Navigating Business Conversations

1. Navigating Business Conversations ALL-STAFF RETREAT 2010

2. What is a Bright Spot? A Bright Spot is a positive deviation; a successful effort worth emulating. “These flashes of success—these bright spots—can illuminate the roadmap for action and spark the hope that change is possible.” Dan and Chip Heath Switch: How to Change Things When Change is Hard

3. Overview of Navigating Business Conversations Challenge It is difficult for meeting participants to focus their mental energy in a conversation to achieve the results they need to further their work. • Tool • Desired Outcome Statements • The Phases of a Business Conversation Impact Participants become more focused in their work and share a common process for navigating the conversations that are necessary

4. “Conversation” Definition • By this definition, a meeting may consist of several conversations each with a different desired outcome A conversation is defined as: Two or more people gathered to discuss a topic for which there needs to be some type of agreement, decision or conclusion to further the work

5. Learning Objectives By the end of this Section, you will have: • An understanding of the importance of planning for critical conversations so that you can give it the time that it requires • An ability to write clear, engaging and measureable desired outcomes • A framework for facilitating conversations that allows participants to move through a discussion cooperatively and produce the intended outcomes • A set of rudimentary tools that simplify the conversation process and make it easier for people to work together in discussion

6. Meeting Purpose The Meeting Purpose describes why you are having the meeting • Information Sharing • Sending: To ensure understanding of information; to clarify the intent behind decisions, changes, etc. • Receiving: To gather feedback, ideas, questions, etc.; to hear multiple perspectives on an issue • Problem Solving • To analyze; to understand root causes; to evaluate; to mediate • Idea Generation • To brainstorm new ideas or possibilities; to develop creative or innovative approaches • Decision-Making • To prioritize; to reach agreement; to delegate • Implementation • To plan; to monitor; to adjust / adapt • Relationship Building • To celebrate; to socialize; to reward

7. Desired Outcomes A Desired Outcome is what your conversation participants aim to achieve, the intended result of the conversation. A Desired Outcome statement is essential to conversation process because it focuses participant’s energy and effort.

8. Desired Outcome Criteria • A Noun • Brief, written statements • Specific and measurable • Written from the perspective of the participant Outcomes Should Be in the Form of a Noun • A decision on . . . • An agreement on . . . • A plan for . . . • Information on . . . • A list of next steps for . . . • Understanding of . . . • A prioritized list of recommendations for . . .

9. Desired Outcomes Two kinds of outcomes • Product: Specific tangible objects, e.g., A list of . . .; A plan of . . .; A decision on . . .; An agreement for . . . • Knowledge: Many meetings are intended to share or impart information or knowledge • What is important with Knowledge Desired Outcomes is that there be a “so that” line. Participants need to understand what and why it is important for them to have that information or knowledge. This helps participants to prepare their part of the information to be of use in the meeting • Also, the “so that” line will allow participants to measure if they got it, e.g., An understanding of the new employee benefit plan so that you will know what is covered the next time a family member needs medical care

10. Desired Outcomes

11. Exercise: Desired Outcomes Individually • Think about a meeting you recently attended or one you have coming up. What was (or will be) one expected result or Desired Outcome for the meeting? How was it presented to the group? • Write this Desired Outcome in your own words below • Is the above Desired Outcome a product or knowledge Desired Outcome? Use one of the options provided Product By the end of this meeting, we will have (What kind of product?): • A plan for __________________________________________________ • An agreement on ____________________________________________ • A list of ____________________________________________________ • A process for _______________________________________________ • A . . .

12. Exercise: Desired Outcomes Knowledge By the end of this meeting, we will have: (What do participants need to know?) • An awareness of ______________________________________________ • An understanding of ___________________________________________ • A __________________________________________________________ (Why do participants need to know this?) • So that we can implement _______________________________________ • So that we can explain __________________________________________ • So that we ___________________________________________________ • So that ______________________________________________________

13. Process Design Content (What) Process(How) • Content: Information, issue, topic to be discussed — the WHAT • Process: Method or approach used to address the content — the HOW

14. Conversation Design • The following formula demonstrates the importance of distinguishing between content, process and having clarity about your expected outcomes for a conversation Content Process Desired Outcomes +  Step 1 Step 3 Step 2

15. Phases of a Conversation In business meetings, participants are often asked to discuss a number of topics or issues, use some evaluative process to explore the merits of the ideas or issues, and reach some decisions about what to do at the close of the meeting regarding these topics. The following framework serves as a way of looking at the processes that transpire in that conversation Discover Organize/ Evaluate Conclude Agreement Building Process

16. Phases of a Conversation Phase Purpose • In the opening of a conversation the intention is to uncover all the thoughts or ideas of participants about the content subject. This is where participants bring their individual brain power and personal contribution to the discussion. What is most important is that participants feel comfortable in expressing their ideas, thoughts, etc., and that all participants devote some time to understanding the ideas, thoughts, and feelings that have been expressed by others • It is critical in this Phase to set aside judgments of the ideas, thoughts, and feelings and seek only to understand. There will be time for evaluation later Discover defines the intention of Phase I of the conversation Organize/Evaluate defines the intentionof Phase II of the conversation • Emerging from the Discover Phase of the conversation, the ideas, thoughts, and feelings are often numerous. A group now needs to organize all the data that has emerged • In addition to organization of the data, the group will be eager to begin evaluating the ideas. Which ideas seem better, more useful, more costly, etc. Therefore evaluation begins in this Phase Agreement Building Process

17. Phases of a Conversation Phase Purpose Conclude defines the intention of Phase III of the conversation • The intention of the Conclude phase of the conversation is to make decisions and / or agreements about how to advance the work or move forward on the ideas presented and the evaluations that have been conducted on those ideas The following pages contain a small sample of process tools that can help conversation participants move through each phase of the conversation

18. Tools: Discover Discover

19. Tools: Organize/Evaluate Organize Evaluate

20. Tools: Conclude Conclude

21. Tools: Conclude (Cont’d) Conclude

22. Phases of a Conversation Discover Organize/ Evaluate Conclude Agreement Building Process • Golden Rules of Facilitating a Conversation: • Keep everyone in the same phase at the same time • Get an agreement from the group that it is finished with one phase before moving to the next.