This article arises to be able to share my experience in organizations regarding the difficulty that exists in teams and leaders to create spaces where they can get to know each other better, in a simple way and that generates value.
Despite spending many hours at work, teams do not always know how to generate instances to get to know each other beyond the role. Meetings are often scheduled one on one; or we plan social gatherings outside the office as a resource to create a good atmosphere and generate conversations that allow us to learn more about their families, hobbies, passions, among others. We spend a lot of time working together, but we don’t really know each other.
A few months ago, a Director I was coaching asked me to implement some Management 3.0 practices with his new team. He had recently joined a Food company of approximately 1500 employees. Besides, it was a new field for him since he came from the financial industry. He had a full schedule for his onboarding to the company but felt the need to get to know the team faster. He visualized that it was not going to be easy because everyone was also teleworking. COVID 19 had put new challenges to lead and insert in this new organization.
This team was made up of a Director and Area Managers, who reported directly to him.
Given this need, I dared to propose the practice of Personal Maps. Why Personal Maps? Because it allows us to get closer to the work of others to better understand what is happening, reduce the distance to help increase communication and creativity. A great exercise to better understand people is to capture what you know about them on personal maps.
I invite you to learn more about the practice on the Management 3.0 site https://management30.com/practice/personal-maps/
Since they were working from home, the dynamics were made with me through virtual meetings by zoom.
The steps to implement this practice were as follows:
Step 1: I explained that the goal was to get to know each other better and facilitate good communication between them, increase creativity and build trust thus building a more cohesive team.
Step 2: they worked individually on the ramifications. These included the following topics: current role and seniority, education, family, hobbies, values, motivations for the current role, which they dreamed of being as children.
Step 3: they opened the conversation with questions such as: how many minutes each had, who started it, and with what depth they explained what they wrote. My answer was, that we were going to take the necessary time and that they give it the level of depth that each one feels comfortable with. Finish by saying that this instance is for you to get to know each other better and for sure you would know more about your new boss. They then shared their maps, where everyone listened carefully to what the others were saying.
• At the end of the dynamic, I left space for them to look for a symbol that would identify them, in this new stage. I asked for feedback on what they learned, what they thought of the dynamics, and what challenges they are left with.
It was very pleasant to observe the attention and respect with which they listened to each other, regarding the learning they incorporated. There was a commitment to implement it with their teams to incorporate it as a practice.
As a facilitator, I learned that regardless of our position in the organization, we all want to be genuinely heard by our peers and leaders. A leader can prepare the land for sustainable growth, generate spaces of trust for the team to flow, self-manage, collaborate, and thus see the fruits of this.
The results as a team were: greater knowledge about the life history of their peers and the leader, which will be of great help to create empathy between them. They learned the importance of taking time to get to know each other, that although they invested time in this activity where they had to adjust their schedule, the gain was to connect with their new leader and get to know their peers better. They valued the space because it was not a habitual practice and they challenged the leader to generate these spaces so that they are incorporated as a practice in the Culture. The leader was able to distinguish the diversity of the team and how much each one can add from their motivations.
After a month, I got back together with the team. Where they reported that this dynamic had allowed them to adjust their dynamics quickly with the new boss. It facilitated communication and trust-building. At the beginning of their weekly meetings, they began by sharing their weekend. Then they continued with the other topics.
In short, the relationships between members became stronger, trust increased, connections between them, and empathy. It was fun learning new things about each other and seeing that they had things in common.
In future practices, in the beginning, I will make a game so that participants who do not know how to use Miró feel more comfortable in the dynamics, that they do not pay so much attention to writing but to the dynamics. However, after a few minutes, they were able to handle it and it flowed.
For a future experiment, I would ask the team to indicate what criteria they would add to expand their knowledge of each team member and to know what motivates them, making them participate in the construction of the practice. Suggestions you could make are: what they like and what they don’t like about their job, their professional challenges, achievements they are very proud of, etc.
This dynamic had a positive impact, improving the team’s climate, they incorporated into their agendas meetings with more focus on getting to know each other better, greater cohesion, and integration. They realized that they had to start with these practices if they wanted to be an example within the organization.
I believe that after having learned and implemented these management 3.0 practices, I feel more prepared to share my learnings and I will continue doing these dynamics to contribute to the teams and their evolution.
I advise you to apply this dynamic because it is simple but powerful, dare to try it.
