Powerful Questions During Revealing Results + Template Script!

[vsong]

Discovery Stage:
Tell me about the current situation, why coaching, why now?
Who is on this team?
Which team, if they work together better would have the biggest impact on your company right now?
What does the team need to learn?
What does the team need to do differently?
What are the business metrics this team is accountable for?
What changes and improvements would you like to see in those outcomes?
What is the payoff, what is the opportunity?

Business Alignment Convo (ROI):
Why is this an issue?
Who will support the team coaching?
Who will not support the team coaching?
Are there important intangible benefits?
Is this issue critical?
Is it possible to correct it?
How much is it costing us?
Are there multiple solutions?
What happens if we do nothing?
Is there a potential payoff (positive ROI)?
Is this issue linked with strategy?

KPI – measurable, single value, long term and short term, quantitative, qualitative.
Can be introduced in discovery and discussed more in ongoing coaching sessions

What is the organization measuring and why?
What are the business metrics that this team direct effects?
What are the business metrics that this team indirectly effects?
What are the team’s KPI metrics now and ideally (anything you’d like to add?)
What data is currently available and needed for these KPIs?
Set KPI targets and targets over time. How often will it be measured?
Decide how data will be gathered and analyzed – who’s responsible for what

Show links to business metrics – make sure team is not too inwardly focused.

TPI – which TPIs are most likely to leverage improvements in KPIs? Prioritize 2-4.

What and how will we measure?
Develop and prioritize actions for improving TPIs

AGENDA FOR DEBRIEF SESSION:
Set context for the work.
Reveal the team’s results.
Engage the team in conversation: What do these results mean for this team?
Plan next steps.

We will show you the results of your assessment in a series of graphic layers; each layer more detailed; leading to an action plan at the end of the day. The data is your assessment of your team. The data is important as a way to engage in conversation about what the results mean as you apply what you see to your team. The real measure of success for the day will be in the quality of that conversation.
The goal for the day is open, candid, even courageous conversation. And – we know that’s not always easy. So the next question is, ‘What will make it safe enough here in this room today, to have that kind of conversation?’ That’s the goal of the next exercise: to create the conditions that will support, encourage and empower real conversation.

II. Team Agreements:
The ultimate measure of success for the day is in the honest, open, engaged communication.
What needs to be in place — what do you need from each other — in order for this to be a safe place to have really honest conversation?
How committed are you to these agreements?
What would significantly increase your confidence in them?
What will you do the first time you notice one of the agreements is not being kept?
Use the words team members say, and feel free to clarify or look deeper. For example, sometimes a team member will say, “I want respect.” Coach could ask “What would that look like?” “How will you know that’s true?” “Where would that show up on this team?” This turns the generic into more specific examples of behavior.

The next question is the team extension:
In order for this team to excel, what do you want for the team?
This is the shift from purely personal to a sense of wanting for the team as a whole, especially the kind of culture team members want to create for this team.
Watch the arc of the contributions. When it feels like this first part is complete ask the final question.
Final question, and an extension from the first two:
In order to actually create what you say you want, for yourselves, and for the team, what agreements need to be in place for this team?
Or
In order to have the most effective conversations possible—leave the session with no regrets—what agreements do you want to make with each other?
Make a separate list of agreements; some will be repeats of the first part of the exercise.

Agreements can be specific and behavioral. For example:
We show up for meetings on time.
We turn off cell phones when we meet.
Every meeting has an agenda and an outcome.
They can also be more qualitative, describing how we treat each other on this team.
We assume positive intent.
We practice standing in the others’ shoes.
Mistakes are human. We look for the learning.
We can disagree all we want as a team inside the conference room. When we walk out we present one aligned position.
On the team that came up with that last one, it was referred to as the “no back stabbing and sabotaging” agreement. Guess what it was a remedy for on that team.

Other examples:
Our silence indicates agreement
We do not tolerate personal attacks
We have honest, candid conversations
We encourage risk-taking
We are open to influence, avoid defensiveness
We look for the fraction of truth
We recall our common purpose when we start to divide
We’ve got each other’s’ backs. We are mutually supportive
When there is disagreement or conflict, we address it with our team member one on one first
We value diversity, invite multiple points of view, look for the contrary or unpopular position in order to maximize our creativity as a team
When it’s time to decide, we call the decision and we stand united behind it
Venting is ok, followed by “what are you going to do about it?”

