Stage 2 of 6
0 done
Stage two
The room maps its loops
Half-day workshop
Every visible behavior goes on the wall: coaching, directing, taking over, pulling away. Then the team looks at what it has been teaching people to do next.
We put the four visible behaviors on the wall and the team stands under theirs. That is usually the first honest silence of the day.
Then we stop talking about people and start talking about patterns. If half your leaders take over when things get hard, your team is not lazy. It is trained.
We trace the loop out loud: the cue, the reaction, and what the team learns to do next time. Nobody gets blamed. The loop gets named.
Run it: step by step
0 of 5 checked
1. Four corners
15 min
- · Tape one visible behavior to each wall: Coaching. Directing. Taking over. Pulling away.
- · Your corner is the wall for your visible behavior from the quiz. Standing under it is the whole point.
- · Everyone stands under theirs. No talking for the first thirty seconds. Just look around.
- · Ask the smallest group what it is like to be the only one over there. Ask the biggest group what that pile means for the people who report to them.
Say it like this
“Nobody is in the wrong corner. You are standing under what your people already see. The only new information here is how many of you are standing together.”
2. Read your four sentences
30 min
- · In pairs from different corners, each person reads the moment they wrote in stage one.
- · The listener does not advise. The listener asks one question: what did your team do the next time that came up?
- · Swap. Eight minutes each, then back to the room.
3. Trace one loop on the wall
30 min
- · Pick one volunteer story. Draw four boxes across a whiteboard: Cue. Reaction. Their payoff. What the team learns.
- · Fill it in with the room's help, using the volunteer's words, not yours.
- · Leave it up all day. Every other conversation points back at it.
Say it like this
“We are not fixing this person. We are looking at a loop that most of this room is running with different props.”
4. Build the room's map
45 min
- · Each leader draws their own four-box loop on a sheet. Fifteen minutes, silent.
- · Post them on one wall, unsigned. Walk the wall as a group.
- · Circle the cues that repeat. Those repeats are not personality. That is your operating environment.
5. Name what the room has been teaching
20 min
- · As a group, finish this sentence in one line: 'Around here, when something gets hard, people learn to ___.'
- · Argue until you have one sentence, not four.
- · Write it on the wall in marker. That sentence is what stage four is aimed at.
What you need in the room
- · Four wall signs, painter's tape, thick markers
- · One large whiteboard for the traced loop
- · Blank sheets, one per leader, for their own loop
- · The anonymous category tally I took in the room in stage one
Debrief questions
- · Which corner surprised you, yours or someone else's?
- · What cue showed up on more than half the sheets?
- · If your team walked in and read that wall, what would they say is missing?
How this stage gets wrecked
It turns into a roast
Once the room gets comfortable, naming loops turns into naming people. Cut it the first time it happens. The rule is simple: you may describe your own loop and ask questions about anyone else's. You may not diagnose someone out loud.
Before the next stage
Photograph the wall before you leave. Send it to the room within 24 hours with no commentary. Let it sit for a week before stage three.
What each leader does
- · Stand under your visible behavior in front of your peers.
- · Name the cue that sets it off. The moment right before you react.
- · Say the sentence: 'When I do this, my team learns to ___.'
How you know it landed
The team can draw its own loop on a whiteboard without you helping.