commons

Thanks to Zach Klein Creative Commons

I was becoming frustrated with our team.  Three days and dozens of emails later we were still no closer to solving the problem.  The problem you ask?  Finding a date for our next meeting! Egads, for a group of reasonably competent, smart people we certainly were limiting our effectiveness by using the wrong technology. In my own experience on teams and from coaching other teams, the two time wasters I see are using email to make decisions (including scheduling meetings!) AND, get ready … emailing Word documents and using track changes to collaboratively work on something.

We’ve learned a lot over the years from virtual team practitioners and writers. Our favorite writers are Duarte and Snyder whose book Mastering Virtual Teams is a must have for anyone who works on a team, whether virtually dispersed or not. It is full of hints, tips and strategies.  A few years ago, we adapted some of their ideas to produce a collaborative task identification tool. We suggest that teams talk about the types of tasks they face and the types of technology they can use. The chart below does not deliberately identify specific technology as technology changes too rapidly for that, but we hope the chart is a useful starting place for teams. After the chart, I’ve listed 6 ways you can save time on your team by using the right technology for the right task.

Collaborative Task Tool

Collaborative Task Tool, Calliope Learning adapted from Duarte and Snyder

Here are 6 of my favorite tools and they all offer free versions:

  1. Meeting Wizard – Stop the email craziness and use this tool to schedule your meetings!
  2. Rypple – Easily get feedback and hand out kudos using this very neat online survey type tool.
  3. Skype – I probably don’t need to mention this one but if you are a virtual team, skype is a must have for real time chats.
  4. Google Docs – is a simple and easily accessible way to share and co-edit documents.
  5. Yammer – is a Facebook type application but more geared towards productivity. You can set up your own private yammer group and use it to communicate and collaborate, share documents, etc. It also has smart phone versions so you can use it from your phone or computer.
  6. Mindmeister – is collaborative mindmapping software for the creative types out there.

I hope this has given your team some ideas! Have you found any cool tools to use?  I would love to hear about them!

Today’s blog comes from our Teamwork Explorer, 10 of Spades card. Posted by Tammy.

Use Appropriate Technology

Use Appropriate Technology

Filed Under: communication, Leadership, teams, Uncategorized

Wisdom of Crowds

April 19, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Today’s Teamwork Explorer Tip is the Queen of Clubs (decision making) – Wisdom of Crowds. (Need to know more about our approach to teamwork?) See our Teamwork Explorer blog post.)

Wisdom of Crowds

Queen of Clubs – Wisdom of Crowds

One of the reasons we work in teams is to have input on an issue from various different perspectives. In Wisdom of Crowds, James Surowiecki, suggests that optimum solutions are found when all these diverse opinions are incorporated into the decision.

How do you ensure that you hear all voices on the team, even the unpopular ones? Obviously this is very much dependent on the nature of the team, and there’s no one right answer. However, my work with teams suggests that some of the best ways to elicit diverse opinions would include setting clear ground rules that encourage the non-judgmental sharing of ideas. You also have to ask the right questions. Sometimes team members can have valuable input, but fail to share it because they don’t think it’s been asked for, or that it will add value. “Does anyone have anything else to share (no matter how crazy it may sound) regarding this issue?” or something similar is a great question to ask before moving to decision making.

Of course, the next big challenge, once all the diverse opinions are shared, is to incorporate them into a decision. The Jelly Beans in the Jar example is very straightforward.  Fill a glass jar with jelly beans and ask people to guess how many there are.  Then calculate the mean of the answers. I’ve tested this with several groups and the mean is almost always the best answer in the room.

It gets more complex of course when the problem at hand is something more realistic that the team really needs to move forward on. An approach I find useful when opinions are so diverse (perhaps even contradictory) that they can’t be incorporated into a single solution, is scrap the idea that there is one best solution. Once teams start looking for multiple, good, potential solutions, rather than the one best solution, they can move forward with testing prototypes rather getting stuck in what is often called “analysis paralysis”.

Finally a word of caution. Not all decisions lend themselves to a Wisdom of Crowds approach. The decision about which decision making approach is the most appropriate, is of course, the most important decision!

Curious about the rest of the tips and want to know all about them now? Find out more!

Posted by Dave

Filed Under: Leadership, teams, Uncategorized Tagged With: , , ,

Baby in Back Seat

March 15, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Today’s Teamwork Explorer Tip is the King of Diamonds (communication) – Ladder of Inference. (Need to know more about our approach to teamwork?) See our Teamwork Explorer blog post.)

