Personal Maps: “We are or we seem”
One of the most important challenges in team building is to really know the person. Unfortunately, we get carried away by the prejudices, interpretations and perceptions of our frame of reference that lead us to label a person. Even, the same people are represented with a letter of introduction that in some cases is far from the real person. This situation leads to a certain distrust of teamwork, and even when we try to integrate this person into the workplace with the biases we have, we do it in the wrong way.
This situation is aggravated when we have to carry out the whole process of integrating the teams remotely. What can we do to reduce or eliminate this mistrust that limits team integration?
In a training I did in Management 3.0 created by Jurgen Appelo, facilitated by Dario Bello and Guillermo Lechuga, I had the opportunity to work with a technique called Personal Mapping. See official site: https://management30.com/practice/personal-maps/ I initially used it as an apprentice, and almost immediately put it into practice at the request of a financial institution with a strong market presence, which was founded more than 80 years ago and hired me as a consultant to work on changing the organizational culture (from traditional to agile).
In that scenario, I had to work with 6 people who were part of a work team (software development). Among them, there was a person who had been working in the company for 20 years, another 5 years, the one who had less years in the company of that group, already had 3 years of working there. This team had already worked together in several opportunities, so they already “knew” each other.
As I did not know them, I decided to apply the dynamic “Personal Map” to get to know them much better. Before starting the activity, the company had provided me with the resumes of these people and told me the performance of each of them.
Having a full knowledge of the people who work in the company and as a team is fundamental for an excellent performance in each project assigned to them.
It is of vital importance to know what they are like, what they want, what they aspire to, but also what their hobbies are, their tastes, their personal and family situations. Relying on prejudices or even on information that may have been given to us by another colleague (or even by Human Resources) may lead us to portray them as what they are not.
Below, you can watch a video showing an experiment in which six photographers are asked to photograph the same person. Each photographer was given different information about the same individual: that he is a fisherman, a millionaire, an ex-convict, etc. I recommend that you see it, the results are fantastic.
When we do not know the team (each of its members), we can assign them to do things in which they do not give their maximum potential. For example:
Put them as partners of an incompatible person.
- Assign them to activities in which they feel unmotivated.
- Place them in work areas that do not align with their tastes.
- Put them as partners of an incompatible person.
Among many other variables that can be given.
However, beyond the professional skills required for the job, we must be aware that we are working with a person who has their tastes, needs and family. In addition, most of the time is spent at work.
On many occasions, we work with a person but we do not know them. This situation was just what happened to me working with the group assigned to me by the company. “They work together but don’t know each other.
Developing knowledge and interest in each other is important for creating empathy and cooperation. To do this, I worked with the Personal Map, and here are the steps I took:
- I told the 6 participants of this activity the purpose of the activity and the concept of the personal map, in addition I commented to them that for it we would need to work with two applications: www.zoom.com (video calls) and www.miro.com (interactive boards to work in team at the same time).
- On the www.miro.com board, a template of the personal map is created with the different categories that will be worked on in the dynamics. As I am the facilitator, I send you the invitation so you can access it.
3. When I call the meeting of the dynamic, I invite them to www.zoom.com and ask them to enter the board www.miro.com at the beginning of the meeting, as they have already been invited. (As I am the administrator of the process, I share the screen of my PC, so that everyone can observe the movements that are made on the board).
4. The dynamics of the exercise are explained. They are told that they have the possibility of adding or removing categories.
5. To generate confidence in the team, I started to develop my personal map with the different pre-established categories: Family, Home, Education, Work, Goals, Hobbies, Friends, Values. (Randomly).
6. Each person is requested to make their personal map independently.
7. As everyone has their personal map, they are asked to look at their peers’ maps and answer the following questions: Do you have any affinity with any category? What surprised you? What can you do differently?
8. The meeting of the dynamics is closed by giving feedback.
In the process, the following could be observed:
Although they had years of working together, they were unaware of many details in which they had affinity. For example: Friends of the University in common, although they did not study together, nor did they know each other at that time.
The degree of surprise they showed for the training in different areas of their colleagues, which they did not apply in the work. One is part of a rock group and another of the participants is a Japanese specialty chef.
They knew intimate details of the person and reacted with empathy. One of the participants was going through a difficult situation with a family member who has cancer and another his mother has Alzheimer’s.
A team sharing activity was generated with a related category, it was climbing a mountain on the weekend.
The privacy of those who did not want to express themselves was kept, which gave a significant value of respect to the process. (This was indicated by the participants).
In conclusion, the personal map is a powerful technique that facilitates the integration of teams. It allows you to tell your own story clearly and extensively. It is flexible and allows you to adapt it to the collective interests. By working in a team that is transparent, trust, empathy and commitment are generated.
As a facilitator I learned the power of transparency. In the process of the dynamic many were unaware of the personal situation of a colleague with his sick mother and apologized for some days that the person did not perform as expected and called his attention. (Now, the reason is known). I also learned the necessary respect in this dynamic, so that people did not feel invaded and that they completed the categories that they wanted.
The team learned that working together is not necessarily about getting to know each other. And the importance of knowing the other generates greater trust, cooperation and empathy.
My next experiment with this personal mapping tool is to leave the channel of creativity open and let the team define what the personal map will look like with drawings? with a Storytelling style presentation?
As a facilitator of the dynamics, I would keep the explanation of the process and the invitation to permanent trust.
One of the immediate results obtained with the use of this tool was the empathy demonstrated in the cases of people who had relatives with illnesses.
The team was more integrated and motivated to continue growing together in the organization. Greater trust was generated among them.
Finally…
Friend reader, if you did not know this tool that allows you to know in an authentic way your work team. I advise you to prepare yourself to obtain the necessary skills to carry it out, the results will be extraordinary in your management.
I invite you to take this practical tool of the personal map to your organization, with which you can increase confidence among team members and their collaboration.
I hope that the time spent reading this article was satisfactory for you. I would like to know your appreciation of the topic and what actions you will take when you learn about the impact of this tool. See you soon.
