institute of design: teaming workshop by chris bernard

Chris BernardLook for me on Twitter, FaceBook and LinkedIn

ID teaming workshop

This presentation is for educations purposes only. Photos from istockphoto.com unless otherwise noted.This presentation is for educations purposes only. Photos from istockphoto.com unless otherwise noted.

What’s going to happen today?

We’ll learn aboutcollaborating effectively

Making hard things easier

Picking the right approaches

Understanding how we’re different

Learn how to not ignore dysfunction

Push our teams in the right direction

What to do when we get stuck

DetailsIntroductions (Discussion) 60 minutes 08:30am to 09:30am

Teaming Frameworks (Lecture) 30 minutes 09:30am to 10:00am

Break 15 minutes 10:00am to 10:15am

Understanding each other (Lecture) 30 minutes 10:15am to 10:45am

Feedback (Lecture) 15 minutes 10:45am to 11:00am

Exercises (Team-based) 60 minutes 11:00am to 12:00pm

Lunch 60 minutes 12:00am to 01:00pm

Understanding our team (Lecture) 15 minutes 01:00pm to 01:15pm

Exercises (Team-based) 90 minutes 01:15pm to 02:45pm

Break 15 minutes 02:45pm to 03:00pm

Exercise summary (Discussion) 60 minutes 03:00pm to 04:00pm

Getting unstuck (Lecture) 45 minutes 04:00pm to 04:45pm


Wrap up (Discussion) 30 minutes 05:00pm to 05:30pm

Offsite (Optional) 05:30pm to…

Who am I?

• An ID alumni, MDM 2006• Designer• Consultant• Equal mix of work at small

companies and the enterprise

What do people think of designers?

• Methodology: 10k designers, 15 countries• Goal: surface key “essence” of the designer audience• Results have guided v1 of product offerings

95% black isfavorite color

(except Japan, where charcoalblack is top)

55% wearturtlenecks 5+ days

a month(81% of those are black)

Ponytails are disproportionately

common(32% of men

86% of women)

Designer Tracker Project

LeadershipStewardship

Resource Management

MarketingTechnology

Design

======

CEOCOOCFOCMOCTO?

Identifying OpportunitiesGOODBAD

GOOD

Vision +Invention =

Design icons are different for all of us

Source: Microsoft

Meet the designer

Source: Microsoft

Clement Mok

“There has clearly been a steady decline in the design profession for over 30 years, and the source of that decline is the profession’s intractable stasis.

We are unchanged professionals in a changing professional climate, clutching at old idols, while failing to create new offerings, failing to reinvent and reinvigorate the practice when needed, failing to inculcate a professional culture that is accessible and fair.”

Source: Communication Arts

What do our peers think?

• Nobody knows how much to spend• It’s the process and not the

pocketbook• Collaboration is the key

Source: Strategy+Business

What does business think?

What do we think?

Which of the following have been characteristics of good team

experiences at ID?

Source: Dave McGaw, ID

• Team members have a mix of levels of experience

• Team members have a mix of skills

• At least one person has project management skills

• People take turns leading the project

• Team makes clear assignments at each meeting for who does the work

• Team has regular weekly meetings scheduled

• Teams use tools like blogs…etc., to collaborate and share files remotely

• Teams meet socially at least once during the project

• Teams members evaluate each other periodically during the project


What do we think?

What do we think?

Which of the following have been characteristics of bad

team experiences at ID?


What do we think?

• Team members have the same skills

• The same person is the leader for most of the project

• The project operates by consensus—no single leader at any time

• Teams improvising solutions just before presenting


What do we want?

• I expect good teamwork skills to be an important part of my design career

• I have good teamwork skills right now

• I would benefit from improving my teamwork skills


Agenda

• We have a full day• We have three 15 minute breaks• We have 60 minutes for lunch

Code of conduct

• Engage, turn off the cell-phone, use the laptop for notes only

• One voice at a time• Respect your fellow participants• Meet your fellow participants

Things I’ve learned

• The best insights in this class come at the seams– During team exercises– During team feedback– During the breaks and ad hoc

conversations over lunch, after class and online

A framework for teams

30 Minutes

• Are you really a team?• Are you ready for heavy lifting?

Source: Wisdom of Teams

Two things to ask yourself when thinking about teaming…

What we want to learn

• How to determine if a team is the right choice

• How to chose the right kind of team• Understanding what is required to

enable the success of the team


At the Institute of Design we care about…

High Performance Teams

But, be careful

Sometimes you don’t need a high performance team to get

the job done

Effective Groups

An effective group doesn’t require the discipline and rigor of

a performance unit.

