Look for the Bare Necessities in Life

Imagine a committee once brimming with collective enthusiasm and collaborative spirit now teetering on the edge of dysfunction. The members’ trust in each other has eroded due to poor communication and a web of inaccurate assumptions and perceptions. This decline in cohesion is reminiscent of the unsettling tune sung by Kaa the snake in The Jungle Book— “Trust in Me.” Just as Kaa's hypnotic song masks a darker agenda, misunderstandings and miscommunications have clouded the committee's ability to work harmoniously.

However, there is hope for revitalizing trust and collaboration. The solution lies in embracing positive framing and asking generative questions to spark conversations that everyone is eager to engage in. Drawing inspiration from another classic tune, “The Bare Necessities of Life,” the committee can forget about their worries and strife by creating a positive frame that will help them unite and become a future-focused team.

Positive Frame

Name it: Our group has lost trust in each other.

Flip it: Our group trusts each other.

Frame it: A future-focused committee, communicating effectively, and growing as individuals and as a team.

Other Positive Frames

• A harmonious group that is focused on a higher purpose.
• A group that looks to the future and can let go of its past.
• A team that communicates with a desire to understand others.
• New ideas spring up and are implemented well, building a springboard for future success.

Generative Questions

Once the positive frame was established, the group created generative questions to guide the conversation.

Questions for the Team

• If it’s one and a half years from now and someone is writing an article about the way we’ve worked together over the last 18 months to make a positive impact on ourselves and others, what would we want the headline to say?
• Recall a time when we really enjoyed being together. What made it special? What was happening?
• When was a time that we worked well as a team? What was each team member doing that made the collaboration so effective?
• When describing the successes of your team, what is an event or situation that makes you smile?
• What does it look, feel, and sound like when our team trusts one another?
• What does trust look like for our organization?
• If you wanted to convey trust to another person, what might you say or do?
• What makes you feel heard and that your ideas have been considered? What excites you about what we might do?
• Who else do we need to include in the conversation?
• How do other similar groups interact with each other successfully?

Questions for Ourselves

• What emotions do I experience when working with the group?
• How am I getting in my own way?
  
  

Cool Tip!

When creating a positive frame, ensure it is not just repeating the flip. The flip is the springboard for an inspirational frame. A wonderful way to spring from the flip and into the frame is to ask, “If the positive opposite were true, what would we see?” I’m sure Baloo the bear would agree that this approach truly is one of the bare necessities of life.

Monday Kickstarters

This topic came from our Fall 2024 Monday Kickstarters series, working sessions to figure out how to have a conversation worth having when faced with a tough situation, challenge, or problem with leadership or performance. If you'd like to learn how to have conversations that create meaningful and productive engagement, join us for Monday Kickstarters and find a resource, book, game, or course that works for you. 

Shared by: Sylvette Wake, a certified Conversations Worth Having Trainer