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2020 Killed Hyperbole – How to Lead a Team through Change

July 3, 2020 by Matt Schlegel 2 Comments

This is a video of a talk I give to groups of CEOs about how to lead a team through change during challenging times.

This leadership framework is based on the method I describe in Teamwork 9.0.  Specifically, check out chapter 2 of the book.

Here is a transcript of the talk:

A global pandemic sweeps across the earth killing hundreds of thousands of people in its wake.

Economies are wracked by recession, with no end in sight.

40 million people are thrown out of work in the US alone.

People are fearing for their lives to simply go to work or go shopping for groceries.

Nationwide, protests erupt-against police violence, and the police respond with …. more violence.

2020 has killed hyperbole.

In normal times, a CEO faces existential threats to their business,  every day. 

Your organization has a mission and you’ve grown a team to deliver on that mission with ever more effectiveness and efficiency.  Your team excels at operating in-the-business.

They know how to respond well to all known threats—HR with employment issues, your safety team with worker safety and compliance issues, your sales team with the competition.  They’re expert at dealing with these threats.

But what happens when the threat comes from outside the normal course of business?  When the normal patterns of behavior no longer apply? How do you and  your team agree on the nature of the problems and coalesce around solutions that will lead to new behavioral patterns, behaviors that will allow your team to survive and even thrive in the new environment? 

How do you create a-new-normal?

It was with this type of challenge in mind that I wrote my book Teamwork 9.0.  I developed a problem-solving framework that organizes teams to solve big, challenging problems with maximal buy in from all stakeholders. 

[Slide 2 – Enneagram]

I developed this framework based on a powerful tool called the Enneagram.  The Enneagram is commonly used as a personality dynamics system. It’s extremely useful and valuable for understanding yourself, your friends, family and team members, and the interpersonal dynamics that occur.

Not only can it be used in this way, I discovered that it can also be used as a problem-solving-framework for teams.

I had a question: Why is the Enneagram Type 1 the 1, why is Type  2 the 2, and so on.  Why couldn’t Type 1 be the 7, or Type 5 be the 3?

It turns out that the number assignment is not arbitrary.  There’s a specific reason for the order. The numbers represent the order of a process. If fact, it’s the order in which humans–solve–problems.

[Slide 3 – The Circle]

The problem-solving nature of the Enneagram is described by the outer circle.  Each of the nine Enneagram dynamics describes a specific step in problem solving.  This use of the Enneagram is not commonly known or understood, which is why I was compelled to write my book, Teamwork 9.0, and share my discovery with you today.  Let me briefly go through each step

[Slide 4 – Step 1]

What’s the first step in problem solving? It’s realizing that you have a problem.  Enneagram Type 1 is often called the Perfectionist.  They are often the first type to point out that things aren’t right, aren’t as they should be.  

They also have a clear vision of how things should be.

In problem solving, describing how things shouldn’t and should be corresponds to problem definition and goal.  Problems and goals are two sides of the same coin, and the-first-step in problem solving.

[Slide 5 – Step 2]

So, who cares about the problem?  Step 2 is where you identify the people who have an emotional connection to the problem.  Enneagram Type 2 is often called the Helper.  They understand the emotional desire to solve problems and want to chip in and help. 

In Step 2, you establish your team of committed stakeholders – those that will help solve the problem.  This is your problem-solving team.

[Slide 6 – Step 3]

Your team will have many ideas for how to solve the problem.  Step 3 is when you capture all the ideas.  Enneagram Type 3 is called the Achiever.  They are constantly looking for ideas that will lead to success. 

Each team member may have a different idea of what success looks like.  You’ll want to understand each member’s perspective.  It’s important in this step not to react negatively to any idea.  You want to create a positive environment, encourage everyone to contribute, and capture all ideas. 

[Slide 7 – Step 4]

Anytime anyone expresses an idea, you’ll have a reaction. That idea’s great! Or, that idea sucks!  You can’t help yourself; it happens naturally and instantaneously.  Enneagram Type 4 is sometimes called the Artist—they are the type most in tune with the emotional impact of any idea.

In Step 4 you want to determine the set of ideas that are most favorable to the team.  These are ideas that have the most positive emotional energy, energy your team will need to carry the project through to successful completion. I usually use a simple vote on each idea to make this determination.

