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I run a group of 3 companies, operating on the same markets.

1 is a Holding company (3 persons) same site as 2
2 sells consumables (18 personns)
3 sells machines+soft (10 persons)

[u]My directs are :[/u]

- 2 site managers (on each site)
- 1 marketing assistant (site 2)
- 1 sales leader for machines (site 3)
- 3 sales reps for consumables, who also can sell machines (nomads) : on the road all week except monday morning and friday afternoon
- 1 financial manager (site 2)
- 1 ISO and IT manager (site 2)

[u]Standing meetings I already run :[/u]

- [i]O3 with each of them :[/i] 1/2 hour once a week

- [i]"Sector meeting" with each sales rep :[/i] 1/2 hour once a week. Purpose : review visit reports and make actions. Sales rep + his assistant + site 2 manager + purchasing manager for site 2 + me.

- [i]"Budget" meetings for consummables :[/i] once a month. Purpose : review financial figures, indicators. Financial manager + site 2 manager + ISO manager + purchasing manager

- [i]"Budget" meeting for machines :[/i] once a month. Purpose : review finance and indicators. Financial manager + site 3 manager + machines sales leader

I am not sure about how to organize weekly staff meetings. I like the idea because it'll make my teams more reactive.

- Putting every one of my direct would be a mess (10 persons) and last too long. :cry:

- I may choose to do 2 separate meetings, one for each site. But I don't know where to put my financial and ISO manager (maybe get them in the meeting only sometimes ?).

- I also don't know where to put my sales guys ! Do I need to, if I have them in the sector weekly metting ? I can then "speak for them" as I am their manager ?

At this time, I only planned a weekly meeting for company 3. Attendees will be : marketing assistant, site manager, sales leader and me. On the "special 15 minutes presentation", we may invite a person that does not usually attend (example : the IT manager if there is a new project ...)

I have not planned my weekly meeting for site 2 because this is the site where I spend most time.

Your comments are welcome !

cwatine's picture
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Well ... I knew this one was difficult ! :oops:

asteriskrntt1's picture

Is there a way you can transfer some of the individual requirements from the Sector meetings to the O3s, then have a normal staff meeting with that group?

cwatine's picture
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Hi *,

It is possible, but it'd mean that I wil have many people just listening when we go through the process of each sector (takes about 1/2 to 3/4 of an hour * 4 sectors = lots of time).
As per the team meeting for site 1, the only time when I get them together is during the monthly budget meeting. So what I would like to experiment is to increase the frequency of this one from monthly to weekly.
But, at this time they told me they would prefer to wait some time because they are under the re-implementation of an ERP and "it takes time". I answered that the fact we have this huge project makes the weekly meeting even more important. But at this time, I did not make my decision about it.

Thanks for your suggestion,

Regards,

Cédric.

WillDuke's picture
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How much information do you repeat in your current meeting schedule?

Obviously these 3 teams have something in common because you lead them all. Would a more complete dispersal of goals and information provide benefits to individual teams? Would this benefit the company?

Have you heard the story about the aerospace engineers and the airplane production line? Once the engineers realized how much trouble 15 different rivets caused, they redesigned and saved the company millions. (Lots of paraphrasing in that story.)

It seems that some people, like yourself and other expensive personnel, end up going to more meetings under your current plan. Would you spend less time in meetings overall if there were fewer?

cwatine's picture
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Duke,

I nearly have no overlaping information between each meeting.

What makes the number increase is the absence of a sales manager (I then have all my sales reps as directs). So I have three functions : I am the boss of thes company and the sales manager). Our size is still too little to add a sales manager (or one of my sales people is still more usefull "on the field" at this time).

I have two directs who work in the support functions for the other two sites : MIS/Quality manager and Finance manager. I am wondering if I should integrate them in each team meeting of each site. Most of the time, they would be listening ...

Now, if I sumup my standing meeting time :
- O3 : 5 hours approx
- Team 1 : 1.5 hours
- Team 2 : 1.5 hours
- Sector : 4 x 45 min = 3 hours
It is 11 hours a week.

Cédric.

