Why people won't buy in to that 'thing'

In New York last week at the International Forum of Visual Practitioner's conference and it was a week of great meetings, conversations and learning. 

A stand-out for me was a session by Lynn Carruthers and Sophia Lang - about creating and using visual templates to help people work together, collaborate, create and innovate. 

On the wall in their session they referenced collaboration and group work wizard and author Sam Kaner. Session presenter Lynn had previously heard Sam say something along the lines of the following :

She paused, double-checked and got the quote down on paper from Sam when she heard it.

This for me is a HUGE reason why many groups and teams struggle with building buy-in and getting people to align to complex changes ... as well as the simplest decisions. 

Check on what you're trying to get people to buy-in to.

Can they see it?

Is it visible?

Or are you all-talk?

You can check out Sam Kaner's book on participatory decision making here

Are we ready to move on?

It's been fun, challenging, interesting to work with some different groups this week - at some point each group needed to make a decision and move on. 

Yes, you can vote, bring out coloured sticky dots or... whatever decision making process you like. But one approach that worked a charm this week was this:

1. Open up the topic for discussion

2. Visually capture key points about the views in the room (on a flip chart or white board) - people can SEE what others are thinking

3. Identify the options or choices

4 Check for agreement. That means 'asking' the question.

I saw several groups this week spinning around content for such a long time. It's great to talk and put everyone's views out there, but once we're looping back around to some of the same points, some clarity is needed. 

Summarising or recapping the main views is powerful and I rarely see anyone use this technique in group discussions. Too busy trying to get their own point across!

Summarise, and then ask - 'any other views...any different views?'

Once you've teased them all out, it's time to check if you're in agreement to proceed. 

Again, I rarely see groups ask the question to get agreement. It's as if a few people are so frustrated that they say 'I think we're all in agreement, let's move on'. That ain't a question!

Closed questions are great. 'Is there agreement?' 'Who disagrees?' 'Who still has views to put forward?' 'Are we ready to move on?' 

Just because YOU think everyone agrees doesn't make it so. 

Somtimes I'm in the role of listener (graphic recorder, visual capture) with teams and groups and not leading or faciliating. This is how I get to see what's really going on in teams and groups. If you had someone just listening to your next meeting, workshop or session - and not participating - what would they say? How would they rate your team's ability to get to consensus and move on?