FYI or more? How involved will people be...

When you engage with people, to get input or feedback or work with them to reach outcomes, how involved will they be? This week I’ve heard phrases like ‘consulting with’, ‘socialising the strategy’, ‘run it by them’ and ‘keep them in the loop’.
 
It’s vital that you plan for, and position, how involved people will be in you project, workshop, consultation. Position it clearly and upfront. You don’t want people coming along thinking their view is going to count if the ‘consultation’ is really about information. Or you ask about views and concerns but you have no way of incorporating them into the final design.
 
“Today’s meeting is for information only, to keep you up to date with progress…”
“Here’s what we want your input on; this part, not that part…”
“I’m getting your views on the project today and the ultimate decision will be made by the project sponsor...”
“We’re meeting with you to find out what your key concerns are so we can make changes to address them…”
 
Note the distinct differences:
Informing – it’s for information only so people understand what’s going on
Consulting – you seek feedback on the information, the alternatives or what might be decided on
Involving – you work with people to understand their concerns, and of course, you’re going to consider them
Collaborating – you work with people at every step of the way, working on alternatives and finding the solution with them
Empowering – you're giving the decision making power to them; you’ll do what they decide on.

It’s a broad spectrum from information through to empowering. And it’s much easier to engage and collaborate with people when you make it clear where you’re at.

 
So this is for your information (FYI). It’s up to you where you’d like to take it from here!

When you bring a team together this year...

Facilitating as a Leader

2012 is off and running - so in the important first few meetings, workshops or catch-up conversations you have this year, remember to make use of some of the super-skills of the facilitator to help you handle group dynamics and decision making.

Late in 2011, I designed and facilitated a one-day program on Facilitation Skills to help a client's team boost their management and people skills – particularly when handling projects and meetings.
 
Some of the most useful outcomes were related to getting group buy-in or input to decisions, generating ideas and ... most of all, getting out of discussion mode and into decision mode.

How much of a facilitating manager or leader are you? There are some great skills to learn. If you haven’t checked out the International Association of Facilitators free starter guide to facilitation – and how to have more productive meetings – this great PDF can be found here…
 
What to start doing
1. Check the expectations of everyone in the group or meeting as you start; why do they think they’re there?
2. Have an agenda – even a rough one that outlines how you’ll begin, how you’ll run the middle bit and how you’ll wrap things up.
3. Listen. Facilitators let people talk … and then they use a variety of techniques to help people summarise, wrap up or focus in on their point.
4. Go where there might be a bit of tension, rather than avoiding or running from it. Get it out there and it can be dealt with rather than hidden. Progress will be easier.
5. Use visuals (words + images) – either on a notepad, a flip chart or a whiteboard – to help the group or team ‘see’ where they’re at and where they're trying to get to.
 
Most of all, if you're getting the team together, be clear about why. Is it for information only, discussion, debate, decision making, strategising or brainstorming? They're all very different reasons and need different approaches to achieve great outcomes.

12 ways to boost engagement

People engaging in your message isn’t their responsibility... it’s yours!

Here are a dozen things to do even better.

1.In the eyes...
Establish and maintain eye contact with people. Break that eye contact so you’re not getting accused of stalking, but avoid the ‘fluttery-closed-eyelids’ thing while talking or the ‘looking-over-there’ while talking. Look at people when they’re speaking to you. Simple but not often done well.

2.Ask Questions
There’s too much telling (pushing people away) and not enough asking (engaging people) going on in meetings, conversations, consultations. 

3.Facilitate a team conversation
Rather than being part of the problem of clutter in a team meeting or conversation, step up and facilitate it. Confirm what the group’s trying to do, summarise what’s going on and where you’re all at, and then suggest some next steps.

4.Capture the conversation
Either on your note pad, ipad or flip chart pad, start catching some key points that people are sprouting in that meeting you’re in. Too many ‘and the essence is’ or ‘what I’m really saying is’ are lost and go way off up into the ether because they’re not captured anywhere. Write a few down and you’ll soon see where you agree, disagree and need to close the gap on thinking.

