This design draws on the principles of “Appreciative Inquiry”
When? | What? | Why? |
0930 | Introduction and objectives by the manager. Introduce Nick in his role as facilitator. | Demonstrates project manager’s commitment to the day and to Nick’s role |
0940 | Explain norms and form of the day. The importance of listening. | So people know what to expect. |
0945 | Circle; each person says their name, something that is going well and why they care about the future of the organisation. | Creates positive energy, shared motivation encourages people to share values. |
1000 | In small groups, describe to each other examples or stories that shows the organisation at its best and when they felt proud to be part of it. | Starting from positive examples builds confidence. Personal concrete experience that is shared is a good base to build on. |
1100 | Vision Building. Building on your present successes. If the organisation were fulfilling all its promise, what would be happening? How would you feel? What would you and others be celebrating? Generate a shared “picture” and a memorable phrase to describe it. Identify the themes that emerge. | This helps a team want to work together to create an attractive and shared dream. The phrase and picture anchors the vision and the experience of creating it in people’s minds. |
1215 | Use the vision above to create stretching statements that describe what will be happening, around the key themes, in the present tense. | This will help you focus your energy and develop your commitment to work together creatively to achieve the vision |
1300 | Lunch. | Refreshment and relaxation. |
| 1345 | List, brainstorm, what you will want to do to ensure that your dreams happen. Sort these choices by priority, and by who is most interested in what. | This will ensure you consider the most important issues energetically. |
1415 | Set up task groups to think about the projects, above, and decide a way forward. Some tasks could require involvement across the society; some might appeal to the business or voluntary side. | This will focus your energy effectively on the issues important to you. |
1430 | Groups meet and come up with concrete plans and ideas. | People enjoy making things better together, especially around things they are interested in personally. They also learn to appreciate each other’s strengths. |
1530 | Break | Time to relax and reflect |
1545 | Set up a “fishbowl” with the leaders of each group and one empty chair. Each leader describes briefly the output of their group in turn to the whole group. | Everyone will have an idea of the output of each task group. |
1605 | In the “fishbowl”, the groups’ leaders work together to integrate their outputs into a business plans. They also decide how to continue the business planning process beyond the workshop. Empty chair allows brief statements from people in the wider group. | This will show everyone that business planning is best an open process that benefits from close contact with members. This will increase people’s involvement in it and commitment to the outcome. |
1650 | Closing circle. Ask everyone to say one thing they have learned and one thing they will do as a result. | Public commitment helps people act beyond the workshop. The question about learning will help us see the immediate benefit of the workshop. |
1715 | Close | We will be tired and thoughtful! |
The workshop worked well. There was a positive, energetic and constructive atmosphere throughout. People were amazed at how much work they did in one day and how much agreement there was.
The most difficult part was the “fish bowl” exercise. This might have worked better on a later day. Then people would have had more time to reflect on their learning from the day and talk to each other informally.
Sharing
Please use any of the buttons below to share this article more widely.