Change Insights

Jayne works in a large technology based business, heading up the Design division and a team of 50. Like many other leaders in any given week she attends numerous meetings, which she says can vary in productivity and experience. We asked her to have a loaf about why this might be…

Same company – same person – why so different?

“The Monday morning operations meeting can be quite tense and I don’t always feel comfortable to share my thoughts or challenge others. People talk over each other, and I feel there are one or two key players in the room struggling for power. Sometimes I come away thinking – What a waste of my time, I’m not sure what we actually agreed, I wish I had said…”

“In contrast we then have the Wednesday ‘key client’ release meeting, where I am more confident and brave to share my viewpoint, conversations flow and there is a variety of skills, levels and experience in the room. I come away with clarity of the actions, I feel a sense of movement with pace, and that I have been heard and understood”.

Jayne concluded (after quite a bit of loafing!) that there are three key factors to the Wednesday meeting that make it more successful team encounter…

1) “We create a safe environment – people are open and there is trust that if someone has something hard to say it will be for the right reason. People take the time to listen to each other, in order to truly understand what is being said, we don’t pass blame but we do question and challenge each other.”

2) “We have an aspiration to solve – there is a strong sense of us being ‘in it together’ and solving problems. We all agree it’s better to tackle things head on than face the consequences of standing still, we are curious to know more and like to be creative before we commit…but there is always a reality-check that keeps us grounded!”

3) “We embrace difference – having a room full of variety is recognised as a good thing, everyone is given the time to speak and views are respected, it’s rare if we cast judgement. Whilst there is difference across the team we do all work to a common goal/mission.”

Unspoken ‘Rules of Play’ like these guide teams and keep them honest (or not!)

High performing teams have the desire to work in a way that generates the feel good factor. Team members have intuition, empathy and kindness for one another, along with a balanced consideration for data, thoughts and feelings. They don’t avoid the hard and messy conversations in favour of efficiency, tension is diffused quickly and gut instinct along with a good dose of resilience helps the team to honour these powerful ways of working.

Five years ago Google embarked on a project called ‘Aristole’, with the sole aim of building the perfect team. Their extensive research told them that team success was not down to who was in the team, but more so to do with how teammates reacted to one another.  They called it having Psychological Safety & Emotional Conversations. They concluded “In the best teams, members listen to one another and show sensitivity to feelings & needs”.

We call this critical fuel for change ‘Genuine Conversations’…

We believe any team can achieve this way of working, but we also know just saying it doesn’t make it happen! We work with teams in large and small organisations helping them to establish their ‘rules of play’ to enable great leaps forward in pace and performance. Time and time again we see ‘Genuine Conversations’ as being at the heart of real team connection, a connection that unlocks and accelerates performance. Business growth is often underpinned by stories that connect people, yet we see growing businesses letting go of this fuel that accelerated them in the first place.

Next time you are in a meeting take a step back, watch, listen and ask yourself – “If we were to have a more ‘genuine conversation’ what could we achieve?”

Give us a call if you want to inject the right fuel for genuine conversations and change in your team…