Tuesday was an extraordinary day. One of those few, all-time, days to remember. Rarely do workdays stand out. Probably because, over the course of a 25 year career, there are so many of them. Days often blend together and become part of the grind. To top it off, this was a staff meeting.

Throughout the years I've read many ideas about managing, leading, Total Quality Management, Continuous Quality Improvement, you know, all the buzz. Some of it seemed pretty good at the time. Many of the ideas still make sense. At least theoretically.

I've read many books. Some have stuck with me. It's been about 10 years since I first read "The Fifth Discipline". I read "Thinking Strategically" for a class several years back. I like many of the ideas in these books.

The events of the past two months have helped me to finally understand the difference between discovering ideas, sharing ideas, and using ideas to produce a learning experience. After 25 years I realize that there is still much for me to learn about being a teacher.

I've always known that there is a difference between understanding something and being able to teach about it. My most comfortable role has always been as a student. I finally had the experience of being a teacher.

In January 2002 I asked by direct reports to read a series of books and discuss the ideas with me. I had plans of covering a book a month. It became clear after the first month that this was too ambitious. I was about to find out just how unrealistic this was. By summer we had only gotten part way through "The Fifth Discipline". Some of the staff were interested and others didn't see any benefit. I was frustrated.

There were some obvious and divisive issues between staff members that came to a head by early fall. That's when I started to consider alternatives to simply talking about ideas.

I developed what I termed "modules". These were hour long sessions that were structured to ask discreet questions and produce a very simple set of deliverables. These modules were designed to draw out ideas in three separate areas as follow:

1. Develop a shared vision of what the ideal UEN future could be. 2. Develop a list of problems that were keeping us from reaching the ideal. 3. Produce a set of actions that could address the problems and realize the ideal.

One major objective was to keep my opinions out of the process. I added two modules the day before I met with my direct reports. The first module asked each participant to share their favorite job and what made it good (excluding UEN. I didn't want to be shined). The other new module was asking the two participants who had been with UEN the longest to share their thoughts about "the good old days".

The day of the retreat went well. We began to have some conversations that were not guarded. My staff decided that this was such a good experience that the entire UEN Technical staff should go through the retreat, too.

Over the course of two weeks we organized and held 6 separate retreats. Most of staff members had the chance to participate. The structure of the retreats created an opportunity to openly express frustrations. More importantly, the additional modules added a high degree of positive interaction. This provided the ability to do something about the problems.

The retreats produced three consolidated lists. The totals were as follows:

1. Shared vision - 65 items 2. Identified problems - 115 items. 3. Shared actions - 107 items.

The management staff met often over the next 5 weeks to interpret the information that was derived. Eventually we developed 12 categories and 46 distinct changes that we believed should be made.

We felt overwhelmed and realized that throwing out 46 different changes all at once would likely be too much for staff and management to handle. That meant our chance of success would be about zero.

We settled on 6 separate changes. It seemed doable at that number. These were the highest leverage items with the greatest likelihood for sustainable success.

On Monday we had our final meeting in preparation for the All Staff meeting Tuesday. Our greatest concern was how to present the information in a way that was simple and effective. The challenge was to engage the staff and get them fully involved.

We spent over three hours in the All Staff meeting on Tuesday. I presented a Roles and Responsibilities document, a UEN Technical Services Mission Statement, a shared vision statement and the list of the six high leverage changes. I also took time to explain the process that occurred between the last retreat and Tuesday's meeting.

I give all the credit to my staff. They really are amazing. I could feel the positive energy in the room. Everyone expressed the desire to improve our working relationship and focus on delivering improved services to our customers (we call them Stakeholders in the government/education sector). This was a teaching experience. I hope to have more, but at least I've had this one.

I'm not sure that I want to take on the role of teacher full time. It's a big responsibility. I still feel more comfortable in my role as student. At least I have the support of a tremendous group of people. The UEN Technical Services department is filled with talented and dedicated individuals. I count myself fortunate to be looked to and treated as there leader.

All I can say is..... Amazing.....

That's all for now......
6:04:36 PM    comment []