One of my more painful career debacles was facilitating a staff team through return to office planning. There’s plenty to unpack from that experience but there’s one key lesson underneath several of my missteps. I lacked – and failed to provide – clarity in the scope of our charge and in decision making roles. I now think of these as adjacent but distinct areas in which teams require clarity. Yes, teams need a framework for decision making roles. AND, the scope of what is being designed or decided also requires clarity.
The framework I now use for articulating what is in play, and what’s not, is below. I find this approach effective because it provides the team the view of the entire issue or opportunity and names the dimensions of the project that are being handled elsewhere. We have visibility to the whole while understanding our reach.
Framework for Scope Clarity
Fixed – these decisions, or aspects of the design, have already been/will be addressed by others. These are outside of our scope and influence.
Firm – these decisions, or aspects of the design, already have some clear parameters around them or have been shaped by a specific point of view and there’s openness to considering alternatives.
Flexible – these are the dimensions of the decision, or aspects of the design, that are wide open for development and design.
My mistakes were two-fold –
I didn’t establish clarity for myself before convening this group. I wasn’t certain myself what was already fixed, what was firm and where there was true flexibility with open space for co-creation.
I didn’t want to disappoint the group and so I didn’t name the tough stuff…I danced around it. If I could rewind on this aspect, when I issued the invitation to participate, I would have said, “I owe it to you out of the gate to let you know this isn’t a wide open space. There are aspects of this design that have already been decided or will be decided by others without input from this group. I know this topic is highly charged and personal to each of us. I’m naming that because I expect we will all feel frustration and concern at times over not having influence on something we care about. I don’t have a ‘fix’ for that other than to acknowledge it exists. Knowing we’ll likely all bump into frustration (putting it mildly!), if you’re up for joining this group, that would be great. If you’d prefer to opt out, I understand that too.” In hindsight, that opening would have created transparency and set a tone that this group will be spending our time and energy focusing on what is inside our sphere of control.
Shifting to a space where my lessons learned aren’t quite so painful – baking🧁! I make a sun-dried tomato version of these egg/almond flour “muffins” every month and pop a bunch in the freezer. Tasty and has more protein than I get when left to my own hangry devices. Don’t let the cottage cheese scare you off. The blending eliminates the icky cottage cheese texture!
I wonder what you’ve learned the hard way – and if you’ve been able to share that story with your colleagues.
KBD