Joran Oppelt

Senior Consultant, The Grove

Asheville, NC

Joran Oppelt has over a decade of experience in visual consulting, graphic facilitation, and executive coaching. He has helped shape strategy with clients in the fields of technology, sport, healthcare, and finance with a passion for leadership development and team alignment. With certifications in coaching, storytelling, design thinking and virtual facilitation, Joran holds a deep belief in the power of human potential and in art-making as a tool for healing and community building. Joran uses a strengths-based/Positive Psychology approach when coaching leaders and sees teams and organizations through a developmental lens. He enjoys creating safe spaces for groups to play with rigorous frameworks. These have included The Grove’s Team Performance and Strategic Visioning models, innovation/design thinking, OKRs, Integral Theory, Gamestorming, Storybrand, and more. Joran is the author of Facilitation: A Human-Centered Guide to the Art of Collaboration; Visionary Leadership; and The Visual Meetings Field Guide.

Joran Oppelt has over a decade of experience in visual consulting, graphic facilitation, and executive coaching. He has helped shape strategy with clients in the fields of technology, sport, healthcare, and finance with a passion for leadership development and team alignment. With certifications in coaching, storytelling, design thinking and virtual facilitation, Joran holds a deep belief in the power of human potential and in art-making as a tool for healing and community building. Joran uses a strengths-based/Positive Psychology approach when coaching leaders and sees teams and organizations through a developmental lens. He enjoys creating safe spaces for groups to play with rigorous frameworks. These have included The Grove’s Team Performance and Strategic Visioning models, innovation/design thinking, OKRs, Integral Theory, Gamestorming, Storybrand, and more. Joran is the author of Facilitation: A Human-Centered Guide to the Art of Collaboration; Visionary Leadership; and The Visual Meetings Field Guide.

linkedin.com/in/joran-oppelt

youtube.com/@joranslane

Languages

English

Topics

communication psychological safety team effectiveness trust

Methods in the SessionLab library

Elephants, Dead Fish, and Vomit

psychological safety team effectiveness trust communication

Frame: Famously utilized by AirB&B to get at the heart of some of their culture issues. The idea is that there are three things that move the needle on psychological safety and team effectiveness:
- Elephants - The "elephants in the room" or things people are avoiding and not talking about. These tend to create a sense of ambiguity and helplessness. Elephants must die.
- Dead Fish - These are the "old tapes" that people refuse to let go of. They've been around so long that they're beginning to stink up the place. These tend to sour people on each other by undermining trust and creating fictions. Dead Fish must disappear.
- Vomit - This is our ability to speak freely, directly, and openly with another person without fear of reprisal. If we're not listened to in this way, it can build up over time and bad things can happen. Vomit has to happen.
Outcomes: Creates more honesty and psychological safety; Surfaces crucial issues on the team
Demo: Leader shares an example of an old tape or story they've been carrying around and are ready to let go of
Process/Steps:

Facilitator introduces the framework by drawing three columns on a flipchart (or a flipchart for each)
Facilitator asks the group for an example of either an Elephant or a Dead Fish
Team members affirm, clarify, or provide additional context
Group decides how to appropriately address or let go of the issue (usually by naming some hard, next steps)
Facilitator captures on flipchart
Group is invited to add to the flipcharts over the course of the day
Facilitator reviews additions at the end of the day

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