Setup› Opening› Drain Audit› Decision Map› Friction Stack› 90-Day Shift› Report
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Rooted Growth Consulting · Learn with Maydwell
Team Diagnostic Session

The Alignment Check

A 90-minute live team session that finds exactly where your team is losing time, momentum, and good decisions — and walks out with one move to make this week.

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Session Setup
Before we begin.
Tell us about your team. This shapes the examples and report.
⏱ 5 minutes

How this session works

90
Minutes total
5
Modules
1
Team Impact Snapshot

Your job as the facilitator is to keep the room honest and keep it moving. Each module has a time guide. When the room is talking — that is the work. You do not need to know anything about AI to run this well. You just need to know your team.

Session time guide
Setup5 min
The Opening20 min
Drain Audit20 min
Decision Map15 min
Friction Stack15 min
90-Day Shift15 min
Total~90 min

Live session active? Your team joins on their phones using the code shown at the top of the screen. Their answers are private until you reveal them — then the room sees the group picture together.

Module 01 · Expansion, Not Erasure
Why This Conversation Matters Now
⏱ 20 minutes · 4 steps
1 · Context› 2 · What It Is› 3 · Team Frame› 4 · Reflect
How we'll work together

This is a space to grow together — not to assign blame. We're here to find where the work gets stuck so we can fix the system, not the people. Everything you share is used to build a clearer picture for the whole team. Most submissions — drains, decisions, AI readiness scores — appear on the wall without names attached. Your Commitment at the end is the one exception: it goes on the wall with your first name, because that one is yours to own. Be candid, be generous, and assume good intent.

Facilitator: read this aloud before you begin. It sets the tone that makes the honesty in this session possible.

??%
of AI initiatives never move past the pilot stage
Let the room guess first — the real number stays hidden until you reveal it.
📱 Live Interaction · Stat Poll
How this works:
① Tap Send Guess Prompt — everyone guesses the % on their phone.
② When guesses are in, tap Reveal to show the room's spread and the real number.
The gap between their guess and the truth is the hook — that's the conversation.
0 responses

"You can't speed up a broken process. You can only make it louder."

Most organizations are not failing at AI because the tools don't work. They are failing because the conditions that slow decisions also slow adoption.

This session does not start with technology. It starts with your team — and where you are losing velocity right now.

Why now?

Teams are being asked to adopt new tools faster while maintaining quality. The bottleneck is rarely the technology. It is almost always how decisions get made and where work disappears.

This session names the bottleneck. That is step one.

What this session does

✓ Names what is slowing your team down

✓ Maps where decisions go quiet

✓ Finds your top AI-ready workflow

✓ Produces one behavior change for this week

Simple DefinitionAI expands what your team can do — it doesn't replace the people who know the work.
ObjectiveBuild a shared mental model before any tool is introduced. Alignment first, adoption second.
Why It MattersTeams that skip alignment waste time adopting tools that don't solve the right problems.
"AI is not here to replace the people who know your work best. It is here to give those people room to think again."
What is Decision Velocity?

Speed × Quality × Consistency

How quickly your team reaches a good decision — and whether they do it the same way next time. Most teams have one or two of the three. This session shows you which one is missing.

Impact — individual + team

For you: Less time in the wrong meetings. Fewer hours clarifying decisions that should already be made.

For your team: Decisions that take 10 days take 3. Approvals that require 4 people require 2.

The Three Domains

Every drain your team names today belongs to one of three domains. Knowing which one is how change becomes possible.

🎯
Purpose
Work that used to matter and does not anymore. If you asked the room why it exists, nobody could say.
👥
People
The wrong ratio of decision-makers to informers. Someone who should own the decision is being copied instead.
⚙️
Process
Friction built into the workflow. Steps run in sequence when they could run side by side.
📱 Live Interaction · Domain Poll
Ask which domain resonates most. The bar chart tells you where to focus the Drain Audit.
0 responses

This is not a diagnostic about your people. It is a diagnostic about your system. The goal is to understand what the structure is asking your team to do — and whether that still makes sense.

Your job as facilitatorCreate the conditions for honesty. You don't need to know AI — you need to know your team.
Your one ruleBe honest, not impressive. The hardest problem to name is usually the one that matters most.
Time check5 minutes. When the room slows down, that is your cue to move.
💬 Discussion — do this now (5 min)

Go around the room. Each person names one decision from this week that took longer than it should have. Just the name — no explanation. You will come back to this list in Module 3.

