Helping Veterans Come Home: How Grove Templates are Assisting Military Career Coaches
Military members are coming home to the U.S. in growing numbers. Drawdowns in overseas operations, and new budget realities at the Department of Defense (DOD), have accelerated the move back to civilian life for many military members and families. For some, this situation has interrupted long-term career plans. For most, the transition comes at a time of economic uncertainty and job search challenges.
As they head home, military members and families can draw on help from the Transition Assistance Program (TAP) co-sponsored by the DOD, the Department of Labor (DOL), and the Veterans Administration. TAP includes face-to-face job search training, online information, and individual coaching. In our Aligned for Results workshops with military support staff, we’ve been impressed by these resources. And we’ve often wondered how The Grove’s visual tools could further improve their intended results.
The Team Performance Model and Person-Centered Planning
The Challenge
The Institute on Disability at the University of New Hampshire is an entity that focuses on support for people with disabilities and their families. Through person-centered planning, the Institute enables individuals to create a plan for their future through a process-oriented approach, and it became evident that a manual for creating these customized plans was an imperative. “Because the purposes for planning are so diverse there’s been a tendency to oversimplify. We needed a tool that would address the dynamic elements of the process,” said Patty Cotton of the Institute.
The Process
Patty Cotton attended several Grove graphic facilitation workshops and was intrigued by the visual nature of the Group Graphics® Keyboard. When she subsequently encountered the Drexler/Sibbet Team Performance Model® (TPM), Patty immediately started using it in her work with person-centered planning.
“Person-centered planning uses a collection of visual tools. However, there is no sequencing or order to the process. The TPM provides that order and allows one to assess what tools to use and when to use them,” says Patty. “People are in a situation where they are completely dependent on others to act on their behalf. If you don’t attend to those early stages of trust building, the process can go awry very easily.”
Your Questions Answered About Team Performance Tools
When and Why to Use Certain Team Tools
We receive many questions from customers about the Drexler/Sibbet/Forrester Team PerformanceTM System of products. We thought it would be helpful to compile some frequently asked questions with our best answers.
Q. I want to introduce the Team Performance System to a group. What products would you recommend?
A. As a facilitator or manager you will need some background on the Drexler/Sibbet Team Performance Model® and best practices that go with it.
Reading Material:
We recommend the Team Leader Guide—Strategies and Practices as the most comprehensive book for this. Another book, Team Startup—Creating Gameplans for Success, is packed with best practices specifically for starting teams. The Model Abstract is a short academic booklet that dissects the Model and its stages.
Presentation Material:
To present the Model we recommend the Model Wall Poster and the Model Overview, which can work as a handout or take-away for team members.
Hands-on Facilitation Tool:
The Team Performance Puzzle is a highly engaging way for teams to work together to quickly understand the Model. The Puzzle stimulates interesting discussions about a group’s experiences while introducing the Model.
Notes from the Creative Leadership Academy
Last week, I was privileged to attend part of the Creative Leadership Academy held at The Boulders in Carefree, Arizona. I listened to inspiring talks by “provocateurs” Chris Waugh (IDEO) and Luke Williams (Frog Design fellow and author of Disrupt), and I participated in the workshop Cultivating a Kaleidoscope Mind, presented by Laura Seargeant Richardson and Ben McAllister of Frog Design. I also delivered the closing workshop, Visual Meetings and Teams: The Key to Practical Application of Creative Leadership.
Case Study: Graphic Recording Movies
Education Elements is a company that serves K-12 schools seeking to implement blended learning solutions in the classroom. Looking for a way to get across the central concepts about blended learning that would help potential clients understand the approach, Education Elements turned to The Grove for a memorable way to illustrate them. Together, we developed a series of three custom graphic recording movies, each about five minutes long.
Each movie answers a central question: What is blended learning? How is digital content selected? Who is Education Elements, and what do they do? The visuals that accompany the narrative help convey the main points in an engaging way, giving administrators, parents, and other stakeholders a better idea of how Education Elements can help their schools.