FISH! Quick Guide for leaders that need to see changes

Read this guide before your first FISH! presentation: 

Vital conversations that transforms your business

When presenting The FISH! Philosophy, you are about to open the door to something potentially powerful. Therefore, it is important how you present FISH!

This guide suggests a simple, yet very effective step-by-step method that you can use when inviting to and presenting FISH!

The method involves participants talking about how FISH! can make a positive difference in their job – and inspire them to make this difference.

Whether you are a seasoned facilitator or you have never facilitated before, this guide contains suggestions for a FISH! presentation of 75 to 90 minutes. This is a solid foundation for your team to build a long lasting FISH! culture.

With this Quick Guide you have 5 simple steps to get started:

Insights into introducing FISH!

Your preparation before the first presentation

Invitation to participants for the first FISH! presentation

Facilitating the first FISH! presentation

The further steps

STEP 1: Insights into introducing FISH!

Leaders who have tried to build a strong FISH! culture tells us that when they introduce FISH!, that it is the way they talk about FISH! that affects what others think about it.

Here are 3 insights based on years of feedback from our customers about what helped them launch FISH! with success:

FISH! IS A JOURNEY, NOT A ONE-TIME EXPERIENCE

If you say: 'Today we are going to watch a funny video' - then your participants will expect a little more than that. The film is certainly entertaining to watch. We get a break from work. Either way, the experience ends when the movie is over and the presentation is over. If you instead present FISH! like a journey, the participants will understand that it is not something that happens overnight. Now they have to travel together from one place...a way of thinking...a way of being - to another place. On the way there, FISH! the principles: Be there, Play, Make their day and Choose your attitude - be the provisions that fuel you and at the same time be the compass that guides you.

FISH! IS AN INVITATION

You can try to force or command FISH! like, 'Now we're all going to do FISH!' or 'We need some more smiles around!' The only problem with that method is that it doesn't work. Our customers have told us, time and time again, that the only way FISH! can be brought to the mind and heart of the participants is by inviting them to live it out for themselves. We only internalize FISH! if we are given the freedom to examine it and see if it makes sense, as individuals and as a group.

FISH! BROUGHT TO LIFE THROUGH CONVERSATION

The most important thing you can do after presenting FISH! is to get the participants to talk about it. Your role is to inspire and be part of the conversations that make the participants relate to FISH! themselves, what they can use in their jobs and in their lives. This is how real commitment is built.

STEP 2: Preparation before your first presentation

Before embarking on any journey, you want to know where the journey is going to. Ask yourself or your management team: 'What kind of culture do we want to create by bringing FISH! into our company? In what ways will FISH! support us in achieving our business goals?'

SHOW THE FILM

Make sure you have watched the film a few times before your presentation (it's the best 18 minutes you can think of). The first time, see it as a participant would see it. Ask yourself: 'What has The FISH! Philosophy to do with my life?' Don't make any notes yet.

GRAB A PEN

Second time, watch it with your facilitator hat on. Here's what you need to ask yourself:

In what ways are these ideas relevant to my participants?

What objections will come from my participants? (e.g.: 'We have no fish to throw!')

STEP 3: Invitation to participants for the first FISH! meeting

Here are some ideas that our customers used when they invited their employees to the first FISH! presentation:

Circulate the invitation with very little information. Like, for example, a geek letter. As the day approaches, send out a little more information – just enough to excite attendees. Let them guess a little.

Send them a 'trade token' which they can exchange for a plastic fish or a fish toy when they show up.

Hand out a wide variety of fish-shaped snacks and food to make them even more curious ahead of the day.

Create a hotline that attendees can call to find out more about the day. The number can be your local number or a voiced message on an unused number.

Design an intranet page or an app with clues and hints that reveal more and more day by day.

Set aside time to also personally invite the participants.

Whatever you decide, make sure to do all of this differently from your normal courses and meetings. FISH! is different!

STEP 4: Facilitating the first FISH! meeting

What kind of atmosphere do you want to create when attendees enter the room?

Here are some ideas:

Set up tables in the room with space for 3 to 5 people. Cafe tables are really good. This provides intimacy and the sense of togetherness. It is also a good starting point for working in small groups.

Play some energetic music as the attendees arrive.

Show a self-driving PowerPoint® with inspirational quotes or images as attendees arrive that relate to FISH!

Use name tags. Here are some ideas for you:

Hang up posters on a coat rack outside the room.

Hand each participant a name tag. 

Greet participants by name when they arrive. This is not only a good personal thing, it is also a good example of being there.

A FISH! OPENER (15 min.)

