How long does it take to get a team to agree on four words?

Way longer then you would imagine. As part of strategic planning exercise with organization I always have a team begin with a values exercise to determine what the core values of the business stakeholders are and align those values among those team members. Regardless of whether the organization has pre-determined set of stated values or not the variety of values that surface from the paritisipating team members is amazing.

Amazing because very few of the values that originate during the individual accumulation process are the same among the senior team members. It is no wonder that many organizations are feeling stretched by the arrays of values, being espoused by their leadership team.

Over the course of approximately 4 hours with vigerous discussion the team will arrive at 3 or 4 values with agreed definitions. These values are always in priority order.

What is interesting is that no matter what the objections to the process – typically because of commitment phobia (Team members struggle with the reduction process of going from many values down to very few) – They buckle down and feel good & relieved by their achievement. Typically they feel the lack of originality to the ones values they chose. That is until I ask them the questions that resolve them to the act of signing in blood (OK no blood is drawn) with their words. It is not only the values that they have chosen, it is additionally the prioritization, and the meaning making they do as a team in their team’s discovery.

When a team takes 3 to 4 hours to arrive at 4 words think how much other communication is likely inherently not aligned among organizations stakeholders – especially given the speed in which we do business today.

Which employee has what it takes?

Last night my wife and I went out to dinner on Lake Minnetonka. We pulled up to the restaurant via boat. There was a wait to find a spot. One of the dock guys says, "just wait your turn it will go a lot faster for you than staying close to this side of the dock." The other dock guy says, "I will work with you and find you a spot." He adds, "I am going to move this boat forward and you pull in right behind." The original dock guy simply looks down an realizes he was not solving the customers problem - finding more space to park. Needless to say the one who helped got a big tip from us and I have little doubt he is the gross and net winner of tips overall! How do you spot that talent and initiative early and develop those people to be the culture of your organization?