When the characteristics of a performance unit are applied to

a group it can frustrate and overburden users.

Typical effective groups merely requires an… •understandable charter•good communication•defined member roles•time-efficient processes•reasonable accountability


Effective groups versus high performance teams

Single-leader Units

Single-leader units versus

high performance teamsSingle-leader units function differently than a performing team

in that the traditional management style of leadership is imposed

with a designate that…

•makes the key decisions

•delegates and monitors individual assignments and accountability

•chooses how and when to modify specific approaches.

The benefit of this approach is that it is more agile and familiar to

most individuals than the techniques required to be a performing

team.


High Performance Teams

Six things to know about teams

In The Wisdom of Teams Katzenbach and Smith identified six basics criteria

that were required for effective performing teams.


Characteristics of high performance teams

Small numbers

Small numbers

• Large numbers of people have trouble interacting

constructively as a group.

• Performing teams typically function best when there are a

small number of people working together with four to six

people often being a good target.

• Single leader and effective groups also benefit from

smallness but the less resource intensive nature of process

required for this types of teams typically means they can be a

little larger, in the range of twelve to twenty-five people.


Complementary skills

Complementary skills

• In the enterprise high performance companies build teams

based on complementary skills—this of course requires an

understanding of what skills people have.

• It’s further complicated in a learning institution around not

only understanding what skills people have but also what

skills they would like to develop.

• Insights into technical and functional expertise, problem

solving and decision making skills and interpersonal skills

are all factors that go into the creation of effective teams.


Common purpose

Common purpose

• A team’s eventual performance is directly correlated to its purpose. If team members have a different purpose or that the purpose of the team is unknown, it’s difficult for teams to perform effectively.


Common goals

Common goals

Common set of specific performance goals

• Specific performance goals are also essential for most teams to function effectively and they need to be defined for or developed by the team.


Common working approach

Commonly agreed upon working approach

• Teams that can’t standardize on the same working environments and tools often do not function well. Incompatible software and collaboration tools can cripple teams and cause massive hits to productivity and effectiveness.


Mutual accountabilityMutual accountability

Mutual accountability

• Teams need to hold themselves accountable

and be evaluated as a team.

• Organizations that expect team performance but

only reward individual contribution in absence of

accountability to a team are often ineffective.

If we don’t incent the performance we want, we

wont get the performance we want.


ID Teaming Workshop


Take a Break

15 minutes

Understanding each other

30 Minutes

We’re different

Individual differences

• What makes it hard to work with other folks?

• How does this manifest itself at ID?• Do we have similarities, what are

they?• How can we learn more about

similarities and differences before we start teaming?

What is a Meyers Briggs Type Indicator?

• The Meyers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) is a personality

profiling tool that has over 50 years of data behind it.

• There are no right or wrong answers and the findings are

not absolute, it’s not fate and it’s not destiny.

• It’s simply a tool to help facilitate your understanding of

your own patterns of behavior and have a common

language and set of tools to understand others.

Source: Description for Self-Discovery

Personality has several aspects

• The contextual self• The developed self• The true self

• Understanding personality…

…patterns, processes, structure, purpose


• If you prefer to direct your energy to deal with people, things, situations, or "the outer world", then your preference is for Extraversion. This is denoted by the letter "E".

• If you prefer to direct your energy to deal with ideas, information, explanations or beliefs, or "the inner world", then your preference is for Introversion. This is denoted by the letter "I".

Source: Team Technology

Where, primarily, do you prefer to direct your energy?

Where, primarily, do you prefer to direct your energy?

Extraversion (E)SociabilityInteractionExternalBreadthOutside thrustRelationshipsActionExternal eventsDo-think-do75%

Introversion (I)SolitaryConcentrationInternalDepthInside pullDeep friendshipReflectionInternal reationsThink-do-think25%

Source: IBM

• If you prefer to deal with facts, what you know, to have clarity, or to describe what you see, then your preference is for Sensing. This is denoted by the letter "S".

• If you prefer to deal with ideas, look into the unknown, to generate new possibilities or to anticipate what isn't obvious, then your preference is for Intuition. This is denoted by the letter "N" (the letter I has already been used for Introversion).


How do you prefer to process information?

Sensing (S)The five sensesWhat is realPracticalFactsPresent orientationSensiblePerspirationDown-to-earth75%

Intuition (N)HunchesWhat could beTheoreticalInsightsPossibilitiesImaginativeInspirationHead-in-clouds25%

Source: IBM

How do you prefer to process information?

