Frequently Asked Questions
How Can Human Scaffold Help Me?
By helping you to help yourself.
There is no silver bullet that will fix relationships…
- with co-workers
- with customers, clients or patients
- or with yourself.
We will empower you and your team through learning, internalizing and applying proven, validated concepts.
We do this through a method we have devised, which we call the Human Scaffold Method.
As they say, a picture speaks a thousand words.
Workshops
Many clients prefer to run workshops with their leadership teams or with their full team. We have developed a number of different workshops (see FAQ: “What are some of your workshop topics?”) and we decide with clients what the correct approach will be, based on their needs.
Ongoing Support
Some clients prefer to have Human Scaffold work with their group over a period of time. This approach allows for the ideas and concepts learned in the workshops to be fully implemented in their team. In addition, we are able to work through challenges that arise in ‘real time’.
Online Course
Some clients like to start by working through The Human Scaffold Method in an online course. For many, it’s a challenge to get the entire team together for a workshop. Or they would like to do the workshop in a few months but would like to get right to work on improving connection and communication in their teams. In which case, the online course is a perfect solution.
Ideally, with behavioural assessment(s)… usually with the leadership team. I meet with each person to do a one-hour, one-on-one review.
Why?
#1. It’s a conversation generator. I openly ask each person to challenge the results of the assessment. Why? It’s the gateway to self-awareness.
#2. It introduces a behavioural concept called REPNS. This instantly creates a “common language” for identifying behaviours in ourselves.
#3. It helps clients to instantly begin to understand the behaviours of others.
Do you have to start with an assessment?
Absolutely not. I have simplified the concept from the behavioural assessment so that we can get started with a group right away.
The main thing is to create a “common language” of behaviours. Once that starts to form, it’s a huge step in better understanding one another… and ourselves!
Human Scaffold workshops (both in-person and virtual) are…
TAILORED
- Human Scaffold meets with leadership to create a workshop based on their specific needs. No two Human Scaffold workshops are the same!
FUN
- Each Human Scaffold workshop is personally developed and delivered by Mike Zimic, the Founder of Human Scaffold. Mike was a secondary school teacher for 10 years (taught science & drama) and hits the right balance of science and creativity that makes learning practical concepts easy & fun.
INTERACTIVE
- Prior to each workshop, Human Scaffold provides the concept to be learned via a ‘pre-read video’. Why? This allows participants to internalize their learnings prior to arriving. This means that there is very little didactic presentation as the majority of the time is learning together.
BASED ON RELEVANT SCENARIOS
- Human Scaffold creates relevant scenarios that allow everyone to practise the concept(s) that were learned in the pre-read videos. This means…
- full group discussions
- breakouts
- interactive games
- whiteboard activities
- learning from each other
This is a common question for groups that:
- are working with Human Scaffold for the first time
- haven’t participated in a team workshop before
- would like to ease into self-awareness activities
Human Scaffold will meet with you and provide numerous options of activities and share some examples of what the agenda will look like.
For this particular question, Human Scaffold would ‘pulse’ the agenda. For example:
- start with an ice-breaker *fun*
- fun, interactive review of the concept (e.g. REPNS) *fun, safe learning*
- discuss a relevant scenario and review as a full group (model the desired behaviours) *light lifting*
- take a short bio-break
- fun get-to-know-each-other game *fun*
- group breakout followed-by group discussion *heavier lifting*
- reflection (how will I apply these learnings immediately at work?) *personal accountability*
The idea actually came to me when I was in a car accident, and is best shared in this analogy.
A woman hit me when I was parked at a red light. After the accident, I kept “throwing my neck out”.
The result:
- sometimes I’d be on my back for a week
- other times I could grind it out
I tried three things to improve it…
- #1. MASSAGE – it felt good but no lasting effects
- #2. PHYSIO – helped during the pain, but wasn’t preventative
- #3. YOGA – was transformative!!
I stretched everyday for 10 years, and I don’t have anymore bouts of crippling neck pain.
How does this apply to running workshops?
- #1. MASSAGE – “let’s play some games to get to know each other”
- #2. PHYSIO – “let’s learn a concept that will help you to better understand those you work with”
- #3. YOGA – “learn to apply the concept to everyday interactions… even at home”
Sure, a fun team-building workshop can feel good in the moment, but there HAS to be some physio and yoga elements to it.
Otherwise, you end up in the same spot.
Could your team use some physio or yoga?
At some point, it’s going to be a leap of faith on your part.
There are so many reasons why clients hire Human Scaffold:
- Some members of their team weren’t getting along.
- One group in the medical clinic is not getting along with another.
- The “non-clinical staff” feels like the “clinical staff” gets more attention.
- Some staff don’t know what to do, which gives the impression that they struggle with “critical thinking”.
- Wait times are long and patients are complaining.
- The list goes on.
In the end, sometimes you don’t know what “good” really is, until you have a new benchmark to compare it to.
Some clients would like Human Scaffold to work with their team for an extended period of time, in order to help implement strategies into the daily efforts of their team.
Some ways that Human Scaffold provides “ongoing support” include:
- organizing and liaising monthly leadership team meetings;
- providing monthly workshops for the leadership team;
- designing and implementing quarterly or annual workshops with the full team;
- strategic coaching, discussions and planning with the owner, manager and physician;
- full-time access via text, phone, email and virtual calls with leadership and various team members;
- assistance in overseeing, guiding and implementing project team leads.
Great question, as this is usually an issue that has clients/potential clients reach out to me!
The first step is to get to the root of the problem, which is usually the following:
- difficulty in managing behavioural diversity on your team;
- a disconnect between expectations;
- a lack of clarity in defining core values. or the overall vision of the clinic.
So… what would Human Scaffold recommend?
Step 1 of the Human Scaffold Method!
“Behavioural diversity” is a way to describe different behaviours that exist in any given workplace. One example we’re all familiar with could be introverts and extroverts, but we dig deeper to look at what this actually means in the day-to-day.
For example, if a group of Health Care Professionals (physicians, nurses, etc.) work together in a clinic and they are more analytical, patient, and logical thinkers AND they don’t like confrontation… then other behaviours may start to appear e.g. passive-aggressive or keeping feelings to themselves rather than being more open with their ideas. In this example, having more respectful candor on the team could help efficiency, improve team morale and in the end… provide more benefit to the patient!
Human Scaffold doesn’t view any behavioural type as ‘good’ or ‘bad’. Rather, our focus is to view things as they are and catalyze improvement. We see behavioural diversity as being a good thing and we work with teams to get everyone to see the benefits of what each person brings to the table.