My reflection - Visualisation

Challenge & Selection  I work as an Agile Coach within multi-cultural and distributed teams for mainly IT  companies.   I spend a lot of time on trying to build performing teams and one tool I use to help me  achieving this is visualisation.  This tool helps me to connect with team members I work with about concepts, piece of  information, and to build understanding between each other in order to achieve great  purpose as a team.    I especially use visualization in a team’s activity I called: “how to build our high performing  team”.   I built this team activity inspired by Lyssa Adkins’ video “The High Performance Tree”  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t3kKechcwYM&feature=emb_title.

Application  The setup takes place in a room with flip charts or a board and the team members.   Generally, the team members are no more than 7 to avoid taking too much time. The  team is composed mainly of developers, software testers and a product owner.     I start the activity by drawing a big and, hopefully, beautiful tree on a board. I draw the  tree with its roots, branches and I ask the question about what they think the analogy is  between a tree and our team.  I let some time for the team members to think about their answers and to speak it out  loud.   It is a way of engaging them and sparking their interest toward the activity.  Afterward, I explain them the analogy between a solid and healthy tree and a high  performing team.    Then I start to write down at the roots of the tree the team’s values.   If the team does not have defined team’s values yet, I can write down the values of the  company or the values of the Scrum agile framework (as described in the video above).   I described the roots as a need to be solid and healthy in order for the tree to grow solid  and resist potential storms. Like a team, when the roots of a tree are solid, they can resist  anything, and the tree can thrive.

Then I prompt the team to take some time and to reflect on their own roots’ and to  identify if there is something we should change in our processes, relationships to  strengthen our roots.  Each team member has a set of post-it in front of them and they can quietly take time to  note their feedback.   After a time of reflection, notes are added near by the roots, we discuss them and agree  on potential team’s actions to strengthen our roots.    Then, I go to the tree branches, and like in the video, I wrote down the characteristic of a  high performing team while describing these characteristics to the team and I ask the  team the following questions:  How far do you recognise these characteristics in our team?  If we miss some of these characteristics, what should we do to get all of those  characteristics as a description of our team?  I let a time of reflection again for notes to be added to the branches and I steer up a  discussion leading on potential team’s actions.    At that point depending the team, the team might get enough actions points already in  which case, I finally draw the fruits, like in the video, and I wrote down what each of those  fruits mean. Then I would ask if the team want to continue the activity or if they have  enough action points to implement and we can take back the visualisation of our growing  tree at a later stage.    If team members want the former, I prompt the team with two last questions:   How far do you think we are from having those fruits?  What should we do to be able to harvest those fruits?  Again, the team has a time of reflection for writing down on notes and to discuss about  them leading to team’s actions.

Insights & Approach  What I learned with this activity is that using metaphors during a visualization activity is  powerful. Metaphors instantly tickle the imagination of the audience and make things  more concrete when I want to explain a concept, especially such a concept as the one of  high-performing team.     Trying to build a high-performing team can be a vague and futile concept for team  members, mainly developers who generally want to get down at the code level and can be  in a defensive position when talked about changing things inside the team. It is even truer  if the team members did not identify problems yet.     Walking with them through the visualisation make them reflect and introspect on the  team’s status. Most of the time we discover things we did not know.

Since I discovered the most valuable aspect of visualisation is to make things concrete for  people, I use this tool not only with team members but also with stakeholders and  leadership to explore other paths and to discover something we did not know or to  confirm some assumptions we had.


My reflection - Visualisation Challenge & Selection I work as an Agile Coach within multi - cultural and distributed teams for mainly IT companies . I spend a lot of time on trying to build performing teams and one tool I use to help me achieving this is visualisation . This tool helps me to connect with team members I work with about concepts , piece of information , and to build understanding between each other in order to achieve great purpose as a team . I especially use visualization in a team ’s activity I called : “ how to build our high performing team ” . I built this team activity inspired by Lyssa Adkins ’ video “ The High Performance Tree ” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t3kKechcwYM&feature=emb_title . Application The setup takes place in a room with flip charts or a board and the team members . Generally , the team members are no more than 7 to avoid taking too much time . The team is composed mainly of developers , software testers and a product owner . I start the activity by drawing a big and , hopefully , beautiful tree on a board . I draw the tree with its roots , branches and I ask the question about what they think the analogy is between a tree and our team . I let some time for the team members to think about their answers and to speak it out loud . It is a way of engaging them and sparking their interest toward the activity . Afterward , I explain them the analogy between a solid and healthy tree and a high performing team . Then I start to write down at the roots of the tree the team ’s values . If the team does not have defined team ’s values yet , I can write down the values of the company or the values of the Scrum agile framework ( as described in the video above ) . I described the roots as a need to be solid and healthy in order for the tree to grow solid and resist potential storms . Like a team , when the roots of a tree are solid , they can resist anything , and the tree can thrive . Then I prompt the team to take some time and to reflect on their own roots ’ and to identify if there is something we should change in our processes , relationships to strengthen our roots . Each team member has a set of post - it in front of them and they can quietly take time to note their feedback . After a time of reflection , notes are added near by the roots , we discuss them and agree on potential team ’s actions to strengthen our roots . Then , I go to the tree branches , and like in the video , I wrote down the characteristic of a high performing team while describing these characteristics to the team and I ask the team the following questions : How far do you recognise these characteristics in our team ? If we miss some of these characteristics , what should we do to get all of those characteristics as a description of our team ? I let a time of reflection again for notes to be added to the branches and I steer up a discussion leading on potential team ’s actions . At that point depending the team , the team might get enough actions points already in which case , I finally draw the fruits , like in the video , and I wrote down what each of those fruits mean . Then I would ask if the team want to continue the activity or if they have enough action points to implement and we can take back the visualisation of our growing tree at a later stage . If team members want the former , I prompt the team with two last questions : How far do you think we are from having those fruits ? What should we do to be able to harvest those fruits ? Again , the team has a time of reflection for writing down on notes and to discuss about them leading to team ’s actions . Insights & Approach What I learned with this activity is that using metaphors during a visualization activity is powerful . Metaphors instantly tickle the imagination of the audience and make things more concrete when I want to explain a concept , especially such a concept as the one of high - performing team . Trying to build a high - performing team can be a vague and futile concept for team members , mainly developers who generally want to get down at the code level and can be in a defensive position when talked about changing things inside the team . It is even truer if the team members did not identify problems yet . Walking with them through the visualisation make them reflect and introspect on the team ’s status . Most of the time we discover things we did not know . Since I discovered the most valuable aspect of visualisation is to make things concrete for people , I use this tool not only with team members but also with stakeholders and leadership to explore other paths and to discover something we did not know or to confirm some assumptions we had .