Buckle in, ladies and gentlemen, for some straight talk about the future of work, the nature of the universe and the power of changing systems to change behavior. Today I’m sharing a deep and rambling conversation I had a few months back with Aaron Dignan, author of Brave New Work and founder of the Ready, an org transformation partner to companies like Airbnb, Edelman and charity: water. He is a cofounder of responsive.org, an amazing community of like-minded transformation professionals. If you haven’t checked out their conference, it’s great. I co-facilitated some sessions there last year and I can highly recommend it. You should also check out the episode I had recently on asking better questions with Robin Zander, who hosts the conference. http://theconversationfactory.com/podcast/2019/4/23/robin-p-zander-asking-better-questions I owe a debt of gratitude to Aaron. It was his OS Canvas, published in 2016 on Medium, that got me thinking differently about my own work in Conversation Design and led me to develop my own Conversation OS Canvas. His OS Canvas clarified and simplified a complex domain of thinking – organizational change – into (then) just nine factors. In the book it’s evolved into 12 helpful prompts to provoke clear thinking and to accelerate powerful conversations about how to change the way we work – if you are willing to create the time and space for the conversation. Aaron doesn’t pull any punches – as he says, “the way we work is badly broken and a century old”. And he figures that “a six year old could design a good org, you just have to ask the socratic questions.” His OS Canvas can help you start the conversation about changing the way you work in your org and his excellent book will help you dive deep into principles, practices and stories for each element of the OS. You’ll find in the show notes some deep-dives on the two core principles of org design from the book. The first principle is being complexity Conscious. The second is being people positive. For more on complexity – dig into Cynefin (which is not spelled the way it sounds). And for more on people positivity, there’s a link to Theory X vs Theory Y, a very helpful mental model in management theory. Another powerful idea that I want to highlight is Aaron’s suggestion that we all have our own “system of operating” or “a way of being in the world” which is “made up of assumptions and principles and practices and norms and patterns of behavior and it's coded into the system.”  Aaron goes on to say that “people are chameleons and people are highly sensitive to the culture and environment they're in. And the system, the aquarium, the container tells us a lot about how we're supposed to show up. And over time it can even beat us into submission. And so we have to change the system and that's hard to do when we're reinforcing things that we ourselves didn't even create,” From my own work on conversation design, it’s very clear to me that communication is held in a space, or transmitted through an interface – the air, the internet, a whiteboard. The space your culture happens in is one very key component of how to shift your culture. Check out my episode with Elliot of Brightspot Strategy for more on changing conversations through changing spaces: http://theconversationfactory.com/podcast/2017/7/24/elliot-felix-of-brightspot-strategy-on-changing-conversations-through-changing-spaces Changing your physical space is easy compared with shifting power and distributing authority more thoughtfully in your organization. To do that, we need to shift not just our org structures, but our own OS:  we need more leaders who can show up as facilitators and coaches rather than order-givers. And that takes, as Aaron points out, a brave mindset.  If you want to become a more facilitative leader of innovation and change in your company, you should definitely apply before August to the first cohort of the 12-week Innovation Leadership Accelerator I’m co-hosting with Jay Melone from New Haircut, a leader in Design Sprint Training. It kicks off in NYC with a 2-day workshop in September, runs for 12 weeks of remote coaching and closes with another 2-day workshop. We’ll have several amazing guest coaches during the program – a few of which have been wonderful guests on this very show: Jim Kalbach, author of Mapping Experiences and head of Customer Success at Mural and Bree Groff, Principle at SY Partners and former CEO of change consultancy NOBL. http://theconversationfactory.com/podcast/2018/2/5/jim-kalbach-gets-teams-to-map-experiences http://theconversationfactory.com/podcast/season-three/bree-groff-grief-and-change Show Notes The OS Canvas Medium post that started it all for me: https://medium.com/the-ready/the-os-canvas-8253ac249f53 The Ready https://theready.com/ Brave New Work https://www.bravenewwork.com/ Complexity Conscious: Cynefin https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cynefin_framework Being people positive: Theory X vs Theory Y https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory_X_and_Theory_Y Capitalism needs to be reformed: https://www.cnbc.com/video/2019/04/05/capitalism-needs-to-be-reformed-warns-billionare-ray-dalio.html The Lake Wobegon Effect https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Wobegon Game Frame https://www.amazon.com/Game-Frame-Using-Strategy-Success/dp/B0054U5EHA The Four Sons as four personalities at work in us:  https://reformjudaism.org/jewish-holidays/passover/which-four-children-are-you MECE https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MECE_principle Fish and Water:  https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/97082-there-are-these-two-young-fish-swimming-along-and-they The Finger and the Moon: https://fakebuddhaquotes.com/i-am-a-finger-pointing-to-the-moon-dont-look-at-me-look-at-the-moon/ also from Amelie! https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/tag/am%C3%A9lie Zen Flesh, Zen Bones https://www.amazon.com/Zen-Flesh-Bones-Collection-Writings/dp/0804831866 Agile https://agilemanifesto.org/ Open Source Agility: http://theconversationfactory.com/podcast/2017/6/23/dan-mezick-on-agile-as-an-invitation-to-a-game The Heart of Agile  http://theconversationfactory.com/podcast/2017/7/19/alistair-cockburn-on-the-heart-of-agile-jazz-dialog-and-guest-leadership Lean https://www.lean.org/WhatsLean/Principles.cfm Open https://opensource.com/open-organization Information Radiators http://www.agileadvice.com/2005/05/10/bookreviews/information-radiators/ Asking better questions: http://theconversationfactory.com/podcast/2019/4/23/robin-p-zander-asking-better-questions Loss in Change:  http://theconversationfactory.com/podcast/season-three/bree-groff-grief-and-change Mapping experiences: http://theconversationfactory.com/podcast/2018/2/5/jim-kalbach-gets-teams-to-map-experiences  

  Design means change and change means loss of the old. Even if a new design is better in every way, there is no design so perfect that you can “flip a switch” and step into the new instantaneously. Change takes time. And in that space between the old and the new there is a sense of loss. I’ve been doing my own work around trauma and healing it, and I couldn’t agree with more with Bree Groff’s sentiment that “Sometimes you have to step into the darkness with people” in order to heal things. Don’t fear the pain and loss, anticipate it, embrace it, design for it. Today’s episode features Bree Groff, who at the time of the recording was transitioning from CEO of Nobl, an organizational change consultancy to Principal at SY Partners, a transformation agency based in NYC and SF. Our conversation focused on a few key ideas around organizational design. Design, in the end always seems to require deep empathy and co-creation for it to be a success. Bree points out that the conversation about Org design should include as many people as possible, in order to make the change process as co-creative as possible. If you haven’t checked out the IAP2 spectrum, I’ll link to that in the notes. Bree has identified six key types of loss to consider when designing organizational change:  Loss of Control Loss of Pride Loss of Narrative Loss of Time Loss of Competence Loss of Familiarity I really love this framework to help focus our attention on the key needs of people we’re designing change for. I highly recommend you also check out Krista Tippet’s interview with Pauline Boss on ambiguous loss to learn more about loss and how to process it. I’ll link to it in the show notes. I’m also really excited to be working with Bree on a special project: She’ll be joining the Innovation Leadership Accelerator as a guest mentor. The ILA is a 12 week intensive workshop and coaching experience to help you grow as an organizational leader. I’ll link to the application in the notes as well.   Enjoy the show! Bree’s Website br.ee finite and infinite games by James Carse https://jamescarse.com/wp/?page_id=61 “anyone who must play cannot play” The IAP2 Spectrum of Power in Collaboration https://www.iap2.org/ On feedback:  Adam Connor & Adam Irizarry Designing a Culture of Critique http://theconversationfactory.com/podcast/2018/9/2/culture-of-critique Being Soft on the People and Hard on the Problem (in negotiations and in life) Robert Bordone on turning negotiations into conversations http://theconversationfactory.com/podcast/2017/9/27/robert-bordone-can-transform-negotiations-into-conversations Krista Tippet on Ambiguous Loss https://onbeing.org/programs/pauline-boss-the-myth-of-closure-dec2018/ The Innovation Leadership Accelerator http://theconversationfactory.com/innovation-leadership-accelerator