5.Ditch PowerPoint
Yep. Turn it off. Challenge yourself to truly engage with your audience, stakeholders or colleagues by using #6 below. I mean it. You’ll probably want to run back and hide behind your multi-page pack, but engage with people using dynamic, real time visuals. Keep PowerPoint packs for the hefty spreadsheets and detail, not the dot points.

6.Catch-it on a Flip Chart
Visual thinking works. Get yourself a good black chisel tipped marker (bullet tips are for babies) and step up to the flip chart or whiteboard and depict your key points. You won’t look like a fool; you’ll actually look more like you know what you’re saying. You’re displaying the clarity in your thinking by being able to summarise it up there.

7.Use visuals to explain
When you’re doing that flip charting and whiteboarding, use a few words and a few visuals. As Dan Roam says in his new book ‘Blah Blah Blah’, you need
visuals + verbals to get clarity. So a stick figure with the word ‘customers’ next to it is ace. A square with the words ‘regional office’ written in it is even better. Stay simple to boost engagement. Don’t be too smart; it’s not about the art.

8.Listen to yourself
Most mobile phones, portable devices and handhelds have a voice memo or recording option. Hit record during your next meeting or conversation for the purposes of listening to yourself, not others. Listen to what you sound like, what you said, how you said it, when you interrupted and the tone of your voice. Unless you shriek ‘Is that what I sound like?’, you’re not listening critically enough. How could you do this better?

9.Listen to others
You don’t need to record others in meetings (creepy, unethical perhaps!) but do listen to them. Won’t you? If you want to be truly engaging you’ll summarise back what they said. “So you’re saying is that right?”. Get rid of those disengaging phrases like ‘I hear what you’re saying …’ or ‘I’ll take that on board’. Yawn. ‘Go away’ is what you’re really saying.

10.Say ‘yes and…’
Take a tip from the best improvisers around the world and build on people’s
suggestions, ideas and contributions (by saying ‘yes and…’), rather than blocking them (when you say ‘yes, but…’). Listen out for the ‘clunk’ next time you ‘yes but’ someone in the head. ‘Yes and’ will grow the enthusiasm, energy and creativity.

11.Relaaaaaax your neck, shoulders and your jaw
There’s a fair bit of hunch-backing going on in the workplace. The tension, uncertainty and pressure is often reflected in furrowed brows and shrill voices. Relax your neck, shoulders and jaw. Drop your shoulders from way up near your ears (where they might be right now); have a breath and open your jaw and bite (while keeping your mouth closed). Check in on that one throughout the day. Those shoulders have a way of climbing back up to your ears again!

12.Put ‘em into practice
Print this, bookmark it, email it, copy it. You’ve read it now, during the lead up to the silly season. Have another read in the new year, in 2012 and note which ones you’ll do each day, each hour, each minute. You’ll be oh-so engaging!

Trying to engage with your team? Try a few questions, not statements...

What  would  you  think  if  I  said  there’s  too  much  ‘telling’  going  on  and  not  enough  ‘asking’?    Percentage-­‐ wise,  how  many  questions  have  you  asked  today  vs  statements  you’ve  made?  Have  you  been  more  on   the  telling  people  things  side  of  the  spectrum  than  asking  questions?

As  a  facilitator,  I’m  a  little  biased  towards  questions.  Finding  out  what’s  going  on,  what  people  are   thinking,  where  they  want  to  get  to  with  their  work  or  project  and  then  helping  a  group  set  out  a  plan  to   achieve  that.       But  as  a  manager  and  leader,  how  often  do  you  think  about  the  questions  you’re  going  to  ask?  In  an   interview  you  do,  sure.  But  what  about  your  team  meeting?  Or  a  project  check-­‐point  with  peers?  Or  a   ‘work  in  progress’  meeting  with  your  leader?

In  the  work  I  do  with  groups  and  teams  –  across  corporate,  community  and  not-­‐for-­‐profit  organisations   –  I  see  and  hear  so  many  more  statements  than  questions.  And  there  are  many  opportunities  to  get  a   better  outcome  by  asking  a  question  first.

