Keep the energy up *clap clap*

Talented chef and restaurateur Neil Perry has a number of fine eateries in Melbourne, Perth and Sydney in Australia. And if you've flown on Qantas you will have tasted some of the great food that the team he advises has created for cruising altitude. 

Have you truly seen him at work? Yes, he's been on TV plenty of times and he's been interviewed and shared his recipes ... but have you seen him work?

He does work! And I love his style. 

In the kitchen at the Melbourne Rockpool restaurant (exposed to diners in that modern, transparent, 'look-at-what-we're-creating-for-you' style that is a big part of restaurants today) I've seen him leading his team on several occasions. 

He's not a loud, shouting and cranky chef as many of the stereotypes have us think. 

But he does make some noise. 

*clap clap*

Yep, he delivers a double clap to create and sustain some energy, pace and delivery among the team. It's probably his way of saying 'now come on, step it up, let's get that dish to the servery', 'where are those oysters' and 'what's happening with that Waygu?'

*clap clap*

It's a tool I've adopted in my own office to motivate the team that is me. It keeps the energy up. It can celebrate when a task or project is completed and it also tunes the ears into thinking, sounds and what's going on.

Too often people can drift off into their internal worlds when you'd prefer them to be focusing on the here and now.

I'm not suggesting you go around and clap in the face of people who aren't participating in a dull meeting, or who are quieter contributors in a workshop. No... just remember that you are able to shift and change the energy in an environment. And if that's an environment you're responsible for creating, then there are times when you will need to do something.

*clap clap* is Neil Perry's way of keeping the energy up, keeping the team focused.

What can you do to inject energy, maintain focus and creating stimulating environments for your team?

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?

The 9 Elements of Collaboration - explained

Yes, here they are, the 9 Elements of Collaboration I presented at the International Association of Facilitators conference in March this year. While I spoke about seven 'continents' (it had a global theme after all!) there were an extra two topics I slipped in!

This visual of the 9 Elements is a real 'go to' for me. I talk through this visual whenever I'm meeting with a client, leader or team who are planning their strategic session, their team day or their 'get everyone on the same page' event. 

It's much easier to plan out an agenda when they know what they want to achieve, and I can be sure we design a session that's actually built for collaboration. 

Here's what the 9 elements are all about:

1. Kick Off : be sure to start the event, session or workshop with some pizzazz and energy. This does not mean a welcome speech from the leader or CEO ! That is not usually energetic - it may be, depending on the leader, but likely not. Kick off with music, an inspiring video, a creative performance or something energising that sets the scene for what this event is all about. I've used improv performers, musicians, drummers, actors... whatever you use, don't ignore the kick off. It's important to start with a bang!

2. Singular : help people settle in to the day with an activity they can do alone. Perhaps a reflection on what they want to get out of the session, what their expectations are, what they bring to the team, where they are at. This helps those who are slower to 'jump in' to group yee-ha activities. I particularly like using a singular activity because it goes against the over-used "let's all sit in a circle and talk - listening to one person".

3. Social : OK, now we can mix and mingle and get 'groupy'. It could be a networking activity, a meet your colleagues, a speed connections activity or some improv games. Whatever you do, ease in to the socialising aspects of the event. I never like to throw people in to a 'ok, everyone talk to everyone' activity. It can be a harsh shift from waking up in the morning to being thrust into group stuff. 

4. 5 and 6.

Visual, Auditory and Kinesthetic : these are the must-have elements to any training, workshops, sessions, conversations. You can't just sit and talk and listen. Get people looking at things, hearing things and doing things. 

Visual: I'm a huge fan of visual thinking and graphic recording so I'll often provide visual facilitation as a standard part of my facilitation. Here I capture the unfolding story and content of the workshop, giving participants the threads to follow so they'll do better work in the session. But other visuals could be photographs, illustrations, videos, artwork, tangible objects and props. I make sure everyone has the tools for visuals at their tables - post it notes, markers, note books, photo cards...

Auditory: This is about hearing things - and other people's voices doesn't count! Unless they're singing! Introduce other forms of sound like music, music, music. A participant in a recent workshop said to me "I'd love to come to one of your parties; you have the most diverse music I've ever heard!" Yes, diverse people in the room so I was playing world music, jazz, country & western, pop, classical, blues... and with some teams and groups we trade pre-recorded music for live music. Why not try team drumming? Greg at Rhythm Effect is superb. 

