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REVIEWING REVIEWING SUCCESS: INDEX |
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"The gentleman helps others to realize what is good in them; he does not help them to realize what is bad in them. The small man does the opposite." | Confucius (551-479 BC) The Analects |
Recognising what others do well - and telling themA VOTE OF THANKS'Unaccustomed as I am to public speaking ...' Public speeches of thanks are one ritualised way in which the 'causes' of success are publicly acknowledged.'And I would like to thank all those without whom this event would not have been possible. I would like to thank ... a, b, c, d, e, f ..... x, y ... and last but not least .... I would like to thank ...'In the public speaking ritual the idea is that no-one gets forgotten however small their part. As the speech of thanks is drawing to a close, someone rushes up to the speaker with a slip of paper .. 'Ahem ... and I would also like to thank ...'This public ritual can be much more fun when converted into a reviewing technique... |
THE ONE MINUTE FACILITATORThe 'One Minute Manager' (by Hersey and Blanchard) is about catching people doing something right and telling them so. These regular positive strokes are designed to motivate the work force and destroy the myth that managers are trying to catch people doing something wrong.The 'One Minute Facilitator' is a more casually dressed 'One Minute Manager' [I have no idea if it is also a book title!]. But the facilitator should not be content with being the only person who is handing out praise. She should be encouraging each learner to be doing this too. If you want more specific guidance on how this can be done, make the necessary changes to your copy of 'One Minute Manager' (or buy one) or try Bingo (next) or Positive Charting. BINGO: giving and receiving positive feedbackMany people (including educators and trainers) are unaccustomed to giving positive feedback. One piece of advice I have given in the Feedback section of this guide is to wait until there is a good chance that everyone in the group has something positive to say about everyone else in the group before holding a feedback session.If you are thinking that you could be waiting for ever with some of the people you work with, think again. How long would it take the 'One Minute Facilitator' to find something positive to say? With a bit of practice (and encouragement) people start noticing 'positives' where none seemed to exist before.
POSITIVE CHARTING'Positive Charting' is similar to the 'Bingo' exercise described above. In 'Positive Charting' (as described by Jim Thompson*) the coach (or trainer) makes a list of all team members and records 3-5 positive points about each individual's performance during a team game or training exercise. These points are given as positive feedback at the start of the next session.Delayed feedback can have a powerful impact, but when observing team development exercises, I prefer to interrupt after about 10 minutes to provide positive feedback to each participant. I also like to encourage the giving of positive feedback between participants. Making notes avoids the embarrassment of an individual being left out and not receiving any positive feedback. *Jim
Thompson, youth baseball coach and author of 'Positive Coaching', is
founder of the Positive
Coaching
Alliance which is dedicated to
''transforming youth sports so sports can transform youth''. A summary
of 'Positive Charting' used to be at: |
SEQ: Style, Effect, Questions - appraisal methodIntroductionIt often happens that feedback to group leaders (from group members) is presented within a positive-negative frame - so that the leaders ONLY hear about what springs to mind when people are thinking about 'positives' and 'negatives'.A positive-negative frame may not be tapping into other kinds of potentially useful feedback that group members could contribute. Even worse, a positive-negative frame can even stifle positive-negative comments: some people clam up when asked to give criticism, while others build up a defensive wall when they know that critical feedback is on its way. SEQ: Style, Effect, QuestionsSEQ is one of many alternative ways in to giving feedback. Its particular strength is that it tends to focus on what most people want to hear: what they were like, what effect they had, how well they communicated, plus an opportunity to ask their own questions to the group.Style
Effect
Questions
But don't forget that leaders need quality feedback at some time if they are to learn from their experience of leadership - rather than simply having an experience of leadership. The
leader is a
natural focus of attention when it comes to
giving feedback. But not everyone in the group may find
themselves in a leadership position. [See Programme
Design for Leadership Training]
SEQ can apply to the
carrying out of any other role or responsibility within a group,
and can even be applied to the role of 'team member'. PMI = Plus Minus InterestingThe whole world of creative and lateral thinking is about escaping from two-dimensional pictures of the world.Both change and creativity are assisted by escaping from fixed ways of seeing, and discovering new angles and perspectives on experiences. Change is possible from within the confines of a positive-negative dimension, but where our job is to facilitate change (i.e. make change easy), we owe it to learners to find easier pathways for change that avoid the fixed positions and resistances that so easily build up within the tramways of conventional 2-dimensional thinking. This useful creative routine from Edward de Bono (PMI) is an example of a simple lateral thinking exercise. When evaluating an idea or an experience, open up a third angle:
- What was MINUS about the idea / experience ! What was INTERESTING about the idea / experience You
have an immediate
opportunity to try out the 'Plus, Minus, Interesting' format
using the feedback form below to comment on what you have seen of
this section on 'Reviewing Success'. I hope you enjoyed it and found it
useful. But I appreciate any
comments as these will help me to
improve the quality of this site - and have already done so. An example
of learning from experience!
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Appreciative
Inquiry: recommended links
Examples of Strengths Based Approaches in Action
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Appreciating
Success: recommended links
Please recommend your own favourite web sites about learning from success by writing to: roger@reviewing.co.uk BOOKS
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