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Facilitation Fail

Aug 26, 2010 » by Cali

Walking A Beach Maze>

I want to share something personal with you that was a scary moment for me. I hesitated to share this story, but I think you deserve an inside look into what we do and what we know is at stake each time we visit an organization.

A while back, I experienced my first “facilitation fail”.

Leading a ROWE migration is always daunting, but more so when you are the “new kid” on the team. The thing is, I am acutely aware that peoples’ lives are in my hands. I know I have the opportunity to forever transform the way they work and live… or, if I blow it, I may blow their only chance to have a life that works for them instead of them working for a living.

Of course, at any point in a migration, not everyone is at the same level of readiness or understands ROWE concepts in the same way or with the same comfort level as any other person in the room.

It is up to me to keep the group at a more or less steady equilibrium while getting everyone on the same page. That means equalizing the pressure by knowing when to “turn the heat up” on some people (challenging ideas or beliefs) and knowing when to turn down the heat on others (providing validation or reassurance) as well as knowing when to let the room “simmer” (allowing the group to find their own solutions with minimal guidance). Jody is fond of repeating this famous bit of advice to illustrate the principle: “Comfort the disturbed and disturb the comforted”.

(For you language enthusiasts, I tried to trace the origin of that intriguing quote. I believe Jody borrowed it from author Ron Heifetz, who may have borrowed a version of it from poet Cesar A. Cruz, who may have reworked it from its likely original publication more than a hundred years ago by journalist Finley Peter Dunne: “Comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable.”)

Okay, so here is the personal part that I hesitated about.

During one particular session, I turned the heat up, it seems, a bit too high and, in turn, alienated a couple managers present, one in particular. Worse, the conversation degraded as a long time employee became passionately defensive over the possibilities of ROWE (normally, this is a good thing, but this employee pitted herself against a couple fearful people with an extraordinary amount of power who were not fond of what she had to say). After the presentation, things went further downhill. One leader felt sabotaged by the group (and me, as I was leading the migration) and  actively worked to alter the team’s progress. It is a pity, but it happens.

No worries, everything worked out and seems to be back on track now. The point is, it was totally my failure to connect with one or two people in the room that allowed the session to make a right turn at Albuquerque.

The world is changing (whether some people like it or not) and ROWE is the way work will happen in the future (which is nearer than some people like to think), but we can not blame anybody for feeling confronted or fearful of inevitable transformation. In other words, change is scary. Even changing a little habit like what we eat is sometimes too challenging to overcome because we fear leaving our comfort zone.

We see a common form of this fear or resistance from leaders and long-time employees when they first hear the definition of a Results Only Work Environment: “Each person is free to do whatever they want, whenever they want, as long as the work gets done.”

A typical knee-jerk reaction is a variation of this: “I have worked here (30) years. I put in my time and busted my butt just to earn 3 weeks vacation. Now you’re telling me that any punk walking through that door comes in with ‘Unlimited time off as long as the work gets done’?!? I. Don’t. Think so.”

I understand ROWE can be challenging and scary, but it is dismaying that a few frightened rabbits can so easily rob many people of owning their life AND generating results for their organization. It is also a bit heartbreaking to know one failure to connect as a facilitator can have a profoundly depressing impact on a large group of people.

Failure is as inevitable as transformation, unfortunately, and the important thing is to learn from each moment that we falter, and improve.

Again, I am glad to report my first fumble was recovered by our phenomenal team and we are still headed for the goal line, but it was definitely a scary moment (and hey, change is scary even for the change agents!).

I thought an inside personal glimpse into the ups and downs of being a ROWE facilitator should be shared you with you guys. After all (and I do not mean to be hokey, but…) you are the reason we do this.

Go Rowe!

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  • JACH

    Thanks for your post, Michael. It remember us that even the “great quest” can go awry sometimes, and that it’s OK to fail now and then (and that it’s great to have a team to support you in such times).

  • C. A. Hurst

    Hey Michael,

    Here’s a thought that I posted on Facebook a few weeks ago: Don’t be afraid of making mistakes. Finding out what doesn’t work is just as important as finding out what does. If you never try anything new you won’t make mistakes. But, then again, you probably won’t grow very much either.

    Thank you for sharing your growing pains.

  • Michael Salamey

    Thanks C.A.! That is quite well said.

    JACH- I am a big fan of failing big or failing often (I may have ripped that off from Seth Godin; I’m not sure, but I know he advocates something similar).

    Failing sucks, but worrying about it gets us nowhere. Putting everything at stake and having it not go perfectly well (fail big) teaches great lessons (the first being “everything” is almost never at stake). Having a string of misses (fail often) leads to the inevitable hits.

    Pop stars are always known for their big singles, but how many songs on their albums never run up the charts?

    Thanks again, both. I appreciate the support.

  • http://hk.linkedin.com/in/jenniferborek Jenn

    I appreciate you sharing the scary part of failing. ROWE is radical (although, it really shouldn’t be considered radical). It’s not always going to go well, and it’s scary for people to change. I like being on the front end of change, but I’ve learned similar lessons to failing big when it comes to introducing change and a lot of it was around HOW I went about introducing the change. Kudos for sharing … please keep being honest and transparent … I think that helps other people understand the growing pains that could be introduced if they ever want to Go ROWE.

  • Barbara

    Actually I think ROWE should be considered radical. ROWE is very challenging to some of the hidden power agendas that trigger even less sympathy in me than, “I put in my time, so should the whippersnappers.”

    I’m referring to people who use their coworkers as captive players in their emotional melodramas.

    I worked with a person who was very attached to her role as manager. She often used the term “mother hen.” She shared openly that her parents had been cold and “neglectful,” and shed tears of joy when her bosses’ boss chatted with her for a few minutes.

    She also said she believed that she needed to have one-hour-long, once-a-week meeting with every single team lead that reported to her. That was in addition to the weekly leads meeting and two meetings per week with groups of the line staff. Oh, let me not forget several management meetings.

    This type of person won’t get her “needs met” by people who work at home. If her bosses’ work at home, she’s “neglected.” She’d convinced herself that colleagues that don’t need so much one-on-one time are dysfunctional.

    Of course, this is supremely unproductive, and, in my opinion, something this person should be dealing with outside of the workplace rather than sucking up other people’s lives.