Today’s guest is Robin Peter Zander, an author, strategist, and performance coach. (scroll down for Robin’s full bio and links)   The big insight for me in this episode is to ask myself a simple set of questions, often: why am I opening my mouth? What’s my goal?   Wanting the best for the other person you’re talking to is a fine place to start. But there’s a level of humility we could all benefit from: Starting from a firm belief that each person has their own wisdom, rather than believing I know better what they need than they do.   We talk about four levels of questions:   Fact based questions   Judging questions   Questions that elicit Stories and Narratives, ie, questions that pull at a thread   Loving Questions, which are present and non-judgmental   I shared a 2 X 2 framework I’m working on in my book, How Conversations Work, that contrasts these two question stances: Asking vs. Telling. We’ve all heard (and asked) these type of non-questions.   The other axis is being problem-focused or solution-focused in your questions. “Have you tried this?” is a really different question from “What have you tried?”   We reference two magnificent quotes about questions that I want to offer here in full:   In the word question, there is a beautiful word - quest. I love that word. We are all partners in a quest. The essential questions have no answers. You are my question, and I am yours - and then there is dialogue. The moment we have answers, there is no dialogue. Questions unite people.   Elie Wiesel   Krista Tippett, the host of NPR’s On Being, suggests that “questions elicit answers in their likeness. It's hard to transcend a simplistic question. It's hard to resist a generous one. ”   If we’re willing to take risks in communication others can respond in kind. The shift has to start somewhere, with someone.   Bio   Robin Peter Zander is an author, strategist, and performance coach. With a diverse background ranging from management consulting to the circus, he has spent his life working with individuals and organizations to maximize potential. He is the founder of Zander Media, a creative agency which works with start-ups to grow brand and culture, and Responsive Conference, which convenes annually to explore the future of work. Learn more at http://robinpzander.com/       Links:   https://www.zandermedia.com/   https://www.responsiveconference.com/   http://www.robinpzander.com/show/   How to do a Handhandstand: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00NRBACYI/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i0   www.Responsive.org   https://www.anatbanielmethod.com/   https://feldenkrais.com/   https://option.org/about-us/what-we-teach/

On this episode, I’m talking with Bárbara Soalheiro, founder of the Mesa method, a five-day process for bringing people together and solving extraordinary problems. Sound familiar? Think again. Mesa is unlike any other accelerated work environment I’ve encountered. And Bárbara  is the first facilitator I’ve heard say “don’t trust the process.” We philosophize about power distribution, problem framing, Masculine vs Feminine leadership and the difference between a mystery and a quest. It’s a jam-packed hour of conversation, so buckle in.  Bárbara started the Mesa method based on a few fundamental principles, essential beliefs abut human nature and the future of work. That work is actually fun and what we’re here to do.  In the near future, the best and the brightest people will be impossible to hire. They will be busy doing their own thing If you want to solve the biggest problems you have to work with the best minds. The only way to work with the best is in short, clear bursts. The best way to work is to be 100% focused on results The Mesa method brings together internal stakeholders with external talent – in Bárbara’s language, “pillars of knowledge” – for five days. This external talent shows up for day one with no briefing, with just the general mission in mind. And they end their week, not with user testing, like another sprint model you might have heard of, but with a prototype that is as close as possible to what the company will build. Barabara’s perspective is a breath of fresh air and unconventional thinking, and her approach has resonated with some big names. She has been helping organizations such as Netflix, Google, Coca-Cola, Nestléand Samsung make bold moves and she’s worked side by side with some of the most extraordinary professionals of our time, people like Kobe Bryant, Cindy Gallop, Perry Chen, Anthony Burrill, Fernando Meirelles and many others. Find more on Mesa here: website instagram vimeo twitter The space is in New York and New York is in the space: tokoro and three other Japanese words for space https://qz.com/1181019/the-japanese-words-for-space-could-change-your-view-of-the-world/ Oblique Strategies https://www.joshharrison.net/oblique-strategies/  

