Helping Team members to see where they are aligned when differences prevail

[Anonymous]

This is something I tried during a Masterclass session I attended in Toronto last year. Individuals within the team were talking only about there needs, aspirations, preferences and what was important to them. This pattern went on for some time to the point where team members were becoming increasingly entrenched and disengaged. As coach I could read some of the undercurrent and see that there was the potential for alignment on what was important for the team, even if team members didn’t want to be directly involved in all activities or priorities.

They were given the opportunity to list on a flip chart, what was important to them; and I then asked each team member to identify which elements or priorities they valued (and why) but they weren’t allowed to choose any of their own.

All team members were able to recognise others’ priorities that they knew were important and why it was important that these priorities were attended to. This exercise broke the prior dialogue of individualism and allowed the team to agree on team priorities and to appreciate the fact that others would attend to those priorities that they didn’t feel equipped for or motivated by.

[Laura]

Thank for sharing. I can see how it also could be helpful when looking for alignment between teams and organizations as a whole.

[Cynthia Wong]

Thanks for sharing. Simple but effective approach to better alignment!

[Author]

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