Supporting the process — Alex Ivanov on developing the Team Canvas
Alex Ivanov is the co-creator of the Team Canvas, a free tool for leaders, facilitators and consultants to organize team alignment meetings and bring members on the same page, resolve conflicts and build productive culture, fast.
Hi Alex! So, what made you develop the Team Canvas?
Well, I’ve been highly connected to the idea that it becomes increasingly hard to build things on your own in the digital economy for a couple of years. To build products and services that are going to last you need to leverage the collective wisdom. And when I see people work in teams they’re so focused on delivering which leads to them going in circles and not looking at their relationship to each other as a team.
And all I could say was “C’mon guys, there’s a better way to do this.”
How did the development process go?
We first started with a more conversational approach to it without anything visual. But since it’s hard to get people to these types of conversations in the first place people got really uncomfortable, even though it’s a rewarding process. We discovered we needed to have some references, some anchors that looked familiar and for us the Business Model Canvas was such an anchor that we developed this theme around.
Besides the Business Model Canvas, what else have you drawn inspiration from?
I’m a huge fan of Susan Wheelan and her theory on Integrated Model of Group Development. A lot of Hyper Island stuff is based on that theory and it makes sense to me, having studied at Hyper Island. I also like Patrick Lencioni’s book The Five Dysfunctions of a Team.
So, what makes a good team?
There’s a lot of bits and pieces to it and there’s no single way that says this is what makes a great team. But if you start investigating you find there’s a set of values that seem to be common among really cohesive and high-performing teams. I guess when you start to see those values to you start thinking about what would be the conversation that would lead people to discuss those types of things. And that’s what ended up in the canvas. We wanted this tool to really drive people to where they need to be in terms of team development and offer them enough process support, but we didn’t want to own the content.
What is some of the feedback you’ve gotten?
We’ve had around 1 200 people, mostly facilitators, download the canvas which is great. And the feedback we get is positive. Many people are surprised that it gets them to a different stage — it’s like a psychological help to them.
People take the canvas and change it a little bit and playing around with it. I see it more as a model kit and you build whatever you want from it. There was a guy from Spain who used it with his team and sent the canvas home with them as homework and the day after they were so prepared and had a set of goals figured out already. That makes me happy to hear.
What struggles do you see?
So far it’s that people need to develop their practice that’s sustainable and not just concentrated to a one time event.
Basically it all boils down to feedback loops and making really honest and short feedback conversations quite often.
But it’s also about people getting used to having a facilitator, which usually is really hard for people to grasp if they’ve never experienced it. Like Frederic Laloux says, we’re all grownups and we can handle things and handle hard news. So we don’t need to be steering people but offer enough support to get them through the process. Which is quite different from how traditional organizations look like today.
This focuses on teams, but what’s your experience with startups, culture and accelerators?
I don’t know any accelerators that actually invest in this part and I guess the business model of accelerators is revolving around giving enough support at an early stage to make sure you get the first round of investment as a team. As much as accelerators might be interested in group dynamics and making sure that things are working more or less smoothly within teams, I don’t feel like they’re prioritizing it.
I think the default thought about a startup team in an accelerator is that it’s a black box. The accelerator can offer a lot of support and resources, like mentorships, money and other things, but it’s the black box’ responsibility to figure out how to work within itself. I think it’s very uncommon for someone to help out with the culture at such an early stage.
Do you think startups should focus more on their culture in an early stage?
I think it’s a matter of priorities. You have to prove that you can scale the company first. And culture usually becomes a necessity later on when you have that understanding that you’re making money and can scale. That doesn’t mean culture building isn’t important. It just means it’s not a priority at that time.
What does the future look like for the Team Canvas?
Right now I’m looking into making all the notes I had during the process and trying to combine it into a book. People write to me sometimes and they’re not sure if they’re going to try it or not. My general response to that is that they should try it, because just by doing it they’re doing it right. But I feel like there’s some basics that could be covered in a book, like a compilation of how to look at the different conversations the canvas facilitates.
I’m researching culture building in startups for my MA in Digital Media Management at Hyper Island. For more info: http://bit.ly/building-startup-culture