Hey there Conversation Designers! Welcome back to the Conversation Factory, Season Three! I’ve got some amazing interviews lined up for the coming weeks and months and I’m excited to get cracking. Douglas Ferguson is a deep and brilliant facilitator, entrepreneur and technologist. Douglas and I met at the Google Sprint Conference and got to know each other a lot better when he came to NYC to join my Facilitation Masterclass. It’s always humbling to see the caliber of leaders who come out the masterclass. Douglas’s Innovation Agency, Voltage Control, is hosting a Facilitator Summit in Austin May 23rd and I’m excited that he invited me to do a session on Narrative Models for facilitation. We’re also co-hosting a pre-conference Masterclass. I’m really excited about it and I hope you can make it out. Learn more and get tickets here: https://voltagecontrol.co/the-facilitation-master-class-with-daniel-stillman-douglas-ferguson-c827a62d8a71 Douglas and I go deep on Innovation, Co-creation, sprinting and he talks about his journey as a facilitator and how he keeps learning and growing. At minute 19, we dive into why and how diversity helps groups solve problems and towards the midpoint Douglas reveals his facilitator’s secret resource: Camp counselor activity books. By minute 35 we muse about a leader as someone who sets the cadence of work, and who makes sure that cadence doesn’t become a rut or burnout. At minute 40 we talk about the Austin facilitation summit and why we’re co-running a masterclass together. Finally, at minute 53 we talk about how to talk to a CTO and how, not surprisingly, they are people. Some other episodes you can dig into to learn more: ·        Kai Hailey, head of the Google Sprint Master academy on the importance of Ethics in a Sprint culture http://theconversationfactory.com/podcast/2018/9/26/building-sprint-culture ·        Dee Scarano, who’s a Design Sprint Trainer and Facilitator at AJ and Smart, for more background on the sprint and being an awesome facilitator http://theconversationfactory.com/podcast/2018/8/3/everyday-design-sprints-dee-scarano-aj-smart ·        Paul Pangaro, professor at Carnegie Mellon University about cybernetic theory in conversations http://theconversationfactory.com/podcast/2017/12/16/professor-paul-pangaro-on-the-cybernetics-of-conversations-and-a-theory-of-everything   Things we dig into, and some links to help you dig even deeper: Co-Creation cultivates Advocacy, ownership and Mutual Understanding https://voltagecontrol.co/co-creation-is-a-powerful-tool-for-digital-transformation-5cfd942702bf Co-Creation builds requisite Variety/Diversity https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Variety_(cybernetics) IAP2 spectrum as a model for the spectrum of co-creation https://www.iap2.org/ Complexity Theory https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Complexity_theory_and_organizations Liberating Structures, a model for modular workshop mechanics http://www.liberatingstructures.com/ Cynefin (kuh-nevin) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cynefin_framework The power of Making and Sharing Tools (The Voltage Control Sprint Scorecard) https://voltagecontrol.co/the-voltage-control-design-sprint-scorecard-503b1fc1b8be The History of Design Sprints and the power of AWE (Accelerated working environments) Jake’s Book: https://www.thesprintbook.com/ Google’s Toolkit https://designsprintkit.withgoogle.com/introduction/overview Timeboxing and Raising the Stakes More on Holocracy in my Interview with Sally McCutchion http://theconversationfactory.com/podcast/2017/6/6/sally-mccutchion-on-holacracy-and-self-management-at-all-levels-of-organization Liberating Structures: Troika Consulting http://www.liberatingstructures.com/8-troika-consulting/ Liberating Structures: 1-2-4-All http://www.liberatingstructures.com/1-1-2-4-all/ Note and Vote as a Modular Component (thinking alone before thinking together) https://www.fastcompany.com/3034772/note-and-vote-how-google-ventures-avoids-groupthink-in-meetings To Engineer is Human https://www.amazon.com/Engineer-Human-Failure-Successful-Design/dp/0679734163/ Places to Learn about Douglas and Voltage Control: voltagecontrol.co twitter.com/voltagectr https://www.instagram.com/voltagectrl/ https://www.facebook.com/voltage-control https://www.linkedin.com/in/douglasferguson/ https://www.linkedin.com/company/voltage-control  

