Tree of InfluenceExercises for first-time groups
Short exercises that help a new group contribute from the first minute and go deeper than a list of complaints.
This page describes 3 short exercises for groups that have not used the technique before. The first 2 open Seed. The third teaches the question that runs through Connect. Use any of them, or all 3.
The three problems warm-up
Time: 3 to 5 minutes, before the session starts.
Before joining the board, each participant writes down 3 problems or frustrations in the domain. They add them as white nodes as soon as they join. There is no discussion and no coordination.
The board is populated from the first second, every participant has already contributed, and the energy starts high. It also removes the pause of a blank board.
Ask for the 3 problems in the invitation, so participants arrive with them.
The "what does success look like?" anchor
Time: 5 minutes, at the start of Seed.
Before the group maps what is wrong, ask what it is aiming for:
Before we map what's wrong, let's agree on what we're aiming for. What does success in this area look like to you? Add 1 or 2 outcomes.
It anchors the group in the purpose of the session, and it makes sure some outcomes are on the board before problems take over. Outcomes that are named early also make the blocked outcomes view more useful later.
The "why does that happen?" drill
Time: 5 minutes, during Connect, as a teaching moment.
Pick a problem with no arrows coming in: a problem whose causes nobody has mapped yet. Ask the whole group:
Why does this happen? What causes it? What makes it worse?
Draw the answers as new problem nodes, with arrows pointing into the original. Then go one level further:
And why does that happen?
The drill shows the group the depth the technique is meant to reach, and it separates a Tree of Influence from a flat list of complaints. Once the group has seen it, the question tends to come back on its own for the rest of the session.
In the renewals session, the facilitator ran the drill on "Most tickets are escalated to engineering":
Step 1 of 3. Pick a problem with no arrows coming in.
Step 2 of 3. Why does this happen? 2 causes go on the board, with arrows into the problem.
Step 3 of 3. And why does that happen? Custom code paths come from what sales promises to close deals.
Diagram as text: The Why does that happen? drill on the renewals board
Steps:
- Step 1: Pick a problem with no arrows coming in.
- Step 2: Why does this happen? 2 causes go on the board, with arrows into the problem. Changes: added "Tier 1 support cannot see a customer's setup", "Large customers run custom code paths". new arrows: "Tier 1 support cannot see a customer's setup" influences "Most tickets are escalated to engineering"; "Large customers run custom code paths" influences "Most tickets are escalated to engineering".
- Step 3: And why does that happen? Custom code paths come from what sales promises to close deals. Changes: added "Sales promises custom features to close deals". new arrows: "Sales promises custom features to close deals" influences "Large customers run custom code paths".
After the last step:
Nodes:
- Root / Problem: "Sales promises custom features to close deals"
- Root / Problem: "Tier 1 support cannot see a customer's setup"
- Root / Problem: "Large customers run custom code paths"
- Root / Problem: "Most tickets are escalated to engineering"
- Action / Intervention: "Write runbooks for the 20 most common tickets"
Arrows:
- "Sales promises custom features to close deals" influences "Large customers run custom code paths"
- "Tier 1 support cannot see a customer's setup" influences "Most tickets are escalated to engineering"
- "Large customers run custom code paths" influences "Most tickets are escalated to engineering"
- "Most tickets are escalated to engineering" influences "Write runbooks for the 20 most common tickets"
The second round reached "Sales promises custom features to close deals," a pre-seeded problem that nobody had connected to support yet.