We do not need to fight it out in order to figure it out.
As a process improvement facilitator I’ve spent hours and hours and hours, maybe even years in windowless conference rooms.
The gray rooms have been home to long, frustrating days pulling information out of employees to help get an understanding of their processes and services.
Hours of fights, and hours of long hard interactions to help build the bones of a process map on a wall filled with a rainbow of sticky notes.
I have seen these discovery sessions devolve into total chaos.
Multiple times I remember watching people break down and cry as we built these artifacts before their eyes. In these sessions,
I’ve recalled that the loudest person commanded the room and took over. So, the discovery process became all about them.
The map was their process and not the teams.
Sometimes even bad managers take the steering wheel–-overruling employees and talking over them until they sit silently.
I have even seen a facilitator only write down information from certain personalities and completely change the discovery process to be about the personalities and not the processes.
In many of these situations I often became the referee, blowing a whistle and trying to skillfully hold the team together.
Then, they would fall apart once the team bully shut down their enthusiasm.
On top of bad managers, office bullies, and conflicting process steps, scheduling conflicts have pushed process innovation projects out by a week, months, or even a year.
All of these barriers and years of facilitation nightmares pushed us to figure out a better way.
How can we as facilitators of innovation and improvement be resistant to change?
Seems ironic and it was.
Until, years ago someone told me an interesting story and a few introspective questions…
- When you call someone…do they answer the phone excited to talk to you about their work? Or are they reluctant to answer basic questions?
- When you set up a project with someone do they schedule you immediately or do they push out until it works for them?
- Do your partners see you as a giver or a taker?
These questions got me to start thinking…
…do we have to fight it out in order to figure it out?
The answer is no.
When we use Coco, this all changes.
We can gather information without it being painful and pull perspectives into our system seamlessly.
We don’t have to call people into a room and force them through activities on our schedule.
Employees could provide information and documentation to us without ever stepping into that dreaded, grey conference room.
Now I don’t have to be a referee wearing black, white, and a frown.
I can act as a better coach.
Discovery sessions don’t have to be a wrestling match. No one needs to get hurt and our teams can move faster—to the more fun part.
Our system is allowing us to get out of the conference room for weeks and step into the innovation in hours.
Lets get out of the fight and into the fix.
Want to schedule a demo to see how Coco could help your team? Try for free here.
If you’re interested in process improvement and innovation, then good news!
We’re partnering with ICMA to help city and county managers across the world with our ICMA Innovation Bootcamp – sign up now before spots run out!
P.S. Wondering who Coco is?
Coco is an automated phone agent who can interview multiple people simultaneously about their unique experiences with the same service, capturing their real experiences with your services.
It’s the heart of my new company, rvrwrk (River Work), which I launched with Mike Sarasti in July 2024.
We’re the first of our kind: a technology-enabled service that helps you uncover the root causes of your process problems in minutes, not weeks. Click here to learn more.
P.P.S. September 2025 soundtrack, courtesy of Kora,