Engaging Teams Through Hotspot Analysis: A Practical Guide

This article should be read in conjunction with my previous (20) posts. It builds on concepts like measuring daily Employee Experience (EX), setting meta-corporate KPIs for desired EX levels, and working with managers to close gaps. Now, it’s time to focus on engaging the teams themselves.

The Foundation: Building Team Collaboration

Teams, like managers, must learn to collaborate effectively. They need to foster respect, trust, and accountability while recognizing that, much like at home, they operate in environments with limited resources and time. Effectiveness and efficiency are not just managerial responsibilities—they belong to the team as well.

Teams don’t work in isolation. Many challenges stem from systemic issues, including:

• Untrained Leadership (as discussed in my earlier posts).
• Broken Systems: Structural flaws in the company’s architecture, organizational setup, operations, workflows, and policies trickling down from the top.

Helping teams detect and inventory these issues quickly is essential. I use often Hotspot Analysis, a powerful and efficient method to surface and address these cracks in real time.

Hotspot Analysis: A Practical Approach

Hotspot Analysis is a straightforward exercise designed to identify systemic problems as perceived by the team. Here’s how it works:

Step 1: Setting the Stage

• Materials Needed: Three large wall charts (approx. 2m x 3–4m each), yellow sticky notes (20x10 cm), and colored sticky dots.
• Preparation: Draw an X-Y matrix on each chart. One axis represents "who" (e.g., manager, team, HR, sales), and the other axis represents "what" (e.g., systems, workflows, products).

Step 2: Capturing Problems

1. Individual Input: Hand each participant three yellow sticky notes and ask them to privately write down the top three problems they believe need solving today—one problem per note.
2. Confidentiality Assurance: Emphasize that no one will be asked to read their cards aloud.
3. Sorting the Cards:Ask participants to prioritize their notes.Starting with their most important problem, they stand up and attach it to Wall #1 in the appropriate matrix box (e.g., "Provider" and "Product").Repeat for Walls #2 and #3 with the remaining cards.

Note: The slightly crowded setup ensures anonymity for those hesitant to voice concerns about managers or colleagues.

Step 3: Prioritizing Issues

Once all cards are on the walls, hand each participant ten sticky dots. Ask them to read all the cards and use their dots to vote on the issues they find most urgent across all three walls.

Outcome: By the end of this phase, you’ll see clear clusters of priority issues—without having read a single card.

Step 4: Team Problem-Solving

1. Allocate Issues to Tables: During a coffee break, remove the top 5–6 grouped issues (based on clustering and dot counts) and assign one issue to each team table.
2. Solution Work: Teams brainstorm solutions to their assigned issue. You can support them with simple tools like SWOT analysis or structured roles.
3. Rotation for Peer Review: After 30–45 minutes:T eams pass their work to the table on their left. Each table reviews the received work, asks clarifying questions, and identifies weaknesses (“holes”) in the proposed solutions.
4. Debate and Refine: Teams present their solutions, and peer tables present their critiques. Facilitate a short group discussion to identify practical follow-ups, escalations, or collaborative solutions.

Step 5: Leadership and Follow-Up

1. Broader Engagement: Commit to addressing all identified issues—not just the prioritized ones.
2. Leadership Visibility: Invite the CEO or a senior manager to join towards the end of the session. Their presence signals commitment and fosters trust.
3. Ongoing Dialogues: Ensure follow-up sessions to update the team on progress and maintain engagement.

Key Takeaways

Hotspot Analysis is not just about identifying cracks—it’s about empowering teams to take ownership of solutions while fostering transparency, collaboration, and accountability. As a manager, your role is to facilitate, guide, and ensure that follow-ups happen.

And if ever in doubt? Just ask the cook. ??

Beyond the Team: Escalating and Expanding Solutions

While the Hotspot Analysis is an excellent tool for surfacing and addressing team-specific issues, some challenges require escalation or collaboration with other teams, departments, or even the entire organization. This is where broader frameworks and tools come into play.

I will share a few as examples: WOL, FS

1. Working Out Loud: Building Transparency and Collaboration

Developed by @John Stepper, Working Out Loud (WOL) is a soft but powerful method for fostering collaboration across teams and departments. It encourages individuals to share progress, challenges, and resources openly in a structured yet informal way.

Why is WOL a Good Idea?

