You know it's coming! Your company's annual strategic planning retreat. You probably feel a sense of dread knowing that you will be spending a whole day pouring over data, outcomes, and setting new target goals to reach over the next three to five years. While setting those goals are important, what about the people who are charged with creating the conditions and putting forth the contributions to impact those goals in that have been placed in said strategic plan.
You know the importance of creating pathways for employees to improve their relationships with one another but have struggled with using team building processes that authentically invite the people to share their unique winding paths and to share the future they hope to contribute to the company. If you are a senior leader or manager and looking for ways to better engage staff, you want to consider a new approach to create conditions where your employees strengthen their relationships and can communicate from their unique perspective. This approach is called Points of You™. Using creative tools like The Coaching Game, Faces, and Punctum, Points of You™ can create powerful opportunities for employees on a team to share their distinct stories so they brave connecting inter-personally with shared stories better understanding the contributions they make towards the lasting impact of the organization.
On Tuesday October 24, members of Family First Health gathered together to do just that! President and CEO, Jenny Englerth, knew the importance of creating the optimal conditions for having her leadership team, medical staff, and board members be engaged and be willing to exchange their stories so they can gain more perspectives about their involvement with improving Family First Health's service to their communities. Rather than plunging right into data, reports and charts, Jenny wanted to offer a unique experience where everyone could invest time knowing each other that wasn't you typical team building exercise. On this particular day, participants had the opportunity to meet and learn from one another through a process called an Experiential Encounter using the Coaching Game from Points of You™.
During this exercise, each participant had the opportunity to select a picture card that represented their future for Family First Health. Then each one had to partner up with one other person that they typically do not interact with and share with their partner how this picture represented the way they contribute to the future of Family First Health. This was just the first of several exchanges during the Experiential Encounter so that all participants could expand their understanding around the way different roles contribute to the future of Family First Health. As the dialogue unfolded, each person also spoke to the people they believed would help them accomplish a better future for the organization and the collective resources they already have right now that will move them forward.
In the end, members came away with stronger personal relationships which propelled them into richer engagement when they went into the strategic planning portion of their day.