InteractionGuidelines

A Step-by-Step Approach

In today’s hectic, performance-oriented workplace, the time you spend in interactions must be productive. Whether you’re interacting with an individual or a group, in a formal or a spontaneous discussion, or in person or over the phone, every interaction must produce results and accomplish its purposes efficiently.

The key to meeting these practical needs is to use a flexible, effective interaction process—one that helps you cover important information logically and thoroughly. That process is found in the Interaction Guidelines. Each guideline represents an important, logical step in the discussion process. Together they provide a road map to guide you through any type of discussion. The graphic below shows the five Interaction Guidelines as well as two process skills that you can use with them to increase the efficiency of your discussion.

OPEN

Have you ever attended a meeting that you thought had a specific purpose, only to discover that others had a different goal in mind? If you have, you know that the result can be:

  • Confusion.
  • Wasted time.
  • More meetings to clarify the first meeting.

In the OPEN step you ensure that the discussion has a clear purpose and that everyone understands the importance of accomplishing it. Purpose and importance should always be stated clearly in the opening of any discussion, regardless of who initiates it.

•If you originate the discussion, explain what you would like to accomplish and why.

Be sure to cite how it would benefit your discussion partner(s) to accomplish the purpose.

Then ask if anyone has related topics to discuss.

“The purpose of our discussion is to come up with a way to distribute new work among us so that it gets done, yet no one is overloaded.”

•If someone else initiates the discussion, ask the person or group to explain the purpose and importance so that everyone has the same understanding of discussion topics.

“Let me check, then. You’d like to talk about ways to get just-in-time customer feedback on product manuals so you can incorporate changes into the manuals when they’re reprinted?”

CLARIFY

In time-sensitive situations you might be tempted to move quickly into discussing possible solutions. However, action plans based on incomplete or inaccurate data stand a good chance of failing. Building a solid base of information is essential to any discussion. CLARIFY is a fact-finding step in which you gather relevant information, issues, and concerns.

There are two types of information to collect in this step—facts and figures and issues and concerns. Both are essential to building a complete picture of the situation.

•Facts and figures are the basic data and background information people need to understand the situation and make informed decisions.

•Exploring issues and concerns provides insight into potential barriers to achieving your purpose. It also helps reveal people’s feelings about the situation, which also is valid and important information to gather.

The CLARIFY step is especially important in group discussions, where it’s common for each member to have some facts and insights but unusual for one member to have them all. Even if you think you already know all the details and understand the issues, you might be surprised how much additional information people can bring to a discussion and how helpful it is to bring it into the open.

“Before we talk about how to divide the work, can each of you tell us the major assignments you’re working on and the percentage of your time they’re taking?”

“One of my concerns about just-in-time feedback is how we decide which feedback to take action on. What concerns do you have?”

DEVELOP

After everyone shares information and concerns, the next step is to DEVELOP ideas for achieving the discussion’s purpose. An important key to success here is to involve the person or group. Most likely, you’ll have ideas on what to do, and you should share them. However, you should put equal emphasis on seeking the ideas of others. Involving people in thinking about alternative approaches can:

•Spark their creative energy.

•Result in more and better ideas than you alone could generate.

•Build commitment to turning ideas into action.

It’s important to discuss any resources or support people might need in order to follow through on ideas. Resources might include training, additional staff, increased budget, or coaching from an expert.

“As we suspected, each of us has a pretty full schedule already. Given that, what ideas do you have for distributing the work?”

“Let’s say we wanted to offer a customer feedback hot line. What resources would we need to implement and staff it?”

AGREE

Great ideas are only great when they’re acted on. In the AGREE step you and the people involved agree on a plan for following through on the ideas you’ve developed and for supporting those who will take action.

During this step:

•Specify what will be done, who will do it, and by when.

•Agree on any follow-up actions needed to track progress in carrying out the plan. This could be as simple as a single follow-up meeting or as involved as reviewing reports or other data for many months.

•Be sure to agree to needed resources or support.

A critical skill to use in this step is to provide support without removing responsibility (to build ownership). You can commit to providing or securing resources and support, but keep responsibility for the task with the person or team.

“Can we agree on which of the two plans for distributing work we’ll go with? Then we can talk about how to present it to the rest of the team and who’s going to do what to see that it happens.”

“Because we feel that the hot line is the best approach, can we agree on next steps and responsibilities? It also might be good to identify some way of following up to make sure nothing gets overlooked.”

CLOSE

The CLOSE is a final chance to check that everyone is clear on agreements and next steps and committed to following through. Closing sensitive or complex discussions could involve a detailed summary of actions and agreements, as well as a check on the person’s or team’s commitment to carrying them out.A less complex interaction usually requires no more than a word or two about the general plan and a quick check on confidence in following through.

“Just to summarize, Bob, you’ll pick up Mike’s assignment when it comes through. Barbara, you’ll take over the things Bob was handling. Nancy, you’ll . . . This will allow us to keep up with our regular work during peak periods and not overload anyone. Does everyone still feel that this is the best approach?

“So we’ll write a description of the hot line approach, discuss it with Carl, and sit up as soon as we get the go-ahead. Are you comfortable with the plan?

Flexible Approach to Effective Interactions

Because of the flexibility of the Interaction Guidelines, you can use them in any discussion, regardless of purpose, complexity, or number of topics. You can use them to:

•Solve problems.

•Resolve conflicts.

•Discuss a major change.

•Set expectations.

•Delegate an important responsibility.

•Conduct any discussion in which you need to clarify the situation, develop ideas, and agree on actions.

The Interaction Guidelines are also flexible in how you use them.

•For discussions with a single topic, cover each guideline from OPEN through CLOSE once.

•For discussions with many topics, you might cover the CLARIFY, DEVELOP, and AGREE guidelines for one topic, then repeat them for the additional topics, then CLOSE.

•If people reveal in the CLOSE step that they have unresolved concerns or are hesitant about following through on agreements, return to CLARIFY and ask questions to bring the concerns into the open. Then DEVELOP ideas for resolving the concerns and reach revised AGREEments based on this latest discussion. CLOSE with a final check on confidence and commitment.

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