This episode features Michael Roderick, founder of Small Pond Enterprises and Host of the Access to Anyone Podcast. Michel is a coach and consultant who knows how to design conversations large and small. We talk about closing the loop on free advice (let people know if if it works…otherwise we’ll keep giving bad advice!), teaching through simulations and how to see patterns and build frameworks. Michael sends a daily (yes, daily!) email that I actually read! His claim to fame is that he went from High School English Teacher to Broadway producer in under 2 years, which is fast for *any* career shift, let alone a jump like that. I first learned about Michael’s work years ago through his conference, ConnectorCon, which he designed to build a safe space to talk and connect, and to learn what it takes to be a great connector. One of the reasons I was excited to bring Michael on the show is that he sees the world through a lens of frameworks, just like me! And we hit on several key ideas that resonate with some components of my Conversation OS, which is always nice. The Power (and limits of) Narrative. We live our lives through the stories we tell. Stories help us build connections and relationships, but they can also limit us. A positive self-story feels better than a negative story, but it can also limit us and tell us what is and isn’t possible. It’s worth asking for time to time “what stories are serving me? What narrative can help me build a new future and a new identity? What do I believe is possible? What do I *not* try, because I believe it’s impossible?”   The Cadence of Connection. We talk about how Community is a resource you *can* draw from if you’ve built it up over time…and how you need to build it before you need it. Like sleep, it’s something you have to do regularly.     What’s On TV (or…the importance of perspective) Michael has many, many great aphorisms, but this one is amazing. The idea is that you will always be too close to your own issues to solve them… unless you take time to pull back and see the big picture. This is also why we’re always better at solving other people’s problems! And why having a coach is essential.   Competition doesn’t exist… just specialization and niches. We are in competition with ourselves, each of us trying to find our own niche. But watch out! All specializations aren’t compatible…what’s interesting about this to me is the idea that if we can’t connect with someone, it’s not always because of anything other than incompatible approaches, not something “wrong” with you or them.     The Power of Invitation. As Michael points out, “People love to feel useful, but they hate to feel used.” Pressure never works well as an engagement tactic, at least not in the long term. Asking permission, asking nicely and giving people the option to say no gives people choice and allows them to choose to be highly engaged. Small Pond Enterprises http://www.smallpondenterprises.com/ Access to Anyone Podcast https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/access-to-anyone/id1040351484?mt=2 Morning Pages http://juliacameronlive.com/basic-tools/morning-pages/ Liminal Thinking: an interview with Dave Gray http://theconversationfactory.com/podcast/2017/4/18/dave-gray-on-drawing-conversations-and-liminal-thinking The Conversation Operating System (OS) Canvas http://theconversationfactory.com/downloads/  

Today’s episode features Kai Haley, Lead of Design Relations and the Sprint Master Academy at Google. We talk about design sprints and building a “sprint culture” as well as a much bigger question: The need for ethics in design. If you can build anything, faster, it’s a kind of super power. And with great power comes great responsibility. While you might have heard Spider-Man say that, it also made me think of my favorite Plato’s Dialog, Gorgias, which points out that power without knowledge of good (and evil) is pretty dangerous. Kai believes that training a sprint master means giving them the tools to keep people honest and mindful of their choices. What I really love about this episode is how open, honest and humble Kai is about how hard this work is. The Sprint can make it seem like solving big challenges is simple – all you need is five days and Google’s list of activities – widely available on the internet! (and in the show notes!) But Kai makes it clear that any attempts to “copy & paste” the Sprint (just like any new way of working) into an organization will experience some turbulence. Adopting a new way of work can create a wave of change that will ripple out into the organization. To find sustainable success means changing rewards and recognition practices, building training and management support and lots and lots of flexibility and patience. We don’t get into the basics of the design sprint in the interview so I’ll say a few words of background. A design sprint is a structured process for getting a group of people to get together and make a big decision in a shorter—than—normal