About to take part in a VGW session? This is what happens.

You have heard that an Issue-Focused Working session is coming up, maybe with me as facilitator. This page is for you. No theory, but what you can expect, what I ask of you, and what does not happen.

What happens

In the workbook: How this workbook works, p. 4, and the ground rules, p. 6

The same topic is on the agenda quarter after quarter. There is a meeting, a solution comes, and a few months later it is back. In a VGW session we do it differently: first understand together what is really going on, only then choose. That goes in eight steps, always in the same order. At the end of almost every step, each of you in turn is asked “can you move on with this?”; only then do we continue. An issue often needs more than one session.

  • Step 1, Team Pulse. You first write down for yourself what is going on in your work: problems, opportunities, concerns, challenges. In silence, before anything is shared. Nobody sees your contribution until everyone is done. Everything is kept on the issue list, including what comes up later.
  • Step 2, Issue. The team chooses an issue together and who takes it on. Whoever brings it in explains why it matters and why it matters now. The rest listen, without judgment and without questions yet.
  • Step 3, Picture-forming. You ask each other judgment-free, curious questions. One question at a time. No opinion yet, no solution. This is the step that is skipped most often in ordinary meetings.
  • Step 4, Opinion-forming. Everyone first fills in for themselves what they think: current situation, problem, ideal situation, goal. Then share, without discussion. Everyone carries the same weight, regardless of role or years of service.
  • Steps 5 and 6, Judgment-forming and Decision-making. Together one problem statement, then the solution directions, then the decision.
  • Steps 7 and 8, Action and Team Pitstop. Whoever takes an action owns it and reports back. In the Team Pitstop we look back on result, process, and collaboration. Not on people.

What I ask of you

  • Be curious. Look for what you do not know yet, including with colleagues you think you already know.
  • Ask judgment-free questions and follow up on the answer. No judgment, no solution, no explanation.
  • Bring in what you see. You know something the others do not; the picture is only complete once everyone’s part is on the table.
  • Do not jump ahead to a solution. It will come, but later, and then it will be better.
  • Say so if you cannot move on. Consent is not agreement: you do not have to think it is the best option, and you may have doubts. Only a serious, argued objection holds the team back, and you are allowed to voice it.

What does not happen

  • Nobody is assessed. Not by me, not by your colleagues, and not by Metis if it is there. Patterns are about behavior and about the team, never about who performs well or badly.
  • The loudest voice does not decide the outcome. The structure makes sure everyone gets a turn.
  • I solve nothing for you. I guard the steps and the pace and stay away from the content. The solution belongs to the team.
  • No decisions are taken over your head. A decision only stands once nobody has a serious objection.
  • What you contribute does not get lost. It is in the Current Shared Picture, which the team updates together after every session.

When Metis is there

Sometimes we work with Metis, the AI colleague of Vraagstuk Studio. It is not a chatbot that gives answers. It guards the order, pulls out the statements after a step, and composes the record while we work, so nobody has to write up minutes at home. It takes no decision and judges no one. What you write down is kept word for word; a proposal from Metis sits beside it, never over it. More about Metis.

What you can prepare

Nothing, really. You do not need to know anything beforehand; the session takes you along step by step. If you still want to do something: in the week before, notice what keeps coming back in your work. A complaint, a sigh, an opportunity. That is exactly what belongs on the table in the Team Pulse.

Want to see how the method is put together? The method. Want to experience it yourself first? Do one of the reflection tools, three minutes.

The structure is there not despite the people, but for them.From Stop Solving, the Closing