The Extraordinary Groups Blog

Would one of your teams benefit from receiving data-based feedback on how well members work together to accomplish your collective purpose and goals? If yes, read on.

Would one of your teams benefit from receiving data-based feedback on how well members work together to accomplish your collective purpose and goals? If yes, read on.

You are invited to participate in the creation of a valid and reliable survey tool, based upon the concepts outlined in our book Extraordinary Groups—at NO CHARGE to your group!

Under development for 16 months, the second draft of this confidential survey tool is available online now through April 15. Less than 15 minutes will be needed to take the survey. If your team of 5-20 members decides to participate, you will receive:

• A draft invitation with a web link that will make it easy for group members to access the survey
• A feedback report for your group on 12 separate measures
• Guidance about how to effectively interpret the report and discuss how to move in the direction of other extraordinary groups

If you are interested, contact us soon at info@extraordinarygroups.com.

Less is definitely more when it comes to structuring groups. Especially if they want to be extraordinary.

Thanks to the results of the field study that helped to shape Extraordinary Groups (Jossey-Bass, 2009), I now know that groups need Just-Enough Structure—and that this quality varies from group to group. Depending on that group’s purpose and depending on the members of that group.

Just-Enough Structure is the third of eight indicators of extraordinary groups (see March 4 and March 8 posts for the first two).  It is the just-right balance between boundaries and freedom. Enough structure to define the territory, focus members, and help them feel grounded in their participation. And then lots of room for creativity, breakthrough thinking, spontaneity, and passionate expression. In essence, members develop only the plans, systems, roles and agreements necessary to help them move forward—but not so much as to become bureaucratic or burdensome. Specifically, these elements of structure …

• Support the achievement of the group’s purpose, outcomes, and any larger organizational expectations
• Enhance the ability of members to be collaborative, flexible, creative, and adaptive
• Create an environment that is both respectful and tolerant of a wide range of strongly-felt opinions and positions

To help you recognize Just-Enough Structure when you see it, here are some questions that can guide your group observations.

To what degree do group structures (plans, systems, roles, and agreements)…

• Create a clear focus so that group members understand the work of the group and their basic responsibilities as a group member?
• Encourage collaboration and creative thinking?
• Help members be adaptive to changes in their environment?
• Fit with both the group’s purpose but also the values and style of group members?
• Encourage passionate expression, spontaneity, and good humor?

How frequently do group members…

• Use unique interests and potential of members as a way to determine how their work will be organized?
• Shift roles as necessary to move the work forward?
• Change plans or strategies to best serve their purpose?
• Say things such as “I love the way we work together” or “These meetings are great—I’ve never gotten so much done and laughed so much before!”

One of the particular challenges of Just-Enough Structure for any group leader or facilitator is the need to lighten up on issues of control. For what it’s worth, here are some shifts I’ve made in order to encourage Just-Enough Structure. When I’m facilitating or leading a group, I…

• Focus on outcomes and pay less attention to the timing or sequence of my agenda.
• Have fewer items on any agenda to make sure there is enough time for in-depth discussion and the wandering-around conversations that are so important for creative thinking.
• Am much more tolerant than I used to be of behavior and expressions that are spontaneous, appear to be off-point, or seem insensitive to me—as long as the group members stay attentive and engaged and are headed toward our agreed upon outcomes. I constantly monitor my own judgmental streak around political correctness.

For further thought…What might you do as a group leader or facilitator to open up more space in your meetings for spontaneity and passionate expression? Of all the elements of structure, which are the vital-few elements that must be present for a focused and respectful group environment? How do you behave in a group you lead when it feels “like things are getting out of control?” Are there other strategies you could employ that would raise the issue of focus and member respect without sacrificing the room for creativity and true collaboration?
 

How can you tell when your group is demonstrating the characteristics of one that is extraordinary? One answer lies within the behaviors of Shared Leadership. But how will you recognize Shared Leadership when it appears?