Mark's picture
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Cedric-

I must have missed this post! My apologies.

First off, I don't think 11 hours a week is too much for the size of your org. That's 2 hours a day... pretty good, really.

I think the REASON for the weekly staff is to help each company know what the other is doing, either because that would help their businesses, or because it would help YOU because they would understand the resource decisions you make around budget and time and people.

I would think, based on what I understand, that your businesses WOULD benefit from knowing what each other is doing (I am not sure exactly what they do, but they seem to be related). In that meeting, I WOULD have all your directs, I think (tell me why not other than size, which you can handle). And I would have the standard reporting in it.

What am I missing?

Happy Father's Day!

Mark

cwatine's picture
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Mark-

Thank you for your answer.

Yes, those business are related : one is distributing consumables and the other machines/softs. They address the same customers (this is where they are related).

I am not sure about merging the weekly team meetings. I feel it will be too long a meeting.

Here would be the attendees :
- site manager 1
- site manager 2 (off site)
- purchasing manager of site 1
- ISO/MIT manager for the group
- finance manager for the group
- marketing assistant for site 2 (she also can take notes ...)
- sales manager for site 2 (off site)
- me, as sales manager for site 1 and as the boss of the group

It would mean a 2-hour+ meeting ... I am afraid we would go too fast on subjects that would need debate.

It is already very difficult to maintain the weekly meeting for site 2 ... Very lean teams ...

If I don't merge meetings, I get :

Meeting 1
- site manager 1
- purchasing manager of site 1
- ISO/MIT manager for the group
- finance manager for the group
- me, as sales manager for site 1 and as the boss of the group

Meeting 2 :
- site manager 2 (off site)
- ISO/MIT manager for the group
- finance manager for the group
- marketing assistant for site 2 (she also can take notes ...)
- sales manager for site 2 (off site)
- me, as sales manager for site 1 and as the boss of the group

Regards,

Cédric.

Mark's picture
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Got it. I agree. You're right.

Mark

dmbaldwin's picture

I have listened to the two podcasts on team meetings. I learned a lot. A year ago we were meeting twice/month. I moved us to weekly. We have never had an agenda. I have four direct reports in the meeting and one person who is a direct report of one of my direct reports. It's a free flowing meeting and we go to lunch after the meeting. It's highly relational. I'm afraid of printing an agenda. I have one in my mind, but I feel like it will formalize the meeting and people may be put off by it.

What do you all think?

Blessings,

Dave

juliahhavener's picture
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Printing an agenda WILL formalize the meeting somewhat, but I don't think it will be a negative. It will give your team the opportunity to come prepared for what they need to cover and the depth you need them to cover it in (and for you, as well). Keep lunch afterwards, but it will allow the meeting to be a bit more functional and focused while not interrupting your overall feel.

jwyckoff's picture

[quote="juliahdoyle"]Printing an agenda WILL formalize the meeting somewhat, but I don't think it will be a negative. It will give your team the opportunity to come prepared for what they need to cover and the depth you need them to cover it in (and for you, as well). [/quote]

Agreed. We added an agenda to our weekly staff mtg, and I have been very pleased with the results. My staff comes prepared, they know what to expect, and I believe everyone listens more attentively b/c there isn't that 10 minute ramble by Rob the Rambler.

Try it -- and let us know the results!

dmbaldwin's picture

Okay, we have staff meetings on Thursday. I'll give everyone a heads up that we're going to have a printed agenda -- I can do that in the one-on-ones before Thursday and I'll try it! I'll let you know on Friday how it went.

Thanks,

Dave

PattiBarcroft's picture

I am curious if the manager should stand during the staff meetings for the waterfall time and/or the special focus 15 minutes.

I like the idea of having the DRs do it as a way to focus their preparations and communications. It makes sense to set the example but I didn't hear it recommended so I'm asking.

Right now we sit around a conference table and have used a wiki to take meeting notes into. One of the team types the notes. We have used it to augment accountability but I'm now wondering how smart this part is.

