Month: November 2023

The “Hand on the Shoulder” Principle

Posted on by Haim Deutsch

How often have you found yourself exasperated, declaring, “But I told you!” only to be met with the counterclaim, “You did not say!”? The clash of perspectives arises because, in reality, you did communicate clearly, but the other party failed to listen attentively. This common scenario leads to messages slipping through the cracks, causing frustration on both ends.

Allow me to share an anecdote from my early 2000s stint as a producer in a high-pressure newsroom. In the news system’s relentless schedule, every minute counts, and a half-hour newscast demands precision. Articles are often edited up to the last minute, arriving just moments before or even during the broadcast. In this chaotic environment, an oversight can disrupt the entire transmission.

One day, I observed an article failing to make it to air because the assistant director, crucial for announcing the next segment, didn’t hear the news of its arrival. The reason? The assistant director was deeply focused on his role and missed the reporter’s announcement as they entered the control room.

Enter the “hand on the shoulder procedure.” This ingenious solution aimed to ensure that messages were not just sent but received. The editorial staff adopted a simple rule: when an article arrived during a broadcast, they would place a hand on the assistant director’s shoulder to confirm awareness. The outcome? A substantial reduction in missed broadcasts and a smoothly running transmission.

The “hand on the shoulder” principle, a simple act of verifying message absorption, transcends the newsroom and can be applied universally. At home, it becomes a tactic to gain a child’s attention amidst games or screens. In professional realms, especially in an era of heightened sensitivity like Me Too, this principle becomes a nuanced yet effective strategy for achieving your goals.

In essence, when conveying a message, it’s imperative to ensure the other party is receptive. It’s about creating a moment of connection—physically or conceptually. Only then can you confidently declare the message received.

Note: This article was expertly refined by Tamar Warshawsky Merkin, a project manager at the Ministry of Health digital office, currently benefiting from Agile-Spirit’s mentoring for enhanced performance and employee satisfaction.

 

The Planet of the Apes: Addressing the Us vs. Them Issue – Five Keys to Uniting a Diverse (or Distributed) Team for Effective Collaboration

Posted on by Haim Deutsch

Think back to the original Planet of the Apes movie in 1968. Imagine the challenge of making a film where apes talk and behave like humans—all without computer graphics. Every day, 253 actors spent 4-5 hours in prosthetic makeup to become chimps and gorillas, the two distinct types of apes in the film.

What’s fascinating is what happened off-camera. At lunch, the actors divided themselves, with chimps on one side of the dining area and gorillas on the other. In no time, it became Us vs. Them: chimps vs. gorillas. And remember, they were all humans!

Why did this happen? Humans automatically categorize each other. Every time we meet someone new, we subconsciously decide if they’re “one of us” or “one of them,” a process that takes just 50 milliseconds.

Now, imagine this happening in your organization. Two scenarios:

  1. Teams working together on the same project: development teams with hardware, architecture, DevOps, QA, etc.
  2. Teams distributed globally, across different continents, cultures, and possibly companies.

How quickly can this Us vs. Them mindset take hold? And how does it affect project success and company morale? Fortunately, here are five keys to help bring everyone together as one team:

1. Split the Teams (When Possible)

Sometimes, the best solution is the simplest. If you don’t need these teams to work directly together, consider designing the project in a way that allows each team to work on a distinct component. If they can each develop a sub-product independently, you’ve minimized the issue by removing the source of friction.

2. Set Common Goals and Shared Success

Think about the movie again—everyone’s common goal was to make the film. Imagine if, instead, they had the shared objective of setting the table and eating lunch without damaging their makeup. This reframes the goal, making it something that includes everyone equally. Similarly, give your teams goals that encourage mutual effort and success.

3. Reframe with “Container” Thinking

What if the director had told the ape actors and human crew they all had to eat together, each group tasked with protecting the others’ makeup? You’d quickly see apes on one side and humans on the other. This is “container reframing”—creating a larger “us” by focusing on a shared challenge. In the workplace, you can reframe by aligning teams on larger objectives, like project milestones or company achievements, fostering a unified “team pride.”

4. Increase Diversity

Adding diversity turns differences into the norm, building a cohesive tribe rather than divided groups. The first brainstorming session in a diverse team often reveals new perspectives that lead to innovative solutions. In one company we mentored, we had Israeli and German teams working on the same project—two cultures with stark differences. To add to the mix, we included a Ukrainian team. The result? Their sessions became richer, with diverse perspectives enriching collaboration.

5. Enforce Communication

Imagine that chimps and gorillas in the desert filming location had to share the same tent, with no excuses. They’d either clash or learn to live together, eventually forming a single entity. This happened to me in the army: a fellow soldier missed his shift, forcing me to pull two back-to-back night shifts. Furious, I confronted him, leading to a scuffle. Our sergeant handcuffed us together for three days. Thirty years later, we’re still best friends.

In the workplace, enforced communication has similar effects. Install webcams in distributed locations, require joint decision-making, or create ambassador exchanges where team members spend time in other locations. At McAfee, we did just that with teams from India and Israel. After six years of Us vs. Them dynamics, four ambassador exchanges transformed them into one unified team with their own shared culture.

Not every approach will work for every team, but give them a try.

As my combat instructor used to say, “Don’t try to stop the waves—surf them!”

…and then he’d deflect my kick and hit me square in the face.