PSM: Week 4 reflections
This weeks topic is ‘Prototyping’, a practice I do (and evangelise!) whenever I can. I’m not sure what new tricks I can learn, but as always, my mind is open! Here’s my ‘Week 4 reflections’ from Better Work Together’s ‘Practical Self-Management’ course.
Like fellow student Mark Eddleston, I’m sceptical about the ‘Theory U’ model for change. Meta approaches often leave me unconvinced, and their applications often leave me muddled. Show me something that works, and I’m interested, show it working again and I’m sold. This is the power of great Prototypes, so skip the ‘U’nnecessary models, and get prototyping!
We self-organised into teams (in a wonderfully chaotic way!) and sadly, my favourite idea ‘Elevator-pitch for Self-Management’ didn’t gain enough support (but if you can help with this, I’m still game!)
Happily, my second favourite idea ‘Tool to make feedback easier’ was picked up by two great colleagues, time to get prototyping…well, almost. Before this, we needed the ever-messy ‘human’ discussions of what a Prototype should actually do. Thankfully, we all started with the beautiful agreement that feedback isn’t about furthering your own aims, it’s about developing your relationship with someone, and both of you becoming better people through this. Imagine if everyone bought into this!!!
With such a strong starting point, we were able to quickly agree on a lightweight app or web-page that could either be used as:
- A basic prompt to help you give caring, useful feedback or
- A powerful relationship builder, that holds feedback given and received
How it works:
1, When you open it up, you’re presented with your feedback history, and the option to give feedback to a new or existing person
2, You then choose between different feedback styles (eg ‘SBA’ or ‘4-Step feedback’) and get prompts with how to structure your feedback (see image)
3, This feedback could either be sent, saved, or discussed in person
The prototype was amazing, and to my infinite shame, I hadn’t clocked that ‘Figma’ was a prototyping tool (I thought it was a ridiculously complicated design tool). My teammates must have thought I was out of my tiny mind to have suggested PowerPoint!!!
Final thoughts:
I’m getting better this! (not Prototyping…People!) I’m becoming more comfortable in myself and how my amazing skills in some areas sit alongside my great big blindspots. Looking forward to week 5!