Thanks,
Patti

cwatine's picture
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At this time, I don't ask people to stand up when they are talking (some of them are off-site !).
We use a special to share documents and information on the web and each of the staff part has them projected on the wall. I want to add a feature on that : webcams. Why ? Because it is easier to see if people are really listening (I am sure some of them read their Emails sometimes. If I see them typing I can ask them a question !).
Minutes are handwritten by our marketing assistant, directly on the program. After the meeting she scans them and send them to everyone. There is a special "actions part" : Who.What.When.
From this part, I extract what I will follow up with my tasks (see topic about effective outlook).

This is for the technical/organizational part.

What I would like to add to those meeting is a little "drama" ! Meaning : real discussion, conflicts, etc. Not just passive listening. I feel that sticking too much to the agenda sometimes is negative in that concern. I think I went too far in the agenda ... Too many guidelines. So I added a "no real subject area" where we can put in any subject we decide !

rwwh's picture
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I am trying to set up team meetings as well. To get talkback, I tried adding an agenda point for discussion about topics picked up at the coffee machine.

Mark's picture
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Dave-

Agendas do formalize, but that's an over-powerful word. They INFORM. That is to say, they tell people about priorities and intent. The more they know your intent - the commander's intent - the more they will bring the right stuff to the table.

Put it on paper. Simple and plain, just like our sample.

Patti-

No standing.

Ced-

I disagree that the agenda kills drama. It's likely you (sorry). I have meetings with agendas that are WOW exciting. It actually makes for BOTH excitement AND efficiency... some folks are more willing to be excited because they know it won't mean a 3 our meeting... you'll still get done. If a meeting lacks energy, it's not the agenda's fault, it's the leader's... and it's either lack of positive feedback, lack of tough questions, or lack of respect for attendees.

Mark

cwatine's picture
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[quote="mahorstman"]
Ced-

I disagree that the agenda kills drama. It's likely you (sorry). I have meetings with agendas that are WOW exciting. It actually makes for BOTH excitement AND efficiency... some folks are more willing to be excited because they know it won't mean a 3 our meeting... you'll still get done. If a meeting lacks energy, it's not the agenda's fault, it's the leader's... and it's either lack of positive feedback, lack of tough questions, or lack of respect for attendees.

Mark[/quote]

Mark-

Don't be sorry ! I fully accept your comment. 8)

My point was : it is very difficult to interrupt an exciting conversation because of timing ... You feel people getting to a very important point, there is a great momentum accross the team, etc.
In that conditions, I don't have the "heart" to say : "Folks, that's all, we'll get back to this subject later". I feel that, later, the momentum will be lost ... What is the solution ? Maybe just say "This is interesting, but ... We've got to make the decision within the next minute because we have another subject ?"

What is your advice here ?

Any advice to have the "WOW" excitement you are talking about ?

Regards,

Cédric.

cwatine's picture
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And ...

I want to share someting with you, about meetings and drama.

One of my direct report (site manager) has had a daily standing meeting for some months now. I found that an excellent idea, but I had heard some people say ("his meeting is useless because we just repeat what we have already said/done during the day, nothing gets done, nothing changes, et")

Yesterday, I asked him if I could go there, with my pen and paper, just to help him by observing what was going on ...

My plan was not to say anything (very hard for me :wink: ), just report my comments to him at the next O3.

But at the end of the meeting, I couldn't resist to challenge them : "I better understand why some people don't like this meeting : no decision, no real involvement, no confrontation, just plain blablabla ...."

Then I picked up 2 subjects that had just been "overviewed" and asked them to solve them in front of me. I choosed 2 subjects that were directly linked to one of our main targets for the year (reduce back order rate).

The conversation begun very polite,
Purchase manager : "Well we could not deliver because reason X, and there is nothing to do about that".
I asked "why cant we do anything about that ?"
"new polite explanation"
Why again ? Etc.
Then some other people went into the conversation, with new questions, ideas, and challenges.
The guy was firstly very upset to be pushed
Then it begun to get very very interesting with a real fight between customer service and purchasing departement.
and they finally got to a decision ...

But, we exploded the meeting time (half an hour instead of 10 minutes). Some people seemed very shocked with the "fight" (they are not used to that) and I asked each of them how they felt about that.