• Breaks Down Silos: Teams and departments often work in isolation. WOL creates a culture of openness, where people can contribute to or learn from others’ work, bridging gaps and sparking innovation. It's specifically useful in legacy companies, while also very challenging unless leadership went through my previously mentioned learnings.
• Empowers Ownership: Employees feel heard and valued when they share their ideas and challenges openly.
• Encourages Proactive Problem-Solving: Instead of waiting for escalations, teams can address potential overlaps or dependencies early.

2. Future Search: Addressing the Whole Elephant

Sometimes, a problem is so interconnected that addressing it piecemeal won’t work. Future Search is an example of a system-wide approach designed for large-scale collaboration.

Why is Future Search a Good Idea?

• Holistic Problem-Solving: It brings all stakeholders—internal and external—into one room to identify shared goals and tackle root causes, in a minimal amount of time (a consecutive afternoon, a full day, and a morning).
• Consensus Building: By engaging everyone from executives to frontline staff, Future Search ensures that solutions have buy-in across all levels.
• Actionable Visioning: The process generates practical, immediate action plans tied to a broader, long-term vision and it doesn't matter how separated initial views are.

3. Specific Tools for Specific Problems

Some issues don’t need a broad collaborative framework but require precise tools tailored to the problem at hand. Here are a few examples you may know or use. All tools are currently under "AI scrutiny" trying to improve them.

For Product Issues

• Design Thinking: A human-centered approach to problem-solving that focuses on understanding user needs and prototyping solutions.
• Root Cause Analysis (RCA): Use tools like fishbone diagrams to identify and address underlying issues.

For Dysfunctional Workflows

• Lean Six Sigma: Streamlines processes by eliminating waste and inefficiencies.
• Process Mapping: Visualize workflows to pinpoint bottlenecks and areas for improvement.

For Asset Management Problems

• Total Productive Maintenance (TPM): Aims to improve equipment reliability and availability.
• CMMS Software: Utilize computerized maintenance management systems to track and optimize asset performance.

For Housekeeping or Operational Gaps

• 5S Framework: Organizes and standardizes the workplace for efficiency and safety.
• Kaizen: Promotes continuous, incremental improvements in daily operations.

4. The Role of Agile: A Tool, Not a Solution

I started my string of 20 posts burying Agile, which received 8.3 M views. After I went towards solutions which ultimately received 1500 views. Feel free to discuss why that is the case.

In any case, about Agile, it's worth reiterating: Agile is not a one-size-fits-all framework, but it’s incredibly effective when applied to the right problems. Agile thrives in environments where adaptability, collaboration, and iterative progress are crucial, such as:

• Software Development: Agile’s sprint-based approach is perfect for iterative design and testing.
• Cross-Functional Projects: Encourages teamwork and rapid adjustments across diverse roles.
• Continuous Improvement: Frameworks like Scrum or Kanban can help maintain focus on small, manageable improvements.

When Agile Isn’t the Answer

Agile can become (very) counterproductive if applied to problems requiring fixed, linear solutions or those dependent on systemic changes. For example, redesigning company architecture or fixing asset management systems often demands a more structured approach.

Closing Thoughts

As you move from team-specific solutions to organizational-wide challenges, the key is choosing the right tool for the job. Soft frameworks like Working Out Loud foster transparency and collaboration, while system-wide approaches like Future Search address complex, interconnected issues. Agile remains a valuable tool for iterative problem-solving, but it works best in tandem with broader methodologies and we will see how AI changes the game.

Remember, effective leaders understand that it's about people-processes-tools. Not the other way around. And for the 8.298.500 people who only viewed one of my posts, the below picture resumes what's in the other 19 posts. It's a practical 100-workflow that places people upfront and works in 100-day cycles, connecting the client experience with the employee experience.

For consultants: It's for free. Try it and you can step away from being a tool seller and become a respected advisor and facilitator, able to help managers solve their problems.

For company managers: stop buying tools from tool sellers (even if they are Big 4), or "graduates" in some tools, and engage with local facilitators and advisors who can help you first!

For the 1.500 viewers who saw all my last 20 posts: Thank you for hanging in there and Congrats all. You showed interest, curiosity, energy, and resilience to follow this "outside the box" thinking and get to this point. Good for you as I am sure you will make good use of it.