Scenario: Spinning(2026)

Written by DrBea on . Posted in WIAL Talk

As an action learning coach, how would you handle the following situation: The team members address various perspectives of the problem. Clearly seeing multiple views as to the true nature of the problem. They ask questions that cause them to bounce from one perspective to another to another to another and back to the first. They continually repeat the cycle without settling on which aspect of the challenge to address.

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

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Comments (3)

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    Steve Abasta

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    As an Action Learning Coach, I would intervene to improve the performance of the group. If unchecked, bouncing around from one perspective to another for too long can evolve into a disjointed understanding of the problem. I would ask the group what they think would help them narrow down the scope of the differing perspectives to gain a consensus. This should at least help them build off of one another’s questions rather than going around in circles.

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    Dominika Pupkowska-Bral

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    As an AL coach, I would definitely stop the group to check the quality of work in this situation.
    Do we agree on the problem? I would ask participants to write down on a whiteboard what they consider most urgent to solve in this problem?
    I would then ask the group in what order we will talk about these aspects of the problem.
    The group will decide on the order and I will mark the meeting agenda with numbers on the board.
    If there were too many aspects – I would ask the groups which aspects we will deal with today and which ones at the next meeting.
    Finally, I will ask the groups: What will this prioritization do for us as a group in working to solve this problem? What do we learn from this situation?

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    Elizabeth Webb

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    As an Action Learning Coach, I would intervene to improve the performance of the team and use of their leadership competency. From my perspective, it seems the team may not be aligned on what the true nature of the problem is, therefore unable to decide which challenge to address. A misunderstanding and/or misalignment on the problem could impede the process and hopes for a solution. Rather than interjecting that perspective, I would aim to see if the team can reach that conclusion themselves. I would do so by initiating a check in and using the script to ask the team if they think we all agree on the problem. Upon hearing their responses, I would ask the team to write down what they think the problem is and give them an opportunity to share one at a time in hopes that the differing perspectives come out. I would then ask them to give me a thumbs up or thumbs down on whether they think the team agrees on the problem. I would finish up the intervention asking how, in light of their responses, do they want to move forward?

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