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 they are thinking the real problem is. Consequently, they keep their answer as short as possible, not giving any more information than s absolutely required to answer the question.

Tags: Action Leaning, Action Learning Coach, WIAL Action Learning

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Comments (8)

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    Prasad Natarajan

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    This is an apt opportunity for learning and intervention by the Action Learning Coach. I would intervene and ask, how we are doing as a group? – Only responses – OK? / Not OK? What are we doing well? What can we do better? Do we have clarity and agreement on the problem? Only responses – Yes / No / Close. Then, I will ask them to write down the problem with a statement ‘XX’s problem is….. And then ask them to read the statement to the group.

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    Savin Oeun

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    Intervene by asking team the question “do we have an agreement on the problem statement yet- yes, no, quit close- and let write down on the problem statement you think on the paper”?

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    SUNISA PHUMPAKA

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    I will intervene the problem presenter by remind he/she the definition of Action learning on projector ” Action learning is a problem solving process that involves a small group working on a real problem, taking action. ” Do you agree to do session follow this definition ? If yes, we will continue our session , if No ,PP still want to play game , I will ask team agreement to stop sessions.

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    Mariusz Dłużak

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    The team created very good conditions for learning from experience and from coach intervention. I would do this:

    – “I would like to stop the group … I noticed that the presenter of the problem decided that as a team you play a game in which the team members have to guess what they think is the real problem. Do you see it that way too?”
    – “Yes” answer. “How does it affect the quality of your work when you don’t analyze the problem, don’t try to reformulate the problem into a goal – you only play a game called” guessing “?”
    – “What will we do to: 1. analyze the problem; 2. get to the heart of it; 3. and then reformulate it into a goal?”
    – “Who has the next question from the problem analysis level?”

    – Group answer “No”. “How are we doing as a group?” “What are we doing well?” “What can we do even better?” “Do we have clarity and agreement on the heart of the problem? All I ask is yes / no.” Next, I ask the group to write on the card, according to each participant, sounds at the heart of the problem in the formula “The situation looks …. which causes the consequences are ….” And I ask everyone to read only what they wrote down to the group.

    – Possible answers: “we agree / disagree / agree partially” – and then according to the AL session scenario.

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    Justyna Truchel

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    As an Action Learning coach, I would announce a short break having explained in a clear and honest way that I noticed that the session had changed into a guessing game and I need a while to discuss it with PP.
    During the break I would remind PP about the real sense of team support. The most important thing in teamwork is supporting PP in generating solutions to his/her problem and not playing the game of guessing what PP has in mind 😊
    Right after the break, I would make a short introduction explaining in a positive but firm way the rules of AL.
    As an AL coach, I would react this way in order to back PP up in getting closer to solving his/her problem as well as supporting the group in strengthening the team members‘ leadership skills.

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    Yannie Hua

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    I am not sure if I understand the talk here, but I would intervene this way:
    Before the session starts, I would brief the team about the concept and ground rules of the action learning;
    1. I will give PP 2- 3 minutes to describe the problem
    2. If PP insisted on a game, I would ask the whole team: What is action learning? What are the ground rules? What if we fail to follow these rules? How are we going to start?
    3. Then PP should go back to right track. After the briefing, I would ask: who has the first question?
    4. Then according the process and procedures on the script.

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    Jinghui Gao

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    I will ask the problem presenter, “what kind of information do you get from the team’s answers? How clear are the answers? ” If PP’s answer is “not clear enough, too short, and some information is not known.” I will also ask the team members:” everyone’s answers are very short and don’t share more information. Why? “…… “I see that everyone’s Q & A is like playing games, team members have to guess. If it continues like this, what will happen? What should we do? “

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    ROBERTO ROTENBERG

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    Depending on the situation, there are some interferences I could make: 1) How focused are our questions on the presented problem? 2) How are we following everything we agreed to do? 3) How are we using all available tools to reach the problem? 4) How are we with the ability of building ideas or questions based on other participants questions?
    After choosing one of them, I would use the subsequent questions: “Why is this important?” “How could we make it happen?” “How would we want this to happen in this group?”

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