Provocative Riffs on COOL Conversations

Collaborate — great jazz musicians manage their egos to work together to generate joy for their audiences and their group – they align their talents to contribute to the benefit they have agreed to create – they feed off the talent of each other, appreciating the unique contributions each member of the group can make to the improvements desired.

Key Questions What are your organizational teams doing to manage their egos in their conversations? What barriers do you face in collaborating even better? What can you imagine doing to move through those barriers?

Observe — great jazz musicians listen and watch closely to notice and assess what's going on around them and how they can best add value to the performance – they hone their ears and eyes to pick up signals from their colleagues that will help them align their input.

Key Questions What are your organizational teams doing that enables them to listen and watch each other in their conversations? What barriers do you face in observing even better? What can you imagine doing to move through those barriers?

Originate — great jazz musicians innovate and improvise to experiment with different ways of playing the melody, harmonies, and rhythms of the piece chosen – they tolerate, even welcome, mistakes as opportunities to learn surprising new ways to seeing and doing things – they have learned to adjust and adapt to disruptive happenings.

Key Questions What are your organizational teams doing to innovate and/or adjust in their conversations? What barriers do you face in originating even better? What can you imagine doing to move through those barriers?

Lead — great jazz musicians step forward to take the lead, then step back to provide support as the performance progresses – they model cooperation, inspire shared enthusiasm, challenge old ways, enable others to play, and encourage their souls – they delight in playing their best, then playing above that.

Key Questions What are your organizational teams doing to create the space for everyone to offer this kind of leadership? What barriers do you face in letting people lead better? What can you imagine doing to move through those barriers?