Close the Interaction Gap

Effectiveness in today’s workplace relies on how well people can pool their talents, resources, and knowledge to achieve results. It is their daily interactions that determine the ultimate success of a strategy or how well it is executed. Data from the authors demonstrate there is a big gap between what people and groups actually achieve and what they could achieve if they could interact more effectively. This book discusses how to close these interaction gaps. Unfortunately, most interventions aimed at improving teamwork or collaboration have a superficial impact at best. In this book, Max Isaac and Anton McBurnie explain the four fatal flaws that doom such efforts, including the failure to account for the emotional component of interaction and the over-reliance on classroom training to solve real world problems. A longer-lasting solution is based on an integration of what the authors label as fun, mundane, and tricky approaches. The fun work allows people and groups to understand what strengths they have to work with and what weaknesses they have to manage (not overcome). The mundane work helps them eliminate the enormous waste associated with poor meetings and misunderstandings. The tricky approaches teach them how to benefit from differences rather than get sidetracked into unproductive conflict. Learning to close interaction gaps is like greasing the cogs in a gear: it makes the whole assembly run smoothly. You’ll see improvements in everything from communication and decisions to alignment and group dynamics.

Table of Contents

Part 1 Understanding the Impact of Interaction Gaps
Chapter 1 Closing Performance Gaps With Improved Interaction
Chapter 2 Recognizing Interaction Gaps
Chapter 3 Closing the Gaps

Part 2 Components of Success
Chapter 4 Fun 1 – Finding the Ferraris
Chapter 5 Mundane 1– Conquering the Meeting Beast
Chapter 6 Mundane 2 – Walking the Talk on Alignment
Chapter 7 Tricky 1 – Developing a Feedback Habit
Chapter 8 Tricky 2 – Constructive Use of Conflict

Part 3 Playing Three-Dimensional Chess
Chapter 9 Improving a Leader’s “IQ” (Interaction Quotient)
Chapter 10 Start with the Home Team
Chapter 11 Three Deployment Options