How do you prefer to make decisions?

• If you prefer to decide on the basis of objective logic, using an analytic and detached approach, then your preference is for Thinking. This is denoted by the letter "T".

• If you prefer to decide using values and/or personal beliefs, on the basis of what you believe is important or what you or others care about, then your preference is for Feeling. This is denoted by the letter "F".


Thinking (T)HeadLogical systemObjectiveCritiqueReasonFirm but fairImpersonalFirmness50%

Feeling (F)HeartValue systemSubjectiveComplimentEmpathyCompassionatePersonalPersuasion50%

How do you prefer to make decisions?

Source: IBM

How do you prefer to organize your life?

• If you prefer your life to be planned, stable and organized then your preference is for Judging (not to be confused with 'Judgmental', which is quite different). This is denoted by the letter "J".

• If you prefer to go with the flow, to maintain flexibility and respond to things as they arise, then your preference is for Perception. This is denoted by the letter "P".


Judging (J)PlanningControlSettledRun one’s lifeSet goalsDecisiveOrganizedStructured50%

Perceiving (P)SpontaneousAdaptTentativeLet life happenGet informationOpenFlexibleUnstructured50%

How do you prefer to organize your life?

Source: IBM

Things to keep in mind

• The MBTI doesn’t measure ability, skills, or potential.

• The MBTI merely gives you (and others) insights into dominant preferences that you may exhibit in different environments.


Teams don’t function well without feedback

Giving feedback

15 Minutes

Three concepts around feedback

• How to listen• How to give• How to receive

How can we listen more effectively?

We can…

• Establish rapport

• Suspend judgment

• Demonstrate interest

• Encourage the person to talk

• Maintain appropriate silence

• Clarify understanding

• Respond to the message

Source: IBM

How should we give feedback?

• Use a positive approach• Be specific• Give feedback on things that a

person can change• Check for understanding• Discuss what you way or heard

Source: IBM

How should we receive feedback?

• Relax• Listen carefully, avoid interrupting• Ask questions for clarity• Acknowledge valid points• Take time to sort out what you heard

Source: IBM

A word about coaching

• Sharing experience, giving feedback, and enabling people can be augmented with coaching.

• Coaching is like fishing and therapy all wrapped up into one

• Good coaches help people understand how to solve their own problems

Source: IBM

A coaching model

Let’s try it

Team Exercises

60 Minutes

Conclusions

• What have we learned so far?

Eat Lunch

• 45 minutes

Understanding our teams

Introduction15 minutes

The Basadur Creative Problem Solving Profile (CPSP)

Inventory measures an individual's unique blend of

preferences for four stages of what is defined as the creative

process. One's largest quadrant on the graph represents

one's preferred or dominant style, while the sizes of the other

quadrants represent supporting orientations in turn. The

resulting unique blend of styles is one's profile.

Source: Min Basadur and GK Van Patter (www.nextd.org)

What is the Creative Problem Solving Profile (CPSP)?

• Each unique style reflects individual preferences for ways of

gaining and using knowledge. Some people prefer to

understand things more by experiencing while others prefer

to use abstract thinking and analysis to understand. Also,

some prefer to use understanding for generating options

while others prefer to use understanding to evaluate

options.

• The Basadur CPS Profile is not a personality test.

• It measures states, not traits.



The creative problem solving profile is constructed on two of these

dimensions.

First, by two opposite ways of gaining knowledge:

(1) By direct experience and

(2) By abstract, analytical, logical thinking.

Second, by two opposite ways of using knowledge:

(1) By ideation (making new possibilities, breaking connections,

diverging)

(2) By evaluation (testing and verifying new possibilities, making

connections, converging).

The CPSP looks at how people get knowledge and how they use it


The CPSP is a way of diagnosing and explaining the different creativeproblem solving inclinations and skills one person has relative to another sothat the two can understand how to team together for synergy and increasedcreativity, combining their strengths.

The CPSP looks at how people get knowledge and how they use it


Let’s try it90 minutes

Take a Break15 minutes

Summary on the CPSP45 minutes

Some stuff is missing…

• This next section contains copyrighted content that I’ve pulled from this presentation because I’m not permitted to show it out of a classroom setting.

• However you can get the gist of everything I’m saying by going to NextD.org where they’ve thoughtfully posted all this content. Check it out for yourselves and make the investment of profiling yourself and your teams. It’s the best tool I’ve found for creative teams.

