How to Make Workshops Not Suck - Part #2

I love a good workshop. If you ask me to complete the sentence “I excitedly jump out of bed in the morning if…”, chances are high I’ll finish it with “…I have a workshop lined up for the day”. That’s probably why I collect workshop tools like other people collect stamps (although… do people actually still do that? Did they ever? Ü-Ei Figuren? Very German. NFTs? Nah, that’s through. Pokemon cards! Let’s stick with that. Anyhow, off topic.). Over the years I’ve participated in and facilitated quite a few workshops. While the success of a workshop always depends on many factors, I do think there are a few patterns great workshops share. One of them is using the right tools at the right time.

Stages of a workshop

Just a quick recap: Most workshops and meetings generally follow an overall set-up consisting of three stages:

1. Introduction (pave the way)
2. Core (get cracking)
3. Closing (wrap things up)

Of course, these stages will vary, depending on the length, set-up, and objectives of the workshop. If you’re curious about stage 1 and some tools to pave the way, check out the first part of this series. In this article I want to focus on nailing stage #2: Getting the actual work done.

Stage #2: Get Cracking

This is the main stage of the workshop. It’s where you get your hands dirty. It mostly includes two parts, which can be repeated as often as necessary to achieve the objective: Diverge & converge.

1. Collaborate (diverge)
   • Brainstorm ideas and consolidate know-how.
   • Work together to solve the challenge and reach the workshop objective.

BTW: Did you know that brainstorming is widely considered an actual science? There are some rules to it, which amongst others IDEO have elaborated on (check out the source to learn more).

Source: IDEO University

1. Focus (converge)
   • Evaluation of ideas / results / measures
   • Prioritization of ideas / results / measures
   • Identification of next steps

For both of them, here are a few tools & exercises I’ve used in my workshops.

Tools & Exercises to Actually Get to Work in a Workshop

6-3-5 Brainwriting

We all probably have done the one or other brainstorming session before. And there’s a reason for that: brainstorming – alone as well as together with others – is an amazingly effective tool to get new ideas. I always find brainstorming most effective, when there are constraints involved (like limited time) and when we build on each other’s ideas. 6-3-5 Brainwriting is a proven method for exactly that.

What to use this method for?

• Iterate ideas in several rounds.
• Work on solutions to a more complex given problem.
• Build on each other’s ideas and generate buy-in from each stakeholder in the creation process.

How to prepare?

• Not much to do other than making sure there are way too many post-its available for everyone (we don’t want to limit creativity here) and markers. Please make sure you use materials that can easily be read from a distance, i.e. dark markers (not pencils or pens) on light post-its.
• For digital sessions, set-up a digital board with some blank post-its in different colors.
• This method works best with around 6 participants (thus 6–3-5), but can also be done with any other number of participants.

How to facilitate?

• Before you start, instruct everyone to write in capital letters only (in a digital set-up this isn’t as important as when physically writing on post-its), not more than 5 words per post-it.
• Each round, each participant writes down three ideas in five minutes.
• After the first round, everyone swaps their piece of paper with someone else (e.g. your right neighbour or the person who’s first name follows yours in the alphabet).
• Again, for 5 min everyone writes down three more ideas (these can be new ideas, or build on ideas that have already been shared).
• After six rounds (or less if timing is tight, min. 3 rounds), the post-its are collected and all suggested ideas are discussed.

Note: This can be used as a diverge exercise (generate more ideas based on your neighbour’s) or a converge exercise (build out the idea from your neighbour).

Mash-up

This is another fabulous workshop method which I learned from IDEO. It’s one of the fastest and most fun ways to push past the obvious and generate ideas outside the box. At IDEO University they also have a video on it, which you can check out here.

What to use this method for?

• Bring odd or unexpected things together to spark fresh ideas.
• Get a group out of a stuck mindset.
• Have fun while ideating new ideas (focus on quantity).

How to prepare?

