6 Questions That Will Help You and Your Group

March 31, 2009 by Steve Roesler

There are lots of lengthy, "sophisticated", and expensive methods out there to diagnose how a group is doing. Sometimes you may be forced to use them because a boss equates "lengthy" with "important." I've had to use questionnaires with a "numerical read-out" because an engineering group insisted it had nothing to talk about until there were some "real numbers" involved. Fine. Meet people where they are.

How To Take Your Group's Pulse

Here are the six most important questions to get your group all the diagnostic data it needs to find out what it needs to do to bump up it's game:

What are the strengths of our group?

What are our biggest weaknesses?

What should our highest priorities be?

What do we do well?

What do we do poorly?

What barriers do we need to remove to boost our performance when we leave this room?

I've never seen a group not get involved with these six questions. They aren't designed to point fingers at individuals but are really focused on group performance. An honest conversation may lead to some soul-searching and performance discussions afterward, but that's a separate managerial issue. If you haven't tried this simple activity with your group, give it a shot. You don't even have to call a "special meeting"; it can be done over coffee or lunch.

Link to original post

About the Author I'm Steve Roesler, the guy behind the blog. Let me take a moment to give you a glimpse of who I am before telling the business story. I am married to "B" and we live 20 miles from Philadelphia in a tranquil, wooded area surrounded by lakes. (We don't live in the woods because we were asked to leave the city--we just like it here). It's a welcome break from the many days of international and domestic travel that are a part of the consulting business. I incorporated the Organization Effectiveness firm Roesler Group in 1977, specializing in communication training and development with an emphasis on improving systems, relationships, and large-scale change. My deep interest in the global nature of business and business relationships led me to a 2-year assignment with Saudi Arabian Airlines. What that really entailed was spending lengths of time developing up-and-coming managers in Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East. Upon returning to the US I developed a clientele which has included American Express, AstraZeneca, AT&T, Batelle Labs, Computer Sciences Corporation, PECO Energy, Johnson & Johnson, Minerals Technologies, Specialty Minerals Europe and Pfizer, in addition to other for-profit corporations. Relationships within many of those firms have led to other interesting engagements with non-profits as well as church denominations. Clients are located worldwide. In addition to my Roesler Group enterprise, I've worked internally as a Manager of Management Development at Pfizer and as a Regional VP of Sales for a global training company. Prior to that I served as a Drill Instructor in the Army, musician and singer (still going strong--once you start you can't stop), and have been involved in broadcasting for more than 30 years. I'm also a co-author of "The Age of Conversation". Most of my engagements turn into long-time relationships although they start as a single project. These projects have included leading executive and cultural transitions within corporations; creating/leading leadership programs for client companies; preparing managers and executives to deliver presentations; serving as mediator for conflicts between high-level executives within organizations; and creating and leading a CEO selection process for a NYSE company. Steve Roesler Learning also continues to design and conduct organizational and management development programs on-site for clients. I am a graduate of Rowan University with an M.A. in Public Relations/Communications. I've attended various institutes for the study of human behavior, none of which equals a single day's education watching people at an airport check-in line. Over the years I've served on staff at the NTL Institute for the Applied Behavioral Sciences as well as the Wharton Executive Program.