Most of them loved it ! Instead of this kind of comment "We are doing our best, but it doesn't work", I got : "I did not know I had the right to say things like that, etc."

It was Great !

And I told them, I would come back to this meeting in the month that come ... And that I did want to see REAL changes ! I am excited in advance !

The guy who has been challenge seems to have taken it badly, so his manager will come back on the subject with him on their next O3 to explain him what happened, and that it was positive.

asteriskrntt1's picture

You know Cedric

You should be chronicalling all these adventures to write a book. We could call it "How I became a Manager-Toolpreneur". :lol:

I find the lessons you learn (and teach) fascinating. Good work.

*RNTT

cwatine's picture
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*,

Thanks, I wish I had the time !

What is fascinating is seeing things moving forward again after they had been blocked for a long time.

About yesterday's meeting : I think I would usually not have done that in the daily meeting, but I just felt it was the right time, and ... I could not keep that for me.

PattiBarcroft's picture

Regarding the 90 minutes guideline - I currently have 6 DR's, 2 of which are contractors. By the time I follow the recommended agenda we are meeting for 1 hour & 40 minutes - w/parking lot at 5 minutes. I would really prefer to keep it at 90 minutes rather than 100. Is there a recommended place to shave time - such as DR's getting 7 or 8 minutes or do I just expand to the longer time frame so everyone has an opportunity to update?

What is everyone else doing? I am getting ready to go on vacation for a week and I want to launch our new fiscal year and new month (July) with the new framework.

Thanks,
Patti

jhack's picture

Patti,

Why is 90 minutes important as a goal?

John

PattiBarcroft's picture

[quote="jhack"]Patti,

Why is 90 minutes important as a goal?

John[/quote]

Max recommendation as a guideline from the recent podcasts - perhaps I'm being to literal. Also, it has been our standard time frame for a while - perhaps it is coloring my thinking.

dmbaldwin's picture

Okay Everyone let me give you a report from today's team meeting being the first time I used an agenda. First of all thanks to those of you that gave me advice.

First at our management team meeting -- meeting of my peers -- I asked about whether it was a good idea. One member said don't call it an agenda, call it "topics for discussion". Which is what I titled it. I changed the template that I downloaded from the MT website.

Then in my O3's which took place later in the day and yesterday, I asked each direct report for their opinion/advice, "What do you think about having a printed order of "topics we need to discuss" for our team meeting? They were all very positive.

So today, we had our team meeting with a printed "topics for discussion" sheet. The meeting went surprisingly well. In fact it was a great way of pacing ourselves and making sure we covered important topics. We even had our share of conflict that was interesting and all agreed was good for us.

Then we all went out for lunch and had a great time! So... thanks so much for your input -- now we are committed to a printed agenda.

Blessings,

Dave

juliahhavener's picture
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Very cool, Dave! Thanks for the update. I was looking forward to knowing how it went.

Mark's picture
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Great!

And, to be clear, it wasn't JUST a list of topics, but had start times with each, right?

Mark

dmbaldwin's picture

Mark,

Exactly! I just changed the wording on the top of the page from "Agenda" to "Topics for Discussion". We didn't totally stay on track per section, but by the time we were through the topics 90 minutes had gone by.

We did a pretty good job of staying on track. I was proud of the team.

Thanks tons for your help with this. I truly feel energized and great about our team.

Blessings,

Dave

Mark's picture
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Cedric-

Great posts!

Remember the agenda is a way of planning, or a form of a plan - and while planning is everything, plans are nothing.

If you're having joy on a particular topic, it's okay to push back on the agenda. You have to decide how to deal with it, and generally you don't want to just throw the plan away. It's a judgment call about time and value.

Mark

cwatine's picture
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Mark-

I thank you for your advice about which audio-book I should take : you adviced me "the 5 dysfuntions of a team". While I liked the book, it did not click immediately...

It stroke me right in the face during this daily meeting ... "THIS is what is wrong in this company !"

I know that my intervention during this meeting is just the beginning of a process. I now would like to help them to be a real team. What has been natural in my other company (real team spirit), is unatural with this one.