period of time. Sprints are a general term in use in Agile software development for some time and they have become really popular in the digital product design world as User Experiences Designers have had to contend with the spread of Agile in the world. In the last few years Google has developed an approach to design sprinting that blends parts of design thinking and parts of Agile into a powerful structure; building a clear, compelling narrative thread in the process. Inside Google, sprinting has developed into a key part of their culture, and the world is starting to take notice – starting with the NY Times bestselling book “Sprint” by former Google Ventures employees Jake Knapp and John Zeratsky who took their own unique flavor of the Sprint and wrote a clear, thorough, check-list approach to the method that made it seem simple enough for anyone to try. While it’s often shorter inside Google and other organizations, the canonical structure is a five-day workshop that opens up a key challenge for a group or a company, explores several options to solving it and closes the loop with user research. Often workshops (that people like me run) *can* wind up feeling like Innovation Theater. Workshops can help teams get clear on a strategy and excited about big ideas. But those ideas can fade once the workshop ends. The ideas and the excitement get lost inside the organization. People who weren’t there can question the validity of the ideas and power of their shared conviction. The Sprint format helps a workshop gain momentum and power though a key difference from the average workshop. For Kai, the key distinction between a workshop and a sprint is that a sprint develops a prototype and puts it in front of customers to get feedback on a key idea. A sprint helps end debate with evidence – and helps continue the conversation long after the workshop. The Sprint makes use of the Conversation OS in some interesting (and totally unintentional) ways – pulling on a few key levers of conversation design:  The cadence of work is sped up to force a decision and to create positive pressure, all while holding the work within a clear and powerful narrative thread. The visual map of the 5—day process helps get teams bought in on the power of working this way, establishing clear goals and agreements – regardless of how tough the middle of the week-long workshop gets, there are customers being recruited to test out the ideas, making it harder to give up and loose momentum! Pair this episode with a few others for a ricjer perspective on thes issues: - Dee Scarano, who’s a Design Sprint Trainer and Facilitator at AJ and Smart, for more background on the sprint and being an awesome facilitator -Alistair Cockburn, one of the original Agile Signatories, if you’re new to agile or want to go deeper into it -Daniel Mezick, who uses a unique, open-space approach to bring agile practices into organizations at scale You can find links for all of this and more in the show notes! Thanks for listening! Enjoy the show…and if you do, please take a moment and leave a review on iTunes. Google Sprint Kit https://designsprintkit.withgoogle.com/ GV Sprint on Medium https://medium.com/@gv.com Sprint Stories on Medium https://sprintstories.com/ The Sprint Book https://www.amazon.com/Sprint-Solve-Problems-Test-Ideas/dp/1442397683 Plato’s Gorgias https://www.sparknotes.com/philosophy/gorgias/summary/ Gransfors Bruk Axes: We have unlimited responsibility for Total Quality. https://www.gransforsbruk.com/en/about/corporate-responsibility/ Changing the Conversation with Sprints https://medium.com/google-design/changing-the-conversation-with-design-sprints-3ba776145468 The Conversation OS Canvas http://theconversationfactory.com/downloads/  Everyday Design Sprints with Dee Scarano http://theconversationfactory.com/podcast/2018/8/3/everyday-design-sprints-dee-scarano-aj-smart Agile and Jazz Dialog with Alistair Cockburn http://theconversationfactory.com/podcast/2017/7/19/alistair-cockburn-on-the-heart-of-agile-jazz-dialog-and-guest-leadership Agile as an invitation to a game with Daniel Mezick http://theconversationfactory.com/podcast/2017/6/23/dan-mezick-on-agile-as-an-invitation-to-a-game

