The Solution-Focused Reflecting Management Team

© 2004, Coert Visser and Harry Norman

A management team of a department of a large organization was recently formed. In the team are a few managers with limited management experience and a few with more experience. The organization has formulated a clear vision and there are specific performance goals, both for organizations and departments. The atmosphere in the management team is positive and open. Since the team was only recently formed the team members don’t know each other too well. Naturally, due to this they have not yet had much change to develop a shared frame of reference and intensive working relationships.

The leader of the management team takes the initiative to organize a few sessions to invest in the development of the team. He wants to use these sessions to share specific interesting, challenging or problematic situations that the team members face and to reflect on them. For this purpose a structured team reflection exercise is used called ‘The reflecting team’ (Norman e.a, 2003) which is an adaptation of an idea by Tom Andersen (Andersen, 1991).

The Reflecting Team Exercise
Each time you run this exercise one of the team members brings in a case and the other team members are in the helping role. One of the team members (or an external consultant) facilitates the process. The exercise works best when its rules are precisely followed.

1. Preparing

All team members take a few minutes to think about which case they might bring in. Then the first team member is asked to present his case.

2. Presenting

This person (the casepresenter) describes the situation and specifies what it is he wants help with. The other team members listen without interruption until the casepresenter has finished.

3. Clarifying

The team members each take a turn to ask one question and one follow-up question, and then remain silent until their turn comes around again. Questions for clarification are encouraged (what, where, when, who and how questions). Why questions are discouraged.

4. Affirming

The team members tell the casepresenter briefly what impresses each of them most about him, or her, in the situation they have described. The customer remains silent (except perhaps for a ‘thank you’).

5. Reflecting

Each team member says one thing at a time or ‘passes’. Sometimes team members offer reflections triggered by previous reflections. The team continues until everyone has said all they want to say, or time runs out. The input that is offered contains everything that team members consider relevant – for instance technical input, advice, reflections, metaphors, or even poetry. The case presenter remains silent and can only briefly speak to point out any persistent misunderstandings that may occur.

6. Closing

The casepresenter responds briefly to what was said in the reflecting phase, usually stating what seems most applicable and specifies some course of action.

What advantages does this exercise have?

The management team applied this exercise several times in several sessions. We evaluated the effects of this approach to team reflection specifically. From this evaluation we learned that all team members found the approach highly useful. Some literal quotes on the value of the exercise were:

• “In the hectic of everyday we usually don’t find the opportunity to discuss these kinds of topics”
• I got some very useful feedback and suggestions about my case that I could apply really well.”
• It is useful to find out about each other that all of us are struggling with some issues.”
  
  
• “It helps to see that you are not the only one with a problem.”
• “This gives you the feeling that you’re not alone in this”.
• “The use approach provides calmness.”
• “It is practical.”
• “By talking through practical situations we develop a common view on leadership. That is very important for the unity we want to show as a management team.”
• “Through this exercise you experience how well we can help each other.”
• “By thinking about someone else’s problem you solve your own problem too. And it doesn’t even have to involve the same problem.”
• “By doing this exercise you become more aware that you’re one team.”
• “Just as well as it’s useful to present a case, it is useful to think about someone else’s case.”

Conclusion

The knife cuts on more than one side with this exercise. Individual case presenters are helped in a very practical way. An atmosphere of openness and collaboration emerges. By the amount of ideas and perspectives everyone becomes more aware of the intelligence, wisdom and experience the team already contains. By talking about several situations and problems in this manner a common frame of reference is bound to develop. Furthermore the team member become much more involved with each other which contributes to the development of one-on-one relations and of the team as a whole.

Literature

1. Andersen, T. (1991). The Reflecting Team: Dialogues and Dialogues About the Dialogues. W W Norton & Co Inc.
2. Norman, H., Pidsley, T. & Hjerth, M. Solution focused reflecting teams in action. A flexible format for surfacing the resources and knowledge present within a team. Organisations & People, November 2003, Vol 10. No4.

In this article we focus on the application of the Reflecting Team exercise in a management team but we have used it a lot in all kinds of other teams and groups as well. It has shown its use in a wide variety of contexts.