So I need the right tools to do it right ...

I began to talk about it during one on one.

But I would like the GROUP to go through a process.

My first step would be to through a little questionnaire where each of one rates the team spirit. And then, an open discussion about the resul "where do they they stand as a team ? Where should they stand ? How to fill the gap ?"

Then describe what a good team is (the book will be very usefull here !)

Then, I have read that a good step could be to let them know each other better and be able to talk together about their differences. The book talks about MBT(*), ... I like better DISC ( :wink: ) because it is absolutely centered on behaviour.
I am not sure I like this one very much...
What is your opinion about that ?
Is it okay to ask people to go through this test and talk about it with each other ?

Any ideas ?

Many thanks

Cédric.

(*) MBT is the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator. I tried an abbreviated version of the text I found there : www.personalitypage.com . This is free. The result for me was ENTJ which is very similar to the result I got from DISC.

Mark's picture
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I'd make it quite simple. You don't need a program or initiative or plan or timeline. You need behaviors to change, which is what managers do when they want change.

So, keep going to the meetings, and ask questions and stir things up. And each time, tell them why you're doing it - that you think this way works better.

Then, after you've done that a few times, have everyone do the DISC survey, and talk about that in one of the meetings.

Will work like a charm.

Mark

cwatine's picture
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Mark-

Thanks, I'll tell you how it works.

Cédric.

Todd G's picture

Patti,

I don't have people stand and neither do I. I agree with the "waterfall" effect, but I also, perceive this as a position of power and tends to be threatening in some aspect.

As I progress through my graduate degree in nursing adminstration, I am continuing to learn that I am more of a Leader than a Manager. I like to engage staff in the process, yet still have the authority to help mold the unit.

Todd

cwatine's picture
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We had the strategic meeting for one of our site, last week.

As we got more and more involved in strategic questions in our weekly meeting, we felt it meant we needed to review our strategy. Because weekly meeting are more for tactic questions.

We started with a discussion about the DISC profiles of each member of the team. I read the description of each letter (D, I, S, C) and they had to guess who was what. Then they had to discuss around "how I see myself"/"how I am seen by the others".

Everybody had great fun, and it was a good way of introducing the following discussions about strategy. This introduction allowed people to confront ideas instead of confronting people.

"Oh yeah, you say that because you are a D !"

Our purpose was to choose a unique goal for the months to come, so it meant that the group had to choose between each individually proposed goals !

Nice.

jhack's picture

Ced, that is nice!

And it's great that your team was able to accept their "profiling". I've seen resistance from some people to anything that looks like psychological testing. It shows that your team has trust.

John

WillDuke's picture
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Nice job Cedric. That meeting's going to pay rewards over and over again.

cwatine's picture
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What I read to them was a French transcription of MT podcast about D, I, S, C. My favourite after "Feedback".

The first part was used to give them "clues" about each profiles (verbal, vocal, and visual). So they could recognise themselves and peers in the descriptions.

The second was used to discuss how to behave with each profile (delegation, coaching, etc.)

And ...

... It was also a tricky way to indirectly explain them how I wanted them to behave with a "D" boss !!!

So now when one of them begins by giving me a huge number of details and arguments before telling me what decision they will make ... I just smile and point at the DISC profile chart

They know that, if you have a "D" boss, start with the most important and don't spend time in details ! :lol:

This is another gift I had from Mike and Mark indead.

cwatine's picture
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Hi,

I am now organizing a meeting with another site team.

The meeting is half a day, offsite. It will gather purchasing department (2 persons), finance (1), customer service (3) and warehouse manager (1).

The points I want to address is [b]team work[/b].
[b]
The context is the following :[/b] all those people are good professionals and have worked here for a long time. In the old time, the market pressure was pretty low and so were the customer demands. Like in any market, the pressure and customer demands have increased and the company is still leading its market, because people have made individual progress and stil have the same will to do well and satisfy the customer. The thing they really lack are coordination and embrassing change.
So the next step is to increase information sharing, collaboration, decision making … And to decrease fear of confrontation, information retention and resistance to change.

