Using Profiling Tools to Take Strengths to the Next Level!

I've been a fan of strengths based development all of my life, it just didn't have a name until I was a participant in a talent program at a previous employer some years ago.

I've always used one of DiSC, MBTI or the VIA Strengths Survey as the standard tools for clients/participants to get an understanding of their strengths and/or preferences and then be the basis for group debrief activities, coaching, etc. Today I completed my Gallup Strengthsfinder Survey to get a taste of something different.

Like most people, I love seeing the results of a survey all about ME! Which is great. I find that for the most part, the output results tend to be consistent with how I see myself. Over the years I have had people disassociate from their results and contest the validity of a given profiling tool - whether it's VIA, DiSC, MBTI, etc. and sometimes it makes me wonder if using profiling tools is really that useful... Do people get a benefit from completing these surveys and tools?

I'm running with a YES for the following two reasons:
1. I tend to stick with 'old faithful' tools that have been around a while. It means that they've been validated by a massive sample size of participants and they've been tested by all the skeptics and still survive.
2. Whether the learner agrees or not with the output from a given tool, just the fact that they've completed the survey gives a common ground and language to start the conversation about strengths and preferences, and how to optimise them in the context of work or day to day life. I always run with the "You're the expert of YOU" mantra that ensures people understand that the results of the tool are a starting point and that if it starts a conversation that gets us to a better understanding of developing strengths then we've had a win - It's all about what you do with it!

Take Your Strengths to the Next Level
I'm always happy to share my results with others, and learn more about people's strengths with a view to doing something positive with them. Go to my site to connect about taking strengths to the next level for yourself or your team!

What Does it Mean to Work Out Loud (WOL)?

Next week (Nov 17 – Nov 24) is WOL week (https://twitter.com/wolweek) and I’m keen to get on board and have a go throughout the week to develop a stronger habit around WOL. So what does it actually mean? I pulled the following quote from WOL guru John Stepper (http://johnstepper.com/):

“Working Out Loud starts with making your work visible in such a way that it might help others. When you do that – when you work in a more open, connected way – you can build a purposeful network that makes you more effective and provides access to more opportunities.”

Having previously worked in a large bank, I have had experience using work based social networking platforms – in my case it was using Yammer – and if I reflect on the experience, there was a big focus on people calling out to the organisation where they were having a problem with something and essentially crowd sourcing a solution. Don’t get me wrong, I've seen the benefits that have come from this crowd sourcing solution approach. We used the hashtag #yammerwin as a method for measuring ROI from the social network… But there must be more, right?

I see WOL as the next generation of how people use professional social network platforms, be it internal platforms or external platforms. WOL is where people evolve their use of social networks to share their work and collaborate in a way that seeks to GROW thoughts, ideas and innovation rather than just solve current problems.

No doubt that it takes a shift in the way we operate to effectively work out loud. It requires transparency. It requires acceptance of the fact that to grow an idea, it might mean sharing it with others before the idea is perfect… It requires alignment to a bigger purpose so that we can all get past the curse of ‘who might get the recognition for this?’

I’m pumped to work in a more out loud way this week and align it more closely to how I generate outputs that are bigger, better and more purposeful than ever! Tune in for a great week:
Twitter - @lachfairburn
LinkedIn - http://au.linkedin.com/pub/lachlan-fairburn/1b/3b8/413

Do You Have a Story About a Remarkable Team?

I do. My team experiences are many and varied. I often think back and tell stories about one in particular, my first ever management role. I was 19/20(ish) years old and had been given the task of managing a very poor performing sports retail store. It was ranked quite low compared to its national peers, and very low against its peers closer by within the region.

Over the year, an unassuming bunch of 17-22 year olds (that was the age spread of the team - mostly casual uni students) managed to achieve 'store of the quarter' status nationally and even stick around in the top tier the quarter after that.

I was reading an article by Bob Nelson called "Creating High-Performing Teams - Characteristics of an effective team and team recognition tips" (2010) and in the article, acknowledging there are many attributes of high-performing teams, he outlined 7 in particular. I thought it would be fun to retrospectively compare my team of 1997 to the 7 Attributes.

I went on to do a business degree and then spend a decade working in adult learning roles within corporate environments. Every time I'd learn a new technique, theory or methodology for performance I'd think back to this team and how we were doing a lot of those things on instinct. I think most of us do work on experience and instinct. These days I just do it with more purpose and rationale.

