Details of the Alignment Process

Common Meeting Modules

Selected modules are mixed to interweave business tasks (business) with relationship tasks (relationship).

For Getting Started (Relationship):

Goals and expectations (30-45 min)
Icebreakers (20 min)

For Improving Team Skills (Relationship):

Video tape group problem solving and debrief (60 min)
Commercial videos and debrief (30 min)
The Building Game and debrief (2.5 hours)
"Swamped" survival exercise (1.5 hours)
"Broken Squares" and debrief (20 min)

For Working Team Fundamentals (Business):

Establishing team purpose (1-2 hours)
Establishing team goals (1- 2 hours)
Developing working approach (1-2 hours)
Special issues for teams at the top (1 hour)

For Visioning and Managing Change (Business):

Organization mission/vision/goals process (4-6 hours)
Working "Change Architecture" concepts (1- 3 hours)
Working "Managing Transitions" concepts (1-3 hours)
Working "Growth Curve" process (1 hour)

For Appreciating Style Differences (Relationship):

"Are you more?" exercise (15 min)
Myers Briggs review (60 min)

For Getting to the Fundamental Issues (Relationship):

"Bus Exercise" (45 min)
Complete Communication Process (4-5 hours)
Appreciative Inquiry Interviews (60 min)
Straight talk/Generous Listening (10- 30 min)
Relationship Evaluator (90 min)
Discuss psychodynamics Working Note (2- 4 hours)
Ad hoc interventions during meeting (5 - 20 min)

For Problem solving and dealing with complexity (Business):

Applying analytical problem-solving tools to specific business issues (1-2 hours)
Creative Problem Solving process, divergent and convergent (30 min - 2 hours)
Strategic Assumption Testing (SAT) process (2 hours)
Structuring and managing a business polarity (1-2 hours)
"Powerful Questions" technology (10 - 30 min)
Decision-making processes (20 - 60 min)

For Action Planning (Business):

Action planning breakouts (30 -60 min)
Applying Priority Grids (30 - 60 min)
Commitment testing processes (10- 30 min)

Supporting Media Package

The wide variety of tools used requires a broad "media package" to support the meeting's work and results:

In-room production, to process work in "real time" through several iterations (clean up, edit, type, and reproduce work in hard copy and acetate for further group use.)
Flip charts.
Blank index cards, to compile and sort issues.
Large paper rolls for time lines, analytical grids, wall murals, etc.
Commercial training videos (usually under 15 minutes).
In-room simulations and games.
Digital camera, for participant pictures .
Articles and books.
Outdoor simulations, activities, and games .
Video of live discussions and de-briefing with TV/VCR.
Graphic facilitation support.

Sample Meeting Agenda

The following agenda, from a 1.5 day meeting with a U.S. media company (see previous example 3), demonstrates the interweaving of business tasks and relationship/group processes to help build a new leadership team.

Key Terms:
BPT = Business Planning Team, the new team formed to run the company
MCC = McKinsey Change Center "change planning" methodologies
Business = Business task.
Relationship = Relationship task and/or group process

Day One: 2-5 pm

Time	Topics/Activity	Purpose
30 min	Meeting Goals and Expectations. CEO explains goals for the meeting: (1) To establish the purpose, priorities and action plans for the BPT. (2) To build effectiveness as a working group. All participants "come aboard" with simple ice-breaker activity and statement of hopes for the 1.5 days.	Business & Relationship
60 min	Improving Group Discussion Skills. Videotape a group discussion around a hypothetical topic (e.g. "All cars should be painted yellow."). Use the video to debrief and establish discussion norms (How many questions are being asked? Who plays process facilitator? What is the spirit of the discussion? etc.) Build upon what's working well.	Relationship
20 min	Appreciating Style Differences People self-select in paired opposites (e.g. detail person vs. big picture person, tortoise vs. hare) and identify strengths and limitations of each.	Relationship
15 min	Mini-lecture on Teams. Draw distinctions between working groups vs. Teams. Emphasize fundamentals of high performance teams (based upon the book Wisdom of Teams). Attendees consider ways in which they operate as a team vs. a working group. Book distributed for reference following the meeting.	Relationship
60 min	Overall business goals. Discussion designed to reinforce the shared understanding of organizational mission and current year goals.	Business
60 min	Team Purpose. List purpose and goals for this newly constituted Business Planning Team. Three small groups meet, then all report back to the group and discuss. Three team members agree to synthesize findings for a full report tomorrow AM.	Business
10 min	Process Check. What's working well so far? What's missing?	Relationship

Day One: Evening (7 - 8:30 pm)

Time	Topics/Activity	Purpose
90 min	Appreciative Interviews. Groups of three work independently after dinner, interviewing each other using the "Appreciative" format: When have you felt most alive and excited in this organization? What are some of the things you value deeply about yourself? What's an example of the most effective group effort you have been part of? What core factors give life to this organization? What are we being called to become?	Business & Relationship

Day Two: 8 am - Noon

Time	Topics/Activity	Purpose
40 min	Debrief the Appreciative Interviews. Results from selected questions are posted and discussed as a group, strengthening the sense of a deeply felt common purpose.	Business & Relationship
10 min	Mini-Lecture on Polarities. A way to appreciate polarities (e.g. paired opposites) of "stability" versus "change" is introduced, demonstrating the pros and cons of each and applying them to the company's mission.	Business & Relationship
45 min	Team Purpose Revisited. Synthesized findings on BPT purpose and goals are reviewed, and discussion continued. One key breakthrough is the recognition that "Transform the Company" is a top management job in itself, separate yet closely linked to "Run the Company."	Business
10 min	Introduce MCC Change Architecture. The basic MCC Change Architecture framework is introduced and discussed in response to BPT uncertainty about what "transforming the company" entails.	Business
2 hours	BPT Operational Responsibilities Defined. Working in small and large groups, the BPT identified and prioritized the major decisions facing the company over the next 6 - 12 months and the major business processes that needed to be clarified or reworked.	Business

Day Two: 1 - 4 pm

Time	Topics/Activity	Purpose
15 min	Assessment of Team Process. The basic elements of high-performing teams (Wisdom of Teams) is reintroduced. The BPT conducts their own brief assessment of what works well and what needs improvement.	Relationship & Business
45 min	BPT Decision Making Process. Types of decision-making are defined and discussed (command, consultation, consensus). The rights and obligations of leaders and participants in the "consultation" mode were debated. Norms were discussed and agreements reached about future processes.	Relationship
30 min	Working the MCC Transformation Model. Participants assess the current status of their organization against the 16 elements/sub-elements of the MCC Architecture model and discuss the implications for changing their company.	Business
45 min	Sixty Day Calendar for the BPT. Agenda completed for the next eight (weekly) BPT meetings, using the priorities established earlier.	Business & Relationship
30 min	BPT Meeting Effectiveness. Meeting norms are established for the weekly BPT meetings, including attendance, agenda management, self-facilitation, and follow-up.	Relationship
10 min	Closing Process. Individuals express what they learned during this off-site and what could be counted on in the future. The meeting closes with a general appreciation of the work done.	Relationship