Kinesthetic: Touching, feeling and doing things is such an important way for many, many people to learn and connect and contribute. It might not be your preference, but then it's not all about you! Be sure to have things for people to do like activities to work on, practical tasks to complete, space to move around in, things to touch and play with (Lego, Play Doh, props and items, tools, abstract objects, costumes, accessories, products... use your imagination)

And shift it around, shift it up. Go from visual to kinesthetic to singular, to a social auditory activity, back to singular visual... 

7. Logical: Give the agenda, structure and processes of the day some order and logic. For those who gather and sort information in this way, they'll be looking for the process. Give it to them. The 9 elements of collaboration - that's a logical process. Set up things with some logic, flow, step by step and order. I always start with the agenda on a flip chart - even if they have it written on a page in front of them - then we can tick off the chunks as we go through. Then I find the steps and chunks in the sub-topics so there is logic and process within logic and process. 

8. Verbal: I address verbal last because it's the thing that gets done the most - too often in fact. You cannot expect people to jump up and down for joy, wanting to collaborate when you hit them with a whole heap of verbal blah blah from the leadership team. Or worse, you make people sit in a circle all day and make them listen to everything everyone else has to say. You have to change it up. You can still talk, just mix it up with the other elements. When I'm providing graphic recording services I get to work alongside facilitators and leaders who are facilitating - there's way too much verbal going on out there. Talk at you, talk about you, trying to talk with you, talk talk. The balance MUST shift so that other elements can be incorporated so you'll engage and inspire and get better outcomes. 

9. Wrap-Up: When you started strong at the beginning of the day, you opened a loop in people's minds. It's time to finish with a bang too, so that you can close up the loop, link everything together nicely just like a beautifully wrapped gift. Help people make sense of it all. Give the a natural yet obvious conclusion to the event. I shudder and cringe when events run over time and the wrap up, conclusion, next steps and call to action is undercooked and people are left, flat. You must finish with air and inspiration and energy to build commitment and action. Otherwise the big bucks you've invested in getting people there has been diluted. Shame about that. 

9 Elements of Collaboration - there are certainly more and different things you can do but these are a base, a must-do and a must-think-about.

Just because you've finally found a date in the diary when everyone's available, don't think that's the most important thing about the day! What you'll do and how you'll help them collaborate is what's important. Give sufficient attention to that and you'll get much higher levels of engagement, deeper levels of commitment and you'll create a momentum that's unstoppable.  

Would Warnie play on your team?

When the team you're in reaches a target, hits the mark or achieves success, do you do this....

... run in to a huddle, cheer, applaud, lifting each other into the air, hug each other and give hugely rewarding pats on the back and high praise?

Do you do this several times in a day? 

Do you then watch a replay to see how awesome that success was?

I’ve been watching the summer cricket matches with different eyes ... the eyes of a team or project leader; a leader who needs to get their teams to do great stuff! Everyday!

Too often we’re seated at desks when someone announces a target is hit, or we’re in a meeting or conversation.

Boring voice, stays seated  ... 'yawn. Yeah that’s great. Well done.' 

Our responses are cold and stale. So DIS-engaging. So…. robotic and machine-like.

Fire up ! Bring some game-style celebrations to the work you and your team are doing. You are hitting milestones and targets and you’re not making much of a deal about it.

Start making a big deal about it!

Get into a huddle, give huge applause, give great recognition and celebrate truly, loudly with cheers and ‘hoorays’ and smiles and laughter and back slaps and high fives – then watch the replay and relive it all over again! And again…

Remind people what they’re doing, why they’re doing it and how great they’re doing. Warmth, humanity, fun, games, collaboration, creative, communicative, rewarding…. we’re human after all.

Mints, water, agenda. Where are the outcomes?

There's coffee on arrival, mints in little bowls, jugs of fresh water and an agenda on the tables - a gathering of the team for a strategy or team session. Perhaps it's a day or two, or you're fortunate enough to escape off-site in an effort to get fresh perspective and avoid workplace distractions.

The strategy or team session is a big investment of people, time, preparation, accommodation, travel, catering, audio visual support, time away from your role .... and on and on.

But simply getting people in the one venue and heading into the agenda doesn't get the best out of the group or that investment.

There are 7 problems I see with strategy and team sessions and they can all be avoided with pre-planning, creative input and the right resources. When I'm facilitating high-value strategy and team sessions for clients and providing input into agenda design before the event, there are key things I work to avoid. The difference in the feel and running of the session is certainly noticeable ... but the impact on outcomes achieved can be extreme.

The problems are in my new whitepaper - The 7 Problems with Strategy and Teams Sessions... and what to do about them.

Read it and act on it before you get the team together.