<\/p>\n
Recently, I was facilitating a team-building session for young techies. After the workshop, the Team Leader mentioned in passing that she noticed that \u2018X\u2019 (who has a quick mind) was making faces to his buddy \u2018Y\u2019 about \u2018Z\u2019 (because Z\u2019s pace was slower).<\/p>\n
Two concerns hit me: One, it was clear the team had to develop a maturity of accepting each other, working past judgements and intolerances which lead to annoyances and ultimately conflicts. Getting everyone on the same page is about both goal alignment and developing a mutual respect.<\/p>\n
But the bigger piece was: As the workshop facilitator, how could I have missed this non-verbal exchange?<\/p>\n
As a group facilitator, one of our tasks is to be so fully attuned to the emotions, thoughts and actions of members, that one has to almost develop \u2018eyes at the back of the head\u2019.<\/p>\n
What caused me to miss this cue?<\/p>\n
I realized I was so focussed in getting certain outcomes during this moment ; with accompanying concerns: Were the team-members \u2018getting\u2019 it? Was the exercise making sense? Was this dragging, and should I stay with it for a while, or move on to the next topic?<\/p>\n
While this inner questioning is fine; However, we want to develop the ability to hold both simultaneously: the inner \u2018self-management\u2019, and the outer \u2018environment-tracking\u2019, to pick up signals of the atmosphere, the whole system.<\/p>\n
The facilitator (or any leader whether of a team or organisation) cannot afford to have a \u2018shut-down\u2019 of any one of the two parts.<\/p>\n
This requires the ability to continuously and simultaneously:
\n1. Check within:
\nWhat am I feeling right now?
\nAm I getting too attached to a point of view or a desired outcome?
\nWhat is the image of myself that I am trying to protect?<\/p>\n
2. Scan the environment:
\nWhat can I sense and read from the expressions of the people around me?
\nWhat are their feelings- both expressed and unexpressed?<\/p>\n
A second time this happened with me (!) was when as the leader of a project, I had to choose a co-leader. The announcement was made in a hurry to the group because of some reasons- the earlier co-leader was leaving, and there were some other organisational changes as well. But after the announcement was made, one person expressed anger and unhappiness at this choice. He had seniority himself, and I should have scanned the environment to have taken the rest of the picture into consideration.<\/p>\n
What were other members\u2019 feelings, thoughts, anticipations and expectations?<\/p>\n
I completely missed taking this into account, in my anxiety that the project should not get affected in the wake of the changes, this perspective was missed.<\/p>\n
I have seen leaders who similarly who are so keen in driving a point, in pushing an agenda, that they miss out on reading and sensing on what\u2019s happening in the environment in their team.
\nIf you are tuned in, you can detect if there is resistance, acceptance, resignation, enthusiasm, buy-in, or dragging of feet; and use that information to probe for further engagement. Because if this picture is missed out, the destination may not get reached.<\/p>\n
This tuning-in requires a zen-like stillness; the ability to be \u2018in the moment\u2019 ; and to \u2018empty\u2019 the self of wants, wishes, sometimes even obsessions, and \u2018letting go\u2019 for higher wisdom to come in.<\/p>\n
*(Photo illustration by Jeff Boyer \/ Times Union)<\/p>\n
……………………………….\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026…\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026…\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026..<\/p>\n
{While this story is about my missing the \u2018big-picture\u2019 because of ‘over-focus’, there are\u00a0 occasions when I\u2019m able to \u2018catch\u2019 it at the right time! If you want to learn more about facilitating with a 360 degree view, or with \u2018eyes at the ack of the head\u2019 with psychodrama training (more details here<\/a>), or develop team leaders who have this skill, contact us.<\/em>}<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Recently, I was facilitating a team-building session for young techies. After the workshop, the Team Leader mentioned in passing that she noticed that \u2018X\u2019 (who has a quick mind) was making faces to his buddy \u2018Y\u2019 about \u2018Z\u2019 (because Z\u2019s pace was slower). Two concerns hit me: One, it was clear the team had … Continue reading “How a \u2018fixed agenda\u2019 clouded my big-picture”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":129,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/rashmidatt.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/rashmidatt.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/rashmidatt.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rashmidatt.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rashmidatt.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=128"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"http:\/\/rashmidatt.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":136,"href":"http:\/\/rashmidatt.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128\/revisions\/136"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rashmidatt.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/129"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/rashmidatt.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=128"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rashmidatt.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=128"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rashmidatt.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=128"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}