Action Planning Session Technique: Brainstorming on 2 TPIs – Word association

This is a suggested approach to help teams link their TPIs (Team Performance Indicators) to their team’s real-world KPIs (Key Performance Indicators – business metrics). This supposes that you have gotten the team to focus on two TPIs and you are ready to brainstorm how they link back to their business. For this example, let’s suppose the team has chosen Trust (positivity TPI) and Accountability (productivity TPI).

Approach:
1. Use two flipcharts. Write one TPI on each flipchart, right in the center. (eg, Trust on flipchart 1, Accountability on flipchart 2)
2. Put one flipchart to the side to focus on the first TPI.
3. Capture team members’ “word associations” with the first TPI.
– For example, ask “What are all the words that come to mind when you think of the word Trust?”
4. Repeat for second flipchart (eg, Accountability)
5. Now put both flipcharts next to each other, and look for the interrelated words across both of them together.
– Circle the interrelated words in different colors (one color for each set of interrelated words).
– Make an attempt to summarize the interrelated words into a set of themes (one theme for each color)
6. Now look at these themes and see how they support the team’s KPI (business outcome)

In this way, you have helped the group make a direct link from the TPIs to their own real-world KPIs. As a result, people stop questioning “Why are we focused on positivity, trust, etc.?”, and we have therefore brought more meaning into the team coaching work.

A bonus next step can be to have the team identify a framework, hypotheses, actions, projects, initiatives, personal commitments, etc. to bring better business results through focus on TPIs.

If you like this, let me know what you think!

Cheers,
Steve Tulowitzki