Ladder of Inference

What does a baby in the back seat have to do with teams and our communication tip this week?  Well, read on …

Despite the fact that I value learning and know that patience is a large part of learning, I am not a patient person.  A story I read in Anna Maravelas book helps me slow down and communicate better with those around me.  It’s the story of a man who stopped behind a woman at a red light. The light turned green and the woman ahead didn’t start moving, so he (being like me) got impatient and started blowing his horn.  Not only that, but she actually turned around and was fiddling with something in the back seat and THEN she actually got out of the car and was trying to get something out of the back seat. Well, the driver lost it at that point, blowing the horn, yelling through the window, just in general carrying on.  Well, we’ve all been there haven’t we? Stressed out, thinking that we are running short of time, etc, etc. Turns out that the woman was trying to stop her baby from choking. That’s why she got out of the car … to save her baby and thus baby in back seat or BIBS as Anna calls it in her book.

And this is the essence of Peter Senge’s ideas (based on the original work of Chris Argyris) in the Fifth Discipline around the Ladder of Inference. We take in information and select certain bits of it to pay attention to, attach meaning to and base our actions on.  Because so many drivers don’t pay attention to what they are doing, this man ran up his ladder to actions (blowing the horn, etc).

How often do we do this on teams?  I see it all the time and I do it all the time.  Remaining open and curious about what is REALLY happening for people takes time, energy and commitment, but if you really want to improve the communication on your team, you need to do it.  I try to remember BIBS when I find myself getting angry or stressed … we have a few other tips below in our teamwork card, King of Diamonds.

King of Diamonds – Ladder of Inference (Peter Senge)

To make sense of the world, people have short-cuts or ladders of inference for their beliefs and actions. Analyzing what has led to a particular belief and/or asking others what has led to their beliefs often improves communication.

  1. What are some of your ladders of inference?
  2. How have these worked for or against open communication and building positive relationships?
  3. How might you use the ladder of inference model to check your assumptions about team members and/or help your team members check their own assumptions?

What other tips do you have for suspending judgments and watching your assumptions? I would love to hear them!

Curious about the rest of the tips and want to know all about them now? Then download the free Teamwork Explorer iPhone app now! More interested in the actual paper based set of cards?  Visit our store!


Filed Under: Leadership, teams, Uncategorized Tagged With: , , ,

5 Tips for Team Goals

March 8, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Today’s Teamwork Explorer Tip is the King of Spades, Be Clear about the Goal. (Need to know more about our approach to teamwork?) See our Teamwork Explorer blog post.)

Be Clear about the Goal

The idea of goal setting is not new, but what is challenging on teams (and generally in organizations) is getting everyone aligned and working towards the same goal.  In Built to Last Collins and Porras described the importance of having visonary and emotionally compelling goals, or big hairy, audacious goals (BHAGs). As they suggest a BHAG is “clear and compelling, serves as a unifying focal point of effort, and acts as a clear catalyst for team spirit. It has a clear finish line, so the organization can know when it has achieved the goal; people like to shoot for finish lines.” In our experience, here are a few tips for identifying your team’s BHAGs:

  1. An obvious tip … but ensure your team goal is aligned to the overall goals of the organization. If that connection isn’t clear you are on shaky ground.
  2. Identify the common values of your team members.  Goals need to be aligned with common values or you definitely won’t get people buying in. For example, if team members value social causes and your team’s big goal is to increase sales revenue you likely won’t get everyone on board. When you identify and discuss values, ensure you also talk about the beliefs and behaviors behind your value. For example, I value freedom because I believe that freedom contributes to my creativity and keeps me energized. That’s why I have chosen to remain an independent consultant for many years as the freedom to choose projects and organizations keeps me interested, engaged and continually learning. I have turned down many jobs in order to live my value of freedom.
  3. Find goals that tap into the passion of your team members. Start goal setting with a brainstorming starter like “What if we could …” Ensure that you suspend the “we can’t do that because …” critical analysis until you’ve had a good shot at the brainstorming!
  4. Ask yourselves how you will know if you are making progress toward goals and then build in celebrations when you reach them.
  5. At the end of meetings, ask yourselves how the meeting helped to move you closer to your goals. If it didn’t, you need to change your meetings and/or revisit your goals.

King of Spades – Be Clear about the Goal

Amazing results are achieved when team members pull together toward a common goal. Revisit the goal often to make sure everyone understands what the team is trying to accomplish. It’s best to bring hidden agendas out on the table rather than keeping them hidden.

Are you clear about the goal on your team? What tips do you have for helping team members stay focused?

Curious about the rest of the tips and want to know all about them now? Then download the free Teamwork Explorer iPhone app now! More interested in the actual paper based set of cards?  Visit our store!


Filed Under: Leadership, teams, Uncategorized Tagged With: , , ,

Calliope Learning – Finalist in 2010 Technology Awards

April 19, 2010 By Leave a Comment

VIATeC Awards 2010 Logo We got really exciting news last week. We’ve been nominated for an award in VIATeC’s 2010 Technology Awards. These are like the oscars for our local technology companies. We’ve been nominated in the “Members Choice for Service Provider of the Year” category. We’re blown away by this recognition.

We’ve sponsored the Employer of the Year award since 2008. It’ll be wonderful to be at the awards ceremony as a nominee as well as a sponsor this year.

Filed Under: Uncategorized
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