Initiate cross-team collaboration with TRIZ

Somehow cross-team cooperation has become my professional topic for 2019. On the one hand, this topic was and is the core of my daily work with my current teams. On the other hand, I received further internal and external requests to design and moderate retrospectives or workshops on this very topic. This gave me the opportunity to test my 90-minute format on the topic of cross-team collaboration in different contexts and with a wide variety of people.

Immerse into the topic

Especially for people who have not yet come into contact with Liberating Structures (especially 1-2-4-All), it has proven to be beneficial to me to start with another Structure or alternative exercise before carrying out TRIZ to get closer to the topic mentally. Impromptu Networking or the two Liberating Structures in Development 10×10 Writing or Spiral Journal are suitable for this. Together with the fitting input questions, of course. Personally, I prefer Spiral Journal, because by drawing the spiral at the beginning, the participants can calm down and focus. Afterwards, four given initial sentences are to be completed as often as possible in one minute each, thus automatically sorting thoughts and ideas on the topic. The results can later be used to contribute in the first two cycles of TRIZ.

Discover and stop undesirable behaviour with TRIZ

The core idea of TRIZ is to discover and stop counterproductive behaviour. This happens in three cycles with 1-2-4-All:

1. What can we do to make cross-team collaboration fail?
2. What are we currently doing that in some way corresponds to one of the collected aspects?
3. What can we do to stop any of the activities we have just collected?

The result is a list of opportunities to stop counterproductive behaviour and first steps on the way.

Activate intrinsic motivation with 15% Solutions

After ideas have been collected with TRIZ to stop counterproductive behavior, the intrinsic motivation of each individual can be addressed by using 15% Solutions with the questions “What is your 15%? Where do you have the freedom to act at your own discretion? What can you do without having to ask for additional resources or permission?”

Each participant works out a list of their own 15% solutions. Afterwards the individual ideas are presented in small groups and refined by questions and advice from the group.

15% Solutions enables everyone to leave the workshop with an idea and the motivation for change through their own efforts.

Conclusion

It is amazing how happy and motivated people go back to work after the event. In combination, TRIZ and 15% Solutions cause a change in the way people perceive their own behavior and the awareness that they as individuals can change some of the things in a complex world of work. The context is irrelevant. The effect is the same whether two (or more) development teams, management teams or other groups in a company want to work more efficiently and more closely together.