Chapter 6
Mapping a Minefield
The weekend went by quickly, and too much of it, in Kate's opinion, was spent thinking about work. Kate reflected on the way she had been with the team so far. Seeing lots of room for improvement on her part, she developed a plan to meet with Juan first thing Monday morning prior to the team meeting.
Juan came in early as usual, arriving at 7:30 AM. Awaiting him was an e-mail from Kate asking to meet at 9:00. “This is it,” he thought. “I'm going to be the first head to roll. Son. Of. A. Bitch.”
He spent the next hour backing up his computer, seething with rage. Kate knocked on his door precisely at 9:00.
“Hi, Juan,” she smiled as she entered the room. Seeing the expression on Juan's face, her smile quickly vanished. She didn't know much about auras but she would have sworn his was jaundiced yellow, poisoned by depression and angst. Sitting with his arms crossed, staring at his laptop, he seemed to be in midgrowl as she entered the room.
“Uh-oh,” escaped her lips accidentally.
Juan pretended not to hear. “Hi, Kate,” he said. “What can I do you for this morning?”
“Are you all right? You look like something is really bothering you,” she said.
“Let's not play games, shall we? I know what this is about,” countered Juan.
“What do you mean? I just wanted to talk to you before our team meeting. I need your help with something.”
“You need my help? With what? How to fire me?” he shot back.
“Fire you? Goodness, Juan, is that what you've been thinking? Where did you get that idea?”
“Look. You've made it pretty apparent that we haven't been doing well as a team. You've been lecturing us about how uncreative we are—and me in particular. The data we collected was my responsibility, and although my performance was thorough by my standards, it clearly didn't meet yours. I figured that your request to meet with me this morning was nothing short of a chance for you to have ‘The Talk.’”
“Juan, I am so sorry. I realize the feedback I have given the team has been difficult to take. It's been difficult to deliver as well.”
“If it was, you certainly did not show it.”
“Frankly, I thought it best to just be straight with you,” said Kate. “That's how I would like to hear a difficult message. But if I have come across as singling you out, then I did not do my job well. It was not my intention to put you on the spot.”
Juan was surprised. From the look of concern on her face and the guilt in her eyes, he began to see she was telling the truth. He had attacked her from his assumptions, not from reality. He had just committed unjustifiable verbal manslaughter of his team leader.
“Uh-oh,” he murmured. “What is this about then?”
“I wanted to talk with you about the data. I thought if we worked together prior to our team meeting, we might be able to get some work done and bring it back to the group. I thought it might really save us some time. But maybe I was mistaken. Do you need some time?”
“You wanted to go through the data again?” Juan asked incredulously.
“No, not redo the work. I thought you would be the best person to think about how we might diverge with the data. I want the team to help with the convergent part. With your knowledge of data collection, I thought we could get the work done fairly quickly.”
Juan paused again, still finding his legs in this alternate universe. His subconscious was running along the shaky lines of, “Is there gravity and oxygen here? Do atmospheric conditions support life in the form of Juan Esteban Alvarez?” He finally spoke.
“Like I said on Friday, ‘diverging,’ as you call it, is not one of my greatest strengths. Why would you choose me?”
“Diverging may not be your favorite, but clarifying is clearly a strength. I thought we could combine forces and tackle it together. You see, I'm not much of a clarifier but I actually have a very simple tool that might help us find data we hadn't considered before. I am sure that you're the right person to help if you're willing.”
Juan was intrigued, relieved, and a little embarrassed by his assumption of his own demise at the firm. He thought it best to move on quickly.
“Please forgive me. My assumptions seem to be getting in the way again. I'm willing to give your tool a shot. Besides, we'd finally be getting to work.”
“Before we do, can I ask a favor?” Kate spotted a learning moment. “Instead of leading with an assumption, can you try asking a clarifying question?”
“What do you mean?”
“Instead of getting all worked up that I might fire you, send back an e-mail saying you're just wondering what our meeting would be about. There's no reason to get all worked up. Seek to understand rather than assume you know the answer.”
Juan thought for a moment. “I guess this is the kind of awareness we've been shooting for, huh? OK. I'll try to be more aware of when I am making an assumption and try to ask more questions when I catch myself. Now what about this tool; will we have time to use it now? It's forty-five minutes till the team meeting.”
“Let's see how far we get. Have you ever heard of mind mapping?” asked Kate.
“Sounds familiar.”
“It's a tool for organizing your thoughts while brainstorming. It helps you see the whole picture so you can find new areas to explore and new connections between the parts.”
“And you think we can use it for looking at data? OK. I'm game.”
Kate moved to the whiteboard in Juan's office and wrote “Consolidated” in a circle in the middle. “OK, Juan. Tell me about Consolidated. What do we know about it?”
Kate wrote each of Juan's responses around the circle. Then she asked follow-up questions about each. “What do we know about their market share?” “What do we know about their customers?” “What do we know about their products?” And so on. Soon the board was filled with data and lines connecting information to related information.
After about twenty minutes, Kate paused. “OK, Juan, I've run out of space, so let's step back and look at what we have here. Maybe there are a few areas we'll see that we should explore more deeply.”
They examined the mess of words and patterns that filled the board. One area, labeled “internal structures,” stood out to Kate.
“What if we looked more at how Consolidated is structured toward delivering their products to the customers?” she asked.
“OK. If we do that, I'd also like to get more information about the customers themselves. Who are they really? Are these products really meeting their needs?”
“Good. What else?” Kate asked, holding her own opinions to encourage Juan to present his own.
“I was intrigued when we did the original report with this whole area of the marketplace. I'd like to spend more time looking at Consolidated's competitors. We kind of glossed over potential alliances for Consolidated. Depending on the need and the product, there may be room for growth there.”
“Great. Let's do that,” said Kate with excitement. She could see the process was charging Juan up as well.
Juan put some flip chart paper next to the whiteboard and they dug deeper into areas they found most compelling. Kate wrote “marketplace” on one page. They identified competitors and products. She then wrote “customers” on the other page. They thought about all aspects of the customer, from demographics and income levels to desires and dreams.
After about fifteen more minutes they stepped back again. Some of the customer thoughts matched easily with some of the marketplace thoughts. Some matched with Consolidated's competitors.
“This is great,” Juan said. “You can really see where Consolidated stands.”
“I think the team is going to love this. There are so many areas to explore.”
“Yes. Much more than before,” Juan agreed, “but it's still incomplete. Can I have some more time here to play with the map? I think I can add more to this.”
“I'm afraid we're going to have to live with incomplete for now,” said Kate. “Let's take it to the group and see their reaction. They'll want to add to it. And we'll get their thinking about the best opportunities on this map.”
“It's just about time for the meeting. Shall I copy all this down so the team can take a look at it?”
“You know what, Juan? Let's just bring the team in here. They can all fit, don't you think?”