Shared Leadership is the second of eight indicators of extraordinary groups. (See my March 4th post for thoughts about Compelling Purpose and the beginning of this series of posts.) When leadership is shared members lead the group together, taking mutual responsibility for outcomes and the way in which the group works. This is usually the case if the group is self-organizing.

But it can also true if the group has a designated leader. In this case, the team leader leads in a way that assures that the group is led, rather than being the one constant leader. In essence, the appointed leader performs certain important leadership functions, but only ones that cannot be done effectively by others in the group. (For more on this, see Chapter 9 of Extraordinary Groups.) By taking a minimalist approach, such a leader creates room for others to step in and lead as well.  This sharing of leadership is a powerful catalyst for building a sense of shared accountability for the group's work among all members.

Below you’ll find examples of Shared Leadership, what it looks like when it’s flourishing in a group. Think about any of your groups. As you review this list, do you see items that are familiar? How do you, as a member, step in to share in fulfilling leadership roles? In groups that you lead, what do you do to encourage others to also take accountability for leading? Do any of your groups exemplify these behaviors?

Members share in leading a group when they:

• Volunteer to lead projects, based upon their expertise, interest, or available time
• Volunteer to research an issue or bring a draft proposal to the group in order to advance the group’s work
• Offer content expertise related to the group’s purpose, serving as a guide or thought-leader to help other members learn more about critical subject matter
• Take responsibility for facilitating group meetings or preparing the notes with decisions and next steps
• Encourage others to take a leadership role and support them when they do
• Get a meeting started when the leader or facilitator does not show up or is late
• Ask critical questions to focus a discussion
• Attend to effective group process: summarize conversation points related to a particular decision; suggest next steps; make sure that all members have been heard from when reaching a decision; model effective communication and deep listening, especially when differences arise
• When group conversation or becomes tangential or divisive, invite the group to talk about the dynamics in order to encourage group learning and refocus the meeting
• Propose shared leadership to the group, leading a discussion about who might do what to share the responsibility; once underway, encourage the group to reflect, at some point, about what has been learned and how members might become even more effective together

For further thought: What do you see as the benefits of Shared Leadership? When have you experienced in your group-life? What can you do to encourage it at work, in your community life, or at home?
 

In Extraordinary Groups, Geoff Bellman and I offer a set of core concepts as a lens, through which you can see and be in groups differently. So that you can consciously take action to support your group’s ability to be high performing.

Today, I’d like to begin a series of blog posts that will make our lens metaphor much more concrete. Over the next few weeks, I’ll share lists of behavioral statements, tied to the eight indicators of extraordinary groups, that you can use to scan and better understand the groups you lead, facilitate, or participate in as a member. 

By way of background, one of the reasons why I’ve not blogged since early January is that I’ve been quite occupied with the development of what will become a reliable and valid survey tool based on our extraordinary group concepts. I have the good fortune to be working with Kevin Coray of Coray Gurnitz Consulting and Keiko Ozeki who is enrolled in both a Master’s and Doctoral program at Seattle University. The three of us have been working diligently (and, by the way, as a virtual team) to identify behavioral statements that would demonstrate elements of an extraordinary group. We’re close to producing our first draft, which we will start testing in late March. If you are interested in learning more about this project, please send a note and I’ll get back to you with more information. 

Here we go. For each of the items on this list, use either one of these question sets as a frame for your lens:

• On a scale of 1-5, with 5 being very frequently, how often do you observe members of your group behaving in this way? OR
• Which of these behaviors represent strengths of your group? Which ones, if paid more attention to, would greatly enhance your group’s ability to be high performing?

