© Copyright 2004 Shaboom Inc. ! All rights reserved. Surfing for Managers How to Lead Your Team and Stay on Board When Change Comes in Waves

© Copyright 2004 Shaboom Inc. ! All rights reserved. Mapping the Waves It’s more than one wave

© Copyright 2004 Shaboom Inc. ! All rights reserved. Mapping the Waves How people experience and adapt to change depends on which wave they ride.

© Copyright 2004 Shaboom Inc. ! All rights reserved. !There’s a right way, and it’s the way we’ve been doing things, !Change means what I’ve done before is no longer valued. !This is just not fair. !It’s hard for me to trust anyone who thinks this is a good idea. The Conformer Wave

© Copyright 2004 Shaboom Inc. ! All rights reserved. !Model desired behavior. !Praise specific performance and progress. !Provide clear guidelines. !Provide consistent paths and structures for advancement. The Conformer Wave

© Copyright 2004 Shaboom Inc. ! All rights reserved. !There’s a right way to do things based on proven methods. !I know my job and nobody can tell me how to do it better. !Changes that upset my routines and reliable processes are a waste of time and money. !If my expertise is outmoded, I’m in big trouble. I am my expertise. The Expert Wave

© Copyright 2004 Shaboom Inc. ! All rights reserved. !Respect expertise. !Give individual attention. !Frame cooperation and adaptation as skills. !Provide pathways for applying expertise to learning new skills. The Expert Wave

© Copyright 2004 Shaboom Inc. ! All rights reserved. !I can do this as long as others don’t get in my way. !Let me at it! !I don’t get what the fuss is about. !Can we just get on with it? The Achiever Wave

© Copyright 2004 Shaboom Inc. ! All rights reserved. !Affirm self-direction. !Coach to develop awareness and appreciation of teams/others. !Brief, implement, debrief. The Achiever Wave

© Copyright 2004 Shaboom Inc. ! All rights reserved. !Everybody’s right (unless they’re wrong). !This is complex! !What does “fair” mean, anyway? !How do I see this challenge? !How do they see this challenge? !How can we frame a common challenge? The Strategists Wave

© Copyright 2004 Shaboom Inc. ! All rights reserved. !Offer choice. !Acknowledge complexity !Dialogue, collaboration. !Creativity. !Balance. The Strategists Wave !No whitewashing. !Modest, recoverable steps. !Encourage focus and simplicity.

© Copyright 2004 Shaboom Inc. ! All rights reserved. Getting on the Board The 4-column exercise that follows is from the work of Robert Kegan and Lisa Laskow Lahey as it appears in their book How the Way We Talk Can Change the Way We Work.

© Copyright 2004 Shaboom Inc. ! All rights reserved. …, if they were to happen more frequently, would you experience as being more supportive of your own ongoing development at work? What sorts of things…

© Copyright 2004 Shaboom Inc. ! All rights reserved. Ground Rules ! Listener(s): Your job is to listen, not to not to help. ! DO write out your responses. ! Speaker: You have sole discretion over what you share and in what level of detail. ! DO NOT censor or filter your responses. No advice! No fixing! No helping! ! DO choose a partner to whom you do not have a reporting or subordinate relationship.

© Copyright 2004 Shaboom Inc. ! All rights reserved. The Language of Complaint

© Copyright 2004 Shaboom Inc. ! All rights reserved. What’s at stake? What values, commitments, or convictions do you hold that are actually implied in your complaints?

© Copyright 2004 Shaboom Inc. ! All rights reserved. The 4-column worksheet CommitmentWhat I’m doing or not doing that prevents my com-mitment from be-ing fully realized. Competing commitment Big assumption I am committed to the value or the importance of …

© Copyright 2004 Shaboom Inc. ! All rights reserved. Complaint vs. Commitment !Automatic, reflexive !What we can’t stand !Feels whiny, cynical !Generates frustration !Complaints = wrong !Dead ends !Intentional !What we stand for !Feels hopeful !Generates focus !Complaint = care !Goal-directed

© Copyright 2004 Shaboom Inc. ! All rights reserved. What are you doing… …or not doing that is keeping your commitment from being fully realized?

© Copyright 2004 Shaboom Inc. ! All rights reserved. The 4-column worksheet Commitment What I’m doing or not doing that prevents my commitment from being fully realized. Competing commitment Big assumption I am committed to the value or the importance of …

© Copyright 2004 Shaboom Inc. ! All rights reserved. Blame vs Responsibility !Easy, reflexive !Holds others responsible !Polarizes !Generates defense !Dead ends !Questions for others !Takes work !Specific, personal, actionable !Builds momentum !Generates dialogue !Opportunities !Raises questions for self

© Copyright 2004 Shaboom Inc. ! All rights reserved. What fear or discomfort… … can you notice with respect to how you fall short of fully living up to your commitment?

