Ideas, insights and resources you can adapt and put into practice in your own organisation.

A tool for an impactful learning diagnostic

The most effective learning diagnostics go beyond simply asking “What are your development needs?” or “What training do you think you need?”

While these questions may appear straightforward, they can often result in generic responses or reflect a limited level of self-awareness about individual, team or organisational needs.

To uncover the real opportunities for development, we focus on asking deeper, more insightful questions that help identify the need behind the want.

Examples of stronger diagnostic questions include:

• What are your key challenges and opportunities in relation to people management, leadership or team effectiveness?
• What behaviours, skills or capabilities do you need your team to demonstrate more of? What do you need less of?
• Thinking about a time when leadership was at its best, what worked well and what made that experience successful? (Appreciative Inquiry approach)

Through high-quality questioning and active listening, facilitate you to become students of the organisation, resulting in the understanding of context, culture, challenges and ambitions of the business uncovering real needs, not assumptions.

A facilitation technique that always works

“Flex the agenda”

It sounds simple, but some of the best facilitation happens when you stop following the agenda and start following the group. Create the conditions for the group to find the answers.

Steal this takeaway:

• Be clear on the outcome, know what you need to achieve and don’t lose sight of it
• Be flexible on the route
• But be flexible about how you get there and let the group do the workIf the conversation takes an unexpected but useful turn, go with it
• Trust that, more often than not, the answer lies within the room

A quick way to build accountability in teams

“Create a safe environment first”

Accountability grows where people feel safe enough to take it. Accountability is often thought of as holding people to account, but real accountability starts with the environment in which we work. People are more likely to own mistakes, raise concerns, ask for help and take responsibility when they know they can do so without fear of blame or embarrassment.

Steal this takeaway:

• Create safety, role model and make it okay to be honest
• Be clear about the impact; miss a commitment or avoid having a difficult conversation, the impact is felt by your colleagues and not just the organisation
• Focus on ownership, support and what happens next

A better way to have difficult conversations

“Start with curiosity, not judgement”

It’s tempting to go into a difficult conversation with our minds already made up, what happened, why it happened and what needs to happen next. Instead, seek first to understand; give the other person space to share their perspective, as that will give you insights that you may not have had.

Steal this takeaway:

• Ask questions and listen before responding
• Separate facts from judgement
• Create clarity and understanding of the facts before seeking resolution
• Be open to outcomes of, acceptance, rejection or a respectful difference of view.

Be a student of your organisation

“Before looking for the answer, understand the context”
It’s easy to focus on what, what people are asking for, what solution they want or what intervention they think they need. But the real opportunity often lies in the why. Engage the sponsors. Talk to the people doing the work. Listen to different perspectives.

Steal this takeaway:

• Understand the context
  • What is happening in the organisation?
  • What is driving the need?
  • What are people experiencing on the ground?
  • What are the real challenges and opportunities?
• Talk to the people closest to the work.
• Look for the real opportunity, the strategy intent (Why and why now?)

Live on the edge of your skill

“Curiosity and stretch on their own is not enough, pair it with a practical mindset”

You don’t need to have all the answers. Stretch beyond what you already know and test what might be possible and combine it with practical action to identify where the next opportunity starts.

Steal this takeaway:

• Stay curious and keep asking yourself:
  • What could I do differently?
  • What would add value here?
  • What am I seeing that others might not?
  • What small experiment could I try?
• Turn curiosity into value-add action

Be prepared to stretch