opeThe work
What the work looks like
People call me during a particular kind of week. There are two ways I work with a team, and which one fits comes down to whether anybody already knows the answer.
Facilitation
The Xpedition
For a team sitting on a question nobody has answered yet.
A reorg changed who owns what, or there's a process everybody quietly works around. I run the session and the group works its own way to an answer. When a framework or something I know would move them along, I put it on the table and they decide what to do with it.
The subject can be anything the team is carrying. I've run this on how people communicate, and on a reporting process that had been stuck for months. A few weeks later I call you to hear what held.
- Three hours
- The standard session, and a half day on the calendar. A short introduction to how people on the team think and communicate, then the facilitated discussion they came for.
- Shorter or longer
- The length moves a little either way, depending on the size of the group and how much they are carrying into the room.
Training
The Ascent
How to lead, manage, and motivate people well.
Most people in the room got the job on technical skill and now have people reporting to them. Nobody taught them that part, and it's where good people get lost. The work starts with an assessment of how each person thinks and operates. Then I teach the material on managing and motivating people.
The last stretch works the way an Xpedition does. Each person maps how they personally contribute to the team's success, working from the framework they just learned.
- Half or full day
- The core material on how to lead and manage people. A short self-assessment gets everyone into how they think and operate before the teaching starts.
- Extended or multi-session
- For a leadership team that needs more than one sitting. Adds a deeper assessment layer and spreads the work across several meetings.
Choosing
Which one you need
- Nobody has the answer yet
- That's an Xpedition. The team decides where it lands, on whatever subject is in front of them.
- People need to get better at leading
- That's the Ascent. The destination is set before we start and I teach toward it.
An Xpedition sometimes turns up that what a team really needs is the second one. When that happens I'll say so on the follow-up call.
In the room
What happens once we start
It's a guided conversation. I ask questions that get at what's sitting under the stated problem. The group works on its own situation, which means people leave with something they can use on Monday.
The room stays calm. I care more about whether a group can think clearly together than about how energized everyone feels walking out.
Pricing
How pricing works
Pricing is scoped to the engagement. A half-day session and a leadership arc running across several months are different amounts of work, so I'll give you a number once we've talked.
Proof
After a staff meeting
We still can't thank you enough for leading our staff meeting with such eye-opening and impactful leadership activities and actions to re-route our mindsets regarding communication.
As well as to strengthen our team unit.
Next
Tell me what's happening.
Twenty minutes on the phone is usually enough for both of us to know whether this is worth continuing.