Difficult Conversations in Creative Environments ~ IA Summit 2009

Mastering Difficult Conversations
Dan Brown & Chris Detzi
EightShapes, LLC
IA Summit 2009, Memphis, TN

Introductions

About Us
Who we are
Why we’re here

About You
Your Name
Your Occupation
Why you’re here

Our Agenda
Introductions done!
Best Practices 15 minutes
A Model 15 minutes
The People 60 minutes
The Situations 60 minutes
Sample Scenarios 30 minutes
Summary of Techniques 30 minutes

Let’s Start with the Basics the Basics
Communication Best Practices

Be Positive
Engage Your Audience
Empathize
Lighten Up

Rephrase the negative statements
Negative = "We can't start until we get requirements"
Positive = "Please give us the requirements so we can start."
Rise above the Naysayers
“ We can’t do that.”
“ That’s way to complicated.”
Always Start with the Good
“ What I like about this so far is....”
Openness over Defensiveness
“ I think that’s a great idea. Perhaps we can talk about it how it might work?”
Communication Best Practices Be Positive

Personalize the Message
“ Great Question, Molly .”
“ Jason , what do you think about that?”
Repeat the Questions You’re Asked
“ So the question is .... Did I get that right?”
Position Your Questions for Success
Use Humor
Communication Best Practices Engage Your Audience

Know the situations, not just the people
Listen and Seek to Understand
Don’t be quick to dismiss (even if you disagree)
Respond with an acknowledgement of situation / emotion
Communication Best Practices Empathize

Humor can be a powerful communication tool
Reduces anxiety and hostile moods
Establishes a positive environment
Helps “gauge” the audience
Provides a way to make a point, without attacking
Does not have to mean insincerity or frivolity
Make it relevant
Be on the lookout for material
Prep & Plan (don’t assume it will just ‘come to you’)
When in doubt, point to yourself
Communication Best Practices Lighten Up

A Site Map of Communications
A model for interpersonal interactions

Difficult Conversations :: © Copyright EightShapes, LLC 2009

Common behaviors in creative environments
They’re the People that You Meet that You Meet

What makes people
hard to work with?

No Direction
They can’t tell you what’s wrong
Symptoms
Float with the wind
Broad, non-specific or emotional feedback
Fear conflict
Techniques
Be mindful of goals
Separate yourself from the issue
Ask good, specific questions

Misdirected Passion
They feel strongly about the strangest things
Symptoms
reaction not commensurate with issue
taking things personally
Techniques
See other perspectives/agendas
Pick your battles
Let others have their say
Set expectations and explain context

Inconsistent messaging
They talk out of both sides of their mouth
Symptoms
“That’s not what we discussed...”
“I don’t recall saying that specifically....”
“Well he told me...”
Techniques
Bite your tongue (well, nibble it)
Pick your battles
Validate and capture messages

Unwilling to admit ignorance
They get stuff wrong
Symptoms
outputs show misunderstanding
“Let me try that again!”
Techniques
Deflect responsibility
Avoid distractions

No Vision
They don’t know where they want to go
Symptoms
Willing to listen to any direction
Can’t separate good from bad
Techniques
Ask good questions
Find out what stifles their vision

No Structure
They are disorganized
Symptoms
unaware of project plan
missing deadlines
Techniques
Define action items

No Strength
They are easily taken off course
Symptoms
a new problem every week
Techniques
Avoid distractions
Remind of implications

Not Available
Eighty percent of success is showing up
Symptoms
missing meetings
not responding to email
Techniques
Set action items

Tunnel Vision
Other things get in the way of their view
Symptoms
refusal to compromise
Techniques
Ask good questions
Let others have their say
Tell a good story and align it with audience
Deflect responsibility

Prioritize reputation
Rather save face than admit they're wrong
Symptoms
(might come with other habits, like lack of focus)
Techniques
Letting others be right
Picking your battles
Setting action items: how do we fix this?

Poor communication skills
They can't articulate concerns
Symptoms
rambling messages
difficult to map/contextualize messages
Techniques
Ask good questions
Define action items
Find out what’s stifling

Poor use of communications tools
They love love love love love email
Symptoms
long emails
detailed project correspondence in IM
tangents in meetings
Techniques
See other people's perspectives
Find out what stifles them
Redirect to another tool

They’re the people that you meet
No direction
Misdirected passion
Inconsistent messaging
Unwilling to admit ignorance
No vision
No structure
No strength
Not available
Tunnel vision
Prioritize reputation
Poor communication skills
Poor use of communication tools

The situations we face and
techniques to master them
It’s Called Work Work

What situations do you face?