The combination of the Idea Step 3 and Reaction Step 4 reminds me of the saying, “throwing spaghetti against the wall and seeing what sticks.” It’s this combination that allows your team to come up with the ideas that they want to pursue.

[Slide 8 – Step 5]

Having a handful of positive ideas to explore, it’s now time to turn to the left-brain activities starting with analyzing each idea for feasibility. Enneagram Type 5 is often called the Analyzer, and in Step 5 of problem solving you perform pro/con and cost-benefit analysis of each idea.  Out of this step comes the top 1, maybe 2, ideas to solve each problem that the team is pursuing.

[Slide 9 – Step 6]

Step 6 is where your team takes the most promising idea and builds a project plan that gets you all the way to the goal – who does what and when.  Type 6 is often called the Questioner.  Their brain is constantly asking questions—what if this happens; what if that happens?  They’re constantly on the lookout for pitfalls and developing strategies to avoid them.

In Step 6 of problem solving, you’ll want the team to build a low risk plan that gets to the goal; the plan can include risk mitigation strategies and contingency plans. 

[Slide 10 – Step 7]

Now that you have your plan, the team needs to take it back to the broader set of stakeholders for buy in.  Enneagram Type 7 is often called The Enthusiast. They are the ones who get people excited to try something new.

In Step 7, you socialize the plan with your organization. You remind everyone of the problems they face and show how the plan will solve those problems.  Done well, this socialization will lower barriers and resistance during implementation.

[Slide 11 – Step 8]

In steps 1 through 7, what have you done? Talk, Talk, Talk.  Step 8 is the time for action.  Enneagram Type 8 loves to get to action.  They will be the type that is most frustrated as the team works through the first seven steps. You will want to coach the Type 8s on your team to have patience during these early steps.

But, in Step 8, the team gets action!   With the approved plan in hand, your team’s now ready to march ahead, solve the problem, and achieve the goals!

[Slide 12 – Step 9]

YAY! –you’re DONE!  The team finished the project. How did they do?  Whenever you undergo a transformation, some toes will be stepped on and feathers will be ruffled. Enneagram Type 9 is called the Harmonizer, and in Step 9 you want to debrief the project and listen to feedback from the stakeholders.  If you have your detailed list of problems and goals from Step 1, now is the time to review that and score the project.

As you have these conversations with the stakeholders, you’ll uncover that there may be lingering problems and perhaps new problems that need to be addressed.  And, this is why….

[Slide 13 – Process + People = Purpose]

…the Enneagram is a circle, not a line.  Step 9 leads right back to Step 1 and illustrates the human desire for continuous improvement.

The aspect I love about this problem-solving framework is that there’s a direct link between each step in problem solving to a specific personality dynamic that is particularly suited for that step. 

Now more than ever, organizations are being challenged with threats that require everyone in the organization to collaborate and find new ways to survive and thrive—working ON the business not just IN the business.  

Using a step-by-step-approach-to-problem-solving can get your team to  focus on the challenge and invent a new path forward.

Filed Under: Employee Engagement, Leadership, Problem Solving

How To Reduce Product Returns

July 1, 2020 by Matt Schlegel Leave a Comment

In this video, I share a story about how a client used the problem-solving framework I describe in Chapter 2 in my new book Teamwork 9.0.

In Chapter 8 of the book, I use the tools to analyze this team’s dynamics in the section called “All In The Family.”

Here is a transcript of the video:

It was 2009, in the heart of the Great Recession, Allen had the perfect product for the times.  Online video content was exploding, and Allen’s company had a low-cost video production solution that enabled anyone to produce professional-looking content at a fraction of the price of commercial equipment.

Allen was a caring soul.  Responsible for operations, he wanted to deliver the best possible customer experience and bended over backwards to do that.  And, while customers loved the products and demand was soaring, the organization had reached a limit—the telltale sign? …  Product reliability suffered.  Nearly 1 in 3 products shipped out were being returned for repair.

Allen wanted to solve the problems-causing-returns, but couldn’t get the attention or resources necessary.  Everyone was too busy working on the “next thing” and too willing to blame others for the current problems. That’s when Allen thoughtfully asked for my advice.

