Scenario: Relocating
As an action learning coach, how would you handle the following situation:
The team decides it is too beautiful inside to stay indoors and opts to move outside to a picnic table.
Tags: Action Learning Coach, WIAL Action Learning
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Dennis Sanko
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I would ask “How is it going to impact the end result?” and if the team would collectively agree that this is not going to negatively impact the end result, I would ask “how can we ensure that the transition to outside is quick and easy for everyone?”
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Verieux Mourillon
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If I observed that it was truly a team decision I would let it be but paying careful attention to whether they have the same level of display of the leadership skills and other visualizations they had agreed on before, and that there is no increased level of distraction associated with being outside. If any of those undesirable impacts creep in, I would ask the group how they assess their effectiveness now compared to when they were indoors. If they point to a drop in effectiveness, I would then ask how they wish to deal with it. If the quality of the session is definitely deteriorating significantly then I would take a stronger approach and say what I observed in order to solicit their actions to right the situation. If it is working just fine then I would let them proceed.
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donna
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I would ask several questions of the group. First I would ask, after looking around the room, “How much effort will this take the group to re-locate?” Then I would ask–“What impact will this have on the end result you’ve identified?” If the group does not have a lot of equipment and the group decides it won’t negatively impact the desired result–then I would ask for “Who would like to organize the move for efficiency?”
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Mlopez
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Since an action learning coach is supposed to help the team learn and take responsibility, I would ask them to consider the pros and cons of their suggestion, weigh the consequences, and get a consensus from every member if the move is to the best interest of the Team. If they still opt to move, than I would support that decision and bring it up later on during the reflection portion.
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Adam Walz
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I like the idea of taking a quick vote to get a sense of the level of consensus for this decision. Regardless of the outcome, I would ask about what distractions / obstacles we could face by making this move and how the group plans to solve for them. I would insist on bringing the flipchart with leadership behaviors so that it would be visible and ensure that we selected a spot with privacy and minimal distractions.
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urszula gasior
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The group is helping the problem presenter to solve the issue I would, therefore, firstly turn to the problem presenter how he / she feels about this idea, how the move may impact the end result and whether he / she wants to do it. Then I will ask every other group member whether they want to move or not. If majority of the group decides to move I would ask what they think is the most effective way to move out. After a while when working outside I would ask in the scale 1-10 how they evaluate effectiveness of work of the group, how the move impacted it and what can be done to improve it.
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DrBea
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I would ensure everyone on the team was in favor of the idea. This can easily be one of those situations where one person says it and makes a move like it is so. If anyone is in complete agree, I too would ask the questions around the impact of this on the session and outcomes, and how we will achieve it most efficiently.
If anyone is not in favor. I would ask – What’s the impact on the team when decisions are made without consensus? How will we ensure that all team members are in favor of an decision before taking action?
Happy Coaching
Bea
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lee anne
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I would first ensure that it is the teams consensus that they want to shift outside. If one person is not in agreement, I would take the opportunity and ask questions like
– What is the impact on the team when a decision is made without everyones consensus?
– How would the team like to move ahead from here?
If everyone is in agreement to move outside, I would allow the team to go ahead. During the session, I would keep an eye out for opportunities to drive learning as per usual (meaning, irregardless of indoors and outdoors settings first) as I do not want to pull full attention to the impact too early on during the session to allow the team to fully experience and appreciate any differences there are due to moving outside as far as possible to maximise the impact of learning outcomes whilst still helping the problem presenter get actions that he can immediately put to use after the session.
For example, if the team appears to be distracted due to being in an outdoor setting, I would ask questions such as,
– How are we doing as a team?
– What do we observe is going on in the team?
– What is the impact of what is observed?
– What can we do to address the impact of what is observed?
– How do we want to proceed from here?
And only at the end of the session will I ask reflective questions on the impact of moving outside for the session.
– Rate how we have performed as a team during this session from 1-10
– What did we do best as a team?
– What is the difference between working indoors and outdoors?
– What impact does the environment have on working as team?
I will then drive
– What is the importance of making conscious decisions?
– What is the impact on results as a direct correlation to decisions the team chooses to make?
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