Monday, January 23, 2012

'Conversations' in Work Teams

Last week i started planning 'deep-dive' meetings with work teams. In my previous role, i used to experiment with something similar - 'Branch Visit' meetings is what i used to call them.

I had already completed introduction sessions with these teams. I was wondering how should i structure the upcoming sessions.

Should i ask them to tell me about their positive and negative experiences in this company, and explore how we could have more positive experiences at workplace? This is something which i have explored in my previous role.

But somewhere down in my gut, i felt uneasy about using the above mentioned method. I felt I should explore a different way of conducting these conversations.

I had a few options. I could use the process route - what do you feel about effectiveness of HR processes in your team? I could use the experience route - tell me about positive and negative primary experiences you have had in last 1 year?
I chose neither of the above.

I decided to experiment with something I had hypothezied a few months back. Basis of any effective HR process is 'adequate number of quality conversations'. So today, in my first deep-dive discussion with a 15 member strong work team, we had conversations around:
  • What are platforms for conversations (e.g.-One on Ones) that exist between your people manager and you?
  • Are these platforms scheduled in adequate frequencies? You have conversations with your people manager in what frequency (once in --- hours/days/months)?
  • Do you need more platforms and if yes, what would they be?
  • What gets discussed in these current mediums/platforms?

We additionally explored the following questions. In current/envisaged mediums/platforms what would you want to, with your people manager,

  • converse more about?
  • converse less about?
  • start conversing about?
  • stop conversing about?

Today's discussion was energezing. I had planned a discussion for 90 minutes. The discussion actually lasted 110 minutes - and even then i had to stop it - the energy of the group just wouldn't ebb.

By the end of the discussion, i had 5 white boards full with data.

The experiment seems to be working. 'Conversations' does seem to be a useful unit of analysis for working on effectiveness of HR processes.

-
Sourav

1 comment:

  1. Gracias señor!

    No hablo portugués pero hablo un poco de español. Por eso, con su permiso, voy a responder en español.

    India es una economia llena de desafíos de recursos humanos, especialmente en la gestión de talento.

    Realizo que su compañía es en Brazil.

    Siento curiosidad – ¿Que son los desafíos de RH en Brazil?

    Espero tener noticias de usted.

    -
    Sourav

    ReplyDelete

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.