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 (7)

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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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    Jo Allard

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    As AL Coach, I would see this as a good opportunity for an intervention. I would follow the script regarding what are we doing well, what can we do better, etc. Then I’d ask the team to each write down what they think the problem statement is and see if they all agree. If despite the spinning they do actually agree, I would tell them how much time we have left and that I will be asking the problem presenter what actions they are going to be taking as a result of the AL session. This should focus them on finding solutions for the remaining time. If they do not all agree on the problem, I will ask what do they think they need to reach consensus. This should focus them on reaching an agreement as the next step.

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    Elise Foster

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    There are several possible options for intervening and it would depend on what has already happened.
    Option 1:
    Group, let’s take a moment for learning here. What are you observing in the group?
    Follow-up with, what do we want to do about it?

    Option 2: Group, is it possible there is more than one problem here? How do you want to handle this?

    Option 3: Group, I am noticing you bouncing from one perspective to another. What is the impact of bouncing between perspectives?

    Okay, in about 20 minutes, I’m going to ask [problem presenter] what action he’ll take, what do you want to do to support him to get to action?

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    Jerry Wang

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    In a situation where multiple perspectives are present, I might conduct a quick check-in on whether the group has consensus on the problem:
    • Share my observation that while the variety of perspectives has been helpful, would each member summarize their view of the problem in one sentence?
    • Do we have consensus on the problem?

    Alternatively, I might ask what they are noticing about the various perspectives of the problem and discuss the implications:
    • What are you noticing about the perspectives you each are offering?
    • What are the implications if we continue to operate this way as a group?
    • What would the group like to do about this?
    • Where would you all like to focus our remaining time to help the problem presenter

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    mariet Tonen

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    In this situation I would suggest: You have explored the problem and a number of points keep coming back. I propose to write down the points you mention and then we will make an interrelationship diagram to see what the cause, bottleneck and relevant issues are. What you see as a bottleneck we will work out in this CPS

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