Your team has all completed the Perspective exercise and you're getting ready to discuss the results with them. This is a great chance to build empathy, enhance trust, and get tangible ideas for how to work best together as a group.
Here's a video guide to learn how to run a Team Perspective conversation (or click here to view this video in your browser)
To access a handy checklist for your team session, click here.
Before the Team Discussion
Review the Results
Go to your Perspective Team Report page and explore around. Pay particular attention to areas that have blindspots, or where you might be balanced, but have internal misalignments between members.
Share the Report with Teammates
Share the Report with your teammates by copying the URL:
During the Team Discussion
Go to the Report (and share the link with your teammates if you haven't already)
The Report itself is designed to be a guide that you can use to walk through an entire 60-90-minute discussion with the team. Just start at the top and work your way down! Watch out for the Discussion Prompts you'll see along the way; these are often specific to your team's profile, and will help guide the flow of your conversation. The 2 key questions that are often answered in the course of a Team Perspective conversation are:
How has this mix of personalities played out on our team in real life?
Given this information, is there anything we should change about the way we work together?
Step 1: Lay out the Agenda and review Goals (5 min)
At the top of the report, you'll find an agenda - you can click on any of the items in the list to see what to do in that section. Start with a review of the Goals of the session, and what you'll cover;
Step 2: Deep Dive into the 4 Spectrums (45-60 min)
This step will comprise the bulk of your conversation. We recommend spending 5-20 minutes on each Spectrum; you have the flexibility to spend more time on the ones that are more insightful/impactful for your team and less time on the others.
We provide 3 questions for each Spectrum that are specific to your team's overall profile - use these to guide the flow of the conversation around each of the 4 Spectrums:
Step 3: Conclusion (5-10 min)
After you've talked about the 4 Spectrums, don’t forget to explore the Final Thoughts section at the bottom of the report! This will help you wrap up and establish any action items if needed.
And that's it! But If you're still unsure...
Schedule a call with our Perspective experts to discuss your results - we have a team of experts who are happy to have a call with you about your results and how to best run the conversation. We'll highlight the major risks and focus areas based on the mix of people on your team, and guide you through all the prep needed for the full team debrief. Click here to schedule a 45-minute call.
Bonus Tips for running a great Perspective conversation:
Ensure everyone reads their personal Perspective and the team's results.
Plan a tiny breakout activity using the Pair Perspective view
Get everyone to speak in the first 5-10 minutes and ensure active participation from all team members throughout.
For each Spectrum of the Team Report broadly follows a flow of a) Understanding the differences in the team, b) Identifying risks or implications of the mix of Perspectives, and c) Brainstorming norms or solutions to mitigate the risks.
At the end of the conversation prioritize the top 2-3 norms the team should adopt, and codify them using the Team Habit tool.
Advanced tips for the hardcore:
Read all of the "What are the risks" tabs on the team report
Spend the most team time on areas where you have a blindspot, and talk through how the team can be mindful of the blindspot together
For the last 5 minutes ask each individual to reflect on the exercise and think up some behaviors they want to start taking to work best with the team. If you have insights on your team members walk around the room and seed ideas for them.
Don't worry, this conversation won't make anyone look silly or focus too much on vague data. Get everyone talking about their needs and experiences and your whole team will thank you. It might even end in a big show of trust.
Checklist PDF:
Here's a handy checklist that you can use to make sure you have everything for a great team conversation.