Cough up that complexity furball

Go on ! *cough cough* Get it up... and out !

That furball of complexity that's lodged in your team's throat is disengaging, dull and not getting through to people across the business. 

But when you've got so much detailed information to get across to so many people - and you need to do it quickly, or you've lost them - it's no wonder we try for pages and pages and packs and packs and more and more... 

*cough*

I worked with a team recently, actually, four teams. They wondered how to present their four complex projects of work from the past months (and for some, years) of effort. 

How do you do that without losing some of the essence, the detail and depth that sits behind their key points?

These four visual storyboards did the trick!

*cough*

I created them on an ipad (using the app Brushes and my finger as a stylus). I have no artistic training by the way. It's about the thinking, not the drawing. The images were able to be printed out and laminated and 'spoken to' by the leaders of the projects. They could just as easily be projected on a screen.

Engaging, made-by-a-human, told-by-a-human and a sweet-as change from the hardcore digital stuff the leadership team had been pounded with up until now.

Now these visuals will go on a story tour around the business' offices and sites to share the message and the vision and so much more. 

• Sort through your thinking and your story.
• What does this audience really need to know?
• How can you deliver that in an engaging way? 
• And a final tip: you don't need a big-bucks agency to help you get closer to being a real human. 

 *cough*

Who do you know who hogs the stage?

Giggle, laugh.... snort!

The comedy festival continues here in Melbourne and I've seen Rama Nicholas' one woman show, Jason and Jimmy's Sketchual Healing and some late night Theatresports ... and more to come over the next week or two. 

Even the genius performance of Rama Nicholas - while alone on stage and playing about eight different characters throughout the night - had input from a light and sound guy and some lovely suggestions and input from the audience.

None of them 'hog the stage' though. All shows tap into the creative genious in the room. Even the solo performers do. The stand-up comics do too. They highlight the late arrival or get input and suggestions from the audience. They have high points, quiet points, hilarity, reflection, touching tender moments - but it's so hard to do that all alone, throughout the entire performance, with no input at all. 

So if you - or, well, not you but someone you know or work with - has a tendency to hog the stage, they're not giving support performers (that is, the rest of the team) the opportunity to deliver a great performance. 

The focus must be shifted from the leader.

The focus must shift from the expert.

The focus has to move to people who will execute, implement, advise, consult, inform, contribute... the other people on the 'stage'. 

The team you're in is an ensemble of talented and very clever performers. Even the ones you think aren't so talented still have many talents. 

Be sure that you give people the air time and the opportunity to be in a 'production' that brings out their strengths so they'll do their best work. 

Where were you when the lights went out?

A colleague just posted an update about her workplace this afternoon :

No servers at work, so no phones, computers or internet... Manager is talking about using pens & paper... retraining on a Friday arvo!

You know the feeling - when the network is down or the power is off. 

We go to do things automatically, habitually. 'Oh, I'll look that up on the inter....oops, no power...' or 'I'll send him an email about ... oh yeah, no servers'

There's a film from the late 1960s called 'Where were you when the lights went out' with Doris Day and a cast of other greats who were a little stuck when a huge blackout impacted millions of people. 

When a communication technology we rely on stops, breaks or shuts down, what do you do?

Do you simply sit and wait it out? Or go for a coffee? Or sit, chat, wander around and .... well.... wait?

I think that a few moments, minutes, hours without modern communication technology is the ideal time to literally retrain your brain. 

YES! Get the pens and paper out.

1. Sketch out some thinking about that project you're working on
2. Draw up the pros and cons of that decision you still haven't made
3. Recap the key points from the stakeholder workshop you were in
4. Bullet point the top 3 actions you'll follow up on tomorrow
5. Doodle while you just r-e-l-a-x

You don't need to be able to draw to make great use of analogue tools. You just need to make use of the tools, more often than you're probably doing now. 

They will unlock some new ways of thinking, seeing and processing; if you involve someone else in your conversation you'll be collaborating, working together and thinking; and you'll likely see some possibilities that you'd missed previously. 

Rather than it being an inconvenience, see it as a gentle force to develop.

It's like the acronym I heard yesterday: AFGO - another freakin' growth opportunity! 

I hear what you're saying. Oh really?

Teleconference, phone hook up or remote meeting: the bottom line is, you're talking but you can't see each other. 

You can't see facial expressions, body language or pick up on those many subtle cues that the stars of Lie to Me were so clever at identifying and deciphering. 

But you do have your ears. 

And you need to tune those ears in with greater attention than you do in a normal face-to-face meeting. 

I outlined in an earlier post that you have voice tone, volume and speed to listen in to and to notice the subtle shifts and changes. This is powerful when you can see people in a workshop or meeting, but even more powerful when it's all you've got on a phone hookup. 

I think it's the best 'test' of whether someone is REALLY listening - you go beyond hearing the words that are spoken and are able to pick up on the delivery, how it is said. Then you can go from there - you can ask another (better) question or you can check, clarify and go deeper to work out what might not have been said. 

Listen up folks! This is the listening you need to put to work everyday to make sure you really do hear what people are saying. 

Let go, not know, be ok with it

I facilitated a workshop yesterday with a client - just the two of us. Just two brains in the room. 

Some may call it a 'meeting'. (Seth Godin's blog post yesterday on the meeting troll was a gem!) But there were no trolls in the room on this occasion.

My role was to extract and capture information, thinking, ideas and possibilities from my client. 

Her role was to give, let it flow, let it go, speak, think, take risks and ... whatever!

'Let go, not know, be ok with it,' I said. 

She initially wanted such a detailed structure for every moment of the session - so she knew what was coming up next, so she could be prepared. 

But this wasn't a test. It was ok to not know. To throw the idea around, think out loud, talk about stuff ... err, that is what 'workshop' means, no?

I think when many teams set up a 'workshop' they want to hold on so very tight to the structure, format, what is said and what isn't said. 

They can't let go, they don't like not knowing and they're not ok with it. 

With a great facilitator in the room, you can let go and not know. And you will be ok. 

The output of our session was a wall of charts that captured the thinking, the ideas, the strategy, the plan and the outcomes. She was excited and 'pumped' as she said, given what we'd achieved.

Her closing words were that she didn't think we'd get where we needed to go. She'd wanted to direct things more.

I see this as a common trait of many leaders who think holding tight is what will get you your outcomes. It might, but you'll have a team of deflated folks around you whispering 'control freak' as you leave the room. 

Let go, not know, and you will be ok with it... you never know what awesome might come of it that you just weren't planning!