Compelling Purpose is the first on our list of indicators of exceptional groups.  It is an inspiring and shared understanding of why group members come together.  In an extraordinary group, you’ll know that the group’s Compelling Purpose is alive and well when members frequently behave in these ways. Members…

• Talk about the importance of their common purpose and why it is personally meaningful
• Regularly remind themselves of their purpose when making decisions, focusing agendas, or developing plans 
• Set aside personal preferences in order help the group move ahead with its work
• Do what’s necessary to help the group be successful, even when that is outside a person’s normal role
• Come to meetings prepared, on time, and stay til the end
• Do what they say they will do because they are inspired by the group’s purpose
• Let each other know when they cannot meet deadlines for commitments
• Take action that supports the work of others in the group when they need help
• Change their opinions because of something said by another member
• Express appreciation for what the group is accomplishing

For further thought:  What other behaviors could you add to this list, that would be signs that one of your groups was truly outstanding? What themes do you see in this list?  What could you do or say in your role as a group member, leader, or facilitator to encourage any of these behaviors?
 

During the holidays, did you find yourself more frequently in groups of people? Where the purpose was simply to be together, to celebrate the significance of the season and the passing of one year into the next? Before too much time goes by, consider this question: How fulfilling were those encounters?

Given the recent publication of Extraordinary Groups (Jossey-Bass, 2009), I personally found it difficult not to pay attention to what went on in the holiday groupings that unfolded for me. With no task to accomplish—except to gather at the close of 2009—I watched what happened in various groups of friends, family, and close colleagues. I couldn’t help but observe how conversations evolved, and the feelings that I had as a result of such lunches, dinner parties, phone calls, cups of coffee, or chance encounters. While I enjoyed them all, some were clearly more fulfilling than others. What was it that enabled certain events to have a quality of special closeness or a strong sense of community?

These reflections led me back to the subject of Meaning that I referenced in my December 21st post about the importance of meaning in workplace groups. Meaning is equally important when it comes to the groups in our personal lives.  When I thought about my holiday events, I saw three types of conversations, each with a different level of meaning.

I wonder how you might describe some of your holiday groups. In which settings did you find particular meaning, connection, and fulfillment?

Of course, seldom would any one conversation--let alone a holiday gathering--fit neatly into only one row of a grid such as the one I've offered here.  However, I know that when I walk away from certain events where friends and family have come together, there's sometimes a predominant feeling about what just occured--and the way in which it was fulfilling or not. 

And sometimes, after such events, I know that I'm different because of a "profound shift" in how I see the world, thanks to the conversations that took place.  And when this shift causes me to feel more energized, connected, or hopeful, I'm likely to use words like amazing, wonderful, or extraordinary to describe what just occurred. For me, this has been much more likely to take place in a setting where conversations of deeper meaning have happened.

How about you? 

For more on such transformative shifts, check out Chapter Seven in Extraordinary Groups.

Thanks to all of you who have stopped by for a visit this year. 

I hope 2010 gets off to a great start for each of you. My next post will be on January 11.

As 2009 wraps up, I find myself reflecting on all that I’ve learned in the last three months, since Extraordinary Groups (Jossey-Bass, 2009) was published.

Between us, Geoff and I have presented the core concepts of our book to at least 20 groups since early September. As we compare notes on what we are learning about what we’ve written, one theme shows up over and over again: If you want to encourage a group to become extraordinary, focus on creating meaning. Meaning is about the significance, the importance of the work done by a group. Meaning, when understood, enables group members to know that their time, effort, and commitment count for something larger than themselves. This recognition can be hugely important in any group, regardless of sector. But in this post, I find myself thinking especially about the world of paid work.

In the fast paced, over-committed, and worried-about-the-economy lives most working people lead, there is a real hunger for true engagement around important issues and honest connection with one another. This high-quality interaction sets a group a part and tells members they’ve got something special going on. Too often, however, especially in white-collar worlds (does anyone have a better phrase???), people race from one meeting to the next to the next. They find little time to think and even less time to connect with co-workers on topics other than tasks. In this swirl, conversations about meaning or significance are rare. Groups plow through agenda item after agenda item, slide deck after slide deck without slowing down to consider how any of this work connects to a larger view or the greater good.