III. Results Revealed:

Did you think anything while taking the assessment?
Any insights, curiosities or questions come about from taking the assessment?
Show first result: What do you notice first?
What do you notice next?
Is this a reasonably accurate representation of life at work for this team?
How does that show up in your team? Give a specific example.
You are here. How is that working for you? and Where do you go from here?
Imagine you’ve been working on this TPI for the next 6 months, it’s now a high, what’s changed? What new behaviors do you see?
What other TPIs do you imagine have been affected by this TPI improving?
I noticed there’s a wider range on productivity than there is on positivity, what’s the impact of that?
I notice this seeming contradiction – low constructive interaction but high trust (or any other you see), what accounts for that?
What’s most obvious?
Where is the team strongest?
Where is this team “in trouble”?
What patterns are forming?
What might be a taboo?
What is this team tolerating?
What discrepancies do you see in the data?
What is possible for a team like this?
What can this team celebrate?
What can you normalize? (Even without more information about this team)
What strengths can this team leverage? Where would the team apply that leverage?
Are there questions? Concerns? Confusion? Again, the most effective time to deal with lack of clarity or alignment is earlier rather than later.
What are the organizational metrics that THIS team must have an impact on?
Which TPIs (2-4) do you want to focus on in our coaching work together?
How will you measure success?
What three team challenges do you see based on our conversation today?
Here is the challenge… What action will you commit to?
What action plan to will you commit to?
What are the expected outcomes? What will be different and how will that support the team?
What is the outcome you want from any given exercise?”
This is a core design decision, and as a reminder, the outcome needs to support the stake. Ask yourself, “What will people know as a result of this activity? Or what will they feel, what change will take place?” That’s the outcome.

Multi-voting:
An informal example would work like this:
1) A list of the options is written on a flip chart
2) Each team member is told they have 6 votes. They can put as many votes as they like on the different choices. One team member might put all 6 votes on one idea; a different team member might put 4 votes on one and 1 each on two other choices. Team members can use flip chart markers or small colored adhesive labels.
3) When all team members have voted it should be easy to count the results and determine the top scoring options.
We are strong believers in the synergy that is created when teams create action plans for both the internal dynamics of the team and the team’s business results. The cycle of action, then learning from that action, determining next action steps, learning from the new action — this development cycle both supports progress and provides clear direction for progress.

QUAD:
Describe the quad footprint. What sort of team is this? Notice that the range of the “box” comes from the Top 5 / Bottom 5 scores. The right side of the box (high end of Productivity) is the highest scoring item on the Productivity table. The left side of the box (low end of Productivity) is the lowest scoring item on the Productivity table. Top and Bottom of the box are top and bottom scores from the Positivity

Top 5 / Bottom 5
Is this a reasonably accurate reflection of your team?
What is it like for your team?
What are you proud of? What would you like to change?
Where would you like to be?

Outcome
Awareness and acceptance of, “Yes — that looks like our team.”
Discussion about the workstyle and lifestyle that creates that picture.
A general sense of what is working and what is not working. Where the team is strong or confident and where there is opportunity. Again — a general sense.

Timing
As a high level view, you might spend 20-30 minutes here (or less, or more, all depending on the energy and engagement in the conversation).
Suggested Inquiry / Direction
Is this a reasonably accurate representation of “life at work” for this team?
As you look at this picture, what are you proud of? What do you want to celebrate?
(follow up) What does that give you as a team?
What are the challenges here? What are the pressures?
(follow up) How does that impact this picture?
What is the picture you would like to see in ______ months’ time?
What would be different? What difference would that make?
Normalize the team experience. “Given the circumstances…”
If the team lands mostly in one of the four quadrants you can have the team explore what that feels like — referring to their Quad Exercise experience.
You can also ask the team, “What do you associate with (the color)?” For example, teams that land mostly in the red talk about “fires to put out”, “alarms going off”, “burn out”, “intensity” etc. For the Low/Low corner you might want to seed the discussion for brown, as in “that’s a muddy color. Where is muddy in your world?”
Sometimes team members want to know what makes up Productivity and Positivity in order to have the discussion about what’s working or what’s missing. You can let the team know you will be looking at those factors shortly; it’s the next layer. You can also list those factors here. Just be aware that if you present them here, it is likely to start a conversation about those areas and they don’t have their team scores as a reference.

