A technique to help define ‘what does “good” look like?’

My intention with this article is to share a technique I have used, both as a coach, and as a leader, that has helped me uncover underlying expectations of people during ‘transformation’ activities. It has also allowed me to have reflective moments with others about their own role in transformation. It’s served me well and I hope you find it somewhat helpful. It’s been a while since I last wrote anything here so you may have to forgive me, i’m a little rusty.

There are many great things about the work I do. Your days are spent working with smart, extremely capable people working on challenging and interesting things. I mean, that’s a rather compelling job description wouldn’t you say?

One of these ‘things’, especially when working with leaders, is inevitably going to be one of the current buzzwords — transformation. I’m not exactly sure when ‘transformation’ became an end state but I expect it was somewhere between 2016–2017. Transformation is the goal that everyone seems to be wanting to achieve, and it’s hard to blame them. If you take a bunch of highly capable but extremely busy folk and constantly talk about the disruptor economy, VUCA, the rise of the intermediaries or whatever other scary rationale for change exists at the time you create this world where the need for change is imperative, but what that change actually looks like, well that’s not so clear. A world where many people are confused, and most are frustrated. You create the world of ‘transformation’. And, quite possibly along the way forget that real ‘transformation’ is a transitional state that one goes through from a starting point to a desired destination state. It is the process, not the goal. When all is said and done, that process or change might not be drastic enough in the end to warrant the title transformation. Let us not dwell on that though because transformation sounds a lot more exciting.

You may find yourself mid transformation one day, and the transformation may not be going to plan. So what does one do? I can only speak for myself but usually my first step is to try (slowly) to draw out what exactly the desired changes look like. How would we know we’ve “transformed”? I say slowly because my experience has been that it’s generally not easy to define. Unlike Optimus Prime above, who transforms from an awesome Mack truck, to an even more awesome, father like, super hero butt kicking, earth saving robot (wait, now im getting why transformation is so cool - and im also on ebay looking to buy Optimus Prime) team or organisational transformation isn’t so obvious. When asking people to define what ‘good looks like’ it can be a daunting process. The first couple of points, which will almost inevitably be about a highly engaged team(s), driven strong performers, a learning culture etc… come quickly and easily but soon it becomes harder and harder to define. If you then try to delve into what a ‘highly engaged team’ or ‘learning culture’ look like you will generally get a strange look. We all have our own interpretations, which may not be common. I think this clarity is essential to getting a desired outcome.

Over the year’s I’ve tried many exercises and tools to draw this information out. Success varied with each, and depended largely on understanding what resonated with the person I was working with. Sometimes canvases worked. Quite often they did not. Sometimes they liked checklists, sometimes spreadsheets. Trying to quickly pick which would work with each individual became a past time. Sometimes I got it right, sometimes, well I got it really wrong. It’s hard to build credibility when people are looking at you like this.

In saying that, my experimentation led me to create one tool which worked more often than not, and that’s the one i’m going to share with you.

Start with a blank piece of paper. Ask the person to think back through their career and identify the person who was the best to work with. Or, if speaking to a leader you could use the alternative of — the best team member they ever had. Ask them to draw that person in the middle of the page.

Hopefully their artwork is better than mine. Next, ask them to think about what made said person so great to work with. Ask them to note down those traits, but not in an objectified way — as in the person was a ‘hard worker’ or was ‘helpful’ but from the perspective of the person. An example could be ‘i always make time to help others’, ‘i love learning new things’ or ‘i like to not be too serious and have fun at work’. It doesn’t matter so much what they write, it’s about understanding the things they value. When they have finished — and give them time, its not as easy as one thinks, ask them to number them in terms of importance.

You might end up with something that looks like this. Have a bit of a conversation, show genuine interest and try to get an understanding of what they have written. Ask why certain ones are more important. It’s a great way to get to know someone.

Now, the important part, the question. I will generally phrase it somewhere along these lines “Looks like a really great person — personally i’d love to work with them as well. Is this the kind of person we are hoping to have more of in our transformed state? Yes? Great, thanks that really clears things up a lot. Oh, just one more question — as a leader, there is the notion that one of our primary purposes is to create culture , would you agree? You do? Wonderful, so, which of these traits are you actively doing something to help instil in your team?”

My measure of success is not based on the answer. It’s how long they spend contemplating the question. If they start listing a whole bunch of things, chances are you are in for a challenging ride — they dont see what is missing to date. Though, when you find someone who thoughtfully sits back and contemplates this for an extended period of time, or even better one who simply states ‘very few’ you have found yourself a great person to work with. You may now have a view of what they want, and also built an understanding of how important their role is in creating that world. A good starting point for clearly understanding a desired end-state, and potentially a launch pad to discuss what needs to be done to get you there.

I hope this helps you as it has helped me.

NB:

This exercise went through a few iterations. Things I learned along the way:

• Don’t rush it. If you don’t have time, don’t force the exercise. It’s not a checkbox.
• Be present. If you aren’t interested, they wont be.
• Don’t try to make the drawing about ‘the best version of themselves’ you won’t get very good answers
• People are generally more comfortable talking about traits of other people. It is a safer way of getting them to open up about the things they feel are most important without them filtering the answers.
• Sometimes they can see that the person they are, and the person they respect are not the same
• When your three year old daughter talks about traits as “being a princess”, being in charge” and “being beautiful” you know you are in for a world of trouble.