I suggested that he form a cross-functional team and use the team-based problem-solving method that I detail in my book Teamwork 9.0. He convened a meeting and encouraged everyone to share their thoughts on the causes of product returns. 

Over the course of an hour, a transformation occurred.  The participants stopped blaming one another and started getting intensely curious about the root causes of the problems.

That spark-of-curiosity ignited a fire—the team was on a quest to identify and solve each of the underlying issues.

After that initial meeting, Allen was able to get the attention of the team members and secure the resources he needed to address all the problems. Under his leadership, return rates plummeted.

Clearly defining a problem, sparks the intense human desire to-solve-that-problem. Step ONE in problem solving is to instill your team with that intensity.

Filed Under: Employee Engagement, Leadership, Problem Solving

Back to Work—Creating the New Normal

June 16, 2020 by Matt Schlegel Leave a Comment

Organizations are being challenged to respond to a series of crises, not the least of which is a global pandemic.  These challenges require organizations to respond in creative ways outside of typical work patterns.  Here is a framework for organizing your team to face these challenges.

Working On the Business, Not In the Business

Organizations are designed for a purpose, to fulfill a mission.  An organization’s people, processes and products/services are all aligned to deliver on that mission, forming behavior patterns that enable the organization to become ever more efficient on that delivery. But what happens when the organization is faced with a challenge that falls outside of that mission?  Most organizations are not designed with the overheard or capacity to rethink, re-invent and rollout entirely new sets of behaviors that adapt to the challenge.  How does your organization respond when faced with a challenge that requires it to work on the business, not in the business?

Problem Solving Framework

When faced with an extraordinary challenge, your leadership can benefit from adopting a flexible problem-solving framework that serves as a guide for the team to work through the challenge.  Chapter 2 of my book Teamwork 9.0 presents a framework designed for these types of challenges. The framework consists of nine steps. Here’s how you can use it to address the challenge of working during a pandemic.

Step 1—Problems and Goals

The first step in problem solving is to list the problems that challenge your organization—reduced productivity, falling sales, distracted customers/vendors/employees, broken supply chains, broken delivery channels, new workplace regulations/guidelines, etc.  Each organization faces a unique set of problems that need to be overcome.  Remember, the problems that get listed are the problems that get solved, so be sure and capture all the important issues.

Next, envision how the world could be when the problems are solved.  Remembering the mission of your organization, what is now possible in light of this disruption? How can your organization emerge even better and stronger than before?

Step 2—Build the Team

By its very nature, the challenge of working during a pandemic affects everyone in your organization.  The team responsible for leading the organization through this challenge should have representatives for each of the organization’s constituents.  Customers can be represented with sales and customer service leaders. Your vendors can be represented with leaders from procurement.  Each department will want to participate in the initiative—operations, IT, human resources, finance, product development, etc.  With your team established, loop back to Step 1 and make sure that the problems facing each stakeholder group are listed and their visions for the future are captured. 

Step 3—Ideation

By now your team is excited to share ideas about how to solve the problems and realize the vision for the future.  During ideation, you want to capture ALL ideas—dismiss nothing.  Here is your chance to tap into the creative potential of your team, and you want to encourage everyone to participate.  Ensuring that everyone has a chance to contribute their ideas and listen to others’ ideas moves the group towards finding solutions that work for everyone. 

Step 4—Positive Ideas

Once you have a rich set of ideas to draw upon, you will want to explore a few ideas more deeply.  The team can determine the high priority ideas to pursue by deciding democratically with a vote.  Deciding in this way, the team will choose the ideas that have the most positive energy behind them, energy that the team will need as they work towards the solution.

Step 5—Analyze the Ideas

Each idea delivers a benefit with a cost. In this step, the team performs the cost/benefit analysis to arrive at the top one or two ideas that will deliver the greatest positive impact to the organization. Each stakeholder will have distinct perspectives on the pros and cons of each idea, and it’s important that every perspective is considered at this phase.  Out of this step will emerge your top candidate for a solution set along with alternatives, should they be necessary.