POLAR:
Normalize their polar diagram. This is where the team is today; it is a baseline and not a judgment.
Where are there peaks and valleys in the polar graph?
How do you account for that score?” “How does that show up in everyday work?” Link the results to their experience.
Where would you like to be? What would need to change?
Imagine your team score for _______ (Decision Making or Communication, for example) were 9.0. What would be different on this team?
When scores are low — have the team members think of an ideal team they’ve been on. What did that team do differently?

BAR CHARTS:
Celebrate strengths.
Normalize where the team is today.
Ask open-ended questions. What’s it like to be at a 4? Where do you see this showing up? How does a team like this behave? Where would you like to be on Accountability and what would that look like?
As a team, how do you account for that score? What’s present and what’s missing?
Also focus on the team’s strengths, what the team already does well. The team can leverage those strengths.
If scores are low, notice if the team goes to judgment or defensiveness. Where they are is simply where they are. It is important to avoid any tendency to indulge in long explanations of “why it’s like this.”
No blaming those who are present or those who are no longer with the team.
Avoid going to solution too quickly. Assure the team there will be time for action planning. Sometimes an eagerness to find a fix is also a way to avoid a more difficult team conversation. The exploration is more important here — especially the exploration of the experience they are having.

POLAR/BAR CHARTS:
Outcome
A rich conversation about where the team is strong, and where the team is not strong.
A sense of direction about where the team wants to focus attention going forward. It’s too early to decide or make plans, but themes are emerging from the discussion.
Discussion that relates the scores to specific team experience and behavior.
Timing
For some (many) teams the Polar Diagram is the picture that provides the clearest representation of real, every day experience. In a one-day debrief session this segment of the timeline might be 30-45 minutes or more. If you add the Bar Charts, add another 10-15 minutes.
Suggested Inquiry / Direction
“What’s your first impression?”
“Where does your attention go first?”
Team members generally head straight for the low scores. You can be transparent about that. “Let’s by all means look at the lower scores — there are opportunities there — and let’s look at the strengths of this team too. You can leverage your strengths to work on areas not as strong.”
(follow up) “What is a strength you could leverage? Where would you apply that leverage?”
At first there is often a focus on the scores themselves, and a comparison with other scores in the diagram. To get past the data itself, you can ask, “What’s happening on this team that would account for that score?” (“Or not happening?”)
Occasionally there are apparent conflicts between two scores. One example: Respect scores higher, sometimes much higher than Trust. If that doesn’t seem to make sense, the team may ask you to justify it — something must be wrong with the data. The obvious response to “How do you explain that?” from the team, is to turn it back to the team. “These are your scores. How do you explain it on your team?”
There are several metaphors that coaches have used in the past when showing the Polar Diagram.
Imagine this is a water pipe. If water were flowing at maximum flow, the blue would reach all the way out to the edges. For your team, this is the flow.
Imagine if this were a picture of your team’s arteries. What would your team cardiologist have to say?
Imagine this picture is a wheel that the team is riding on. What’s the ride like?
Imagine this is a picture of the North Pole as seen from above. Your ice cap is melting.
From time to time you may have a team member ask, “How do we compare to other teams? Are these good scores?” Because the Team Diagnostic™ is a self-assessment, comparisons with other teams don’t really apply. For example, the opinions of one marketing team in a manufacturing company may be vastly different from a marketing team in a different manufacturing company. We don’t have what is called “normative data” as a way to compare. There is generalized data in the Digital Library but fundamentally, the best response to the team’s questions about comparing scores is to turn it back to the team. “Is 5.5 satisfying to this team? What if it were 7.5? What would be different? What would that give this team that you don’t have now?”
Bar Charts: One area of particular focus, because of the graphic, is the ability to see the differences between highest and lowest scores. On some teams the scores are all close together; on some teams there are one or two outliers; on some teams there is a large gap between the highest and lowest. It’s an opportunity to be curious. “What do you notice? What do you make of that?” There is also an opportunity to easily compare the Productivity ranking and scores with the Positivity ranking and scores.

