Here is a simple problem solving tool for engagement and innovation focused on the who, what, where, when, how and why questions about people and performance.
We use Square Wheels images as a tool for involving people and in this post, we frame the illustrations as a simple problem solving tool for generating higher levels of engagement and innovation. And motivation.
The idea for this toolkit came from a conversation around the use of new set of images framed around the anchor points of Who, What, Where, When, How and Why. A very senior manager of a global consulting company suggested that I reorder them. He explained this by saying:
His thoughts of — “What’s wrong.” “Assuming ownership. “Pointing the finger” “Making it happen.” “Aligned with the collective strategy.” “Taking ownership and making change happen” — got me thinking of reframing them and sharing how I might use them in a remote problem-solving situation.
The supervisor training for this is very simple. The facilitation takes little skill. The timing of discussion are flexible and this is NOT to be accomplished in one session but chunked to mesh with the available time. One session a week would be fine.
The supervisor would show the first slide and ask, “How might this image represent how things really work in most organizations,” (the same words that are on the slide).
They allow everyone a minute to simply think about the image and what it represents to them and when that time is done, the participants would be moved to breakout rooms of 5 or 6 people where they can discuss their thoughts, individually and collectively. The groups then reassemble and discuss their conversations and insights, with discussion facilitated by the supervisor. This is very straightforward. No problems are solved, no solutions are offered — we just anchor the metaphors of Square Wheels, Round Wheels and others and thoughts about how things work from the discussions. (There are many blog posts from me around these themes)
Once this first phase is completed. a similar process should happen for the second slide, “What are some of our Square Wheels?” One minute of contemplation and then 5 or 10 minutes of beaker from discussions, with the supervisor moving around between breakout rooms and offering support but no suggestions and certainly no opposition or defensiveness. Here, each group will discuss issues of their workplaces. They should NOT try to solve the problems discussed but mainly generate a list of them. The more on the list, the better.
Generally, we want to defer discussions about specific problems to be discussed and potential solutions for these problems. We want to save these for the final step. And, note that the participants will be somewhat frustrated because we are NOT asking them to identify and solve specific problems (Square Wheels) as of yet. The goal IS to create this frustration, what we might call cognitive dissonance, specifically TO engage them and to generate the motivation to begin discussing their issues.
The goal IS to create this frustration, what we might call cognitive dissonance, specifically TO engage them and to generate the motivation to begin discussing their issues.
In this last session, generally requiring an hour or so, we will ask people to discuss some issues they want to address, to self-select a breakout room with colleagues who wish to actually work on solving some of these issues and implementing some solutions.
Each breakout will select one of the 6 following slides to focus on and go through them in whatever sequence they choose. If they already have a “problem solving template” that the workgroups have been using, they can apply that to put a plan into motion. If they do not, they should agree on and create one that will work for them.
The supervisor can supervise, lead, control, engage, manage, schedule, run point with other departments or otherwise work to help each of the problem-solving teams generate an actionable idea or workable solution to something real. The choice should be something challenging but doable, and not some initiative where they are trying to influence outside departments or more senior managers or similar. We cannot put a week-long problem solving workshop together with a blog.
But we ARE offering a simple approach to generate some active involvement and engagement in people working together to identify and solve their own workplace problems.
If you want these tools, send me a note. I will help you develop this for use within your organization,
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For the FUN of It!
Dr. Scott Simmerman is a designer of team building games and organization improvement tools.
Managing Partner of Performance Management Company since 1984, he is an experienced presenter and consultant who is trying to retire!! He now lives in Cuenca, Ecuador.
You can reach Scott at scott@squarewheels.com
Learn more about Scott at his LinkedIn site.
Square Wheels® is a registered trademark of Performance Management Company
The Search for The Lost Dutchman’s Gold Mine is a trademark of Performance Management Company
Square Wheels images © Performance Management Company, 1993 – 2023. All rights reserved.
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