Page 208 - Make Work Great

Mobilizing Groups

Analyzing and Encouraging
We all know from experience just how frustrating ineffective group
work can be. It’s often somewhat less obvious when things are going
well, especially when an improvement trend has just begun. As the
culture builder, it’s important that you become familiar with some
positive indicators, so you can both recognize progress in the meet-
ings you attend and role-model those positive behaviors to encourage
others to replicate them.
Table 8.1 gives a scorecard you can use to analyze the groups with
which you’re involved. The fi rst four positive aspects listed should
come as no surprise, as we have already discussed them in detail: the
existence of a lucid statement of the meeting’s purpose, well-formed
meeting specifi cations, effective follow-up lists, and appropriate mem-
bership lists. The remaining items depend on the type of interaction
in which you’re engaged. In information transfer, the primary focus
is the overt and effective transfer of factual and hierarchical con-
tent, so the positive indicators are related to how well information is
transferred. In a solution-oriented discussion, the central intent is to
come to some conclusion, so the positive indicators are pertinent to
the effectiveness of the group’s problem-solving interactions.
The scorecard allows you to study your group work situations with
an eye for what is working and what isn’t. You allocate points based
on positive indicators, with a higher score indicating a more effective
meeting. This only provides a starting point; you can modify this
template to suit your purposes. The important thing is to work within

Quick Video: Solve It Once

Visit www.MakeWorkGreat.com for a short video segment about how
to solve a problem in a solution-oriented meeting. This is also an easy
bit of information to share if you’re trying to describe the contents of
this chapter to a trusted friend or colleague.

189