Last week I outlined the steps to create a Virtual Follow Up X-Ray. This week I’ll share how I prepared and facilitated the exercise online in those three, two-hour sessions using Zoom.
I sent out my Booklets well ahead of the first session to make sure people could get them. Remember, at this time, people were working remotely and may not be coming into the office on a regular basis. In my case, I asked the CEO if it was okay to send all of the booklets to the office and offered to mail to individual homes if that was necessary.
For both of my virtual X-Rays, I set up 3, 2-hour sessions. I did the first one on a Friday and the other two on the following Monday and Tuesday. My thinking was to not to let too much time pass between sessions, so we didn’t lose momentum.
Key Point: Make sure you RECORD all of your sessions. The recording allows you to really focus on the facilitation, not taking notes, and allows you to go back and pull out key issues that should be discussed or highlighted during the final session.
Sharing Information Online: Thanks to one of my GCS, I was introduced to Padlet.com. This is a very robust White Board program that allows you to create individual white boards to share online. I used this tool to capture the information from the assessment reports.
TOP 5 INITIATIVES FROM FIRST X-RAY: Because this was a Follow-Up X-Ray, I set up my first Padlet to remind them of the TOP 5 Initiatives the group had been working on since we first met.
TOP STRENGTHS AND CHALLENGES: I created a Padlet to show their TOP STRENGTHS from their first X-Ray, compared to their TOP STRENGTHS from this follow-up X-Ray. Did the same thing with their TOP CHALLENGES.
BUILDER/PROTECTOR REPORTS: One Padlet showed the Ideal B/P for a Stage 5 Company. Then I shared what their B/P score was from their first X-Ray and what it was for this follow-on X-Ray.
The next series of Padlets captured the numerical data from each category from the Builder/Protector Reports. We started with LEADERSHIP. I highlighted Builder Scores on one side of the Padlet and Protector Scores on the other side of the same Padlet. Showed the difference in their Builder Scores from the first X-Ray to this follow-on X-Ray. I broke these scores down by each statement and then we talked about how their scores changed. We are looking for Builder Scores to be Over 70. If their follow-on Builder Scores were all 70 and over, we moved on. However, it one or two of the statements had a score under 70, I highlighted it on the Padlet and we talked about that issue. I did the same with the Protector Scores.
This was the pattern for ALL 6 of the Categories under the Builder/Protector Report.
NON-NEGOTIABLE RULES: I provided an Overview Padlet showing their scores for each stage of growth with a comparison from the first X-Ray to the follow-on X-Ray. Big Picture view.
NON-NEGOTIABLE RULES STAGE 3: This was a Stage 5 company, so we started with Stage 3 NNRs. On this Padlet, I showed them their overall completion percentage from their first X-Ray compared to this follow-on X-Ray. Then I took each Rule under Stage 3, wrote it out and gave them their score comparison between the two X-Rays. Did this for all 5 of the rules under Stage 3. The good news was ALL of their scores improved, substantially.
NON-NEGOTIABLE RULES STAGE 4: Ditto.
NON-NEGOTIABLE RULES STAGE 5: Ditto.
Now I was ready to facilitate the online Virtual X-Ray.
Day One: First Session
Kicked it off with a discussion about their top 5 initiatives. The discussion was a reminder of what work they had completed with what results. This didn’t take long as we had met via a Zoom session two months earlier to go over these in detail.
Jumped into the 27 Strengths and 27 Challenges conversation. The discussion was similar to what I do in a full X-Ray. Did they agree with the results? Why were some of the STRENGTHS different than last time? Why were some of the CHALLENGES different from last time?
Started on the Builder/Protector. We were able to get through 3 of the categories.
Day Two: Second Session
Finalized the Builder/Protector discussion and went through the NNRs.
Day Three: Third and Final Session
My homework after each session was to listen to the recordings and capture those issues that showed up during the discussion. I captured them and assimilated them into 6 categories that I called ‘Areas of Awareness’. Most of these came from the Builder/Protector discussions.
I shared these ‘areas of awareness’ with them, had buy-in on all of them and the agreement was that the company would continue to focus on these 6 areas of awareness.
Follow up with the CEO took place the next week to get his input and go forward plan on how to use those 6 areas of awareness to continue to engage the Leadership Team and the Management Team and to push those areas of awareness into all aspects of the company.
Stay Tuned for my final thoughts on how to Deliver an Online Follow Up X-Ray Next Week!
Your success. My passion.
Laurie Taylor, FlashPoint!
