As you begin to implement Cloverleaf into your organization, there is a wide variety of ways to embed the dynamic Cloverleaf assessment data into regular practices as well as team meetings and workshops.
This article will explore several ideas that facilitators, leaders and learning professionals can leverage to help maximize the potential of Cloverleaf within the teams you serve.
Assessments Reimagined
While supporting individuals and teams to utilize the power of Cloverleaf, it’s important to understand the broader context of how Cloverleaf is different from stand alone assessments.
Do you or the people that you work with need to be experts in each and every assessment? The answer is: NO.
While it is helpful to understand the core context and purpose of each assessment, what makes Cloverleaf different is the aggregation of the assessment data that makes the coaching insights personal.
Rather than relate to someone as the “profile of a person who is a high D in DISC,” by combining data from multiple assessments, Cloverleaf makes the data personal and actionable.
Managing Power Dynamics
You are getting ready to debrief a team on their team dashboard, and you’ve got a mixture of roles and leadership levels within the team. You want to debrief the team using honesty and transparency but you also don’t want to undermine the leader or catch them off guard in the middle of a team session or meeting.
Practical Strategies
Debrief assessment results with those in leadership roles prior to the team session or meeting.
This can be an informal or formal coaching session.
Spend time analyzing the leader’s results and come to the meeting with some observed strengths and opportunities for growth.
Develop several coaching questions to support the leader in understanding their results. Here are a few examples:
Which if your coaching insights under the leadership or conflict triggers sections were you most surprised by?
Are there any current strengths that are laying dormant right now that your team may benefit from?
What are areas for growth or change that you see for yourself and would you be willing to share those with the team?
While this takes a brave and transformative leader, this type of humility and humanity from a leaders can dramatically build and deepen trust within in teams,
To help the leader be prepared for the larger team session, debrief the team dashboard with the leader prior to the team session or meeting.
Share honestly about the dynamics you see and highlight strengths and opportunities for growth.
Ask the leader how they see some of the team dynamics or trends you’ve identified in action from the team currently?
Have the leader articulate what they would like the team to walk away with after the team session.
Do they want team members to set individual or team goals?
How can they incorporate Cloverleaf coaching insights into their 1-1 meetings?
You may want to walk them through Cloverleaf Hot-Seat and propose that this exercise be done within the upcoming team session or meeting.
Creative Cloverleaf Facilitation Exercises
Any practice or exercise that can help individuals and teams leverage the Cloverleaf data in a more meaningful way is a win for everyone. Below are a few practical strategies to enhance Cloverleaf interactions.
Agreed-to Team Norms
Before you dive into a debrief of a team dashboard or any interaction with the team dashboard, facilitate a 10-15 minute conversation on agreed to team norms.
This is a simple but brief exercise where you pose the question: “What do we all agree to when it comes to sharing and discussing these results?”
Start with a brainstorm, and then encourage the team to agree to 3-4 team norms. Below are some examples:
We agree to be open about discussing our results and hold each other accountable to leveraging our strengths.
We agree to being open and willing to discuss our individual and team opportunities for growth.
We agree to use Cloverleaf insights to support us in times of conflict or team tension.
We agree to take time to deepen our understanding of new or existing team members through Cloverleaf to help build trust and team cohesion.
Missed Opportunity Identification Exercise
Prior to an individual or team debrief of Cloverleaf assessment results, ask each individual to view their coaching insights and identify one area of development that was a missed opportunity for them.
Ask them to identify one action they could take or practice they could adopt that would help increase self-awareness around this missed opportunity. Integrate volunteers sharing this information after debriefing a ME or TEAM dashboard.
Mixed Assessment Breakout Exercises
If you have an elongated period of time to work with a team, consider leveraging team data to create mixed breakout groups based on certain assessment results. You can use these groups for brainstorming ideas, solving problems or discussing topics. Below is an example of this using DISC.
15-20 Minute DISC Breakouts
Prior to the session, designate small groups of "mixed" Groups of approximately 4 individuals. As much as possible balance them with individuals who have different DISC types as their highest DISC score.
Customize relevant team challenges that require a solution. Each small group will then go to work at brainstorming solutions to the challenge in the form of a best practice. Below are several examples:
TASK: Brainstorm one best practice to help advance each challenge toward solution, be prepared to share. (You can customize this section and pick any three areas and questions for each group to focus on - these are SAMPLES)
Group 1: Accountability: How do we hold each other accountable to our clients? How do we meet client driven deliverables with the same tenacity as our internal metrics/accountabilities?
Group 2: Conflict: How do we effectively handle difficult conversations and disagreements?
Group 3: Communication: How do we understand the needs of the market and clients? Do we make space to ensure multiple voices and perspectives are heard and considered to ensure client satisfaction?
15 Minute Debrief From Breakouts
Explore best practices and next steps:
From the group discussions, guide representatives from each group to share the best practice their group came up with.
Facilitate a larger group discussion about the viability of each practice.
Where a practice resonates, support the team in creating a tangible short-term goal that can help establish the best practice amongst the team.
Create accountability around that goal. This could be in the form of appointing someone on the team to report back at a future meeting or checking in with the team around progress at a later date.
Supporting Ongoing Integration of Cloverleaf Insights
Model Cloverleaf Hot Seat as described in the Hot Seat Guide.
With the team, identify how an exercise like this can be integrated into a standing meeting or event to end or close the events.
Once Cloverleaf Hot Seat has become more of a practice for 3-6 months, get feedback from the team on the impact of informal recognition.
Preparing for Performance Conversations
Encourage leaders to review key coaching insights about direct reports prior to performance evaluations or conversations.
THE WHY: Performance evaluations and conversations are often impacted by the recency effect: the tendency for leaders to only recall the most recent results and circumstances when evaluating performance.
For example, a direct report may recently have experienced a setback personally or professionally, but for several months prior was exceeding expectations. By reviewing the insights and looking at the individual's broader strengths, leaders can be reminded to take a wider perspective at an individual's performance over time.
Similarly, if self-evaluation is part of the performance process, the direct report can also consider a wider scope of their achievements and performance by being reminded of strengths highlighted in the coaching insights.