Have you heard of a WIFLE ?
IT isn’t a gadget or a product and neither is it something rude. The WIFLE is a powerful business tool to help you build a championship team.
WIFLE = What I Feel Like Expressing
It is often assumed that when employees and colleagues step into work, they leave what is currently going on in their personal life, their emotions, and any issues ‘at home’. However, unless we work with our teams to allow them to express what is currently going on, the more suppressed emotions can become as they get bottled up. This can have a big impact on team performance.
A WIFLE isn’t about solving the problems or issues it is a method used for expressing and releasing emotions, which used on a regular basis will build a championship team, who are functioning and performing above the line.
When should I WIFLE?
Ideally, a WIFLE session with your team should be held on a regular basis. At a minimum, it should be weekly but you may wish to hold them on a daily basis – it depends on your business. It can also work well having one at the start of the week (first thing Monday, including goal setting) and one at the end of the week (to review the week on Friday afternoon).
How do I WIFLE? The rules for a WIFLE are as follows…
- Find space. It is best not to sit at desks but to sit or stand around a room.
- Starting with the person next to you, ask whomever ‘what do you feel like expressing’. This person then has the right to say whatever he or she feels like without interruption, this is most important. If anyone does not feel safe to express whatever he or she feels, you are all wasting your time. Remember to play above the line.
- Once he or she has had a say, this person then asks the next person what they feel like expressing.
- When everyone has had their say (and only when everyone has finished) you may then ask if anyone has any ‘burnings’. This is where a member of the team who feels they have been wrongly treated replies to the other person’s feelings or impression. This is done by either by apologising or explaining what actually happened.
If these sessions are conducted correctly, you will find your team bonds together much more effectively. Your team will relate to each other as humans instead of just someone you work with.
It is important for team members to realise that any complaints are not directed personally, but that they relate and focus on a behaviour. This is essential to enable team members to feel safe in voicing any criticism of you or the system so changes can be made and progress is always happening.