During this step, you also research all pertinent data related to the effort.  In the case of returning to work, examples of such resources include:

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/community/guidance-business-response.html

https://covid19.ca.gov/pdf/guidance-office-workspaces.pdf

Clare Price’s Free Book “Make Remote Work”

Step 6—Plan for Success

Having identified the best path to the goal, the team can develop the detailed plans for getting there. In this step you determine who will do what when, laying out the timeline for implementation to solve the problems and realize the goals.  Each group in your organization will contribute to implementation, so it’s crucial to have them participate in building the plan.

Step 7—Promote the Plan

Prior to implementation, the team needs to socialize the plan with the organization.  Start with context by highlighting the current problems and presenting the vision for the future.  Then, share the details of the path forward to the “new normal.”  If all stakeholders have been well represented to this point, then the organization will embrace the proposal thereby lowering any barriers during implementation.

Step 8—Implement!

With everyone on board, your organization is now ready to implement the plan and transform the organization, creating the organizational systems, processes and behaviors that will fulfill the mission and thrive in the new environment.  While steps 1 though 7 may have taken as long as a few days each, Step 8 will often be the longest step as the team works through the plan.  If challenges arise during implementation, the team can revisit previous steps to get back on track and back to implementation.

Step 9—Debrief and Harmonize

What’s working well? What needs adjustment?  In this step you reflect on the transformation that has taken place and determine what needs smoothing out.  Referring back to the list of problems and goals from Step 1, you can score your effort. You may find that some problems are not adequately solved. Perhaps new problems arose. Rather than a line from start to finish, think of problem solving as a circle—a cycle of continuous improvement getting you ever closer to meeting all your goals.

The New Normal

There is a natural order to problem solving. When faced with a large challenge, your team will go through all nine steps listed above.  By taking the team through each step deliberately and systematically, you will arrive at a satisfactory outcome much more quickly and with much greater stakeholder buy-in.   Doing so creates effective and lasting solutions for your organization.

What methods are you using with your team to adapt to the new working environment? What’s working well? What suggestions would you make for others?

Filed Under: Employee Engagement, Leadership, Problem Solving

How to Build Rapport with your Enneagram Type 6 Teammates

May 28, 2020 by Matt Schlegel 1 Comment

YIKES!  What if THAT happens?!? Enneagram Type 6s are always on the alert for possible danger.  They like to think about the future and prepare appropriately. In relationships, trust is paramount.  Here’s how to build rapport with Type 6.

A Calm Moment

More than any other Enneagram type, Type 6 is beset with feelings of anxiety.  Like a thermometer in their gut, the anxiety temperature is low when things go according to plan.  When things don’t, the anxiety temperature rises. When building rapport with Type 6, it is best to approach them in their calm state. Otherwise, anxiety can make them confrontational and mask their ability to make meaningful and trusting connections.

Mirroring 9.0

As discussed in this 5/8/20 blog,  mirroring is one of the most important rapport building skills.  Reflecting back concern about the future and discussing probabilities for outcomes is an important way to build rapport and trust with your Type 6 teammates. They value these conversations and your participation is an excellent rapport building technique.

Walk Me Through This

Anxiety can be particularly high when doing something for the first time. Your Type 6 teammate will appreciate being walked through how it works. They want to know what’s going to happen and when it will take place.  For instance, if you have a big meeting coming up in which the 6 will present, rehearse with the 6—that will help calm their anxiety.  Reassuring them that everything will be fine also helps. 

If you are planning to conduct the meeting with a new online tool, practice with the 6 beforehand. Unfamiliarity with the tool during the meeting will increase anxiety for the 6 that can throw them off their game. Doing a dry run beforehand will allow the 6 to become familiar with the tool; they will appreciate your efforts to help keep anxiety levels low. 

Don’t Put Me on the Spot

Since 6s plan things out, they generally have a script in their head they’re following.  Sticking to the script will keep anxiety down.  If you need to go off script, then be aware that anxiety for the 6 increases, and they will appreciate support under those conditions. Situations in which there is confrontation are particularly anxiety-inducing. As a rapport building strategy, minimizing confrontation and unexpected outcomes keeps Type 6s calm and at their best. 

Meet Expectations

Type 6s constantly judge whether someone or something can be trusted to be reliable. With your Type 6 teammates, be consistent in setting expectations and meeting those expectations. As you do this, the 6 will increasingly trust you and open the space for rapport building.