TOP 5/BOTTOM 5:
Discussion highlighting what the team does well. Celebration.
Let the ratings provide the structure for conversations they haven’t been able to have. For example: “Let’s discuss some areas where this shows up.”
What are ways you can use your strengths in this team development process?
Discussion highlighting areas for development.
Look at the themes that have been showing up in the team conversation.
This is an opportunity for team members to share their everyday experience related to that statement. Watch out for blaming or evading responsibility — it on to others. “Everyone is responsible for the experience of the team. Where do you notice this happening for you?”
When the team identifies specific ideas for action, capture the ideas on a flip chart or “parking lot”.
Outcome
More clarity about where the team will focus attention at action planning which likely will come next.
Acknowledgment by the team of areas where the team is strong, capable, confident.
Timing
For a one-day session with a team 30-45 minutes would be typical. Because of the specific nature of the items, there is a natural tendency to start planning action steps.

Suggested Inquiry / Direction
Items on the left tend to be areas of strength; areas of pride that the team has handled well. Items on the right tend to be areas that need work. Look for opportunities to leverage strengths on the left to support work on the right.
There are sometimes apparent conflicts between high scores and low scores. For example, in one team report, a high scoring item (8.5) was “When the going gets tough we tend to come together as a team.” For that same team, a low scoring item (4.2) read, “We are cohesive as a team and work together well.” This is another situation where the first reaction by the team might be to question the validity of the assessment. “Those two on opposite tables — that doesn’t make sense. There must be something wrong with the data.” Actually, it creates an excellent question for the team. “How do you reconcile those two statements? What does that tell you about this team?” In this example the team concluded that the only time they worked together well was in a crisis — when the going gets tough.
You can do the Productivity set first, or the Positivity, it’s up to you. Be clear why you are choosing that direction.
You can show just the Top 5, have a discussion, and then show the Bottom 5. Or you can do the pattern in reverse. If you show both sides at the same time 9 out of 10 team members will likely go directly for the low scores.
Even showing just 5 items at a time, you will need at least a couple of minutes for the team members to read and reflect on the statements. Some coaches read the statements out loud, or ask a team member or team members to read them out loud. This ensures that everyone is in sync with the pace.
Have the team look for everyday examples or situations where the statement applies. When the team has a very low score for an item like, “We have an efficient decision-making process,” there is an opportunity for the team to explore that area in more detail, specifically for that team. Where does the process unravel? What’s the impact of that on the team?
There are likely to be items in the Top 5/Bottom 5 where there is a lack of consensus — where there is an item on the left with a high average team score where one team members speaks up to challenge that score. “That’s not the way I see it.” If you know that you will have time to go over the next layer with the team, Least Agreement and Most Agreement, you can simply say, “In the next layer we will show a number of items where the team average is made up of quite a diverse set of team opinions; we will also show items on which the team has very similar opinions.”
If you don’t have time in your schedule to do the next layer, first acknowledge that these are average scores, and that individuals may have very different perspectives. This would be an excellent opportunity to share those different perspectives.

LEAST AGREEMENT/MOST AGREEMENT:
Working with this data, especially the Least Agreement graphic, is an exercise in diversity.
This is not an exercise in figuring out whose perspective is the “right” one and there should not be pressure on team members to find consensus. It is perfectly normal to have divergent views on a team.
The Most Agreement graphic gives them the other experience — of alignment — with team members sharing a common experience.
Outcome
Reinforce that there are a variety of opinions on this team. On some topics there is great diversity; on some topics the team is closely aligned.
With Least Agreement, the outcome is certainly not trying to resolve whose opinion is correct. Nobody has the right answer; everybody has a piece of the answer. Some team members are more sensitive to certain topics more than other topics, or more than their fellow team members.
For example, imagine there is wide diversity in responses to this one: “We have an efficient decision-making process.” One team member is satisfied with the level of efficiency; another team member sets a very high bar for decision-making and is appalled at the current process; another team member, in his or her area, finds decision-making very efficient. This is an opportunity to share the different perspectives without making anyone wrong. The discussion may lead to new action.
Timing
If you show the graphics — usually one at a time — and engage in a discussion, the two graphs might take 20-30 minutes. Because these are individual responses, individual team members may be more vocal about their position, which could lead to a longer discussion.
Another option is to lay out the graph on the meeting room floor and have team members walk through the exercise. There is a description of this exercise in the Digital Library. The exercise would normally take about 30 minutes.