• Be sure to clearly frame the problem beforehand, i.e. articulate the challenge as a How Might We statement.
• Pick two broad, unrelated categories, like hospitals and hotels or waiting rooms and schools. It’s key to think outside the industry / category / topic.
• Create a template (either on a digital or physical white board, see below).

How to facilitate?

• Ask participants to start with one category / topic / industry. Generate as many product ideas or customer experiences for this category as possible. Then repeat with the second one. Spend around 5 min on each category.
• Now combine items from the two lists to ideate as many new brand platforms, products, services or experiences as you can (2 min).
• Share-out combinations as a group (ca. 2 min per participant).

What could it look like?

This is Ideo Capture Sheet for the Mash-up exercise, which I find quite useful:

Source: IDEO University

Other People’s Shoes

Especially when designing products or services for others, it can be incredibly helpful to put ourselves in their shoes. That’s not always easy, though, so it’s very helpful to have a framework for it.

What to use this method for?

• Change the perspective on any given brief (especially helpful if tackling an end-customer challenge).
• Question the why behind the what and gather deeper insights about underlying needs and desires.
• Generate ideas and insights that are fresh and provocative.

How to prepare?

• Clearly frame the challenge to be addressed (if possible gather customer or stakeholder insight beforehand). Also in this method, a How Might We Statement is a good way of framing the challenge.
• Define the persona who’s shoes you want to put the group in. You can either write this down in a short, distinct statement or prepare a role-play (see below).

How to facilitate?

• Present the challenge (from your or your customer’s perspective) to participants. (5 min)
• Introduce the persona to participants, be as specifc as you can and make sure everyone understands this persona. There are several options:
  • Option 1: Roleplay the challenge from the perspecitve of this persona. Important roles: persona (faced with the challenge), one person representing the challenge (can be a situation, a company, a product), observer (focused on how the persona interacts with the challenge at hand) (20-30min)
  • Option 2: Draw a storyboard of your challenge from the perspective of the persona (20-30min)
  • Option 3: Prepare a written prompt or user persona to be shared with the group.
• Afterwards jointly discuss how the challenge changed when looking at it from a different point of view. What new insights did you find? (15min)
• Both options can be done in break-out groups or in a smaller plenum.

What could it look like?

Let’s create a bit of a case here. Let’s imagine, you’re running a SME operating in the health care sector. Your management team has noticed that the number of job applicants has been declining over the last several years. Also, the fluctuation of your skilled workforce has increased. Obviously you’re aware of the general shortage of workers in your sector, but you still need to find a solution to this problem if you want your business to continue flourishing. So, you’ve decided to do a workshop. You invited a diverse set of participants from all levels and departments of the organisation. You also framed the challenge: “How might we attract more talent and retain existing employees?“. Now it’s time to put the group into the shoes of the “customer”: current and future employees. For some this is easier than for others, so you created a small prompt (see below). Side note: this doesn’t need to be a full-fledged persona or customer profile. Just something to set the stage, like the prompt below, is often enough.

Source: Me ✌️

Once the scene is set, you split up into groups to work on the research challenge. There’s a lot of flexibility here. You can either have all groups work on the same challenge with different target audiences in mind. Or they can work on different challenges with the same persona in mind. This is your call. In any case, the first step should be exploratory (diverging), a.k.a. what are the problems, rather than how can we solve them. Only once you’ve collected potential problems and identified needs & drivers of your target audience, you move into finding solutions (converge). To work on the challenge of attracting more talent to your organisation you created the below poster. It helps each group to analyse the target audience’s needs and drivers and identify potential problems to solve.

Source: Me ✌️

That’s it for now. I hope these methods will help you to get cracking on the main challenge in your next workshop. In the final article of this series, I’ll share some tools and exercises for stage #3 - wrap things up.

Do you have any other tools or exercises that help you spark creativity when diverging and enhance focus when converging? I really, really, really want to hear about them! Feel free to send me an email or message me on LinkedIn. I’d love to connect and have a chat.