📱 Live Interaction · Decision Capture
While the room talks, collect the same answers on phones simultaneously. Reveal the wall to show the group what the room found — without attribution.
0 responses
Step 1 of 4
Module 02 · The Drain Audit
Where does your time go?
By the end of this module: 5–8 named drains, minutes attached, each tagged Purpose, People, or Process
⏱ 20 minutes · 4 steps
1 · The Hook› 2 · Model It› 3 · Collect› 4 · What We Found
The Opening→Where the time goes→Where decisions stall→What AI can absorb→One move
🔊 Say it to the room
You just named decisions that dragged. Now the money question — how much of a workday disappears into talking about work instead of doing it? Gut number. Phones out.
📊 Stat Pulse · Number Guess
Quick guess: what % of the average workday goes to communicating about work (meetings, email, chat) instead of doing it? Send to phones, then reveal.
0 responses
For you — why this beat matters
The reveal puts the room’s average next to the real number — 57% (Microsoft Work Trend Index, 2025). The gap is your opening. If they guessed low, the drains are invisible to them; if they guessed high, they already feel it. Either way, the next two steps give that feeling a name and a minute count.
🔊 Say it to the room
A drain is work that eats time and gives nothing back. I’ll add the first one myself — watch the wall on the right. Then it’s your turn.

Worked example — enter this one first so the room sees the format:

Add a drain
For you — keeping it moving
Aim for 5–8 drains minimum, at least one in each dimension. If the room stalls, ask: “What meeting would nobody miss?”

No drains named yet. Use the form to add the first one — the worked example on the left is a good place to start.

What This Means for Your Team
🔊 Say it to the room
Phones out. One task or meeting from your own week that you’re not sure anyone would miss. No names attached — and as many as you’ve got.
📱 Live Interaction · Drain Nominations
Prompt already on their phones. Every submission lands in the queue below and on the wall automatically — and flows into the report.
0 nominations
Add one yourself while they submit
On the wall so far
0 drains
Time named
0 min/wk
For you — working the room while they type
Give it 3–4 quiet minutes. Call out themes as they land — “three of these are meetings” — and use the quick-add above to capture anything said out loud. Phones → wall → report happens automatically; there is no approval step.
What the wall says
—
—
For you — running the debrief minute
Read the question above aloud and let it sit. Silence is fine — the first honest answer usually arrives at the eight-second mark. You want two or three voices, not consensus. Then move: the next module explains why this time disappears.
✓ Drain Audit Complete
—
You know where the time goes. Next: why the decisions underneath it take so long.
Step 1 of 4
Module 03 · The Decision Map
Where decisions go quiet.
Map one real decision cycle · Find the silence moments
⏱ 15 minutes · 4 steps
1 · The Hook› 2 · The Model› 3 · Map It› 4 · The Pattern
Two terms to knowA decision cycle is the full path from "we noticed a problem" to "we committed to a direction." A silence moment is anywhere along that path where the decision sat ready and nobody moved.
ObjectiveMap one real decision your team has lived. Name every step — and name where it went quiet.
Why It MattersMost lost time hides between steps, not inside them. The silence is where you find the system problem.
📊 Stat Pulse · Number Guess
Before we map: when managers make decisions, what % of that time do you think is used ineffectively? Send it to phones, let the room guess, then reveal the real number.
0 responses
🔊 Say this aloud

Every decision follows four stages: something triggers it, you sense what is happening, you frame the options, you choose, and you commit. The silence — the stall — hides between those stages. That is what we are about to map.

Worked example — walk the room through this first

Decision: New vendor contract approval

0.5d
2d
3d
5d

Trigger→Sense: 0.5d · Sense→Frame: 2d · Frame→Choose: 3d · Choose→Commit: 5d = 10.5 days total

Silence moment: Frame→Choose sat idle for 3 days because nobody owned the final cost sign-off.

Map a decision from your team
Cycles mapped — 0

No cycles mapped yet.

📱 Live Interaction · Silence Moments
After mapping the group cycle, each person submits a real decision that stalled — where it stuck, how long, and why. Every one becomes a cycle in the report. Submit as many as you like.
Facilitator cue: The prompt was sent to phones automatically when you opened this step. Sample ask: "Where did a decision you cared about go quiet — and for how long?" When you reveal, point out which stage stalls most often; that pattern is the real finding. Add your own example on the form too.
0 responses
Capture one from the room while they submit
🔊 Say this aloud

This is where your team's decisions go quiet. The longest bar is where the most time hides. If you fixed that one transition, every cycle mapped today gets shorter.