Suggested Inquiry / Direction
The key is to maintain focus on the team experience, in the context of individual responses. “What is it like on this team to have such diverse opinions about the decision-making process?”
We don’t ask the team to divulge their personal scores, but team members often self-disclose. If a team member identifies him/her self, and their score, it’s fine to ask, “What had you pick that number?” Not to create an argument, but to increase understanding. You can also ask, “What is important for the team to know about this item/topic, from your perspective?”

OPEN-ENDED QUESTIONS:
Outcome
“Hear” the voices on the team speaking. Hear the themes and issues that are important to the team.
Team priorities and team values often show up.
Timing
The amount of time devoted to the responses will depend on how you plan to use that material. To use the material effectively team members will need time to read and reflect on what they read. If you have a team of 10 and there are responses to 5 questions, that’s quite a load to absorb and speak to, meaningfully. With just one day with a team, there simply won’t be sufficient time.
Suggested Inquiry / Direction
Focus on the themes and not on the individual remarks. The “theme” represents a voice of the system / of the team. An over emphasis on specific remarks starts to look like gossip.
Look below the specifics of the response. What is the urge or yearning that is trying to be heard? What are you learning about this team, its personality, its values, its idiosyncrasies?
Look at the overall tone of the responses. How would you describe the energetic field that the responses create? Does the energetic field shift depending on the topic?
Similar to Least Agreement and Most Agreement, reviewing the responses to the open-ended questions is not a debate over who is right and it is not a time for voting to support this or that point of view. From the systems perspective every voice has a piece of the truth. This is an opportunity to honor the Team Performance Indicator, “Values Diversity”.
Sometimes the heart of the message is lost in the delivery; sometimes the message is not delivered skillfully. Be a model of curious and open.

Additional notes on QUAD:
Low positivity/high productivity
Suggestions:
Explore what it’s like here in this world: What’s working? What are you proud of? What does that give you? How does that show up day-to-day? Encourage the celebration of achievement.
Listen for the first voice that speaks for wanting something more, especially if it wants a change in the environment. Use this as an opportunity to probe for an underlying current. Is the team ready to move? Who else feels that? Explore and build on that movement.
This could be a team that needs training around team toxins or needs structures in place to ventilate in a safe way. Create agreements around stress and pressure ventilation.
A Positivity Wheel can be a useful exercise for teams in this quadrant.
Any exercise that gives team members a way to get to know each other on a personal level is also useful.
What do team members want/need from each other in order to create a new culture of interdependence?
Sometimes there is a fear of “either / or” – a fear that if they create a more positive work environment it will necessarily mean losing productivity. “Either we have one or the other.” It is possible to have both.
Competition can be a healthy element on teams; it does not have to be corrosive. Great sales teams enjoy the spirit of competition that helps everyone reach for their best effort. How the team treats competition on the team is the key.
High positivity/low productivity
Suggestions:
Explore what it’s like here in this world: what’s working? What do you enjoy? What does that give you? How does that show up day-to-day? Encourage the positive energetic field.
Listen for the first voice that speaks for wanting something more, especially if that team member wants results. Use this as an opportunity to probe for an underlying current. Is the team ready to move? Who else feels that? Explore and build on that movement.
Alignment is important to this team. When it comes to getting results, what is the team alignment? What does this team want?
This can also be a team that is stuck in “either / or”. It’s a fear that they will lose the connection and the relationship with each other if they become more productive. They see “productive” as the driving force that splits apart teams into individual silos; many have had experiences like that. It doesn’t have to be that way. Teams can be high positivity and high productivity.
What gets rewarded on this team? What is not acceptable? Look for the unspoken rules of behavior.
Low positivity/low productivity
Suggestions:
Give the team space and time to ventilate. Make sure they are ventilating to you, not at each other. This is not a place for blaming other people on the team. Let them blame the circumstances if they want. Sometimes teams need to clear the air before they can start work on changes.
Your favorite phrases with this team are: “Of course,” and “That’s normal,” and ”we’ve seen this on other teams in similar circumstances.”
Don’t fix.
There is often a feeling ”no one is listening to us.” Emphasize good listening within the team. Be a good listener.
Champion strengths — but don’t cheerlead them; they will sniff out in-authentic cheerleading and you will lose your authority/credibility. Be transparent: the scores are low — no kidding — and there are relative strengths here that you can build on.
What were your hopes when you started? What did you imagine was possible? What is possible today?
Use the Positivity Wheel (or any other intervention that creates Positivity).
Interventions that focus on locus of control. This can be as simple as small group or dyad/triad conversations that focus on, “Where do we have control and what can we do about it?”
High positivity/high productivity
Suggestions:
Celebrate success and especially, celebrate strengths. What got you to this place? What are you proud of?
What was your dream in the beginning?
Probe for: What is changing? What is taboo? What are you tolerating? What will sabotage your success?
Look for ways to reinforce or re-engage creativity, risk-taking, disagreement as the path to stronger connection.
This place you are in today is good, even great. What is possible from here? If it could be even better?
On great teams ”good enough” is never ”good enough”. There is always a desire to learn, grow, improve. What does this team need to learn to do (even better than you do it today) in order to become the best team you can be?

