Process - It Mightn’t Be Sexy But It’s Oh-So-Important

Being able to navigate bumps in the road (or large crises for that matter) with good process is invaluable, as I was reminded recently when our team hit a proverbial (iso) brick wall. To set the scene, we were working on a complex project with the additional challenge of working remotely for some five weeks. There was nothing wrong but we had lost momentum and, if I’m honest,enthusiasm.   It was very un-BVT like and the team were at a loss.  Technically there was nothing wrong.  The stand ups were spot on, quality excellent but in the words of Austin Powers we had lost our mojo. I wasn’t convinced the issue was a technical one.  So we used  a model that would allow us to come at this from a different angle. Using the Appreciative Inquiry Method , we started with what was working well. Rather than focusing on the negatives we looked to our strengths. and from there we could start asking ‘what could be?’  Opening up a positive dialogue, the team were able to start innovating in a less constrained way.

Isolation is challenging for individuals, but also for teams used to collaborating through informal conversations, talking through the process and sparking off one another,  It was those small interactions that were actually missing pieces of the puzzle. The team wasn't able to articulate this because on the surface everything was ‘right’.   Using a process driven decision making model like the AI method unlocked our road block and led to better outcomes for our project and team. Oh and got their Mojo back!