Insight: Pre-workshop efforts played an
essential role in the success of the workshop.
Never underestimate the power of understanding
and connecting.
I began the workshop by asking each participant to
share a piece of information that their colleagues did
not know about them. It was incredible to watch them
become more open to one another as they discovered
that the person they talked to on the phone every
week was also a flutist, sang in a choir, had founded a
professional dancing school or was passionate about
baroque music. Suddenly, these colleagues were also
people—people who had interests, hobbies and talents
that they shared or could relate to.
I also consciously ensured that the breaks during
the workshops would promote deeper connections.
Because food is the ultimate connector, we all went to a
cooking class at the end of day one. I enjoyed watching
the participants build trust and enjoy themselves as
they prepared salads, whisked eggs and made jokes
about their creativity and cooking skills. In addition,
each time we broke for lunch, I asked participants to sit
with a colleague they did not know well and leverage
the opportunity to create or deepen their connection.
Insight: The need for connection is powerful,
and it’s anchored in each one of us. We will
naturally seize any meaningful opportunity to
connect with our fellow humans.
During the pre-workshop interviews, I had uncovered
an essential piece of information: Most of the team
members were not aware that the frustration they felt
with their current dynamic was shared by their peers.
When I projected slides summarizing themes that
had emerged from the interviews, the team members
realized that in addition to sharing hobbies and
interests, they also shared the frustration generated
by their common challenges and issues. (I also let
attendees know that, for a topic to be included on the
slides, I needed to have heard it from at least three
interviewees.) This realization was so comforting and
relieving that it caused a shift in the room: Suddenly, it
felt natural for the attendees to engage in the difficult
conversations that they had been avoiding.
The participants agreed to review the action items
in each staff meeting, and I enlisted their human
resources business partner, who was invited to the
workshop, to be their “conscience” and hold them
accountable for the commitments they made during
their two days together.
Two key decisions that emerged from the workshop
had the potential to address multiple challenges. First,
participants agreed that the regional leaders would
each make plans to spend several days in Moscow
shadowing organizational leaders and participating in
customer and staff meetings. They also agreed that,
moving forward, the agenda for staff meetings would
include a space for each leader to share a top-of-mind
subject or concern and ask for support and advice.
At the end of the workshop, I asked all participants to
complete a formal survey regarding the experience. They
revealed that they had increased their understanding
of their peers and their leader and they all said they felt
more confident about tackling the business challenges
at hand. They reported that they were leaving with an
increased level of trust in their collective capabilities. In
doing so, they took meaningful steps on their journey to
becoming a high-performing team.
Trust is multilayered, and its cultivation requires
relentless focus. After the workshop, the team members
continued to build on the foundation they had laid. In
the five months since the workshop, they have increased
their commitment to sharing top-of-mind concerns and
expectations on a regular basis, representing a huge
shift from how they’d communicated previously.
The leaders are taking their newfound sense of
collaboration and team spirit into their own teams,
creating a ripple effect that’s changing the organization
for the better. They have even created an anonymous
mailbox employees can use to voice questions to
the leadership teams. The mailbox has evolved into
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