For my reminiscing and possibly your amusement, this is my rose-coloured recollection:

Purpose	We had a common purpose based around survival and full clarity of the mission ahead. If the store didn’t improve, its future (and our jobs) would be in jeopardy. We didn’t have a fancy name for that back then… I can still remember sitting around one Thursday night and mutually agreeing to a set of guiding principles for how we could get the store back on track…<see below in Empowerment>
Empowerment	Luckily, we had a pretty flat structure – I had been the full-timer/2IC and was promoted internally. Everyone else was either part-time or casual and looked on each other as peers (given we were all the same measure of ‘wet behind the ears’ naïve). We agreed to 2 behaviours/actions that would be invoked 100% and had the absolute autonomy to call each other on it if they weren’t being adhered to: 1. Every customer gets a nice and friendly interaction whether they’re there to buy the most expensive shoes or a pair of laces. The deal was, they leave with an invisible ‘+’ sign on their forehead. 2. If a customer comes in with one of our bags (ie. Some shoes they want to return), they’re not allowed to make it all the way to the counter without being met by one of the team (think about it, going in to try and return anything in a shop isn’t fun, people don’t like doing it. Meeting the customer half way was a symbolic measure that we wanted to help). The agreement on decision making was that as long as it was in the interest of the store and customer and one of your peers agreed (helped people feel like they were allowed to reach out for help), then people were empowered to make decisions.
Relationships & Communication	We were a little bit like the blind leading the blind, so there was high trust and acceptance that we weren’t going to be perfect but we were going to have a go! Many members of the team had grown up in the area and knew each other from school days and childhood, so there wasn’t really a façade for individuals to hide behind at work. Looking back, if I had overthought this high level of personal history I might have tried to prevent people being too ‘buddy buddy at work’ and stifled the organic connections and shared history that actually drove commitment to each other and the team outcomes.
Flexibility	We took shared responsibility for team development and leadership. We did have a variety of experience in the team, so people leveraged their strengths to share knowledge with the newer staff. There was a lot of ‘street cred’ relating to product knowledge and selling skills. The more you could break down all the elements of the latest technology, the more street cred you had. When senior staff were asked to help out a new staff member with their product knowledge or selling process, it was a form of recognition and pride. Given the team was heavy in casual staff, there was an inherent adaptive mojo that pervaded. The group were young and up for challenges!
Optimal Productivity	We got a lot more purposeful about having sales targets front and centre for people to assist with motivating productivity. There was already a commission based pay structure in place to incentivise, but in the past people had accepted that our store wasn’t one where you could earn commission. Given this, targets were put to the side and people weren’t heading in the same direction. When people know where the goal posts are they are far more likely to shoot for them. The culture of the group meant we were all up for a little competition internally, but more so was the desire to compete at the same level as other stores in our region.
Recognition & Appreciation	This was big. It’s the most I felt like I was a peer within the team rather than the leader. We started the journey at the bottom of the pack, so there was a real feeling of comradery in the team. Given the dire conditions of the store when we got started with the turn around, there was a feeling of ‘us against the world’. We were tight and relied strongly on our peers for recognition. It was a critical driver the way that people showed appreciation for a colleague going the extra mile. When someone does a favour, then the other feels like they need to match it back in some other way down the track – we were trading in a currency that was very intangible and paid very highly!
Morale	I can still remember the Boxing Day sale of that year. It was always the biggest day in retail. The first business day after Christmas and the sales were hot to trot. Generally speaking, the store sales target would be set at approx. 5 x the normal. Not only did we meet our target that day, but we outsold the two other stores in our city! The feeling was visceral. It was nearly like our grand-final. It also marked the end of a tough year where we had stuck with each other and there was great optimism for the year to come – a critical element of morale.

Top Tips for a Match Fit Facilitator

On reflection, the last six months has provided many learning opportunities. The big one that sticks out to me is the transformation that I have had to make from being an experienced (albeit lazy) Facilitator to a match fit, adaptable Facilitator that can turn their hand to almost anything at any time!

So, if you're a bit like me and you have 'workshop facilitation' as a skill on your LinkedIn profile, and you talk up a big game about all the things you've facilitated in the past and can facilitate in the future, then here are few of my top tips on getting match fit when somebody actually expects you to deliver to the standard that you espouse!

1. Get Surrounded by Other Facilitators

Peer to peer learning and coaching is one of the quickest ways to elevate your skills to a new level. Don't be afraid that you might not be as polished as the facilitators that you're working with. They love it because they feel like masters of their art and they can share how great they are with someone that appreciates the techniques that most audiences are oblivious to.

This is the perfect environment for giving and receiving real, specific and purposeful feedback. Look for opportunities to co-facilitate, and don't just rush off at the end. Block in 30 minutes to debrief and provide each other specific feedback.