This episode is about four really big conversations that are worth designing: 1.How do you shift an entire cultural conversation? 2.How do you build a sustainable business and team around it? 3.How do you sustain yourself as an entrepreneur though all of this changemaking? (that is, take care of your own internal conversation through it all!) 4.How do you get the help you need to grow in all of these conversations? Dan Doty is the founder of an organization called Evryman that exists to help change the cultural conversation about men, to help provide support, tools, and experiences for men to build deep connections that unlock and accelerate personal growth. And it’s something that’s really needed in the world. The current cultural conversation about men is about Toxic Masculinity. Dan’s work is about shifting the cultural conversation to what Healthy Masculinity looks like, and how to build it. I’ve been to a Men’s Emotional Leadership Training with Dan and his team (also called MELT) earlier this year and it started a new phase of growth for me...and my own dad went to Evryman’s men’s weekend called the Open Source Weekend and he experienced a major shift. My mom noticed it the moment he came home! So I’m a real believer in this work. In fact, I just started co-hosting a men’s group recently with Evryman. Together, we build a conversation map for Dan. A conversation map is a reflection tool for leaders to examine key areas in their work and life and to get them in order. If you check out the video or the show notes you can see some of that visual work. I’ll link to some templates as well. Dan is a coach and an entrepreneur, and he’s got an incredibly holistic approach to supporting himself as he leads change – one of the most balanced that I have seen. Of the four core conversations (Community, Team, Dialogue and Inner Dialogue) Dan is cultivating space and time for each. Leading a big cultural conversation while still making time for your internal conversation is a huge challenge for leaders. Enjoy this episode and pair it with an episode from last season with Claire Wasserman, founder of ͞Ladies Get Paid͟, an organization which works to eliminate the gender pay gap.There are a lot of similarities in the patterns these two change-makers are building to help them lead a BIG change in the world – changing the conversation around gender is no small task. Learn more about Dan here: http://www.dan-doty.com/ Check out Dan’s Podcast here: https://evrymanpodcast.libsyn.com/ Dan’s TedX talk here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DdAHdbULmNg Learn more about Evryman here: http://www.evryman.co/ The MELT weekend we mention here: https://evrymanswestcoastmeltretreat.splashthat.com/ And the Evryman Open Source retreat here: https://evrymanopensourceberkshires.splashthat.com/ Women Teach Men: https://womenteachmen.com/ And Owen Marcus, a co-founder of Evryman and leader of my MELT group: https://owenmarcus.com/ And check out the episode about Claire’s Organization, Ladies Get Paid, here: http://theconversationfactory.com/podcast/2017/10/24/claire-wasserman-knows-how-to-design-powerful-experiences-communities-and-organizations The 9 Conversations Map v2.0 can be downloaded here, so you can build your own conversations map: https://gumroad.com/l/9conversationsmap The Conversation OS Canvas can be downloaded here: http://theconversationfactory.com/downloads And you can check out the video of this episode here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-pdRRcCR_s__e  

Critique is one of the most crucial conversations there is. How to ask for and get feedback when you need it is a core life skill. Without it, we’re in the dark. Setting up a special time and place with clear rules and goals to get the crucial feedback you need to move forward…that’s designing the conversation, and I can’t think of a conversation that’s more critical. Pun Intended! My guests today are the authors of the wonderful (and quick reading!) book “Discussing Design: Improving Communication and Collaboration through Critique” Adam Connor, VP Organizational Design & Training at the strategic design consultancy Mad Pow and Aaron Irizarry, Head of Experience Infrastructure at Capital One. Critique isn’t just “fancy feedback”….Critique is about asking for and the designing the conversation you need to have, with the people you need to engage. Do you want: a Reaction, a clear Direction or deep analysis? That’s Critique: it has rules and boundaries, and if you don’t ask for critique, you can’t get it. We dig into the 3 myths of Critique, how critique isn’t really a designers skill, it’s a life skill for anyone trying to bust out of the status quo. I want to highlight a few things you’ll hear towards the end. I asked Adam and Aaron to discuss how they handle a few key aspects of the Conversation OS Canvas in their critiques, like power dynamics, turn-taking, and interfaces and spaces for the conversation. Invitation: The core point (and what the opening quote is all about) is that you get the critique you ask for. And that if someone *isn’t* asking for critique it’s pretty tricky to offer it to them successfully. In those cases, getting permission to give feedback is essential. Power:  Adam sets the ground rules that if you’re invited to the critique session, your voice should be heard, and that in this session we’re all equal. The facilitator is there to balance voices, to call out people who are to dominating or hiding in the conversation. Interface: I always say that when you change the interface you change the conversation. Adam and Aaron both prefer in-person critique conversations – email isn’t designed to support the depth of communication real critique requires and as they say “Asynchronous feedback will never be the same as a live conversation.”  