These days, there is no end to tools and methods available to team leaders and facilitators—all designed to insure a more productive meeting. In our volunteer lives and with our clients, Geoff and I use many of those tools. But here’s what we’ve learned: The tools and techniques may help group members to get through an agenda, make a decision, set priorities, or sort out a difference of opinion. But without an intentional effort to discover or discuss the significance of any of those accomplishments, the group misses out on an experience that will help it to become extraordinary.

But how to initiate that level of discussion? The Group Needs model is a good place to start. As I’ve mentioned in other posts, these needs are:

• Accepting our selves while moving toward our Potential
• Bonding with others while pursuing a common Purpose
• Understanding Reality while we making an Impact together

Once you’ve used your favorite group method to produce a “What”—such as a decision, a plan, a schedule, or a set of working agreements, move on to the “So what?” conversation. Do so by asking group members to connect what they’ve accomplished to any of the six Group Needs. In that way, you will give meaning a chance to surface.

Here’s a list of meaning-seeking questions you can ask. For each example, I’ve indicated the relevant Group Need in italics.

• What difference will this decision make to our ability to meet our customer’s needs? What impact will it really have in their daily lives? (Impact)
• As we worked our way through to this decision, what did we learn about each other? What did we do that helped us to be effective? (Bond) Did anyone here change an opinion or gain some kind of insight? (Acceptance) If so, what was that?
• How does this new strategy connect with our mission? As we think about it, is there any new twist on why we come together? (Purpose)
• What patterns do you find in this list of barriers-to-success? What are the implications of those patterns? (Reality)
• Who here learned something today, something that you can use outside of this meeting? What are you taking away from this discussion? How do you plan to use it? (Potential)
• If we had this discussion to do over, would we do it any differently? Why would those changes be important? (Bond, Potential, Acceptance)
• What are the implications of what we’ve accomplished here today—on what we do or how we do it? (Bond, Purpose, Reality, Impact)

I find that people who lead or facilitate a group of busy people often avoid such questions because of worries that the discussion will take too much time or “get out of hand.” While it’s clear that some of these sample questions could trigger longer conversations, if time is limited they can also be effective. It’s remarkable how such questions can be asked with a light touch, with “Before we move on, let’s take five minutes to reflect on the significance of what we’ve just done. What brief thoughts do you have about….” In a few minutes, an observation or view can be offered that makes a big difference in how people feel connected to the larger meaning of the work they do together. Even if not everyone has a chance to speak, when someone articulates why the group’s work is important, all present have a chance to register that connection. 
 

Lately, I’ve been hearing and thinking about the phrase “touchy-feely” a bit more often than I usually do. If you are a team leader inclined to pay attention to team development or if you are a facilitator of such events, you might want to join me in an exploration of this phrase, its meaning, and its implications.

What is this derisive, dismissive, cringe-inspiring phrase really about? Where does it come from? And more importantly, what can be done to prevent the experiences that give rise to the use of such a term?

I most often hear the term, touchy-feely, when I’m talking up-front with members of a group who are about to have some type of team-development—facilitated by me. Prior such events, I always have conversations with participants to get to know their thinking about a variety of issues. A typical question I ask is What will make this event a great use of your time? That’s when touchy-feely shows up in responses such as: “Well, I just don’t want it to be touchy-feely.”

Okay. No touchy-feely. Yet in response to the same question I will hear that people want to get to know each other better or to come away feeling “more like a team.” They want to trust each other more. They want to learn to work together more effectively so that they can achieve their common purpose and make their time and effort count for something. Clearly, people want a group experience that is about more than data, analysis, and results. Yet, such requests head us into the territory they might label touchy-feely.

