Scenario: Exhaustion
As an action learning coach, how would you handle the following situation:
You’ve been working many hours and the team is clearly exhausted.
Tags: Action Learning Coach, WIAL Action Learning
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Colin Yeow
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I will first ask the team “How are we feeling at this point?” From their response, I will inform everyone how much time we have left (keeping in mind that if this is a paid session, we have to adhere to the session timings) and ask the team how they would like to use the remaining time left considering how they are feeling at this point. A final question would be “How can we, as a team, help each other raise our energy for the remaining part of the session”
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Michele
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I will aks the team if there is agreement about the problemsolving. Depending of their response, I will invite the team how to act next.
If a solotion is near I will invite them to close the session with a proposition for a solution. If the solution is not near, I will ask the team how to go on. Close this session and planning a new one after a rest or to continue this session. If the team chose for continueing, I ask how, as a team we can help eacht other to find the energy to continue succesfully.
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michaelmadera
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I would ask: “How is the energy level in our group right now?”
I might add, if asked to clarify: “I’ve observed that some people are looking out the window, some are yawning, and that the pace of conversation has slowed considerably…”.
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Popsy Kanagaratnam
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This is an opportunity to ask the team, “How’s our energy level?” and follow up by asking, “What do we need to do to get back our energy?” Depending on the response, the team will go from there. If there is consensus that their collective fatigue is such that they can’t get back their energy level, I may say that I’ll be asking them what actions they will be taking in 10 or 15 minutes, and how they did on their leadership skills.
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fabienne
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I will tell the team “We have been working many hours and I can see that we are clearly exhausted.” and inform them on how much time we have, where we are in the process and highlight the intention of the session. then I will ask them “how do we want to proceed?”
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leocastilloph
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I will ask the team “what would the team want to achieve given our time?”, then ask “what energy level do we need to achieve that?”. That would then prompt if we need to raise or lower the energy of the team.
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Faz_Kamaruddin
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I would also ask the team on the energy level with “On a scale of 1 to 10, how is our energy level?” and going round the table, the responses will probably be a low number. I would then ask them about an energy level that the team wants to aim to. At the same time, I would also want to keep the team focused on solving the problem.
Depending on where we would be at the problem-solving stage, I would ask the group to decide as a team, on the next action to take. It could be “How do we help each other get back the energy level we need to get clarity of the problem” or “How do we help each other get energized while keeping in mind we have to solve the problem on hand?”
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Angela Chen
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I will lead the team to analyze the situation, the impact on the team, and then invite them to form a group decision. I will ask, “We have been working for many hours now, how is the team’s energy level, on a scale from 1-10?” If most of team realized that the energy is low, I will then ask, ”What will be the impact of this situation? What will be a good decision for the team if we want to run our session effectively?” And if they need a break, I would encourage them to take a quick rest to regenerate their energy level.
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DrBea
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I’d want to be careful with this one – perhaps it is just my energy that is waning.
I’d start with the standard 3 questions – How are we doing as a team on a scale of 1 – 10? what are we doing well? what can we do better?
If the energy level wasn’t brought up. I’d follow with – How is the energy level? What is the impact on the team of the current energy level? Given that we have xx minutes left today, how would it be best to handle this?
I also like on a scale of 1 – 10 how is the energy level?
In terms of the I observed option of asking this question – I like the specific behaviors. I’ve observed people looking out the windows, nodding off, etc? Has anyone else noticed that? What is the impact of that on the problem solving? How do we want to handle it?
Happy Coaching
Bea
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Wai Ling Ho
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I will intervene by asking each individual in the team, “Having been working on this problem for many hours, on a scale of 1-10, how would you rate the team’s energy level now?” When low ratings are reported, I will follow up by asking, “How is this affecting the quality of our problem solving?” “What can we do to bring the best possible solutions to this problem?”
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