I was sat in the meeting room, my palms sticky from perspiration, my breathing shallower than usual and my heart pounding in my chest as I faced what felt like an insurmountable challenge. We had staff members who were best friends who had become sworn enemies, new recruits who were bought into the team by individuals who then suddenly realised they weren’t the right fit, and multiple other issues that I cannot go into. Sat around the table were several stereotypical personality types that invariably anyone would find hard to deal with which seemed to create division only further in the team. I’d been the General Manager of this business for approximately 12 months and in those 12 months I had seemed to face nothing but internal conflict and this felt like one of those moments that I’d never be the same from afterwards.
We were sat in the room to come together after the Executive Committee of the business had worked with me to restructure some roles to increase transparency for the members.
Reflecting on my meeting notes the importance of having a leadership toolkit stands out. My slides were well-organised and had a logical flow to them. As anyone who’s worked for me would know I like taking people on journeys through these types of sessions. The meeting started initially with a reflection piece on how we had arrived where we are, as well as the journey that the business had been on. We then stopped to reflect on the individuals that were sitting around the table. There’s a funny slide with characters from The Simpsons laid out as if they’re top trump cards and I remember now that the delivery was as simple as pointing out that we all have different skill sets and different things that we’re good at and bad at. As everyone is aware diversity is needed to create an effective team, no one individual can do everything. We then started to step through some feedback received collectively coming up with an action plan that we could implement but in truth nothing felt like it was sticking. Worse still talking around the questions that were asked it felt like the group was moving further and further apart, cracks were becoming chasms.
The turning point was when I remembered the speech from a TED conference I’d attended. I had the notes from that TED talk in my bag at the time and I remember rummaging in and finding them. I scrawled the notes up on a whiteboard listing the six stances that may be evident in facing a problem or challenge Dr Juliet Bourke GAICD had come up with through her research. The short version of her talk is that when faced with a challenge you’d instinctively look to one maybe two of these six approaches or focuses. What are the six points? Firstly, there are outcomes, then options, process, the people, evidence, and finally risk. I clearly remember in Dr Bourke’s talk about how it was important when composing boards to ensure that you had people who were naturally disposed at being able to cover all six of these approaches to ensure a stable board. This diversity of thought, not just diversity, would ensure decision-making wouldn’t succumb to groupthink with minority voices being invalidated. I gave everyone around the table a blank piece of paper and set a hypothetical challenge for us; If we were to take on an additional venue what was the approach they would take? Would they be considered with the outcomes of the venue? Would they be more focused on the options of the venue? Perhaps its location, design or layout? Would they be more concerned about the process of securing the venue and finding members? Perhaps they’d be more interested in the people? How would we go about finding the staff to work there? For some, it may have been the evidence around the requirement for the venue. Or was it the risk? What could go wrong in the process of securing this venue? I simply asked them to write down the one that stood out to them, placing a second in brackets if they felt that they had one, that they were drawn to. As I then went round the table and asked each member where they sat, we realised that we had all six points well and truly covered. It was a very even spread. The conversation then flowed quite naturally into how important the diversity of thought was and how it was good to not necessarily always agree with each other. We would need to see proposals and challenges through the other person’s eyes and recognise that their difference of opinion was more so diversity of thought than a conflict issue.
We moved on from that meeting and specifically this exercise certainly more respectful of each other ‘s thought processes, understanding the impact diversity of thought had. We allowed more time for people to ask questions of us so that they could have their voice heard or their opinions validated filling knowledge gaps before collectively we made decisions on issues. I remember clearly to this day in the contrast of some individuals before and after that session and how running this exercise had seemingly helped them find their voice. They now connected with the importance that they had, and that asking challenging questions was their contribution to the group’s success.
I knew that I would never be the same after that meeting and I was right as I reflect on it now. Sure, it was tough, but my leadership “muscle” is stronger from it and I’m quietly hopeful that those present learnt as much from this diversity of thought exercise as I did.