2. Deliver Content Outside Your Comfort Zone

Facilitating content that I was comfortable with is how I got lazy. I found myself dropping into 'trainer' mode rather than genuinely facilitating the learning process. When I started facilitating content that I wasn't an expert in, I had to lose the status and share it with the audience. It meant that I had to draw information out of the audience with quality questioning techniques, building a strong 'why' frame and generating an environment where people took ownership of the content and its relevance to their need. It wasn't about me anymore, it was about them (God forbid).

This can be pretty scary, because a lot of Facilitators that I know out there believe that you need to be an expert in what you facilitate. My argument is that, within reason, a match fit Facilitator should be able to facilitate anything, that is relevant to the audience.

3. Collect and Input Your Own Evaluation Data

This was the biggest one for me. I don't necessarily rate Kirkpatrick level 1 feedback forms (ie. the happy sheet at the end of the session). I've always felt it was subjective, depended on an individual's mood and how good the catering was for the day.

A four day residential program that I rolled out as part of a pool of Facilitators over the past 6 months included the task of inputting the evaluation forms to a central online repository for reporting purposes. I approached this task with disdain as these 'happy sheets' are based on emotion and bias, etc. They're a popularity tool!!!

It wasn't until I was up to my elbows in them that among all the 'best program I've ever been on' comments, there were some little nuggets of gold where disconnection was occurring between me and my audience. There were themes across audiences that gave me some context and clarity to continue improving and in essence, maintain my match fitness into the future. 

So, whilst there were moments of contempt, and honestly some moments where an onsite counsellor would have been useful, collecting and inputting you own evaluations means that you read every one of them and the odd nugget will show itself for you to develop from.

If you spend some time reflecting, I'm sure there are other tips that would be useful for Facilitators. I'm constantly looking for ideas to improve, so feel free to share them!

Maintaining Resilience and Keeping Fresh!

I've just spent the last 3 weeks facilitating residential leadership programs - this means being on the clock from approx. 7:30 am through to the end of a facilitated dinner at 9:30 pm!

One element of the program covers health and well-being. It's critical in leadership to manage your own well-being/resilience both from a performance maintenance perspective and also from a role modelling perspective for your own team. Tony and Mark from Health Made Simple have been to recent sessions to run this component and it has been a catalyst for me to stop and think about how I maintain my own resilience and keep fresh.

A couple of takeaways from the boys has been around increasing my water intake (perhaps swapping a coffee or a beer for a water would be a good start) and finding more opportunities to build physical activity into my day. Especially when facilitating for 12+ hours in day, it's very easy to fall into the lazy option on the couch than get out and be active.

Mentally though, I have taken stock again of my signature strengths to ensure that I am finding ways to incorporate the things that energize me into my day. You can take the VIA Character Survey and check out your signature strengths.

The key signature strengths I'll be looking to leverage more in my day to day include Zest and Humor! What this means is looking for the fun in what I'm doing and finding ways to get active in it. Pretty aligned to what I've taken away from the sessions with Health Made Simple... Funny that!

Preparing to Facilitate

I've been in the thick of preparing to facilitate a 4 day residential leadership program next week. It's an important task because we all know the pain that can occur when there hasn't been any preparation. Participants can see straight through it!
People often ask me how I seem to be able to turn things around quickly, facilitate sessions with very little notice, etc. so in the spirit of sharing, I've put together a one page example of how I prepare to facilitate any kind of session. Regardless of whether it's a learning program, team building day, strategy/planning session, even sales pitch, this model is basis for most of my prep.
Thanks must go to Bernice McCarthy for bringing us the 4Mat model. It is by far the tool I utilise the most. Perhaps not specifically the way Bernice intended on all occasions but it absolutely allows me to focus my thinking and ensure that I align the "What's in it for me?" for participants to the content of the session.
Check out this generic example I put together for how I would prepare for a session on time management. I hope it's useful and am keen to know what techniques others use to prepare effectively!

Individual Development Plan

Nobody wants to be the chef that doesn't cook dinner, or the mechanic that drives a bomb, so tomorrow I start working on my individual development plan with a 10% activity (see link for 70:20:10 definition)!

I'll be jumping into the participant seat to complete my MBTI accreditation. I've worked with a number of personality/preference tools over the years, and feel like this one is the most widely understood, reviewed, and broadly applicable tool in my circles. 

For my own development, after being exposed to the tool for nearly a decade now, I know that being accredited to administer it will provide a great anchor back to the personal interest I have in strengths based development and appreciative inquiry.

So like all good participants that want to get the most out of any learning opportunity, I've completed my pre-work and look forward to gaining lots of useful insights over the next 4 days with the gang at CPP Asia Pacific.

I'll be interested to find out off others, what other psychometric tools could complement MBTI in my arsenal...