BrainstormingBrainstorming Six Sigma Foundations Continuous Improvement Training Six Sigma Foundations Continuous Improvement Training Six Sigma Simplicity

Key Learning Points  All Ideas are IMPORTANT  Develop a style of working with teams that encourages  Participation  Consensus  Decisions

ExerciseExercise  In groups  Brainstorm ‘what makes a good team’  Identify the 5 key points that the team believes are the most important  Present using a flip chart

Check List  Who decided who would write  Did you use more than one piece of paper  Did everyone contribute  Were ideas paraphrased  Is the problem written at the top  Would a passer-by understand what is written  Were ideas discussed/questioned before being written

Review of Brainstorming  Brainstorming and facilitating brainstorming is a skill. Like any other, it can be improved.  As green belt you will need to manage team discussion. The particular challenge that faces you is that your project probably cannot be solved using existing organisational structures and practices  The team that you have will probably be made up of a cross functional group of people with different expectations, experiences and ways of expression.  The way that you handle brainstorming can make or break your projects.

Brainstorming What Can Go Wrong  People do not understand what is going on and either prevent decisions being made or withhold consensus  A strong influencer that is used to instruct people how to act and punish those that do not conform sits in - everyone keeps quiet to avoid contradicting or interrupting them  Someone knows the answer that they will accept - but pretends they don’t  The answer / decision has already been decided  Two or more strong influencers sit in  They wish to avoid extra work, changing roles or loss of power. Progress slows  They do not wish to lose harmony by making decisions that would possibly put them at odds with someone else

The Sinatra Diagram  ‘I did it my way…’  Ownership of solution  Dominant person holding the pen  Not making time for each persons contribution  Filtering ideas  Changing peoples words  One page of paper  Early emphasis  Overriding instead of guiding team preferences  No discussion about what to do with the results  Voting

Dimensions of Team Success Successful teams measure their performance across three dimensions of success. They make conscious choices about where to focus their attention in order to have the highest impact. Your role is to balance these needs. SharedResponsibility For Success Process Method or Approach For Doing The Work Relationship Rapport Between Team Members Results Accomplishment of The Task or Goal

ExerciseExercise  In groups  Brainstorm ‘what makes a good team leader’  Identify the 5 key points that the team believes are the most important

Process for Formal Brainstorming  Explain what you are going to do and how you want the team to behave  Suggest how long you want to spend on the process. Agree what you will do if the group wants more time  Write the problem clearly at the top of a flip chart page  Ask each person present in turn for an idea  Thank each person for each idea or repeat it  Write the idea on the chart in their words  Write all ideas with the same weight  Allow no comments on any ideas and no side discussions  If someone has no idea ready, move on to the next person  Start a new flip chart page regularly: display each previous page on wall  Continue until ideas dry up.  Pause  Repeat cycle again until ideas dry up  Pause  Ask if anyone would like clarification of any of the ideas

Nominal/ Silent Group Technique  Sometimes members of team groups will find that either a dominant person or that the group is failing to make progress.  To reduce discussion use Nominal Group technique. This promotes the following strategies  Writing things down instead of speaking  Equal votes  Little discussion of ideas or the results obtained  Very fast timed tasks for all members of the group to carry out independently in parallel

VotingVoting  Problems with voting  It will produce average decisions. Often not radical enough for your project to succeed  People may vote but not to accept the result  Are all voters/votes equal  Votes are rarely anonymous and people may be held accountable for their vote  If you vote someone must come last - you really want a win-win solution  The result is a function of the people voting - you can change the result by changing the voters  However voting can be quick  N/3 is an improved voting technique. Divide the number of solutions by three. Give each person this many votes to share amongst the solutions.  N/3 rapidly identifies areas of consensus - without discussion and without ranking the least popular ideas

Process for a Nominal Group Technique 1. Explain to everyone how you wish to proceed. 2. Gain their agreement 3. Explain the problem, write it on a flip chart 4. Issue Post it notes and ask everyone to write down one idea per post it note until they run out of ideas 5. Gather all the post its 6. Read every idea out loud 7. Repeat 4-8 until there are no more ideas 8. Pair people up to remove any repetitions. Combine pairs until the group is in two halves. 9. Have one half explain their findings to the other and then combine 10. Ask the group whether they are satisfied with the result

MirroringMirroring  Mirroring occurs when two people are behaving the same way - in speech, thought, body posture, emotion  Mirroring usually makes people feel more relaxed, confident and open to ideas  It is important that your teams understand that mirroring can reduce tension in teams.  Often Change projects will bring together people who have not worked together as closely before. Which will produce tension not all of which is positive

MirroringMirroring  Body posture  Language -  People associate learning with existing knowledge and experience. People tend to have a dominant sense or channel and will tend to refer to it in their speech. Using the same channel / repeating the words they use is a powerful tool to build rapport within the group  Failing to use it can result in people agreeing violently  Eyes: That looks good, I can see your point, help me paint a picture, were starting with a black canvas  Ears: Listen to the plan. That rings a bell. I hear what you say. Lets tune in  Touch: How do you feel, Lets run with it, How does it grab you, He’s a little rough round the edges

Mirroring / Pacing  The extent to which mirroring can influence decision making is profound  ‘Yes-men’ get on because of their ability to mirror  Sometimes this results in stale ‘group think’ to counteract this. Sometimes we need to lead the thinking  When leading there is a balance between where people feel comfortable now and where the business would like them to be  People are not like ‘rubber bands’ you can pull them only so far then they will break (a collapse in QxA=E)

Watch Words – Signs of Poor Communication  No, But, However - use AND instead  Inconsistent elevator speech/ metric - check everyone’s understanding particularly that of quiet team members  Confusion - lack of accountability  Quiet team members - when they speak they often are overrun by more dominant speakers. These ideas are often well considered and the most useful. Support the quieter members when the speak

Leading From the Side  Project teams will mirror their leaders  If the leaders do not hold the team accountable for working CI then they will tend to concentrate on things that are valued  If the leaders wants to make all the decisions then the team will tend to abdicate the decisions  If you as a Black Belt want to make all the decisions often they will let you - but will not own the solutions  The most successful teams are those where the leaders demand results and encourage personal responsibility  Your role is often helped if you take care to be seen to manage the process not the decisions  Consider handing over the pen, minutes. Work with the process owner and champion to direct decisions outside meetings

Brainstorming - Summary  Explain the process  Decide whether you will lead from the side  Decide whether you will use n/3  Check that you understand who is on the team and how strongly they will want to make decisions  Consult the champion early if team dynamics need improving  Its your job to manage / guide the teams. Assess each session in terms of  Results  Process  Relationships Where you are not satisfied ask the team to assess themselves and agree appropriate remedies

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