Generator DescriptionThe Generator’s two dominant creative problem solving inclinations are (1) learning bydirect experience, that is, sensing the world around by touch, smell, taste, hearing andseeing; absorbing knowledge by getting involved personally and experiencing andgathering information, and (2) ideation, that is, imagining possibilities, seeing relevancein everything, seeing different points of view; dreaming about what might be; wonderingwhy things seem to be what they are; speculating about the future. The combination ofthese two inclinations indicate a preference for problem sensing and fact finding kinds ofactivities in the creative process. The Generator is an initiator, a proliferator ofopportunities, problems, facts and feelings - very sensitive to the world around, absorbingdiverse information and possibilities that might have relevance to the organization or tooneself. The Generator is very comfortable with high ambiguity and proliferation ofmuch information and potential opportunity. He loves to get things started and is likelystrong in Steps 1 and 2 of the creative process. Generators are idea starters.

Source: Min Basadur

Conceptualizer DescriptionThe Conceptualizer’s creative problem solving inclinations are (1) using knowledge forideation (as above) and (2) learning by abstract analysis, logic and conceptualization(trying to develop an understanding or explanation or theory which offers an

explanationof a situation; being detached and objective; doing rational, logical thinking; havingthings make sense in the abstract). The Conceptualizer’s combination of these twoinclinations indicate a preference for problem definition and idea generation (Steps 3

and 4 of the Basadur creative process) via a propensity to patiently take a wide range of

seemingly disparate facts or idea fragments and possibilities and combine or assimilate

them into integrated explanations, theories, problem definitions and ideas to be tested.

Conceptualizers are good at extracting and defining the opportunity or problem posing it

and developing a list of ideas which may solve it. They are idea developers.

Source: Min Basadur

Optimizer DescriptionThe Optimizer’s creative problem solving inclinations are (1) learning by abstractanalysis, logic and conceptualizing and (2) using the knowledge for evaluation by

testingpossibilities, that is, experimentation (trying to verify theories; confirming ideas

andnotions; learnings and pinning down practical knowledge gained during testing).These two inclinations indicate the optimizer to be involved in the practical

application ofideas, planning how to make ideas work in the real world and optimizing solutions.

In the creative process, this involves testing and rational, logical evaluation of ideas, selection of the best ones and planning concrete steps for making them practical and

implementable (Step 5 and 6 of the process). Optimizers are solution developers.

Source: Min Basadur

Implementer DescriptionThe Implementer’s combination of inclinations toward (1) using knowledge forevaluation and (2) learning by direct experience indicate a great deal of implementationactivity - gaining acceptance from others for changes and making those changes workand stick. (Steps 7 and 8 of the creative process) The Implementer does not worry a greatdeal about understanding the theory behind the new idea, plan or product. He wants totake it and “run with it”, work with it, show others how to use it, fit it to others’ needs,adapt it to various circumstances, try it one way and if it doesn’t work, try it another way.

The Implementer’s combination of inclinations toward (1) using knowledge forevaluation and (2) learning by direct experience indicate a great deal of implementationactivity - gaining acceptance from others for changes and making those changes workand stick. (Steps 7 and 8 of the creative process) The Implementer does not worry a greatdeal about understanding the theory behind the new idea, plan or product. He wants totake it and “run with it”, work with it, show others how to use it, fit it to others’ needs,adapt it to various circumstances, try it one way and if it doesn’t work, try it another way.

Source: Min Basadur

Conclusions about how to use the CPSP

For any organizational team to be an effective creative problem solver, strengths in all four quadrants is important. This is achieved through the blend of people on the team. It is also important that the individuals in that organization or team use their strengths in a complementary way and not get frustrated by others who may have opposite inclinations (e.g., optimizers and generators, implementers and conceptualizers).

To achieve the best outcomes, projects in organizations need to move through the “generation conceptualization- optimization-implementation” cycle. Ideas for new projects must start somewhere - that is, the generator function, to be sensitive to the world around picking up data and cues and suggesting possible opportunities. Thus, the generator function raises a wealth of ideas and facts - usually not fully thought through, but simply in the form of starting points for new projects.

Next the conceptualizer function is needed to pull together the facts and idea fragments from the generator phase into well thought out and developed ideas and defined problems and concepts worthy of further development. The conceptualizers give sound structure to fledgling ideas and problems. The optimizer function is to take the selected structured project, problem or idea and find a practical solution or action plan that is well detailed, efficient and optimum.

Finally, it is up to the implementation function to carry the practical solutions and plans for the project forward and get them implemented - convincing management or customers or other employees as necessary and adapting the solutions and plans as necessary to make them fit into the real world.