© Copyright 2004 Shaboom Inc. ! All rights reserved. What are you committed … …to (or committed to preventing) in order to avoid that fear or discomfort?

© Copyright 2004 Shaboom Inc. ! All rights reserved. 3rd Column Checkpoint !The “creep out” indicator ! Not noble !Names a form of self- protection that competes with our 1st column commitment

© Copyright 2004 Shaboom Inc. ! All rights reserved. The 4-column worksheet CommitmentWhat I’m doing or not doing that prevents my com-mitment from be-ing fully realized. Competing commit- ment Big assump- tion I am committed to the value or the importance of … I may also be com- mitted to …

© Copyright 2004 Shaboom Inc. ! All rights reserved. New Year’s Resolutions vs Competing Commitments !Sincere, genuine intentions !Creates hopes for the future !Problematic behavior is shameful !Attributes ineffectiveness to outside causes (other people, circumstances) !Rarely leads to significant change despite sincerity !Genuine countervailing commitments !Map of inner contradiction !Problematic behavior is a successful strategy !Acknowledges complex, contradictory nature of own intentions !Makes significant change possible by revealing the nature of the blocks

© Copyright 2004 Shaboom Inc. ! All rights reserved. The 4-column worksheet CommitmentWhat I’m doing or not doing that prevents my com-mitment from be-ing fully realized. Competing commitment Big Assumption I am committed to the value or the importance of … I may also be com- mitted to … I’m assuming that if…

© Copyright 2004 Shaboom Inc. ! All rights reserved. Build an assumptive stem. Positive in 3rd column to negative: “I assume that if I did not …” Negative in 3rd column to positive: “I assume that if I did …”

© Copyright 2004 Shaboom Inc. ! All rights reserved. Complete your assumption. Complete the sentence that starts with your assumptive stem. Write it in the 4th column of the worksheet.

© Copyright 2004 Shaboom Inc. ! All rights reserved. Everyday Surfing How will you use this tomorrow? ! Listen ! Inquire ! Reframe

© Copyright 2004 Shaboom Inc. ! All rights reserved. Listen ! For the values or commitment beneath a complaint. ! For the wave. ! For the nature of the fear or discomfort for THIS person on THIS wave.

© Copyright 2004 Shaboom Inc. ! All rights reserved. Listen ! For big assumptions. ! For openings to reveal assumptions. ! For opportunities to test assumptions.

© Copyright 2004 Shaboom Inc. ! All rights reserved. Inquire ! How does this challenge keep us from living up to our standards? ! What could you/we have done differently to experience better results? ! What is at risk? For whom?

© Copyright 2004 Shaboom Inc. ! All rights reserved. Inquire ! What assumptions are at work? ! What have you/we done to test these assumptions? ! What can we do now to test these assumptions? ! What modest, recoverable steps can we take to test our assumptions?

© Copyright 2004 Shaboom Inc. ! All rights reserved. Reframe ! Complaint as commitment. ! Resistance and non- cooperation as competing commitments. ! Fears and discomfort as unexamined assumptions.

© Copyright 2004 Shaboom Inc. ! All rights reserved. Reframe: Strategist ! Complaint as commitment. ! Resistance and non- cooperation as competing commitments. ! Fears and discomfort as unexamined assumptions.

© Copyright 2004 Shaboom Inc. ! All rights reserved. Reframe: Conformer ! It’s a challenge and here are the means to meet it. ! These are the steps you can take to succeed now. ! Given your strengths, you can...

© Copyright 2004 Shaboom Inc. ! All rights reserved. Reframe: Expert ! Opportunity for you to grow your expertise. ! Adaptation, collaboration, compromise are skills. ! Ambiguity and complexity require technical discernment.

© Copyright 2004 Shaboom Inc. ! All rights reserved. Reframe: Achiever ! A chance to shine. ! Respect for others as key to achieving goals. ! Adjusting to other styles as learning/leading opportunity. ! Manage energy and relation-ships for long term success.

© Copyright 2004 Shaboom Inc. ! All rights reserved. Reframe: Strategists !Now we’re surfing! !Multiple waves = challenge and growth. !Complexity Flexibility Possibility !Feedback (even when it hurts) is a good thing.

© Copyright 2004 Shaboom Inc. ! All rights reserved. Follow Up/Request Slides Molly Gordon, MCC Shaboom Inc. Life could be a dream… PO Box 195 Suquamish, WA P F