by Stephanie Medicke | Apr 15, 2019 | Uncategorized
All companies and teams include multiple disciplines and members with different expertise, so why shouldn’t our meetings and brainstorming sessions?
Multidisciplinary collaboration means building a team of members with different backgrounds and skills that can compensate each other and work together toward the same direction to achieve the same goals. Multidisciplinary teams usually generate a wide range of ideas that are more diverse than a homogenous team can.
Also consider an interdisciplinary approach. Interdisciplinary teams are made up of people with a deep understanding of a particular skillset complimented by beginner or intermediate mastery of a diversity of other disciplines. These teams are not only able to generate many different exclusive ideas, but are able to see connections between seemingly disparate ideas. This mindset and dynamic is critical in the double diamond approach when converging on ideas.
by Stephanie Medicke | Feb 18, 2019 | Facilitation Tips
One of the key benefits of using ITK’s tools is to “get people in a room and talking.” But what if your team is not geographically collocated? That can make things difficult.
Dialing in remotely to a meeting where wall charts and whiteboards are used but not broadcast can be an extremely frustrating experience. It is so critical that the participants who are “remote” feel just as included in the discussion as the participants in the room. So if you find yourself in that situation, here are some recommendations for leading a successful remote working session.
- Be respectful of different time zones and try to pick a time that works for all
- Provide a clear agenda with time boxes and stick to it
- Provide supporting materials and goals for the session in advance so folks can print out ahead of time
- Have an experienced facilitator (perhaps someone not on the team)
- Use tools that capture all the ideas
We’ve got more tips and tricks on good facilitation coming in a future post – watch this space!
For an interesting experiment on remote facilitation, check out this article written by our very own Dan Ward:
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