Source: Min Basadur

When you get stuck

Getting unstuck45 minutes

Some stuff is missing…

• This next section contains some content that is copyrighted that I can’t display out of an academic setting.

• The good news is that you can get the gist of this presentation by going to www.unstuck.com, explore the site, buy the book!

• But first, look at www.unstuck.com/pdf/UNSTUCK_excerpt.pdf to get an idea of what this section is about.

So, how stuck are you?

• Do you have a clear, inspiring purpose?• Do you have the right people, in the right

roles to make a difference?• Do you work effectively as a team? Can

you always get the right stuff done?• Does the team truly get the most from

diversity—in skills, geography, gender, age, ethnicity—to broaden it’s thinking?

Source: Unstuck

So, how stuck are you?

• Do you know how to make decisions?• Do those decisions stick?• Is your team capable of radical

ideas?• If your team leader quit today, could

your team carry on?

Source: Unstuck

Figuring out why we’re stuck

Diagnosing why you’re stuck

The serious seven

Source: Unstuck

Diagnosing why you’re stuck

OverwhelmedExhausted

DirectionlessHopeless

Battle-tornWorthless

AloneSource: Unstuck

Take a Break15 minutes, but be on time,

we’re almost there!

Connecting the dots15 minutes

Resources & what’s next

• So, we’re doomed, what do we do now?– We take the learnings from this

workshop and apply them to our design methods toolkit.

– We already know how to solve hard business problems and the serious seven are simply a more contained version of the problems we address every day.

Source: Unstuck

If you buy two books buy these

Other reading

Getting Things Done, David AllenTime ManagementInfo:http://www.davidco.com/what_is_gtd.phpThe Art of Project Management, Scott BerkunProject ManagementGet a free chapter of this book here:http://www.scottberkun.com/books/artofpm/artofpmch03.pdfLearn more here:http://www.scottberkun.comUnstuck, Keith Yamashita & Sandra SpataroTeam EffectivenessInfo:http://www.unstuck.com/The Wisdom of Teams, Jon Katzenbach and Douglas SmithTeam EffectivenessThe Five Dysfunctions of a Team, Patrick LencioniTeam Effectiveness

Next steps

• Complete feedback• Post thoughts and observations to

the teaming blog• Teach your fellow classmates what

you learned here today

Thank you!Namaste

*Apologies to my favorite fake blogger, FSJ

Extras for those that love death by PowerPoint

Collaboration tools20 minutes

Types of tools

• Internet messaging• VOIP software• Group chat• Group presentation• Group collaboration• Email• Notification systems

Process matters most

• Pick a tool set for your team and stick with it

• Templates or custom?• In Design or PowerPoint?• Version control• Workflow• Fonts• Copyright

Project management basics20 minutes

Project management truth

• Project management is not a sacred art

• The simpler the view of what we do, the more power and focus we can have in accomplishing things

• Simple doesn’t mean easy

Source: The Art of Project Management

On schedules

Schedules have three purposes:

• They allow the team to make commitments about when

something will get done.

• Encourage everyone to understand that their individual

effort is part of a whole and that it requires her

investment to make her contributions work with others

• They give the team a tool with which to track progress

and break work into manageable chunks


Making schedules work

• Milestone length should match project volatility

• Be optimistic in the vision and skeptical in the schedule

• Bet on design

• Plan checkpoints for add/cut discussions

• Inform and get the team aligned around planning methodology

• Collectively gauge the team’s experience with the problem space

• Collectively gauge the teams confidence and experience in

working together

• Take on risks early


Time management basics20 minutes

Meetings…

Will get you in trouble if…

• You let them break up your natural workflow and interrupt

commitments that require you to work individually

• They focus too much on words, abstract concepts and things that

aren’t real that are discussed without structures and frameworks to

guide the conversation.

• The require no preparation on your part or other participants in the

meeting

• They are convened without an agenda that is distributed before

hand

Source: Getting Real

Personal Time Management

Understand the basic concepts of GTD

1. Identify all the stuff in your life that isn’t in the right place (close

all open loops)

2. Get rid of the stuff that isn’t yours or you don’t need right now

3. Create a right place that you trust and that supports your

working style and values

4. Put your stuff in the right place, consistently

5. Do your stuff in a way that honors your time, your energy, and

the context of any given moment

6. Iterate and re-factor mercilessly

Source: DIYPlanner.com

How GTD works

Source: Getting Thinks Done