Where decisions stall most
Trigger → Sense
0d
Sense → Frame
0d
Frame → Choose
0d
Choose → Commit
0d
—
average days per decision cycle
✓ Decision Map Complete
—
You named the drains and mapped the silence. Now find which workflows AI can absorb.
Step 1 of 4
Module 04 · The Friction Stack
What can AI actually absorb?
Score each workflow as a group · Think · Listen · Apply
⏱ 15 minutes · 4 steps
1 · The Frame› 2 · Calibrate› 3 · Stack It› 4 · The Verdict
What you're about to doRank your team's routine tasks by how ready they are to hand off to AI — right now, not in theory. The ranked list is the Friction Stack.
How scoring worksThree questions per task, scored 1–5: how much judgment it needs (Think), how much reading people it needs (Listen), and whether it's just executing steps (Apply). Higher total = easier to hand off.
Why It MattersNot every task is AI-ready. Starting with the wrong one wastes momentum. The top of the stack is your pilot.
Group scoring — read this before you start

Score every task as a group. The person who owns it scores first — then the room reacts. Talk it out until you agree. There is no wrong number.

The scale, in plain terms: a 1 means "a person really needs to do this part." A 5 means "this part is repeatable enough to hand off." A task scoring 13/15 is nearly ready today; a task scoring 5/15 should stay human.

🔊 Say this aloud

We are going to score one workflow together so everyone is calibrated. I will name it. You tell me where the sliders should go. Argue if you disagree — that is the point.

Think

Does AI need to reason here, or just retrieve?

Listen

Is the input clear enough for AI to understand?

Apply

Is the output ready to use without heavy editing?

Think3
Listen3
Apply3
Total 9 /15 — Strong Fit

Worked example for calibration:

Friction Stack — ranked by AI readiness

No workflows scored yet.

📱 Live Interaction · Workflow Reactions
Each person scores a task on Think / Listen / Apply right on their phone — every scored task joins the stack and the report. Submit as many as you like.
Facilitator cue: The prompt went to phones automatically when you opened this step — make sure you scored one task together first so the room knows the scale. Sample ask: "What repetitive task feels like it should already be easier?" On reveal, highlight the highest-scoring (most AI-absorbable) tasks — those become the pilot shortlist in the report.
0 responses
Score one from the room while they submit
🔊 Say this aloud

This is your top AI candidate. Not the one with the most hype. The one your team just scored as most ready. In the 90-Day Shift, this becomes your pilot.

Top AI Candidate
—
—
— Think — Listen — Apply
Full stack ranking
✓ Friction Stack Complete
—
The diagnosis is done. One behavior change. This week.
Step 1 of 4
Module 05 · The 90-Day Shift
One behavior. Seven days.
Stop one thing · Start one thing · Name a signal · Name a witness
⏱ 15 minutes · 3 steps
1 · What We Found› 2 · Write It› 3 · The Wall
Simple DefinitionOne behavior change — stated clearly, committed to in this room, with a witness who will hold you to it.
ObjectiveLeave this room with a single stop, a single start, and a signal for knowing it worked.
Why It MattersThe session is the diagnosis. The shift is the medicine. A 12-week program starting Monday is not a shift — it is an escape route.
What your team found today
Top Drain
—
Avg Decision Cycle
—
Top AI Candidate
—

"The work is not the session. The work is the seven days that follow."

The Friction Stack ranked your workflows. The Decision Map named your silence moments. The Drain Audit showed where time disappears. That is the diagnosis.

This module is the one move. Not a 12-week program. One behavior change, stated clearly, committed to in this room — with a witness.

The 90-Day Arc

Days 0–7: Practice the shift. No new tools. No new meetings.

Days 8–30: Pilot the top workflow from your Friction Stack. Track cycle time.

Days 31–60: Monthly check. Which silence moments closed?

Days 61–90: Keep one habit. Drop one. Pick the next workflow.

🔊 Say this aloud

Four sentences. Stop, start, signal, witness. Write the team’s version here while everyone drafts their own — theirs go on the wall in the next step.

Write the team commitment — this goes in the report
Example — what good looks like

Stop: "This week, we will stop copying all five leads on routine vendor approvals."

Start: "This week, we will start letting the ops analyst approve anything under $500 directly."

Signal: "Approvals that took 3 days clear in 1. Nobody asks 'who signs off on this?'"

Witness: "Dana, Operations Manager."

A good commitment is small enough to do this week and visible enough that the witness can tell whether it happened.

📱 Live Interaction · Team Commitment Wall
The commitment form has been sent to every phone automatically. Each person submits their Stop and Start — the wall builds as they submit. Reveal it together as the close of the session; the commitments live in the report.
0 commitments
Step 1 of 3
Team Impact Snapshot · The Alignment Check
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Live Team Session
Waiting for your team.
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📺 Room screen: on any device connected to the big screen, open
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It mirrors the session automatically. (The 📺 button in the live bar does the same thing in a new tab on this machine.)

When enough people have joined, click Begin Session. Works best with 5–15 participants. You can start with as few as 3.

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Each participant submits answers privately from their phone. Facilitator chooses when to reveal — the room sees the group picture together.

The Alignment Check
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