Today,  thousands  of  mangers,  team  leaders  and  business  people  have  been  trying  to  get  people  to   understand  them  by  telling-­‐telling-­‐telling.  And  then  when  they’re  not  heard,  they  try  telling  it  all  over   again,  but  LOUDER.  You  can  probably  hear  some  of  them  from  your  desk!

Yes,  there  are  open  questions  to  gather  information  and  open  up  the  conversation  (who,  what,  when,   where,  how,  why,  tell  me  about...)  and  there  are  closed  or  confirming  questions  (is,  are,  did,  would,   could,  can).       Did  you  know  that  when  you  don’t  think  about  the  questions  you  ask,  you’re  more  likely  to  ask  a  closed   question?  (That’s  a  closed  question;  answer  yes  or  no).  What  might  you  and  your  team  achieve  if  you   planned  for  and  then  asked  a  mix  of  open  and  closed  questions?  (Yep,  that’s  an  open  question).

Questions  aren’t  a  sign  of  not  knowing.  They  won’t  show  you  up  as  the  dumbo  of  the  team.  They’ll   actually  help  you  get  to  where  you  need  to  quicker  and  with  far  less  pain  than  telling,  telling,  telling,   arguing,  debating,  telling  some  more,  deep  breathing  and  then  fuming.

Here’s  why:  a  few  questions  at  the  start  of  a  meeting  with  a  peer  (What  are  you  hoping  to  get  out  of  our   catch  up?  What  are  the  challenges  that  are  most  pressing  for  you  at  the  moment?  How  is  your  team   responding  to  the  restructure?)  will  reveal  so  much  more  and  prepare  a  fertile  ground  for  you  to  plant   effective  statements  when  you  need  them.

Last  week  I  had  a  meeting  with  a  colleague  who  had  just  completed  a  poor  performance  conversation   with  one  of  their  team  members.  My  colleague  had  been  all  about  telling  the  team  member  what  wasn’t   working  and  then  telling  them  what  they  had  to  improve  on.  Yes,  oh  so  engaging  for  the  team  member.   Buy-­‐in  level  =  15%.  Enthusiasm  level  =15%.  Opportunity  for  trying  something  different  next  time  =  100%.

The  conversation  (that  means  two-­‐way  folks!)  could  have  involved  some  questions  up  front  and  then   based  on  the  answers  and  responses,  the  conversation  could  achieve  much  more  –  for  both  parties.       ‘How  have  you  been  finding  the  changes  in  your  role  over  the  past  few  months?’   ‘What  have  you  enjoyed  about  the  role?’   ‘What’s  challenging  or  frustrating  for  you?’   ‘What  areas  of  your  performance  do  you  think  we  could  discuss  and  work  on  today?’     These  can  help  set  an  agenda  for  the  meeting  and  focus  on  engaging  the  team  member  to  buy-­‐in  to  the   fact  that  this  is  about  them.  It’s  not  about  the  manager  telling  them  what  to  do.

Some  organisations  call  these  coaching  conversations  and  will  give  you  a  little  laminated  card  with  cheat   questions  on  it  so  you  know  what  to  ask.  That’s  great  –  at  least  you  can  do  some  thinking  before  the   meeting,  interaction  or  conversation  about  the  questions  you’ll  ask.

I’m  sure  there’s  plenty  a  notebook  or  Ipad  in  your  organisation  today  with  a  list  of  key  points  to  be  ‘told’   at  the  next  meeting.       So  for  the  next  meeting  you’re  at,  prepare  a  list  of  questions  you’ll  ask  people.  You’ll  be  more  engaging,   they’ll  be  more  involved,  the  interaction  will  truly  be  an  interaction,  and  you’ll  be  getting  focused  about   the  information  you  need,  before  you  launch  into  a  statement  or  two.

How  does  that  sound?  Do  you  think  that’s  something  you’ll  be  able  to  put  into  practice  for  your  meeting   later  today?  What  things  might  get  in  the  way  of  that  happening?  Would  you  let  me  know  how  that   goes?