For what?
The "tetralemma" tool (Sparrer/Varga von Kibéd 2000) helps us to get out of a dilemma by bringing other possible courses of action into the field. The tool simply brings more color into a black and white world. The scope for decision-making and action is expanded. The tool can be used both individually and in teams. In our case - located in the second quadrant - it serves to gain new perspectives.
The tetralemma helps us to leave the purely rational level and opens up our intuitive intelligence by exploring alternative positions.
- Recognizing thoughts, feelings and your own attitude
- Developing your own thoughts, feelings and attitude
- Gaining new perspectives, achieving clarity about personal needs
- Dissolving blockages and breaking through patterns
Example
The tetralemma is particularly suitable in situations that require decisions that are seemingly irreconcilable - in other words, when you encounter dilemmas and paradoxes. In our VUCA world, situations increasingly arise that require deep reflection and subsequent creative, innovative action.
Dimension A of VUCA (ambiguity) in particular requires maximum mental flexibility and agility in action. The awareness that our own reality is only our own and that everything could be completely different increases when we succeed in adopting new perspectives and considering new options for action.
For what?
Regardless of the color or development stage in which your organization communicates: Objectives and strategies are required to focus on activities that are currently important and, ultimately, to make success measurable. Objectives & Key Results (OKRs) are the Swiss army knife when it comes to setting priorities and implementing them effectively in any environment - large or small company, start-up or traditional family business, public authority or NGO. OKRs were originally introduced by Andrew Grove at Intel and are still an essential management tool at companies such as Google (Doerr 2018). The two essential elements are Objectives - more precisely, three to a maximum of five goals that describe how an organization will contribute to achieving its purpose in the coming quarter, each underpinned by three key results - i.e. key results that underpin the respective goal with concrete and measurable actions.
Example
The communications department of an international company is faced with the task of implementing a series of customer events around the globe with existing resources and coupled with ongoing social media reporting with existing resources. The team has never before tackled a task of comparable size and complexity. In this respect, several challenges need to be solved at the same time: How can we focus on the "right things" in order to achieve the goal in the long term? How can we work together across teams to make the best possible use of scarce resources? How can we ensure that we don't lose sight of the company's overarching goal? And how can we keep the management informed at all times and complete the project properly? An OKR process over several quarters helps the team to develop the project - something new for which it cannot draw on references or best practices - and implement it with measurable success.
What matters
Google (2021) describes the core factors of OKRs as follows:
- Goals are formulated ambitiously and extend beyond the comfort zone.
- Key results are measurable and should be easy to rate with a number (Google uses a scale from 0 to 1.0).
- OKRs are transparent at all times so that everyone in the organization can see what others are working on.
- The "sweet spot" for an OKR assessment is around 70 percent - a higher target achievement indicates that the OKRs were not thought of big enough.
- OKRs are therefore not suitable as a modern form of target agreement in the sense of an HR measure.
- OKRs are not a "joint to-do list" - but aggregated and concrete priorities that provide a clear direction.
In our consulting practice, we establish a close link between objectives and the purpose of the organization or team by always aligning the objectives with the contribution and impact of the organization. This makes OKRs a very down-to-earth method for operationalizing the purpose and making it relevant in day-to-day business.
Step by step
Establish the OKR Retreat as a quarterly routine and appoint an OKR Master to prepare and moderate the OKR process.
OKR processes work well via video conference, supported by a virtual whiteboard, for example. OKR meetings are also ideal as offsite meetings - why not follow them up with a walk or other physical activity (see chapter 3)?
- Block out half a day once a quarter for the OKR session for the entire team and gather feedback from the team in advance - for example via tactical meetings (see section 4.12).
- Start by taking a look back at the last OKR quarter and evaluate the current tensions. Enter into a dialog: Which topics are relevant to Purpose and could result in an Objective?
- Collect suggestions for objectives, discuss and prioritize them in subgroups and aggregate a maximum of three to five objectives. This can be done in plenary by awarding points. Formulate the objectives - they should be large and comprehensive and challenge the team.
- Once the objectives have been formulated, visualize them on the whiteboard and go back to the subgroups to define a maximum of three key results per objective.
- The subgroups present their key results, the OKR Master bundles the proposals and moderates the negotiation process: the team agrees on a maximum of three key results per objective. Make sure that the key results are concrete and measurable - and that they are also formulated. Determine which team members will work on which key results - this is also a good opportunity to overcome team and departmental boundaries.
- Make the OKRs accessible to the entire team and ensure relevance in the workflow - for example, by addressing metrics of key results in regular tactical meetings.
- Conclude each OKR cycle with a review meeting in which you involve the management of the next higher organizational unit as well as customers and external partners.
Framework
Duration: Approx. 3 hours in recorded condition
Format: virtual via video conference or in person in a suitable room.
room
Participants: the entire team including the manager
You can find more information on this and other tools for overcoming business challenges with communicative means in the book
