3D Juggling 521: Different Places

This week, we've been working with NHS teams on communication styles, equipping clergy to find their next job and having some interesting conversations about how to thrive in a rapidly changing environment. And we have received some feedback: I found the session useful and informative. 3D is really that - the session gave me a 3D perspective on job hunting following redundancy.
   
Nadia writes from Dubai: "I am learning to adapt to living and working in a different country.  It is an interesting experience. Whilst it is very Western it is not the same as the UK.  I find that my assumptions and expectations have to change.  For example my assumption and expectation on overtaking on a motorway is wrong, here you weave in and out of six lanes of traffic! My assumption that as a woman I can initiate shaking hands when I meet a man is not what happens here. Unless they offer you their hand first you do not offer yours. It’s not better or worse, right or wrong, it’s different.

I have to learn to do things differently.  I have to accept that what I normally do and what I expect has to change and I have to adapt to my current situation.  I am aware that I have to observe, listen, communicate and react differently. It is refreshing, and I notice that my senses have been re-awakened.

It made me think how this relates to the work environment.  As a team leader do you just assume that everyone understands what you expect, do or say? How do you know? What are your assumptions of your team? How do you communicate what you want? What could be done differently?

As a team member, do others really know how you work? What are their assumptions of you and you of them? How do you communicate with others? What needs to be different?

Take some time to look at yourself and those you work with, with fresh eyes, listening ears and different expectations. See if it makes a difference to your work environment. Think about it..."

© 2011 3D Coaching Ltd
May be distributed freely. Please retain contact details: www.3dcoaching.com and send a copy/ link to info@3dcoaching.com

Selecting the right person for a role
Meredith Belbin, who developed the notion of ‘team roles’ recently said ‘When you recruit the wrong person with the right qualification you are going to have a challenge in changing the individual’s preferences’.   We don’t believe that there is always a ‘right’ person for a role, although one candidate will be a better fit than others.  If you already use assessment centres, or interview processes with a series of different activities to help you assess competence, you probably use a psychometric tool.  We help organisations make successful selection decisions using a tool called DiSC as part of their approach to assessment. This helps explore chemistry.
Find out more or ask us about our half day DiSC workshop.

3D Juggling 520: Communicating Effectively

Jane writes: Towards the end of the 1967 movie Cool Hand Luke, Luke says “What we've got here is failure to communicate”.  Then he gets shot. What he said may have been true, but it didn’t achieve the best of outcomes.

Communicating effectively is core to our success at work, at home, in our communities.  It’s particularly important when we need to be agile during times of change.  It doesn’t mean always saying what we feel or think when we’re feeling or thinking it and leaving the other person to deal with the fallout, and it doesn’t mean holding onto stuff until we explode over everyone.  Maybe something that John Galliano should have understood.  France, as Galliano is in the process of finding out, is a secular society with a zero tolerance policy to incitement of religious hatred, with culprits facing up to six months in jail. 

Effective communication does mean treating others with respect, exchanging some meaning (so listening and checking things out is important), and creating some value.  It allows for different views and beliefs, recognising that where these are different it is possible to acknowledge this and respect the other person’s position - allowing us to carry on our conversation.

We like  the advice given in Fierce Conversations: Achieving Success in Work and in Life, One Conversation at a Time by Susan Scott, and Difficult Conversations: How to Discuss What Matters Most by Bruce Patton, Douglas Stone and Sheila Heen.

The phrase ‘what we've got here is failure to communicate’ is often used to allocate blame when it has not been possible to reach agreement about something, especially when we view the other person as a powerful opponent.  What difference could it make if we viewed them as someone with a different view or agenda to ours rather than an opponent, and acknowledged this as a starting point for a new conversation?

© 2011 3D Coaching Ltd
May be distributed freely. Please retain contact details: www.3dcoaching.com and send a copy/ link to info@3dcoaching.com

3D Juggling 460: Personality clash?

Hope you're managing to keep warm! Claire's book 'Friends First' went into its second edition last week. If you have young teenagers, have a look. It's available from Tesco online

Jane writes: "Have you ever heard someone say when describing a problem between two people, ‘It’s a personality clash’? And have you noticed how this is left hanging in the air as if to say ‘That’s it, I’ve tried everything and there’s nothing that can be done to help’? Except of course that managers and organisations do try to ‘help’ – often when faced with claims of bullying or harassment or long term stress related absence. And that help often leads to more stress for the individuals concerned and their colleagues, and sometimes to formal grievances, disciplinary cases, and maybe people being moved or even leaving an organisation (along with all their knowledge and skills). And all of this takes up a lot of time, and time costs money.

So how can we help safely and sooner to minimise the impact of ‘personality clashes’ on individuals and teams?