They recently have had a new manager to help coordination and day to day decision making that I don't do anymore. There has been some progress but there are still some "frictions" points with him, and he is sometime struggling with a lots of passive resistance. He is high "D" and most of them are "S" and "C".
I decided to gather his directs in order to explain them what team work would be and that having a manager next to them will be an advantage.

My plan is the following :
[i]
1) Before the meeting[/i]

- each of them goes through a DISC test
- they have a copy but are not allowed to share it before the meeting
- I ask them to answer 4 questions :
- when you read your profile, identify 2 strength that can contribute to team work
- identify two possible weaknesses that could not contribute to team work
- on a scale of 1-10 please rate the quality of our team work
- on a scale of 1-10 please rate what the quality of our team work should be

[i]2) The meeting[/i]

A. Work on DISC
- I present them the profiles and description of common behaviour of each profile
- Each if them has a chart and tries to find each others profile
- Each says what he thinks his the dominant profile of each participant
- Each of them says what is his real profile (from the test)
- I picture on a wall the profiles
- I present their manager's DISC (to show them how complementary he is to them)
- Discussion

B. Work on team
- I give them the results of the questions about team work (to see the perceived gap between how we work as a team and how we should)
- I ask each of them to say their 2 strength and 2 weakness for team work
- then I ask each of them to list in general what are the 2 behaviour in the team that prevent a good team work
- I then get 14 "wrong" behaviours which I list on the flip chart
- Discussion about sellecting the 2-5 main behaviours we want to get rid of

C. Commitment
- everyone complies about trying to correct those 2-3 behaviours in their day to day work
- if one wants to suggest what he could do, he says it.
- we agree on seeing each other again in two weeks to see the progress each have made

I would like your comments and advice on that.

Many thanks

Cédric.

WillDuke's picture
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As M&M say, you cannot create a team. You can open communication and share goals though, and that seems to be the intent of your meeting.

I wonder if presenting DISC would work better in O3s with coaching. I'm not sure though. I suppose it depends on how well the group communicates currently. If there's a good relationship there then it could be fun. But if relationships are already strained, then the meeting might not work out the way you envision it.

Have you worked up a profile on each of the team members? If they're all D or C this might not be uncomfortable. If they're all I and S, then, well, you know. :)

cwatine's picture
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[quote]As M&M say, you cannot create a team. You can open communication and share goals though, and that seems to be the intent of your meeting.
[/quote]

I agree, my word was maybe too strong. Having them understand the interest of coordination and sharing goals would be an excellent start. And ... I am open on the subject. If we can succeed just by increasing good communication and goal focus, we don't need a "real" team.

[quote]If there's a good relationship there then it could be fun. But if relationships are already strained, then the meeting might not work out the way you envision it.
[/quote]

I understand your concern, but my point is not to have fun (I mean, I would of course like to have fun !) : I just want to see them have a conversation on the topic. Know what is their opinions on it.

[quote]Have you worked up a profile on each of the team members? If they're all D or C this might not be uncomfortable. If they're all I and S, then, well, you know. :)[/quote]

Yes, I have 5 of them now. And I have 3 "DC" and 2 "SC" ... None of them was reluctant to go through the test and they even are looking forward to the meeting.

cwatine's picture
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The meeting took place this morning and was even better than expected.

The "find my DISC" part was fun and allowed people (for the first time maybe) to talk about how they perceived each other's behaviors. With a lots of "humour".

The relation was so good that I took the risk to ask them to do something I was not sure they would accept : each person has to ask each other to change one behavior that prevents good communication or good collaboration.

So now, each of them have a little list of negative behaviors their colleagues asked them to change, and every two weeks the colleagues will report : if
- it is worst
- nothing has changed
- there is improvement

It is a way to tell them : "you cannot change others, you can change yourself so the relation will be better"

There were also a lots of interesting ideas like changing the places were people are seated, etc.

Now the follow up will be the important part.

tlhausmann's picture
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[quote="WillDuke"]Nice job Cedric. That meeting's going to pay rewards over and over again.[/quote]

Confirmed. In May 2006 I had an outside facilitator lead me and my team through the DISC profile. As a group of IT professionals...I *personally* believed the session would not be met with enthusiasm. I kept the purpose of the meeting somewhat secretive.

