CAREER COACH Role-play

[16] Acting up M

Richard: If you'd like to stress out your team instantly, then ask them for "the best ideas". Ask them, for example, what the ideal team meeting should look like. I used to be a manager, so I've been on both sides of the table when a question like that came up. Sometimes, I had to come up with the best ideas. Sometimes, I was the one asking for them.​

Of course, it's part of every team leader's job to look for the best solutions and continuously improve. But sometimes, this direct way of asking for what you need doesn't produce the results you want. Why is that?​

Something happens to people when you ask for ideas in this way. They want to appear smart. They don't want to say the wrong thing, or anything that could make them look, you know, stupid. Let's assume that you're unhappy with your team meetings. People aren't showing up on time, they don't switch their cameras on, they're looking at their phones half of the time and don't seem to be listening properly. This may sound familiar to you.​

If you ask them how to improve the meetings, not only do they get stressed about having to come up with ideas, but they might also feel that you're criticizing them for their behaviour in past meetings. That's clearly not the best foundation for a fruitful discussion and lasting improvement.​

Turn the question around​

As a team coach, I take a different approach when faced with the task of improving a situation like this. I use a powerful combination of a creative technique and acting. Yes, you heard (or read) correctly: Acting! I let them act out a scene or two or three. You could even call it role-playing.​

Sometimes, when people in creative jobs are stuck on a problem — like looking for the next innovation in their market — they use a technique called "worst-case scenario" or "worst-possible idea". Instead of trying to come up with the best new soap, car, app or whatever it is, they turn the question around: What would be the worst soap, car or app? How could we change our existing product so that our customers would hate it and write angry reviews? What do we have to do to win the award for Lousiest Innovation of the Year?​

Stop. What happened when you read those questions? Did you laugh? Did you think it's a crazy approach? One thing's for sure: you didn't feel stressed out. Not being stressed — or better, being relaxed or amused — is a good breeding ground for creativity, and for learning and personal change as well. Do you see where I am going?​

So, what do I do with a team that needs to improve their meetings? You guessed right: I let them act out the total team-meeting disaster. (You could also call it "Worst Team Meeting Ever".)​

If possible, I split the team into groups. It's helpful to have two or, ideally, three groups. That way, you'll get more perspectives on the topic, and members can sit in the audience twice as often as they are on stage. This provides a bit of relief for those in your team who feel shy.​

I give the groups the following tasks:​

1. Write down everything that would make a team meeting the worst ever.​

2. Prepare to present the scene "The Worst Team Meeting Ever". Write a rough script of who says and does what. Every team member plays a role.​

3. Act!​

Allow 10 to 15 minutes' preparation time. Normally, a scene should be two to five minutes long. If it takes longer, I ask the group to bring the scene to a conclusion, but that's not usually necessary, as they can sense it themselves.​

If it's OK with your team, have somebody in the audience record the scenes. The recording will definitely be useful in the future, when the team needs a good laugh to cheer everybody up.​

At the end of a two or three-day workshop, I often ask what the highlight was, and there are always some people who say the meeting disaster. I enjoy watching these scenes. There are people who sit in a meeting and, by the end, realize that they've been in the wrong meeting. People are reading the newspaper. In virtual meetings, people forget to switch off their microphones during the break. And some don't listen to others but then complain that people aren't listening to them.​

Once every group has acted out their disaster, I let them share their experience and thoughts. I always ask how much was exaggerated or made up, and how much was taken from their own experiences at work. Astonishingly, people usually answer that 80-90 per cent was real or only slightly exaggerated.​

Then, we list all the don'ts of a team meeting. There are lots of them! But, and here's where the magic happens, we reverse the don'ts into dos, and there they are: at least 20 ideas on how to improve team meetings.​

Lasting improvement​

Now, you might be thinking that it would be faster just to ask the team what to improve and they'd come up with the same list. You're right! It would be faster, but I doubt the list would be so extensive. And, even more importantly, the atmosphere after the "disaster" is transformed — people are much more relaxed and open to change.​

If you ask which of the don'ts people have been guilty of in the past, you'll see that they start thinking about their own behaviour. The next step could also be to ask which of the don'ts they'll stop doing from now on. You are sure to see the initial improvement in your meeting the following week.​

At the end of this session, you'll have the ingredients of a successful team meeting. And you'll have some fun with your team in future, even when you discuss a serious matter. This alone will have a positive influence on team spirit and your meetings, too. So, go out with your team and act!​