Break it down by chart – see TCI curriculum + during coaching sessions in general, notes from calls.

IV. Ongoing Coaching:
What do you especially want to accomplish in the hour we have together?
This is what is happening. I assume this is a regular pattern with this team; how is that working for you? Are you getting the results you want? What do you want to do about it?
What do you want?
Historically, what sabotages your plans?
It sounds like you’ve covered that ground before. What’s the ground you haven’t covered or were reluctant to cover?
This is where I think we are right now
There’s an elephant in the room and we keep dancing around it. I wonder what that is.
I notice that when the subject is about ________ you always laugh it off. What’s that about?
I notice a pattern. Maybe you’ve noticed it too. There are a couple of action steps that you say you will complete, but when we check in nothing has changed.
I notice that you’re tapping your foot and checking your watch.
1) What will you do? 2) When will you do it? 3) How will you report your experience?
PRODUCTIVITY
Activities and discussion questions for Alignment:

Discussion for team: “What is the difference between ‘agreement’ and ‘alignment’? What is important about that for this team’s ongoing work?
Exercise: Team Purpose
Brainstorm: teams or organizations with strong mission/purpose. What does that give the team? Organization?
Where is this team absolutely aligned?
Where do you see disconnect or ‘dissonance’ in this team’s alignment?
What activities and practices would create more awareness and commitment—more alignment with stakeholders?
What is this team’s brand? What do you want to be known for?

Activities and discussion questions for Goals & Strategies:

Write 3 goals that will propel the mission of your team.
What is your experience working with teams to set goals?
What are some powerful ways for creating effective rewards and recognition on teams?
Describe a successful team experience creating and meeting team goals. What worked?
What regularly gets in the way of this team setting goals as a team?

Activities and discussion questions for Accountability:

When working with a team in person, prepare an exercise that creates the web of interconnection in the midst of completing a task.
What will this team do when they notice that team agreements are not being kept?
Have team members take turns monitoring team agreements.
What is the team accountable for? (Separate from what individual team members are accountable for).
For the sake of team accountability, what is one Key Performance Indicator for the team?
Exercise: Life can get complicated

Activities and discussion questions for Proactive:

Identify a practice on the team that needs change, or identify a product or process that needs change.
Engage the team in out-of-the box thinking.
When was this team proactive? What lessons can you learn from that experience?
Improv games inspire creative agility and generate playfulness.
What is another way you have seen creativity flourish on teams?
What is the payoff for maintaining the status quo?
How will you (team) know when it’s time for new action/thinking/innovation?

Activities and discussion questions for Decision-Making:

Work on a specific area where the decision-making process is murky.
What is one area where the decision-making process is quite successful? What can you learn from that as a team?
What are different decision-making styles you have seen on teams?
What makes some decisions on this team easy? What makes some decisions on this team hard?

