Fish and Feedback

What a day! Actually, what a couple of days! This week has been held almost entirely in the name of leadership starting with classes on what drives human behaviour and interaction; the conscious versus the unconscious, the rational versus the irrational, group dynamics, authority, projections, etc.

Yesterday, we were all taken to by bus to a spot some 30 minutes from Lausanne, where we spent the whole day outdoors doing different group exercises. Each group had their own coach, who would facilitate the exercises and record everything on video. No formal leadership was appointed in the groups, so it was up to the groups themselves to work these things out. The exercises were designed to bring out the dynamics within the groups and they definitely did. After each exercise was a de-briefing where all members could air their concerns with regards to the way the group handled the given task.

After a long day in the Swiss mountains we returned to the school to watch the videos that had been shot during the day. Scary stuff! It is amazing what it does to watch yourself on video. I think many of us realized last night that we are not quite acting the way we think we are. It is not a very nice feeling, but it is better to know. Then you can at least do something about it.
Watching the videos also gave us the opportunity to get the ‘fish’ on the table. ‘Fish’ is IMD language for the things that we as individuals normally suppress in order to keep up our façade and avoid conflict. Fish that are left under the table starts to stink and can eventually spoil the air in the room to an extent where it is impossible to get any proper work done. It is incredible how much fish that can build up in a little more than a week. It is tough to get it on the table, but it needs to be done. And it was being done, was my impression. When my group went home at 01.30 the light was still on in half of the other rooms in the dungeons.

This morning the focus was on giving feedback between the groups and the afternoon was spent giving one-on-one feedback between the individual group members. The last exercise was the toughest of them all. You basically just sit quiet and still, while your seven team members one-by-one in a direct and very honest way say what they like and don’t like about you. Ouch. It is scary, how precise they are after only a week. It was my impression that everyone went home with something to think about. I am definitely one of them.

As I was preparing what I would should say about my team members, there was one line from the assignment instructions that kept ringing in my head: ‘Remember, feedback says as much about the giver as it does about the receiver’. Ouch again.

Tomorrow is even more feedback. This time in the shape of a personal session with the coach that has been facilitating and observing for the past two days.

Staying so far out of your comfort zone for such an extended period of time just drains your energy at an incredible rate. I think many of us are left with a mixed feeling of relief and emotional exhaustion. I look so much forward to a full night's sleep and a weekend that actually does leave some room for other things than homework.

For the first time since we got here the sun finally broke through the fog covering Lake Geneva and cleared the view to the mountains on the other side. It is incredibly beautiful on a clear day in Lausanne!