Home | Login | Recent Changes | Search | All Pages | Help

NotesFromSessionThree006

Increasing Your Effectiveness as a Change Agent

1. Each team had one of these objectives for their methods:
   • Minimize time spent solving puzzle (time)
   • Maximize harmony among team members (harmony)
   • Be able to handle any jigsaw puzzle (completeness)
   • Easy to train others (easy)
2. Each team created methods so solve puzzles and to met that objective.
3. Each team then sent process consultants to another team to sell their method:
   • Time team consulted with harmony team
   • Harmony team consulted with completeness team
   • Completeness team consulted with easy team
   • Easy team consulted with time team
4. Each could refine method based on applicatin of method with other team
5. Each team presented their refined methods

Notes from Debrief
What did you experience creating this method?
Time team

• Some people are obsessive
• Some people as to many questions
• When method doesn't fit, should walk away? do not 'shoe-horn' method
• the more tricks/tools we have, the more problems we can solve, the more we will get more problems to solve
• do smaller iteration on problem first
• some started by doing puzzle; some started by listing steps in creation
• in refinement, still had break between doers and thinkers
• by not being clear at the beginning about overall goal, caused tension initially; solve puzzle or create method?
• do no harm
• staying out of the way
• walk away if not needed
• be sensitive to status quo and respect it
• look for places to generalize
• look for patterns
• assumptions about starting points; some of the more detailed or obvious steps do contain information (ie, has box been opened before?)
• finding fit for person; color blindness leads to different skills
  

Harmony Team

• creation of method was harmonious
• different assumptions
• changed from more hard and fast, rigid roles to more flexible process
• success from smaller puzzle after starting by thinking and listening
• alternating between doing and thinking
  

Easy Does It Team

• bounced around regarding boundaries of problem
• used mind map at beginning to frame the question which lead to approach
• once problem was established could more easily find skills and experise - which lead to roles
  

Completeness Group

• extremely agile - needed method to solve any puzzle
• needed to define what any puzzle is
• had last step (hammer, etal) to ensure success
• never really defined 'completeness'
• used puzzle that was extremely hard to solve
  

Process Consultants

• didn't jump into sell first
• entry needs to be sensitive to status quo
• listen first
• mapping process to what they want; if the thing that they are after is something we can provide to build confidence in customer
• did not impose
• merged methods
• morphed and adopted on the fly
• "so tell us what you want us to do?"
• customers enjoyed pointing out shortcomings in method by doing stuff literally
• compliance of customers
• enjoyed their reaction
• refined based on reaction
• make client a part of creating the method - ownership
• waited until asked in to do work because would contradict method
• don't assume you can always solve the problem
  

Customers

• they (the process consultants) had not thought this out as well as we had and got hijacked emotionally - hook was: I know your job better than you do, which led to just shutting down and the consultant losig their credibility
• common pattern - use exceptions to de-rail the process
• method did not fit our objective, so consultant lost credibility
• simple could help, because problem could be broken into smaller pieces
• disappointed because consultants caused strife by pissing off fellow puzzle solver
• mized feelings until we asked them to help; then ok.
• mismatch between method's "real" purpose adn marketed purpose
• (consultant) did not ask what our goal was
• (consultant) had invalid assumption about situation
• wanted more general method
• waited until being asked to help
• selling the easy method is a hard job
• might have lost sight of real objective
• ask, don't command
• bad or missing assmption quickly erodes confidence
• method should be consistent with use of common sense
• allow for taking exception paths
• maybe one pattern or method - "Do the right thing"
• adapt method and approach to selling to context
• balance the abstract and specific
• simple as possible, but no simpler
• customer may have a history with consultants that might flavor current encounter - esp. relating to resistance
• definitions may vary between customer and consultant - what is harmony?
• felt listened to
• resistance related to perceptions of success
• this group is not representative of what generally happens
• hostile until asked about what objectives I had
• influence of process consultants lasted past their physical presence
• method ignored whether problem could be solved or not; did all pieces exist in puzzle?
• trade-offs in method creation; include step of counting pieces and checking for match with number needed.
• consensus in method creation
• never a quantificaiton of benefits; assumption was consultants had better stuff than what we had
• imposing a method from the top down and having it work is a fallacy
• there needs to be a conversation
• not management by magazine article
  

Take-aways

• selling guidelines vs procedures
• know the distinction between what is being sold and what is expected
• what do you want your message to be? ensure that the message is reflected in how it is presented.
• what is the purpose? get to that first to ensure that it is shared
• what does success look like?
• accept ambiguity; do not ignore it or run away from it
• listen for intention, not just the words
• what to do if success is not known or understood?
• include definition of success in method
• get agreement
• success vs doneness - are they the same?
• check for clear communication.

Thank you all for participating! BobKing 2003.11.9