Hello Everyone!

I'm glad you stopped by.  How is your organization doing today?  Is everything okay?  Is there anything holding back the performance of the group?  If there are any performance limitations, you may find this article interesting.

Introduction

In the past few months I have been working with different groups of people in a variety of settings.  In all the situations a few key tools have been used to make real forward progress.  You may think... "What tools are you talking about?"  The tool/technique featured in this article is called an oil change.  This concept was introduced to me by the Culture Sync team in Southern California.  It's a very effective technique that asks a few questions:

What IS working?
And
What is NOT working?
We wrap it up with...
What can we do about it?
Is there anything else?

These questions hold huge potential for any group.  They can effectively change how a situation occurs.  Now... what do I mean by that?  What does, "How a situation occurs", actually mean?  Let's draw an example from real life.

The Situation

A few months ago, during a meeting to discuss core values, a group of ten people were having a "Hell no" moment over one word... growth.  I won't get into the details over the word in this article, but just realize that everyone was united in denying a request to simply add "growth" to a newly formed list of core values.  The conversations went from bad to worse.  The over all attitude of the group was slowly becoming agitated and the conversations turned down Complaining Avenue and were literally only a few blocks away from driving off a cliff.

Then, we slammed on the breaks with an "oil change."

What is an oil change?  It's a very effective technique that can be used in almost any setting, personal or with a group.  Without it... the meeting would have ended badly with no resolution.  That was my personal "Hell no" moment. I told myself, "this meeting is not going to turn into chaos on any level."  The attitude of the group had to change, or put another way, how the situation was occurring needed to change, in real time.  In came the oil change.

As a group, we applied the oil change to one word, growth. We simply asked three questions about the word growth. "Where IS growth working in the company? Where is growth NOT working in the company?" We made two columns on a whiteboard, compiled feedback from the group. Then, we applied the last question, "What can we do about it?"

Wrapping It Up

I will leave out the lists we created in this article, but the really important thing to know, is that the group fundamentally changed from negative to positive. The oil change introduced new elements into the meeting that helped people recognize a sense of personal responsibility to take care of the task at hand.  We recognized where growth IS working and identified areas where growth is NOT working.  The exercise introduced the following:
  • A sense of responsibility to get over the negativity.
  • It effectively reset the group.
  • Changed the perception of a "problem"... into an opportunity.
  • Provided the beginning of an action plan.
  • Built a sense of responsibility to take care of what IS working.
  • Increased awareness on both sides of the issue.
  • Created a roadmap for a sense of completion and positivity.
Also.... upon reflecting on the situation, we did tackle the issue with two things... our core values and an oil change.  We actually applied the values to the issue and used the oil change in the process for further clarification.  It achieved the goal... the best possible outcome was reached.  As a team, we removed a road block and delivered a solid, actionable item back to the owners of the company.  Success!  It was a small moment in the world of corporate America, and a huge step for our single meeting.

With that, I leave you with a few links and one question.  What tools are you going to use in your next meeting?

Thanks for stopping by BuildYourCulture.com!

Thanks,
Jer

Links:

Culture Sync oil change

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