Newsletter September 2024

Welcome to the Latest Newsletter

This month we continue our theme of multigenerational teams and TetraMap’s role in giving leaders the edge to make the most of the talents and backgrounds from each generation. Master Facilitator Olive Strachan MBE, ChCCIPD increasingly finds TetraMap her tool of choice when it comes to working with leaders. Check out her industry insights into why TetraMap is the key to crossing the generation gap.

If that isn’t enough here’s a reminder of business leader Mark Doughty’s video where he shares his experience of the power of TetraMap and the fast track to good communication in any team.

In ‘trust the process’ we look at five smart ways to make the most of your Element stickers and why they are so important in reinforcing TetraMap’s key messages. Learn to use every part of your resource pack to the greatest effect, including our digital resources, and take your facilitation skills to the next level!

We also celebrate our latest TetraMap facilitators from Singapore and Aotearoa, New Zealand.

A quick reminder for those of you who have a LinkedIn account – you can join our TetraMap community on LinkedIn and share ideas, find out what others are doing and celebrate our successes.

Leading the Multi-generational Workforce the TetraMap way

Over the last 15 years Master Facilitator and global business woman Olive Strachan MBE, ChCCIPD has increasingly found TetraMap becoming her tool of choice when it comes to working with leaders. The workforce can now easily span five generations and this throws up some real challenges in approach to work culture. One question Olive is regularly asked by leaders is ‘how do we best engage with Gen Z?’

Olive’s research examines why TetraMap is such a perfect choice to capitalize on the distinct talents and backgrounds each generation brings. As part of her journey to become a Master Facilitator Olive has studied exactly how TetraMap can lead the way when it comes to working with teams encompassing such a wide age group. Take a look at her video highlighting why Tetramap is her ‘go to’ for leaders of a multigenerational workforce.

Olive explains: “In today’s business landscape, it is crucial for organizations to prioritize diversity and inclusion as integral goals. By leveraging the insights provided by TetraMap, leaders can effectively address these challenges and foster a more inclusive, collaborative, and high performing multigenerational team. Through open communication, mutual respect, and a willingness to embrace diversity, leaders can create an environment where all team members feel valued, respected, and empowered to contribute their best.”

The power of TetraMap – Olive’s top five insights

• Understanding Diversity
  TetraMap helps leaders recognize and appreciate the diversity within their teams. By understanding individuals based on their elemental preferences, leaders can tailor their leadership approach and communication style to better suit the needs of each team member.
• Communication Enhancement
  Recognising the elemental preferences of team members allows leaders to adapt their communication styles to effectively engage with individuals from different generations. For example, they can adjust their language, tone, and methods of communication to resonate with each elemental preference.
• Conflict Resolution
  TetraMap provides insights into potential sources of conflict within multigenerational teams and offers resources for resolving conflicts constructively. By appreciating differences in elemental preferences, leaders can facilitate discussions that lead to greater understanding and collaboration among team members.
• Team Building
  TetraMap can be used to facilitate team-building activities that promote understanding, respect, and collaboration among multigenerational team members. Activities tailored to each elemental preference can help foster a sense of unity and camaraderie within the team.
• Leadership Development
  TetraMap offers opportunities for leadership development by helping leaders identify their own elemental preferences and understand how these preferences influence their leadership style. Leaders can then adapt their approach to better meet the needs of their multigenerational teams.

Trust the process – Element Stickers.

Continuing our ‘trust the process’ series, this month we’re taking a closer look at the Element stickers.

They may seem a small part of your resource pack but they pack a powerful punch in the facilitation process.

Louise Duncan, Director TetraMap International, explains the significance of the stickers: “Learners love the stickers. They’re part of TetraMap’s playful approach, but beyond that – they serve several purposes and reinforce important key messages.

“Everyone gets four stickers, which from the outset reinforces the point that no-one is just one Element, everyone has aspects of all four Elements – just in differing ways. All of our TetraMap resources have been carefully thought out with this in mind, to help you create the right environment with minimum extra effort.”

When do the stickers come out?

In the facilitation process the instructions come just before working in Elemental groups:

• Position the highest scoring element stickers at the top
• Tell participants where you want stickers if in a specific, or general place – for example on their name tag, down the length of body, on their sleeve
• Advise how this will help them recognise preferences as they work together.

Five ways to make the most of your stickers

• Look at the order
  In Elemental Groups all the highest preferences are together so encourage people to take a look at the order of the other three Elements. There may be similarities and differences. Essential first cues to understanding everyone’s uniqueness even in the same element.
• Good Placement
  Ensure the placement of the stickers reflect the learner’s graph in some way. Not four stickers in a row, but high, low and equal or close scores. A subtle but important message, and of course, something to have fun with – encouraging engagement and creativity.
• Have a guess
  Join in as the facilitator. Before placing stickers on yourself, ask learners to tell you which Elements they have observed in you? Here you’re modelling how to spot the Elements in others.
• Working in pairs
  It’s now easy to team up with someone who has a different LOWEST Element to you for an activity or discussion. We often learn MORE from people who have a different perspective. This reinforces the value of diversity.
• Visual clues
  No need to get hung up on scores, a simple glance at the person nearby will help to explain why an Earth/Fire Element sees things quite differently to an Earth/ Air Element. This will become even more apparent when you watch the Elemental presentations. Take this opportunity to point out what you’ve seen.

Don’t miss out on Digital or Hybrid Delivery

If you are using Zoom or Teams to facilitate, we have some fantastic resources in our digital suite which will ensure you can deliver all parts of the process. In a virtual facilitation workshop online participants can use the rename feature to highlight their preferences, or create a background featuring their Elements. We have provided some of these which you can download from Facilitator Gifts here.

For a hybrid option, you can order extra stickers and tetrahedrons ahead of your online workshop. This will help you bring the whole experiential learning TetraMap style to life!

TetraMap International Director and Master Facilitator, Madelize Bekker, is a big fan of combining the physical with the virtual to get the most out of her workshops. 

“For me, using the tetrahedron and stickers is an integral part of helping people to conceptualise the purpose and meaning of TetraMap. They are both tangible and visual reminders or prompts of the learning experience which continue long after the session. I really like to use the digital tool to free up time in advance of the session. As the facilitator, it also helps prepare me knowing the Elements – not the elephants – in the room!”

Latest TetraMap Facilitators

Welcome to our fourteen new Certified TetraMap Facilitators who completed their training in August. A big thank you to Madelize Bekker and Andrew Melville who led the course in Auckland, New Zealand, and Professor Jack Wong who led in Singapore, assisted by Brandon Tan HL.

Louise Duncan, TetraMap International, said: “Every Certification Course is unique and each one is a learning experience. Thank you to our Master facilitators for sharing their wisdom, energy, professionalism and support for everyone embarking on, and continuing, their TetraMap journey. Everyone brings their experience and expertise with them and everyone leaves with deep personal and interpersonal relationships!”

Finally, we’d like to remind you that we have upcoming certification courses in each region in October and November.

If you know someone that would benefit from attending please let them know.  Dates and details can be found here.