The session was outstanding. My team still occasionally refers back to the session. Indeed, knowing more about the DISC profile and building that understanding in your team pays rewards.

tlhausmann

cwatine's picture
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Tomorrow we have a quick meeting about the follow up.
I will sum up the important improvement points that were raised during the meeting in front of the team (managers+their directs this time) and put in place a tool for follow up.

Every two weeks, I'll ask them to fill a small template :
1 evaluation on how well they did on collective goals
2 evaluation on how [u]the others[/u] have done on goals related to the person

2 : it is based on the principle that if you want something to change :
- you have to change something in [u]your[/u] own behavior
- [u]only your peer[/u] can evaluate if your behavior has changed in the direction they have asked

dmbaldwin's picture

Hi Cedric,

What I love about your posts is that it gives me ideas I can use with my team. We have a staff retreat coming up in a couple of weeks. I think we'll use some of your ideas in the DISC profile area.

Thanks so much for sharing what's going on in such a detailed fashion in your part of the world!

Dave

cwatine's picture
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Hi Dave,

I am happy if this can help you.

I just want to say two things :
- those ideas come from Mark and Mike or from other sources (example : Marschal Goldsmith and Patrick Lencioni)
- I am no management expert, so I sometimes make mistakes (but I will share them too !)

Have you read the "five dysfunctions of a team" ? It is a great tool for picking good ideas when preparing for such an event !

Good luck.

Cédric.

dmbaldwin's picture

Cedric,

I have not read "Five Dysfunctions of a Team" yet. I have heard Lencioni talk about it and have read articles on the concept. I now need to read the book.

Thanks,

Dave

Mark's picture
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Five dysfunctions is EXCELLENT. The only book of Pat's I don't love is Death by Meeting.

And Ced: GREAT job!

Mark

cwatine's picture
Training Badge

The "follow up" meeting felt not as "natural" as the first one.

The reasons were :
- the managers where in the room (it makes it less natural)
- we were at the company (last time we were away)
- it was a 1 hour meeting at lunch time (last time we had 4 hours and I started very progressively)
- I was the one who was talking

In fact I just summerized what had been said at the first meeting and I felt some people where not at ease with that. Some of them also realised that i wanted some real change, not only blablabla ...

We put in place a process where each person will score everyweek :

A) [u]rate team work (on a 1-10 scale)[/u] : before the meeting they rated themselves 4,5 and said the goal should be 8.

B) [u]how she did with two common goals[/u] :

* ask for help from the other members (at this time, it never happens ... And I felt it was better to ask them to ask for help than asking them to help the others)

* discuss, and execute decisions : one problem this group has detected is that they don't discuss decisions even when they don't agree, because they do not feel at ease discussing a decision. But after the decision has been made, they don't execute it ... Which is a very dangerous behaviour. So I asked them to discuss decisions before they are made. They have the right to discuss before the decision is made, but they have to execute decisions.

C) [u]how the other people have complied with what this person has asked to them[/u].
For example, A has asked to B to stop sending emails from her desk when she can come and directly talk to her. A will score B everyweek on that question.
"1" is "worst than before". "2" is "no change". "3" is "improvement".

I had the first "survey" results, after the first week. Nearly everyone aswered 2 (no change) to all the questions ...

Yes change can't be so fast. I just hope than after some weeks of "no change" people will start making improvement ! Or we will have to talk again about "how can you ask the others to change if you don't change yourself ?"

Let's see !

Mark's picture
Admin Role Badge

Dave-

Cedric is quite kind to mention us, but his questions, answers, intent and actions are consistently impressive.

He's my kind of manager.

Mark

cwatine's picture
Training Badge

[quote="mahorstman"] The only book of Pat's I don't love is Death by Meeting.[/quote]

Why ?

Mark's picture
Admin Role Badge

Too much focus on the drama part. It just got a step too far away from being immediately implement-able everywhere. I loved the other books because I could see their usability immediately.

Not bad...I just don't love it.

Mark

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