We use DiSC profiling as a tool to help people better understand their communication preferences, the impact these can have, related benefits and challenges, and how they can adapt when working with others to minimise conflict and maximise their effectiveness. DiSC provides simple, safe language that can be used to talk about difference and help people to state their needs with respect for those of others. We have found that this really helps people who couldn’t talk to each other to have productive conversations, which in turn lead to productive working relationships. How much could this save your organisation? Who do you know who might benefit from using DiSC?

Want to know more? Contact info@3dcoaching.com

Love this? Do us a favour and send it to five people. Who thinks like you? You could send it to someone who has a personality clash in their team.

Discuss this week's juggling at http://www.3dcoaching.blogspot.com/


© 2009 3D Coaching Ltd
May be distributed freely. Please retain contact details: www.3dcoaching.com and send a copy/ link to info@3dcoaching.com

Follow us on Twitter 3dclaire
Facebook 3D Coaching

Coming Soon:
21st January Action Learning Set Facilitator Training - London
http://www.3dcoaching.com/3d_training/train_to_facilitate_action_learning_sets.phtml

3D Juggling 456: Fairy tales?

Jane writes: "Once upon a time there was a tyrannical boss who made all they came into contact with shiver and shake with fear and frustration. They ruled their empire harshly, banishing anyone who challenged their authority....

Once upon a time there was a confused team. Generally it was happy and effective, but every now and then things went wrong. This tended to happen whenever the team agreed to do something new. An experienced member of the team, who was very knowledgeable and did many things well, would complain about it and undermine the good intentions of her colleagues. The other team members didn’t know how to stop her and were waiting for a knight in shining armour to come along and put things right for them....

A recent article in People Management magazine discussed the benefits of using fairy story metaphors to describe unacceptable behaviour – powerful but maybe not comfortable for everyone.

We find that the DiSC profiling tool offers safe language that can be used to discuss difficult people issues, and to develop helpful responses. DiSC provides 15 classic profile patterns, one of which will fit an individual better than others, while recognising that they are unique. Learning how my profile is different, or similar, to yours can help me to understand why we impact on each other in the way we do – and how we could choose to adapt our behaviour when this would help to make our interactions more successful. Successful could mean less stressful, quieter, that long standing issues are addressed, or just that we enjoy them more.

Do you have a fairy tale that needs happy ending? Ask us how DiSC could help you to write it.


(See p.42 of People Management, the magazine of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, 19 November 2009)


Discuss this week's juggling at http://www.3dcoaching.blogspot.com/


© 2009 3D Coaching Ltd
May be distributed freely. Please retain contact details: www.3dcoaching.com and send a copy/ link to info@3dcoaching.com

Follow us on Twitter 3dclaire
Facebook 3D Coaching

Coming Soon:

21st January Action Learning Set Facilitator Training - London
http://www.3dcoaching.com/3d_training/train_to_facilitate_action_learning_sets.phtml

3D Juggling 453: Team not talking to you?

Jane writes: 'When running a series of Communication workshops Lynn and I came across a manager who was frustrated by the fact that, however hard she tried, she could not get her team members to speak up at team meetings. She was convinced that they had useful things to say – things they were saying at other times to other people – things that could help the team to develop and become more effective. What was the problem?

By exploring with this manager how she preferred to communicate (and be communicated with) she was able to acknowledge that her approach at team meetings was linked to her preferences – direct, in the moment and expectant of an immediate response. She also recognised that the preferences of some of her ‘reluctant’ team members were different – they needed time to think about and prepare a response, to be sure of facts before speaking, and acknowledgement of the impact that any changes would have on how people worked together.

With this in mind the manager adapted her approach to her team meetings by sharing an agenda before each meeting so that team members could prepare their thoughts. When she needed to reduce break times and ensure that mobile phones were not used in the workplace she acknowledged that her team members would have concerns about keeping in contact with family and friends, and about their rights. This enabled her to communicate with them in way that enabled the changes to work with agreement. The longer term result - many more contributions, great ideas and a more effective team!

We used DiSC profiling to help explore communication preferences with this manager. Contact us to find out more about DiSC and how it can support team building, conflict resolution, recruitment, and appraisals. DiSC was also featured in the Health Service Journal 26 October 2009.'

Love this? Do us a favour and send it to five people. Who thinks like you? You could send it to someone whose team is not talking to them

Discuss this week's juggling at http://www.3dcoaching.blogspot.com/


© 2009 3D Coaching Ltd
May be distributed freely. Please retain contact details: www.3dcoaching.com and send a copy/ link to info@3dcoaching.com

Follow us on
Twitter 3dclaire
Facebook 3D Coaching

Coming Soon:
25th November Action Learning Set Facilitator Training - Hull
21st January Action Learning Set Facilitator Training - London
http://www.3dcoaching.com/3d_training/train_to_facilitate_action_learning_sets.phtml