June 19th, 2019

Don’t Stick to the Script

I recently led a development programme for future senior leaders. I was anxious about it as I already knew some of the participants quite well and I hugely respect them. My aim was to make sure that the precious time they carved out of their diary would be worthwhile. The participants are, without exception, motivated professionals with deep level technical expertiseand showing real dedication to deliver great work. The programme needed to enable their personal leadership journey with regards to leading self, colleagues and clients. The goal was to make them feel confident to lead through change and innovation as this is how one would sum up the leadership context within which they assume responsibilities. These people are not just great performers, they show promise and potential to take on more complex remits moving forward.

We offered a 360-leadership assessment to individualise the learning objectives so every leader could use these data, amongst other sources, to choose the focus they wanted to keep throughout the programme. The learning journey itself consisted of learning sessions, combined with individual and pod/group coaching. We invited external and internal speakers, tapped into the context and latest trends to remain on message. The entire programme was conducted virtually and supported by social technology. We created a user-friendly learning site where all materials were readily made accessible so they could easily be consulted wherever they were, and we encouraged for them to be shared with others. We had planned clear metrics and measurements throughout to ensure we were on target to achieve the impact we set out.

Sounds all nice on paper doesn’t it? Have you heard anything new so far? I wouldn’t think so, because so far we “stuck to the script”.

My intent is not to share with you how wonderful it all went. Rather I like to share an honest account and share what we did differently. The conclusion I want to draw is that whilst we can and must apply our learning expertise and do things by design, it is acting in the moment, not being afraid to go off script and role modelling to embrace imperfection, radical honesty about not knowing, and going back to basics that often brings the insights and energy that these incredible people crave for most and helps to create a learning experience which lasts for longer than the actual learning programme. The reason being is that it hits home some fundamental mind-sets rather than it focussing on pure skills development. With a world constantly in flux, having the right attitude to master this, is the holy grail.

The reality was that the context was poking us constantly like a little bully/devil trying to distract us from the focus we so meticulously had set out.  A new operating model was being introduced yet was left purposefully vague to allow for localisation so it could be made relevant for local context. Macro-economic context made that clients were less spending. Yet another type of new entry competition with C-suite level contacts were invading the space. All these factors were mounting up the pressure for numbers. As a result, senior sponsors postponed their attendance. Participants were exhausted and tired. They felt pressure to always being on. They were apologetic that they deprioritised their own learning. We felt the only right and sensible thing to do is inviting this context in and facing off the reality rather than pretending we could just move on with the content we had nicely prepared.

These were the five things we did differently (and not part of the original design) and were explicitly mentioned by the participants as most impactful:

1. We focussed more explicitly on virtual networkingsince the solution was often no longer sitting next to them or in front of them in the office. People discovered other people in the cohort were either struggling in the same way so sharing the experience helped to voice down the negative inner critic. They broke lose of the silo they had created in their mind or even physically.
2. They learned how to ask for supportas one element to build resilience and being human. They were pleasantly surprised how resourceful the group could be and how their busyness closed them off from real active listening which prevented them from hearing the actual problem or a solution being in the making.
3. We introduced desk yogato the hilarity of near by sitting colleagues though it created the mental space they were hungry for and it enabled the mindset to relax and be ready to be nurtured with new inputs. People learned the power to press the pause button, take a step back and reflect. They broke the vicious cycle and realised that being on for 98% of the time is obviously not enabling innovation to take place.
4. They connected in a deeper waydespite never having met in person and bonded. We introduced a “camera on”- mantra, so it felt as we were all in the same room with all the videos being switched onand combined this with hyper in the moment relevant content.

One contributing moment was the intro video of one of the facilitators made from her igloo just before starting her holiday. People were struck by the natural honesty and the fact it was so different. She didn’t pretend to be in a “professional” environment. She demo-ed effectively how she used her strength (creativity) to cope with all the demands on her time and was having fun. We just showed up as ourselves and shared the good, the bad and the ugly.  We put a lot of emphasis on creating psychological safety, authenticity and humanity.

5. We focussed on giving in the moment, unstructured feedback. The conversation bar of the social technology we used was used relentlessly during the live learning sessions. We picked up on tone of voice, specific words giving away levels of confidence, stole ideas with pride and exchanged tips. We created a learning environment and experienced the power of it for ourselves thereby being poised to introduce it to our colleagues and (client) teams.

How many programmes can claim that participants:

1. came back saying that they altered client pitches and won them as a result
2. had secretly felt the confidence to go after that promotion and succeeded
3. had the guts to present their idea to offer a different type of service to the client to the board.
4. reported increased happiness. That they felt they could be more present for their colleagues and families.
5. felt they were more effective in their jobs but were actually doing less…though still cared the same if even not more.

 

For me the only conclusion to draw from this is that it is once more proven that it is about the mindset first and skills development second, it is about growing as an individual first to grow as a leader. Combined and in this order, you can genuinely untap potential and find the holy grail to be successful and happy in a heavy demanding and constant changing environment. As for learning / HR professionals and facilitators: don’t stick to the book, even worse don’t hide behind process. In the contrary, go off script and indulge in the fun of learning together.

June 2019