In organizations, we tend to think that speed is primarily out of our control. There are only so many hours in a day and what usually slows us down is the time we spend waiting on OTHER people to turn things around for us. But we tend to overlook opportunities to change the things that ARE in our control that could unlock speed.
In our Growth Mindset course, there is an entire unit focused on growth mindset at the team level. It includes a team assessment using Patrick Lencioni’s 5 behaviors model, but there is also an exercise we created that focuses specifically on speed. I borrowed the concept of a “strategy canvas” from Kim and Mauborgne’s book, Blue Ocean Strategy and applied it to unlocking team speed. Participants are asked to evaluate their own team in terms of basic team functions, like meeting frequency, use of metrics, strategic focus, etc. Then they use Kim and Mauborgne’s “raise-create-reduce-eliminate” approach to propose specific changes in their team’s work that would reduce control, thus unlock speed.
It’s amazing how much we take for granted about the way our teams operate. If we think outside the box a little, we can find plenty of areas where we could increase our speed and agility, which, obviously, is critical for growth.
That’s just one exercise in our growth mindset course that addresses all three levels of personal, team, and organization. The next cohort starts February 1, and each registration comes with three debrief calls with me to talk about your assignments, progress, and specific challenges. Learn more here.