Activities and discussion questions for Resources:

How can working with the issue of resources empower a team?
What will make this team more resourceful?
What are the intangible resources of this team? How can they be maximized/leveraged?
Exercise: “Diminishing Resources”. It demonstrates how teams react in the face of diminishing resources, how they hoard, make rules, become competitive — even destructive. Sometimes teams need to be desperate before they will become innovative. The exercise can be used with a Proactive theme as well.

Activities and discussion questions for Team Leadership:

Review with the team critical situations or turning points and investigate the role of leadership. Who was leading at that time? What was the value of that contribution?
What are ways that new team members take on the role of leadership within a team they have just joined?
Look for signs of leadership within the team. Different people taking on a role of leadership from an area of expertise and experience rather than title. How is leadership empowered on this team?

POSITIVITY

Activities and discussion questions for Trust:

Brainstorm: what are the key behaviors of high trust teams? Find 8 – 10.
Pick the one the team would say, “We’re good at that.” Where does that show up on this team?
Pick a second team trust behavior that the team would say, “We could use some work on that.” What is the impact? What’s one thing you could do to improve that?
Ask the team, “What creates trust for you?”
Look for examples of where trust was improved between team members or on the team as a whole through either, getting to know team members better or working through disagreement or conflict. Tell the story.
Exercise: Storytelling at lunch

Activities and discussion questions for Respect:

How is respect clear and visible on teams?
How is respect different from trust?
What are some ways you can give recognition to team members on this team?
Exercise: Appreciation web

Activities and discussion questions for Camaraderie:

With intact teams in geographic proximity it is not so difficult to create structures for social interaction and play. Sometimes that play can be purely for the sake of the team’s entertainment or for “team building”. What experiences have you had of building camaraderie on teams?

More and more teams gather for purposeful volunteer efforts that also build camaraderie and a sense of meaningful, shared contribution. Teams work together to clean urban parks, Habitat of Humanity has been another, volunteering to handle a water stop at a Breast Cancer walk and run. What cause or activity has your team found to bind them together.

With virtual teams it is more challenging but it is possible when they get creative. For example, hold weekly “water-cooler” teleconferences simply for the purpose of getting to know each other. Come up with 5 ideas for building camaraderie on virtual teams.
How do you see camaraderie created on teams? What is the long term effect?
Exercise: Questions, questions, questions

Activities and discussion questions for Communication:

What are the current team agreements around communication? How does it work on this team? If it were ideal, what would change?
What are the unwritten rules for communication on this team (that, nonetheless, everyone knows and follows)?
Give examples of indirect communication habits on teams. Where does this sideways stuff get started? Why is it valued on teams?
Often forgotten: the other half of communicating, is listening. On a scale of 1 to 10 how good is this team at listening? What would raise that score?

Activities and discussion questions for Constructive Interaction:

Most teams do not have what are often called “rules of engagement” when there are differences of opinion. Creating those rules of engagement is both a valuable process and a way for teams to enter the vulnerable territory.
Create norms and agreements around giving and receiving feedback.
There is more than one reason for a lack of conflict on teams. Sometimes conflict or disagreement is avoided out of fear. Sometimes it simply doesn’t exist because the team members operate very independently or because the system is running rather smoothly and the causes might not appear. What is it like on this team?
Rather than miss the opportunity to stir things up and see what sorts of creativity might emerge, sometimes set aside regular time for arbitrary contrariness. How might you see that happening on a team? Playful “Devil’s Advocate”.
What are the forbidden topics on this team?
Exercise: Helium Stick – followed by Team Toxins

Activities and discussion questions for Values Diversity:

Train the team in listening for the different points of view. Celebrate the range of points of view.
Encourage teams to listen for the voices on the fringe. They don’t have to accommodate every voice by giving it voting rights or veto, but the simple act of listening and letting those voices know they have been heard/attended to is often enough.
Some teams consciously ask for the unpopular voices in meetings along the lines of, “what is not being said, or asked? What is the voice no one has spoken for?”
Play this game. “If __________ were here, he/she would say…” Then fill in the blank with people everyone knows that would have a distinct opinion or point of view. Could be a real person in the organization (the CEO, the head of R&D), or anyone alive or dead, real or fictional. If Genghis Kahn were here … If Snow White were here …
Exercise: Where my strength comes from