No! Well, Maybe

When presented with a new proposal out of the blue, the gut reaction for the 6 is often, “No.”  They will say no before they have had a chance to think about it.  Once they have a moment to think, they will often want to change their mind. But, before they do, they will have questions—lots of questions.  One of the labels often attributed to the 6 is the Questioner.  Why do they ask so many questions? Firstly, they want to make sure that you have really thought through the idea, so that they can trust you.  Also, they want to know what will happen, so they will endeavor to clarify how things will play out.  Indulging your Type 6 teammates by answering their questions is another rapport building example.

Plan A and B

Type 6s are natural planners. Not only will they plan out the main path forward, they will want to prepare a plan B, just in case. Participating with your Type 6 teammates in planning helps build consensus and lowers the likelihood for future confrontations, all of which alleviate anxiety and present a platform on which to build rapport with your Type 6 teammates.

When does rapport building take place with the Enneagram Type 6s in your life? What steps to building rapport work for you? What have you learned to avoid?

Filed Under: Building Rapport, Employee Engagement, Enneagram, Leadership

How to Build Rapport with your Enneagram Type 5 Teammates

May 27, 2020 by Matt Schlegel Leave a Comment

How do you build rapport with your Enneagram Type 5 teammates? Intrigue them to want to build rapport with you.  As the turtles of the Enneagram, you need to make Type 5s feel both safe and interested to coax them out of their shell. Here’s how.

Inform Me

For Type 5s, acquiring information and knowledge makes them feel safe.  They are drawn to unorthodox topics that require profound knowledge.  They enjoy immersing themselves deeply in the subject matter.  Here are examples of the topics the Type 5s in my life pursue: bee keeping, brew master, sommelier, amateur radio, philosophy, study of the Native American language Lakota, study of German literature, study of Russian, study of Japanese and karaoke, amateur hockey player, baseball color commentator, Dota 2 video game specialist, Linux kernel specialist,  AI specialist, consumer electronics design specialist, and cartoon illustrator.  Engaging in conversations about the subject in which they are expert is when rapport building takes place with your Type 5 teammates. Sharing any specialized knowledge that you have on the subject will be especially compelling for them.

Mirroring 9.0

As discussed in this 5/8/20 blog,  mirroring is one of the most important rapport building skills.  Reflecting back interest in their favorite subjects is an important way to build rapport and trust with your Type 5 teammates.  Type 5s are the internal-anxiety type of the Enneagram. They fear appearing uninformed and will tend to be moot on subjects in which they are not expert. By steering topics towards their interests, you will be able to elicit meaningful conversations with your teammate.

Knowledge is Gold

For Type 5s, knowledge is safety, and they won’t feel safe until they are very knowledgeable.  Since knowledge is so valuable to them, they are also very reluctant to impart information to others.  This is especially true if they do not trust that the information won’t be used against them.  Building trust and rapport with your Type 5 teammates is imperative to overcoming this obstacle to information sharing.

Nothing Personal

There is nothing more valuable to the 5 than information about themselves.  Type 5s are reluctant to share personal information, and it makes them uncomfortable when asked. As a rapport building strategy, follow the Type 5s lead and move conversations away from personal topics and towards their areas of interest.  If relevant, feel free to share personal information about yourself. When your Type 5 teammates feel comfortable, they may divulge nuggets about themselves. When that happens, you know you’ll have taken an important step to building rapport and trust with your teammates.

Help Me Decide

While Type 5s may be very knowledgeable on a topic, they may be reluctant to make decisions based on their information. For the 5s, nothing is black and white. They perceive all shades of gray and nuance.  In that murky, cloudy world, the safest path forward is often unclear.  Having conversations with your Type 5 teammate to help them make a decision is another rapport build example you can use.  My partner is a 5, and when we go to a restaurant she wants to read the entire menu, top to bottom.  She will find 2 or 3 items that look interesting and will struggle to make a decision—she doesn’t want to make the wrong decision!  A conversation ensues in which we review the pros and cons of each option.  This conversation helps her make her decision. We’ve been married for 29 years, so this rapport building technique seems to be working well!

When does rapport building take place with the Enneagram Type 5s in your life? What rapport building strategies work for you? What have you learned to avoid?

Filed Under: Building Rapport, Employee Engagement, Enneagram, Leadership

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