by Peter A. Arthur-Smith, Leadership Solutions, Inc.®
“Two-way communication is like rocket-fuel; Bureaucracy is like an unnecessary brake”
Harry, SuperGuard’s Visionist, didn’t have to wait long for his enthusiastic Strategist team to assemble for what came to be known as “pre-Green Light Day.” Participants were clearly excited about what was brewing and their strong optimism was the order of the day. Christine, their outside advisor, was impressed at the level of excitement and commitment levels that were brewing.
In his usual manner, Harry went around the horseshoe array of seated Strategists and asked them for a five minute update – both in terms of what was happening in their domains and any special activities toward the SuperGuard Vanguard project. Dan, the team’s Operationist, pretty much had his SuperGuard pairs and their standbys ready to go. Melissa, the team’s Promotionist, had identified through her team four potential, interested client targets. Maureen, the company’s Provisionist, reported that all required equipment and uniforms were on standby order.
Rachel, the firm’s Humanist, declared that she had sat in on Dan’s teams’ In-Team Discovery sessions. She was impressed with the level of participant enthusiasm and professionalism toward educating colleagues. Roger, SuperGuard’s Expansionist, shared ways in which he was researching wider applications for a rather unique security service. Beyond that, Fred the company’s Innovationist, was involved in other research to determine additional special features that could be incorporated into such an elite security activity.
Harry was pretty spellbound by all this expansionary activity and encouraged team members along wherever possible. Nevertheless, he knew it would be prudent for his strategist team to re-consider the pros and cons before the company proceeds; even though he was eager to minimize any damper effect on the emerging positive tide. He therefore posed two questions for consideration by two ad hoc sub-teams:
- In what ways do we expect SuperGuard to do well?
- Where do we need the company to perform even better to maximize this project’s potential?
(NOTE: How he framed the questions in a positive manner, so as not tip participants into the normal “weaknesses” way of thinking; and therefore start shutting down his team’s minds.)
He gave them about an hour – or sooner – to deliberate on these issues, while he and Christine rotated between the two sub-teams to encourage ideas and make suggestions. Close to their hour of discussion, Harry nudged them: 1) to list their “pros” on one side of a whiteboard, and 2) to list their “cons” on the opposite side of the same board. Once this was done everyone was ready for a coffee break – a chance to dwell on their efforts so far and casually chat about the two listings.
Once they re-convened as a total team, they initially focused on their 1) “Pro” listing with its eight items and reduced it to their top three. They then did the same for the 2) “Con” listing. Harry then invited them to form into three complementary pairs – if it involved a different colleague, so much the better – and then each pair to take-on one Pro and one Con. Once assigned, he asked them to take a further hour to discern:
- How SuperGuard could further leverage their assigned “Pro item,” and
- How the company could turn their assigned “Con item” into an opportunity?
Their ultimate views were then bulletized onto their main whiteboard for full team reflection. The most valuable “Pro items” were highlighted and the same for the most promising “Con opportunities.”
Harry then challenged his Strategist team to agree on a likely “Green Light Day” (GL Day) as soon as practicable. It would be where as many people in the company, who could be spared – either in-person or virtual – for a launch briefing about SuperGuard Vanguard. During the mean time, he encouraged each pair to further ponder on their respective, highlighted “most valuable Pro items” and “most promising Con opport-unities.” They should be ready to make specific recommendations for adoption on GL Day.
After another very successful team session to move SuperGuard Vanguard forward to a designated GL Day, Harry felt everyone deserved another prudent lunch to celebrate and reflect upon their additional success. There was absolutely no disagreement on that!
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Author, Peter A. Arthur-Smith, Founding Principal with Leadership Solutions, Inc., is based in New York, and author of Smart Decisions: Goodbye Problems, Hello Options. He has drafted a potential new publication, Constructive Leadership Disruption: Embrace Five ‘New Organization World’ Opportunities! that offers a slew of fresh leadership concepts and practical models. Feel free to follow author at: Linkedin.com/in/peter-arthur-smith-2115722/
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