Distinctly Montana Magazine

D I S T I N C T L Y M O N T A N A S P R I N G | 2 0 1 5 6 Gal PeOPLe ARe STARvING fOR CONveRSATIONS IN WhICh TheY feeL SAfe TO TeLL The TRuTh. When that happens a team actually achieves more. Teams know when they have trust and when they don't. What many don't know is how to achieve it. As baseball great Casey Stengel observed, "Gettin' good players is easy. Gettin' 'em to play together is the hard part." But it doesn't have to be. Try these five tips for starters. Share them with your team. Discuss what's easy and what's challenging. And then commit to using them for six months. What you notice will be the team transforming; what you watch will be inspiring. LeARN A vARIeTY Of MeThODS TO GeT INPuT fROM ALL TeAM MeMbeRS. It's always handy to have a couple of group process practices in your back pocket should you find yourself facing a team that quietly stares back at you or has someone dominating the discussions. My favorite go-to practice is to put the team into pairs or trios, and ask them to discuss and come up with a suggestion, or idea, or contribution to the topic at hand. When I check in with each pair or trio, it never ceases to amaze me how much energy and engagement this set-up generates. It works because it enables team members to contribute without feeling put on the spot. Nobody wants to look stupid so when they have a partner to talk with, it takes away the spotlight. DISCuSS The uNDISCuSSAbLeS. If you don't, it can sabotage the team because it undermines trust, the foundation of any team. Finding your way through this tip takes courage because most often fear is the reason an undiscussable exists as the "elephant in the room". Sometimes the newest member of the team sees this "elephant" and is reluctant to bring it up to his seasoned team. I watched this happen with one of my clients as the team negoti- ated their departmental budgets. The team had been given their budget limits and all but my client came to the meeting with their budgets over the limit. He was incensed but didn't say anything as he listened to all the justifications. In fact, he shut down because he didn't see or hear anyone discuss the need to change, so he decided it was undiscussable. Afterwards we talked about what he could do in the next weekly meeting to address his concerns. It was important that he bring up the undiscussable without finding fault. So when he brought up the issue, he explained his intention was to understand how this senior leadership team came to the numbers they did given the limits. He shared his concern about the impact of the budget overages to each other's departments and to the organization as a whole, especially when raises were being decreased. Then he said something like, "I'd like to know what each of you think about what I said and hear your point of view." Then he listened and made sure he didn't say any "Yes, buts." What happened surprised even him; his question changed the discussion. The team ended up talking about issues that were really behind the over-budgets. Instead of throwing more money at problems, they talked about how to resolve them. They experienced having a conversation that mattered. Doing so changed the team because a member was will- ing to discuss the undiscussables in a non-blaming and curious way. uSe CuRIOSITY TO CheCK OuT ASSeSSMeNTS AND CONCLuSIONS. A team can get off track when a member digs in their heels to prove their conclusion is the right one. Getting curious about that point of view offers the team the opportunity to hear a new perspective. Here's what curiosity sounds like: "Help me understand what you mean by that." Or "How did you arrive at this conclusion? I'm not tracking with you and I want to understand." It's about letting your team member know you are not on board yet and you want help in understanding their point of view. If you are thinking this is hard to do, especially when you think you are right, it is. When that happens, remember this. It starts as an inside job. I have to remind myself, "This is my business partner, I respect him, and I know I need to find out why this makes sense to him. What is it I don't see or understand?" That inside conversation serves as a humbling reminder. If A TeAM GeTS STuCK, exPLORe WhAT YOu AGRee ON AND WhAT YOu DISAGRee ON. Don't shelve the discussion and move on. Capture the agreements somewhere—on a flipchart or a whiteboard where everyone can see them. Get them out of people's heads and onto a medium where revisions and comments can be made. That in itself is clarifying. Then do the same thing with the disagreements, listing them all opposite the list of agreements. Y O u S h O u L D K N O W ! 5 f I v e T h I N G S 5 TIPS fOR TeAMS By R Higgins 1 2 3 4

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