But as teams become more distributed and digital, they’ve found some benefit in doing a “pre-read” and a “notation round” in a tool like InVision or Mural, and then moving to a video call. Turn-Taking: While I am pretty obsessive about turn-taking, Adam says that he’s sensitive to it, but doesn’t want to over-control it, preferring an organic flow. He’ll sometimes use a “round-robin” to make sure everyone speaks in turn and at least once. Finding a way to balance voices within an organic structure requires a skillful facilitator.   Adam Connor, Mad Pow https://madpow.com/about/team/adam-connor Aaron Irizarry, Capital One https://about.me/aaroni Discussing Design http://shop.oreilly.com/product/0636920033561.do   Video is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1zahbC1Mfks  

Our guest today is Dee Scarano, Head of Design Sprint Training at AJ&Smart. They're an agency based in Berlin that is 100% google-sprint-based. They have a *fire* youtube channel that you should check out if you want to run more sprints, well. I met Dee at the Google Sprint Conference back in late 2017 and when I saw her run a large group workshop, I knew I had found a kindred spirit! Dee is what I would call an Atomic Facilitator. Not because she's small and powerful (which she is) but because she has a tendency to break facilitation down into tiny, tiny components. I do the same thing, so it was fun (like, really fun: Bucket of puppies fun!) to sit down with her and dig into how she designs her group conversations and why. Again - If you haven't checked out AJ+Smart's *aces* Youtube channel, you should - they have a boatload of helpful content, and they are launching an online course about Design Sprints which you'll hear about in the show and which I'll link to below. Atomic Facilitators are different. Last week I was in Boston running a 3-Day Design Thinking Intensive at a giant consulting company and I was working with a facilitator who was a "big arc" facilitator. He gave the groups a task to do, a goal to get to, and didn't choose to manage the "micro process" of how they got there. Each team negotiated at their tables and chose a different path. One isn't better than the other, but it's worth asking: Which of the tables had more fun? Which of the tables felt less tension? Which of the tables made a better decision? Atomic Facilitators like Dee have thought through and tested and tried many, many ways to get people to make better, smoother decisions together, and has chosen ONE that they love and feels great about. They hold that design choice in their minds and carefully guides a team through it, step by step. Dee and I talk about Design Sprints, but we also talk about how to take that Atomic facilitation style that's baked into the standard 5-day design Sprint process and bring it into your work, every day. AJ+Smart uses the same tools from the sprints to facilitate  their Friday retrospectives (they do a 4 day sprint each week, with a day for reflection). The clarity and confidence that come from examining your approach means you feel comfortable teaching it, which is something Dee does a great deal of. As Head of Design Sprint training, she's responsible for helping teams get the knowledge *and* confidence to get started on their first sprint, which we talk about, too.   Some things to look out for! Why it's critical (and maybe obvious?) to map importance before (and separately) from difficulty) How trusting a process can help you relax How Reflection is key to AJ+Smart's process How taking care of the people in the sprint is essential https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5vrePSmQnJw   Cultural Change and how building a small coalition, underselling and  over-delivering on your process can help you start a movement Why 3 X 5 stickies *might* be better than 3 X 3 (the conversation interface matters, people!) How Aj+Smart handles power dynamics in the sprint compared with Google vs GV Ventures You can find her on twitter https://twitter.com/dhyanascarano?lang=en   I hope you enjoy the show as much as I did making it!   LINKS  9 Conversations pre-order: https://publishizer.com/nine-conversations/ Design Sprint Masterclass https://ajsmart.com/ajsmart-design-sprint-masterclass/ Aj and Smart https://ajsmart.com/ Sean Sankey/Form Studios https://www.form.studio/