Activities and discussion questions for Optimism:

In the broadest sense, how would the team like their environment to feel?
Create an exercise around assumptions and beliefs. Ask team members, what are their beliefs about this team when they look to the future?
Is there a sense of hope or hopelessness present?
How can you create a stronger sense of possibilities on teams? What needs to be in place?
Think about a time on a team (this team or any team) when you felt awash in optimism. What created that feeling? What was the impact on the team?

Summarize
A team conversation can start to become chaotic as voices and opinions enter the mix. From time to time it is very useful to step in and summarize “where we are right now.” This helps the team re-align on the important topic and gives you, as team coach, an opportunity to check in with the team. The team appreciates the summary because it shows you’re really listening. It’s okay if your summary is not 100% on target; the team will help correct the course.
Acknowledgment
When you acknowledge the team you identify a quality of the team, or a value of the team that stands out. It is different from praise or a compliment. An acknowledgment gives the team a sense of “this is who we are.” The team feels seen in ways they don’t usually talk about. An easy way to start an acknowledgment is to say, “I see a team that…” Then look for a personality trait or a value. “…a team that cares about quality.” “…a team that knows how to have fun.” “…a team that believes in itself.”
Spin and Fade
The goal of the team coaching process is rich, engaged conversation that leads to new action, new behavior on the team. Your contribution to this is to keep the conversation spinning along, and then fade into the background. If the conversation is productive and going well, even if not perfectly smoothly, there’s no reason to interrupt. You are not being paid by the word. Your true value is in monitoring the flow and intervening when the conversation starts to wobble of fall of track. This is also the skill of keeping the focus on one topic at a time. With so many voices and potentially competing priorities, maintaining focus and holding to one topic at a time can be a challenge. It’s another one of the differences between individual and team coaching.

Accountability:

What are the unspoken agreements around accountability?
Where do you see that?
What is the impact?
What are your team beliefs when it comes to accountability?
What are the team assumptions around accountability?
Complete this sentence:
“I assume that __________”
Or
“I assume that if _________ happens, then _________ will happen.”
Recall that Best Team:
What was accountability like on that team?
Where did it show up?
What would you like for this team, based on that experience?

Team Exercises:
Best Team
Invites team members to recall a “best team” they’ve been on, then tell the story (briefly) to the team (or small group), and finally, harvest the qualities that made that great team great.
The Optimal Environment for our Work
Question for the team: what needs to be in place in order for this session to be enormously valuable? Creates the conditions for safety, support, and encouragement that support the team in having engaged, courageous conversation.
Quad Exercise (Walk the Quad)
Spend some time experiencing each of the four quadrants to feel the energy, and explore the special pressures in each. What is valued here? What is taboo?
Positivity Wheel
Uses the seven Positivity Team Performance Indicators™ to enroll team members in being advocates for Positivity on their team.
Productivity Game
A rousing experience of the seven Productivity factors and the importance of each one.
Least Agreement / Most Agreement
An embodied way to reveal the data from these two graphics in the report and engage the team in a diversity conversation.
Team Purpose
Find the unique purpose of this team by starting from an individual team member perspective. Create a compelling statement in about 30 minutes.
Helium Stick (Tent Pole)
A versatile exercise often used to introduce the very natural, human tendency to blame. The exercise is a natural lead in to the Team Toxins exercise.
Team Toxins
A way to introduce teams to the corrosive impact of four communication styles: Criticism/Blame, Defensiveness, Stonewalling, and Contempt.
Diminishing Resources
A very active game that highlights the need on great teams to “think outside the box” or square. Reinforces the ProactiveTeam Performance Indicator™.
Timelines
The sample timelines outline one way to set the flow and pace for the debrief when you have just half a day, a full day, or two days. Use your own design judgment and experience to modify these samples. As always, we (TCI) encourage you to share your own best practices. Let us know what you’ve found works for you and for teams so we can all share in the community experience and wisdom.

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