As an Action Learning Team Coach how would you handle the following situation:
You are doing a leadership development program with 8 peers in a consulting firm. One of the participants reports that her boss brought an issue with her yesterday that she had discussed in the action learning group a week ago. She is very upset. (The problem centered around not being given the responsibility that her boss had promised her when she was hired a year ago.) Additionally, the team had agreed to keep what was said during the Action Learning sessions in the sessions.
I would say: “An issue about confidentiality and the team’s ground rules has been brought to the table. How does the team want to handle this situation?
The team could respond in a number of ways, but if the ensuing conversation is not productive or does not resolve the issue, I might suggest to the team that we spend the session working on this problem in the same way we would another action learning problem with the upset member being the problem presenter and having the team come up with a problem definitation and solution.
It would seem that the upset participant has brought this as a problem to the group. The problem appears to be the breaking of the group confidentiality ground rule. In the first instance, there is the possibility of looking at this problem in the normal way.
If necessary, depending on how the discussion proceeds, I would intervene and ask “how we are doing as a group, and how can we improve?”.
I believe that Gail is on the right track. Especially, if the participants in the group are going to be the same for some time then the group will have to address this issue, otherwise group cohesiveness will probably be impossible to obtain. I would first discuss the potential outcomes with the upset participant if we bring the issue up to the group. Providing the person is aware of these potential outcomes and is in agreement then I would broach the subject with the group at the beginning of the next session and ask them how they would like to proceed.
I would state the issue as noted by Gail….”An issue regarding the teams’ ground rules relating to confidentiality has been brought to the table” However, I might ask the group what they see as the consequences of violating the confidentiality ground rule and then ask them how they would like to address the issue. My logic in doing this is for the team to establish context for addressing the violation of the ground rule.
It is not clear from the scenario whether the issue has been brought up during or prior to an Action Learning session. If she approached me prior to the session, I would listen to her concerns and encourage her to raise the issue with the team during the next session.
During an Action Learning session, I would ask, “What is the impact to the group when confidentiality has been broken?” followed by, “What would the group like to do about it?”
I think I would refer to confidentiality as a team norm rather than a ground rule. For newer teams especially, I think it helps to retain a distinction between the two Action Learning ground rules and any agreed upon group norms.
a) Someone (X) was upset because she did not get a promotion (more responsibilities as promised); in this case, X could use the Action Learning session to explore “how to get promoted.”
b) The boss explored the issue about “not to promote her staff member” during an Action Learning Session; in this case, Action Learning sessions are meant to solve difficult problems such as how to tell a staff member that “he/she will not be considered for promotion” (receive more responsibilities) at this moment.
c) Someone (X) was upset that her boss disclosed her promotion issue with others during an Action Learning session.
d) Someone (X) discussed during the last Action Learning Session that she did not get promoted (more responsibilities as promised). A team-member leaked the discussion to X’s boss. X’s boss addressed the issue of not getting promoted (more responsibilities) with her (X) yesterday.
d1) It could have been accidental that X’s boss discussed this issue with her (X).
d 2) In the event that someone of the Action Learning group leaked pertinent information to X’s boss we would need to address this issue as others discussed earlier. Important is that the group answers the questions: “How does absence of Trust impact our team performance?” and “How do we handle situations when confidential information was leaked?”
There may be no breach of confidentiality in the scenarios a) to d1). In fact, the boss found a solution during an Action Learning session in which other people participated and informed her staff member directly that she would not be promoted (receive more responsibilities) at the moment.
When a team agress to confidentaility, I ask questions related to what that means. for instance:
What do we mean by confidentiality What if we think we can help the situation by discussing it with someone outside the room? What would be the impact of someone breaking this agreed to norm?
After the fact it is much harder to deal with. The reponses have been great.
Let’s assume in this instance the person that talked to the boss intended to help. And that the person who told you that the problem she had discussed last time had been discussed outside the room did so just before the start of the session.
First, I would ask them how they would like it brought to the attention of the group. Assuming the response was – I don’t want to call them out at the table.
I would ask them if there was a way to present the concern without ‘calling them out’?
At the start of the session, I would recap the 2 ground rules. As this is a group that meets on a regular basis I would ask them to recap their norms they had agreed to so far, and asking them if they are still working for the team.
Hopefully, the broken norm issue would be raised at this point, creating the opportunity to discuss it more deeply. As folks stated early –
What’s the impact when confidentiality is agreed to and broken?
Most likely someone would say something about the trust within the group weakens.
I would follow this with a question – How can we rebuild trust after a situation like this? and wrap it up with – Why is it important for this group to be able to trust each other?
