By Action Coach Dave Beam
Often when I am coaching a business, I meet individually with the key employees to get their perspective on how the business is doing and what we can all work on to make it better. By far, the number one issue that comes up is communication.
“We just need to get on the same page” is a familiar phrase, or “The right hand doesn’t know what the left hand is doing”. The fact is that the only way for people to know what is going on is to communicate. A more subtle but important fact is that it is NOT all about business.
Your employees and managers are people, and they have feelings that they would like to express. If a team of people can learn to be more open and transparent with each other, they just work better together.
The WIFLE is a simple tool that you can use with your team to facilitate a more open, happy, relaxed work atmosphere. Here’s how it works. WIFLE stands for 'What I Feel Like Expressing' and enables each team member to express what is currently going on in their lives, both in the business and personally.
Too often it is assumed that people leave their emotions at the door when they come to work but the reality is that this unexpressed or ‘bottled up’ emotion can all too often impact on team performance.
Many of my clients hold WIFLE sessions regularly, and I suggest that a team should conduct a WIFLE at least once a week.
The rules for a WIFLE are as follows: Sit around the room. Starting with the person next to you, ask them ‘what do you feel like expressing’. This person then has the right to say whatever he or she feels like without interruption, this is most important.
If anyone does not feel safe to express whatever he or she feels, you are all wasting your time. This is NOT a time for blame and whining, but just a simple expression of how the person feels.
Once he or she has had a say, this person then asks the next person what they feel like expressing. When everyone has had their say (and only when everyone has finished) you may then ask if anyone has any ‘burnings’.
This is where anyone that feels they have been wrongly treated replies to the other person’s feelings or impression, either by apologizing or explaining what actually happened.
If these sessions are conducted correctly, you will find your team bonds together much more effectively and relates to each other as humans instead of just someone you work with.
It is important to have everyone realize that any complaints are not directed as personal attacks, rather they focus on behavior. This is essential to enable everyone to feel safe in voicing any criticism of you or the system so changes can be made and progress is always happening.
You may also try other variations of this such as the high-low. This is where each team member expresses their high and their low for the week during the WIFLE.
Though this sounds simplistic, if done with the purpose of respecting each other, it is a powerful tool to improve team communication and relationships. Enjoy trying it out!
P/S : Cubalah lakukan bersama teman sekerja dapat menjauhi sifat prasangka buruk, menanamkan sifat profesionalisme sekali gus merapatkan hubungan antara satu sama lain. Ia percuma dan tidak perlu bayaran. Mudah bukan. :)
http://actioncoachohio.blogspot.com/2011/06/wifle-powerful-simple-team.html