Last week’s post on the tension between effectiveness and expectations (link here), resonated with hundreds – thanks for all your feedback. In the post, I drew attention to the double bind of virtual teams that are struggling to be effective and how that, combined with team members’ expectations of work-life balance being elevated, was creating deep tensions (and ultimately resignations).
As we and our team members work hard to accomplish that work we are called to complete, what are some practical tips we can press into service right away to close the gap?
I’m going to cover one below and would appreciate you continuing the conversation by putting your best tip in the comments.
Here’s the setup: How many times have you been in a meeting where the first 70% (or more) is spent re-establishing the context of a previous conversation that led us to a hard and potentially contentious dialogue? This pattern emerges frequently in conflict-averse groups that are hoping that these tensions will resolve by starting over again and finding a conflict-free path. The truth is that strong teams know how to productively disagree, and a big part of that is not getting into the pattern of avoidance by repeating meetings.
How Not to Retrace Ground We’ve Covered
The key to less backtracking in our virtual team working sessions is to lead by establishing the point of last agreement. With two people, this can be accomplished pretty quickly, but as the team grows, the number of communication and influence paths grows geometrically (actually n (n-1) / 2).
A little math will underscore this truth: the time it takes to reestablish the starting point in a virtual group of 6 people who each need 5 minutes of air time approaches a half hour. Think that’s generous? Using the equation above, you are managing 15 human-to-human interactions. This dialogue crowds out meaningful fresh conversation and closure that leads to quality critical thinking and action.
The tricky bit is that this tip depends on some meeting closure discipline on the part of the meeting owner. Many of you summarize action points, dates and owners and that’s great. To avoid this retracement trap, add a prequel section to your notes of pithy agreements during the meeting. For example, “we agreed that we were in the dark regarding the real context for the requested feature” so that you can use that as a point of departure for the problem-solving meeting.
Better Starts Lead to Better Finishes
Putting a fine point on the action items:
- Send notes out at the end of each meeting. In addition to the agreed on action points, add context before everyone clicks out. The context notes and a to-do sheet should be in the inbox/Slack channel within 30 minutes of the meeting’s close.
- 24 hours before the next session, that note should be re-sent with a top paragraph of context which highlights the agreements from the last session.
- Recall that everyone has a different lens through which they see the same event – even eyewitnesses frequently disagree on matters of fact. What you are looking for is a workable consensus – not perfection.
- Open the meeting with a time certain agenda point to add any new insights or information related to the key opportunity relative to the last discussion.
Great Engagement Comes to Teams That are Equipped
One of the tenants of the cross-functional team work I do with firms is that we need to move teams from individuals to allies. We work on multiple layers to release the individuals’ talent in the context of focus on the transformational project. By working together to learn about one another’s communication preferences, time expectations and mindset, we lay foundations for better interaction – where peers lift each other up and challenge each other in the best possible way.
I run assessments and workshops (both virtually and in person) for leaders and their teams as part of my practice. If you’d like to talk about how to narrow your team members’ frustration from the effectiveness and expectations gap, use this link to put a 20-minute call on the books. We’ll roll up our sleeves and talk about how to unlock more performance. You’ll come away with insight, that in a small way, might save a team member from becoming frustrated and leaving your group.
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