All of this can be done without actually identifying the guilty party.
Gail Finger
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I would say: “An issue about confidentiality and the team’s ground rules has been brought to the table. How does the team want to handle this situation?
The team could respond in a number of ways, but if the ensuing conversation is not productive or does not resolve the issue, I might suggest to the team that we spend the session working on this problem in the same way we would another action learning problem with the upset member being the problem presenter and having the team come up with a problem definitation and solution.
Reply
Catherine Breathnach
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It would seem that the upset participant has brought this as a problem to the group. The problem appears to be the breaking of the group confidentiality ground rule. In the first instance, there is the possibility of looking at this problem in the normal way.
If necessary, depending on how the discussion proceeds, I would intervene and ask “how we are doing as a group, and how can we improve?”.
Reply
Phil Cohen
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I believe that Gail is on the right track. Especially, if the participants in the group are going to be the same for some time then the group will have to address this issue, otherwise group cohesiveness will probably be impossible to obtain. I would first discuss the potential outcomes with the upset participant if we bring the issue up to the group. Providing the person is aware of these potential outcomes and is in agreement then I would broach the subject with the group at the beginning of the next session and ask them how they would like to proceed.
Reply
Erik Mazziotta
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I would state the issue as noted by Gail….”An issue regarding the teams’ ground rules relating to confidentiality has been brought to the table” However, I might ask the group what they see as the consequences of violating the confidentiality ground rule and then ask them how they would like to address the issue. My logic in doing this is for the team to establish context for addressing the violation of the ground rule.
Reply
Donna Christophersen
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It is not clear from the scenario whether the issue has been brought up during or prior to an Action Learning session. If she approached me prior to the session, I would listen to her concerns and encourage her to raise the issue with the team during the next session.
During an Action Learning session, I would ask, “What is the impact to the group when confidentiality has been broken?” followed by, “What would the group like to do about it?”
I think I would refer to confidentiality as a team norm rather than a ground rule. For newer teams especially, I think it helps to retain a distinction between the two Action Learning ground rules and any agreed upon group norms.
Reply
Philipp Werenfels
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I am not clear about the problem:
a) Someone (X) was upset because she did not get a promotion (more responsibilities as promised); in this case, X could use the Action Learning session to explore “how to get promoted.”
b) The boss explored the issue about “not to promote her staff member” during an Action Learning Session; in this case, Action Learning sessions are meant to solve difficult problems such as how to tell a staff member that “he/she will not be considered for promotion” (receive more responsibilities) at this moment.
c) Someone (X) was upset that her boss disclosed her promotion issue with others during an Action Learning session.
d) Someone (X) discussed during the last Action Learning Session that she did not get promoted (more responsibilities as promised). A team-member leaked the discussion to X’s boss. X’s boss addressed the issue of not getting promoted (more responsibilities) with her (X) yesterday.
d1) It could have been accidental that X’s boss discussed this issue with her (X).
d 2) In the event that someone of the Action Learning group leaked pertinent information to X’s boss we would need to address this issue as others discussed earlier. Important is that the group answers the questions: “How does absence of Trust impact our team performance?” and “How do we handle situations when confidential information was leaked?”
There may be no breach of confidentiality in the scenarios a) to d1). In fact, the boss found a solution during an Action Learning session in which other people participated and informed her staff member directly that she would not be promoted (receive more responsibilities) at the moment.
Reply
Dr Bea
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When a team agress to confidentaility, I ask questions related to what that means. for instance:
What do we mean by confidentiality What if we think we can help the situation by discussing it with someone outside the room? What would be the impact of someone breaking this agreed to norm?
After the fact it is much harder to deal with. The reponses have been great.
Let’s assume in this instance the person that talked to the boss intended to help. And that the person who told you that the problem she had discussed last time had been discussed outside the room did so just before the start of the session.
First, I would ask them how they would like it brought to the attention of the group. Assuming the response was – I don’t want to call them out at the table.
I would ask them if there was a way to present the concern without ‘calling them out’?
At the start of the session, I would recap the 2 ground rules. As this is a group that meets on a regular basis I would ask them to recap their norms they had agreed to so far, and asking them if they are still working for the team.
Hopefully, the broken norm issue would be raised at this point, creating the opportunity to discuss it more deeply. As folks stated early –
What’s the impact when confidentiality is agreed to and broken?
Most likely someone would say something about the trust within the group weakens.
I would follow this with a question – How can we rebuild trust after a situation like this? and wrap it up with – Why is it important for this group to be able to trust each other?
All of this can be done without actually identifying the guilty party.
Happy coaching
Bea
Reply