The Challenge
The size of the ‘stakeholder’ or interested party list is unwieldy and dramatically inhibiting progress.
The Techniques
Identify the Influencers and speak directly to them
Don’t ask questions of the group, ask of specific individuals
Provide channels for individual feedback, but publish for broader consumption
Managing Bumps in The Road (Circumstances) Too Many People Involved

The Challenge
The performance of one or several team members is jeopardizing project success
The Techniques
First identify all of the positive aspects of the performance
Avoid explicit and implicit personal attacks
Coach don’t point
Use Positive language
Express confidence about abilities
Managing Bumps in The Road (People) Poor Team Member Performance

The Challenge
The project is facing seemingly insurmountable complications, losing support, and overall confidence is waning
The Techniques
Get out of the Weeds
Reminders of Why we’re here, What we’re doing
Change the conversation; focus on Path Forward
There’s Light at the End of the Tunnel
Managing Bumps in The Road (Circumstances) Losing Momentum

The Challenge
Clarifying and rationalizing design choices when challenged
The Techniques
Establish “common practices” before design exercise
Pick your battles
If supporting data isn’t there, explain the hypothesis
Know Your why’s
Make sure stakeholders are on the ride for the whole way
Communicating Design Defending Decisions

The Challenge
Communicating Design to varied interests and perspectives
The Techniques
See Others Perspectives / Agendas
Identify the Influencers and speak directly to them
Get Your Story Straight; Prep with the ‘Whys’
Pick Your Battles; know your give points
Communicating Design Design Reviews

The Challenge
Creating a shared understanding of scope, timelines, and accountability for a complex, multi-faceted design project
The Techniques
Prepare Questions for Success...and ask every one of them!
Expose the Elephants
Clarify & Set Expectations
Confirm and Validate those Expectations
Planning Design Resources, Scope, & Timelines

The Challenge
Divergent ‘stakeholder’ (client) interests are inhibiting progress
The internal team is not in agreement on the design direction
The Techniques
Work from a foundation of agreements
Listen; understand the scope of the disagreements
Focus on the positive aspects of each of the ‘approaches’
Remove personal interests from the equation
Take it offline, if necessary (ideate with each person separately or collectively)
Managing Bumps in The Road (People) Resolving Conflicts

The Challenge
Divergent ‘stakeholder’ (client) interests are inhibiting progress
The Techniques
Work from a foundation of agreements
Encourage discussion to arrive at the root disagreement
Ideate with each stakeholder (collectively or separately)
Focus on the business; take personal interests out of the equation
Forward Focused
Managing Bumps in The Road (People) Resolving Conflicts (among Stakeholders)

The Challenge
The proverbial finger is pointing at you relative to lack of progress or missteps
The Techniques
Avoid the Situation through Proactive statusing and risk cataloging
Don’t point -or deflect- the finger
Facts and Objectivity are key
Change the conversation; focus on path forward
Managing Bumps in The Road (Circumstances) Defending Status & Progress

The Challenge
Despite all of your best efforts, the project has failed
The Techniques
Communicate the reusable parts, not everything that was done was for naught
Remind people of the good work that is still relevant
Remain confident and upbeat
Outline the Lessons and keep them at the ready
Managing Bumps in The Road (Circumstances) Project Failure

Planning Design Resources, Scope, & Timelines Communicating Design Design Reviews Defending Decisions Managing the Bumps in the Road People Resolving Conflicts (internal & stakeholder) Poor Team Member Performance Too many people Circumstances Defending progress Losing Momentum Project Failure The Situations That We Face

Sample Scenarios

Situation: Poor Team Member Performance
You have a client meeting on Wednesday to present a draft deliverable. You’ve arranged a meeting with the IA responsible on Monday to discuss progress and conduct a review.
The IA arrives at the review meeting without the document, claiming she/he didn’t have a chance to work on it.
Characteristics: Doesn’t admit ignorance, Poor communication skills
Role-Playing » The Missing Deliverable The Missing Deliverable

Situation: Defending Design Decisions
Your client sets up a meeting between you and another stakeholder. You’ve heard of this person, but haven’t ever met with him/her before.
Your client wants you to walk this person through the work done to-date. Your client says that this person is paying for part of the project, and wants to get a sense of what’s going on.
During the meeting, the new stakeholder pokes all kinds of holes in the design.
Characteristics: Tunnel vision, No structure
Role-Playing » The Late Stakeholder The Late Stakeholder

Situation: The Design Review
You're reviewing a design but the feedback you're getting is broad, and non-specific. When it is specific, it's centered around inconsequential details that don't help you move the design forward in a meaningful way.
You can sense from the body language and tone of the comments that there's some confusion or uncertainty about the design but they can't seem to articulate it well and they may not be comfortable with providing direct, potentially damaging feedback.
What do you do? What tactics / techniques do you use to facilitate a meaningful discussion?
Characteristics: No Direction, Poor Communication Skills, Misdirected Passion
Role-Playing » The Evasive Critique The Evasive Critique

A summary of skills
and techniques discussed
Tricks of the Trade the Trade

Tricks of the trade
Telling a good story and aligning it with your audience
Seeing other perspectives/agendas
Picking your battles: knowing when to turn on the passion
Setting expectations/context
Setting action items: the art of what do we do now?
Avoiding distractions, even if timely and relevant
Deflecting responsibility
Asking good questions
Letting others be right
Letting others have their say
Encouraging discussion
Finding out what stifles people
Channeling other people

Thanks!
Dan Brown • dan@eightshapes.com
Chris Detzi • chris@eightshapes.com

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Difficult Conversations in Creative Environments ~ IA Summit 2009

by Daniel Brown on Mar 23, 2009

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Difficult Conversations in Creative Environments ~ IA Summit 2009 — Presentation Transcript