Here’s my take on this paradox. Touchy-feely comes from unfortunate team or personal development experiences that did not meet the core needs brought to the event by participants. Perhaps it was the setting, the issues, the facilitation, the leader, the group dynamics, the time of year, the external world, or the worries or fears brought into the group. For whatever reasons, the team development failed. And participants walked away believing that the day (or week!) had been a waste of time, that they had been “techniqued” by the facilitator and, perhaps, by their leader. And sometimes—worse--they sense that relationships have been damaged or they have lost personal confidence or credibility in the group. Enter, the now understandable damning phrase, touchy-feely.

And soon, those who have not had such negative experiences have learned the phrase, have a guess about what it means, and do not want any part of such encounters. And so it is that building the critical connection between group members and helping them to become more self-aware is dismissed as insignificant fluff.

What’s to be done? If you lead or facilitate groups, imagine that below any self awareness or team development activity rests a set of Group Needs (see Chapter 3, Extraordinary Groups: How Ordinary Teams Achieve Amazing Results, Jossey-Bass, 2009):

• Accepting our selves while moving toward our Potential
• Bonding with others while pursuing a common Purpose
• Understanding Reality while we make an Impact together

Here are a set of principles that enable me to confidently say, I don’t do touchy-feely but I certainly do effective team development.

1. Make sure that you create time for group members to connect your team development activities with why the group comes together and its ability to effectively achieve its goals.
2. Design your event and select activities that align with and support the six Group Needs outlined above. See the methods you choose as standing on the foundation of these Group Needs. As the team development unfolds, ask questions about the implications of what people are experiencing and how that experience connects to any of the Group Needs.
3. Employ strategies that emphasize learning from what’s already working well. Remember that analyzing what’s wrong won’t necessarily get you what you want.
4. Consider differences a strength and a powerful source of individual and group learning. Intentionally explore them in the spirit of learning and discovery.
5. Open up controversial or undiscussable topics with a light structure that creates a sense of safety. About any one issue, ask… What do we know? What do we believe? What do we want moving ahead? What do we commit to doing differently? Why is all this important to us?

Team and personal development activities can be transformative for groups when, as they unfold, they meet the Group Needs of Bonding with others, enhancing one’s own self-Acceptance, discovering or growing into one’s own Potential, or increasing the group’s ability to fulfill its Purpose and desired Impact. When such activities, methods, or techniques free float, with no connection to these instinctive human needs, they backfire. In doing so, they make it more difficult for people to willingly engage in team and personal development in the future. And they justify the use of a term I would just as soon forget.

I’d love to hear what you think about all this.
 

If you lead a group and periodically take them off-site to build their capacity to work together or if you facilitate such sessions, this blog post might be useful to you. It’s about an ice-breaker I plan to use this week with a seven-member leadership team.

Let me tell you a bit about this group. This team leads a staff function within a major division of a global corporation. People work in two locations, two time zones a part. They meet regularly through the use of technology, but are infrequently together in one room. Additionally, because of the demanding nature of their jobs, members seldom have time for collective reflection on how they are doing together as a leadership team. As a whole, they represent a relatively new team: the newest members having joined three months ago while others have been in their roles for a number of years. My client leads this group; he has been in his role for almost one year. Do any of these characteristics sound familiar to you?

The hoped-for outcomes are not unusual for a team development session, however, if you are familiar with Extraordinary Groups, you will see its influence on the design for the day.

• Draft statement of an inspiring team purpose
• Agreements about our meetings, communications, and collaborations
• Clear next steps for:  A) Gathering input on and finalizing purpose statement; B) Increasing our collective capacity as leaders
• Know each other better

As an ice-breaker, I plan to employ an engagement strategy that Geoff and I have been using to open our presentations on Extraordinary Groups. Wednesday will be the first time I’ve used this in a team-building, non-book event. This activity is simple to use, always gets people enthusiastically engaged, and beautifully sets the context for accomplishing the outcomes I’ve outlined above. In this way, I heartily recommend it!