An effective opener energizes attendees and whets their appetite for what's to come. Use one of your own favorites or try one of these:

1 about me and 3 about us

Ask the participants to get into groups of 4 or 5. Give each group a piece of paper and a pen. Ask them to draw a circle in the middle so there is room to write around the circle. Ask the groups to find 3 things that they in the group have in common and note this in the circle. Then ask each participant to think of 1 thing that is unique to him or her and write it outside the circle. Then ask selected participants or volunteers to tell what they discovered along the way, what they heard and what is unique.

INTRODUCTION TO FISH! (5 min.)

Before showing the FISH! film, you can personalize your message for the participants by telling them how FISH! has affected you and your life. Tell a story about when you first became acquainted with FISH! or how one of the FISH! practices have been important to you.

You might also consider this introduction:

Recently I was made aware of something that very quickly gave me inspiration for the way I think about my work. I was suddenly helped to see new opportunities to live a more creative, expressive and satisfying working life and at the same time see new opportunities in my relationships with colleagues, customers and the many other people I have contact with from day to day.

In a moment I will show you a short film that explains this idea. Therefore, I would like to invite each and every one of you to consider how you can transfer this idea to your work, and even more importantly, bring it into your conversations about the experiences we want to create and share with each other.

This introduction will touch your participants. Please use this intro in our presentation. Practice it before your first presentation.

FRAME THE FILM (1 min.)

It is important that you put the film into the right context for your participants. Say, for example: 'What has FISH! to do with us and with what we do here?'

SHOW THE FILM (18 min.)

This is not the time to roll a 13-inch television onto the stage and turn down the volume. To be inspired, your participants must be able to both see and hear the film. To ensure maximum inspiration, use your player, a data projector and some external speakers so that you can present an image and a sound that is larger than reality.

'WE HAVE NO FISH TO THROW.'

The film has just ended and you can feel the uplifted atmosphere. The participants smile and clap. You feel really good about how the presentation has progressed so far. Then one of the participants raises his hand and says something along these lines: 'Good film. I think it's really good what they do in that fish shop there, but we don't have any fish to throw with. So what does that have to do with us?'

Your answer:

Thank you very much for your comment. If you think about it, FISH is not about throwing anything up in the air - except for how we choose to throw ourselves into our working life, into our job and into our relationships with each other, our customers and those we meet during the day.

Now you'll see small lights lightning up in your participants eyes because you've framed in FISH! for them. If no one is asking the question, ask it yourself. Even if the question is not asked, there must be someone who thinks it.

MAKE THEM TALK (20 min.)

Use some or all of these questions when you want to create good conversations:

Which scene in this film did you like the most? Why?

Which scene in this film did you like the least? Why?

Where do you think the energy in this shop is coming from?

What do you think is the reason for the fishmongers great success?

What in the fish shop would you like us to have here? Why?

All the fishmongers have committed to being world famous. What would it be like here if we had the same level of commitment? What obligation do we have?

Which of the four practices do you think is the most difficult? Why? Which is the easiest? Why?

Although The FISH! Philosophy is not about throwing anything, we have been with many customers who really liked that we threw a toy fish to the participant who wants to speak. We have also given away FISH! pens, FISH! books, gramophone records (old vinyl LPs and singles) and other fun gifts to emphasize the four principles. Of course, we explain the importance these things have had for us and why we are giving them away.

BRAINSTORM: HOW WILL IT WORK FOR US? (25 min.)

Mount 4 flipcharts in the four corners of the room, each with its own FISH! practice written at the top. Give each participant a pen. Divide the participants into 4 groups and direct them to each flipchart. Ask the groups to jot down as many ideas as they can of how they might want to use the specific practice in their own job. Ask them to be very specific and practical.

When 5 minutes have passed, ring a bell, honk a horn or rap like a duck to get the participants' attention. Now ask the groups to move to the next FISH! practice, go through the ideas and add new ones, build on existing ones or reformulate them. Ensure that all four groups reach all four practices by approx. 5 minute stop at each flip.

Now ask, 'What will happen if we do nothing about these ideas?' After a few minutes of conversation, ask, 'What would be the payoff if these ideas actually became real?' Hear all the great ideas! End with this question: 'Which of these ideas can we start working on right now?' This will lead to an action-oriented discussion. Collect the flipcharts, write them in an email and circulate them within a few days. Remember to take these ideas into the upcoming FISH! meetings.

STEP 5: The further steps (5 min.)

Your presentation is coming to an end. Remember to emphasize that today's presentation is only the first step on your journey. FISH! will only live on if you feed daily by talking about it, thinking about it and doing it.

FISH! is a step-by-step process that guides you and your team through meaningful and practical conversations that inspire you to lead the FISH! practices into life.

Tell your participants where and when you will meet next time. To maintain the cadence, it is best to meet again within 1 to 3 weeks.

If you have ordered 'Playbooks' for each participant, this is an excellent time to distribute them. Ask them to read the FISH! wisdom part in section 1: 'Be there' before you meet next time.

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Michael Meinhardt
LEADERSwarehouse.com 

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