Two Steps to Deepen Team Conversation
Paradoxes abound when you lead your team well and tune into what's happening below the surface.
One such paradox is providing your team with both space and boundaries — with freedom and structure. The structure you set for your team actually enables freedom within those boundaries.
Even though these qualities exist simultaneously, hence the paradox, when you design your next meeting, you may feel like they're on a spectrum and you have to decide where to land. (I'll give you an answer to that dilemma though!)
I was working with a colleague recently to plan a meeting for a team we lead together, and we were at slightly different points on the spectrum of more-to-less structure to design.
The conversation went something like this:
"We may need a third step in the process here," I said, and we both agreed.
"But what if step two sparks some amazing ideas and the team members just want to run with them in that moment!?" they asked.
"Yes, that's great, and we don't want to squash that energy. However, tangents from the plan can leave others behind. If those tangents happen before everyone has had a chance to contribute their thoughts, they can affect the sense of psychological safety as well," I offered.
As you can see, there was no one right answer, and these thoughts represented the tension on that spectrum from upholding structure while also providing space for creative sparks.
After mulling it over, I reached back out to that colleague. “Of course, we're really talking about dialogue as that sweet spot!” “Bingo!” they responded.
Dialogue IS the process that, if the team understands what it really is and what it takes, allows for those beautiful, organic connections and new thinking, while being bounded in a way that is supportive to the whole team.
How do you set up your dialogue to make it most productive?
First, you pose a key question. Choose every word of that question carefully. It should directly serve your intended outcome.
Second, set a time limit. Time is a limited resource. Paradoxically, if a team knows that it has, say, 15 or 20 minutes to just focus together on one question, it will feel the freedom and the luxury of forgetting for a short sweet time about everything else. If you don’t set a time limit, team members may be distracted and wonder how long this is going to go on. The time limit actually enables the choice to be present.
As we've described before dialogue is a way a team has a conversation where there is deep listening, authentic contributions of individual perspectives, real-time collective thinking together, and a sense of emergence on a new shared understanding. It's a slower-paced conversation than what the normal team typically has, and more intentional.
Give it a try with your team! Say something like: “We have 20 minutes today to focus on this one question. (Give them the question). I want us to try slowing down and leaving space to really hear each other and incorporate what we hear into the points we choose to contribute. Let's take our time and see what happens.”
If you want more support getting your team to a proficient place with dialogue, give us a shout!
