Scenario: Guess

As an action learning coach, how would you handle the following situation: The problem presenter decides this is a game where the team members have to guess what s/he is thinking the real problem is. Consequently, they keep their answer as short as possible, to the point of being evasive.

Tags: Action Learning, ActionLearning Coach, Team Coach, WIAL, WIAL Action Learning, WIAL Talk

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Comments (5)

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    Libby Hampson

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    I would bring forward an intervention in which I would be able to ask the whole group how they felt we (they) were doing as a group and what was going well / could be even better. Hopefully someone else in the group may highlight the issue, or the problem presenter may be reminded of the purpose and ethos of the group and process.

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    Prasad Natarajan

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    There are 2 options that come to my mind
    Option 1 – I can ask the team, if we have an agreement on the problem? And ask them to respond “Yes” or “No” or “Close”. I can follow this by asking each member to write down in their own words the problem statement and ask the to read it out to others and again check if the group has agreement on the problem with responses – “Yes’ or “No or “Close”
    Option 2 – I can ask, “How are we doing as a group?” and one or two of them say, “Not well”. I can the ask “What their thoughts on how this is contributing to the group’s effectiveness”? and “How they propose to manage it?”

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      Mark Relova

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      I will clarify guessing is not consistent with the principles of AL. We need to identify and agree on the problem. The sooner we get to an agreement, the faster we will proceed to solutioning.

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    Debbie Ng

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    I would intervene by asking, “How are we doing at better understanding the problem?” I will get feedback from the team members and then follow up with, “On a scale of 1-10, how has your understanding of the problem improved since the beginning of the session?” After getting their feedback, I will then ask, “So, what will happen if we continue at this pace throughout the session?” I will get feedback from the team members and finally ask them, “Now, what can we do to gain better understanding of the problem?” Wait for responses from the team members.

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    Mark Relova

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    I will clarify guessing is not consistent with the principles of AL. We need to identify and agree on the problem. The sooner we get to an agreement, the faster we will proceed to solutioning.

    Reply

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