Moose Crossing

April 12th 2008

Love this survey from Globe and Mail’s profile on Jim Clemmer’s book Moose on the Table:A Novel Approach to Communications at work.

Does your organization silently suffer from lack of candour? Answer true or false to these questions:

    * The real discussions happen privately after our meetings
    * People often appear to agree to a group plan of action and then go off and do their own thing
    * Personal accountability and commitments are often avoided and project deadlines are routinely missed

* A few vocal people dominate conversations and cut off dissenting opinions before they have been fully expressed.
    * Once the team leader gives his or her opinion, everyone else agrees or remains silent.
    * Finding someone to blame for a problem or spending time explaining why it occurred is more common than trying to understand the underlying root cause.
    * Surprises regularly happen as simmering problems erupt into major issues
    * People feel overwhelmed by too many priorities and conflicting messages about what is important
    * We keep adding to our to-do lists and rarely spend time agreeing on what to stop doing.
    * Their’s a fair bit of turf protecting, simmering conflict, and people taking potshots at other departments or groups.
    * A lot of time is wasted discussing unimportant details while bigger priorities and key decissions don’t get enough attention.
    * We rarely debate all sides of important issues and avoid touchy or politically sensitive topics.

Scoring

If all 12 are Untrue: No bull. Congratulations - you don’t seem to have a moose problem. Now survey other members of your team to see if they agree with you.

1-3 True: Moose crossing ahead? There may be a sickly moose lingering in the halls.

4-7 True: Watch your step. Moose are starting to pop up all over the place. If you don’t keep an eye on where you’re going, you may find yourself ankle deep in moose droppings.

8-10 True: Time for action. Your organization is becoming a perfect habitat for moose. If you don’t start hunting them soon, you may find the place overrun.

11 or 12 True: Face the bull. You have moose on the table: It’s courageous conversation time!

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