Here are the steps to follow. As it is described here it takes about an hour. If you need to tighten up the time allow only 10 minutes in step 4 and eliminate steps 6 and 8.  In step 7 simply ask people to share the factors they had in common and have a short group discussion about those points.  Make sure you pay attention to points made during this discussion that you might want to refer to later in the day. 

Begin this ice-breaker after you have reviewed the outcomes and agenda for your meeting.

1. Say that the purpose of this ice-breaker is to help people get to know each other better and to set the context for the team development topics you’ll address throughout the day. (2 minutes)
2. Ask people to think of a time when they were involved with a group that they would describe with words such as amazing, wonderful, surpassing expectations, or even magical. This can be a group from any part of their lives—school, sports teams, work, community involvement, family. Encourage each person to jot a few notes to about this group. In particular, ask What helped this group to be so outstanding? You might want to write this question on a flip chart or white board. Note: if people have a hard time identifying such a group, ask them to think of the very best group experience they can recall. (5 minutes)
3. Next, ask people to find a partner, ideally the person in the group they know least-well. Once seated, give them these directions:   A) Briefly tell your partner the situation of the story: limit yourself to three sentences.  B) Discuss the factors that enabled the group experience to be so memorable.  C) Identify any factors that you have in common.   Note, if you have an uneven number of participants, pair up yourself with the person who doesn’t have a partner. In such a case, you will have to watch the time carefully. (3 minutes).
4. Sit back and enjoy watching the pairs take off! Call time half way through, allowing 7 minutes for each person in the pair. (15 minutes)
5. Ask people to bring their conversations to a close. This may take a few minutes, depending on how involved people have become in their conversations. (4 minutes)
6. Ask: What was it like for you to share these stories with one another? Take a few comments or observations, encouraging people to play off each others’ thoughts. (5-7 minutes)
7. Then say you’d like to build a list of the factors that enabled such wonderful experiences. On flip charts or a white board, ask people: What helped your experiences to be so wonderful? Go from pair to pair, collecting one new item from each pair and recording it. Continue until there are no more to add or you’ve made two swings around the group. (10 minutes)
8. Then ask, What are the implications for us in this list? What do we particularly want to remember from this exercise as we move through our agenda today? Simply listen to the responses. Pay attention to points you might want to raise later in the day. (5-7 minutes).

If you put this exercise to use, send me a comment.  I’d love to know how it goes! It’s lots of fun and brings great energy into the room.  Good luck!

Jeremy Lurey, CEO of Plus Delta Consulting, interviewed Geoff and me at the recent national conference for the Organization Development Network, held in Seattle, WA October 18-21, 2009.

If you'd like to see us in action together, there are two videos you can watch from the PlusDelta blog--a 5 minute segment about the Group Needs Model and the full 40 minute interview that covers several topics related to Extraordinary Groups.  At the end of the discussion, we offer thoughts about the future of the field of Organization Development. If you are not an OD practitioner, be prepared to tolerate a bit of jargon--since we were speaking to an audience of people in our field.  That said, we hope any organizational leader or group member will find some value in our comments.

While you're at the PlusDelta site, take the time to become familiar with the array of services this consulting firm offers.  If you are unfamilar with Organization Development as a field, you'll gain an understanding of what can be included in this type of consultation--simply by looking around their website.  Additionally, you'll find several blog entries related to the OD Network Conference, including two video interviews with Juliette Powell, author of 33 Million people in the Room, on social networking.  If you are in the field and couldn't make it to Seattle, these entries will connect you to some of the content and the experience of the conference.

At this reflective time of year, Geoff and I are both thankful for the enthusiastic support Extraordinary Groups has received since it was published in September.  During this time we've become even more committed to helping group members, leaders, and facilitators understand how a few simple shifts can have profound impact on what a group is able to accomplish and the experience people have in that group.  Moving ahead our blog will continue to highlight relevant ideas and strategies so that you can do your part in helping your groups fulfill their promise. Thanks to all of you who have been so encouraging to us.